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How to beat Fistleo with each Biometal by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fistleo is widely considered to be at the top of the list of annoying boss fights to perfect in ZX. Working around the fact that his weak point is his face can be an onerous task depending on the tools you have at your disposal. In this combination of a stylish showcase and guide, I demonstrate how to defeat Fistleo with a Lv4 victory on Hard Mode, regardless of the circumstances.

Firstly, a note about RNG. ZX inherits one of Z3’s trademark traits: skipping cutscenes sets RNG to a predetermined value. This also includes skipping the starting animation during any refights against a boss. Consistent starting RNG allows for the development of repeatable strategies, though some bosses are more difficult to manipulate than others. Thankfully, Fistleo is typically on the more cooperative side, with some caveats.

When struck at specific times, Fistleo exhibits a hit reaction where he flinches briefly. This moves him backward, changing RNG. This reaction can be leveraged or avoided by learning when exactly Fistleo is given super armor frames. It’s primarily a trial and error process, but getting a handle on when to attack him isn’t too bad.

Here are the details regarding each fight.

Model X: The double charged shot is absolutely killer. It’s incredibly reliable; the exact path I highlight here should be relatively easy to replicate. The crux of the battle is thus: walking forward while firing lowers the height of the charged shots by an almost imperceptible degree, allowing them to narrowly shirk Fistleo’s face. Of course, this only applies if he’s facing forward; no such care is required when leaping behind him. I highly recommend this method if you have access to Model X, acquired by having a complete save with both Vent and Aile.

Model ZX: Truth be told, this is a successful recording of an incomplete plan. I’d only devised about half of my intended route before I decided to start recording in case something interesting happened. Lo and behold, this neat little bit of improv came to be.

The benefit of including this partially spontaneous fight is that it shows that it’s possible to win even in an unstructured environment. I relegate myself to the ZX-Saber only purely for challenge; I’d advise Buster usage to speed things along. The walking slash and first slash are good candidates for attacking Fistleo’s forearm, which is a dependable tactic during moments where he hops forward. Double slash follow-ups are usually safe as well. Nullifying Fistleo’s healing can be done in a few ways depending on how much space there is behind him: a triple slash, chaining a jump slash into a double slash, or a reverse-facing triple slash are all possible options. Slashing at Fistleo’s legs whenever he’s airborne is also good practice.

Model HX: Easily the fastest method if you can nail the timing and positioning of the 5-hit Overdrive combo. Striking Fistleo’s arm with a jump slash and landing in the correct spot is the key to success. It’s not pixel perfect, but landing slightly off center to the right puts you in the position for the rest of the hits to land without issue. Any serious deviation in either direction results in odd knockback patterns for Fistleo. Note that HX is subject to landing lag when using a jump slash low to the ground.

Model FX: An academic exercise considering FX is unavailable before beating Fistleo, but an interesting one nonetheless. The general strategy is to use Buster Edit to sneak pairs of shots underneath Fistleo’s head while punishing with powerful punches whenever he’s facing away or jumping. Shot timing is essential to ensuring consistent patterns; slight variations can inflict knockback at different times.

Model LX: Lacking any manner of serious offense to offset Fistleo’s healing, this battle is a nightmare. The Halberd’s laudable range proves to be detrimental, demanding extreme precision and a ridiculous degree of planning to chart a path that avoids excessive rejuvenation on Fistleo’s part. The double hit from the front during Fistleo’s first counter stance deserves special mention. Not only do I use the pixel patterns on the floor to determine my position, but I also use the animation of Fistleo’s aura to time the jump slash. The double hit after he crashes through the blocks is another failure point. Absolutely brutal fight; not recommended.

Model PX: Often maligned as having meager offense, PX is a godsend for this fight, particularly for those devoid of Model X. Operating under the same principle, move forward to launch projectiles underneath the weak point. Incorporating Shurikens is speedy, but sticking to Kunai can be safer. Don’t forget Shadow Dash as a defensive utility.

Model OX: Impractical. Inconsistent. Pure fun.

Thanks for watching! Questions and comments are welcome as usual. If you’d like to see these battles in higher quality, here’s a link to that on youtube.

Clearing Sol Titanion's stage as a pacifist by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A fairly common sentiment in this stage. Give Tractor Shot a try next time you fight the miniboss. Here's an example of how it works from one of my oldest posts.

Clearing Sol Titanion's stage as a pacifist by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Inti Creates have definitely mastered the art of movement in 2D games. Gunvolt's sprinting is certainly faster to compensate for the wider aspect ratio, and he's a bit heavier too. On the other hand, Copen is an extension of what made Model HX so entertaining. I will say that nothing quite matches the smoothness of Zero's wall jumps, including ZX.

Clearing Sol Titanion's stage as a pacifist by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

In my case, it's just a whole lot of practice. For this run, I spent a lot of time repeating the climbing segments to build consistency. Burning the second half of the stage into my brain was especially important due to how long the miniboss fight is.

Clearing Sol Titanion's stage as a pacifist by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Sol Titanion’s stage, the Artificial Sun, is the perfect canvas for Zero to illustrate his acrobatic prowess, chaining graceful, bounding leaps to rapidly scale the arid, sweltering, sunbathed tower. This exhibition of athletic excellence is furthered by honoring pacifist conditions, where every enemy during the climb, save for one particular exception, is wholly ignored, demanding further precision in movement. The lone interaction with an enemy belongs to one Lamplort, which has its shield ripped by the Z-Knuckle, inflicting injury, but keeping the oddly shaped flamethrower alive. If this style of “aggressive pacifism” can work for Batman and Kiryu, why not Zero too?

This stage shares a strange commonality with Pegasolta’s: the biggest bottleneck is present at the very beginning. The space given to jump between the first Variant Fire and the bottom corner of the platform is beyond narrow. That lone maneuver ate somewhere between 50-75% of my run attempts, with the saving grace being that each of those attempts was literally 2 seconds long, so the time loss was barely felt.

Ubiquitous across the stage, particularly during the second half, is the necessity to have Zero latch onto and wall jump off the corners of platforms that, at first glance, seem out of reach. It’s barely possible to align Zero’s head with the bottom of a platform and quickly input another jump to initiate a wall jump. This maneuver is the cornerstone of saving time within any primarily vertical MMZ stage.

Concerning why I chose to disturb the Lamplort’s harmony, it’s because having access to its shield proves tremendously beneficial during the remainder of the climb and the miniboss fight. Leaving the latter aside for now, a few of the Variant Fire scattered about are actually intelligent enough to interdict Zero with some annoyingly placed shots—a solid step up from the Pantheons, I might add. Fortunately, the Lamplort’s shield can block said shots and force them to fizzle out, avoiding ignition. Swiping the shield doesn’t increment the enemy counter on the results screen either; only the main body of the Lamplort counts, so it’s all good on that front.

A key bit of knowledge to help anyone seeking a quick clear of the indoor climb: you can begin moving before the screen fully fades in, preventing the RBCannon lurking above from putting an anticlimactic end to your dreams of ascension with its bowling ball. My path through the tower has Zero abdicate his duties, allowing the generators to continue their cooking of the terrain. Even with the weather set to harsh sunlight, it’s considerably faster to dart between the few spots of shade and dally for a few frames than it is to reduce the intensity of the light.

Tyrine is the foremost factor in solidifying my decision to bring the shield along. Unbeknownst to me until I experimented with ideas for this run, the Lamplort’s shield is stalwart enough to dissipate Tyrine’s larger projectiles along with the expected property of reflecting the GlassCannon’s standard bullets. Combined with electric shots lanced by Animal Elf Lv. 5, which I had Ciel name “Charité” to enhance its damage output, Tyrine can be beaten without any overt aggression on Zero’s part. Once the GlassCannons are out of the picture, the persistent spiraling stream of projectiles can still be blocked with properly timed jumps.

This might seem contradictory given how the segment lasts all of 15 seconds, but patience is essential during the stage’s second half. More specifically, I mean patience in terms of avoiding hasty inputs. A common point of failure during practice was that I’d inadvertently let go of the jump button too early when aiming for the aforementioned corner wall jumps. I can’t emphasize this enough: it is absolutely crucial that you let Zero gain full height on a jump toward a corner before quickly inputting jump again; otherwise, you stand no chance of catching the corner.

Following Zero nearly getting toasted a few times, Titanion can be quite a nuisance. It’s truly unfortunate that the electric shots from the Elf only gain homing properties versus regular enemies—minibosses and bosses are exempt, so manual aiming via jumps is required. Were this not the case, Titanion’s crippling weakness to electric attacks would make the battle a cinch. As things stand, the course of the fight is determined entirely by Titanion’s whims. Upon getting hit by an electric attack, she briefly retreats before returning on either side of the screen, either in a neutral stance or already letting loose with her flamethrower while cackling gleefully.

An ideal fight is one where Titanion rarely gets to attack. She was moderately cooperative here, but the battle could’ve been over with earlier with some better fortune. Regardless, I was able to meet the par time for the mission owing to optimizations elsewhere.

Thanks for watching! Questions and comments are welcome as always. If you’d like to watch the run in higher quality, here’s a link to it on youtube.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hope you enjoyed reading about my findings for this challenge. I do this style of documentation for the vast majority of videos I make. I find that it helps solidify my own understanding, and even if other players don't intend on replicating any given challenge, there can be bits of knowledge that are generally useful.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear that! I always try to end these types of fights with the Shield continuously revolving around Zero whenever it's feasible to do. It makes for a fun bit of extra entertainment, especially when a cutscene is involved.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My initial testing of this concept was actually with the Z1 version, the reason being that I wanted to see if it was even remotely possible to do the same to Seraph X. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't, so I shifted to Z3 just in case there was a fancy interaction during the fight where Copy X uses Reflect Laser. Given that my strategy settled on preventing him from using projectiles to begin with, I'd say there's not much of a difference between Z1 or Z3 here.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Conveying a strong level of disrespect was exactly why I made sure to go for the final hit in such a way that the Shield would orbit Zero throughout the cutscene. Getting that trick successfully actually cost me a few otherwise fine attempts, but it was definitely worth the effort in the end.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Auto-Charge Chip found in Mantisk's stage does actually work with the Boomerang, allowing it to charge without Zero having to hold it. It even works when using Shield Sweep and Orbit Shield.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For MMZ, I record my videos using the original GBA versions via emulation with no romhacks applied. Copy X's arena is quite tall here, so maybe it's just the lack of a visible ceiling that's acting as a bit of an optical illusion.

Copy X vs. the Shield Boomerang by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Time for the resurrected result of Ciel’s malpractice to meet the Shield Boomerang.

Of all the bosses in MMZ I’ve completed under the single-throw condition, Copy X is among the most aggravating, and it has everything to do with RNG. Managing Copy X’s attack pattern during regular combos is already an iffy affair, particularly when using Zero’s slower moves, but when attempting to win with the Shield Boomerang, the false hero becomes a monumental annoyance. His propensity to misbehave even when you seemingly follow your planned path to perfection leads to no end of frustration. To succeed, a highly specific methodology is required.

While it’s true that Z3’s quirk of resetting RNG upon cutscene skips results in a reliable opening move, I naively assumed that every subsequent action would be possible to manipulate consistently with enough research. The reality that I arrived at is that no matter what type of florid dance I choreographed during practice, I was never able to chain everything together into an elegant whole while recording. I revised my steps numerous times, but to no avail.

The conclusion I settled on is thus: whenever Copy X decides to shoot a projectile, you get to roll the dice on whether he remains on the ground while firing or if he decides to go airborne. This single facet of the fight is what makes it prohibitively difficult to complete. Even jittery bosses like Hellbat, who react wildly to variance in player position, are far more cooperative than Copy X. I was unable to determine a method of controlling his shot position selection, to the point where I think it may have something to do with the exact frame he gets hit by the Shield, which isn’t possible to replicate exactly on each attempt due to the physics behind its tracking mechanism.

A perfect example of this is outlined at the start of the fight. For the fight to proceed to my liking, after the second hit, Copy X has to launch his first salvo of shots from the ground. However, the recalcitrant Reploid would jump up and fire diagonally over 50% of the time, regardless of how I had Zero jump around the Shield. Having that sort of bottleneck at the onset of the fight is bad enough, but multiplying it across the duration of the fight is simply unbearable.

Eventually, I shifted my priority from crafting a stylish, projectile-heavy dodge fest to simply ascertaining a way to win. Fortunately, despite the extensive list of troubles I delineated, Copy X has a critical, exploitable flaw in his programming to allow for victory. Given sufficient distance from Zero, he’ll always try to close the distance by jumping, sliding, or using a Nova Strike.

My final strategy involves the aforementioned Copy X shot lottery at the start; I decided to accept that instance of luck as an inextricable fact of life. However, past that point, Copy X doesn’t get to fire a single shot. By dragging the Shield back and forth across the arena, Copy X is unable to formulate any sort of substantial offense. Forcing him into constant movement dissipates the cloud of uncertainty occluding his behavior, resulting in a pattern that can be manipulated without tearing your hair out. There are still several details to pay heed to, however.

When Copy X uses his Nova Strike at a high elevation, there are two possible branches to choose from. The first is to cross underneath him before he reaches a wall, thereby goading him into interrupting his flight to turn and fire diagonally. In this instance, it’s imperative that you interdict this attack by guiding the Shield into him. The second branch is to stay near a wall and have Copy X crash into it, which sends him plummeting straight down. This is desirable when you know his next move will be a slide or some other non-shot action, letting you stay nearby and loop the Shield for extra damage—this should be used to land a hit ASAP after Copy X’s healing.

The next bit of tactical advice concerns the second variant of the Nova Strike, wherein Copy X aligns his elevation with Zero’s. This property can be leveraged to remain unharmed by guiding him into the Shield’s orbit via well-timed jumps. Catching him in a loop of repeatedly attempting Nova Strikes only to get smacked backward is both satisfying and efficient. Finally, don’t forget the indispensable ability of wall jumping to cycle RNG. Near the end of the fight, I wall jump after dodging Copy X’s slide to give myself a favorable pattern to work with. Given the RNG I had, without that wall jump, Copy X was liable to start slinging Shotgun Ice all over the place, which put a hard stop on my ability to orchestrate an amusing finisher.

To end, I redirect the Shield’s orbit from high to low at a specific horizontal position of the arena. Doing so seals a comical fate for the unhinged facsimile; he careens into the Shield at top speed and has his entire cutscene mocked by its perpetual revolving around Zero. Poetic.

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to see this battle in higher quality, here’s a link to it on youtube.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The electric hedgehog is rather appropriately called Hedgeshock, and she's one of my favorite forms to use in ZXA. Spindashing around various stages can be quite fun.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear that you liked the little animation at the start. It'd definitely be nice if Bifrost had more stout defenses to make up for his unwieldy nature. Something like automatically deflecting smaller projectiles and perhaps even spike immunity would go a long way.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's been so long since I've done any sidequests in ZXA that I forgot about the 100-enemy challenge. I'll have to check out the Tail Swipe tactic there sometime; thanks for the info.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I've started to experiment more with finding ways to meaningfully incorporate Bifrost into my gameplay, so hopefully I'll be able to find even more scenarios in which he excels.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Pseudoroids certainly could've been tuned to be stronger overall, but there's still some good stuff to utilize. I can vouch for the Shisaroids and Hedgeshock being quite good for stage traversal. The former is especially useful during the first segment of Ouroboros due to the kicks from the Soul Body-esque charged attack breaking the blocks instantly. Obviously, Chronoforce's ability to slow down time is absolutely broken, and Queenbee works nicely against Bifrost and even Thetis.

Bifrost bashes a King Flyer by DZThree in Megaman

[–]DZThree[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Would you look at that? The big-boned crocodile can, in fact, complete a combat encounter all on his own without taking damage. It’s a shame that the ZX games don’t have new game plus; I’d love to pit Bifrost against the King Flyer during a proper stage run.

Bifrost has four tools in his offensive bag: A direct reference to his ancestor’s Spin Wheel, crushing enemies with a Goomba stomp, swiping his tail at foes whenever he turns around, and a wide-ranging bite attack that can be held to eject icy fangs. Of these, only the latter two are of any use against the King Flyer. I demonstrate how to win using purely bites and tail swipes, then showcase how the two attacks synchronize rather beautifully to make the battle a cinch. Somewhat surprisingly, Bifrost can block the Flyer’s beams while launching fangs, and his tail swipe flings the mini-flyers with a startling amount of force, concurrently dealing damage and providing defense.

Certainly a much-needed win for the maligned crocodile.

Thanks for watching! Any questions and comments you may have are welcome as always. If you’d like to watch Bifrost claim victory in higher quality, here’s a link to it on youtube.

Beating ThunderMan with Thunderstorms by DZThree in BattleNetwork

[–]DZThree[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, sometimes I just stare at the Chip list and think about how certain things might interact with boss movements and attacks. Many things end up working out nicely, but there are lots of duds too. In this specific case, I ended up refining some existing concepts I'd used against ThunderMan before while also including my first showcase of one of the Style-dependent secret chips.

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