The Select Trick
When fighting a boss, you can score multiple hits with the same shot by pausing the game after the first "hit". After the boss has stopped flashing, quickly hit select to unpause the game and then again to pause it again. You will score an additional hit. Keep hitting select until the boss is defeated. You can beat many bosses with one shot this way. A good weapon for this is the Thunder Beam. Even the regular Mega Buster can exploit this, but you must be very precise.
A less notable, but still occasionally useful, consequence of this is that when you press Select when Mega Man is hit, it will reduce the brief "knockback" period.
Turbo Arm
If you are using a controller with a Turbo capability (or an emulator that does the same) and activate the Super Arm weapon, sometimes you can pick up and throw blocks without the block actually disappearing. This comes in handy when fighting the boss at the end of the third leg of Dr. Wily's Castle.
Game Genie Codes
- OZSKPZVK - Infinite lives
- SZKZGZSA - Infinite Energy
- TAOOYTGA - Extra-high jump.
Iceman glitch
There is a point in the Iceman stage where you try to get a 1-up but often miss it. When you drop down to the next screen (the one before the Big Eye), use your magnet beam and try to climb your way up and try to hop onto the off-screen platform where the 1-up is supposed to be. The moment you step on it, the screen will glitch and show you falling to the screen below and avoiding the Big Eye in the process.
Teleporting through monsters
While this requires very precise timing, you can teleport through monsters.
When you pause or unpause the game, Mega Man enters his warp animation but retains his vertical velocity. This can allow jumping through or falling through enemies as necessary, but only works in some situations.
Magnet beam glitches
The magnet beam allows you to create a platform at any location. Its implementation has a few exploitable bugs.
Zipping
If a magnet beam is placed at a precise location below a ceiling (within 1 pixel, Mega Man will be propelled to the right.
Wrapping
If you reach the top of the screen (such as with the magnet beam) when the area is open, you gain access to the bottom of the screen. As such, you can zip across sections that have a lower floor, or jump through the top of the screen to travel downward. However, you will die if the bottom of the screen counts as a fatal drop.
As with zipping, placement of the magnet beam has to be precise.
Poking
Magnet Beams cannot be fired through walls, unless you grow it in one direction, and switch the direction of the beam while it is growing.
Vertical screen Glitch
In Cut Man's stage, at the part with the first Flying Shell, go to the eastmost part of the screen, and press the up button as if you are climbing a ladder. Then you appear at the bottom of the screen. It is a short shortcut.
There is a similar "shortcut" in Wily Fortress 1, when going down a vertical chamber. You can jump up and grab an invisible ladder, making you appear at the bottom. Then you can climb down it, skipping the screen.