This run is made using the GBA emulator VBA, but no slowdowns or savestates were used.

Speedrun for MegaMan Zero 4 in 21.19 minutes done by McBAIN from MegaZpeed.

Main info:

I'm going to assume you know the basics of the game. I will not go into fine detail of any part.
First of all, this is a multi-segmented speedrun. This means that i recorded each level individually.
This run makes use of New Game+. Why i chose to do this? Well there are a few chips which make speedrunning (and watching it) very interesting and entertaining. Normally you'd have to collect parts and create these chips, but using NG+ allows me to have them right from the start. Having them right from the start means i'll be able to crush the entire game... right from the start.

I've started running this game July 2005. I've had a few breaks from speedrunning it, but also took my time to try and master each stage as best as i could. In July 2005 only the Japanese rom was out yet (and it wasn't supposed to take so terribly long before i'd finish this run) so i ran this game entirely on the Japanese rom. You probably won't be able to read a thing, but you don't really need to anyway, in most cases.

Since it's Japanese you won't be able to see which chips i use. I'll explain them here:
1) Double jump - This chip allows me to make many little shortcuts, as well as some bigger ones. Can't speedrun without this.
2) Strongest Body - Guards you against spikes/lava so you don't die in 1 hit. I use this to get over spikes without the penalty of dying. This is useful at some parts to save a fair amount of time. When i equip this, Zero will gain a yellow color.
3) Junk Armor set - Also known as the Galacta Armor. This will change Zero's armor so that incoming and outgoing damage are doubled. Meaning, i take double the amount of damage, but also deal double the amount of damage to bosses and enemies. This is INCREDIBLY useful for slaying bosses. Some aren't even able to do a 2nd attack, because i kill them so fast. A must when speedrunning this game. When i equip this, Zero will gain a black/dark green color.

Clever people might think that you could use the Quick Charge lvl3 to charge quickly, then change to junk armor and deal big amounts of damage very fast. However, this doesn't work that way. The Quick Charge time only counts when you have that chip equipped. Might you've reached full charge when wearing Quick Charge and you'd change back to the Junk armor, your charge will be sent back to half a charge, because the charge time for normal (no Quick Charge armor) armors is longer. I hope i explained this well enough.

Stage-detailed info:

(stuff that's worth mentioning)

As you will notice, the first part of Tech Kraken's level is a bit shocky. The emulator can't handle this stage well, so it'll leave anybody with slowdows. Since i don't like using cheats, i've set the frameskip to 2. This way most of the parts run fairly well compared to normal speed. I'm sorry, if i could choose i would've liked it to run smoothly. I don't like cheating in runs.

In the same stage i will use a very nice glitch. Using Burning shot plus a charged saber attack at the same time on a dragon mini-boss will leave you with insane damage dealt to the mini-boss. (It also works on the spider mini-buss, but doesn't seem to work on others) When you watch it in the video, you'll notice a "TCH-TCH-TCH-TCH, etc" sound. The only way i can explain this glitch is that somehow both the Burning shot's and the charged saber attack's damage are re-dealt after each other, after each/few frames. I have no idea if that's how it works, but it's an awesome glitch. You'll notice that the Ice Dragon dies...... very fast. ;)

The Burning shot is extra efficient here (since it's weak to fire)

Sadly, i use cyber-elves in 2 levels. I hate these creatures because they make the game too easy. However, in the prison stage and Ragnarok control room stage i link this with the "Strongest" armor. This saves me various seconds.

I also use different weather types for different stages. Sometimes i use normal weather (when there's no drawback for my, time-wise) but mostly i use weathers where i have an advantage.
Some noticeable differences:
- Heat Genblem: The pauses between the big beams will be bigger, this way i don't have to hide/get damaged so much.
- Fenrir Lunaedge: At the lift part, i won't have any ice-spikes in my way. This way i can climb towards the top faster.
- Sol Titanian: I heat up slower than normal. This way i don't have to rest in the shadows so much to cool down.
- Pegasolta Eclair: No wind pushing me back, saves a lot of time.


Finally, for your viewing convenience i've "translated" the result screens. Not literally though, i just overlay an image from the English version so you can see what my score is on which part. Obviously i did NOT edit the times. If you want to double-check my times you should watch the emulator version.
By the way, the reason the avi file is 37:44 minutes long while my total time is 21:19, is because there are a lot of other things included in the movie that don't count as game time. (such is result screens, menu's, cutscenes, etc)

Credits go out to Mike Uyama, for helping with some strategies/giving tips but also for checking most stages to see if i overlooked any errors, thanks!

Credits also go out to Xaphan for his Zero4 Tool-Assisted Speedrun. (What are Tool-Assisted Speedruns?) It was useful for borrowing some tactics and comparing my times to. Even though i'm on a human level, it's still a good idea to try and come as close to his time as possible. (If only for trying to get it perfect) His run also gave me a good insight on what to do and what not to do, even though i had to change various things because i have different abilities due to the chips.

Well this should be it. Happy watching!
If you liked the run you can always
drop a comment about it.

- McBAIN, MegaZpeed.com