I made it a mission to get some kind of noteworthy record on Mega Man 9, and I tore my way up to fourth place on the Wii All Clear Rankings in pursuit of it. This run was originally 8th at 00:23:12, then 6th at 00:22:52, 5th at 00:22:38, 4th at 00:21:50. What you see here, 00:21:37, is the fifth iteration of my record breaking attempt (and still 4th, much to my anger). I did the first three within a span of 24 hours because I wasn't certain of the limits of my skill nor the full impact of a route change I had made, but now I'm finally reaching that point.

This single segment is the third successful run using a change in the robot master order; Hornet Man comes after Galaxy Man. What initiated this line of thought came from four failures in a row against the boulder miniboss in Jewel Man's stage. It angered me that a stage I Time Attacked to the point of almost making the rankings was so thoroughly stopping my progress in both normal and Superhero modes because of one enemy I thought I had dealt with for good (in fact, IIRC this was the driving force behind dropping to normal mode for a confidence boost). The problem wasn't just where he would land, but that he would drop other boulders in such a manner as to ensure my defeat.

Constantly.

There was nothing I could do about it, save maybe a lucky BHB (I've only heard of it dropping the boulder, but I have no way of seeing the boulder before it drops, so I can't use it). Having to wait 30 seconds to get back to the beginning of Splash Woman's stage made every single restart extremely tedious on top of that.

It should be noted that I hate luck-based crap with a passion, so the long reset wait combined with needing a lucky kill makes me wonder why I didn't break from the evil of groupthink sooner.

To this end, Hornet Man for the fourth stage made perfect sense. His stage doesn't change much taking it on early. You miss Tornado Blow, which loses a couple of seconds, and Rush Jet, but the latter means nothing since it's rather easy, save one part (which I solved with BHB), to just run the whole of the tape measure platform course on foot (plus you pick up two small screws for free, dropping the number of random screw pickups I had to get in this run to three, along with the large Plug and Hornet screws). Hornet Man himself is an easy opponent who spends a lot of time in the Mega Buster's sights, so despite the amount of hits necessary to kill him, the fight certainly isn't going at a snail's pace. It's really a matter of forgoing Tornado Blow and learning how to take out the robot master with the Mega Buster and Black Hole Bomb (Buster for damage until the third hornet is launched, BHB to kill the hornets and damage Hornet Man further).

I guessed that the "three" seconds lost by not having Tornado Blow ("three" is just my guess, I didn't research it) would be recovered at the boulder when Hornet Chaser dropped it from the ceiling early, and the approximate 10 second loss (based on my Time Attack results) from a good no-Magma Bazooka boss kill would be regained by sailing through Plug Man's stage with Rush Jet, skipping that wretched second disappearing block course. Rush Jet is acquired with the fifth boss kill, and Plug Man in weakness order comes fifth. With Hornet Man preceeding Jewel Man, Plug Man suddenly becomes sixth in order; his stage becomes that much shorter to deal with and can now be handled in the same vein as a Time Attack (again, sans T. Blow).

Other than that, some revisions to the Wily Castle stages, namely Tornado Blow use and M-Tank activation, sped up some key sections of the castle's first three levels, though this run sees a horrible Wily 2 fight because I simply don't know how to handle him when he starts on the ground (I improvised instead of waiting him out... a bad move that cost me 2nd I'm sure). This and I think Jewel Man's stage (the final leg) were the worst parts of the run.

In comparison to Satoryu's run, one of the major improvements is the one-round Twin Devil kill at the end of WC3, saving at the very least 20+ seconds. In Wily Castle 4, about the only improvement I can remember is the free hit against the Wily Capsule, Rush Coiling up to it and spamming Plug Ball just as his hit detection comes online for a split second prior to a teleport when his energy fills up. This improvement DID work out in this run because I finally have the timing down. Compared to the 22:38 and 21:50, I ran the initial eight stages much better overall despite some errors here and there, so despite the worse Wily stages, I felt the run still deserved a place on SDA.

I also need to work on my menu usage... good thing the game doesn't give a crap about that. I imagine you real time fanatics will hate this run for more than just the Magma Man level, but with any luck, someone will deliver a real time run sooner than later and we'll all enjoy seeing it. :)

Individual level notes

• Splash Woman: This was the only stage I took real strict timing notes on, and from those efforts, I can tell you that I lost about a second (maybe 2), and that the Splash Woman fight isn't optimal. The first coil in the second flying platform room is indeed unnecessary the way I do it (if done optimally, you can reach the ledge, but TBH I don't know if you actually save any time either way), but it is now a horrible habit that has more to do with personal timing than proper technique. I don't know if a 1:58 is possible, but if it is, I imagine this is how you would solve the problem.

  Time: 00:02:00

  There is a small amount of time spent at the save menu here because I changed the channel for too long. Mega Man 9 has a lot of downtime, what can I say?

• Concrete Man: No Concrete Shot hit this time. I know what I doing. :P

  The first part of the stage could definitely go faster, but usually my attempts to do so end in death or time loss. No speed up here until I can go faster consistently.

  Time: 00:03:29 (1:29 individual)

• Galaxy Man: Stupid C. Shot on the ground to dodge ladders... no attempt at the quick teleport to the boss door either. I still can't do it right in Time Attack, no way it's happening in a run yet.

  Time: 00:05:26 (1:57 individual)

• Hornet Man: No two round fight for me! Though I did make a mistake with the stomper at the end when I used four C. Shots to kill it. The pickup to replenish C. Shot was unnecessary (though it wasted no time directly,) and inspired me to try the four hit ( it did waste a precious second indirectly). This requires a stop, which I had forgotten about. The best way to kill it is to use three Laser Trident while approaching it and then use 2 C. Shot for the finish. Two Trident and 3 shots are fine as well if something goes wrong.

  Time: 00:06:55 (1:29 individual)

• Jewel Man: I screwed up in the first spider room by mistiming the Trident, and you can't really trust the hornets there. I also screw up twice in the first enemy-filled room after the boulder, first by jumping down there in a manner that causes the first jewel to rise like a wall, forcing a BHB, then screwing up the 2nd BHB there by not detonating it, resulting in a hit. I didn't get the one swing jump in the spike-filled room, and the last leg was a disaster for multiple reasons.

  Easily the worst part of the run overall and the reason my final save time didn't go under 13 minutes like I had planned. I usually get 1:28 (26 or 27 are possible), so by my average, I lost five seconds here.

  What's the gap between me and the 2nd place time again? Five seconds? Okay, making sure of how much I fail. -_-

  Time: 00:08:28 (1:33 individual)

• Plug Man: I've conceded that I can't beat the 1:07 room (I had to; in like, 8 hours of Time Attacks, I've only won against it once), so as long as I reach it just at or before 1:07, I don't give a crap what happens beforehand. No time was lost as far as I'm concerned.

  Time: 00:09:55 (1:27 individual)

• Tornado Man: Nothing noteworthy here save for the fact that Tornado Man sucked again (the position of the second tornado spooked me). I make an error in the room just prior to the rain, but the Coil/BHB I use to negate it is something I had practiced for Superhero mode anyway. My not being in position for the Coil when the first bomb detonated was the real mistake since there's no way to waste all seven bombs in this stage.

  Time: 00:11:35 (1:40 individual)

  This is where I make the revelation (and hence the double take at the save menu) that luck is decidedly against me on this run, as I've only picked up one random screw of the three I need. VERY unusual, but because there is a large screw in Magma Man's stage, I decide to proceed.

• Magma Man: I don't like the large screw here because it requires Mega Man to run up to it, but I had no idea how to do it optimally because I don't need to in such a run. Cue a terrible Hornet Chaser idea! :D

  .... :(

  The Changkey Dragon (BHB after four C. Shot) was messed up (three shots landed), but he wasn't allowed to go to a second round anyway because I rule at pause cancels. The use of Rush Jet at the end is an unnecessary precaution that I always take. This last stretch, like the leap of faith in Wily Castle 2, always invokes Murphy's Law, which I dare not give the game a reason to call upon after the screw debacle.

  I do know how to do the double hit with Tornado Blow now, and it shows in this run.

  If you don't know how, when he's at the middle of the room, use T. Blow when he telegraphs his jump (he'll squat first), NOT before. Whether it hits twice when he jumps high or low have different windows of opportunity that I can't describe exactly, but this should definitely work when he goes high at least. This can also be done when he's beside the middle, but I don't know the exact timing for that. I've just gotten lucky sometimes.

  Time: 00:13:02 (1:27 individual)

  Well, it could've been worse I guess. I'm still not a TA expert on this stage after all. ^_^

  My fastest eight stage completion to date is 13:01 (because I missed a large random WE capsule in Tornado Man's stage that should have gone to Rush Jet because a small WE pickup stopped time right when I hit pause YES I'M STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT), but a low 12:5X is possible.

• Wily Castle 1: I used a strategy that required three T. Blow this time around, a strategy I'm surprised I bothered with considering I usually botch it. This was no different, but the BHBs saved me...

• Wily Castle 2: ...until here, when I realize I'm short and have no backup plan. O_O At least the T. Blow in the gap room went smoothly. ^_^

  I used Rush Jet again at the leap of faith. You wanna see it done for real? Wait for next year.

  I took the low path prior to the horrible jump because for me it's faster. I have no confidence with the top path. That and I think if you do the bottom right it might be slightly faster because you lose less forward momentum when you reach the second block (first on the top). This requires a well-timed "edge jump" from the other room to avoid momentum loss.

  Finally, I employ charged Magma Bazooka to cut the shark face fight short, but only to the point that it was in my TA video (which, if you've seen the rankings for this stage since, I've beaten it). Unfortunately, I botch the first Bazooka, which was how I beat the 2:07:55. It's difficult to do right because of the difficulty in landing the shot and clearing out before a laser strike, but the worst that should happen is that you don't gain any time from before, which is what happened here.

• Wily Castle 3: One round Twin Devil kill. The only other interesting note is that I fly over the hoppers at the beginning with Rush Jet, which I recall being a Time Attack tactic.

  Also, random powerups suck. Speaking of that last section, I'm thinking I shouldn't use that new WC1 boss strategy I employed after all. I liked having Tornado Blow here way too much. :(

• Wily Castle 4: There's plenty to be happy about. Hornet Man went well, Galaxy Man could have been worse, I crushed Magma Man again, Wily 1 and the Capsule were good (the latter as good as it could possibly get given the pattern)... but then again, Splash Woman went wrong, Tornado Man flew at me, Galaxy Man wasn't optimal, Plug Man leapt right at me, and Wily 2... if I only knew what to do when he starts on the ground, I'd be #2 with this run. Instead, you get this because I panicked. Why did I panic and not just do what I always do? Well, supposedly, Wily 2 starting on the ground is faster.

  I have no idea where I heard that anymore, and I don't buy it now.

21:30 is possible. In fact, this run should have beaten that mark. Hell, I made a run that did, but this run is already in the queue and I'm not canning another one. If someone else doesn't beat me to it, I WILL obsolete this run by the end of the year (21:29 or better, the former is guaranteed), and whatever run I have ready on midnight New Year's Day will be the one I send in (so IOW, I won't submit anything until then unless it's a different mode... which could happen... *coughSuperherocough*).

I don't know if I updated these comments correctly, but it doesn't even matter since the run won't even be up a month before I send it down in flames. Think of this run as something to tide you over for Christmas while the real gift is en route. :D

Thanks to the following:

• xXAlucard - Commented on my Superhero demo to use Rush Coil to speed up the second flying platform room in Splash Woman's stage and encouraged me to learn how to kill the boss herself faster, which I took to heart.

  Also, thanks for being the first to declare war against my run, unlike those who would rather declare retirement, such as

• Satoryu - For the 24:48 run and comments on M-Tank and Tornado Blow usage in the Wily stages. Seriously, once you see this run, my time shouldn't look so out of reach anymore, so don't be that hasty to drop this game from your list.

• TO - Demonstrating the one-round Twin Devil finish through a very good WC3 Time Attack video.

• The SDA crew, past and present - For providing some quality entertainment over the years by hosting some of the best gameplay videos on the web.

• Also, thanks to whoever I may forgotten, or in Tiki's case, what reason there may have been. I'll put more reresearch into my comments on the next run.

• Capcom and Inti Creates - For making a game that, aside from a lack of options (why do game companies do this crap!?) and some oops moments having to do with seeing one's own All Clear and Endless Attack records, is nearly flawless for a Mega Man game. I want to bash it for the learning curve, but then, every Mega Man game had a reliance on memorization to get through anything with ease. 9 was just a return to the days of fair mercilessness. If you wanna be wimpy, go play the games after 2 on the Anniversary Collection's easy mode. :)

• You - For sucking up SDA's bandwidth to watch this crappy video. :P

Seriously though, watch this, learn from it, and give me some competition.