THE RUN HAS AUDIO COMMENTARY ON TRACK 2! (Use VLC Player for example)

Megaman V is the only Megaman game for Gameboy which has a unique (and very very cool) setting, while the other four just recycled the Robot Masters from the NES games. Basically, in this game you fight Robot Masters from space which are named after the planets that circle our sun. The levels and Robot Masters are mostly themed after the original meaning or origin of the planet's name. This game pushes the Gameboy hardware to the limit as there is often lag in this game, which makes it difficult to react sometimes, as input during a lagged frame is not noted by the game itself.

This game has a very good soundtrack, especially the final boss music and the stage select sounds. Try finding yourself a spot to download it :)

BIG THANK YOU to ventuz who gave me a lot of suggestions and showed me almost all tricks he did while TASing this game. You rock, dude.

Story:

"In the year 20XX AD, the world is at peace thanks to Megaman. Dr Wily's fourth attempt at world domination has failed and his name has once again faded from the minds of the citizens of the world. A few months later..."

(Meteor crash on Earth surface)

> As Rock (armorless) and Roll take a walk, Terra attacks them.

Terra: "So you are the famous Megaman. I am Terra - and you will soon be my slave!"

> Megaman equips his battle armor and fires a shot at him which fails...even the fully charged shot can't scratch Terra.

Megaman: "What?! My Mega Buster has no effect on him..."

"A few hours later the world was attacked by warrior robots from space."

Megaman: "Where am I?"

"Dr. Light found Megaman and equipped him with the new "Mega Arm", the most powerful weapon ever devised."

Dr Light: "Why have the Stardroids come here?!"

And so it begins...

• Intro:

  Can be skipped entirely.
   

• Neptune

  Password: R R T T T T T R R R R R T T E E T R R T R

  The first Copter is no problem. I jump after shooting that one Cannon there because it usually shoots before I can destroy it. Meh. Before I enter the screen of the next Copter, I wait for the floor to lower a bit so I can hit the Copter with a charged shot when the floor is high enough for me to hit it while it's moving. I crack the steam open with a shot so I get damaged and with the invulnerability time I can slide through the next steam and the Eye without a knock-back. I take the hit on the steam above the floor intentionally, because it's almost impossible to dodge. Then I use the same trick on the steam, cracking it up and sliding through the next two steams. I manage to pull off the slide-jump before the massive steam part, which saves quite some time. I always try to time my jumps correctly so that I touch the floor just when the steams turn off. Boss: Neptune He goes down pretty quick, using fully-charged and half-charged shots. That hit was intentional so I could finish him off while standing in the middle of the room.

• Mercury

  Password: R E   R E T E T R R T R E R T T T R R

  I just slide in the first corridor non-stop avoiding all dropping cans, saving time. Note the lag at the end of the corridor, so you get an idea how it will look later in the game :) I switch to NE to kill the buzz-saw enemy with a single slot, saving time. This little trick is neat. I stay within the slide gap and the Telestomper disappears completely, saving me the maneuvers to avoid it, which saves time (and nerves). The next buzz-saw dies to NE again. I crash into the saw intentionally because avoiding it is way too hard and sliding is faster, because if you get hit while sliding, you won't get pushed back. I complete the compactor part the fastest way by crashing into the enemies instead of killing them. Few screens later (after some lag) I abuse the mechanics of the backsnapping Mega Arm to kill that Crusher with one shot (I will refer to this mechanic trick as 'Backsnap'). Boss: Mercury He was a set pattern when fighting him with the Mega Arm. He only accepts one hit before he switches sides and goes invulnerable in the process. His three parts jump from right to left and slide from left to right. When he is hit by Salt Water at the time I hit him with it he will use the much quicker slide move, which saves time. Salt Water also does 2 damage to him and so it doesn't waste time at all. Btw, I am not charging the Buster during the jump sequence to reduce lag.

• Mars

  Password: R T T E E E E T T T T T T T E R R T T T R R

  As Mars was the god of war, the Robot Master is a full-power fighting machine with countless cannons attached and he is made of steel. And steel doesn't like corrosion, so maybe Salt Water works? Lots of sliding and shooting those arsenal enemies in the beginning. I manage to jump over the Turtle without getting damaged which is quite hard (Yay!). And in come the Apes. The jumping robotic apes, that throw robotic bananas. I try to slide past them, but some have to be killed (unfortunately). Working abuse of Backsnap three times in a row on the arsenal enemies. Neat! At the part just before the jumping ape I jump off that last mine instead of sliding because the lag in this screen could screw me up by dropping into the hole next to it with a freaking high percentage. First miniboss: One charged shot, 3 MEs to finish it before I have to use the other platforms. This saves quite some time and looks cool :) Luckily I managed to kill that Spin Shooter enemy shooting through the wall before it with ME so it couldn't go into invulnerable spinning mode. The part where I choose to shoot the Turtle instead of sliding into it is actually not slower because I would have lost the same amount of time trying to pass the 2nd rocket after dropping down. Second miniboss: It is not possible to kill it the same way as the other one, you have to use the platforms, because the miniboss has a different shooting pattern and would hit me or absorb a ME with one of its balls. I found it to be the fastest way to get hit by the first ape to slide through the second. FLYING BANANA! ZOMG! Boss: Mars Goes down pretty quick to NE.

• Venus

  Password: E E R T T T T T T E T R R E E T R

  Could've been a girl robot, but no, it is some bubble-shaped robot that fires, surprise!, bubbles. The whole level is shaped around bubbles. Bubble-spitting crab robots and bounce bubbles. Bubbly! The way I cross the first room is the fastest one without tool-assist. Also, the backward knock-back looks quite nice. In the room with the two flying hornets I found this way of passing it, but it's hard as it is timed very tight. Using more riskier moves I was able to dodge one of the waterfalls and to slide under that bubble enemy before it drops down. Blasting the fat splitting enemy reduces lag and not charging during this screen reduces lag, too. Riskier moves again! So I'm able to shoot those owls with a full-charged shot and finishing with a half-charged shot while jumping towards it to get to the edge where it was on. Big time saver. I killed that crab bot before it could shoot a bubble. The first bubble room is a light pain, but it's ok with sliding once. Finally, I jumped across the pit over to the crab bot to kill it, so I could reduce the cycles of the waterfall that would make me waiting to one instead of two. The second bubble room is insanely annoying and very hard to time and pull off the shots at those hornets. But I managed to do it properly. And no, you can't jump to the gap in the wall at the end of the screen immediately, you have to make a new jump to reach it. More lag in the screen with the waterfalls. The last owl gets beaten up using the mentioned way. Boss: Venus He is easy to manipulate using MA. He always jumps when you shoot. So that can be used to make up a good and fast pattern. Dropping a MA below him before he comes back down ensures a fast time, too.

• Dark Moon

  Password: T R T E T E T E R E R R E R T E R

  Space Launch Base... At first it's an automated cutscene with Megaman searching what is happening. A nice little cutscene, with a surprised Megaman here and there :) Terra warps in and tells Dark Moon to attack Megaman, so the fight begins! The player has to scroll through the dialogue between the two maunally. Boss: Dark Moon The Yellow Devil, Mark MMV. Its weakness is Mars' weapon and it takes 2 rounds to kill it. I managed to do the right jumping and shooting pattern here. This is the fastest possible fight even when TAS-ing.

• Pluto

  Password: E T E E E T R E E T R T T E R T T R

  Now, several years after the game was released, Pluto isn't officialy considered a planet anymore. I disagree. The Robot Master is shaped to be some wild snowcat with claws. Fits perfectly. In this level the Mettaur tanks appear. When you run into them you get hurt so much, no other enemy hurts that hard. So this threat deserves some special attention and planning. It would take way too long to kill them (and it wouldn't look good). I switch to NE right after that offensive rocket dies to destroy that flying magnets quickly. The miniboss dies insanely fast to NE. I like the way I handle the corridor with the dropping metal poles. Killing that magnet so that the first big pole wouldn't drop and sliding past the others. Again this contains some hard timing. I accidentally take a hit of one of those little poles. Another tank I have to slide into (look at my health!). Afterwards, I jump over the offensive rockets instead of shooting them because its faster and reduces the lag the explosion would cause. Not charging in the next screens reduces lag again. Second miniboss. Salt Water. Nuff said. Here is what actually makes more than up for my little mistake earlier: Protoman decides to not be mean to me and drops a large HP refill. Most of the time, he would drop a S Tank, which would waste much more time as it is not needed to refill weapons and bring up the pause menu more than once. The chance that this drop happens is around 1/20 (during my runs at least). And in the last screen before the boss door you will see why I need that HP refilling: another of those lovely Metool Tanks. Otherwise, I would've needed an E-Tank which would save much more time collecting the P-Chips and buying it or collecting it during a level. Boss: Pluto His weakness is Mercury's weapon. The little HP refills that fly around me cause a lot of lag that is why I try to collect them as fast as I can while focusing on htting him :) Fastest possible fight.

• Jupiter

  Password: R T T T E T R E E E T E R T T R R R

  The level with the most lag, because there are so many flickering lights, low gravity and enemies all around. This level was the most difficult to speedrun. Just saying. Ok, now here's where my route change kicks in seriously. I use PL here because after using it you will get invulnerable for a short period of time. That time I use to slide through those Electric Chargers. Doing this multiple times (as there are multiple Chargers) saves much time. Timing of jumps and using of PL and its invulnerability is very tightly timed and difficult to pull off. I slide forward after the first charger to spawn that magnet enemy, and backward to avoid that spark. Then I jump inbetween the magnet and its missile on the floor, which is tricky as hitboxes are sometimes weird. PL through the last two Chargers in this corridor is a very hard maneuver, but to make up for it it looks cool :) I switch to VE now because it helps me to kill the magnet, reducing lag, and on the next screen that big Sparker enemy so it doesn't stop me by sparking the floor. After the hornet comes one of the hardest moves in the whole run. After PLing through the Charger I slide-jump to the edge behind it. This enables me to dodge the flying magnet and its missile without getting hit which would lag even more than it already does while dodging. I then finish the magnet with VE to reduce lag once again. Not falling off the edge after crashing into that Charger is hard, too. Just watch how close I am to falling down. I drop down the ladder and re-jump onto it so I can reach the top faster and to avoid the spark from the Charger. The slippery ground always makes me nervous, because it's very hard to control Megaman properly when he's sliding. I have to wait for VE to kill that Sparker, as a hit would only slow me down. I use ME to destroy the remaining Chargers that stand on edges. I can't crash into them because I would always fall down the holes next to them. But they can be hit while I stand on plain ground. Man, how lucky was I not to drop down right before the boss door ;) Boss: Jupiter He is weak to VE. He gets invulnerable while shooting horizontally, and the 4 little projectiles would cause the Bubble Bomb to get deflected. I'm pretty close to the middle of the room, too, which saves time and is tricky to do because of the slippery floor.

• Saturn

  Password: T T T R T E E T E T R T T T T T R E T T R

  The best themed Robot Master with that cool Saturn Ring around him. Those flying pendel robots not only slow time, they also cause lag, which makes them a primary target. Dropping past the spike pit a few screens later can be done if you press forward hard. As I said before, I switch to VE to kill that Pendel. VE also is a truly awesome weapon in the whole level, as I keep using it throughout the time. It ensures a one-hit-kill on every enemy here, except those cigarettes. Before the third Pendel I wait a bit so VE would hit it. If I would've jumped immediately towards it VE wouldn't have hit and I'd crash into the Pendel, falling into the pit. Nevertheless, I finish it before it can slow time. Shooting VE against the wall before that fat flying enemy makes it crawl up the wall very fast and straight up, destroying the enemy. This saves me a slow-down. Same thing with the next fat enemy as with the third Pendel. I have to wait a bit for VE to hit properly. Boss: Saturn His weakness is JU. It's one of those stronger weaknesses, as a hit does 4 damage instead of 3. This is the fastest possible pattern.

• Uranus

  Password: T E R R T T T E E T T E E T R E T R T R

  My best segment. In fact, it is so precise and well executed, I doubt it could be done faster during a TAS. JU is the weapon of choice for this level. It's a quick one-hit-kill to all enemies in this level, even the annoying seal robots and those one-eyed jumpers. I use JU on some weird looking moments, even before I would hit the enemy. This is so I can slide immediately after hitting the floor and destroying the enemy. Otherwise, JU would force me to remain shooting and not moving for some minor time. First miniboss: Its weakness is MA. But to hit it you normally have to jump in the blocks that the statue shoots out. As this takes a bit too much time for my liking, I use RC (in reference to Megaman 9 speedruns :)). So, after getting the momentum of RC I switch to MA, placing to rockets in the right spot to hit and bringing the third rocket in using the mentioned stone. This move is hard to pull off, but it pays out. Rush to the rescue again! I use RJ to pass the spike-floor screens much faster. The second screen requires almost exact-pixel placement of RJ to reach the ladder. And the lag on that screen doesn't make things easier... To save the time needed for a weapon switch I keep on using JU, as it's still one of the best weapons to cross the following screens. Second miniboss: Same strategy. Did it properly (Yay! #2) I use SA on the last two enemies before the boss door, because otherwise the top one will shoot arms in the direction of the ladder, hitting me as soon as I would've been on top and wasting time. Also, killing the lower one would've slowed me down, so it's a nice trade-off. Boss: Uranus PL for the rape. He takes 5 damage from PL and also the same damage value of fully-charged PL and half-charged PL. So I spam half-charged PL on the last three hits.

• Wily Star

  Password: E R R R R T E E R R R T T T T E T R T R

  Boss: Terra Revenge time. NEVER has a weakness been SO obvious like here. Terra has some really really random and weird patterns and the lag during the fight makes it even harder. It may look strange, but it's one of my fastest fights. (Really bad luck at not grapping the last stone there...) Cutscene follows where Dr. Wily reveals himself as the Mastermind behind the Stardroids. This guy can build whole planets, couldn't he just work for humanity and not against it? Besides, the Wily Star looks cool. Note the little Death Star reference on the top-right corner of the planet. Space Flight The dodging of the meteors is easy. The battle against the Space Bots is very random, as the place where they spawn changes every time. But using Jump to make Rush move faster speeds up the fight. Also, the double blast with a fully-charged shot on two of the Bots saves much time, making up for the Terra misery. Boss: Skull Cannon If you almost hit the beam after it's gone, you can hit the Skull for 5 damage, finishing it in 4 turns. Inside Wily Star In the first corridor I use some VERY hard maneuvers with PL to get past the Chargers and the buzz-saw quickly. If I time the last Charger wrong, I would drop into that pit onto the lower path here, effectively ending the run. But I manage to do it properly and after that I dig through the wall with UR and PL. Nice little trick: If you keep sliding non-stop after getting a PL-invulnerability, you will stay invulnerable and can slide freely through enemies without getting hit. This works as long as you don't jump. Same trick is used on the following crab bots and the Metool Tank. Boss: Enker Within the Wily Star Dr. Wily even managed to rebuild all the unique Gameboy Robot Masters. Enker is from Megaman I. He is weak to NE but I will need it later and using the Mega Arm is just as fast. After dropping down I use UR to destroy the Chargers before they begin charging. I have to be careful here because if they start charging it not only wastes time waiting for them to shoot or crashing into them, but would also cause lag, wasting additional time. So another fair trade-off. Boss: Quint From Megaman II. He still uses the same cheap pattern. His weakness is MA, but I need it later, too, so I just use Mega Arm. After Quint I use the PL trick again so I can slide through that birdie host robot at the end. Plus, I need PL anyway to continue through the wall. Afterwards, more sliding into the next boss door. And more lag. Boss: Punk From Megaman III. He is weak to VE and I finally use a weakness here. He does the pattern where he jumps more than twice on the left side, saving time that would've been lost if he had switched sides again. After Punk I have to jump off the ledge to avoid the spikes. VE serves as a good weapon on the next part. Look how I slide away from that projectile from the big cannon! Boss: Ballade From Megaman IV. Weak to MA, that's why I didn't use it on Quint. Goes down pretty quick, although he mysteriously run to the right side after just one jump. Then just another long falling downwards with a spike trap and the Boss obligatory refights begin. Boss Refights Some of the Robot Masters can actually just be fought here with their weakness because it is not possible to have those weapons during their stages. Quick fight with Venus. Jupiter dies also pretty quickly. Mars goes down fast. Neptune's weakness is EA. Bad luck on the path EA takes (seems random, too) but nevertheless Neptune is destroyed very fast. Fastest possible fight with Saturn. Luckily he didn't jump. Fastest possible fight with Pluto. Fastest possible fight with Uranus. Mercury's weakness actually is SA. If you get the first hit within his hitbox, he gets hit twice before he turns invulnerable. So it takes two turns to finish him. I fought Mercury as the last boss to spare me a time-wasting pause menu weapon switching. I need to refill SA and NE completely, and PL some. Bad Luck: Protoman drops a S-Tank, wasting approx. 4 seconds. But his chance to drop a S-Tank is even higher here than before, but as it is random you can't count on it or otherwise you would lack the weapon energy for the weapons you will need for Wily. Boss: Fists Bad luck on the first fight, I couldn't jump off a third time off the floor to hit it again because lag and the shaking ground screwed me once again, and that even twice. It's just a minor time loss compared to the rest of the segment. Optimal fight on the second, stronger fist. Boss: Wily Machine Here's a major time-saver: There is some kind of bug. I basically PL into the machine to get some invulnerability time and pause-cancel SA to destroy it. This actually skips the second phase of Wily's machine and directly warps Megaman to the next cutscene. Awful. I don't know if this was intended to be possible or not :) Boss: Sunstar, the Doomsday Weapon It's all about World Domination for this guy, just like Dr. Wily. He's just stronger. This fight was my fastest ever. I managed to land that single shot before he begins charging. Afterwards, I just shoot as fast as I can. After some hits, he burns the floor, starting the next phase. I was able to tell where he would burn the floor so I jumped there, saving time. Here I just keep on shooting again and jump directly into the hole he creates by burning the floor, saving time again. That's the most tricky phase to hit him good and fast. I hit him before he charges. After he ends his screw-attack mode I hit him once, then after he jumps up, stopping his rain flush move and hitting again when he drops down. Doing this a second time successfully finishs him off, speeding the fight up remarkably. I didn't need an E-Tank here, saving more time. After a manual dialogue, it's all about the Outro. Watch Wily Star explode. The next movie reference: Independence Day. The end sequence is pretty Megaman-ish, as Megaman chases the escaping Wily. I don't think this game was meant to be the end of the Megaman timeline, as Dr. Wily says he gives up forever.

Thanks for reading the comments and I hope you enjoy(ed) the video as much as I enjoyed speedrunning Megaman V!
Also thanks to the whole SDA team for running such a nice site and all their effords.