My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/MegaMan6.html
Jim Hanson's single-segment run
The last verifier pointed out a hissing problem in the audio, but said if that can be fixed (it can), then the run should be accepted.
Decision: Accept
Reason: It's an improvement, and it's probably the first run we should have accepted because there are no major errors in this run. If you're curious about the differences between this run and the last run, read the response from the last verifier I quoted.
Jim Hanson's single-segment run
Quote:
Before I start, the runner wanted his time kept a secret, but I timed it for you anyway. I included it below the importance section where you can stop the copy and paste before you get to it.
Quality (Capture)
I think the TV this guy is playing on is old. Either that, or his DVDs aren’t up to snuff.
Quality (Gameplay)
You know by now when I say “ahead/behind by x seconds” I mean starting the stages from the same places.
Actually falls behind on WindMan and his stage by 6 seconds compared to the old run.
At the beginning of TerroristMan’s stage, he misses a jump and gets hit by one of those little hat guys, losing 3 seconds.
FlameMan himself goes better than in the old run, but overall, the runner still loses 4 seconds.
BlizzardMan gets put on ice and his stage beat 7 seconds faster. The runner has eliminated the mistakes the player of the old run made through out the stage, like crashing into stuff and losing his footing.
PlantMan and the stage go the same pretty much, except for a slightly less lucky PlantMan battle.
TomahawkMan and his stage go about 3 seconds slower.
YamatoMan’s and his stage go 7 seconds slower. This is because the runner has worse luck against the boss and the level contains a few hits.
KnightMan and his stage go 4 seconds slower. The runner has bad luck with the ball launching things and takes an extra hit or two.
CentaurMan gets beat 3 seconds faster thanks to better luck.
Beats the first Dr. Wily… I mean… Mr. X stage 18 seconds faster thanks to avoiding that huge mistake the player of the last run made before the secret entrance.
The second stage gets finished 3 seconds slower because of taking a few hits towards the end of it.
Completely blows the boss of the third stage when he not only has to use an E-Tank to finish off the boss, but misses three shots on him. Over a 10 second time loss here.
Even though he stops for three weapons refills, the runner still beats the dragon and the stage 5 seconds faster.
Avoids that 12 seconds mistake the last run did with the ice wall and disappearing blocks.
Uses the booster to pull off a better looking first half of the stage, but messes up before a ladder and costs himself 4 seconds.
Tackles the bosses in a different order. He beats them and the stage 20 seconds faster because of better skill and better luck with CentaurMan.
Better luck and aiming against 3rd and final Wily, resulting in over a 10 second improvement.
Timing
It's a secret.
Importance
Even though this run is still far from perfect, it improves on the run already up there by nearly 45 seconds by fixing the major errors the last one had, getting better luck with certain bosses, and doing a few new things here and there. It’s weird, because you’d swear he was falling more and more behind, but then when you compare times, it’s a huge difference. I’d go more in depth and double check this, but I’m way too tired right now. The only other thing I can say is that this should go onto SDA.
Timing
Moves the cursor at 593 (00:09.893)
Death blow to Dr. Wily at 135857 (37:46.548)
Overall time: 37:36.655
Quality (Capture)
I think the TV this guy is playing on is old. Either that, or his DVDs aren’t up to snuff.
Quality (Gameplay)
You know by now when I say “ahead/behind by x seconds” I mean starting the stages from the same places.
Actually falls behind on WindMan and his stage by 6 seconds compared to the old run.
At the beginning of TerroristMan’s stage, he misses a jump and gets hit by one of those little hat guys, losing 3 seconds.
FlameMan himself goes better than in the old run, but overall, the runner still loses 4 seconds.
BlizzardMan gets put on ice and his stage beat 7 seconds faster. The runner has eliminated the mistakes the player of the old run made through out the stage, like crashing into stuff and losing his footing.
PlantMan and the stage go the same pretty much, except for a slightly less lucky PlantMan battle.
TomahawkMan and his stage go about 3 seconds slower.
YamatoMan’s and his stage go 7 seconds slower. This is because the runner has worse luck against the boss and the level contains a few hits.
KnightMan and his stage go 4 seconds slower. The runner has bad luck with the ball launching things and takes an extra hit or two.
CentaurMan gets beat 3 seconds faster thanks to better luck.
Beats the first Dr. Wily… I mean… Mr. X stage 18 seconds faster thanks to avoiding that huge mistake the player of the last run made before the secret entrance.
The second stage gets finished 3 seconds slower because of taking a few hits towards the end of it.
Completely blows the boss of the third stage when he not only has to use an E-Tank to finish off the boss, but misses three shots on him. Over a 10 second time loss here.
Even though he stops for three weapons refills, the runner still beats the dragon and the stage 5 seconds faster.
Avoids that 12 seconds mistake the last run did with the ice wall and disappearing blocks.
Uses the booster to pull off a better looking first half of the stage, but messes up before a ladder and costs himself 4 seconds.
Tackles the bosses in a different order. He beats them and the stage 20 seconds faster because of better skill and better luck with CentaurMan.
Better luck and aiming against 3rd and final Wily, resulting in over a 10 second improvement.
Timing
It's a secret.
Importance
Even though this run is still far from perfect, it improves on the run already up there by nearly 45 seconds by fixing the major errors the last one had, getting better luck with certain bosses, and doing a few new things here and there. It’s weird, because you’d swear he was falling more and more behind, but then when you compare times, it’s a huge difference. I’d go more in depth and double check this, but I’m way too tired right now. The only other thing I can say is that this should go onto SDA.
Timing
Moves the cursor at 593 (00:09.893)
Death blow to Dr. Wily at 135857 (37:46.548)
Overall time: 37:36.655
Quote:
Hey Mike,
I watched the MM6 run, and here's the verification report.
With regards to video quality/legitimateness, the video appears to be legit. No sound/visual issues, and everything appears to be in order.
For actual gameplay, I will first include a list of times relative to Tiki's. Note that I did this from VLC and did approximate counts (rounded to nearest second), so this could obviously be off by as much as a second.
Stage - This run's time (Tiki's time)
Wind - 1:57 (1:51)
Flame - 1:48 (1:44)
Blizzard - 1:48 (1:53)
Plant - 2:09 (2:06)
Tomahawk - 1:58 (1:56)
Yamato - 1:37 (1:32)
Knight - 1:59 (1:56)
Centaur - 2:04 (2:04)
X1 - 1:15 (1:32)
X2 - 1:23 (1:22)
X3 - 1:55 (1:48)
X4 - 1:49 (1:45)
Wily 1 - 1:40 (1:43)
Wily 2 - 1:04 (1:14)
Wily 3 - 3:51 (4:06)
Wily 4 - 1:06 (1:17)
The key thing to note is that the new run is slower in almost all of the initial 8 stages. He gains considerably in X1 (but Tiki screwed up the shortcut once, costing him ~11 seconds), loses time in most of the other X stages, and then gains almost 40 seconds in the four Wily stages. The runner seemed somewhat hesitant at times in this run, and in general the gameplay was inferior to Tiki's in the first 12 stages.
So basically, the original run is better up to the start of the Wily 1 boss, and this new run is better from then on. Overall quality of play seemed better in the original run, but this run does have a :27 second or so gain. I'll vote this as a borderline accept, as it does get a better time. Hopefully the comments will be better in this submission than Tiki's.
I watched the MM6 run, and here's the verification report.
With regards to video quality/legitimateness, the video appears to be legit. No sound/visual issues, and everything appears to be in order.
For actual gameplay, I will first include a list of times relative to Tiki's. Note that I did this from VLC and did approximate counts (rounded to nearest second), so this could obviously be off by as much as a second.
Stage - This run's time (Tiki's time)
Wind - 1:57 (1:51)
Flame - 1:48 (1:44)
Blizzard - 1:48 (1:53)
Plant - 2:09 (2:06)
Tomahawk - 1:58 (1:56)
Yamato - 1:37 (1:32)
Knight - 1:59 (1:56)
Centaur - 2:04 (2:04)
X1 - 1:15 (1:32)
X2 - 1:23 (1:22)
X3 - 1:55 (1:48)
X4 - 1:49 (1:45)
Wily 1 - 1:40 (1:43)
Wily 2 - 1:04 (1:14)
Wily 3 - 3:51 (4:06)
Wily 4 - 1:06 (1:17)
The key thing to note is that the new run is slower in almost all of the initial 8 stages. He gains considerably in X1 (but Tiki screwed up the shortcut once, costing him ~11 seconds), loses time in most of the other X stages, and then gains almost 40 seconds in the four Wily stages. The runner seemed somewhat hesitant at times in this run, and in general the gameplay was inferior to Tiki's in the first 12 stages.
So basically, the original run is better up to the start of the Wily 1 boss, and this new run is better from then on. Overall quality of play seemed better in the original run, but this run does have a :27 second or so gain. I'll vote this as a borderline accept, as it does get a better time. Hopefully the comments will be better in this submission than Tiki's.
Quote:
The video and audio quality are fine, and there are no syncing problems.
There was no cheating.
If this run is faster than the current record, then I guess it should be accepted. There are no MAJOR errors. There are a fair number of minor errors resulting in losses of a second or so here and there. There were no deaths. Its a sufficient run for a challenging game but I see significant room for improvement.
There was no cheating.
If this run is faster than the current record, then I guess it should be accepted. There are no MAJOR errors. There are a fair number of minor errors resulting in losses of a second or so here and there. There were no deaths. Its a sufficient run for a challenging game but I see significant room for improvement.
Quote:
First off, there's no cheating that I could notice, video and sound quality are good, and he doesn't die.
I was satisfied after first watching the run, as it looked just like the old run without the massive time-consuming mistakes that never should have been accepted in the first place. I decided to watch both runs side by side, synchronizing them at the beginning of each level to see just how much better it was, and the results were a bit disappointing.
Windman
Runner misses a jump right after the first ladder and slides into a wall a few times. Why this wasn't grounds for a restart, as it's such an obvious mistake and so early in the run, I have no idea. Overall, less optimal than the old run.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Flameman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Blizzardman
This is more like it. Saves time from a small strategy change, jumping over a certain enemy instead of taking the hit and running through it. Still no one's realized you can be faster off of those push-button bombs at the end by standing on it, and jumping just as it explodes, to get into the boss room faster.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
Plantman
Ugh, here's one of those disappointments I was talking about. Starts off faster than the old run, wastes a little time shooting open the platforms, when the old run shows you can jump on them while closed. Doesn't pull off a cool trick from the old run of standing on that last edge and shooting the enemy, which looks very difficult and awesome. Instead, he takes the hit and moves on. New run enters the boss room sooner, but kills him MUCH slower. He usually gets only one shot off per shield cycle, when the old run gets 2 shots in, every time.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Tomahawkman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Yamatoman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Knightman
Doesn't make the same mistake with getting hit into some spikes as the old run, but makes a new mistake instead. In that same place, the new run hops around like an idiot dodging bullets, which wastes more time than the old run getting hit. He should have just taken the hit and moved on. Boss fight is also slower due to bad luck.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Centaurman
Winner: new run, by less than a second
Mr. X 1
This is the big one. Two massive mistakes in the old run equate to an 8 year old being able to beat this time. Runner saves roughly a thousand hours by not fucking up. Also, it's faster to hop from the last rotating platform just as it moves, back onto itself. It's totally possible without hitting the spikes; I pulled it off regularly when I was 12.
Winner: new run, by a thousand hours
Mr. X 2
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Mr. X 3
Here's the defining moment of this run. Due to some weird glitch, he is able to fall and stop in mid-air with the Rush Jet, and reach a platform that the old run took the long way of blowing up the top block, requiring 2 menu passes. New run then proceeds to FLUSH IT ALL DOWN THE FUCKING TOILET by failing miserably against the boss. He misses 3 charge-up attacks, then uses an E-tank.
Winner: old run, by a quite a few seconds
Mr. X 4
Same path, but slower. Grabs an extra unnecessary E-tank. Does something weird in the menu, I'm not sure what, which leads to an annoying sound and a bunch of time wasted. He probably tried to use that E-tank and messed up, since that's where the old run uses one. But, he doesn't NEED it, due to the new run's superior strategy of using power armor on the boss.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Wily 1
Better all-around than the old run, except takes some time to grab weapon energy. Kills the boss much better than the old run too, so the new run is surprisingly faster, despite the detour.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
Wily 2
Another big one. New run saves a bunch of time by not messing up in the disappearing block room.
Winner: new run, by the entire boss fight
Wily 3
Ah, this run's big ugly mistake pops up. Misses a ladder, and must land and fly again. Still not nearly as bad as the old run's big ugly mistakes. Saves time not grabbing the E-tank, as the new run still has one. Better boss fighting overall, except for Plantman again.
Winner: new run, by the entire Plantman fight (the old run's plantman fight, that is. Not the slow new one.)
Wily 4
New run is a tad faster at first, then MUCH faster at Wily's 3rd form, which is very random.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
So, unfortunately, the new run is overall LESS optimal than the old run, but doesn't make any huge mistakes. Still ends with an extra E-tank, which looks like bad planning to me, though it took probably less than a second to grab. If my calculations are correct, it is faster by roughly a thousand and Plantman hours. It just somehow manages to do it while not looking as good, and not looking as terrible.
Accepted.
I was satisfied after first watching the run, as it looked just like the old run without the massive time-consuming mistakes that never should have been accepted in the first place. I decided to watch both runs side by side, synchronizing them at the beginning of each level to see just how much better it was, and the results were a bit disappointing.
Windman
Runner misses a jump right after the first ladder and slides into a wall a few times. Why this wasn't grounds for a restart, as it's such an obvious mistake and so early in the run, I have no idea. Overall, less optimal than the old run.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Flameman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Blizzardman
This is more like it. Saves time from a small strategy change, jumping over a certain enemy instead of taking the hit and running through it. Still no one's realized you can be faster off of those push-button bombs at the end by standing on it, and jumping just as it explodes, to get into the boss room faster.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
Plantman
Ugh, here's one of those disappointments I was talking about. Starts off faster than the old run, wastes a little time shooting open the platforms, when the old run shows you can jump on them while closed. Doesn't pull off a cool trick from the old run of standing on that last edge and shooting the enemy, which looks very difficult and awesome. Instead, he takes the hit and moves on. New run enters the boss room sooner, but kills him MUCH slower. He usually gets only one shot off per shield cycle, when the old run gets 2 shots in, every time.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Tomahawkman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Yamatoman
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Knightman
Doesn't make the same mistake with getting hit into some spikes as the old run, but makes a new mistake instead. In that same place, the new run hops around like an idiot dodging bullets, which wastes more time than the old run getting hit. He should have just taken the hit and moved on. Boss fight is also slower due to bad luck.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Centaurman
Winner: new run, by less than a second
Mr. X 1
This is the big one. Two massive mistakes in the old run equate to an 8 year old being able to beat this time. Runner saves roughly a thousand hours by not fucking up. Also, it's faster to hop from the last rotating platform just as it moves, back onto itself. It's totally possible without hitting the spikes; I pulled it off regularly when I was 12.
Winner: new run, by a thousand hours
Mr. X 2
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Mr. X 3
Here's the defining moment of this run. Due to some weird glitch, he is able to fall and stop in mid-air with the Rush Jet, and reach a platform that the old run took the long way of blowing up the top block, requiring 2 menu passes. New run then proceeds to FLUSH IT ALL DOWN THE FUCKING TOILET by failing miserably against the boss. He misses 3 charge-up attacks, then uses an E-tank.
Winner: old run, by a quite a few seconds
Mr. X 4
Same path, but slower. Grabs an extra unnecessary E-tank. Does something weird in the menu, I'm not sure what, which leads to an annoying sound and a bunch of time wasted. He probably tried to use that E-tank and messed up, since that's where the old run uses one. But, he doesn't NEED it, due to the new run's superior strategy of using power armor on the boss.
Winner: old run, by a few seconds
Wily 1
Better all-around than the old run, except takes some time to grab weapon energy. Kills the boss much better than the old run too, so the new run is surprisingly faster, despite the detour.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
Wily 2
Another big one. New run saves a bunch of time by not messing up in the disappearing block room.
Winner: new run, by the entire boss fight
Wily 3
Ah, this run's big ugly mistake pops up. Misses a ladder, and must land and fly again. Still not nearly as bad as the old run's big ugly mistakes. Saves time not grabbing the E-tank, as the new run still has one. Better boss fighting overall, except for Plantman again.
Winner: new run, by the entire Plantman fight (the old run's plantman fight, that is. Not the slow new one.)
Wily 4
New run is a tad faster at first, then MUCH faster at Wily's 3rd form, which is very random.
Winner: new run, by a few seconds
So, unfortunately, the new run is overall LESS optimal than the old run, but doesn't make any huge mistakes. Still ends with an extra E-tank, which looks like bad planning to me, though it took probably less than a second to grab. If my calculations are correct, it is faster by roughly a thousand and Plantman hours. It just somehow manages to do it while not looking as good, and not looking as terrible.
Accepted.
The last verifier pointed out a hissing problem in the audio, but said if that can be fixed (it can), then the run should be accepted.
Decision: Accept
Reason: It's an improvement, and it's probably the first run we should have accepted because there are no major errors in this run. If you're curious about the differences between this run and the last run, read the response from the last verifier I quoted.
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