Mega Man X4 No Damage (Zero): Jet Stingray

Twitter:   / magnus_blade  

Other Mega Man runs:

MattTheNoMoreHero's Maverick Hunter X, Vile No Damage Run (Hard Mode):    • Mega Man MHX - Vile Run (No Damage)  

Challenges:
-No Damage (Even in Ride Armors)
-No Heart/Energy/Weapon Tanks
-No Black Armor

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Previously, I was going to say this was the hardest part of the entire run due to one part in Area 2 in particular that almost convinced that no damaging this game was impossible. But I'll get into that very soon. For now, here's one of my favorite stages. Why? Because we get to ride on a cool Ride Chaser for some high-speed action, that's why. I mean, I've always loved these segments in the X games (...until they sort of went downhill in X7 and were completely non-existent in X6), and it was refreshing to have a nice change of pace every once in a while. But enough of me gushing here. Let's get down to business (no pun on Mulan).

Area 1: With the constant movement, it's somewhat difficult to stay focused if it's your first time going through this stage. But at the end of the day, it's still enemy placement memorization just like any stage, just that your reflexes have to be three times as sharpened here. The ground explosives will spill trouble for no damage runs, as the explosion lingers for a few frames after detonating. It's generally unwise to destroy them unless you either have no choice or can shoot them while they're off-screen (like shown here a couple of times). By the time you get halfway through, it's best to pull back your speed a bit and fire away at the airborne enemies blocking your path. It'll give you passage without taking a hit. Oh, and if you were curious near the end, I was jumping over the dark-ish blue floors because they detonate upon contact. So...yeah, don't touch them.

Area 2: Same formula for above, really. Except this time, Jet Stingray himself is attacking you here. The first time he appears, you can just grind his back with careful timing with your Ride Chaser dash, taking him down before he can even do anything, but the second time he shows up....this was the part where I thought was impossible. As you can see, I can't take him down from behind like last time because he appears underneath you, and...since this is a no damage run, I can't take that sacrificial hit just to break him down again. Every attempt I had on this previously, I couldn't dodge those ground chasers (blue projectiles he shoots out). It just felt impossible to dodge them...until on one of my many practice runs, I accidentally hit the dash button when I was trying to practice jumping over all three. That....worked, to my surprise, and I realized just how easy it was to deal with him then. By the time I was confident to record again, I beat the stage on the first try, hah hah. It went from the hardest to...the easiest. All that stress for nothing lol.

Boss Analysis: Jet's a joke, even without his weakness (which I didn't have here, but you'll see it in the Boss Rush). The only real thing you have to watch out for is his tendency to dive into the water at random moments before his HP drops to critical. All it takes is patience and not getting too greedy with hits, so it's not too much of an issue. Other than that, all of Jet's attacks are super easy to dodge.

Overall Stage Difficulty: 1/10, because this was literally the easiest stage after finding out that trick with the chaser dash. I was willing to give this stage a full 10 just for that stupid part...and Jet himself doesn't warrant any kind of increase in difficulty.

For the new skill, Hienkyaku, AKA the air dash, is once again another addition to Zero's mobility. Unlike X who has to get it via an armor capsule, this is a natural ability for Zero, and will become a staple for him (along with the double jump) throughout X5 and beyond. In X4, however, he can actually do well even without it. It's mostly just situational, but there are some segments in stages that'll make the air dash useful in getting through them either faster or more efficiently.