Contra 4 - September 22, 2015

Edit history:

SDAVerification: 2015-09-22 12:41:38 pm

2015-08-18 02:32:22 pm

Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/Contra4.html

Contra 4 (ntscus) (ds) [Any %] [Individual Level] [Hard] [Challenge Mode]
Contra 4 (ntscus) (ds) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Hard] [2 players]

Decision: Accept

Reason: A few of the ILs are of a fairly poor video quality. They were recorded at a time when there was no good capture devices for the DS. As such they are (in the very lower end of what's) acceptable. The idea was to re-record these with a newer recording setup, but it turned out to take more time than initially planned.

Congratulations to Kyle 'Mr. K' Halversen & Zack 'Zallard1' Allard!

Thread title:

SDAVerification

2015-08-18 02:32:24 pm

Run Information

Contra 4 (ntscus) (ds) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Hard] [2 players]
Contra 4 (ntscus) (ds) [Any %] [Individual Level] [Hard] [Challenge Mode]

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/contra4-20150630/

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). This is not a contest where the majority wins - I will judge each verification on its content. Please keep your verification brief unless you have a good reason otherwise.

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2015-09-03 06:31:58 pm

2015-08-18 06:49:01 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

A/V: Good
Cheating: the black sniper tried to say yes

Solid run even with the few deaths that happened. Abusing the weapon drop feature kept things moving along pretty smooth.

Accept

**Edit** This is only for the 2 players run, don't think the challenge runs were on this thread when I did this.

ktwo

2015-08-25 10:01:32 am

A/V: Good, except for challenge runs 5, 6, 24, 30, 34 and 35. They are at half the framerate, look choppy and the audio is low. I'm guessing they're not acceptable in their current state, but the runner has been contacted about this issue and hopefully we can find a workaround. I'll get back on what comes out of that discussion.

Gameplay: The 2p-run is well done and a great watch. It's quite obvious that a lot of thought has gone into optimizing the route for this category. The execution is good as well, even if not everything went as planned. A bonus for the very informative audio commentary (including one of the developers).

All the challenge levels appeared to be well done. It's not always full speed ahead, but with the limitations these challenges impose on you, it seemed difficult to avoid stopping or turning back at some points. There were also a few auto-scrollers mixed in, but sda has accepted auto-scrollers in the past in order to have complete IL tables, so no problems.

Accept x2 (but the video quality of some of the ILs is likely not up to par)

A/V: Good, except for challenge runs 5, 6, 24, 30, 34 and 35. They are at half the framerate, look choppy and the audio is low. I'm guessing they're not acceptable in their current state, but the runner has been contacted about this issue and hopefully we can find a workaround. I'll get back on what comes out of that discussion.

Gameplay: The 2p-run is well done and a great watch. It's quite obvious that a lot of thought has gone into optimizing the route for this category. The execution is good as well, even if not everything went as planned. A bonus for the very informative audio commentary (including one of the developers).

All the challenge levels appeared to be well done. It's not always full speed ahead, but with the limitations these challenges impose on you, it seemed difficult to avoid stopping or turning back at some points. There were also a few auto-scrollers mixed in, but sda has accepted auto-scrollers in the past in order to have complete IL tables, so no problems.

Accept x2 (but the video quality of some of the ILs is likely not up to par)

Satoryu

2015-08-26 11:29:51 pm

Visually Appealing

A/V: The co op run and Zallard's challenge levels have no problems. Mr. K's are a mixed bag. All of them are at a lower volume, which really isn't an issue. But Challenge 6 has buzzing in its audio. And a good handful of these videos are at a lower framerate.

Gameplay: The ILs are all played extremely well. There's really not much to say about them.

The co op run was practically flawless in the first 7 stages. They hit a small snag on the last two, dying a couple times, but none of them cost much time at all. Not having the optimal weapons on the stage 8 and 9 bosses cost maybe 10 seconds in total. It might have been more if not for some good luck and good improvisation.

I accept both the full run and the IL table.

Sir VG

2015-08-27 12:28:26 am

Fucking Weeaboo

I only watched the full run, and was very impressed. This game is stupid hard and it was handled with ease.

The deaths in stage 2 were definitely intentional to speed things up, and while there were a couple of other accidental deaths, they had virtually no impact on time. The passing off of weapons using the drop function was handled marvelously in those accidental death instances (especially the last 2 stages). I will say though, that I forgot how annoying the laser weapon sound is in this game. Geezus.

Accepting the full game co-op run.

ktwo

2015-09-01 10:46:18 am

For info, I have talked to Mr K. The ILs with poor a/v quality were made at a time when good capture cards were not available for the DS. He's currently attempting to redo these levels though, so I'll keep this thread open a bit longer.

SDAVerification

2015-09-22 12:41:41 pm

Decision posted.