My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/MegaManZero.html
'Elpis TK31' single-segment mission skips and all missions runs on hard difficulty
Verifier Responses
Long run
To be honest, I was not very satisfied with the long run (don't say you were surprised I was a verifier), and I sent a huge pm to illustrate my dissatisfaction.
The runner was responsive, but still wanted his run accepted. Then a couple days later, this happened.
Decision: Accept and reject
Reason: The mission skips run is quite good, but the all missions run definitely has some room for improvement as indicated by the runner's improvement with two deaths.
'Elpis TK31' single-segment mission skips and all missions runs on hard difficulty
Verifier Responses
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For the run with warps, the video quality is fine, and there's no sign of cheating.
In stages, he knows what he's doing. There's very few problems with those. The climb before Anchtorus was kinda sloppy; he got hit a lot. I noticed there's a small delay before he starts moving when a scene transitions. I don't remember the game hindering your movement during that part, but I might just be rusty with the game.
Aztec Falcon could be improved a little bit with better luck. Hanumachine was a little icky, but not too much. I doubt the method used for the two flying enemies was best, but I can't really offer a better method either.
Asura Basura was icky. I felt he wasn't agressive enough with him in the beginning. Same goes with Anchtorus both times. Why doesn't he hit him before he comes back down to the ground? On the Rainbow Devil, he doesn't hit him on the first bounce. I don't understand why.
He was trying to show off on the last hit on Ganeshariff. It backfired on him; he missed twice before dealing the final blow. Very poor choice. He should've used a charge shot or saber attack and be safe.
The fight with Fefnir isn't slow, but he gets hit a lot by an attack that should be easily avoidable. Same kinda goes for Harpuia. When Harpuia swoops up, he should be trying to avoid that move by hitting him earlier.
Despite all that, I don't think that's enough to warrant a rejection. Everything is on average done well. I see no problem accepting this.
In stages, he knows what he's doing. There's very few problems with those. The climb before Anchtorus was kinda sloppy; he got hit a lot. I noticed there's a small delay before he starts moving when a scene transitions. I don't remember the game hindering your movement during that part, but I might just be rusty with the game.
Aztec Falcon could be improved a little bit with better luck. Hanumachine was a little icky, but not too much. I doubt the method used for the two flying enemies was best, but I can't really offer a better method either.
Asura Basura was icky. I felt he wasn't agressive enough with him in the beginning. Same goes with Anchtorus both times. Why doesn't he hit him before he comes back down to the ground? On the Rainbow Devil, he doesn't hit him on the first bounce. I don't understand why.
He was trying to show off on the last hit on Ganeshariff. It backfired on him; he missed twice before dealing the final blow. Very poor choice. He should've used a charge shot or saber attack and be safe.
The fight with Fefnir isn't slow, but he gets hit a lot by an attack that should be easily avoidable. Same kinda goes for Harpuia. When Harpuia swoops up, he should be trying to avoid that move by hitting him earlier.
Despite all that, I don't think that's enough to warrant a rejection. Everything is on average done well. I see no problem accepting this.
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The first two levels looked nearly exactly the same as in the warped run. It shows that he's played these stages to death.
Ganeshariff wasn't nice to him, but he seems to be pretty random. The stage was flawless.
He had some menu difficulty before selecting Necromancess' stage. The stage itself had no problems, though.
The train stage was good. A hiccup on the boss, but nothing too bad.
Next stage, he messed up on the shortcut early on. Otherwise, no problems.
The drill boss fight went very well.
The prison stage got icky. He took a wrong turn at one point, and later got caught. Stagroff was alright. As was the Rescue Colbor mission and Harpuia.
The three other Guardians' stages were great. The fights with Phantom and Fefnir were done very well, but Leviathan wasn't cooperating very much.
In the Hanumachine mission, he forgot to turn off Shield Boomerang in the beginning, and he failed to get the warp after Cerveau. Hanumachine even bounced around. This was one of his uglier missions.
Interesting fight with the flying guys. The Asura Basura fight was perfect. Anchtorus was better than in the run with warps, but he forgot to use the Shield Boomerang for the final hit. He also took the time to get the Cyber Elf he left behind. I don't know why.
The vertical portion of Neo Arcadia was icky. He missed a few jumps. The Rainbow Devil went very well, though couldn't he have tried to hit the bouncing part while it was in the air?
For the refights, Stagroff wasn't cooperating. He missed once on Necromancess. He forgot to reequip Z Saber before Anchtorus, and he again didn't use Shield Boomerang.
Fefnir and Leviathan were awesome. Phantom had some problems. There was a mistake on Harpuia, but that actually seemed to help him.
He missed once of the first X fight, but he did trap him for a while, so they even out. There was some difficulty with the Seraph X fight, but not too much.
Overall, I just nitpicked the little things in the run. It's still very well done. I expect no less from Elpis. I definitely accept this.
Ganeshariff wasn't nice to him, but he seems to be pretty random. The stage was flawless.
He had some menu difficulty before selecting Necromancess' stage. The stage itself had no problems, though.
The train stage was good. A hiccup on the boss, but nothing too bad.
Next stage, he messed up on the shortcut early on. Otherwise, no problems.
The drill boss fight went very well.
The prison stage got icky. He took a wrong turn at one point, and later got caught. Stagroff was alright. As was the Rescue Colbor mission and Harpuia.
The three other Guardians' stages were great. The fights with Phantom and Fefnir were done very well, but Leviathan wasn't cooperating very much.
In the Hanumachine mission, he forgot to turn off Shield Boomerang in the beginning, and he failed to get the warp after Cerveau. Hanumachine even bounced around. This was one of his uglier missions.
Interesting fight with the flying guys. The Asura Basura fight was perfect. Anchtorus was better than in the run with warps, but he forgot to use the Shield Boomerang for the final hit. He also took the time to get the Cyber Elf he left behind. I don't know why.
The vertical portion of Neo Arcadia was icky. He missed a few jumps. The Rainbow Devil went very well, though couldn't he have tried to hit the bouncing part while it was in the air?
For the refights, Stagroff wasn't cooperating. He missed once on Necromancess. He forgot to reequip Z Saber before Anchtorus, and he again didn't use Shield Boomerang.
Fefnir and Leviathan were awesome. Phantom had some problems. There was a mistake on Harpuia, but that actually seemed to help him.
He missed once of the first X fight, but he did trap him for a while, so they even out. There was some difficulty with the Seraph X fight, but not too much.
Overall, I just nitpicked the little things in the run. It's still very well done. I expect no less from Elpis. I definitely accept this.
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Both runs looked good. All mistakes were well within what can be expected for a single-segment.
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With Warps:
not much to say to the runs, because the comments already pretty much pointed out anything I would have pointed out
There are mistakes, like the missed shots on Ganeshariff, but they are acceptable and dont waste that much time. Overall, as the run itself is short, I will make it short, too, and verify this run as an ACCEPT.
Without Warps:
Very nice planning and execution of all tricks, especially MCBains trick to slice with Saber and Shield Boomerang like mad. Shield was used as only element wearing weapon which is good in terms of a speedrun and he barely missed with it.
The run is entertaining and shows quite some skill. there is room for improvement, yes, but which run is perfect? This run is at least close to it
ACCEPT
The qualities are very good. No deaths.
not much to say to the runs, because the comments already pretty much pointed out anything I would have pointed out
There are mistakes, like the missed shots on Ganeshariff, but they are acceptable and dont waste that much time. Overall, as the run itself is short, I will make it short, too, and verify this run as an ACCEPT.
Without Warps:
Very nice planning and execution of all tricks, especially MCBains trick to slice with Saber and Shield Boomerang like mad. Shield was used as only element wearing weapon which is good in terms of a speedrun and he barely missed with it.
The run is entertaining and shows quite some skill. there is room for improvement, yes, but which run is perfect? This run is at least close to it
ACCEPT
The qualities are very good. No deaths.
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sorry i took so long. i still have to do the all mission run. im going to work on that one tomorrow. heres what i think of the skip mission run:
skips missions run
just a quick recap. i know the names but am too lazy to type them.
intro: fine, no problems at all
aztec falcon: fancy stuff
skips some missions
hanumachine?, that monkey: fine to me
neo1: good
neo2: little bit of trouble getting up the tower to the rainbow devil, but a good boss fight
neo 3:
ice boss: i never knew he could die so easily
anubis: is their any way to make this battle faster? not the runners fault but it slows the run down on the entertainment side :/ still a pretty good fight though. i know hes annoying
elephant: good
bug: could the runner not hit the bug once or twice to end the battle faster the first time he was in the air??
leviathan: pretty good. maybe get an extra hit or two in
phantom: just beautiful
fefnir: pretty good
harpuia: i never knew that could be done....
copy x: good
copy x2: maybe could be done a little faster. not get caught by the rings
sound, video, and gameplay is good. runner makes hard mode look easy
ACCEPT. since this run is so short, I would like to see this run become as close to perfect as possible.
skips missions run
just a quick recap. i know the names but am too lazy to type them.
intro: fine, no problems at all
aztec falcon: fancy stuff
skips some missions
hanumachine?, that monkey: fine to me
neo1: good
neo2: little bit of trouble getting up the tower to the rainbow devil, but a good boss fight
neo 3:
ice boss: i never knew he could die so easily
anubis: is their any way to make this battle faster? not the runners fault but it slows the run down on the entertainment side :/ still a pretty good fight though. i know hes annoying
elephant: good
bug: could the runner not hit the bug once or twice to end the battle faster the first time he was in the air??
leviathan: pretty good. maybe get an extra hit or two in
phantom: just beautiful
fefnir: pretty good
harpuia: i never knew that could be done....
copy x: good
copy x2: maybe could be done a little faster. not get caught by the rings
sound, video, and gameplay is good. runner makes hard mode look easy
ACCEPT. since this run is so short, I would like to see this run become as close to perfect as possible.
Long run
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Verifier: verdict is accept
Verifier: its good in parts and bad in others but overall its worth a watch
Verifier: its good in parts and bad in others but overall its worth a watch
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Verifier: warp run comments:
Verifier: Considering how evil the game can be, the runner executed everything save one boss fight with ruthless efficiency. All four guardians (normally can be tough) were made to look stupid and pathetic, as is the case with just about every single Megaman boss in existence. Accept.
Verifier: now the full run (all stages?) comments:
Verifier: At first I questioned going for the Rod and Shield, but after seeing the use the runner got out of them my doubt went away. However, there were still some issues. The first mission in the desert reeks of turbo controller (second half of the stage). The second mission in the desert (which I guess is really the first mission in the computer database) had the one massive mistake of getting caught by the X drones and having to eat 10 seconds. Only getting spotted once ensured no massive loss of time. However, with much indecision during the run, and an overall sloppy feel, I must reject this run.
Verifier: Considering how evil the game can be, the runner executed everything save one boss fight with ruthless efficiency. All four guardians (normally can be tough) were made to look stupid and pathetic, as is the case with just about every single Megaman boss in existence. Accept.
Verifier: now the full run (all stages?) comments:
Verifier: At first I questioned going for the Rod and Shield, but after seeing the use the runner got out of them my doubt went away. However, there were still some issues. The first mission in the desert reeks of turbo controller (second half of the stage). The second mission in the desert (which I guess is really the first mission in the computer database) had the one massive mistake of getting caught by the X drones and having to eat 10 seconds. Only getting spotted once ensured no massive loss of time. However, with much indecision during the run, and an overall sloppy feel, I must reject this run.
To be honest, I was not very satisfied with the long run (don't say you were surprised I was a verifier), and I sent a huge pm to illustrate my dissatisfaction.
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Your 6-mission run is fine. Everyone agrees it was a good run, even though there were a couple of ugly parts (hanumachine, end of ganesheriff).
However, I'm really torn when it comes to your all missions run. Most of the verifiers accepted it, but one verifier rejected it, and I'm pretty sure I want to reject it too.
There's one thing that really baffled me about your submission, and that's the fact you never contacted me for possible tips. I have actually been well aware of the standing slash trick for years, and while you discovered a lot on your own, there are a couple of tricks you didn't know that I have discovered since I did my run. I would have gladly discussed strategy with you too.
BTW, I 100% agree with your mission order.
One general thing: Maybe it's just me, but your slashing seems slow. I'm not sure why you hold back and don't slash like a madman when you have the chance.
Intro stage: No comment.
Second stage: Nice trick with the first weather machine, never knew about that.
Retrieve Data: Nice trick with the skull crush, but you're slower than me by 2-3 seconds (realtime) on the escape. Why do you jump off the walls?
Desert Rescue: Is there no way to hit Necromancess while on the ground when you're on the right? Good idea with the triple rod bouncing.
Train mission: Why didn't you cut the live wires? I know you didn't waste a lot of time getting hit, but it's just odd. Charged up thunder shield is a great idea for the midboss, but why don't you wiggle slash (switch blade in your comments)? Wiggle slashing would be a lot faster.
I know the train boss can be a lot faster because you're not restricted by rank. I'm positive it's worth it just to cram your triple rod up and to the right while getting hit by some flames. You probably can't get hit by all of the flames, but when you have to dodge DON'T SHIELD THE BOSS. I don't think you're aware of the fact that cramming in a ton of attacks >>>> hitting the boss with its weakness (because that induces invincibility). I know, I wasn't aware of the power of standing slash during my run (which is the trick I mentioned in my comments would save a couple of seconds lol), but that's no excuse since we know a lot more now than in 2005.
Retake the factory: If there was a stage that yelled restart, this was it. I don't think I need to tell you about the shortcut, but WHY DO YOU PLAY SO SAFE AROUND THE PLATFORMS? I jumped through the platforms as much as I could (or at least as much as I knew), and you just stand there most of the time, losing 8-9 seconds (realtime again) on me. There is absolutely no excuse for being so conservative there (don't tell me it would make you restart a lot, how many times do you think I restarted?).
Okay, now this boss I know can be done faster, because I've done a couple of practice s-rank runs on this stage, and I've killed the boss on its third cycle. Again, you're not under the restriction of rank, so why don't you just jam your triple rod every single chance you get? That's how you kill the boss on its third cycle. Okay, you'll have to dodge the electricity blasts from the third cycle because your life will be low, but you can still kill the boss within its third cycle easily. Also, what is up with using the shield? The boss doesn't even have a weakness!
I have an s-rank run of this stage in 1:37 (yes, that's 8 seconds faster your run, that's why I'm grilling you so hard). If you have the tasvideos visualboyadvance, I can give you my replay.
Base defense 1: Not much to say here, there's luck involved :-/
Secret base: Oh weak, you don't jump straight down around the spikes like a man
Would bouncing off the second turtle with the triple rod save any time?
ARGH, you get caught! Wastes a lot of time and equals instant restart IMO. I don't know why you didn't just kill the robot first. Oh yeah, you also get a bit lost
About stagroff, does that always happen if you do nothing at first?
Rescue Colbor: You can get through the platforms a little faster if you triple rod bounce off the first enemy, IIRC.
Defend Factory: Again with the platforms :(, the rest was fine though.
Stop the hacking: Okay, this is why you should have consulted me. Remember when I said I didn't know how to jump on the submarines earlier? Well I figured out how to jump on the left side of the right sub. Lure the squid up, then bounce off it using the triple rod.
You should use the shield boomerang on Leviathan while she's moving, not while she's still attacking, you will get more chances to standing slash her, IIRC.
Desert Assault: No comment really. Jumping against Fefnir is a good idea.
Defend Base 2: Some bad luck against Hanumachine, but not much you can do.
Neo Arcadia 1: I think it's faster to wiggle slash against the twins.
Also, I think you can triple rod rod off the one of the propeller bots to get on the top.
Good otherwise.
Neo Arcadia 2: No comment.
Final Stage: Copy X's first form doesn't have any weaknesses. I know switching elements doesn't waste any time, but I'm just a little confused why you switched in the first place. Other than that the stage was good, except the final boss battle was kind of sloppy.
As it stands, I can accept your run, but I would rather see a redo as there are a couple of big time wasting mistakes that make me cringe (and some minor errors that irritate me). That, and there were a couple of timesavers I used that you ignored.
However, I'm really torn when it comes to your all missions run. Most of the verifiers accepted it, but one verifier rejected it, and I'm pretty sure I want to reject it too.
There's one thing that really baffled me about your submission, and that's the fact you never contacted me for possible tips. I have actually been well aware of the standing slash trick for years, and while you discovered a lot on your own, there are a couple of tricks you didn't know that I have discovered since I did my run. I would have gladly discussed strategy with you too.
BTW, I 100% agree with your mission order.
One general thing: Maybe it's just me, but your slashing seems slow. I'm not sure why you hold back and don't slash like a madman when you have the chance.
Intro stage: No comment.
Second stage: Nice trick with the first weather machine, never knew about that.
Retrieve Data: Nice trick with the skull crush, but you're slower than me by 2-3 seconds (realtime) on the escape. Why do you jump off the walls?
Desert Rescue: Is there no way to hit Necromancess while on the ground when you're on the right? Good idea with the triple rod bouncing.
Train mission: Why didn't you cut the live wires? I know you didn't waste a lot of time getting hit, but it's just odd. Charged up thunder shield is a great idea for the midboss, but why don't you wiggle slash (switch blade in your comments)? Wiggle slashing would be a lot faster.
I know the train boss can be a lot faster because you're not restricted by rank. I'm positive it's worth it just to cram your triple rod up and to the right while getting hit by some flames. You probably can't get hit by all of the flames, but when you have to dodge DON'T SHIELD THE BOSS. I don't think you're aware of the fact that cramming in a ton of attacks >>>> hitting the boss with its weakness (because that induces invincibility). I know, I wasn't aware of the power of standing slash during my run (which is the trick I mentioned in my comments would save a couple of seconds lol), but that's no excuse since we know a lot more now than in 2005.
Retake the factory: If there was a stage that yelled restart, this was it. I don't think I need to tell you about the shortcut, but WHY DO YOU PLAY SO SAFE AROUND THE PLATFORMS? I jumped through the platforms as much as I could (or at least as much as I knew), and you just stand there most of the time, losing 8-9 seconds (realtime again) on me. There is absolutely no excuse for being so conservative there (don't tell me it would make you restart a lot, how many times do you think I restarted?).
Okay, now this boss I know can be done faster, because I've done a couple of practice s-rank runs on this stage, and I've killed the boss on its third cycle. Again, you're not under the restriction of rank, so why don't you just jam your triple rod every single chance you get? That's how you kill the boss on its third cycle. Okay, you'll have to dodge the electricity blasts from the third cycle because your life will be low, but you can still kill the boss within its third cycle easily. Also, what is up with using the shield? The boss doesn't even have a weakness!
I have an s-rank run of this stage in 1:37 (yes, that's 8 seconds faster your run, that's why I'm grilling you so hard). If you have the tasvideos visualboyadvance, I can give you my replay.
Base defense 1: Not much to say here, there's luck involved :-/
Secret base: Oh weak, you don't jump straight down around the spikes like a man
Would bouncing off the second turtle with the triple rod save any time?
ARGH, you get caught! Wastes a lot of time and equals instant restart IMO. I don't know why you didn't just kill the robot first. Oh yeah, you also get a bit lost
About stagroff, does that always happen if you do nothing at first?
Rescue Colbor: You can get through the platforms a little faster if you triple rod bounce off the first enemy, IIRC.
Defend Factory: Again with the platforms :(, the rest was fine though.
Stop the hacking: Okay, this is why you should have consulted me. Remember when I said I didn't know how to jump on the submarines earlier? Well I figured out how to jump on the left side of the right sub. Lure the squid up, then bounce off it using the triple rod.
You should use the shield boomerang on Leviathan while she's moving, not while she's still attacking, you will get more chances to standing slash her, IIRC.
Desert Assault: No comment really. Jumping against Fefnir is a good idea.
Defend Base 2: Some bad luck against Hanumachine, but not much you can do.
Neo Arcadia 1: I think it's faster to wiggle slash against the twins.
Also, I think you can triple rod rod off the one of the propeller bots to get on the top.
Good otherwise.
Neo Arcadia 2: No comment.
Final Stage: Copy X's first form doesn't have any weaknesses. I know switching elements doesn't waste any time, but I'm just a little confused why you switched in the first place. Other than that the stage was good, except the final boss battle was kind of sloppy.
As it stands, I can accept your run, but I would rather see a redo as there are a couple of big time wasting mistakes that make me cringe (and some minor errors that irritate me). That, and there were a couple of timesavers I used that you ignored.
The runner was responsive, but still wanted his run accepted. Then a couple days later, this happened.
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Guess what, I just got my first HUGE sub26 time an hour ago! I had gotten 25'47 and 25'58 yesterday, but today, after some replaying I got 25'18!!!
that's a whopping 50 seconds faster than the run I sent in O_O
what's more stunning is that I died twice and that there could probably still be ripped off a minute! (lost 33 seconds on Retrieve data, 31 on NA shrine)
(getting 2'59 on Anubis and 4'00 on the final stage helped)
that's a whopping 50 seconds faster than the run I sent in O_O
what's more stunning is that I died twice and that there could probably still be ripped off a minute! (lost 33 seconds on Retrieve data, 31 on NA shrine)
(getting 2'59 on Anubis and 4'00 on the final stage helped)
Decision: Accept and reject
Reason: The mission skips run is quite good, but the all missions run definitely has some room for improvement as indicated by the runner's improvement with two deaths.
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