How To Speedrun Mega Man

Introduction

So you’re thinking about Speedrunning Mega Man All Stages (Any%)? Well, then you’re in the right place. While the amount of tricks and pixel perfect strategies might seem daunting, fret not, we’re here to help you.

Mega Man is not only a fun and classic title on the NES, it is also one of the best and most rewarding speedgames out there. Below you can find links to a few tutorials, instructions for how to do certain tricks, as well as my recommendation on which order you should go about and learn all these things.

Please note that learning one trick at the time is recommended rather than trying to pack in as much as possible in the beginning. You will save yourself from a lot of resets and piling up those PB’s while steadily improving is one of the most rewarding things you can do with this game. Also have in mind that a lot of these tricks takes a lot of practice to learn. Hang in there and keep trying and you’ll get it!

If you have any questions feel free to join the Classic Mega Man (Speedruns) discord server, and make sure to check out some of the runs on the Mega Man RTA Leaderboards.

Good luck!
/Tootoo

Resources:

Beginner Tutorial by Niss3 (Newest!)
Beginner Tutorial by EndySWE
Beginner Route Run by EndySWE
Advanced Robot Master Tutorial by WhiteHat94
Advanced Wily Stages Tutorial by WhiteHat94
How To: Magnet Beam Grab by Nudua
How To: Buffer Strat by Tootoo
How To: Buffer Strat by KLM
Mega Man Page On Splits.io
Charleon’s Mega Man 1 Tutorial (Quite outdated but still helpful)

Tips & Tricks:

If you are just getting started and struggle with the Early Magnet Beam, please note that going for Guts Man first is a very viable strategy. EMB saves around 15-20 seconds and there are Guts First times on the leaderboard going down as low as 20:29. And let’s not forget COOLKID’s old 19:56 World Record was done with Guts first.
Make it into a habit to press Select when taking damage as soon as possible.
Jump into boss corridors to make sure Mega Man keeps momentum.
Jump at the top of the ladders to make sure Mega Man keeps momentum.
Jump and press Down on the d-pad to align yourself to ladders.
When Mega Man grabs a ladder, the next shot will be in the opposite direction of where he was facing.
In Mega Man you can buffer inputs during screen transition. If you want to switch weapon before a boss fight, make sure to hold Start already from when the boss HP is showing up. This works for all types of screen transitions and inputs (ie. when jumping first thing after a screen wrap).
Overall movement is one of the most time saving things in this game. Keep playing and you will steadily improve.
If you shot while the first fire shot is still on screen, but your fire shield is no longer active, you will get the fire shield glitch and a new fire shield will stay active for a very long time. Great way to save fire ammo on the W2 boss fight.

Recommended Learning Order:
As recommended by Tootoo, opinions might differ.

Easy (or important) Strats