Ninja Gaiden Master: NG1 level romhack by me

duckfist

Edit history:

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:50:03 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:47:00 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:46:52 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:42:40 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:42:32 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 12:41:01 pm

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:45:25 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:42:27 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:40:46 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:40:37 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:39:00 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:37:35 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:36:08 am

duckfist: 2014-04-19 10:29:12 am

2014-04-08 10:37:09 pm

Update 2: First patch didn't work. v0.1.1 now confirmed working on Ninja Gaiden (U) [!] and Ninja Gaiden (U).

Update (Apr 19): Released v0.1.1

IPS patch: >>> LINK <<<
Use Lunar IPS to patch a Ninja Gaiden (U) [!] rom.
Good luck. Game is over when (if) you beat Act 4 Stage 3. It's meant to be hard, but I welcome any feedback on design and difficulty. If you stream this, please let me know! I'm very interested in watching.

Notes about unfinished stuff:
1-1: Need feedback on difficulty
2-1: Need to change first room (item placement in first section)
2-2: Again, first room needs improvement. Also should maybe remove Spinslash.
3-1: Last section needs some small adjustments
3-2: Need to think more about enemy placement at the end of the level.
4-1: Incomplete item placement.
4-2: Incomplete item placement. Also, I'd like to rethink a lot of things here. Had to remove many bottomless pits in the middle of the stage because the game sometime mysteriously crashed when you die at certain places. So, this level ended up being much easier than I wanted. Good thing 4-3 is ramped up Wink

4-3: Feedback on difficulty?

The game doesn't automatically end after 4-3, but you can consider it completed. You'll see 5-1 and 5-2 changed a bit, but I was mostly messing around with ideas (not even sure if 5-2 is accessable).

-----

You think you're a ninja? Maybe you beat Ninja Gaiden, and wear that as a badge of pride. Maybe you've even dabbled in speedrunning it. Heck, let's say you're actually good. But only a ninja master will survive trials put forth in Ninja Gaiden Master. Many speedrunning tactics and unintended game mechanics will have to be leveraged to proceed through every level. You must look beyond the borders of the screen.

This is a level hack for NES Ninja Gaiden 1 that completely changes the first 4 acts and ramps up the difficulty. I decided to release it at only the first 4 acts (8 levels) mostly because the amount of work it was taking, and I don't know if I would have ever finished the full game.

I'm going to release it sometime in the next two weeks. I'm posting this thread to gauge interest and maybe get some preliminary feedback based on my coverage of the hack before I put it out in the open. Also, a couple runners, like dxtr and InfestedRiche, expressed interest in doing a blind race, so if anybody is interested perhaps something could be coordinated here. Remember, though: it won't be easy.

While it's hard, it certainly isn't impossible - it's very much beatable. Maybe even without dying! However, there is no real difficulty progression. Instead, each stage poses certain types of recurring challenges at a high level. Many of the game's mechanics tend themselves towards interesting unintended styles of platforming that I take advantage of heavily in this hack to construct new kinds of platforming puzzles. The first stage introduces several, but the later stages tend to focus on certain platforming themes and attempts to take them to a high level. A couple stages, like 2-1 and 4-2, focus almost entirely on platforming. But, I'd say if you can manage to get through the first stage, you can probably beat all 8.

Also, while this is only a level hack, you may notice lots of new graphics in most of the stages as well. I actually didn't modify any of the tilesets - there's actually quite a bit of unused material in each levels' tileset, and I've tried to take opportunities to show them off.

Screenshots and level teasers

Stage 1-1: Platforming and action. Demonstrates ceiling clips and damage boosting.

Stage 2-1: Platforming, introducing thin-wall grabs

Stage 2-2: Heavy focus on clever damage boosting and wall climbing

Stage 3-1: Showcases lots of tricky enemy positioning

Stage 3-2: Difficult jumps, health management, and bird management

Stage 4-1: Damage boosting

Stage 4-2: Action-centric stage focusing on enemy placement

Stage 4-3: Long stage with pure platforming. Introduces strange new wall-jumping mechanics and puzzles.

Release: April
Rom: Ninja Gaiden (U) [!]

What do you think? Excited? Terrified? Let me know!

Thread title:

[b]Update 2[/b]: First patch didn't work.  v0.1.1 now confirmed working on Ninja Gaiden (U) [!] and Ninja Gaiden (U).

[b]Update (Apr 19): [u]Released v0.1.1[/u][/b]

IPS patch: [url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/elzpz1k3n7u8ijh/Ninja%20Gaiden%20Master%20v0.1.1.ips]>>> LINK <<<[/url]
Use [url=http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/240/]Lunar IPS[/url] to patch a Ninja Gaiden (U) [!] rom.
Good luck.  Game is over when (if) you beat Act 4 Stage 3.  It's meant to be hard, but I welcome any feedback on design and difficulty.  If you stream this, [i]please[/i] let me know!  I'm very interested in watching.

Notes about unfinished stuff:
1-1: Need feedback on difficulty
2-1: Need to change first room (item placement in first section)
2-2: Again, first room needs improvement.  Also should maybe remove Spinslash.
3-1: Last section needs some small adjustments
3-2: Need to think more about enemy placement at the end of the level.
4-1: Incomplete item placement.
4-2: Incomplete item placement.  Also, I'd like to rethink a lot of things here.  Had to remove many bottomless pits in the middle of the stage because the game sometime mysteriously crashed when you die at certain places.  So, this level ended up being much easier than I wanted.  Good thing 4-3 is ramped up ;)
4-3: Feedback on difficulty?

The game doesn't automatically end after 4-3, but you can consider it completed.  You'll see 5-1 and 5-2 changed a bit, but I was mostly messing around with ideas (not even sure if 5-2 is accessable).

-----

You think you're a ninja?  Maybe you beat Ninja Gaiden, and wear that as a badge of pride.  Maybe you've even dabbled in speedrunning it.  Heck, let's say you're actually good.  But only a ninja master will survive trials put forth in Ninja Gaiden Master.  Many speedrunning tactics and unintended game mechanics will have to be leveraged to proceed through every level.  You must look beyond the borders of the screen.

This is a level hack for NES Ninja Gaiden 1 that completely changes the first 4 acts and ramps up the difficulty.  I decided to release it at only the first 4 acts (8 levels) mostly because the amount of work it was taking, and I don't know if I would have ever finished the full game.

I'm going to release it sometime in the next two weeks.  I'm posting this thread to gauge interest and maybe get some preliminary feedback based on my coverage of the hack before I put it out in the open.  Also, a couple runners, like dxtr and InfestedRiche, expressed interest in doing a blind race, so if anybody is interested perhaps something could be coordinated here.  Remember, though: it won't be easy.

While it's hard, it certainly isn't impossible - it's very much beatable.  Maybe even without dying!  However, there is no real difficulty progression.  Instead, each stage poses certain types of recurring challenges at a high level.  Many of the game's mechanics tend themselves towards interesting unintended styles of platforming that I take advantage of heavily in this hack to construct new kinds of platforming puzzles.  The first stage introduces several, but the later stages tend to focus on certain platforming themes and attempts to take them to a high level.  A couple stages, like 2-1 and 4-2, focus almost entirely on platforming.  But, I'd say if you can manage to get through the first stage, you can probably beat all 8.

Also, while this is only a level hack, you may notice lots of new graphics in most of the stages as well.  I actually didn't modify any of the tilesets - there's actually quite a bit of unused material in each levels' tileset, and I've tried to take opportunities to show them off.

Screenshots and level teasers

Stage 1-1:  Platforming and action.  Demonstrates ceiling clips and damage boosting.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/FeBm8Kj.png[/img]

Stage 2-1:  Platforming, introducing thin-wall grabs
[img]http://i.imgur.com/RIkRq0j.png[/img]

Stage 2-2:  Heavy focus on clever damage boosting and wall climbing
[img]http://i.imgur.com/a5pnAuJ.png[/img]

Stage 3-1:  Showcases lots of tricky enemy positioning
[img]http://i.imgur.com/SxUvkSy.png[/img]

Stage 3-2:  Difficult jumps, health management, and bird management
[img]http://i.imgur.com/TQK8UKv.png[/img]

Stage 4-1:  Damage boosting
[img]http://i.imgur.com/uu8PVE3.png[/img]

Stage 4-2:  Action-centric stage focusing on enemy placement 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/518OQT9.png[/img]

Stage 4-3:  Long stage with pure platforming.  Introduces strange new wall-jumping mechanics and puzzles.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/3nG1OoM.png[/img]

Release: April
Rom: Ninja Gaiden (U) [!]

What do you think?  Excited?  Terrified?  Let me know!

Crak Atak

2014-04-08 10:45:31 pm

Hax I used all of my strengthz

Bring it on! I expect trolling of the birds will be at a maximum.

Barrylesjambes

2014-04-09 02:25:01 am

Director: Runmal

Can't wait for the pacifist% !!!

Ahee

2014-04-09 05:42:37 am

Really excited! Im not capable of streaming so Ill just silently attend the blind race on my own.

sinister1

2014-04-09 04:13:00 pm

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

Yes!!!

Deuceler

2014-04-09 05:25:22 pm

SPEEDruns not SAFEruns

This........so much this.......great work Duck!

psychoripper

2014-04-14 08:48:29 am

fast video games

Im scaed

duckfist

2014-04-19 11:04:30 am

Download link up, check first post. Good luck!

peter afro

2014-04-19 11:15:59 am

I have a bad feeling this will as terrible as Mega Man Eons of Dreams 2.

dxtr

2014-04-19 01:05:16 pm

Speedrunner

Everyone should try this. Its the true test if you wanna master the way of the ninja!

solidfrog

2014-04-19 01:08:01 pm

Wow Duckfist! Looks great! Currently trying to clear 1-1. I may be here awhile...

sinister1

2014-04-19 02:28:32 pm

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

Gonna get around to finishing this soon. Shame I cannot stream emulator Sad

cutefluffybunny

2014-04-19 02:34:34 pm

Beat it with savestates because im a filthy cheater, act 3 felt like it had way too much ninpo for the spin slash.

4-2 was trivial when I grabbed the hourglass, not sure what it looks like if you don't though.

simmarine

2014-04-19 02:59:37 pm

absolutely fun stuff. enjoyed every bit of what i've played so far (up to 4-1). if there's one thing i've learned about this game, fuck bullets!

getting some of those tricky score drops has been really neat. there's one i couldn't get in 3-1 that i want to try again for later. really great romhack!

Whitman_Price_

2014-04-19 04:57:39 pm

This is pretty sweet duckfist, thanks! I played through the first 2 acts and thought it was fun and challenging. The enemy placements and wall jumps weren't too bad for someone experienced with speedrunning NG, but the boosts were creative and tricky. Also, I might have just blocked them out of my mind because of past mental trauma, but no hammer bros in the first 2 acts?!?!? Something terrible must be waiting for me in the next stages.

I thought 1-1 was relatively easy, but I guess if you have never speedrun the game you could get stuck with some of the ceiling clips or that reverse wall jump.

Some of the screen backgrounds have a lot going on and it was hard to tell exactly what was what at first, but I played through them a second time and didn't notice that at all. The game definitely makes you want to speedrun it as you keep failing the tougher boosts, have you done a speedrun of it?

sketchfile

2014-04-20 09:24:07 pm

Alright a few things to keep in mind before my breakdown-ish. This isn't super detailed doesn't cover health and such, nor most item drop locations. To be honest the only two I felt were problems I pointed out. I savescummed through this to take notes, but went back and played through properly while I was typing them up to make sure I wasn't crazy on some parts. Also, I am not a good Ninja Gaiden runner/player. In fact I've not finished a route because of Jacquio. I also have not done a complete casual run since I was a kid. I learned how to run it the way I usually do; find a fast run and copy it till I get it right, and learn backup strats on the fly. So I dont' have a super strong grasp on everything in the game. That said here we go:

ACT 1:
1-1
Got no problems with this stage, its a fun quick easy primer. Only problem I had was with the reverse wall climb/jump, and that's because its in a different location from where you jump on the same graphic earlier (I forgot the game does that).

ACT 2:
2-1
First damage boost (entrance) in 2-1 on the screen before 2-2 is cute.

Last damage boost right before 2-2 is fun as hell.

2-2
Getting on whats originally the hammer bros ledge to start is harder to do without stoping than the actual hammer bros. This amuses me.

Damage boosting through the pillar instead of falling down and climbing up is really awesome I love that.

Screen 2:
I am curious if the game actually makes you run right before clipping through the wall/pillar on the left, or if you added that in. Doesn't bother me either way just curious about it.

Love the jump to firewheel its a lot scarier looking than it is.

Screen 3
Like the reversal of the usual boost through the floor.

The grab in the middle of the first pillar is a little hard but doable once you know where to be I think (and not required). The back wallgrab to make it worthwhile is a harder, at least for me. That said the backup strat is pretty obvious.

I personally don't like the way the shooter you need to damage boost across the (first) chasm spawns, but maybe its unavoidable? Stopping for a split second in air to keep him there is fine, but if you despawn him, respawning him is a little annoying, due to the window to spawn him, and move right to keep him on screen is relatively small as far as I can tell. But perhaps I am just bad with positioning myself here.

Probably me being awful, but I feel like the chance to misgrab the wall on the outside rather than land from the damage boost is a little high.

Love that the second damage boost across chasm works easy, as long as you didn't stop/badly spawn the gunner.

Way to much ninpo in this stage overall in my opinion, unless it's padding for dying.

ACT 3:
3-1
Not really a fan of the ending here, starting from the small platform with an enemy on it; I've only found a few ways through it, and each of them are kind of obnoxious to me. I have no suggestions for improving it though.

Screen 2:
The health drop over the pit is annoying, since you can't get it as far as I can tell and probably it need since most times you carried over damage from the previous screen. Especially considering how heavy damage boost-y this screen is. That said that would make 3 obtainable healths in this screen. (see bird section for more)

Love that you can damage boost up the ladder some.

The bird section; this'll be long. The positioning and everything seems fine to me. However, my problem with this is that if you are speedrunning this it's a massive divisive line; having to stop for the health vs not having to stop for the health to make it all the way through. Stopping to get health means you have to fix birds before proceeding along which feels like it would a huge time loss, whereas not stopping for the health means you can very nearly hold right the rest of the stage. I think fixing this is actually pretty easy; make that health over the pit (see first note under screen 2) easier to pick up at about the same place. That way if you're still playing really well, you can do it all the way through and aren't so punished for not making it out of last screen with full/near full hp. I haven't gone through for specific values but I suspect having any less than 3 from previous screen makes you have to get the health here. Not a fan of that. Keep in mind that's from MY route through the birds; I am sure there are others, that I didn't think about. Also perhaps this was the intention, in which case it's just a disagreement over the design decision.

I am amused the boss's first jump doesn't actually land. Is that intentional and/or just me?

ACT 4:
Starts fun; I like that jumps should be done earlier rather than later like someone would be used to.

I originally hated the cheetah; I had to jump over it, immediatly jump on landing, kill the guy and move backwards then forwards. It was really annoying, and felt like just a dumb waste of momentum. But after finding you can just grab and flip up, it's all good.

Clipping through the pillar is fun and easy and has the fun risk of death if you hold right too long. I feel like damage boosting through it would be slower unless there's an enemy to manipulate that I missed.

Like that you kept in bat boost. One of my favourite parts in the original run

Thanks for that extra life I don't need (I do). Love the health though. High five.

Rest of this is free, and fun.

4-2:
Love the new bridge. My only complaint here is probably my own problem; I have a hard time manipulting the bird to damage boost to 4-3. It flies off screen to the right a bit too easy to me. The alt path is good though, no complaints. (I will just leave a reminder here about the hourglass; I seem to remember you saying it wasn't supposed to be there, and I ran it without it accordingly).

I've got nothing to say about the rest, other than I feel like the wallgrabbing in this is a little inconsistent (especially in 4-3+), but I don't know how it works at all to be honest, so might just be me. Really fun to play around with though.

Alright a few things to keep in mind before my breakdown-ish.  This isn't super detailed doesn't cover health and such, nor most item drop locations.  To be honest the only two I felt were problems I pointed out.  I savescummed through this to take notes, but went back and played through properly while I was typing them up to make sure I wasn't crazy on some parts.  Also, I am not a good Ninja Gaiden runner/player.  In fact I've not finished a route because of Jacquio.  I also have not done a complete casual run since I was a kid. I learned how to run it the way I usually do; find a fast run and copy it till I get it right, and learn backup strats on the fly. So I dont' have a super strong grasp on everything in the game.  That said here we go:

ACT 1:
	1-1
		Got no problems with this stage, its a fun quick easy primer.  Only problem I had was with the reverse wall climb/jump, and that's because its in a different location from where you jump on the same graphic earlier (I forgot the game does that).

ACT 2:
	2-1
		First damage boost (entrance) in 2-1 on the screen before 2-2 is cute.
		
		Last damage boost right before 2-2 is fun as hell.
		
	2-2
		Getting on whats originally the hammer bros ledge to start is harder to do without stoping than the actual hammer bros.  This amuses me.
			
		Damage boosting through the pillar instead of falling down and climbing up is really awesome I love that.
		
		Screen 2:
			I am curious if the game actually makes you run right before clipping through the wall/pillar on the left, or if you added that in. Doesn't bother me either way just curious about it.
		
			Love the jump to firewheel its a lot scarier looking than it is.
		
		Screen 3
			Like the reversal of the usual boost through the floor.
		
			The grab in the middle of the first pillar is a little hard but doable once you know where to be I think (and not required).  The back wallgrab to make it worthwhile is a harder, at least for me.  That said the backup strat is pretty obvious.
			
			I personally don't like the way the shooter you need to damage boost across the (first) chasm spawns, but maybe its unavoidable?  Stopping for a split second in air to keep him there is fine, but if you despawn him, respawning him is a little annoying, due to the window to spawn him, and move right to keep him on screen is relatively small as far as I can tell.  But perhaps I am just bad with positioning myself here.
		
		Probably me being awful, but I feel like the chance to misgrab the wall on the outside rather than land from the damage boost is a little high.
		
		Love that the second damage boost across chasm works easy, as long as you didn't stop/badly spawn the gunner.
		
Way to much ninpo in this stage overall in my opinion, unless it's padding for dying.
	
		
ACT 3:
	3-1
			Not really a fan of the ending here, starting from the small platform with an enemy on it; I've only found a few ways through it, and each of them are kind of obnoxious to me.  I have no suggestions for improving it though. 
		
		Screen 2:
			The health drop over the pit is annoying, since you can't get it as far as I can tell and probably it need since most times you carried over  damage from the previous screen.  Especially considering how heavy damage boost-y this screen is.  That said that would make 3 obtainable healths in this screen. (see bird section for more)
		
			Love that you can damage boost up the ladder some.
		
			The bird section; this'll be long. The positioning and everything seems fine to me.  However, my problem with this is that if you are speedrunning this it's a massive divisive line; having to stop for the health vs not having to stop for the health to make it all the way through.  Stopping to get health means you have to fix birds before proceeding along which feels like it would a huge time loss, whereas not stopping for the health means you can very nearly hold right the rest of the stage.  I think fixing this is actually pretty easy; make that health over the pit (see first note under screen 2) easier to pick up at about the same place.  That way if you're still playing really well, you can do it all the way through and aren't so punished for not making it out of last screen with full/near full hp.  I haven't gone through for specific values but I suspect having any less than 3 from previous screen makes you have to get the health here.  Not a fan of that.  Keep in mind that's from MY route through the birds; I am sure there are others, that I didn't think about.  Also perhaps this was the intention, in which case it's just a disagreement over the design decision.
		
			I am amused the boss's first jump doesn't actually land.  Is that intentional and/or just me?
		
ACT 4:
		Starts fun; I like that jumps should be done earlier rather than later like someone would be used to.
		
	I originally hated the cheetah; I had to jump over it, immediatly jump on landing, kill the guy and move backwards then forwards.  It was really annoying, and felt like just a dumb waste of momentum.  But after finding you can just grab and flip up, it's all good.
		
	Clipping through the pillar is fun and easy and has the fun risk of death if you hold right too long.  I feel like damage boosting through it would be slower unless there's an enemy to manipulate that I missed.
		
	Like that you kept in bat boost.  One of my favourite parts in the original run
		
	Thanks for that extra life I don't need (I do).  Love the health though. High five.
		
	Rest of this is free, and fun.
		
	4-2:
		Love the new bridge.  My only complaint here is probably my own problem; I have a hard time manipulting the bird to damage boost to 4-3.  It flies off screen to the right a bit too easy to me.  The alt path is good though, no complaints.  (I will just leave a reminder here about the hourglass; I seem to remember you saying it wasn't supposed to be there, and I ran it without it accordingly).
	
	
I've got nothing to say about the rest, other than I feel like the wallgrabbing in this is a little inconsistent (especially in 4-3+), but I don't know how it works at all to be honest, so might just be me.  Really fun to play around with though.

simmarine

Edit history:

simmarine: 2014-05-03 01:09:57 pm

2014-04-21 05:55:09 pm

i've been taking on the stages individually and trying to do some routing fun. i actually learned ninja gaiden yet (kinda silly to be doing a romhack first isn't it) so i would really like to know if the routes i'm doing have obvious things i havent picked up on yet. i don't think i've missed any in 1-1 or 2-1 but i may have to spend some routing time with the other stages!

1-1

i think this stage is rather straightforward, though can the ending for this stage be done any faster? it seems like a bit of waste having to walljump again but i dont think theres anything you can do to make it faster

2-1

im pretty positive 102 is possible. on one screen i screw up a couple times and end up barely leaving with a 115 when i've gotten a 116 once (i grab the right side of the wall which i normally don't, so i wasn't prepared for that). i think the bat boost at the very end can be done faster too

3-1

there's a place i wait that probably doesn't need to happen, but you do need to somehow delay yourself after dealing with the panther. you won't land on the platform and end up dying instead. the end is really tricky and i don't actually have a consistent way of making it. sometimes i get boosted back on the very last jump so i end up dead instead of finishing the level. this also may not be worth doing if you actually want to do an rta of the game, since you're entering 3-2 with 2 health. it's better to grab the health in the stage and use the intended bullet boost to save hp

i've been taking on the stages individually and trying to do some routing fun. i actually learned ninja gaiden yet (kinda silly to be doing a romhack first isn't it) so i would really like to know if the routes i'm doing have obvious things i havent picked up on yet. i don't think i've missed any in 1-1 or 2-1 but i may have to spend some routing time with the other stages!

1-1
[hidden]http://youtu.be/BOCBuaFWwqw

i think this stage is rather straightforward, though can the ending for this stage be done any faster? it seems like a bit of waste having to walljump again but i dont think theres anything you can do to make it faster[/hidden]

2-1
[hidden]http://youtu.be/fT-Mm4_DiZY

im pretty positive 102 is possible. on one screen i screw up a couple times and end up barely leaving with a 115 when i've gotten a 116 once (i grab the right side of the wall which i normally don't, so i wasn't prepared for that). i think the bat boost at the very end can be done faster too
[/hidden]

3-1
[hidden]http://youtu.be/hWQSFDxQCQ4

there's a place i wait that probably doesn't need to happen, but you do need to somehow delay yourself after dealing with the panther. you won't land on the platform and end up dying instead. the end is really tricky and i don't actually have a consistent way of making it. sometimes i get boosted back on the very last jump so i end up dead instead of finishing the level. this also may not be worth doing if you actually want to do an rta of the game, since you're entering 3-2 with 2 health. it's better to grab the health in the stage and use the intended bullet boost to save hp[/hidden]

duckfist

Edit history:

duckfist: 2014-04-21 07:30:07 pm

2014-04-21 07:28:33 pm

Thanks for the great comments, glad you guys are enjoying it. I'll try and address some things without giving too much away.

Q: Have you done a speedrun of it?
A: No, but I have obviously played the levels extensively, and have tried to find the best strats through most areas. I'll say that I haven't worked out the enemy placement in 4-2 very well, the stage went through lots of modifications and I don't think I was ever satisfied with it.

Q: There's too much ninpo in some stages.
A: Agreed. I wasn't very motivated to come up with clever item placement from Act 3 on, to be honest. Act 2 has way too much ninpo. Act 3 has a proper amount, I'd say, unless you're just collecting the ninpo and not using it. Or, maybe you're dying, because you keep half your ninpo when you respawn, and all the items in that room also will respawn. I paid nearly no attention to items in Act 4.

Q: Can you reach those item drops that are way out of the way?
A: Probably not. So the deal with this is I couldn't figure out how to delete item placements in the editor, so I simply moved stuff to obviously inaccessible locations when I didn't want many item drops on some screens. Sloppy, I know.

Q: Why do some enemies seemingly spawn in midair and just fall to their death over and over?
A: No idea. I didn't place them there, it just happened (4-3 is one example with a turret). It might be because I placed enemies on same screen that you enter a room on - the game may prefer enemies to be spawned by the camera panning.

Q: Stage 2-2, screen 2 (and 3), why do you have to run right first before clipping?
A: It's to unlock movement of the camera. This is in the original game engine, and is required in a speedrun in several spots (2-2 3rd room bat boost, 6-2 2nd room, NG2 5-1 3rd room spike clip). It happens because you enter the screen on the side that scrolls towards the rest of the room, and the developers didn't want the camera to awkwardly snap to the X position of the player, because you exited the previous room on that side of the screen (ugh that was hard to put into words). To "unlock" the camera, you just have to move Ryu to the center of the screen before moving back. This is a property of the engine in NG1, 2, and other platformers. You'll notice that I force you to do it to boost in 2-2, which in the original game was just a speedrun strat.

Q: Hourglass in 4-2?
A: This was mistakenly leftover from a previous iteration of how I wanted the middle of the level to be, which had tons of bottomless pits. Agreed that 4-2 needs more work.

Q: The Act 3 boss lands funny.
A: I lowered the ground by 1 tile just to see how the boss would act. Not a huge effect, but I decided to keep it in.

Q: Misgrabbing some walls or floating platforms forces you to suicide.
A: ...Yup.

Q: Wall grabbing/ceiling clipping is inconsistent.
A: It's inconsistent across different tile types, but consistent among the same tile types. For ceiling clips/jumps, both the tile type affects the position of the jump, and how close to the top of the screen you are (since you have a fixed jump height and will land at the top of the wall at different Y-speeds for different jump locations). Therefore, you may need a specific, separate cue for each jump.

Thanks for the great comments, glad you guys are enjoying it.  I'll try and address some things without giving too much away.

Q: Have you done a speedrun of it?
A: No, but I have obviously played the levels extensively, and have tried to find the best strats through most areas.  I'll say that I haven't worked out the enemy placement in 4-2 very well, the stage went through lots of modifications and I don't think I was ever satisfied with it.

Q: There's too much ninpo in some stages.
A: Agreed.  I wasn't very motivated to come up with clever item placement from Act 3 on, to be honest.  Act 2 has way too much ninpo.  Act 3 has a proper amount, I'd say, unless you're just collecting the ninpo and not using it.  Or, maybe you're dying, because you keep half your ninpo when you respawn, and all the items in that room also will respawn.  I paid nearly no attention to items in Act 4.

Q: Can you reach those item drops that are way out of the way?
A: Probably not.  So the deal with this is I couldn't figure out how to delete item placements in the editor, so I simply moved stuff to obviously inaccessible locations when I didn't want many item drops on some screens.  Sloppy, I know.

Q: Why do some enemies seemingly spawn in midair and just fall to their death over and over?
A: No idea.  I didn't place them there, it just happened (4-3 is one example with a turret).  It might be because I placed enemies on same screen that you enter a room on - the game may prefer enemies to be spawned by the camera panning.

Q: Stage 2-2, screen 2 (and 3), why do you have to run right first before clipping?
A: It's to unlock movement of the camera.  This is in the original game engine, and is required in a speedrun in several spots (2-2 3rd room bat boost, 6-2 2nd room, NG2 5-1 3rd room spike clip).  It happens because you enter the screen on the side that scrolls towards the rest of the room, and the developers didn't want the camera to awkwardly snap to the X position of the player, because you exited the previous room on that side of the screen (ugh that was hard to put into words).  To "unlock" the camera, you just have to move Ryu to the center of the screen before moving back.  This is a property of the engine in NG1, 2, and other platformers.  You'll notice that I force you to do it to boost in 2-2, which in the original game was just a speedrun strat.

Q: Hourglass in 4-2?
A: This was mistakenly leftover from a previous iteration of how I wanted the middle of the level to be, which had tons of bottomless pits.  Agreed that 4-2 needs more work.

Q: The Act 3 boss lands funny.
A: I lowered the ground by 1 tile just to see how the boss would act.  Not a huge effect, but I decided to keep it in.

Q: Misgrabbing some walls or floating platforms forces you to suicide.
A: ...Yup.

Q: Wall grabbing/ceiling clipping is inconsistent.
A: It's inconsistent across different tile types, but consistent among the same tile types.  For ceiling clips/jumps, both the tile type affects the position of the jump, and how close to the top of the screen you are (since you have a fixed jump height and will land at the top of the wall at different Y-speeds for different jump locations).  Therefore, you may need a specific, separate cue for each jump.

FryinRyan27

2014-09-21 08:14:08 pm

While I was playing it, it keeps hard locking on act 1 (Right after the second ninja on jet packs). help?

FryinRyan27

2014-09-21 08:23:39 pm

After further investigation, i had noticed that i had previously applies a patch to my NG rom. After re-downloading it and such, I had gotten it to work. Sorry for my stupidness Lips Sealed