Golden Axe 2 have as serious glitch.
It is possible obtain infinite magic in this game, and I think that this is the form more quick for finish the game, using magics constantly, what certain is going to diminish the quality of the speed run.
The question is: is better a flat and quick TAS or a slow one with more quality?
Note, Im not plan to make TAS for Golden Axe 2!!!
My intention is only demonstrate this bug for yours!
Description:
1- Kill first boss, press and hold the "A" button
2- Continue holding "A" button in bonus stage, not press any other button
3- In next screen release "A" button
4- WOW, its work!!!
http://www.freepgs.com/gamevideos/tas/GA2_by_Neofix_INFINITE_MAGIC.zip
The movie demonstrates the glitch.
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
if that's how it is, then that's how it must be played? i'm sure it's faster to simply kill some enemies instead of using magic? or is it really faster to just use magic on everyone after stage 1?
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Interesting. Try pressing the magic button longer, so that the maximum magic charge level of the character exceeds. You can cast level 7 (8, 9, 10...) magic which surprisingly is some other character's magic. The game crashes completely if you hold the charge button for too long. Many interesting things (graphical anomalies, crashes) happen if you hold it for about 7-15 seconds. With some character, some overcharged magic may cause something useful.
I don't think this glitch would be funny. Atleast not if it's used on every enemy. That will certeinly be slower as the animation is longer by far.
It will probably be good against the bosses though. :)
I'd like to see same quality found in Golden axe that was recently published. :)
that doesnt mean the same quality cant be seen, just that it wont be in the same style. and im not really sure how greatly this will affect the game. i only played one, but if getting magic is as frequent as it was in the previous game, it shouldnt be too different. however, if it is different, then who knows.
This is a well-known bug, actually I almost think it's deliberate.
In any case, I don't think that it should be used in a run, because it would just be casting magic over and over with all the characters standing still and no action.
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
You are wrong. Now that Gens has the memory watch feature, I had easy time testing every 256 levels of magic power. Only one interesting spell was found: 119 charge volume causes level skip in 20 minutes. Yeah, that is completely useless in a TAS, unless you want to try it in the last level and end input very very early...
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Weatherton wrote:
I'm intrigued about this "level skip," could you further explain or, perhaps, offer a vid?
When the magic is charged over the normal limit, many strange things can happen. If you charge only slightly over the maximum level, the spells of the other characters are cast, something like this:
charge 1: spell 1 (player character: blue guy)
charge 2: spell 2
charge 3: spell 3
charge 4: spell 4 (maximum blue guy magic)
charge 5: spell 1 (dwarf)
charge 6: spell 2 (dwarf)
...
So, even with the blue guy, you can cast the dragon spell which is level 6 spell of the third character (the woman). After you go over that charge level, there are no more spells left in the game, but the charge value keeps increasing. After you release the charge button, the game tries to cast the spell. Usually this freezes the game, because the game uses some random data as the spell. However, some charge levels do not crash the game completely, but produce minor glitches. By a pure coincidence, charge level 119 makes the bonus stage appear. The bad thing is that the game is messed up and repeats the level transition effect (the rotating black screen) again and again, which means that the game is almost like paused. There's only 1 frame between each transition animation that allows the game to progress. During this frame, the little wizards move a little and the timer goes forward. It takes more than 20 minutes for the bonus round to end, because the transition effect is repeated thousands of times. After that, the next level begins.
It takes 10 frames to charge 1 level. So charging 1190 frames should produce the warp glitch. I believe there was some lower value (around 500 frames) that produced the same effect. You can easily find the charge address from the RAM by charging the magic and observing memory values that increase.
By the way, some of the charge levels that seem to freeze the game may actually produce some useful effects that are not seen directly. It is hard and laborsome to verify, but could be done by observing the memory further or just waiting a long time after the spell. Also, I don't know if different conditions (stage number, enemies on screen etc.) affect the spells.
Some spells mess the graphics badly, but you can continue playing normally by disabling some graphics layers.