Strider 2

2005-02-02 06:04:13 am

I'm currently analyzing and practicing for a pure speed run of Strider 2 for PSX with both playable characters and going for full speed with Hiryu (doing only 3 stages) AND doing all 5 stages. My best run right now is 12min and about 30sec, but I only started running it tonight Tongue

. I was wondering if anyone would actually be interested in watching such a run... I'm awaiting your feedback on that.

On a side note, I was wondering if, according to the SDA rules, it was legal to die and lose time because it automatically gives you back a "boost" that increases your strengh for a short while (very usefull against bosses). Right now I'm not using using such a technique (I'm just trying to survive as much as possible Wink

) but I may consider it for future use.

Please answer my questions

Thread title:

Reim

2005-02-02 06:09:22 am

Oh, almost forgot, in the game options we can adjust "Vitality" and "Difficulty" on a scale of ten I think. How am I supposed to adjust those features?!?!? I tough of actually showing those stats in my vid before the beginning of the run so everyone would know what I used but do you have any other solutions??? Getting them down to a minimum perhaps?

Bartz

2005-02-02 06:26:17 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I was actually interested in this. I don't think you'd have to get them to a minimum, just start recording at the title screen and then go to the options screen and changing them, so people would have an idea of what to expect from your run. I would phase against dying in your run, since it would look less impressive if you do die.

mikwuyma

2005-02-02 08:47:20 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

It says somewhere in the rules section that using death as a shortcut is banned. This is actually a game you should definitely play not to die because:

1. This game is easy to beat, but hard to master. I'm almost positive everyone who says this game is easy died at least 10 times going through it. You shouldn't be allowed to die more than once IMO, because anyone can boost their way out of bosses.

2. If you are getting hit on purpose you lose your sword power up, meaning bosses will take longer. However I think you can take a damage boost in stage 3 when you are inside the laboratory, and you will land right next to a sword power up. I'll look into this more and give more specifics later.

The vitality and difficulty are on a scale of 8, and like Bartz said just go into the options screen right after you start recording. You can use any difficulty setting you like, though difficulty 1 would not be much of a challenge because you will kill bosses in a few seconds. I would keep vitality at the default (5) just to stay true to the arcade version.

I'm guessing that 12 minutes and 30 seconds time is just going through 3 stages, because that time sounds impossible going through all 5 stage.

It says somewhere in the rules section that using death as a shortcut is banned.   This is actually a game you should definitely play not to die because:

1.  This game is easy to beat, but hard to master.  I'm almost positive everyone who says this game is easy died at least 10 times going through it.  You shouldn't be allowed to die more than once IMO, because anyone can boost their way out of bosses.

2.  If you are getting hit on purpose you lose your sword power up, meaning bosses will take longer.  However I think you can take a damage boost in stage 3 when you are inside the laboratory, and you will land right next to a sword power up.  I'll look into this more and give more specifics later.

The vitality and difficulty are on a scale of 8, and like Bartz said just go into the options screen right after you start recording.  You can use any difficulty setting you like, though difficulty 1 would not be much of a challenge because you will kill bosses in a few seconds.  I would keep vitality at the default (5) just to stay true to the arcade version.

I'm guessing that 12 minutes and 30 seconds time is just going through 3 stages, because that time sounds impossible going through all 5 stage.

Reim

Edit history:

Reim: 2005-02-02 11:51:03 pm

2005-02-02 11:47:42 pm

Ganbare!!!

Thanks for the tips mikwuyma!

I decided to try my hands at the game with the options you suggested (vitality at 5, and I cranked the difficulty to the max just for the fun of it) and I just completed a Hiryu pure speed 3 stages (1-4-5) run of 10min54sec!! My best to date (in only 2 days of practicing)!!! But I must also add that I died about 5times during it...

Following mikmuyma's sugestions, I decided that I'll try doing 3 runs:
-Hiryu/Single-segment/Pure speed/3 Stages/Any death count;
-Hiryu/Single-segment/5 Stages speed record/No death;
-Hein/Single-segment/5 Stages speed record/No death;

I figured out that doing a run while mastering the controls enough to survive on one continue would be far more impressive than seeing me die all the times for no good reasons... On a side-note, I'll try to take as less damage as I can for the 3 stages run and not dying to get the boosts since that would be considered a way to buy time... But if I die during a boss fight trying to rush it, I'll be using the boost anyway...

As you can guess, I'll be concentrating on the 3 stages run first and see for the others later. I expect the Hien run will be much faster than the Hiryu 5 stages one, by at least 3-5 minutes...

Finally, I was wondering if anyone who ever played the game has been able to identify a pattern or so in the boss fights, cause it seems to me their actions just happen to be random and very poorly influenced by my very actions... Especially for the two last bosses and the four sisters of stage 1... Any tips on this would be much appreciated Grin

I'll keep you updated on my progress, hopefully when I can go under 10 minutes!!! :banana:

Thanks for the tips mikwuyma!

I decided to try my hands at the game with the options you suggested (vitality at 5, and I cranked the difficulty to the max just for the fun of it) and I just completed a Hiryu pure speed 3 stages (1-4-5) run of 10min54sec!! My best to date (in only 2 days of practicing)!!! But I must also add that I died about 5times during it...

Following mikmuyma's sugestions, I decided that I'll try doing 3 runs:
-Hiryu/Single-segment/Pure speed/3 Stages/Any death count;
-Hiryu/Single-segment/5 Stages speed record/No death;
-Hein/Single-segment/5 Stages speed record/No death;

I figured out that doing a run while mastering the controls enough to survive on one continue would be far more impressive than seeing me die all the times for no good reasons... On a side-note, I'll try to take as less damage as I can for the 3 stages run and not dying to get the boosts since that would be considered a way to buy time... But if I die during a boss fight trying to rush it, I'll be using the boost anyway...

As you can guess, I'll be concentrating on the 3 stages run first and see for the others later. I expect the Hien run will be much faster than the Hiryu 5 stages one, by at least 3-5 minutes...

Finally, I was wondering if anyone who ever played the game has been able to identify a pattern or so in the boss fights, cause it seems to me their actions just happen to be random and very poorly influenced by my very actions... Especially for the two last bosses and the four sisters of stage 1... Any tips on this would be much appreciated ;D

I'll keep you updated on my progress, hopefully when I can go under 10 minutes!!! :banana:

mikwuyma

2005-02-03 12:46:50 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Hopefully these tips will help, I normally play on difficulty level 4 (the default) and I only play Hiryu:

First off, I hope you know about the air slash where you press down, then up+slash in the air. It does more damage than just jumping up and slashing (I will refer to this attack as the air slash).

First stage:

The three sisters (don't remember their names): start slashing like an idiot (turning left and right) and don't move on to the next car until the very last moment. If you move on to the next car before the very last moment, they might end up attacking you from offscreen. Continue doing this unless if one of the sisters lands too far away from you to slash, if that happens then run or slide towards her then slash to prevent her from attacking.

Solo (the first time): just jump up and slash at him like crazy, he should die really fast. If you are having trouble, lure him towards the satellite dish and slash at him, he should be pinned against the satellite.

Solo (the second time): I usually wait for him to come towards me and start slashing at him. He has two attacks: a three way spread shot; and a dual energy disc attack. If you slash at him like a madman he usually won't be able to shoot the spread shot. When he uses the disc attack, slash at him a bit then walk away to bait the discs, then jump over the discs. Again, if you are having trouble this battle, you can pin him against the right wall if he is low enough to the ground.

Dragon boss: This boss is a little random, usually I will save up my boosts for this boss. You can get in a bunch of slashes in when the battle first starts, then he'll start sending a purple spark along the ground (look right below his head). The dragon's head will start doing one of two things: Flashing yellow, then swiping at you; or rear its head back and shoot a ball at you. If it does the former, you can dodge it just by running away from its head. If it shoots the blue ball, how to dodge it depends on your positioning, but double jumping usually works.

Second stage:

The horseman: This guy is really easy, just make sure you are inside his body and he won't be able to hurt you. If he runs away just run or slide towards him.

Big, mine-laying robot: Also easy, make sure you are inside the robot and start slashing like a manic while jumping and inputting air slashes. This should do 2 things:

-Kill the little robots that fly towards you

-Do more damage than just standing there and slashing the robot.

If the robot charges, just be careful about the mines and try to get back inside it.

Swordsman: The only tip I can give you here is that the skulls come in preset formations and firing patterns, and if you keep one alive, the swordsman will teleport a lot less and it will not swing his sword as much.

This is all I can think of for now, I will need to play the game more to formulate strategies. I know some of this stuff is probably overly simple to you, but I'm just trying to be helpful and I don't know if you are knowledgeable in this game.

Hopefully these tips will help, I normally play on difficulty level 4 (the default) and I only play Hiryu:

First off, I hope you know about the air slash where you press down, then up+slash in the air.  It does more damage than just jumping up and slashing (I will refer to this attack as the air slash).

First stage:

The three sisters (don't remember their names):  start slashing like an idiot (turning left and right) and don't move on to the next car until the very last moment.  If you move on to the next car before the very last moment, they might end up attacking you from offscreen.  Continue doing this unless if one of the sisters lands too far away from you to slash, if that happens then run or slide towards her then slash to prevent her from attacking.

Solo (the first time):  just jump up and slash at him like crazy, he should die really fast.  If you are having trouble, lure him towards the satellite dish and slash at him, he should be pinned against the satellite.

Solo (the second time):  I usually wait for him to come towards me and start slashing at him.  He has two attacks:  a three way spread shot; and a dual energy disc attack.  If you slash at him like a madman he usually won't be able to shoot the spread shot.  When he uses the disc attack, slash at him a bit then walk away to bait the discs, then jump over the discs.  Again, if you are having trouble this battle, you can pin him against the right wall if he is low enough to the ground.

Dragon boss:  This boss is a little random, usually I will save up my boosts for this boss.  You can get in a bunch of slashes in when the battle first starts, then he'll start sending a purple spark along the ground (look right below his head).  The dragon's head will start doing one of two things:  Flashing yellow, then swiping at you; or rear its head back and shoot a ball at you.  If it does the former, you can dodge it just by running away from its head.  If it shoots the blue ball, how to dodge it depends on your positioning, but double jumping usually works.

Second stage:

The horseman:  This guy is really easy, just make sure you are inside his body and he won't be able to hurt you.  If he runs away just run or slide towards him.

Big, mine-laying robot:  Also easy, make sure you are inside the robot and start slashing like a manic while jumping and inputting air slashes.  This should do 2 things:

-Kill the little robots that fly towards you

-Do more damage than just standing there and slashing the robot.

If the robot charges, just be careful about the mines and try to get back inside it.

Swordsman:  The only tip I can give you here is that the skulls come in preset formations and firing patterns, and if you keep one alive, the swordsman will teleport a lot less and it will not swing his sword as much.

This is all I can think of for now, I will need to play the game more to formulate strategies.  I know some of this stuff is probably overly simple to you, but I'm just trying to be helpful and I don't know if you are knowledgeable in this game.

Reim

Edit history:

Reim: 2005-02-03 03:14:03 am

2005-02-03 03:03:13 am

Ganbare!!!

Thx again for the tips mikwuyma, some of them could be quite usefull in my progression (the sisters tip proved out to be quite usefull: I tough I should always aim for the larger cars so they wouldn't respawn in the holes thus making it longer but staying at the same spot and running is quite faster). I'd really appreciate if you could continue collaborating with me on this one since it's my first speed run ever and I'm definitly gonna need some...

I haven't runned the full 3 stages tonight, I've been analyzing and practicing the first stage with Hiryu and the settings I had for the earlier one (Vit.5, Diff.8 ).

I can manage to get a pretty good beginning up until the solo parts. The first one isn't so bad but again his reactions are random and sometime his death could prove to be a matter of about 3sec, but sometimes he get stuck in the middle and is hardly reachable without falling and having to climb up again. I managed to get him stuck to the satelite dish and on other occasions on the opposing wall (which is a little faster when I can manage to do it since it is where he aways spawn at the beginning of the fight.) Normally, when I arrive at this point I have 2 boosts and two power-ups.

For now the second solo is just too random... Only once was I able to pin him to the building and slash him like crazy. I'm going to continue analyzing his moves and the situations I can create. Anyway, I managed to find quite an interesting fact about him: when he uses the double disk attack and he is close to the floor, you can stand right below him and slash. When in this position, if your jump is timed correctly, you simply hit the jump button and both disks will zip right below you and you can continue slashing and even do the savage slash trick (down,up+attack).

Finally, the dragon boss is really killing me. If I could finish the solo section without losing my power-ups would be the best solution to killing him without boost. I'm also trying to incorporate the savage slash in this boss fight but I'm having trouble mastering it and often end up falling down from the ryu...

Well, that's about all I found out about stage uno tonight...
Ciao!! 8)

P.S. I know all of this may sound like giberish to most of you because it's an uncommon game with very little following but I'd like to know if anyone else is interrested in seeing this game being runned. I personally think this would make a nice run if I can manage to play it well enough and besides, I've always been an hardcore fan of 2-D arcade games. If you'd like to know more about the game, go have a look here:
http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psx/games/reviews/6279.shtml
http://www.psxseeker.com/reviews/strider2.html
http://www.system16.com/cybercade/games/strider2.html

Thx again for the tips mikwuyma, some of them could be quite usefull in my progression (the sisters tip proved out to be quite usefull: I tough I should always aim for the larger cars so they wouldn't respawn in the holes thus making it longer but staying at the same spot and running is quite faster). I'd really appreciate if you could continue collaborating with me on this one since it's my first speed run ever and I'm definitly gonna need some...

I haven't runned the full 3 stages tonight, I've been analyzing and practicing the first stage with Hiryu and the settings I had for the earlier one (Vit.5, Diff.8  ).

I can manage to get a pretty good beginning up until the solo parts. The first one isn't so bad but again his reactions are random and sometime his death could prove to be a matter of about 3sec, but sometimes he get stuck in the middle and is hardly reachable without falling and having to climb up again. I managed to get him stuck to the satelite dish and on other occasions on the opposing wall (which is a little faster when I can manage to do it since it is where he aways spawn at the beginning of the fight.) Normally, when I arrive at this point I have 2 boosts and two power-ups.

For now the second solo is just too random... Only once was I able to pin him to the building and slash him like crazy. I'm going to continue analyzing his moves and the situations I can create. Anyway, I managed to find quite an interesting fact about him: when he uses the double disk attack and he is close to the floor, you can stand right below him and slash. When in this position, if your jump is timed correctly, you simply hit the jump button and both disks will zip right below you and you can continue slashing and even do the savage slash trick (down,up+attack).

Finally, the dragon boss is really killing me. If I could finish the solo section without losing my power-ups would be the best solution to killing him without boost. I'm also trying to incorporate the savage slash in this boss fight but I'm having trouble mastering it and often end up falling down from the ryu...

Well, that's about all I found out about stage uno tonight...
Ciao!! 8)

[b]P.S. I know all of this may sound like giberish to most of you because it's an uncommon game with very little following but I'd like to know if anyone else is interrested in seeing this game being runned. I personally think this would make a nice run if I can manage to play it well enough and besides, I've always been an hardcore fan of 2-D arcade games. If you'd like to know more about the game, go have a look here:
http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psx/games/reviews/6279.shtml
http://www.psxseeker.com/reviews/strider2.html
http://www.system16.com/cybercade/games/strider2.html[/b]

Reim

2005-02-05 06:48:58 pm

Ganbare!!!

I've busy those past three days but I've tried another run today and ended up doing 10min34sec:
Stage1: 2min34sec
Stage4: 3min46sec (not my best but still good)
Stage5: 4min18sec (that one totally killed my run)

I did pretty much the best run ever in the 5th stage beating everything much faster then usual, but the final boss happenned to be a real pain in the @$$ with his random actions. :madpunch: He threw me at least 5 of his green fireballs that are almost impossible to dodge an went flying higher into space at least three times (during which he becomes invincible). Those two attacks are really cheap and if he uses them to much beating him becomes a lot harder!! Anyway I'm still happy with the score I got. The first stage was almost perfect, with very few minor mistakes... In a perfect run, I think I could do it in like 2min15sec at best. I'm gonna have to keep trying harder!!! Wish me luck!! :banana:

mikwuyma

2005-02-21 02:26:02 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

What happened to this? I would really like to see of run of this Reim. Unfortunately, I can't give you any more tips because I haven't played this game since the last time you posted (been playing Revenge of Shinobi).

Reim

2005-02-26 02:43:11 pm

Ganbare!!!

Yeah, the run's progress has been real slow since my last post because I had to concentrate on mid-session exams.. Since all of them are fnished, I'm gonna continue practicing this week I guess. I'll keep you up to date.

Liku

2005-03-08 06:05:03 pm

SSBM Fanatic

I would love to see a Strider 2 speed run, as I'm a fan of Hiryu on the many mediums he's been featured in. I haven't played 2, but I heard that it was a remake of the first one which I couldn't even beat.

Bartz

2005-03-09 06:26:54 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

It isn't a remake of the first one. The only ties they have with the first one is that they have included the Genesis version of Strider as a bonus. The mistake they did is that they put the wrong labels on the game discs; so the Strider disc is Strider 2, and the Strider 2 disc is Strider 1.

specone

Edit history:

specone: 2014-02-27 09:18:02 pm

2014-02-27 09:16:49 pm

Hey guys, massive bump here, but I've started working on this game recently, currently trying to achieve an SS rank / no damage run of each mission. Eventually I'd like to complete a single segment run through all five missions without taking damage (or minimal damage if this ends up being too daunting). Currently I've done mission 1 and 2, feedback would be appreciated.

thanks for watching.