Hello! I have decided to make an any% speedrun of the PS2 game Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon (or also known as just Transformers). You guys have probably never heard of this game, unfortunately, for it is a very dead game that seems to be extremely ignored especially now. I have not seen a single glitch/shortcut/cheat video on YouTube, and nothing on TASVideos OR SpeedDemosArchive referring to it. I've been playing this game since it came out, and I've finally considered making a speedrun and possibly (if at all possible) a TAS of the game as well. Here is the Wikipedia page of this game, so you guys can check out the basic information about this killed game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_(2004_video_game)
So, the game is a 3-dimensional 1 player shooting game that is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. As for the story, I will just quote Wikipedia:
"The game diverges from the anime and comic in terms of storyline. In the opening sequence Megatron, in a final assault against the Autobot Headquarters on Cybertron, surprises Optimus Prime with his Decepticlones, a massive powerful drone army. With numbers on his side, Megatron is able to overcome the resistance and fight Optimus Prime one-on-one.
Megatron is about to kill Optimus Prime, and in an homage to the original movie, he says: "I would have waited an eternity for this. It's over, Prime". When a Mini-Con beacon activates on Earth. Megatron, well-aware of what this means, heads to Earth to claim the Mini-Cons.
The Autobots Optimus Prime, Red Alert, and Hot Shot arrive on Earth as well to rescue the Mini-Cons, knowing that their combined power is the only way to overcome Megatron's new army."
NOTE: As far as references go, I am pretty sure 95%, or possibly more, of the glitches to be used in this speedrun are discovered by me.
Any% Speedrun Basic Layout:
When you first turn the game on, there are lots of little mini-videos, autosaves, and menu things that will be quickly skipped with the press of A.
At the first menu, we will press start, select the first file, and select easy, because these are the first menu items that pop up, therefore they would be the fastest. When we get into the laboratory, we will first go to the Character Select and go to the right to select Hot Shot (this is the most efficient character, because he is the fastest driving character, and thank god he is the one I'm used to using). Then we right two times to level select and just select Amazon as fast as possible.
Note: In the game, 30 Minicons total are required to be collected before the Unicron level is unlocked, which is the last level in the game. I'm not exactly sure which Minicons are fastest to be collected in which levels, although I have a decent idea.
AMAZON:
This is the first level of the game. In this level there is a preview that you have to skip. There are a shitload of glitch shortcuts in Amazon compared to other levels; mostly simple glitches that skip certain segments that the game developers did not want you skip with some physical logic of the game. Basically, in the speedrun, we will be going through a rocky, ancient, ruinous, hilly, foresty terrain. Due to the fact that the level has a shitload of random trees that you have to pass while driving, this will take a bit of practice to dodge all of those trees. Also, as for the glitches, none of the glitches or practices are very hard compared to the rest of the game, so this level should be fairly easy. ^^
The game's boss battle is the first Heavy Unit in the game (which is funny because it is not actually a Transformer, it is a Decepticlone). Defeating it will also be very easy, although we will have a Tripod right behind us trying to blast us that we will have to use timing to dodge (not as hard as you might think) or he will shoot us flying. Plus we have to jump whenever Heavy Unit stomps, or that will also make us go flying. Although, defeating the Heavy Unit is fairly easy, especially with the heavy weaponry. We will not even HAVE to dodge any of his blasts or Homing Missiles, for he should be defeated within a minute or so. Bye, bye, dumbass. ^^
ANTARCTICA:
There is also a preview that we will skip in this level. I don't think this level has any particular glitch shortcuts, besides ones that allow us to get Minicons that are supposed to be collected with the Hang Glider/Boost Jump Minicons. Gaining control in this level will be slightly harder, due to the fact that the snow is very slippery. Also, there seem to be many random places where you stop right in the middle of the damn snow, which I get kind of pissed off about in practice speedruns, and can be avoided by transforming back and re-transforming, which confuses people who don't see the random crack in the ice, therefore making the speedrun slightly less entertaining, although it IS a necessity, and I don't believe in speed/entertainment tradeoffs, so I will not use them. A high concentration of Minicons in very close proximity to one another is in the Research Center segment of the level, so I'm guessing a majority of the minicons in the list of Minicons we will collect in Antarctica will be collected in this level, which the only problem here is it is in proximity to where the boss battle is activated.
The boss battle in this level is Starscream. Starscream will stay down almost the entire AND you can beat the living shit out of him if you keep hitting him with the right timing and the right attacks. It's kind of sad for Starscream, ahaha, because he will attack you with like 3 weak shots and that's it, and it's kind of funny to watch, kind of like shooting a dead horse. LMAO. So bye bye Starscream. ^^ (But don't get you're hopes up, he's coming back in Starship)
DEEP AMAZON:
Deep Amazon has a preview that we skip, once again. Deep Amazon's terrain is basically a much darker version of Amazon's. It has much less trees, especially in the parts we will have to skip through any%, so trees shouldn't be much of a problem in this level. I have a theory of a huge glitch in Deep Amazon that could POSSIBLY work which you could use to skip the ENTIRE inside of the temple, although it would be extremely difficult, and I would probably (preferrably not) have to submit this speedrun with a couple mistakes here due to the fact that you have to do a glitch a series of about 7 blocks up the temple, which means you basically have to do the glitch 7 times, which therefore makes it 7 times more difficult to do it without making any mistakes. Although if the glitch doesn't work and I do end up having to go in through the inside of the temple, (which believe it or not I am actually hoping that this glitch won't work, because the temple would be so much easier) we would have to memorize a lot of timing for when to shoot the Decepticons in the temple. You can only shoot so many times before your shooting power runs out and it has to recharge so if we take them down with the right timing with our weaponry, we could knock some down, jump over them, and hell, maybe we could kill some of them. We also don't want to lose very much health, so I would not recommend for myself to let myself get shot very much by them, because of Cyclonus' quick shooting (although the only enemies in the temple are those weak ass medium units, so they pretty much don't do shit as far as damage).
The boss battle in this level is Cyclonus, and I am not so confident about defeating him in this speedrun as I am for Heavy Unit and Starscream. Cyclonus is a bit more difficult. For this battle, you start out at the top of the temple, where Cyclonus basically runs after you very quickly, and when he gets a hold of you, he throws you off the temple (or tries to anyway as far as my THEORIES go). You also have a choice to jump/fall off the temple yourself, and the same results will happen. Cyclonus will then transform into a helicopter, where his bullets and homing missiles shoot incredibly quickly, which makes it quite difficult to defeat him. You see, the game designers designed the battle so that you would NOT be on the top of the temple for the entire battle, now don't ask me why they made it this way, but it is the sequence in which they wanted things to happen. So, my theory is that there may be some way to make it so that Cyclonus cannot "catch" you and throw you off the edge, and there are two ways that this could possibly happen:
1.) If it is possible that we can continuously jump over Cyclonus' entire body somehow and continuously attack him until the point where he automatically transforms.
2.) If we can some how get on top of one of the huge rectangular things on top of the temple, then we could possibly continuously attack him, although I have doubts, because we may not be able to shoot through the extra shit that is in the way of us to get to Cyclonus, who is probably basically running against the wall hopelessly (that would be a hilarious sight). By the way, to get on top of this object, we will probably have to somehow jump on Cyclonus as well, which I am also rather skeptical about.
Cyclonus will not stay in non-Transform mode forever; there is a point where if you hurt him enough he will automatically transform into helicopter mode, due to the fact that the game developers wanted the battle to end with Cyclonus losing control in the helicopter. Nevertheless, this will take quite a lot of practice, but this isn't the WORST battle in the game, compared to Tidal Wave...I mean...Tidal Whore! ^^
MID-ATLANTIC:
In this level, the Hang Gliding Minicon is unlocked, and it is also, as far as I know, a REQUIRED Minicon throughout the entire game (plus even though there is that 0.01% chance that the entire game COULD POSSIBLY be completed without the Hang Gliding Minicon, it would be MUCH slower, due to all the jumping and shit involved, AND the glitches that are not used...well...I'm sorry that's not really important, I talk too much, ahaha). We collect the Minicon (which is the only Minicon in the entire level, for your information). So basically, this level is a very watery, sandy, rocky, peaceful level UNTIL you get to Tidal Wave's bullshit. There are tons and tons of enemies inside that damn boat, and they are easy to skip, although I have yet ANOTHER glitch theory where you could skip even merely touching the boat at all. So there are two Drop Ships that are sitting there basically waiting for you to glide towards the boat, and then they fly in the opposite direction of you. Honestly, I believe the game developers intended them to be completely useless other than decoration, because I don't see any use for them at all. WELL, until the glitch takes place, if it exists. So let me explain how the glitch works first. The boss battle is activated in the control room of the boat, which is at the top central part of the boat. You can literally see the room from almost anywhere in the level. I've already tested quite a bit with this, and there is clearly an invisible wall covering the top of the boat. It's like the game developers read my mind, ALTHOUGH, in Amazon, on top of the mountain and in the hills above the temple, there is an area where you can be right next to the invisible wall and glide straight into it, and I've tested this in many other sections of the game and it didn't work. I don't really know how this glitch works for this particular part of the game, but I assume it works like so. In unintentionally high altitudes of the game where there are invisible walls, it seems to be that this glitch can be done, but I don't know if it's particularly about the trees or the hill or what it was, but if it is ONLY having to do with the altitude, it is possible that if I get on top of that drop ship somehow, when it goes up high enough, I could glide off it and when I stop at the invisible wall I simply glide through it because I am at this altitude. OR, completely dismissing the whole going through the invisible wall concept, if the invisible wall only goes up the level so far, and I get HIGHER than the invisible wall, I could possibly just pass straight into the part I want to get into. The only problem is, let's just SAY this glitch actually exists (which I somehow doubt, but it would be great if it did), if the drop ship and the gliding takes longer than just going without the glitch, it may not make much of a difference in time (possibly increasing your time as well), and I highly suspect that this will be the case, because that drop ship takes a little while to go to that high of an altitude, and the gliding can be very slow. I also doubt this glitch is even in proximity to being possible, because IF the drop ship actually gets to this altitude by the time it disappears from the screen (which it does, I forgot to mention), we will not be in any proximity to the place we want to go, which makes the whole glitch idea a complete FAIL, but it's worth a try, I mean come on, right? Even though there is a 5% chance that it will work doesn't mean I shouldn't take that risk, right? ^^
Anyway, setting this ENTIRE theory aside, whether I use the glitch or not in this speedrun, the boss battle is STILL fucking Tidal Wave. And let me tell you for one thing, I FUCKING HATE TIDAL WAVE! BURN IN HELL TIDAL WAVE! Because this is the hardest boss in the game, not to mention the most utterly boring one! Nevertheless, I'm not here to complain, I can do that to Hasbro anyday, ahaha! So, Tidal Wave's ONLY weak point is his head. Also, another challenging part is getting him in close enough proximity to you that you can blast him with both Blaster and Rocket Launcher. Also there are points in time where he covers up his head, moves away from you, and BLASTS THE FUCK OUT OF YOU WITH HIS FUCKING ROCKETS, which all are EXTREMELY annoying. If you could possibly figure out how to manipulate your gliding abilities to be able to continuously shoot him while gliding in closer proximity to him, it is possible to be able to deal with ALL these annoyances much better, although that would be extremely difficult, but could possibly be much faster, AND much more entertaining than just sitting there watching a guy shoot at a monster's head for fucking 5 minutes. Anyway, the Tidal Wave boss, and the Mid-Atlantic level in general will take some practice and possibly optimization.
ALASKA:
This level is a unique one, because it does in fact, not have a boss battle. The required High Jump Minicon is unlocked here, and it is required for the Starship level! So basically this level has some trees in it, which can get a bit annoying, very mountainous and hilly, snowy and slippery (just like Antarctica ^^), and also similar to Antarctica, it has lots of random cracks in the snow, which is an annoyance, but again will take some practice to avoid. There are 2 major glitches I found. One is too hard to explain typing, so I won't, but look in the basic glitches section to see my reference. There is a major glitch where you can skip the ENTIRE cave, and I do mean the EENNTTIIRREE cave in Alaska. If you do an infinite slope climb glitch on the slope, you can climb yourself so high and glide to the ledge where you exit the cave at, basically. Although the glitch will be a bit hard, because you have to dodge the Tripod's laser beams, which will knock you down, ruining the entire trick pretty much. There is a very high concentration of enemies in the area that the glitch is in, as well, which also makes it difficult. We do not have to return to HQ and change Minicons, no no! And then, once you get to the top, there is a video that is completely skipped and that's it! Easy enough! ^^
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When we return to HQ this time, we go to Minicon select and switch out our Gliding Minicon for the High Jump Minicon.
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STARSHIP:
This level is basically what it sounds like from it's name; a starship. High Jump is REQUIRED to beat this level. You start in an empty quite room, and once you exit the room and take a few steps, you are being shot repeatedly by a shitload of enemies. The first half of this level is FILLED with enemies, enemies, enemies. I recommend us to avoid them all, though, which will be the hard part. We will probably end up very close to dying when we are finished with the first half of the level. There aren't really any particular glitches that I know of in this level, especially in the first half. The basic thing we will be doing before we get to the control room. Once we get to the control room (almost dead), we skip a video, and the starship is basically turned sideways and dug deep into the ground. As the story of the game goes, Starscream ran the starship off a cliff, as it was already on the edge of a cliff as a suicide attack. (Now why the HELL would he do this? That is, not to mention, the STUPIDEST MOST DESPERATE way to attack your enemies! O.O [even though he didn't necessarily get killed]. It was basically a waste of his time, lol. Anyway...) So the ship is damaged as hell and turned sideways, it is very quite and peaceful without much of music at all, AND there are no more enemies in the ship, so you don't have to deal with THEM anymore. I haven't really tested the Starship level very much in particular, I do not know any particular shortcuts in the level, and due to the last levels, I'm guessing there's probably quite a few tricks in this very large level, not to mention, possibly a very entertaining one. So when you escape the starship and go outside like you're supposed to, you go and battle Starscream again. HE'S ALIVE, I DID NOT KNOW THIS!
Starscream is basically the same as he was before, he just discovered a new attack that is completely USELESS against us as we shoot him constantly, him not being able to do ANYTHING against us, for we got the powah, bitch! And it's a shame that the game developers made Starscream such a wimp, because he actually always was my <3favorite character<3! But oh well, it's just a game! Anyway, so obviously, to put it simply, bye bye Starscream! ^^
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When we return to HQ this time, we will switch back to the Hang Gliding Minicon!
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PACIFIC ISLAND:
This is what you might think is the last level in the game, but believe it or not, it is actually the next to last level! ^^
This level is basically a huge island with a volcano right in the middle of it, and lots of different sections you have to go through. Finding Minicon routes in this level is something I am unsure about, because I haven't really tested with this level too much. In the level you kind of go around the level in a way. I somehow suspect it is possible to skip something major in the level though, since there are two sections that seem to be at similar altitudes and are right across from each other, but I don't really know, and plus, it would skip a couple Minicons to just skip through those particular sections. So, the thing you have to watch out for when speedrunning this level is the flying Sniper things. They aim at you well, and it is best to shoot them with a heavy attack liable to knock it over, because if you do, it will fly off to wherever its next set location is. Also, when you get to the top of the volcano where the last warp gate in the entire game is, there is one of those really annoying sword guys. It is quite fast, and I would use a technique to try to dodge it, because it's not like killing it is a very good idea, since it would be a delay, and you can't really just knock it down with a heavy attack, so try to avoid it somehow!
The boss in this level is Megatron! Now this Megatron is the Megatron that transforms into a tank, not the one that transforms into a damn gun making himself almost completely useless, but the better version of Megatron! Basically just continually shoot him with attacks, and manipulate your Minicon ability. The thing you have to watch out for is when he uses his defenses. When he holds his arm, you literally can't attack him with ANY moves, and it would just slow you down to try at the wrong times. Also, avoid any attacks that will send you flying, just like any other enemies in the game, for these are derogatory as well. When you defeat him, congradulations, you have 1 more boss!
CYBERTRON:
This is the last level in the entire game, and can only be unlocked if you have 30 minicons and you have completed the last 7 levels mentioned. Basically, this random planet that, by the way, has has NO association with the Decepticon organization comes in and ruins the party. The Autobots thought their work was finished, but it in fact wasn't, because this planet, all of a sudden, comes and attacks Cybertron, and what is the reason? I don't think the game developers even made the reason Unicron wants do destroy Cybertron very clear. Anyway, again, this is a level I haven't really messed around with so much, but I haven't really found many glitches. I am not really that familiar with the level physics itself even. I would say, it is POSSIBLE that you could somehow shoot/go through Unicron and shoot his last target and defeat him just like that, or some other glitch having to do with Unicron. Also if there is another glitch in the level that is useless due to speed and there is no immediate defeating glitch, then it may be entertaining to do during waiting periods if it is quick enough. As for the level, you are supposed to shoot inside of Unicron a certain amount of times to defeat him. The best possible shortening, if there are no glitches to speed this battle up, is to be as in proximity to Unicron as possible when he opens up. And now that we've defeated Unicron, the game has been beaten in ??:??.??!!!!
Anyway, I am sorry, I did not realize how long this post is, but I really hope that this does not get deleted; I spent 3-4 hours making this post. I don't know why it WOULD get deleted or locked or whatever, but I'm just saying, for the love of God, please don't.
I hope this post was encouraging to you guys. This game is dead now, and I don't think it deserves to be! I want to submit this speedrun, and hell, I might even make a 100% too, and TASes of both, but I just want this game to be more known. Hopefully, you can get it on Amazon, and I would recommend checking this out. But I'm not going to advertise. My point here is, I think a speedrun of this game would be quite entertaining due to all the shortcuts and glitches, and the fact that I think the possible time could be 30-40 minutes. ^^
The run is coming out sometime in 2016-2018 due to major family problems. And I hope this post gets some replies, I've been waiting a long time to see what people think about this. Thanks. ^^
So, the game is a 3-dimensional 1 player shooting game that is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. As for the story, I will just quote Wikipedia:
"The game diverges from the anime and comic in terms of storyline. In the opening sequence Megatron, in a final assault against the Autobot Headquarters on Cybertron, surprises Optimus Prime with his Decepticlones, a massive powerful drone army. With numbers on his side, Megatron is able to overcome the resistance and fight Optimus Prime one-on-one.
Megatron is about to kill Optimus Prime, and in an homage to the original movie, he says: "I would have waited an eternity for this. It's over, Prime". When a Mini-Con beacon activates on Earth. Megatron, well-aware of what this means, heads to Earth to claim the Mini-Cons.
The Autobots Optimus Prime, Red Alert, and Hot Shot arrive on Earth as well to rescue the Mini-Cons, knowing that their combined power is the only way to overcome Megatron's new army."
NOTE: As far as references go, I am pretty sure 95%, or possibly more, of the glitches to be used in this speedrun are discovered by me.
Any% Speedrun Basic Layout:
When you first turn the game on, there are lots of little mini-videos, autosaves, and menu things that will be quickly skipped with the press of A.
At the first menu, we will press start, select the first file, and select easy, because these are the first menu items that pop up, therefore they would be the fastest. When we get into the laboratory, we will first go to the Character Select and go to the right to select Hot Shot (this is the most efficient character, because he is the fastest driving character, and thank god he is the one I'm used to using). Then we right two times to level select and just select Amazon as fast as possible.
Note: In the game, 30 Minicons total are required to be collected before the Unicron level is unlocked, which is the last level in the game. I'm not exactly sure which Minicons are fastest to be collected in which levels, although I have a decent idea.
AMAZON:
This is the first level of the game. In this level there is a preview that you have to skip. There are a shitload of glitch shortcuts in Amazon compared to other levels; mostly simple glitches that skip certain segments that the game developers did not want you skip with some physical logic of the game. Basically, in the speedrun, we will be going through a rocky, ancient, ruinous, hilly, foresty terrain. Due to the fact that the level has a shitload of random trees that you have to pass while driving, this will take a bit of practice to dodge all of those trees. Also, as for the glitches, none of the glitches or practices are very hard compared to the rest of the game, so this level should be fairly easy. ^^
The game's boss battle is the first Heavy Unit in the game (which is funny because it is not actually a Transformer, it is a Decepticlone). Defeating it will also be very easy, although we will have a Tripod right behind us trying to blast us that we will have to use timing to dodge (not as hard as you might think) or he will shoot us flying. Plus we have to jump whenever Heavy Unit stomps, or that will also make us go flying. Although, defeating the Heavy Unit is fairly easy, especially with the heavy weaponry. We will not even HAVE to dodge any of his blasts or Homing Missiles, for he should be defeated within a minute or so. Bye, bye, dumbass. ^^
ANTARCTICA:
There is also a preview that we will skip in this level. I don't think this level has any particular glitch shortcuts, besides ones that allow us to get Minicons that are supposed to be collected with the Hang Glider/Boost Jump Minicons. Gaining control in this level will be slightly harder, due to the fact that the snow is very slippery. Also, there seem to be many random places where you stop right in the middle of the damn snow, which I get kind of pissed off about in practice speedruns, and can be avoided by transforming back and re-transforming, which confuses people who don't see the random crack in the ice, therefore making the speedrun slightly less entertaining, although it IS a necessity, and I don't believe in speed/entertainment tradeoffs, so I will not use them. A high concentration of Minicons in very close proximity to one another is in the Research Center segment of the level, so I'm guessing a majority of the minicons in the list of Minicons we will collect in Antarctica will be collected in this level, which the only problem here is it is in proximity to where the boss battle is activated.
The boss battle in this level is Starscream. Starscream will stay down almost the entire AND you can beat the living shit out of him if you keep hitting him with the right timing and the right attacks. It's kind of sad for Starscream, ahaha, because he will attack you with like 3 weak shots and that's it, and it's kind of funny to watch, kind of like shooting a dead horse. LMAO. So bye bye Starscream. ^^ (But don't get you're hopes up, he's coming back in Starship)
DEEP AMAZON:
Deep Amazon has a preview that we skip, once again. Deep Amazon's terrain is basically a much darker version of Amazon's. It has much less trees, especially in the parts we will have to skip through any%, so trees shouldn't be much of a problem in this level. I have a theory of a huge glitch in Deep Amazon that could POSSIBLY work which you could use to skip the ENTIRE inside of the temple, although it would be extremely difficult, and I would probably (preferrably not) have to submit this speedrun with a couple mistakes here due to the fact that you have to do a glitch a series of about 7 blocks up the temple, which means you basically have to do the glitch 7 times, which therefore makes it 7 times more difficult to do it without making any mistakes. Although if the glitch doesn't work and I do end up having to go in through the inside of the temple, (which believe it or not I am actually hoping that this glitch won't work, because the temple would be so much easier) we would have to memorize a lot of timing for when to shoot the Decepticons in the temple. You can only shoot so many times before your shooting power runs out and it has to recharge so if we take them down with the right timing with our weaponry, we could knock some down, jump over them, and hell, maybe we could kill some of them. We also don't want to lose very much health, so I would not recommend for myself to let myself get shot very much by them, because of Cyclonus' quick shooting (although the only enemies in the temple are those weak ass medium units, so they pretty much don't do shit as far as damage).
The boss battle in this level is Cyclonus, and I am not so confident about defeating him in this speedrun as I am for Heavy Unit and Starscream. Cyclonus is a bit more difficult. For this battle, you start out at the top of the temple, where Cyclonus basically runs after you very quickly, and when he gets a hold of you, he throws you off the temple (or tries to anyway as far as my THEORIES go). You also have a choice to jump/fall off the temple yourself, and the same results will happen. Cyclonus will then transform into a helicopter, where his bullets and homing missiles shoot incredibly quickly, which makes it quite difficult to defeat him. You see, the game designers designed the battle so that you would NOT be on the top of the temple for the entire battle, now don't ask me why they made it this way, but it is the sequence in which they wanted things to happen. So, my theory is that there may be some way to make it so that Cyclonus cannot "catch" you and throw you off the edge, and there are two ways that this could possibly happen:
1.) If it is possible that we can continuously jump over Cyclonus' entire body somehow and continuously attack him until the point where he automatically transforms.
2.) If we can some how get on top of one of the huge rectangular things on top of the temple, then we could possibly continuously attack him, although I have doubts, because we may not be able to shoot through the extra shit that is in the way of us to get to Cyclonus, who is probably basically running against the wall hopelessly (that would be a hilarious sight). By the way, to get on top of this object, we will probably have to somehow jump on Cyclonus as well, which I am also rather skeptical about.
Cyclonus will not stay in non-Transform mode forever; there is a point where if you hurt him enough he will automatically transform into helicopter mode, due to the fact that the game developers wanted the battle to end with Cyclonus losing control in the helicopter. Nevertheless, this will take quite a lot of practice, but this isn't the WORST battle in the game, compared to Tidal Wave...I mean...Tidal Whore! ^^
MID-ATLANTIC:
In this level, the Hang Gliding Minicon is unlocked, and it is also, as far as I know, a REQUIRED Minicon throughout the entire game (plus even though there is that 0.01% chance that the entire game COULD POSSIBLY be completed without the Hang Gliding Minicon, it would be MUCH slower, due to all the jumping and shit involved, AND the glitches that are not used...well...I'm sorry that's not really important, I talk too much, ahaha). We collect the Minicon (which is the only Minicon in the entire level, for your information). So basically, this level is a very watery, sandy, rocky, peaceful level UNTIL you get to Tidal Wave's bullshit. There are tons and tons of enemies inside that damn boat, and they are easy to skip, although I have yet ANOTHER glitch theory where you could skip even merely touching the boat at all. So there are two Drop Ships that are sitting there basically waiting for you to glide towards the boat, and then they fly in the opposite direction of you. Honestly, I believe the game developers intended them to be completely useless other than decoration, because I don't see any use for them at all. WELL, until the glitch takes place, if it exists. So let me explain how the glitch works first. The boss battle is activated in the control room of the boat, which is at the top central part of the boat. You can literally see the room from almost anywhere in the level. I've already tested quite a bit with this, and there is clearly an invisible wall covering the top of the boat. It's like the game developers read my mind, ALTHOUGH, in Amazon, on top of the mountain and in the hills above the temple, there is an area where you can be right next to the invisible wall and glide straight into it, and I've tested this in many other sections of the game and it didn't work. I don't really know how this glitch works for this particular part of the game, but I assume it works like so. In unintentionally high altitudes of the game where there are invisible walls, it seems to be that this glitch can be done, but I don't know if it's particularly about the trees or the hill or what it was, but if it is ONLY having to do with the altitude, it is possible that if I get on top of that drop ship somehow, when it goes up high enough, I could glide off it and when I stop at the invisible wall I simply glide through it because I am at this altitude. OR, completely dismissing the whole going through the invisible wall concept, if the invisible wall only goes up the level so far, and I get HIGHER than the invisible wall, I could possibly just pass straight into the part I want to get into. The only problem is, let's just SAY this glitch actually exists (which I somehow doubt, but it would be great if it did), if the drop ship and the gliding takes longer than just going without the glitch, it may not make much of a difference in time (possibly increasing your time as well), and I highly suspect that this will be the case, because that drop ship takes a little while to go to that high of an altitude, and the gliding can be very slow. I also doubt this glitch is even in proximity to being possible, because IF the drop ship actually gets to this altitude by the time it disappears from the screen (which it does, I forgot to mention), we will not be in any proximity to the place we want to go, which makes the whole glitch idea a complete FAIL, but it's worth a try, I mean come on, right? Even though there is a 5% chance that it will work doesn't mean I shouldn't take that risk, right? ^^
Anyway, setting this ENTIRE theory aside, whether I use the glitch or not in this speedrun, the boss battle is STILL fucking Tidal Wave. And let me tell you for one thing, I FUCKING HATE TIDAL WAVE! BURN IN HELL TIDAL WAVE! Because this is the hardest boss in the game, not to mention the most utterly boring one! Nevertheless, I'm not here to complain, I can do that to Hasbro anyday, ahaha! So, Tidal Wave's ONLY weak point is his head. Also, another challenging part is getting him in close enough proximity to you that you can blast him with both Blaster and Rocket Launcher. Also there are points in time where he covers up his head, moves away from you, and BLASTS THE FUCK OUT OF YOU WITH HIS FUCKING ROCKETS, which all are EXTREMELY annoying. If you could possibly figure out how to manipulate your gliding abilities to be able to continuously shoot him while gliding in closer proximity to him, it is possible to be able to deal with ALL these annoyances much better, although that would be extremely difficult, but could possibly be much faster, AND much more entertaining than just sitting there watching a guy shoot at a monster's head for fucking 5 minutes. Anyway, the Tidal Wave boss, and the Mid-Atlantic level in general will take some practice and possibly optimization.
ALASKA:
This level is a unique one, because it does in fact, not have a boss battle. The required High Jump Minicon is unlocked here, and it is required for the Starship level! So basically this level has some trees in it, which can get a bit annoying, very mountainous and hilly, snowy and slippery (just like Antarctica ^^), and also similar to Antarctica, it has lots of random cracks in the snow, which is an annoyance, but again will take some practice to avoid. There are 2 major glitches I found. One is too hard to explain typing, so I won't, but look in the basic glitches section to see my reference. There is a major glitch where you can skip the ENTIRE cave, and I do mean the EENNTTIIRREE cave in Alaska. If you do an infinite slope climb glitch on the slope, you can climb yourself so high and glide to the ledge where you exit the cave at, basically. Although the glitch will be a bit hard, because you have to dodge the Tripod's laser beams, which will knock you down, ruining the entire trick pretty much. There is a very high concentration of enemies in the area that the glitch is in, as well, which also makes it difficult. We do not have to return to HQ and change Minicons, no no! And then, once you get to the top, there is a video that is completely skipped and that's it! Easy enough! ^^
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When we return to HQ this time, we go to Minicon select and switch out our Gliding Minicon for the High Jump Minicon.
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STARSHIP:
This level is basically what it sounds like from it's name; a starship. High Jump is REQUIRED to beat this level. You start in an empty quite room, and once you exit the room and take a few steps, you are being shot repeatedly by a shitload of enemies. The first half of this level is FILLED with enemies, enemies, enemies. I recommend us to avoid them all, though, which will be the hard part. We will probably end up very close to dying when we are finished with the first half of the level. There aren't really any particular glitches that I know of in this level, especially in the first half. The basic thing we will be doing before we get to the control room. Once we get to the control room (almost dead), we skip a video, and the starship is basically turned sideways and dug deep into the ground. As the story of the game goes, Starscream ran the starship off a cliff, as it was already on the edge of a cliff as a suicide attack. (Now why the HELL would he do this? That is, not to mention, the STUPIDEST MOST DESPERATE way to attack your enemies! O.O [even though he didn't necessarily get killed]. It was basically a waste of his time, lol. Anyway...) So the ship is damaged as hell and turned sideways, it is very quite and peaceful without much of music at all, AND there are no more enemies in the ship, so you don't have to deal with THEM anymore. I haven't really tested the Starship level very much in particular, I do not know any particular shortcuts in the level, and due to the last levels, I'm guessing there's probably quite a few tricks in this very large level, not to mention, possibly a very entertaining one. So when you escape the starship and go outside like you're supposed to, you go and battle Starscream again. HE'S ALIVE, I DID NOT KNOW THIS!
Starscream is basically the same as he was before, he just discovered a new attack that is completely USELESS against us as we shoot him constantly, him not being able to do ANYTHING against us, for we got the powah, bitch! And it's a shame that the game developers made Starscream such a wimp, because he actually always was my <3favorite character<3! But oh well, it's just a game! Anyway, so obviously, to put it simply, bye bye Starscream! ^^
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When we return to HQ this time, we will switch back to the Hang Gliding Minicon!
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PACIFIC ISLAND:
This is what you might think is the last level in the game, but believe it or not, it is actually the next to last level! ^^
This level is basically a huge island with a volcano right in the middle of it, and lots of different sections you have to go through. Finding Minicon routes in this level is something I am unsure about, because I haven't really tested with this level too much. In the level you kind of go around the level in a way. I somehow suspect it is possible to skip something major in the level though, since there are two sections that seem to be at similar altitudes and are right across from each other, but I don't really know, and plus, it would skip a couple Minicons to just skip through those particular sections. So, the thing you have to watch out for when speedrunning this level is the flying Sniper things. They aim at you well, and it is best to shoot them with a heavy attack liable to knock it over, because if you do, it will fly off to wherever its next set location is. Also, when you get to the top of the volcano where the last warp gate in the entire game is, there is one of those really annoying sword guys. It is quite fast, and I would use a technique to try to dodge it, because it's not like killing it is a very good idea, since it would be a delay, and you can't really just knock it down with a heavy attack, so try to avoid it somehow!
The boss in this level is Megatron! Now this Megatron is the Megatron that transforms into a tank, not the one that transforms into a damn gun making himself almost completely useless, but the better version of Megatron! Basically just continually shoot him with attacks, and manipulate your Minicon ability. The thing you have to watch out for is when he uses his defenses. When he holds his arm, you literally can't attack him with ANY moves, and it would just slow you down to try at the wrong times. Also, avoid any attacks that will send you flying, just like any other enemies in the game, for these are derogatory as well. When you defeat him, congradulations, you have 1 more boss!
CYBERTRON:
This is the last level in the entire game, and can only be unlocked if you have 30 minicons and you have completed the last 7 levels mentioned. Basically, this random planet that, by the way, has has NO association with the Decepticon organization comes in and ruins the party. The Autobots thought their work was finished, but it in fact wasn't, because this planet, all of a sudden, comes and attacks Cybertron, and what is the reason? I don't think the game developers even made the reason Unicron wants do destroy Cybertron very clear. Anyway, again, this is a level I haven't really messed around with so much, but I haven't really found many glitches. I am not really that familiar with the level physics itself even. I would say, it is POSSIBLE that you could somehow shoot/go through Unicron and shoot his last target and defeat him just like that, or some other glitch having to do with Unicron. Also if there is another glitch in the level that is useless due to speed and there is no immediate defeating glitch, then it may be entertaining to do during waiting periods if it is quick enough. As for the level, you are supposed to shoot inside of Unicron a certain amount of times to defeat him. The best possible shortening, if there are no glitches to speed this battle up, is to be as in proximity to Unicron as possible when he opens up. And now that we've defeated Unicron, the game has been beaten in ??:??.??!!!!
Anyway, I am sorry, I did not realize how long this post is, but I really hope that this does not get deleted; I spent 3-4 hours making this post. I don't know why it WOULD get deleted or locked or whatever, but I'm just saying, for the love of God, please don't.
I hope this post was encouraging to you guys. This game is dead now, and I don't think it deserves to be! I want to submit this speedrun, and hell, I might even make a 100% too, and TASes of both, but I just want this game to be more known. Hopefully, you can get it on Amazon, and I would recommend checking this out. But I'm not going to advertise. My point here is, I think a speedrun of this game would be quite entertaining due to all the shortcuts and glitches, and the fact that I think the possible time could be 30-40 minutes. ^^
The run is coming out sometime in 2016-2018 due to major family problems. And I hope this post gets some replies, I've been waiting a long time to see what people think about this. Thanks. ^^
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