MM8 AC should be separated

Rough estimation of how much time AC saves/loses, times are rounded as human error should be accounted for in my timing methods (I half assed it and used the on screen livesplit timers displayed to approximate loads because I couldn't figure out how to get virtualdub to work) - http://i.imgur.com/FFx2sHp.png

Here are more specific values for some of the comparisons between AC Xbox and PS2 FDS, http://i.imgur.com/D7x3aOF.jpg really all you need to notice is that AC consistently saves time on loads, the 4 rush bike uses are static but minimal time losses. The PS2 FDS load times are taken from Joka's MM8 any% run. A few PS2 AC loads were given to me by rollbuster and with human error as well as slight timing differences being taken into account http://i.imgur.com/kY2QVE7.png, PS2 AC loads seem to be about the same as Xbox AC if not just barely faster.

However none of this information really matters, basically what it really should boil down to is that AC emulation of MM8 is fucking garbage. While load times could easily be converted, because AC DOES save time on raw loads, if we're just looking at raw loads alone AC saves around 40 seconds on loads. The real issue is that AC loses a bunch of time in other places due to shitty emulation.

Before every robot master selection and boss fight on AC the game will freeze for about half a second, that adds up quickly to 14.5 seconds of time loss from random freezes (8 robo selections, 16 robo fights, duo, ateteminio, bliking, bass, green devil). While you could argue that this partially evens out the time AC saves on loads, some of these freezes can be net time saves because you are able to buffer inputs during the game being frozen so you can make an action on the first possible frame you can in a boss fight. The most notable example being an almost frame perfect early hit you can get on clown man, you can hit him before he jumps up at the very start of the fight with a fully charged buster shot leading to a guaranteed time save for AC. This freeze also guarantees a hit on Frost before the jump saving half a second, and makes the early hit on atetemino before he rises up easier.

An example of the freezing can be seen here as well as the early hit it guarantees: http://www.twitch.tv/plumtea_/v/4823617?t=72m43s

However another thing about AC is that if you try hard enough you can lag the game almost anywhere, however just through normal gameplay the Frost, Sword, and Bliking fights have a significant amount of lag. This is another time loss for AC, but it's not a consistent one considering the time lost to lag can greatly vary. As well as with heaving weapon use and too many enemies on screen you risk losing time to lag in many many places on AC.

AC is awful emulation and is incomparable to PS1 MM8 and should be seperated like all the other AC versions of Mega Man games. The issue with AC is not raw time saved on loads but the fact the game lags/freezes in many places that allow for guaranteed almost frame perfect early hits on bosses like Clown and Frost, as well as being an inconsistent time loss that does not allow for load times to be accurately converted to match PS1.


tl;dr AC MM8 should be seperated like the rest of the games because due to lag issues and freezing that allows for different boss opening strats, the time save/loss from playing on AC is not a static number that can be converted to match PS1 MM8 runs.

side note: PS2 FDS/PS load speeds are very very inconsistent just fyi, so I want to stress that I don't want AC separated just because of load times
different game but this video should make my point clear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvKFy7Wxbrk