Which weapon defeats each boss?Handy boss weapon flowchart. The weapon of a boss will counter the next one clockwise:
What is the best order to take on the bosses?Here is the best order by my reckoning; if you think you can improve on this, please share by all means!
Galaxy Man > Hornet Man > Splash Woman > Concrete Man > Jewel Man > Plug Man > Tornado Man > Magma Man
Why this order? Hornet Man is fundamental to racking up a ton of 1ups and screws (money) throughout a number of the other stages. You know, it seeks out and grabs otherwise unreachable items. By doing Galaxy Man first, which is easy to beat with just the buster and has no unreachable items, you can use the black hole bomb as a ghetto-counter to Hornet Man. You can also pre-emptively wrangle enough screws to get an e-tank in your fight against Hornet Man (if you need it).
Also, defeating the 5th boss gives you the rush jet. This will help you safely speed through otherwise tough sections (like in tornado man and plug man stages).
General protips:- The weapon designed to be a counter for each boss also cuts through/disables their weapon as well. Keep this in mind to avoid damage!
- Jewel man jumps when you jump!
- The magma shotgun charges up, but may not necessarily do more damage against a non-hornetman boss.
- You can clear your black hole bomb off the screen by pausing, which will let you get a new one out
- You can steer the rush jet up and down! Holy ****!
Other bosses:
fire dragon : black hole bomb
avalanche boulder thing : hornet
spin flower : magma shotgun (mega buster if you don't have it)
wily boss #1 : concrete shot, mega buster
wily boss #2 : part one - laser trident, part two - magma shotgun (charge it!), part three - hornet/buster/trident/bh bomb (?)
wily boss #3 : black hole bomb (make sure not to waste it during the level)
wily: part one - mega buster, part two - concrete shot/tornado (thanks Rimmer!), part three - plug ball
For Wily part 3, you can use magma and hornets to get a little damage when he's out of reach. You can use black hole bomb to defend against all of his attacks. You can use the plug ball for big damage when he's actually in reach.
How do I speed run?Don't die! You go back to either the beginning or mid-point of the stage and that eats up more time than anything. Once you can get in the ballpark of one-lifing the game, then one hour is a breeze and shooting for anything less than that is more a matter of fine tuning and performing accurately.
Pick up the spike instant-death protection from the store!
Need more help?Youtube is a better source than gamefaqs for showing you how stuff is done.