Contra III

Mr. K

2011-03-12 02:03:28 am

Yes

Yes. I'm also saying that you would be dodging orbs. Lots of orbs.

PJ

2011-03-12 09:34:10 am

Is PJ

Quote from bmn:

So you're saying that you could theoretically dodge a load of patterns, then at some point the HP would be so low that you can fire one shot and win?

Yes. I have done this myself while playing around for points. After awhile just one shot from the peashooter will kill it. Pretty sweet.

That's an awesome find, Mr. K! I'm with Hurblat here, then. If you just choose the fastest pattern for the first three rounds (is that the red snakey?), and then the grey orbs for the fourth round, would you save time from the pattern being shorter even if you aren't hitting him as much? Seems like you might, after all. Regardless, thanks for looking into this!

bmn

2011-03-12 12:36:49 pm

Quote from Mr. K:

Yes. I'm also saying that you would be dodging ballz. Lots of ballz.

Fixed.

Hurblat

Edit history:

Hurblat: 2011-03-12 05:29:22 pm

2011-03-12 05:28:13 pm

I'm no doctor, but from the brain's perspective having two grey rocks and a red snake sounds more beneficial to your health than blue balls.
Just saying.

Spider-Waffle

(user is banned)

2011-03-14 01:49:25 am

Don't think! feeeeeal

do more testing on damage output for the different patterens. Isn't the sin wave one the hardest to do much damage on, then maybe blue balls. I'm pretty sure with practice you'll figure out patterns to the blue balls and be able to dodge them 100% while doing decent damage. There's probably like 4 different patterns, figure out the best way to stay alive and do damage for all 4 with 80% success rate or higher and you're golden.

3 sets of blue balls might be just what the doctor ordered
or 2 blue balls and snake!

Mr. K

2011-03-18 11:54:59 am

Yes

I just wanted to give you all an update on testing. I've got the memory addresses and values for the health of all the enemies in the game. I will be testing attack damage, character position, and speed this weekend. Once I have all that down I'll be able to crack the brain mystery once and for all and I'll probably figure out a few new strats for low % while I'm at it.

I have no name

2011-03-18 01:35:55 pm

Obscure games ftw

Quote from Hurblat:

red snake

OMG RED SNAKE FC!!! :3

To be on topic, good luck to the runner(s)

Mr. K

2011-03-21 11:48:47 am

Yes

Argh! I still need to do more testing, but this is what I've found:

-In order to kill the brain in four cycles, you need to deal at least 2,000 damage in each cycle
-You can do approximately 2,800 damage with the stone grey orb pattern
-you can do around 2,000 damage with most attack patterns

I'm currently trying to figure out why it seems faster to include other attack patterns, but it seems as though both the snake and marble blue orbs are in fact, sub optimal and getting an early stone grey pattern might explain why the boss seems to go down faster earlier with some of our testing. I'm still not totally satisfied with the results, but I've established that the boss's health gets cut in half after every attack pattern regardless of the orb you get. Testing doesn't seem to bear out that the boss takes damage at a slightly greater rate with different attack patterns. I'll keep on this.

Spider-Waffle

(user is banned)

2011-04-21 03:36:02 pm

Don't think! feeeeeal

So what about attack pattern time lengths? Is there any plausible way to get just 3 attack patterns? If not then we want the fastest 4 pattern method

Mr. K

2011-04-27 06:55:48 am

Yes

Fun Fact: During the stage 5 boss fight you can walk over the boss's body and not die as long as the eye is closed. Once the eye opens the boss's entire body becomes harmful.

Mr. K

2011-04-30 10:59:21 am

Yes

I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that I have just completed a no death hard low % run that uses most of the important time savers and that is much faster than the last one I posted. The time is in the low 23's.
The bad news is that I stupidly used a bomb in stage 2 and this stunt cost approximately 7 seconds.

When I was first planning this run, given the almost impossible difficulty of a low % run I was determined to submit the first deathless run that didn't suck. Now I'm not so sure. I'm probably going to redo it.

DK28

2011-05-01 11:44:55 am

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Still sounds good Mr K. Especially on hard. I'd love to see it, even if you're not going to submit.

Spider-Waffle

(user is banned)

2011-05-02 06:18:01 am

Don't think! feeeeeal

I'd share it for people to comment on if nothing else

Mr. K

2011-05-02 04:34:35 pm

Yes

Here's an HQ version of the run. I'm trying to beat it as we speak:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9VQIQNPB

DK28

2011-05-03 10:10:30 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Amazing Mr. K. That you're going to improve it is quite commendable. Your control over the stage 5 boss was quite impressive. And keeping the crawler boss above ground through three stages?! Shocked

Spider-Waffle

(user is banned)

Spider-Waffle

Edit history:

Spider-Waffle: 2011-05-04 03:35:51 am

Spider-Waffle: 2011-05-04 03:32:24 am

Spider-Waffle: 2011-05-04 03:28:45 am

2011-05-04 03:25:53 am

Don't think! feeeeeal

Ya that was pretty impressive, doing that on the lvl2 boss is pretty hard, wasn't a lot of slow down on most of the bosses. I think lvl3 wall drill mini-boss could save a lot of time, and maybe figure out the patterns better for the start of the lvl3 bosses so you can hit them more often, they probably don't have too many AI-scripts they can run.

I'm guessing getting the red wave twice was an accident, that might have cost 1 attack wave, or no? Aren't the grey rocks and red floating thing next to eachother? Why not just aim between those two and you should always get one or the other, or you need a bomb to dmg red floaty brain, thus not low% I guess?

Or you could aim between the blue arms and the spiky thing.

DK28

2011-05-04 08:40:51 am

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Forgot to ask Mr. K. Where did you intend to use your bomb, or was level two it?

Mr. K

2011-05-04 09:18:45 am

Yes

Thank you both for watching it. The wall drilling mini boss bobs upward for a brief moment before it wil either attack or back away. If you move upward during this frame of time you can get it to attack every time. The problem is that during a low % fight it's not just two attack cycles, it's several and you have to keep correcting your positioning so you don't die. That fight was just bad execution. The same can be said for the brain fight. I normally can get the blue walking orb almost every time, but I was just a bit flustered. The spike orb doesn't waste too much time, but the snake pattern costs several seconds. It is much easier to hit the right orb every time with the peashooter than it is with crush so I really don't have an excuse. As far as other attack patterns go, I'm pretty happy with my current choise. A bomb is needed to clear out the red brains before decent damage can be done to that pattern. The grey orb is not ideal because the orbs themselves block the brain. This isn't a big problem if you have crush because the explosion damage bleeds through and hits them, but those orbs can completely shield the brain as they pass by.

The place I intended to use the bomb was the heart. It deals damage to two of the pods that I need to destroy and it damages the heart. It also gives me cover while I shoot the first pod that's in front of me which is the most critical to destroy. Finally it destroys any of the homing projectiles that are still chasing me from earlier in the stage. I took them out rather nicely in this run, but they can be rather vicious.

Thank you both for watching it.  The wall drilling mini boss bobs upward for a brief moment before it wil either attack or back away.  If you move upward during this frame of time you can get it to attack every time.  The problem is that during a low % fight it's not just two attack cycles, it's several and you have to keep correcting your positioning so you don't die.  That fight was just bad execution.  The same can be said for the brain fight.  I normally can get the blue walking orb almost every time, but I was just a bit flustered.  The spike orb doesn't waste too much time, but the snake pattern costs several seconds.  It is much easier to hit the right orb every time with the peashooter than it is with crush so I really don't have an excuse.  As far as other attack patterns go, I'm pretty happy with my current choise.  A bomb is needed to clear out the red brains before decent damage can be done to that pattern.  The grey orb is not ideal because the orbs themselves block the brain.  This isn't a big problem if you have crush because the explosion damage bleeds through and hits them, but those orbs can completely shield the brain as they pass by.

The place I intended to use the bomb was the heart.  It deals damage to two of the pods that I need to destroy and it damages the heart.  It also gives me cover while I shoot the first pod that's in front of me which is the most critical to destroy.  Finally it destroys any of the homing projectiles that are still chasing me from earlier in the stage.  I took them out rather nicely in this run, but they can be rather vicious.

Hurblat

2011-05-04 10:11:34 am

The run you posted was very good, K!
You can do better though, so I don't blame you for not submitting it Smiley

Nice to see you're using my strat on the wall miniboss. Can you get it 100% of the time?
Are you going for the top left corner when the stage 4 boss is exploding? I assure you it works all the time.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2011-05-04 02:07:15 pm

2011-05-04 12:51:31 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I just finished watching the run, and I have to say that was a really good run! I would accept the run if you submitted, but I can see why you want to improve it. The bomb would really help out against the heart, and your final boss battle wasn't too hot (two black snakes :().

I'm still wondering how you got through the alien rush right after the worm so smoothly.

EDIT: Why did you take the exploding bridge in Stage 5? That path is longer AFAIK.

Spider-Waffle

(user is banned)

2011-05-05 04:21:01 am

Don't think! feeeeeal

He probably took the bridge because it's safer with low% and he seemed to be set up pretty nice to drill the mission objective thing after it, I'm guessing it's more consistent while very comparable in speed.

So how many brain patterns do you need to run with low%? is 5 possible? seemed as though you weren't hitting the walking brain when moving left always, can you if you wait longer to move left?

MASTER-88

2011-05-05 06:23:05 am

Master-88

I am trying two days dowloading this, but my internet are way too shit load over 400 mb videos. Its like on/off like every 5 minutes and normally its take hours load long video like this.

Did you have youtube channel or lower quality video?

BTW congrats your run. I never was believe this game could be done deathless low-% hard mode.

stanski

2011-05-09 12:25:30 am

wise fwom yo gwave

Why isn't the tank considered an item?

Mr. K

2011-05-09 09:34:43 am

Yes

Because they're accessories.

Seriously, my two cents on the matter are that items are defined as:
-Those things that can be picked up and carried with you. They can be used at your discretion at any time and they are lost when you die.
-Those things that are dropped when shooting the carriers that move across the screen, dropped when a bunker in a top view stage is destroyed, dropped by the reaching claw on the stage 5 boss, or dropped from the spiky orb Red Falcon brain attack pattern

So why is the tank special?
-The tank is part of the environment of the first stage. It can only be used in a narrow area and can't proceed beyond the fire jets of the second base wall. It can't be taken anywhere else in the way that a bomb can be collected for use at a future time.
-The tank is its own entity with its own health and you don't lose it when you die

ZenicReverie

2011-05-09 09:44:21 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

but, if we take low% in contra to mean no weapons except your starting one, then the tank should be excluded, right?