Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.2 (Default Settings) (I tried disabling Controller 2 and Memory Card 2 in the PSX tab, not sure whether it was applied though)
- BIOS: ps-30e.bin (SCPH-5502)
- Aims: Fastest possible completion
- Difficulty: Easy (4 moves of each type per turn, 1 roman per village)
- Why PAL version: The game was not released in other regions
Brief Description
Asterix The Gallic War is a strategy game as well as a 3D platformer.
Your goal is to collect one ingredient for a magic potion in each of the levels.
The strategy part:
There is a map of Gaul divided into villages. You are playing versus Caesar, each player gets a turn one after another. In each turn you can:
- Deploy new troops
- Attack: Attack a village that borders on one of your conquered villages
- Move Troops: Move troops inside your conquered villages (only between bordering ones)
The result of fights in villages that are not levels depends on when you start your attack but is also somehow influenced by the cursor movement or position.
You can skip the romans turns by saving and loading the file that you just saved.
Your turn will reset to Phase A, but the save file includes all previously conquered villages up to the latest conquered main level or bonus level.
- Normal levels: You try to reach a potion ingredient at the end of the level, there are several parts where you can't move on until you defeated all enemies on the screen.
- Bonus 1 (Barrel Break): Find and punch the barrel that flies up and defeat all romans.
- Bonus 2 (Throw the Roman): Throw romans over a certain total distance with at most 3 tries.
A trick that I found is that you can use super powered punches at no cost and with no time loss.
You just have to attack with a normal punch, then you activate the super punch before you hit an enemy.
This way your punch will have the same effect like a super powered punch but the same speed like a normal punch. This does only work on ground and not in air.
Other notes:
- The game forces you to play all 7 main levels as well as all 4 bonus levels in order to proceed to the pirate ship.
- You need to enter a level with at least 6 troops to be able to activate the super punch
- You sometimes have to wait for enemies to spawn, moving around will change the time they spawn/enter the screen
- When you hold the spear of an enemy, other enemies will be damaged when running into you which is used a few times
- You can use the mini map to navigate slightly faster from the main village to other areas
- Before entering the pirate ship you are forced to take all these potions
- On the pirate ship you need the flying ability to get high enough to destroy the lattice. You do not fall fast enough while having the flying ability, so you have to wait for its effect to run out.
Unfortunately I could not figure out how to manipulate the key position in Aqua Calidae or the mini game positions, but I think the run is still quite enjoyable to watch.
Thanks to:
- UnderscorePoY: for finding the save/load trick and providing additional information about his run
Fog: Pretty meh game, pretty meh audience reception, but good technical qualities.
Accepting for Vault.
