Mega Man X8

The main principle of the Zero route is acquiring the Glaive and Zero Fly as soon as possible. The glaive makes it very easy to score double hits on bosses (4HP each), speeding up the fights dramatically. Zero Fly is just game breaking movement.

X Route

Slower than the Zero route, the X route focuses on acquiring the quick charge and charge-level upgrade armor parts. This makes the buster do full-charge damage with half-charges, which avoids triggering extended boss iframes. It's mostly slower than the Zero route due to a required revisit to the intro stage.

This heading is in loving memory of an Axl route concept.

General Information

Vile Locations

Most stages have at least one room with a required challenge. One of those rooms is potentially a Vile fight room.

Since these rooms vary in length for whatever lies within, and most bosses are defeated using base character attacks and not weakness weapons, the routes are designed to place Vile in the longest such rooms.

These rooms are

Gravity Ant (longest)
The Ground Shell Bug guy
Burn Rooster (shortest of these 3)

Vile cannot appear in the city or snowmobile levels.

General Information

Speedrun Item Locations

In case you're looking for them.

Sub Tank (Life Tank)

The sub tank in Sunflower's stage is the one that's "in the way".

You can get it by missing one "A Rank" in the stage and getting the large metal at the end. This comes as a Rare Metal - you have to buy the resulting item at the shop.

Zero's D-Glaive

This is in Mantis's stage. It requires Gigavolt's weapon, Axl, and Zero.

Zero's Shock Absorber

It's at the end of Yeti's stage, pretty much straight up when you get to the end.

X's Armor Parts

If you're on the X route, you want a buster part to upgrade charges, and a quick charge part.

These are the capsules at the end of Yeti's stage (requires Sunflower's weapon), and in the intro stage (revisit)

General Information

X8 Weakness Order

While neither route focuses on weaknesses, it's valuable to know the weaknesses as a backup.

Most Mavericks are stunned for prolong periods by their weakness, making it a valuable backup strat when using X if Zero is unavailable.

Weakness Loop

Gigabolt (get Lightning)
Yeti (get Ice)
Rooster (get Fire)
Panda (get missiles)
Sunflower (get light)
Mantis (get shadow)
Gravity (get black hole)
Trilobyte (Get pillar)

Castle Bosses

Vile is always weak against Ice (in all appearances including atop the Jacob elevator)

Sigma 1 (in the refight stage) is weak to Mantis's weapon

Sigma 2 (the demon on the moon) is weak to Sunflower's weapon

Lumine 1 is weak to the weakness of the maverick whose attack he is using. The exception is Rooster and Yeti, he is not vulnerable at all in these attacks.

Not sure on Lumine 2

Weapon Notes

Some of Zero's attacks change based on the melee weapon he is using. For example

With the Glaive, the Bamboo Panda lunge attack becomes a flury of stabs
The Shadow Mantis spin with the Knuckle is reminiscent of Ryu's Hurricane Kick

Trilobye's weapon permanently changes Zero's sword (and all weapons). Simply swinging it will do weakness damage to Gigabolt.

Trilobyte's weapon, when charged with X, is needed to discover several "buried" rare metals. This is not useful for any%, but required for 100%

Bamboo Pandimonium's weapon has Piercing - it will destroy enemy shielding (such as making a Met vulnerable, or helping remove Lumine 2's final phase's block)

General Techniques

Zero Fly

This only works on the original 2004(?) PC release, and the original PS2 release. It was patched for Legacy Collection 2, along with the shop's money underflow.

If you are holding Up when you press down (including any left-or-right diagonal), Zero will fly up instead of down.

On the original PC release this can be done with any mappings of up and down.

On the PS2 release, this is possible because the game accepts directional input from both the left control stick and the directional pad. How you achieve pushing all of the required buttons at once is left to the runners.

some players have a claw grip to flick the stick
MrCab flicked the control stick against his chin (SGDQ 2015)

Release attack to stop flying. Keep in mind a few scenarios can lead to soft locks when using this.

General Techniques

Boss Invincibility Periods

Mavericks in Mega Man X8 typically follow a few common rules

They enter invincibility frames every 8 HP of damage.
After the 2nd and 5th sets (at around 16 and 40 HP of damage), they advance to the next phase.
Between phases 2 and 3, there is an extended period of invincibility frames for the boss's super attack.

One notable exception to the above is if you have X's Ultimate Armor and Giga Attack. Nova Strike will reduce bosses to 1 HP and immediately trigger their super attack.

Weaknesses and Flinching

Bosses will all have a reaction to their weakness weapons. This makes for easy, if slow, fights.

Making Invincibility Periods Shorter

There are two main methods for making i-frames shorter, depending on your character

With Zero, only connect with jump slashes (sword or glaive). Each does 2 damage, and after 4 the boss will have a smaller number of i-frames than if you used full combos or a weakness.
- This can use either weapon and probably more, but the glaive is the most effective in New Games for humans, as it often "double hits".
- Sigma Saber is also viable, but is only available in NG+ when you would have X's Ultimate Armor anyway
With X, only use half charges, rather than full charges or lemons
- This is only a viable technique if you acquire the Buster Upgrade that increases the power of each charge level, turning Mega Man's "half charge" into a full charge for damage purposes.

Intro Stage

Note - X Armor part is in section 3

Intro Stage

Intro - Crab 1

The first section of the intro stage is easily handled with dash jumps and X full charges.

When you get to the crab boss, keep in mind you can use both the dedicated buster and special weapon button to fire buster shots (assuming you have no weapons equipped). Use full charges on the crab's head, and add lemons in between charge shots with the alternate attack button.

Intro Stage

Intro - Crab 2

X should leave after the first crab encounter, leaving you in control of Axl.

Unlike X7, hovering with Axl requires pressing jump again. Use Axl's hover to cross the first large gap.

Beware the enemy near the end of the section before the door if the little bulb enemy attaches - getting bodied by it is almost a one shot kill.

Encounter room

For the encounter room, get Axl onto the right ledge near the door, look left, and just hold attack. Adjust aim as needed, and kill them as fast as possible.

Grab the gems while the door is loading.

Crab 2

Zero joins before Crab 2.

The second crab is actually a tutorial for using the Team attack. The small crabs always drop team attack crystals - grab them until the meter is full. Get close to the crab's head, and use the Team Attack button when it comes out from behind the waterfall.

Intro Stage

Intro - Part 3

X's armor capsule is in this section before the door, under The Bee. It can only be acquired in the revisit. This capsule is part of X's speed route, but not needed for "The Zero Route"

Axl leaves.

Dash and jump with Zero.

Gigavolt

the really bad bike stage in the city

Gigavolt

Gigavolt - The Chase

This entire stage is just a chase after the boss. You have to shoot Gigavolt enough to trigger the boss fight.

You do have a time limit - if you don't get him within 2 "laps", you take a death. Going up and over the very tall building is a good marker for the lap (it's about 90% of the way through)

Your goal time should be somewhere around the tunnel.

This stage is extremely laggy on PS2, and has a high chance of failure your first few attempts. If Gigavolt gets too far ahead of you, it is often faster to just quit and restart the stage.

Bike Controls

The bike boosts using your weapon energy. That's why there are many Weapon Energy drops throughout the stage. Collecting them gives you a boost back. This stage largely requires memorizing the locations to be successful.

Also note both characters have their own weapon ammo gauges, so you can swap to use the other's boost.

If you are not doing this stage first, you can also purchase weapon energy upgrades at the shop, or a Weapon Bottle, to help out.

You can't move faster other than boosting. You also loose a lot of distance every time you get hit, so be judicious with your boosts and keep firing shots.

Gigavolt

Boss - Gigavolt

"Cheese and friiiiiiiiiiiiiies!!!"

Attack Patterns

A short range lightning burst
An arc of movement producing small jellyfish
Releasing jellyfish atop the screen.
Super Attack - Lightning
- look for the spots on the floor where there are no sparks, and stand there to dodge.
- This attack has 3 bursts

Tactics

If you are here first, you may want to just survive. You need to get in close with Zero to attack with jump slashes for minimal iframes. Zero can knock the small jellies away with his sword.

If you take damage or otherwise get into a tight spot, you can tag in X. Given X does not have the means to avoid long iframes, spam lemons as your backup while Zero heals.

This fight is obviously fastest if done entirely with Zero, but if you bring in X at all, you can just end the fight with a team attack.

Shadow Mantis

Note - to get Zero's D. Glaive, a key part of the Zero route, you need to use Zero and Axl for this stage, (at any point) AFTER Gigavolt.

Shadow Mantis

Mantis - Section 1

Dodge the things, then dodge the fans. You can fall down the shaft just expect damage. Get into the first encounter room.

This page is 100% a placeholder.

Gravity Antonion

Bamboo Pandimonium

Burn Rooster

Rooster Vertical Shaft 1

Burn Rooster's stage has 3 vertical shaft autoscrollers. The first one if the easiest, as it can be passed by Zero flying into the top left corner.

Burn Rooster

Encounter Room 1

Both encounter rooms are the same...unless you routed Vile into the second room.

Both involve destroying a small swarm of enemies jumping out of the furnace.

They are all defeated by Zero flying up against the ceiling with the D. Glaive

Burn Rooster

Rooster - Spike Room

The middle room of the stage is in the running for worst room in the game.

Burn Rooster

Encounter Room 2 - Vile

If you are not fighting Vile, use the same tactic as Encounter Room 1.

Burn Rooster

Rooster - Vertical Shaft 2

You cannot fly in the corner of this shaft to bypass it. Be mindful of your air dashes and double jumps.

Burn Rooster

Boss - Burn Rooster

Burn Rooster has seemingly random movements and can do a lot of damage.

it is recommended to have Zero survive this fight, as his double jump is useful for the escape.

Phase 1

The floor is flat, making this the simplest phase. The Rooster jumps around a lot and bounces off walls before coming to the ground.

Phase 2

The floor moves, making it harder to hit Rooster without taking damage.

Phase 3

Burn Rooster will light the two side walls on fire. If you can swing to do damage with the glaive fast enough to defeat him, do it. If you are in trouble, you can use the team attack.

Burn Rooster

Rooster Escape

The stage is not over after the boss fight.

The escape sequence is fairly simple after memorizing it, and has no enemies, but the lava is deadly.

It's worth practicing this with both Zero and a second character so you know how to handle it with double jumps and with an air dash.

Trilobyte

Trilobyte - Robot Skip

In any%, you can skip the entire robot chase sequence. This requires Zero Fly (and as such will not work on Legacy Collection 2).

It is very possible to soft lock while skipping the robot, forcing a reset. It is recommended to have a safety save here for marathon runs.

MrCab Setup

This setup requires zero fly and Gigabolt's weapon.

At the start of the stage, there is a hill/mountain/landmass in the background. Zero fly straight up until you can no longer see the top of that hill. Release the fly, and hold left. You should fall beyond the robot.

Quickly dash to the door. As soon as you are within striking distance of it, use Gigabolt's attack (dash and special). You should hear a dink, enter the door, and encounter Vile.

Yeti

Sunflower

Sunflower - How Grades Work

This stage is a series of training rooms, with small movement puzzle rooms in between. You are graded on your performance in the training rooms.

The first training room is a number of kills during a set amount of time. The remaining rooms are timed - you must defeat enemies in them fast to get a good grade.

Your goal in any% is to receive an "okay" grade out of the first room, and then top grades the rest of the way. This is not only fast, but your prize at the end is a Sub Tank rare metal. Getting all good grades will receive a different prize, not the sub tan - you must have one or two average grades to get the sub tank.

Taking a death in any of the intermediate rooms results in a loss of grade.

Sunflower

Sunflower - Encounter One

This is the timed encounter that sets your initial grade. There is no moving faster through this room.

In any% your objective is to get the middle grade in this room. This requires a "Yellow" number of kills. It should start red at 0.

It turns yellow at approximately 75 kills. As soon as it turns yellow, if you can fly away with Zero, fly straight up and leave the arena.

As a reminder, getting allgood grades will result in not getting the Sub Tank, and will lose time on the next challenge's pillar moving.

Jacob Elevator

Jacob Stage

This is a classic Elevator fight stage. There are no other obstacles to worry about.

Your two best friends in this stage are Zero's spin attack (Mantis), and Zero's slam attack (Gravity).

The spin attack will clear most of the enemies. This includes the elevator moving sections, and the "floors" where the elevator stops. You can damage and destroy the shield enemies before they can set up to block.

If a shield enemy does set up and blocks, the slam attack is the simplest way to destroy them. If they are at close range, you may want to switch back to Sword to have a closer hit box than the Glaive. You can also use Pandamonium's attack to get past the shields if needed.

X8 Refight Stage

X8 Refights

The biggest change between refights and the stage encounters is you will have the option of using weakness attacks here. For most robots, this is slower, but a very effective backup strat.

Notably Gigabolt is weak to Zero's normal melee attacks with Trilobyte's weapon enhancement, so it is hard to not hit him with it. While other special attacks will not stun him the same way, they also grant extended iframes.

The top center of the room has a large health drop, a large weapon ammo drop, and a team attack gem. The gem is extremely valuable if you lost a character and need to get them back.

It is possible to soft lock on Gigabolt by using Zero fly. make sure you can land on the platform as you defeat him.

After Refights

It is possible to use Zero Fly to leave the room by going up and left. This is barely faster by skipping the door transition, but leaves the game's explosions in place during the Sigma 1 fight.

X8 Refight Stage

Boss - Sigma 1

Sigma is weak to Zero's spin attack. Use it.

Sigma Moon Palace

Sigma Palace - Screen 1

Sigma Moon Palace

Sigma Palace - Vile

There is one final Vile encounter, and he uses his Ride Armor here.

A three cycle fight is intended and simple, especially with ice, but you can defeat Vile in 2 cycles.

With Zero

use the triple slash to knock Vile off the Ride Armor
hit him with enough D. Glaive Swings to make him enter brief iframes twice
After the second set of iFrames, use Yeti's Ice attack
Repeat. Vile should die to the second ice attack.
- IF ON HARD< FINISH THIS FIGHT WITH X
If Vile is still alive, just repeat. and use ice immediately after knocking him off the ride armor.

On Hard difficulty, Vile takes away the active character, making them unavailable to use. As such, do not end this fight with Zero on hard.

Sigma Moon Palace

Sigma Palace - Sigma 2

Sigma teleports around and uses large attacks. This is a fight where the Shock Absorber is extremely useful to avoid knockback.

He is weak to Sunflower's weapon, Shining Ray, and actually does not have many iframes after it. As such, this is X's time to shine (pun intended).

Phase 1

Sigma does not often put his shield up in Phase 1, so Zero should use D. Glaive and jump attacks to quickly move to phase 2.

Phase 2

Sigma tries to grab the active character after Phase 1, encouraging the player to tag the other character in. Since Sigma is very weak against X, you should take Sigma up on his offer.

If you are on Hard difficulty, this phase transition is where you will regain the use of the character Vile kidnapped earlier.

Have a full charge ready in case you need to take out the shield, or switch to Zero to triple slash it away. Remove the shield quickly so Sigma does not use a practically undodgeable attack