MaGMML3 - Tier 7 Extra Stage (Reel Man) Normal Run in

Whew. This was quite the doozy. Reel Man is known to be a pretty hard stage, and it absolutely is no easier in the speedrun. Perhaps the opposite in fact.

Despite what it may seem like, Reel Man is very bikable, long parts happen underwater where your jump is high and pits are covered in spikes. And usually the game gives you just enough platforms to go on.
The very first section above water was already a heavy reset-grind, particularly the long scrolling screen at the end. Landing on and jumping off the 1-tile high Reel Platform at these speeds is no joke.

In the first underwater section, we can make use of the hooks to keep biking. It's a thing we use a lot in general - they give you significantly more speed and height with Bike than with normal Mega Man, you just...have to hit them in mid-air, while going very fast with Bike.

Then, it's Magnet Beam's turn for a while. We can use it to bypass most of the intended gimmick, which is switches that move platforms along. A combination of all our utilities usually gets us through anything.

About halfway through the stage though, I run so low on health and bike ammo already that I chug a W-Tank for Bike. With the strats I have, I don't think skipping this is possible. Even should you make it to the next checkpoint, you'll be constantly siphoning your own health for Bike until the end, which kills you.

Then there's the final checkpoint. This is the big one. The screen with all the Reel platforms moving up and down, and most importantly, pits not covered in spikes. I found some ridiculous jumps across here with bike that make this screen very fast, but very hard. And of course, I couldn't help but do them.

The first jump has two possibilities. Go all the way and land on the two spikes up from the platform, or hold back and land on the platform. I went for the latter because it sets up the next jump to be easier for me. You want to pass below the downwards Reel platform and, the hardest part, slow down and jump off of the one after.
In turbo gear, you'll get onto the platform but you will only have a frame or two to jump off, so you need to decelerate at just the right time, right before you're about to get there. Take a look at the input display if it helps you visualize it. The other option I mentioned jumps high enough to fly above the downwards platform and get to the next one that way. I found it to be more difficult, as you'll spend less time in a forward-moving motion coming up on the platform, it kind of goes from 0 to 100 since you're rubbing on the wall for a while (and then you need it to go 100 to 0).

Finally, after getting that blasted jump, slow down and land on another one-tile platform (joy) and move on. The final screen of the level is also tricky, Magnet Beam is used to bypass the gimmick again but it's much harder than before. You need very long Magnet Beams, and then you need to line one up with a hole in mid-air. If you miss the lineup, the run is kinda over.
I'm actually very surprised that I got it here still, the Magnet Beam was almost too high.

Finally, there's Reel Man. He takes 2 from Charge Shots, 3 from Laser Trident and 4 from Royal Guard. So the choice is obvious for Normal.
Why he takes more from his Alter Weakness than his Normal weakness in this case, I couldn't tell you. The fight becomes very simple this way though.

I'm very happy to have put out a Sub 2 here, this had super clean movement and is very nice to look at.

This run beats the previous record of 3.09.099 by Netmonmatt by over a minute. Wow!

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Check out our MaGMML3 Speedrunning Documents!

MaGMML3 Speedrun Compendium:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

MaGMML3 Strat Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p...

MaGMML3 Recorded IL Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...