Mega Man 9 
                    Mega Buster Only Robot Master Guide

                           September 27, 2008
                               Version 1.00
                             By: S.A. Renegade
                    Email: [email protected]

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                           -Table of Contents-

-Version History-

-Introduction-

   -Galaxy Man-

   -Concrete Man-

   -Plug Man-

   -Hornet Man-

   -Splash Woman-

   -Jewel Man-

   -Magma Man-

   -Tornado Man-

   -Addendum: Special Downloadable Stage: Fake Man-

-Conclusion-

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-Version History-

-1.13
Welp, the rest of the downloadable content is out. The special stage's boss
ends in Man, so I figure he must be some kind of robot master, right? Well,
even if he's not I'm still adding him in. Whatcha gonna do about it?

-1.03
Added a reader's comment on Concrete Man and alternative strategy for
Hornet Man.

-1.01
Added a reader's objection to my Magma Man strategy.

-1.00
The guide is done in its entirety. There will be no changes or additions to
it unless someone informs me of a flagrant error of some kind. (oh yeah,
looks like I did add to it after all. Guess I lied.)

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-Introduction-

Sup. I've decided to write this guide first because this game is so great
and third because I think beating the robot masters with the mega buster is
way more fun than hitting them with their weakness. I'm serious. Try it if
you want. 

The purpose of this guide is to help whoever wants to do the same thing by
outlining the strategies I used to beat the robot masters. Once you do, you
acquire the Trusty Sidearm achievement. Now I don't claim my methods to
be the best or the most effective, but they are what worked for me and this
is all I can give you. With that being said, in this guide you'll find my
tips for each of the bosses plus videos of me beating each one with the
mega buster without taking damage to give you a more visual aid in addition
to the text.

Of course, remember that this is an action game. Thus, no amount of tips
or knowledge can ever substitute actual practice and experience. This
guide is meant to help you and make things a little bit easier, but the
majority of the effort required must still be put forth by you.

Beating the robot masters with the mega buster is all about learning to
dodge their various attacks. If you can avoid damage, you will win. That's
why I concentrate on telling you how to dodge instead of attack. I don't
always tell you when to shoot at them because this is easy to figure out.
Mainly, if you can shoot at them without compromising your dodging pattern,
do so.

Right, I think that's about all I have to say. Let's go!

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-Galaxy Man-

Galaxy Man is ridiculously easy. He's probably the easiest robot master in
the game.

He has two modes of attack. His first, and least dangerous one, is to
fly way high up in the air and send out a black ball that will home in on
you and then turn into a black hole after a few seconds. The ball is faster
than you, but has some killer momentum which you can use to your advantage.
It can't turn on a dime like you, so you can turn quickly and run the other
way as it passes you by to get some good distance on it by the time it
turns into a black hole. Once it does it'll start sucking you in. As long
as you're running away from it there's no problem. Galaxy Man will also now
teleport and stand beneath it, hoping you'll get sucked in and brush 
against him. Like I said, as long as you're running away you won't be
damaged. However, if you have a good distance between it, this can be a
good spot to shoot Galaxy Man once or twice. Simply turn around
for a microsecond and shoot once, then turn around and continue running
away. You should get sucked in a little but if there's some distance it
won't be enough to damage you.

After the black hole ends, Galaxy Man will teleport to his safe spot high
up. Be careful here because after a few seconds he will fall down, and you
don't want to be beneath him when that happens. If possible, try to learn
how long it takes for him to fall so you can time it so that when he does,
you're on the side with the most space. In any case, immediately after he
falls is a great chance to shoot him.

After a couple seconds, he may either fly up and do his black hole move
again, or he might do his second, more dangerous attack. The more dangerous
attack is simply to fly across the room. Try to get some moderate distance
away from him in anticipation. Since he will either do this move or fly
up, and the latter can't hit you, always assume he will do the move. Jump
over him to dodge it, and then stand in the middle of the room at the ready
to jump some more in case he makes more passes. After he makes a pass and
lands on one side of the room is another opportunity to shoot him while
you wait for the next one.

That's pretty much all there is to him. A pretty easy boss to take with the
mega buster.

For my Galaxy Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part1

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-Concrete Man-

Concrete Man is one of the harder bosses. He'll probably take you a few
tries to bring down. He can also sometimes be a little cheap.

He's got 3 modes of attack. His first, and probably most dangerous one, is
his Concrete Shot. He'll shoot 3 blocks of concrete at you. If any of these
touch you you'll not only receive damage but also get turned to stone. Uh,
I mean, concrete. 

The trick to fighting Concrete Man is to stay relatively close to him. You
heard right. The reason for this is that when he shoots you, he actually
AIMS at your current position. Now, if you'll look at the battlefield, you
can spot 4 green tiles on the floor. We'll call the ones near the walls the
outer tiles, and the ones in the middle the inner tiles. When Concrete Man
is standing on either side of the room, you'll want to be standing somewhat
close to him. To be more specific, between the mid point of the arena and
the inner tile closest to him. Not ON the inner tile. That's too close.

Learn to gauge how long it takes for him to attack, and a few moments
before he does, start running AWAY from him. When he shoots you, you should
be able to outrun the blocks flying at you, and even be able to jump on top
of the last one and shoot him from there before he triggers his next
attack. Which could be one of the next:

His second mode of attack is to charge across the room. Simply jump over
him when he does this. If you're on top of a concrete block it'll be even
easier since you have a height advantage. When you're close to him and
anticipating a concrete shot, he might do this attack instead. Therefore
you have to stay on your toes. But don't worry. Since you started running
away from him in anticipation of the concrete shot, this should give you
enough distance so that you can see the charge coming and be able to jump
over him. You still need to be quick and alert though.

His third mode of attack, which can be a bit dangerous, is a ground pound
move. He'll jump way high up and come down on your current position. When
he lands, you NEED to be in the air or the tremor will make you fall down
and put you in a vulnerable state. To avoid the ground pound, simply move
to either side. The most important thing when it comes to this attack is to
make absolutely sure that the side you move to is the one with the most 
space! This is important because you need a minimum amount of space to run
in order to avoid the concrete shot which will surely come afterwards.
Don't ever let Concrete Man corner you with this attack, because then
you're pretty much screwed and avoiding damage in that situation is all but
impossible.

Speaking of impossible... when the fight starts, Concrete Man will randomly
do any of his attacks. However, a concrete shot right at the start of the
fight is, as far as I'm aware, impossible to dodge. You'll have to hope
he doesn't start with that attack or just take the damage.

UPDATE: Turns out it's not so impossible after all. In fact, it's easy.
Credit to Master Espeon for giving me the heads up:

On Mon 06/10/08 11:02 AM , "The Guy with M,any Aliases" sent:

"Master Espeon from GameFAQs here.  Buster only guide, huh?  Nice idea. And
I'm definitely gonna look at Magma Man's strategy since I only have the 
vague concepts there.

Concrete Man: I'm pretty sure I evaded the first-attack concrete shot 
before.  It just takes a really high jump, if I recall.  You land on the 
shot that hits the wall."

And my reply:

"Hey Espeon, thanks for the email :)

Concrete Man: That's pretty interesting. I have never been able to avoid 
damage on that shot. Still, it's not much of a problem since it doesn't 
happen too often. In fact, I suspect that it may be something exclusive to 
his appearance on Wily's Fortress because I have never seen him start that 
way in his own stage. Not even once. Could just be a coincidence though."

Then I actually tested it:

"I just fought Concrete Man like 20 times on his stage until he finally 
started with the concrete shot, and you're absolutely right, you can dodge 
that attack simply by jumping high while hugging the left wall. That was 
so easy, I can't believe I never saw that :)"

-S.A. Renegade
http://scathingaccuracy.com 

The hardest part of the fight is probably when he ground pounds near the
center of the arena as this leaves you with precious little room in which
to dodge the subsequent concrete shot no matter which side you walk off to.
However, it is still very possible to take no damage in this situation, so
just get close to him before he shoots and go through the usual motions.

As always, be very alert because it's very hard to know exactly which move
he will do next.

For my Concrete Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part2

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-Plug Man-

Plug Man is definitely the hardest robot master. Mainly because the terrain
gives his weapon a huge advantage while putting yours at a disadvantage.
But also because you have to be paying attention to a lot of things at
once. Oftentimes he sends out 2 shots at once, and that actually translates
to 4 things you have to worry about, since they come back to hit you, plus
with him jumping around that makes 5 things. Finally he can use some pretty
cheap tactics every once in a while which can be pretty annoying.
Oh and also he's batshit crazy.

His weapon sends a ball of electricity across the floor, which goes all
the way to the end of the room, up the wall, across the ceiling, and falls
down on your current position. Because of this, it's important not only to
jump over the shots but also to make them fall down in a place where they
won't hit you.

Notice that Plug Man's hand flashes when he's about to shoot a ball of
electricity. Learn to use this to your advantage so you know when one is
coming. This is especially useful when he's got your cornered, since there
is hardly any room to see the shot coming in this situation.

One of the most dangerous parts of the battle is when he's about to corner
you on either side of the room. In my opinion, the most important tip here,
and probably the one that really turned the tide for me once I figured it
out, is this: regarding both ends of the room, there are two "safe spots"
on each of them where you can stand and Plug Man will not be able to damage
you with his body when he stands there. This is important because the fight
consists in moving back and forth from one end of the room to the other,
and being able to do this without getting damaged when you pass each other
is crucial. When Plug Man jumps and lands on a corner of the room, realize
that if you hug the nearest block as much as you can, he will land but miss
you by millimeters. You will not be damaged. Then you can simply jump over
the block and run to the other end of the room. By the same token, if you
hug the wall as much as you can, you will ALSO not be damaged when he
lands. Then, you can actually jump OVER him without being damaged and run
to the other end of the room. Of course, you also have to watch out for his
electricity so as always, it is quite a bit easier said than done.

As for whether you should hug the block or the wall, I'd say use your
judgement. Generally speaking though, try to always be hugging the wall
when you're anticipating his jump. If you see that he makes a huge jump,
try to move over to the block before he lands and then just jump over it
and run to the other end of the room. If, however, you see him make a small
hop, stay hugging the wall and jump over him instead.

When you're on either side of the room and he's shooting at you, after you
jump over a ball, try to stay near the center of that space or near the
block so that the ball falls down there. Not near the wall. This is because
this is where you will generally be standing when you're about to jump
over a sphere. It will come towards the wall and you will jump AWAY from
the wall. Of course, this is only a recommendation, and the actual best
course of action may change depending on exactly what is happening. Again, 
use your judgement when it comes to this.

If Plug Man stands on top of one of the highest blocks and starts shooting
you when you're in the corner nearest to him you'll have your work cut out
for you, but it is very possible to avoid damage. You'll want to stay close
to the wall, watch for his flashing hand, and after you jump over the
sphere, stand near the center so that it falls down there and you can move
back to the wall in anticipation of the next shot.

However, Plug Man is also a very cheap boss, and once in a while, he will
stand on top of the block nearest to the corner and start shooting you. He
will be at almost point blank range in this situation, and you can't jump
over him. Suffice it to say, it's a pretty bullshit situation to find 
yourself in. Escaping damage here is almost impossible as far as I'm aware.
I think I've only walked out from it unscathed once. I think you're better
off just jumping towards him and taking the damage. Fortunately this
situation doesn't happen too often.

For my Plug Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part3

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-Hornet Man-

Moar liek whorenet man m i riet gaiz. Uh, right, so. This guy is very 
tough. I'd say he's Plug Man league hard. Fortunately he's not as cheap and
unpredictable as Plug Man so he is a little bit easier.

His mode of attack is to run from one end of the room to the other, jump
up, and send out 3 bees that will home in on you. Dodging these hornets
without being damaged is very hard, so my recommendation is to kill them
every single time. Realize that it only takes 2 shots from your mega buster
to kill a bee. Here's what you want to do:

When Hornet Man jumps up, get somewhat near him. I'd say around halfway to
3/4ths of the platform. Learn the exact moment when he is about to shoot
out his hornets. At that moment, make a short hop to the height of the
bottom bee, and press the fire button twice quickly. This should kill it.
When you land, very quickly make a full jump and fire twice very quickly
on the middle bee. Now they should both be dead and they haven't even homed
in on you yet. Now once you land, quickly start running back. If done
correctly the top bee should home in on your ground position and fly to
a location relatively close to the ground. Now you can jump and shoot it
twice. They should all be dead now, and Hornet Man will only now start
running across the room. You can shoot him as much as you want as he's
running towards you, then jump over him and continue shooting him in the
back as he's running away from you. When he jumps up repeat the procedure.
This is the ideal pattern you should strive for. 

Obviously it's not that easy, and you're bound to make a mistake at some 
point due to human error. Usually it involves missing with your shots and 
leaving a bee alive when you should have killed it. Or perhaps being too
slow and making it so that the top bee homes in on your aerial position
and flies to a location too high up for you to shoot it. When this happens,
you'll be forced to dodge them.

For the purposes of bee dodging, you'll want to learn the exact time it
takes for them to home in on your position and start flying. Generally
speaking you don't want to be moving too much before they start flying.
I recommend staying in a relatively stationary (yet safe. As in, not a
centimeter away from them) position so that you know exactly where they
will fly towards, and then move away only once they're about to. Regarding
the specific example I mentioned of being too slow so that the top bee
flies to a location too high up (which happens pretty often and isn't too
dangerous), what you want to do is stand beneath it, and RIGHT as it's
about to start flying, run towards Hornet Man. When the bee comes at you,
quickly jump AWAY from Hornet Man and over the bee. It should fly towards 
the bottom and past the ground. Make sure to jump over Hornet Man after the
bee makes its move. Once you do, it should be about to make its next
move. You should be above it. Stay there. When it's just about to start
flying jump to one side. It'll pass by you and be very high up. Now if it
gives up at this point, Hornet Man will send out his next swarm. If it
goes for another pass, dodge it like you did the first time. In this case
Hornet Man will run across the room a second time, giving you some nice
shooting opportunities.

If you leave several bees alive, you'll have your work cut out for you.
Dodging them works more or less in the same way, except it's much harder
and dangerous. You really should try not to be in this situation.

UPDATE: Master Espeon stands adamantly against animal abuse and refuses to
kill the bees:

On Mon 06/10/08 11:02 AM , "The Guy with M,any Aliases" sent:

"Master Espeon from GameFAQs here.  Buster only guide, huh?  Nice idea. And
I'm definitely gonna look at Magma Man's strategy since I only have the 
vague concepts there.
     
Hornet Man: You must be having trouble with the hornets or something.  I 
don't find this battle overly hard, but I lead the hornets my own way:
What I do doesn't require the hornets to be destroyed.  I basically stand 
on the higher ledge on the side opposite of Hornet Man until the hornets 
zoom forward.  Then I go to the wall closest to where I am and stand there 
until they zoom a second time.  I jump all the hornets (and they start to 
converge around here, so avoiding them all is around the same as avoiding 
one), land on the upper ledge and fire a shot at the oncoming Hornet Man, 
jump him (while the hornets zoom a third time) then jump the hornets on 
their last zoom by.  Unfortunately, it's kinda slow, but it's a bit safer 
than trying to blast the bees for those... less adequate with accuracy.

Also, if Hornet Man passes by a second time, that's when you can get plenty
more shots in. (However, you may want to try it for yourself to see what I 
mean)
     
And... I guess that's it."

And my reply:

Hornet Man: This is a pretty good alternative strategy if you have trouble 
killing the bees! In fact, there's no need to stand on the higher ledge 
and then move to the wall. You can just stand close to the wall from the 
start. Not too close though, because then you might have trouble getting 
enough distance on your jump to land on the ledge. I'm not so sure about 
it being a lot safer though. Particularly on that jump, since Hornet Man 
will be quite dangerously close to you when you land on the ledge. So much 
so that if you try to get off more than a single shot before jumping over 
him you'll very likely get hit. You also need precise timing when jumping 
over the bees, because if you jump a little too soon, they will hit you. 
Whereas with my method the faster you do things, the better.

You're also correct in that it's quite a bit slower. In any case, I tried 
it and it works very well as an alternative strategy :) especially because 
it uses different skills (timing as opposed to speed), so it could prove 
very helpful for people who have trouble implementing my method. You're ok 
with me adding this to the guide right?

Thanks again!

-S.A. Renegade
http://scathingaccuracy.com

And his reply:

On Tue 07/10/08 2:13 AM , "The Guy with M,any Aliases" sent:

"Oh, of course I don't mind it being added to the guide.  That's why I sent 
the e-mail.
     
And I tried what I said to make sure during my Proto Man run, and I was a 
little off.  What I do is... well, let's look at the Wily rematch, as it 
has something I can mention for visualization..  I would stand just inside 
of the flashing light on the upper ledge.  When they zoom, I run back to 
in front of the light near the wall.  Then I can jump, get that single 
shot on Hornet Man, and the rest of it follows through (I tend to make my 
fourth jump on the upper ledge on the flashing light on the new side 
opposite of Hornet Man)
     
Yeah, it's pretty timing based, but I tend to lack accuracy for killing 
the hornets quickly (and speed.  But I guess it's because with the way I 
play I need thumb tapping speed, and all my tap speed is in my index 
finger).  And Hornet Man comes around for a second time about half the 
time if there's still hornets, so once you jump him and the hornets on the 
fourth zoom, you can get 3-4 shots.  It goes quicker than it seems, even 
if it is slower."

So there you have it. If you also have trouble with killing the bees give
that strategy a shot.

For my Hornet Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part4

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-Splash Woman-

Splash WOOMON! Gonna drive down Sepulveda! Ahem.
Splash Woman is probably the second easiest robot master after Galaxy Man.
The reason being that she has a very strict attack pattern which she never
deviates from. If you can get into a nice dodging pattern of your own,
you'll easily defeat her.

When the fight begins she'll start singing and rising up. This is a good
time to shoot her a little. Don't jump when she gets close to you or you
might hit her. The song will summon 3 waves of 3 fish each that will rush
across the screen. You shouldn't jump, so the only wave you have to worry
about is the bottom one. The trick to dealing with these fish is not to
dodge them, but to kill them. First of all, you must know from which side
of the screen they will come. This is easy, just look at Splash Woman when
she starts singing. The direction in which she starts floating at first
will be the same direction in which the fish will come. What you want to do
is a very, very short hop while firing repeatedly in the direction they'll
come in. The desired result is that you will kill the bottom-most fish and
the one above it, then you can simply stand around and all the others will
harmlessly pass you by.

The fish above the bottom-most one will sometimes not hit you, and other
times it will. So to be safe, just kill both of them every time.

Now Splash Woman will be high up and start firing her Lazor Trident down
at you. This attack is a bit harder to avoid. She's faster than you, so
there will be no outrunning her. However, she also has more momentum.
What I'd recommend is to go stand beneath her before she starts shooting
and to start running in the direction with the most space. You'll outrun
her while she builds up speed but after a short while she'll catch up. When
you see a trident almost knick your heels, quickly turn and run the other
way. She'll pass you by and take a while to turn back. Ideally this is when
she'll give up and fall back down to the floor and start her pattern all
over again.

Things don't always go so smoothly with her tridents though and that's why
you need to pay close attention to her movements. For example, sometimes
you might be to slow to start running and she will shoot the first trident
right in front of your path. You need to be quick at turning around in
this instance. Similarly, sometimes you will hit the wall before she
catches up to you, in which case you'll have to wait and time it right so
that you run the other way in between the tridents. My suggestion in this
situation is to wait until she's close to you before you start running.
Wait until she shoots a trident as close as possible without actually
hitting you.

In any case, that's about it. When she falls down to ground level shoot her
some more and repeat the procedure.

For my Splash Woman no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part5

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-Jewel Man-

This is a moderately hard robot master. He can be a bit tricky at first but
he has a pretty strict pattern and doesn't resort to cheap tactics.

When the fight starts, Jewel Man will use his Jewel Satellite power to
create a shield of 4 gems around him, then start running back and forth
along the room. The shield makes it so that you can't jump over him without
taking damage. What you want is for him to jump over YOU. The trick is that
he jumps right after you do. So to avoid him, do a short hop when he's
close to you. This will trigger his jump and then you can pass safely
beneath him. 

Jewel M'n will run across the room three times. After the third time, he
will stop on either side and shoot out his jewels at you. You'll have to
dodge them by jumping. But you need to have very fast reflexes because he
can shoot the jewels in two different formations and you don't know which
it will be ahead of time.

First of all, look at the floor. There are 4 green tiles on it. Jewel Man
will be standing on one of the outer tiles. Now obviously you don't want
to be in the middle of the arena. That won't give you enough time to see
the jewels coming. You want to be on the area between the other outer tile
and the inner one close to it. Specifically, I recommend being closer to
the inner one and not right up against the wall.

The least dangerous formation which he may throw at you is one in which
you must jump and pass between the first two jewels. This is the easier one
to dodge. Basically you must do a short hop so that you jump over the
bottom jewel but not high enough so that you hit the top one. You have to
pass between them. The two jewels after those are easily jumped over.

The other, much harder to dodge formation, consists of two volleys of two
jewels each that are almost (but not quite) the same height. You have to
jump over both jewels in each group with a single jump. That means two
jumps one right after the other. However, the two groups fly very fast and
close to each other so you need to be very fast to avoid damage. In fact,
this is the reason why you mustn't be close to the wall. After you jump
over the first two jewels, and right as the second one has passed you and
you're still in the air, you have to move backwards as if you were chasing
the jewels you just jumped over. If you don't do this, the next set will
get you before you land. In any case, move backwards and as SOON as your
feet touch the floor jump again to avoid the other set. You have to be
very fast here. Only touch the ground for a microsecond before you jump.

Now Jewel Man will be completely vulnerable without his shield. You can
shoot him as much as you want as he runs across the screen, but once he
gets to the other side of the room he'll put the shield up again.

In this way, you can keep repeating the process until you kill him.
However, there's no reason why you can't shoot him when he has his shield
up. In fact, it works to your advantage as long as you're careful. When
one of your shots hits a jewel it will be reflected and the jewel will fly
towards you. Therefore, I'd recommend to jump right after you shoot every
time as a safety precaution. That, along with only shooting when there's
a reasonable distance between you and Jewel Man. If you can shoot off two
of his jewels before he sends them out at you it'll make dodging
considerably easier.

For my Jewel Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part6

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-Magma Man-

Magma Man isn't that hard if you're just trying to kill him. But if you're
trying to no damage run him he's absolutely HORRENDOUS. By far and away
the hardest and most bullshit robot master in the game.

He only has one attack, and it's firing his flame weapon. But it fires 3
shots and is incredibly fast and unpredictable. Also note that he only
fires when he's in the middle of a jump.

Look at the shape of the battlefield. It's very uneven and pretty unique.
There's a single platform with the lowest elevation right smack in the
middle. We'll call this the pit. Then the two platforms adjacent to it
will be called the inner platforms, the ones after it the middle platforms
and the ones after that the outer platforms. Throughout the fight, you will
want to stay EXCLUSIVELY on the pit and inner platforms. This is the safest
place you can be in and where we will implement our strategy.

Obviously there is one problem. You do not start here. You start on the
left outer platform. You will have to walk over to the pit. Now let me tell
you, doing this without taking damage is VERY hard to do. You don't know
where Magma Man will shoot his flames, and you don't know where he will
jump to. It's very likely that you'll be hit when you try to make your way
down. If you still want to try and not get hit, I'd recommend dropping down
to the middle platform as soon as you can, then doing a short hop to jump
over one of the flames Magma Man will now shoot at you (which may or may
not be heading to your spot on the platform. Like I said, he's mad
unpredictable), then quickly drop down to the inner platform and hope he
drops down to the pit. Yes, that's right, hope. This doesn't always work
out how you want it to. He might jump and land right on the platform you're
currently on. In any case, if it does work out, and you managed to do it
quickly, you can jump over his head and on the other interior platform. If
you didn't do it quickly, you might want to stay where you are and just
hope that he jumps over your head and lands on the middle platform.

But whatever. Now that you're safely positioned on the key area, you can be
in much greater control over the battle. Here's how the strategy goes:

If Magma Man is standing on an interior platform, you should stand on the
OTHER interior platform. Watch him. Here he can do one of two things. He
can either jump down on the pit, or jump on the platform you're currently
standing on.

If he decides to jump to the interior platform you're on, you'll know
because he will make a huge jump as opposed to a short hop. In this
instance, you'll want to quickly move to the OTHER interior platform. i.e:
the one he was in before he made the jump. You can do this one of two ways.
The safest way is to drop down to the pit and then hop on over to it. The
faster way is to jump over the pit and land on it. But you can't jump too
high or you'll hit Magma Man when he's going past you. Anyway, now you've
safely traded places, and he will, again, have to choose between the two
decisions I mentioned earlier.

If he decides to jump down to the pit, you will know because, well, he will
make a short hop and fall on the pit. Don't worry, the flame shot won't hit
you. Now that he's there, you need to very quickly jump over his head and
land on the other inner platform. Make sure that you're close to him when
you make the jump so that you clear the distance without touching him.
Depending on how fast you are, he will now jump to either of the two middle
platforms. It doesn't matter which one he chooses. If you made the jump
correctly neither decision should result in you being damaged. That being
said, him jumping over you is the slightly more dangerous one of the two.

Now, when he's standing on one of the middle platforms what you want to do
is quickly drop down to the pit. The reason for this is that when he makes
his next jump and shoots, a flame may or may not fall directly on the inner
platform you're standing on (that's right. May or MAY NOT. Told you he was
unpredictable). So we're going to drop down on the pit just to be on the
safe side. Now from here Magma Man can do one of two things. He may either
hop down to the inner platform closest to him, in which case you should
jump on the other inner platform, or he may do a huge jump aimed right at
the pit you're currently standing on. In which case you should jump over
to either one of the inner platform. Whatever move he makes, this now puts
you in one of the situations I've already described above and we've come
full circle.

That should about cover the strategy. If you do the right moves and do them
correctly you shouldn't be taking any damage at all. Of course, like
always, this is much easier said than done and will require quite a bit of
practice. Watch my video to see how it all goes down.

For my Magma Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part7

UPDATE: Reader Sidney has sent me an email telling me he is not down with 
my Magma Man strategy. Doesn't hurt to have more than one method on here,
so with his permission I've decided to paste his email and my reply:

On Tue 30/09/08 6:07 AM , "Sidney LaPorte" sent:

"I really enjoyed your stratagies for each boss and the videos were very 
helpful but when I watched magma man I did'nt know what to say. Your 
method though it works is way more complicated than it has to be.

All I've ever done is allways stand on one of the platforms next to him, 
higher or lower doesnt matter. When he jumps to shoot, by standing so close
his fire never hits me. At this point i either quickly run beneath him from
where he jumped or quickly do a short jump to where he was standing 
depending on wether hes higher or lower than me. If after taking his place 
i see hes jumping 2 spaces and not just one i move over next to him so I'm 
back in the position i was.

Try it for yourself I hope it helps."

And my reply:

Thanks for the comment, Sidney, I'm glad you enjoyed the guide!

Regarding Magma Man, the method you describe is a completely viable 
strategy, and certainly more succinctly put than my admittedly overlong 
explanation :)

The reason I prefer my method is because, although yours is simpler to 
grasp, I feel that the actual execution requires faster and more precise 
reflexes. When Magma Man jumps to the platform you're on, and you run or 
short hop beneath him, you're brushing dangerously close to him. Further, 
by being so close to him, this window of opportunity where you can safely 
pass beneath him is quite small. You have to be very quick and precise as 
soon as he jumps to avoid damage.

On the other hand, I find my method gives you more leeway when it comes to 
timing. You're still close enough to him that his magma bazooka doesn't hit 
you, but far enough that you have more time (and space) to safely avoid his 
jumps. The only time you're as close is when you're jumping over him, but 
even then you have more leeway because you don't have to wait for him to 
make his move. You have the entire span of time while he's standing in the 
pit to jump over him. Thus, the window of opportunity is larger.

However, I do think the method you describe has merit, and who knows, 
perhaps others will agree with you and find it more useful than mine :) 
would you mind if I added it and your name to the guide?

Thanks again!

-S.A. Renegade
http://scathingaccuracy.com

And his reply:

"Of course you can use my method in your guide. I suppose my way does take 
a bit of percision, but you can make a mention that if you can get a firm 
grasp on magmamans rythem/timing than its just a matter of doing the same 
thing over and over. Keep up the good work."

And again, for my Magma Man no damage video go to
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part7

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-Tornado Man-

Tornado Man is a moderately tough boss. He doesn't have a set pattern and
rather chooses randomly from a set of actions he can make. Still, once you
take the necessary precautions and get a feel for his moves he's not
terribly difficult.

Here's how Tornado Man acts: when he's on the ground, he may do one of two
things. He may either fly up in the air, or do his tornado blow attack.
Either way, you should stay in place until you see him make a move. If he
uses T. Blow you'll have to dodge. 4 tornados will come up from the bottom
of the screen. You can jump and weave your way between two of them to
avoid damage. It's a bit hard but quite possible. Still, it's not actually
necessary for you to do this. If you start running as soon as he casts it,
you will be able to outrun all of the tornados and escape damage easily.
Of course, to do this you must have space in which to run, so make sure
you're running towards the side of the room with the most space, or at
least with enough space to avoid the tornados. If you hit a wall before you
can outrun them, you'll have to do the jump weaving thing I mentioned
earlier.

After you've avoided the tornados he may either do the same thing again, or
fly up in the air.

Once he's in the air, he can choose between two actions: he can either use
T.Blow, or drop down on your current position. Either way, you should be
moving at ALL times when he's in the air, because his drop comes fast and
without warning. If he uses T.Blow just keep running if there's a low of
space in front of you, and if there isn't make a quick turn and start
running in the opposite direction. You need to be fast in making the turn
though, otherwise you won't be able to outrun them. If you make a mistake
and hit a wall you'll have to dodge them by jumping and going between them.
After that he may use the same attack again, or do his drop attack. This
one's dangerous. The only way to avoid it is to be moving before he does
it. However, there's a catch here. Tornado Man could be floating very high
up, or he could be floating rather low close to the ground. And this
affects his drop. You see, if he's very high up, it doesn't matter in
which direction you're running, you'll still manage to avoid damage when
he does it. But if he's flying low, you MUST be running AWAY from him. You
can't be running towards him or he WILL damage you. Therefore, you have to
be paying attention and act accordingly depending on his altitude.

After he drops he'll go back to the choices I talked about earlier. If he
corners you and then uses T.Blow and you don't have space to run in, jump
over him and keep running. It's safe to do so. He won't jump while T. Blow
is in effect. But be careful not to jump TOO high. The wind boosts your 
jump by a large margin and you could hit the spikes on the ceiling and die.

And that's about it for him. The trick is to constantly be on the move when
he's in the air and if he's on the ground, stay in place until you see him 
make his move.

For my Tornado Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part8

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Addendum: Special Downloadable Stage: Fake Man-

Fake Man may have the most ridiculously hard stage, but he himself isn't
that tough. He is similar to Splash Woman in that he has a set pattern he
never deviates from. If you can get into a dodging pattern of your own,
you can easily beat him without taking any damage.

When the battle starts, he'll try to charge you. Shoot him, and he'll jump 
back to the far right wall. This is where the pattern starts. He will shoot
two energy shots at you. You want to jump over the bottom shot and pass
beneath the top one. That is to say, you should pass between the shots. As
soon as you are past those shots, KEEP RUNNING to the right, because Fake
Man will jump over to the left wall and shoot you diagonally while in the 
air. But don't worry, because if you're running towards the right when he 
does this, you will not get hit.

No time to rest though, because right before Fake Man lands on the left 
side, he will shoot you diagonally again. Keep running to the right and 
jump right before the shot reaches you. Still no breather though, because 
he will immediately follow it up with 2 shots very close to each other
horizontally. As soon as you land from the previous jump, keep running
towards the right, and when those two shots are near you, jump towards the
left, over both of them.

Now this is the point where his pattern resets and he does the same thing
all over again. He will charge you, and when you shoot him he'll jump back
to the left side and do the same thing, except now he's on the other side.
Just repeat the pattern. That's all there is to it. If you don't shoot him
when he's charging at you, he'll just keep chasing you forever until you
do.

Shoot him whenever you get the chance, but the best times are right before
he's about to charge you, right when he lands on the ground from a jump,
and right as he's about to make the jump from one end of the room to the
other. That's about it. Not a very hard boss at all.

For my Fake Man no damage video go to:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2008.09.25-S.A._Renegade-part9

Actually, I added my entire run through the stage just so I wouldn't get
any smartass comments about how long it took me to get through it. I was
using nothing but the mega buster ok? Cut me some slack. Jesus. You people
and your demands. But yeah. If you want to see the Fake Man fight just
fast forward to the end. Or watch me go through the whole stage using the
mega buster and not taking any damage. It's up to you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Conclusion-

Alright woo! I've killed all the robot masters with the mega buster and
without taking damage. Now I'll definitely get all the chicks, right?
Right?! Oh wait, right, girls don't even play videogames. Dammit!

Uh, right, anyways. Was fun doing this. In fact, the whole game was tons of
fun. But especially this. There are some pretty bullshit achievements in
it, but the trusty sidearm one is great. Congrats if you got it, and I hope
my guide was at least some help in it. Yeah, I know the strategies are only
half the battle. Ok, one fourth of the battle. But hey, it wouldn't be any
fun if you could magically do it on your first time right?

Heh. I've been so busy doing this, recording the videos and writing I
haven't even had time to beat the game. Maybe I should, like, go do that
now. Wily won't kick his own ass. And haha, as of this writing I don't
know what the robot master weaknesses actually are. I've never used a
special weapon against any of them.

And man, I can't believe they're not putting out the DLC until october 20!
That's like a month away. That's 20 days too many. I'm already going to
pay for all this extra content and you're still making me wait like at
Friday's?! Fuck you.

Damn, I don't even know why I do conclusions. I never have anything good to
say. But yeah, such a good game. I already want to replay it and I haven't
even beaten it yet. Anyways, I'ma slip out the back.

                                                      See ya around,
                                                             ~S.A. Renegade

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, 
private use. It may only be placed on my personal website
www.scathingaccuracy.com, on www.gamefaqs.com and on... actually you know
what? Fuck it. This guide can be found in a lot of sites. However, if you
want to post it on your site you must first ask me for permission, it must
be left unaltered in .txt format and have no ads.
The original and best version with videos can found on my personal website
www.scathingaccuracy.com. September 2008.