Monster Party (NES) Speedrun

2007-07-14 01:18:16 am

I wondered if anyone has ever attempted trying to do one. I searched the forum, but was unable to find anything about it. My brother is semi-interested in possibly doing a speed-run for Monster Party, if even possible. He asked that I check out the forum before making any attempts.

Any thoughts?

Thread title:

kareshi

2007-07-14 03:33:00 am

I'd love to see it. I own Monster Party and considered running it at one time, it's very suitable for speedrunning- it looks like not too much randomness within the levels. I never was great at the boss fights, though I suppose it's just jumping and batting with good timing.

I suppose what would set a speedrun of this apart from a normal good-playing-through would be knowing when to turn into the alien and back the least possible number of times, considering the time it takes to do so.

kareshi

2009-01-18 07:01:05 pm

(tumbleweed)

Hello?

Sorry, I'm dead.

Oh. Well, I'll probably do this game then.

Humorisk

Edit history:

Humorisk: 2009-01-20 10:48:31 am

2009-01-19 09:27:36 pm

I've flirted with this game a little. I'm not sure how easy it would be to run. I would think at some point you'd have to farm for energy. This is because the fastest way to beat most bosses means taking damage.

Even though it takes time to change, I'd also think you'd want to be Bert as much as possible. He's better in pretty much every way, plus he can fly over some obstacles. If you get to the next pill fast enough, you can skip the animation of turning back into Mark.

Also, I recently discovered there are warps in stage two. I have no idea if that helps or not.

kareshi

2009-01-20 08:36:18 am

Warps?

Humorisk

2009-01-20 10:56:19 am

Yeah, try pressing up in front of the holes in the wall. I don't know what their deal is, if they're random or if they're in other levels too. The first one should take you right under the fried food boss.

You can also skip one or two bosses I believe. I don't think you have to fight the second giant spider.

kareshi

2009-01-20 08:17:27 pm

I can't seem to find a good FAQ, maybe I'll have to do a bunch of testing.

kareshi

2009-01-20 09:25:50 pm

All right, found some nice level 2 warps, they save about a whole minute. Thanks!
-No Bert, though, which makes the fried food bosses more difficult, but the time saved makes up for it.
-Possible to get Bert after the snake boss, but I shouldn't count on it.

Emptyeye

2009-01-20 09:28:22 pm

Talk to the Hand

Quote from Humorisk:

Yeah, try pressing up in front of the holes in the wall. I don't know what their deal is, if they're random or if they're in other levels too. The first one should take you right under the fried food boss.

You can also skip one or two bosses I believe. I don't think you have to fight the second giant spider.

If I remember right, the game plays a pretty nasty trick on you (For a casual player; it's actually good for a speedrunner) in Level 7--not only do you not have to fight all the bosses, you specifically have to NOT fight all of them. Fighting the second of the three bosses gives you the key, while fighting the last one after that takes the key away and traps you in the level.

Humorisk

2009-01-21 02:54:58 pm

So you only have to fight the grim reaper guy in level 7? Sweet, we're making some progress.

Now that I think about it, Mark might be good for some bosses and enemies, if it's something that throws a lot of projectiles he can bat back. It's just so much easier to get hit and possibly killed with him though.

Here's another thing you might not know. Pressing down when jumping/flying makes you drop fast. This might save you a second here or there. Man, I know a lot about Monster Party. How sad.

kareshi

2009-01-22 05:22:03 am

Yeah, I noticed the down-pressing, but I haven't applied it yet.
In Level 7 you have to fight two bosses, not JUST the "second" one, but the second one of your choosing out of three options.

Mark is a great boss fighter for all bosses that don't run around the room.

I'm taking too much damage in Level 3 and 4, I need to work on those. I just really hate stopping and batting enemies that take lots of hits.

kareshi

Edit history:

kareshi: 2009-01-22 10:11:35 pm

2009-01-22 04:12:21 pm

I can't wait do get all my level strategies down, this is going to be fun!

I'm aiming for sub-19 minutes, which is both
1. Less than half the time of the existing TG "world record"
2. Faster than the "tool-assisted speedrun" on Youtube.

There is no TASvideos version of this game, and the Youtube TAS looks a lot like a tool-assisted casual play-through.

I've made up good boss fight strategies, now I just have to decide where I'll allow myself to get hit in the levels vs. take the time to kill an enemy in the way

Humorisk

2009-01-23 09:49:51 am

This shouldn't be terribly hard for a guy who can beat Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts without taking a hit.

I'm not competing or anything (I'm working on something else), but when trying for personal best times, Level 3 is always where I get killed too. It does feel like the game slows down to a crawl if you want to try and kill some of the enemies.

You could go for different categories, one deathless and one with deaths. But I wonder if there's some way to farm for energy in a fast way. Sometimes the empty boss rooms yield energy, I wonder if there's a way to manipulate that. There's not a wealth of information out on this game so who knows.

Enhasa

Edit history:

Enhasa: 2009-01-23 04:00:56 pm

2009-01-23 03:55:24 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Wow, I just started playing this game because of this thread (didn't even try it at NES challenges), and I can't even contain myself. I am compelled to post about how incredibly awesome this game is. First the intro, then "Hello baby!" then the "Sorry, I'm already dead" miniboss, then the level changes from happy to twisted, then you change into that awesome birdman, and there's dogs with human heads and "Please don't pick on me." I don't know how this ever got localized like this with all the blood and skulls and whatever, it's like Splatterhouse. I'm almost afraid to continue playing this game lest it becomes any less awesome.

Edit: Just searched TASVideos, it's too awesome for TASVideos but it's not too awesome for Josh of course, lol.

kareshi

2009-01-23 08:45:43 pm

Yes, I love this game and its awesomeness. I've been telling people at work about it.

I haven't found a great way to farm energy. The best I've seen so far is find an enemy who gives a heart right next to a door and enter and exit the door - but even that takes time because you start in the middle of the room. So it may never be worth it. And dying's no good, because you always gain energy when you finish the previous level and it would take too long to kill yourself in the start of the next.

Emptyeye

2009-01-23 10:04:08 pm

Talk to the Hand

I could've sworn there were some enemies that gave hearts at least somewhat consistently and respawned a lot quicker than going into and out of doors. Admittedly though, it's been awhile since I've played through the game.

kareshi

2009-01-24 12:44:57 am

I just did a bunch of number crunching, and basically if I make it to the end of Level 4 with a single bar of energy left then there's no way to fail after that.

Edit: In more detail, it's improbable I'll die once I pass Level 4, since I don't have to run myself into enemies in the later levels to save time. However, "not dying" doesn't make a good speedrun by itself, and I'll probably be pretty strict with how often I allow myself to get hit on accident - even though getting hit only costs a half-second, I don't want it to look messy.

ShinerCCC

2009-01-24 01:54:16 am

Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.

I played this game when I was 10. I think I should brush up on it and see if I can help.

in before "KARESHI IS NUMBER ONE"

Enhasa

2009-01-24 08:55:05 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Ok, just beat this game, that ending was sicknasty. Too bad this game has basically no depth at all, but it's pretty fun and while it's not super replayable (outside speedrunning), it's definitely worth playing at least once to see the level of awesomeness that is pretty much maintained throughout. Dancing zombies is going to be the best part of any run on SDA btw. Tongue

For running, obvious thing that probably everyone knows but hasn't been said: Fastest way to climb ladders is rapid jumping with down taps before reaching any jump apexes. There are actually techniques for avoiding some of the regular enemies, like for the alligators, you can walk up to them, crawl a couple times while they pass you, and continue. You can kinda farm energy if you need to by scrolling the screen to respawn in some places (basically what Emptyeye is saying), which should be faster than entering boss rooms.

PS KARESHI IS NUMBER ONE

kareshi

2009-01-24 10:35:35 pm

I've got all my energy spots noted, I just have to avoid getting hit unintentionally (there are many intentional hits)

How long did it take you to defeat the dancing zombies?

Enhasa

2009-01-25 12:40:21 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Quite a while actually. At first I tried killing them, but after a couple minutes I thought "even NES developers couldn't expect you to take this long" so I realized "hey maybe I should actually watch them dance." They put on a good show I think.

kareshi

2009-01-27 05:57:37 pm

I got 18:52 just now, which was my goal, but now I think I want 17:xx.
We'll see.

X

2009-01-27 07:24:12 pm

destroy them with lazers

At the rate your going with this and North & South you could have your own Kareshi update.

Let's Mix It Up!

Oh Boy! Mark Soup!

kareshi

2009-01-27 08:16:57 pm

I would REALLY like to know why the snake monster says "Let's Mix It Up!" instead of ... "Let's Snake Things Up!"

Maybe nobody would get it? I don't know. But I also don't know why there are fried foods as bosses... well, I really should stop asking questions about this game.

X

2009-01-27 08:22:07 pm

destroy them with lazers

Or why the Pumpkin boss says 'Don't Pick On Me' and then starts firing shit at you what's he expect?