SketchFighter 4000 Alpha

2009-05-19 02:06:57 am

Would anyone be interested in a SketchFighter run if I were to do one?

Thread title:

2009-05-28 08:43:25 pm

Well at any rate, I'm a little less than halfway through the game at 0:11:46. That's 17 segments' worth. So it's not a world record at this rate but I'm not aiming for that yet...

NMS

2009-05-29 05:25:14 pm

I didn't like this game enough to buy it, but I suppose I'd watch the run.

ninetigerr

2009-10-21 06:06:36 pm

Well I've finally begun recording this.

Some personal notes...

* don't need any of the beams
* don't need anything homing
* don't need the super wave
* missiles are the way to go
* strict memorization of the Forest is a must

I don't think it's possible to obtain the bouncing pellets and the 200% shield upgrade during the same race. But it just occurred to me that it might be possible to get through the lava with only 100% health. I haven't tested it out yet.

Definitely the hardest part of this run is finding verifiers Smiley

gia

2009-10-21 06:38:38 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I dont know I thought the same and got verifiers quickly, some games do have trouble though

ninetigerr

2009-10-28 11:59:46 pm

Just thinking out loud here...

Okay you definitely can't get through the lava without proper lava protection. And there's no point in trying to get both the 200% shield and the bouncing pellets in the same race because you don't need the 200% shield. You can't get the pellets without ice/blue power, so I think I might postpone the pellets until after the Forest.

*Unless* there's some crazy insane way to hit that switch in the Factory without the bouncing pellets. But I don't think there is.

ninetigerr

2010-02-23 05:54:01 pm

Just letting everyone know that I'm redoing this run from scratch. I never did finish the one I mentioned above.

I've so far completed 3 segments, in which I kill the first boss, enter the Volcano and switch off a gate, in 0:00:59.

NMS

2010-02-24 05:18:56 pm

I have this game now, so I should be able to verify. I look forward to seeing it.

Do you have an idea how long your run will be and how it will compare with the times in the high scores?

ninetigerr

2010-02-25 02:13:36 am

It'll be on the high score list, that's for certain. I estimate my run will be in the 25:00 - 28:00 range. I base that estimate off my unrecorded practice run, the one that was "a little less than halfway through @ 0:11:46."

NMS

2010-02-27 09:31:03 pm

Well, after a hand-cramping amount of effort I managed to get to where you are in 1:01, in 2 segments (I didn't save in the Wasteland). So you seem to be doing well. This supports my guess that I could do a decent run of this game, but I don't really want to.

Do you have your items and route planned out? It's pretty straightforward until you get the wave gun, but then you have some choices. I made this map that you might find helpful. Good luck with the crab battle.

Attachment:

SketchFighter map.jpg

ninetigerr

Edit history:

ninetigerr: 2010-03-03 12:18:46 am

2010-03-03 12:01:54 am

That's an awesome map, thanks!

I'm mostly going off of what this guy wrote in the attached document. Can't remember where I found it. He basically says everything I was going to do anyway, except for a neat little shortcut in the Forest. You intentionally participate in the maze game, which warps you closer to the Forest boss. Pretty cool.

Yeah, I've got most of my items planned out. I'm debating on how many missiles I should carry. I could probably get away with just 5, but right now I'm thinking 10... dunno though.

God*damn*, the Crab boss is a pain in the speedrunning ass. Fortunately, his movements are predictable. I managed to blast away his dorky little head in 34 seconds and only 5% health left. You have to be suicidally aggressive in order to fight him quickly. But then you get the missiles and everything's happy and snappy. (Like defeating the tank boss in 3.5 seconds)

Attachment:

SF4kA_Fastest.txt

NMS

Edit history:

NMS: 2010-03-03 04:09:13 pm

2010-03-03 04:01:51 pm

You're welcome. It took a bunch of copying and pasting, but I found it helped me remember where I had to go and plan routes.

That document seems like good advice for the most part, but I'm not sure the route is optimal. It probably depends on what items you skip. Here are my thoughts:

- Beam:
I found it to be helpful for the Core and the Tank, as well as normal enemies, but I guess if all your missiles hit on bosses and you dodge the normal enemies you don't need it.

- Missiles:
You should get the ones in the Ice Caves towards the end, since you have to go there to shoot the snowflake anyway. I'm not sure whether getting any of the others saves time. If 5 is enough for all the bosses and you luck manipulate refills whenever you have to shoot your way through boxes so you don't lose time rearming, you might not need more. I think you might want the ones behind the blue barrier in the Wasteland though. Bear in mind you can use about 4 to speed up stage 1 of the boss fight and more to clear out groups of enemies during stage 2 so that when the pen appears you can focus on it rather than having to dodge or clear out left over enemies. So 15 is probably best, but 10 minimum.

- Shields:
These make your life much easier, no doubt. But you don't really need them and I'm not sure they help you go faster since you want to avoid crashing into enemies whether you're in danger of dying or not. Someone on the Ambrosia board mentioned that there's a trick to getting the super pellets and shields in the same lap, but I don't see how that's possible. So I'd say skip them.

- Super Beam:
You could skip this, but you'd have to be nuts, since it's the best weapon in the game and you don't even have to fight a boss for it.
EDIT: You seem to be planning to skip this. Can you really beat the forest boss quickly with only missiles and pellets?

- Homing and Super Homing:
Useless.

- Super Wave:
Makes stage 2 of the boss fight much easier, but not actually faster, so skip it.

- Better Shields:
These take too long to get.

- Everything else is required as far as I know.

It's a bit tough to beat the boss with only 100 hp and no super wave, but I managed it, so you should be able to. You just have to get a bit lucky in stage 2.

If you skip the shields, as I suggest, then after killing the tank you can go to the factory (instead of the wasteland) and through to the ice caves for the green gun (and super beam), then back to the factory and into the forest.

Using the race teleport to get to the Forest boss saves a bit of distance, but then you have to fight your way past that massive pile of bugs. That will help you complete the race if you do it in the same segment, but you would have to go from the first forest save point to the race start, fight your way to the boss, beat the boss (arguably the hardest fight in the game), get back to the race start, complete the race, and make it back to the save point all in one segment. If you can do it, more power to you, but I wouldn't blame you for saving before and after the boss. You should probably test both ways. Supposedly you can beat the boss in seconds if you destroy the shield generators and ram some missiles down its throat before it closes up, but I haven't managed it.

34 seconds for the crab boss seems very good to me. I never survive unless I hide in the doorway area where he can't one-shot me with his claw. Keep up the good work!

You're welcome. It took a bunch of copying and pasting, but I found it helped me remember where I had to go and plan routes.

That document seems like good advice for the most part, but I'm not sure the route is optimal. It probably depends on what items you skip. Here are my thoughts:

- Beam:
I found it to be helpful for the Core and the Tank, as well as normal enemies, but I guess if all your missiles hit on bosses and you dodge the normal enemies you don't need it.

- Missiles:
You should get the ones in the Ice Caves towards the end, since you have to go there to shoot the snowflake anyway. I'm not sure whether getting any of the others saves time. If 5 is enough for all the bosses and you luck manipulate refills whenever you have to shoot your way through boxes so you don't lose time rearming, you might not need more. I think you might want the ones behind the blue barrier in the Wasteland though. Bear in mind you can use about 4 to speed up stage 1 of the boss fight and more to clear out groups of enemies during stage 2 so that when the pen appears you can focus on it rather than having to dodge or clear out left over enemies. So 15 is probably best, but 10 minimum.

- Shields:
These make your life much easier, no doubt. But you don't really need them and I'm not sure they help you go faster since you want to avoid crashing into enemies whether you're in danger of dying or not. Someone on the Ambrosia board mentioned that there's a trick to getting the super pellets and shields in the same lap, but I don't see how that's possible. So I'd say skip them.

- Super Beam:
You could skip this, but you'd have to be nuts, since it's the best weapon in the game and you don't even have to fight a boss for it.
EDIT: You seem to be planning to skip this. Can you really beat the forest boss quickly with only missiles and pellets?

- Homing and Super Homing:
Useless.

- Super Wave:
Makes stage 2 of the boss fight much easier, but not actually faster, so skip it.

- Better Shields:
These take too long to get.

- Everything else is required as far as I know.

It's a bit tough to beat the boss with only 100 hp and no super wave, but I managed it, so you should be able to. You just have to get a bit lucky in stage 2.

If you skip the shields, as I suggest, then after killing the tank you can go to the factory (instead of the wasteland) and through to the ice caves for the green gun (and super beam), then back to the factory and into the forest.

Using the race teleport to get to the Forest boss saves a bit of distance, but then you have to fight your way past that massive pile of bugs. That will help you complete the race if you do it in the same segment, but you would have to go from the first forest save point to the race start, fight your way to the boss, beat the boss (arguably the hardest fight in the game), get back to the race start, complete the race, and make it back to the save point all in one segment. If you can do it, more power to you, but I wouldn't blame you for saving before and after the boss. You should probably test both ways. Supposedly you can beat the boss in seconds if you destroy the shield generators and ram some missiles down its throat before it closes up, but I haven't managed it.

34 seconds for the crab boss seems very good to me. I never survive unless I hide in the doorway area where he can't one-shot me with his claw. Keep up the good work!

ninetigerr

Edit history:

ninetigerr: 2010-03-04 06:49:20 pm

2010-03-04 06:44:04 pm

Yeah I'm not so certain about his route, either. He suggests to go to the Racetrack right after the Tank boss by first going to the Factory, *then* the Wasteland. That makes no sense because

* I feel like the time spent backtracking to the Factory can be better used
* The Racetrack is all the way to the northwest of that big open area, but you enter the Wasteland from the Factory in the southeast corner.

So I'm planning on defeating the Tank boss, then going to the factory, then the Ice Caves. Hopefully when that happens I'll be less than 00:05:30 into the game. You only need the super pellets once collecting stars becomes important.

NMS

2010-03-05 04:20:33 pm

That's what I did, but I got super beam. Can you really handle bosses (especially the forest boss) with only pellets and rockets?

ninetigerr

2010-03-05 05:31:03 pm

Yes you can. For any boss you just gotta go right up to his face and pound him.. and you gotta be a little lucky, too. The forest boss is a particular pain because there's tons of debris floating around and a big fat tongue/branch/throat thing that sticks out and impales you. It took something like 4? rockets and a steady stream of pellets to kill him in my unrecorded attempt... but I forget exactly. All I remember is that I totally surprised myself when I killed him in such a short amount of time.

//

Just an update in general. I'm at the save point right before the ice boss, just about to meet him, at 0:05:50 (9 segments' worth). In the save point immediately before that, I had only 2 missiles. So, as a quick solution to an awkward problem, I busted open the missile upgrade in the ice caves. That gave me 5 more missiles. It kinda sucks because I need to be in that exact area, later, for the snowflake. But I decided it's not that big of a deal because I need to be in the ice boss' room later anyways, to open up the star in the northwest corner of the Ice Caves.

Yes you can. For any boss you just gotta go right up to his face and pound him.. and you gotta be a little lucky, too. The forest boss is a particular pain because there's tons of debris floating around and a big fat tongue/branch/throat thing that sticks out and impales you. It took something like 4? rockets and a steady stream of pellets to kill him in my unrecorded attempt... but I forget exactly. All I remember is that I totally surprised myself when I killed him in such a short amount of time.

//

Just an update in general. I'm at the save point right before the ice boss, just about to meet him, at 0:05:50 (9 segments' worth). In the save point immediately before that, I had only 2 missiles. So, as a quick solution to an awkward problem, I busted open the missile upgrade in the ice caves. That gave me 5 more missiles. It kinda sucks because I need to be in that exact area, later, for the snowflake. But I decided it's not that big of a deal because I need to be in the ice boss' room later anyways, to open up the star in the northwest corner of the Ice Caves.

ninetigerr

2010-08-26 01:29:21 pm

Now you can view my progress on YouTube!

It's the first 12 segments.

NMS

2010-08-29 02:43:18 pm

Very nice! Great flying and boss fights. You're a bit low on missiles though. Hopefully you can get enough from the barriers in your way in the forest. Good luck.

CrocaHead

2025-04-29 04:37:36 am

Just finished the game (100%) in 40:30 with no checkpoints.
Revival edition, easy mode. I challenge anyone to beat this time

CrocaHead

2025-04-29 04:40:06 am

@ninetigerr (or anyone else) if you're still here, email me, would love to chat about the game. contact@crocahead.com