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…well, in the 10′s, I suppose.
I’ve been playing a lot of Outrun Online Arcade on XBLA for the last couple of weeks. Haven’t really played an arcade racer since Burnout 2 (still the best Burnout as far as I’m concerned) so it’s a nice change of pace. OOA now also holds the honor of being my first ever driving game where I’ve tried and gotten used to using manual transmission.
When I started playing I thought I’d spend most of my time on Heart Attack mode, but it turns out I’m having a blast playing Time Attack and multiplayer. The two work together rather nicely as I can try out new things in Time Attack and then apply them in multiplayer and I also sometimes get new ideas from other players.
Sadly, it seems the multiplayer community isn’t that strong. Most of my races I’ve won with a large margin, to the point of often DNFing (after the first person crosses the finishline, the remaining players have 10 seconds to get to the goal before the game ends or they just get a “Did Not Finish”) the other players. Luckily I found players in #shmups who also play it and they have given me my most heated races, few of which I’ve uploaded to my Youtube account. I also managed to catch a race with someone who’s in at least Top 15 for all goals in Time Attack, that was pretty…enlightening.
Time Attack is a different beast in the sense that there are some very good times up there and with my current skills, lines and techniques there’s no way for me get even within a second or two on them. So a lot of stuff still to learn. A more immediate goal is to beat nZero’s times, we have a bit of back-and-forth on who’s got the best times going on there. He’s got more of them at the moment. Gotta get to work.
I went through a period of Stupid where I was utterly unable to no-miss R-Type’s first loop again. I’d either die at the Stage 5 boss or one of the trickier parts in Stage 6 over and over again. The only reason I wanted to do it again on the Dimensions port was so I could play it on Infinite mode and join the ~100 or so people on the Leaderboards who no-missed it. I thought it’s a bit like getting 300 in bowling. Anyway, that’s done now. And on the plus side, I learned a crapton more about Stage 6 while I kept practicing so I’d say it was worth it. Now, afterwards, I’m a bit amazed I even managed to no-miss the game as I did, I could’ve done it so much easier.
While practicing I also noticed there are plenty of small differences between the Dimensions and the R-Types version of the game. The latter is a bit faster and harder (the back-cannons in Stage 3′s ship being more eager to fire, for example) so I guess I’ll need to clear that version of the game as well. But since I’ve done most of my practicing on the R-Types version anyway it shouldn’t be a problem.
And though there’s still a small desire to 2-ALL the game, I’ve also started playing R-Type II. Damn that’s an awesome game. The stage designs and bosses are much more complex and devious. I’ve made it to the Stage 4 boss on a credit, but I still need to practice Stage 3 boss before I’m really comfortable with him. I beat him most of the time but it always feel a bit too much like luck. Took a peek at Stages 5 and 6…fifth stage feels hard, but the boss is probably the easiest of both games. Sixth stage is pretty hectic with a fairly high bulletcount for an R-Type game. I’d say the game is definitely harder than the original. Yet in sgronblo’s opinion the first game is easier. Wonder if my opinion will change once I get more into it.
R-Type II I’ll be playing on the R-Types version. The differences between the Dimensions version and R-Types version are much more pronounced here – while in the first game they’re noticable if you look for them, here they whack you in the face with a hammer right from the get-go. The enemy dispensers seem to spew less enemies in the Dimensions version, which also has some enemies missing (like one of the medium-sized crafts that jump out from the water after entering the base in Stage 1, few enemies creeping up from behind right before the boss and in Stage 2, bosses seem to take a bit less damage…) compared to the R-Types version. Also, while the first game’s graphics (especially the backgrounds) are a bit bare and the improved graphics in Dimensions were pretty nice, they don’t seem to work in II as well – the game already had more detailed graphics to begin with and they’re still nice to look today. So that’s even less reason to use the Dimensions version when I have R-Types to play it on.
(The title of this post…how come Irem never did a typing game like Typing of the Dead? It’s already in the name! I should make mockups of it for the heck of it.)
Got the no-miss clear of R-Type’s first loop. I’m pleased. And I beat Kiken’s score by almost 100k, that’s a nice bonus.
Second loop’s a bit tricky. The first two stages aren’t that bad (though in this run I messed up in 2nd stage boss) but Stage 3 is already pretty brutal. The big cannon/thruster at the end of the Big Ship takes much, MUCH more hits, the turrets at the front of the ship regenerate quite fast…it’s a whole new ballgame from there on. I’m actually a bit tempted to work on the second loop – the game’s so short that even if I played through both loops it would still take less time than a full run of Contra: Shattered Soldier. But if I do decide to go at it, I’d be doing it with R-Types for PS1 rather than the Dimensions port I played here. Nothing wrong with Dimensions, but in the end I’m just a bit more comfortable with the original – especially since Dimensions doesn’t have customizable controls.
But then, I also want to work on R-Type 2 and about 30 other games. I have a list of gaming feats I want to accomplish, and now I can mark off one of them.
Video at http://www.ghegs.com/movies/Ghegs_R-Type1XBLA_1stloop_nomiss.mp4
Inspired by sgronblo I’ve finally found the groove to work on R-Type, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I finished Delta and I’ve had a clear of the game on my list of gaming goals to achieve for a while. I was actually making some nice progress on Last Resort before this, but then I got sidetracked into Borderlands for ~40 hours. No doubt I’ll be returning to Last Resort though, I made it to Stage 4 (out of 5) on a credit and after checking out Stage 5 with creditfeeding it looked pretty damn crazy awesome fun. And hard.
But R-Type. Even though it’s a fairly short game, it’s still annoying to practice the later stages when the tactics change completely depending on if you’re properly powered up or recovering from death on a checkpoint. Solution, emulation. But the game doesn’t support savestates in mame, using them actually crashed my computer. Luckily, the R-Types collection for PS1 works far better in this and I’ve been using a PS1 emulator to practice the stages with savestates. Both R-Types and the Dimensions port have actual stage select modes, but since they just start you at the beginning of the stage without any power-ups whatsoever they’re a bit useless, especially since I’m aiming to no-miss the game. Scoring via checkpoint abuse in Stage 7 be damned.
And so, I’ve now cleared every stage individually and have started doing full runs. I’m actually going to clear the game on the Dimensions port, at least for starters. If I feel like taking on the second loop I can always just play my R-Types. The early stages are a no-brainer, though Stage 4 boss still sometimes catches me by surprise. Stage 5 is probably the easiest stage of all as long as the ship’s properly equipped. Stage 6 sort of feels harder than Stage 7…it’s not as hectic, but in many places you’re confined to very small spaces where it’s easy to accidentally manuever into a wall.
Stage 7 is the one I spent the most time practicing. I had already gotten good enough to clear the first six stages just from normal play but Stage 7 had eluded me and it was the biggest reason I felt the need to practice with savestates. Not a terribly hard stage as such, but many little things that can go wrong…like getting caught by a blast of steam from a wall, which ended my latest no-miss full run. sgronblo prefers Blue weapon there, but I’ve found Yellow to suit me best. And Yellow allows me to abuse a safespot right in front of the boss which I couldn’t get to work with Blue. Here’s hoping the Dimensions port doesn’t differ here. If it doesn’t, I should have the clear soon-ish.
I got the no-miss ALL S-rank clear in Contra: Shattered Soldier.
It’s been three weeks since my last journal entry, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been procrastinating with my gaming. After I got the S-rank clear with retries I’ve done a run of the game almost every day. I decided early on I wouldn’t succumb to the restart syndrome but would play all runs to their completion no matter where or how I died. I didn’t quite adhere to it completely, but enough that I got comfortable with the later stages. In fact, most of my deaths actually happened in Missions 2 or 3. Lots of little random things that can go wrong in those. I ended up re-learning the first four missions almost completely, so much have my tactics changed since I got the first S-rank clears on them.
The no-miss ALL S-rank clear run went pretty good. There are little flaws in it (fight against the first form of first boss in Mission 6 is fugly), but some cool stuff as well (EPIC battle against Lance). It’s really a testament to the game that even after so many runs I still learned new quirks; I had never before seen the Mission 4 boss do an extra across-the-screen-jump like it does here. It threw me off my game for a moment which is why the fight takes longer than usual.
According to my journal entries I started playing the game on October 18th so it took me about a month and a half to get this run. The in-game clock says my Total Battle Time is 16 hours, 25 minutes, but there’s some weirdness in the way the game saves that data plus it doesn’t count the time spent in Practice mode either, so I’d estimate the actual time it took me is around 24 hours.
Video of the run available at http://www.ghegs.com/movies/Ghegs_ContraSS_1LC_ALL_S-rank.mp4
Well, I did it. Cleared with game with an all S-rank. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the Flawless Victory I had hoped as I had to retry Mission 5 twice. Good god those were the most embarassing deaths ever. First happened at the Alien Nutsack, the boss right after Lance, where I experienced a case of premature release and failed to produce a charge shot, which totally messed up my rhythm. The second happened only moments after restarting the mission when I was hit by a totally random mortar shot. I mean seriously, who gets hit by those?
And if that wasn’t enough, I had to retry Final Boss Battle. The one mission that I hadn’t failed in once since figuring it out. But I’m willing to chalk that up to nervousness.
Even though the game itself awarded me with all the rewards of an S-rank clear I don’t quite feel like I deserve the accomplishment. I did, after all, spend three credits doing it and the shmupper in me is yelling “Dude! You creditfed! That doesn’t count!” even though the game itself counts it as a legit S-rank clear and it’s not like it’s possible to creditfeed past a tricky spot when you have to start the mission from the beginning on a retry. I recognize that dying only three times during the whole game is most definitely not bad…just not as good as I want and hope to get.
And it would be nice to get a proper 1CC S-rank run of the game up to the Vault. Of course I recorded this run too.
Maybe I’ll work on the game a bit more. We’ll see.
Played two runs today. First was S, S (after three retries, gawd), S, S, S, A (two deaths), S. I wasn’t sure if I were good at the game or not anymore. What happened at Mission 2 was utter travesty over and over again. Died at the boss’ last attack, let one of the rocket troopers right before the tunnel escape…uhg.
Second run fared considerably better and resulted in S, S, A, A, S, A, S. All the deaths were pretty stupid. Hit one of those eggs dropped by the ceiling-climbing thing in Mission 2, accidentally jumped up instead of down a platform at the boss, and got hit by a moai ring at Mission 4. Mistimed a jump dodging Mission 6 boss’ orbs and my thumb actually shook a bit while fighting against the blob, causing me to lose two lives there. I might need to revise my tactic there a bit and switch to flamer when it shoots out those homing stars. Must test it in Practice before trying it in play however, in case it’s too close to the boss…it responds rather violently to getting hit with flamer. Or maybe it’d be enough to stand right at the edge of the screen…hmm.
Anyhoo, though the game regards this is as my fourth clear of the game, it’s really my first legitimate clear on a single credit while not using the 30 lives code. So yeah, I’ve 1CCed the game now. Though even that’s a bit of a dubious an accomplishment, as the game gives out permanent extra lives as you accumulate game time and I had already got one of those. Had it not been present, I wouldn’t have got the clear this time.
I’m still longing for that S-rank clear…
Mission 6 was a toughie to S-rank and it’s a fair bet I can’t do it consistently yet. But I’ve done it once, and that’s good enough for now. The boss’ first and the second-to-last forms took the longest to crack, though there’s a stupidly simple way to deal with the blob that seems to work reliably. The boss’ last form is a push-over.
Managed to S-rank Final Boss Battle as well and did it three times in a row so that’s some nice consistency there. That means I’ve S-ranked every single stage in the game. WOO. Just, y’know, not during normal play, only in practice. I dread to think how long that’ll take. After taking care of Final Boss Battle I returned to practice Mission 5 in which I had died during my last two proper runs. In 10 or so runs I didn’t manage to S-rank it once, got 98% most of the time. More often than not I died to Lance who seemed to love to do his “pinball-bounce around the room” -maneuver which is the hardest of his attacks to dodge. But few times I even died to the Slug, the first miniboss of the stage. I’m hoping that’s just my brain feeling tired. I’ll return to it during the weekend. And then I guess I’ll start doing full runs again.
I found out you actually can increase your credits in the game (through co-op play), so my earlier comment about how the credits turn into lives when you start aiming for the S-rank clear isn’t quite true. Ah well.
S-ranked Mission 5 yesterday and played two runs today. I seem to average two S-ranks per run and I keep finding new, inventive ways to die. Basically small things that happen rarely but are fatal if you haven’t taken them into consideration. In Mission 1, right before the boss with the bees that carry you off, I was picked up by one right between the two metal bars you hang from, and upon flaming the bug fell right off the screen. In the second run one of those small bugs the boss’ first form releases managed to get through my grenade barrage and hit me. In Mission 4 my normal “Flame the backpack from below”-approach went perfect up to the point where a missile hidden behind the backpack hit me right after I had begun moving away, thus directing my protective flame elsewhere. Mission 5 would’ve been perfect if I hadn’t ran into a spider while flaming a propeller out of the way. Did this on both runs actually, never had much of a problem with it before. And so on. They’re all easily avoidable, so now I should be prepared for these particular incidents.
Anyhoo, the first run ended at Mission 6 boss. I had learned enough of the (awesome-looking transformer) copter to defeat him easily. For the second run I decided to take advantage of the Konami code, get me 30 lives and open up Mission 6 in Practice mode. This was an excellent idea as I certainly would’ve needed to start taking blood pressure meds had I tried to do it the proper way. One of Mission 6 boss’ forms (the blob) took waaaay too many lives before I even figured out how to hurt it, and quite a few more while I did the hurting. In the end I managed to clear the whole game (with 0 lives left) and open up both Mission 6 and Final Boss Battle in Practice mode, even though I averaged only B-rank. All the FAQs say you need at least average A-rank for the Final Boss Battle to open in Practice mode , but I’m not complaining.
The next step, of course, is to practice these two until I can S-rank them both. The idea of S-ranking the whole game on a proper run doesn’t feel impossible, just really hard but something I should be able to do if I just keep playing.
I do like what Konami did with the lives and credits. When you start aiming for All S-rank the credits effectively turn into lives. At this point my Hit Rate for any stage is 100%, anything below that is the result of a death. But since one can Retry a Mission at any time from the Pause menu and it will not affect the final ranking, it’s possible to make three mistakes and still finish the game with S-rank. That’s pretty nice.
I did as promised: I’ve S-ranked all the inital missions in Shattered Soldier. It didn’t take that long, the in-game clock (though I think it’s very screwy) says I haven’t broken the four-hour barrier yet. Mission 1 S-rank was probably the easiest/fastest to get, while Mission 4 was the slowest. Took me almost a whole hour. The big mecha at the very beginning was annoying until I figured out you could place yourself under his backpack (where the mines come from) and just flame it from there. It should be possible to destroy the backpack the first time you’re behind him.
After S-ranking Mission 4 I continued playing and S-ranked Mission 1, showing I do have some consistency going on, but just barely failed to S-rank Missions 2 and 3 on that run. Got 98% and 96% respectively, all deaths which were a result of misplacing or mistiming jumps. Mission 5 was unknown to me so naturally I died a lot, but I still got to the boss fight(s). I think I got to the fifth boss but I might’ve lost track.
It was fun getting the S-ranks on the stages and the main reason for this was because I was able to play any of them at will. Now that I’m up to Mission 5 I have to play almost 30 minutes before reaching it. And to open it up in Practice mode I have to clear it with at least B ranking, if GameFaqs is to be believed. That’s quite stupid in an otherwise great game (Neo Contra improved on this by opening stages for Practice upon reaching them, if I remember correctly). I am having fun with the game and want to continue playing it, so I guess I could play it on Easy and abuse the 99 credits available there to get my practice.
That still leaves Stages 6 and 7 to deal with…and they too have the same asinine “Clear the stage with a good enough rank to open it up in Practice”-requirement. Sigh.
Dan Haigh
Ghegs
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