Originally released as an arcade game in 1996, Power Fighters featured the same gameplay as Power Battle, but with a few tweaks. A new character, Duo is added to the lineup, and each character gets a power move. Instead of choosing which era of Mega Man robot master you fight, you pick one of three storylines: Search for Wily, Rescue Roll, and Recover the New Parts. Re-released as part of Mega Man Anniversary collection.
Individual-levels run as Mega Man in 0:10:36.66, Duo in 0:10:51.66:
| Mega Man | Proto Man | Bass | Duo | |||||||||
| Game | Time | Date | Player | Time | Date | Player | Time | Date | Player | Time | Date | Player |
| Search for Wily | 0:04:20.03 | 2008-01-26 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols | 0:04:30.95 | 2005-11-22 | Chris 'Satoryu' Kirk | 0:04:37.55 | 2005-12-27 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols | |||
| Rescue Roll | 0:02:51.93 | 2005-11-04 | Philippe 'Suzaku' Henry | 0:03:02.93 | 2008-01-26 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols | 0:02:54.68 | 2005-12-27 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols | |||
| Recover the New Parts | 0:03:24.70 | 2005-11-04 | Philippe 'Suzaku' Henry | 0:03:05.66 | 2008-05-23 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols | 0:03:13.18 | 2006-02-06 | Chris 'Satoryu' Kirk | 0:03:19.43 | 2005-12-27 | Alex 'AquaTiger' Nichols |
Alex's comments:
I'm going to keep this short.
If you're watching this, the verifiers had mercy on the ending and saw the overall fact that this beats the previous best for any character by ten seconds.
I'm not going to spoil this one ahead of time, except that I may never be able to reach a time like this in years.
Search for Wily as Duo:
First off, big thanks to Suzaku for his strategies. I also have to thank Satoryu, who has done runs of this game himself and has provided some help, and Mike Uyama - although me thanking Mike is a 'by extension' thanks, because I don't recall which tricks are his ideas.
Speaking of tricks, I'm starting to worry that between the four of us (myself and the people I just credited), we might have gotten almost all the possible tricks out of this game. (Watch as one of the other three proves me wrong - I almost guarantee it's going to happen now that I said this.) There are not really many tricks that can shave time in this route besides starting with Plant Man first - he's more annoying if you wait, and his 'weakness weapon', the Atomic Fire, is hard as hell to aim effectively since you need it to hit the floor below him to do any decent damage. My planned strategy didn't work so well - the idea was to soften him up with half-charged blasts (thanks to Suzaku for that part of it - although he suggested doing that the whole fight, which I think works perfectly with anyone BUT Duo), then alternate shoulder charges (Duo's dash is the only one that can directly hurt enemies) with fully-charged shots. The goal is to make sure the shoulder charge is always the attack that causes knockback - it doesn't make the enemy fall down like a fully-charged shot can.
I charge at Gyro Man right away to buy time to hit him with the first Plant Barrier, and somehow that weakens him enough to get two Plant Barriers to connect in a row without stun. Once I run out, my strategy (which I discussed back at Plant Man) works quite well this time.
Once again, I knock Centaur Man off his base with the shoulder charge to increase the chance the first Gyro Attack hits. The fight actually goes pretty well, although I wish he wouldn't block so much.
If there's any fight I outright want back, it's this Shadow Man fight. I actually run out of Centaur Arrow - don't ask me why I chose to hit him with Plant Barrier - and decide to pick up Beat so I can spam half-charged shots without incident. That didn't work either, though. I think you were supposed to get something from finding the phony Wily here, but my suspicion is that faulty programming of the game botched that (noting that you get boosts to BOTH your default arm cannon and your weapon energy stores in Roll's scenario).
Bubble Man wasn't such a hot fight either - I once again decide to pick up Beat after running out of Shadow Blade. And it actually works better this time. Heat Man actually goes without much incident - I mean, he slips out of my grip once, but that's it.
Mad Crusher's music is one of only five in this game that I really like (Gyro Man is a second one, and I'll discuss others with the comments in other runs). I spam Gyro Attack instead of Centaur Arrow there because Mad Crusher's not kicked back when I do - plus, Centaur Arrow is hard to aim unless you're in their face, and Duo's attacks are difficult to aim up close. This is actually one of my better fights with Mad Crusher.
A great fight here with Wily concludes this run. Despite getting faster than what was listed as Satoryu's Bass time with this route at the time of this writing, I still think this can be done better, and I may very well redo it later.
Rescue Roll as Proto Man:
Let me quickly detail each character's differences, since I KNOW someone's wondering:
This route's special item doubles your maximum weapon energy, as well as enhancing the character's fully charged shot.
Important stuff on the route:
Rescue Roll as Duo:
First off, big thanks to Suzaku for his strategies. I also have to thank Satoryu, who has done runs of this game himself and has provided some help, and Mike Uyama - although me thanking Mike is a 'by extension' thanks, because I don't recall which tricks are his ideas.
Speaking of tricks, I'm starting to worry that between the four of us (myself and the people I just credited), we might have gotten almost all the possible tricks out of this game. (Watch as one of the other three proves me wrong - I almost guarantee it's going to happen now that I said this.) The tricks introduced in this run are a route change (starting with Stone Man first) and using the rather infamous Thunder Beam trick on bosses that are normally not weak to it.
Despite the fact that I didn't beat Suzaku's Megaman time (more on why that was the case later), I am convinced that starting with Stone Man is faster than starting with Slash Man. The fact that Suzaku claims (well, that's the best term I have at the time of this writing) to have gotten a 2:34 and forgot to record it is the closest thing to proof that I have at this time.
Now, fight-by-fight comments:
-Stone Man: My strategy was to soften him up a little with half-charged shots, then alternate shoulder charges and fully-charged shots, making sure the shoulder charge is always the attack that knocks Stone Man back. It works excellently this time, and he only blocked once, which is rare - he usually blocks far more often.
-Elec Man: This stage has the only music I like on this particular route. The time I get on this fight is about average for me - I've only managed one timeunit faster, for reference. Yes, you can jump off the walls in this game, as I demonstrate, but there's not much use for it in a speedrun.
-Dive Man: No, you did not miss anything. When you hit enemies, it gradually takes more shots to stun them. A shoulder charge does just enough damage that two Thunder Beam trick shots can be done without any stun in between. Poor sap doesn't even get much of a second phase. Getting Roll is random, and I wish I'd have gotten it here - I could have used it for Slash Man.
-Slash Man: I was originally going to use Power Stone here, but I discovered it knocks even enemies that aren't weak to it off their feet. Thus, I decided to try the Thunder Beam trick. As you can see, for the amount of time I have Thunder Beam energy, it's very effective. Dive Missile (the attack I use at the end, and the one to which Slash Man is vulnerable) looks horrid in this game, in my opinion. I get Roll here, and right when I NEED her.
-Cut Man: It is very difficult to hit that close on small targets with Duo, so I screw up the Thunder Beam trick more than once. I actually run out of Thunder Beam and have to resort to the Slash Claw. This could be seen as a potential failure on my part, if you're a stickler for this kind of thing.
-Shade Man: The guy just wouldn't use his Crush Noise attack until the last minute - that attack would have allowed me to spam Thunder Beam and save probably 10 seconds (I say that much because it's about 2 seconds on the game timer per timeunit).
-Yellow Devil: My greatest shortcoming in all of MM2:PF is my complete inability to show the Yellow Devil who's boss. This is probably the sole reason I fail to beat Suzaku's Megaman record at the time of this writing. I take a hit early so I can get close for the Thunder Beam trick. After a while I take Beat so I can just spam semi-charged shots at him. I somehow wind up only a few timeunits off of Suzaku's run, but I think this alone is my greatest area for improvement. Honestly, this is one of the luckiest fights I've had against him.
-Dr. Wily: Uneventful until the last phase. I actually miss on the Thunder Beam trick once.
While I'm disappointed to leave this run slightly short of Suzaku's Megaman record at the time of this writing, I'm pretty satisfied with this run. If I could get much better luck against Yellow Devil, this might have dropped even further - and if I can somehow remain sane while fighting him I may try this again.
Rescue the New Parts as Proto Man:
Let me quickly detail each character's differences, since I KNOW someone's wondering:
This route's special item is a high jump - hold Up and hit Jump to get a double-height jump.
For the most part, I'm trying new stuff with this run.
Important stuff on the route:
Rescue the New Parts as Duo:
First off, big thanks to Suzaku for his strategies. I also have to thank Satoryu, who has done runs of this game himself and has provided some help, and Mike Uyama - although me thanking Mike is a 'by extension' thanks, because I don't recall which tricks are his ideas.
Speaking of tricks, I'm starting to worry that between the four of us (myself and the people I just credited), we might have gotten almost all the possible tricks out of this game. (Watch as one of the other three proves me wrong - I almost guarantee it's going to happen now that I said this.) I originally had a record of slightly over four minutes with Megaman on this route, and I must say I was outright embarrassed to see my time trounced as badly as Suzaku did it (Suzaku shaved about 37 seconds off my time then, for reference). I decided to pick this up again with Duo. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to beat Suzaku's Megaman time at the time of this writing - I was expecting to get something like 3:35 on this route. When I got this, I knew I HAD to submit it.
Here's some fight-by-fight notes:
-Guts Man: I had forgotten to implement my shoulder charge strategy (which is to soften him up with half-charged shots and then alternate shoulder charges with fully-charged blasts), but I don't think I could have saved much time with it anyway.
-Air Man: I can't take credit for this trick, but I don't know whether waiting for Air Man to do his Wind Attack was Suzaku's idea or Mike Uyama's. However, Air Man wouldn't cooperate, so patience was the key. This is early as you can possibly get the Super Jump in a route - I don't need it yet.
-Quick Man: In my old Megaman run, this fight was one of my worst. I'm much prouder of how I handled this.
-Pharaoh Man: In my opinion, this fight has the best music in the entire Power Fighters game. Anyway, this is not a BAD fight, but not exactly what you'd call excellent.
-Gemini Man: Pharaoh Wave eats him early on, but I didn't do so well in getting the 'buy me time to switch' hit in. I do manage to have time to switch to the Super Arm to finish him off, though.
-Napalm Man: You may have to watch this in slow motion to understand the fortune I had here. I get him to drop not one, but TWO large weapon refills. I don't even need to switch to Gemini Laser (which takes one hell of a long time to dissipate)! I don't predict anyone replicating this kind of luck.
-Mech Dragon: Another good music piece for this fight. Anyway, this is probably the worst part of my run, but Mecha Dragon can ruin a lot of runs, so this is decent. I think I was still reeling from the excitement of my Napalm Man fight. At least I don't get Beat. (Yes, I know that's a very bad joke. Deal with it.)
-Dr. Wily: It's easier for me to aim the Super Arm at range like this. The fight was pretty uneventful, actually.
Now, despite having gotten this kind of a time on this route, and despite the kind of luck I got, I STILL think this run can be beaten. I don't have a clue who'll do it, but I still think there's room for improvement.
Chris's comments:
Search for Wily as Bass:
Seeing as how much of a joke my last run for this was, I had to improve it. The correct route and abuse of the flippy kick. And a side of luck with weapon refills.
Plant — no problems here. Killed in less than 15 seconds
Gyro — usually he's a real pain. This time he was really nice to me.
Centaur — I don't like fighting this guy. Got real lucky with the weapon energy. This is better than what I had before, but still needs improvement.
Shadow — one or two misses, but I ain't complaining
Bubble — ick. I missed so many times because of a jumpy trigger finger. This is my only real complaint.
Heat — couple misses, but just fine. More weapon energy.
Grinder — overall, pretty good. He was making too many earthquakes and I missed the last shot, but okay.
Wily — missed a few times with Bubble Lead, but I got another refill, so its okay.
Another improvement may be in the future. A perfect playthrough might get below 4 minutes. We'll see.
Recover the New Parts as Bass:
yet another Bass run by me. and its a damn good one.
Guts --> for once, he didn't jump after the charged shot. very nice.
Air --> three second kill if memory serves correctly. absolutely perfect.
Quick --> this couldn't have gone much better. i got lucky with the weapon refills. 10 sec kill.
Pharaoh --> overall very nice. he can be killed about 2 or 3 seconds quicker, but i aint complaining.
Gemini --> I was a little scared of Eddie...
Napalm --> I don't think I could ever copy Aquatiger's luck in his Duo run. this was okay though.
Dragon --> in one word: great
Wily --> yawn for the first part. for the second part, i actually killed him this time. thank god. i dont know why. i just have difficulty hitting him sometimes...
I am so happy with how this one turned out. so happy I'm going to lay off the game for a long time. and yeah, the MHX run was rejected. so I'll get to work on redoing it.
Philippe's comments:
Rescue Roll as Mega Man:
Here's a much needed improvement over my previous "Rescue Roll" run, only this time, with Mega Man. While the addition of the uppercut is nice, the run is better simply because it's cleaner. I make far less mistakes and I'm able to use the Thunder Beam to its fullest.
The biggest difference between this run and my previous Proto Man run is the battle against Yellow Devil. With PM, I defeat him with a 46 on the clock, but, using the Thunder Beam, I destroy him with a 68. Other good improvements is my Dive Man fight and Elec Man fight. Elec Man is easy when you get the hang of him, but I'm surprised Dive Man was so pitiful. Dr. Wily's second form is destroyed in 2 hits thanks to the Thunder Beam trick. Strategy wise, I'm not sure what else can be improved, but execution wise, Stone Man and Shade Man have room for improvement. Even Yellow Devil can be beaten much faster. I wonder how much more time can be shaved off this scenario?
Recover the New Parts as Mega Man:
Two words to this run; SUPER ARM. It's such a powerful and useful weapon in this game. And it's pretty plentiful, too. I wait around for Air Man to perform his Wind Attack, that way he doesn't fall or get stunned from the Super Arm. I'm almost able to beat Quick Man without changing to his weakness. It's possible, but can be very tough to do. I nearly defeat Pharoah Man with it, but I'm forced to use the Quick Boomerang to finish him off. The Pharaoh Wave usually destroys Gemini Man, but I miss one too many hits and finish him with the Buster. That's probably the worst part of my run. Due to his high HP (especially this late in the game), Napalm Man takes longer to beat and the Gemini Laser is a very slow weapon that takes a long time to leave the screen. A missed shot usually means a lot of wasted time. The Mech Dragon has the ability to ruin runs pretty easily, but I think I did pretty well. I keep him at bay for most of the fight and he only gets a couple of hits on me and the second one didn't really cost me much time. Dr. Wily is pretty standard for all three scenarios so I didn't have much trouble.
Big thanks go to AquaTiger and Mike Uyama for most of the kickass strategies that allowed me to get this time.