Post subject: Blaster Master: Enemy Below/Metafight EX
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (398)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 632
Location: Seattle, WA
A Blaster Master sequel! ...Not Blaster Master Jr./Boy, which is more like Bomberman, I'm talking Enemy Below, a game the looks, sounds, and feels like it was fan-made, even though it's an official sequel from Sunsoft! Jason returns to the underworld of BM to do...pretty much the same as before in all the same places. It's basically a solid remix of the first; new level designs, objects won from bosses, new bosses, new secret items found away from bosses, and most importantly, keys. In every stage you have to find a key to unlock the boss catacomb (in Area 6, 7, and 8 you have to find two), so this will add a lot more time to the movie, though often the key catacomb is just on the path. Death works a lot different in this game, too--in comparison to the original, this game has one life per continue but infinite continues, and each continue returns you to either the Area door you came in through or the level's checkpoint spot, whichever is closest, and you're always in the tank upon continuing with all items you had upon death. This means that it is almost always faster to suicide after picking up a key so that you don't have to exit the catacomb by hand. Other things to note are in the catacomb sections: 1) Holding the A button lets you strafe in this game, an interesting addition, and 2) you can't walk diagonally. Which is a bummer and a bit of a speed damperer but oh well. Anything else? YES. GLITCH. In the tank, pressing left+right and then right will flip your tank upside down, as if you had walked on the ceiling using Wall 2. What does this do other than look stupid and mess with the movement? Well, as this WIP shows once or twice, it lowers the hitbox of the tank, allowing me to save a couple frames by missing a ledge that would otherwise slow me down, and second, more importantly, once I get Hover, there are certain areas where I can glitch through the ceiling to be on top of any space that's just one block tall! This includes places that are two blocks tall but the top half is a small pool of water. This, obviously, presents some good shortcut action! And things can get even more screwed up once I get Wall 1; I can go through walls that are just one block thick! These two scenarios aren't as common as they sound due to good level design, but are definitely helpful when they appear. Otherwise, on to the WIP. This movie completes conquers Area 1 and enters Area 2 after 4 minutes, and shows pretty well how the whole of the movie will look, but there will be much more glitching ahead. (Area 1 is actually a LOT more simple than other areas, too, don't think it's all going to be just driving straight ahead and getting out occasionally, each Area is unique) http://www.twistedeye.net/TAS/BM-EB--WIP1.vbm --This uses Blaster Master: Enemy Below [U][!].gbc, btw. I haven't done much comparison between the two, but as far as I can tell, the only changes are an English title screen and no Sunsoft screen to click through
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
Looking fine to me, though I'm waiting for the more complex levels and the glitching to begin. ;)
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Heh, yeah, I was expecting Blaster Master Boy/Jr. at first, though yeah, it's really the sequel to Bomberking/Robowarrior.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (398)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 632
Location: Seattle, WA
Did somebody say they wanted to see some glitches? OOooohhh I have some glitching here for ya. http://www.twistedeye.net/TAS/BM-EB--WIP2.vbm <--Completes Area 3 and enters the door to Area 4. w-hey, where'd Area 2 go? Those blue-arrow blocks present the tank from going forward and disallows Jason from stepping out, unless you defeat Area 2's boss and collect the Engine upgrade. However, I discovered that glitching upside down and diving into the ground fooled the game into letting Jason out, and, well, I guess the little man comes with an engine upgrade built in ;) And I figured out that the way dying worked was different from what I thought, which gave me a couple awesome shortcuts, yep yep!
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
Twisted Eye wrote:
Did somebody say they wanted to see some glitches? OOooohhh I have some glitching here for ya.
Splendid. ;) And for the record, moonwalking rocks. :P
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Post subject: Re: Blaster Master: Enemy Below/Metafight EX
JXQ
Experienced player (761)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
Twisted Eye wrote:
A Blaster Master sequel ... looks, sounds, and feels like it was fan-made, even though it's an official sequel from Sunsoft!
Wow, this couldn't describe the game better. I really don't remember the GBC being so inferior to the NES, especially in the music department. I wonder how much of it was lazy programming and how much of it was hardware inability. But come on, no diagonal walking? That's pretty lame, Sunsoft.
Holding the A button lets you strafe in this game, an interesting addition
I think this is in the original as well. In regards to the movie, it seems that it's pretty played well. A couple times, I wonder if jumping before falling could be done more to increase velocity, but I know the vehicle is pretty clunky in this game, so you probably already tested that. The L+R trick also seems to save time when used immediately after falling off a ledge, but I think this is strictly visual. Hopefully more levels can be at least partially skipped!
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (398)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 632
Location: Seattle, WA
I test the jumping-off-of-ledges trick nearly everytime, usually the platforms are just so small and tightly packed that there isn't much of a benefit, and yes L+R off of a ledge is strictly visual, unless I intend to use the smaller hitbox to my benefit, especially true in that one vertical shaft in Area 3. Rewatching, I think there are times where I could save a frame or two in the early parts of Area 1, like with practically every TAS, but it'd only be a couple frames and if it's not very noticable I hope no one minds if I leave 'em be. I might try hex-editting in fixes later, who knows. And, yes, as long as I keep my Hover powered, there are some nice shortcuts in Area 4
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (398)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 632
Location: Seattle, WA
http://www.twistedeye.net/TAS/BM-EB--WIP3.vbm <--Completes Area 4 and is halfway done with Area 5 A lot of shortcut action in Area 4, but Area 5 is wearing me down--the catacombs at these points are almost all just walking through a long boring maze and it's really hurting the movie and my motivation. And the movie is already a lot longer than I expected it to be before I actually played the game, BUT I have good news, and it's not auto-insurance. I think I can skip Area 7 altogether, which is AWESOME because that Area is very tricky to navigate AND it requires two keys to reach the boss. The Area has some of my favorite music in the original Blaster Master, but thankfully this game butchers the musics all just a LITTLE so that I don't mind skipping it ;P There's a huge shortcut door that somehow takes you from Area 1 to Area 5 (and if you go back in the door, you go to Area 3---) BUT you can't get there without the Dive upgrade, which you get FROM the boss of Area 5. I spent like an hour trying to glitch my way in but no dice. That would've been a dandy shortcut. Also, Jason can ALMOST reach the door to Area 6 by himself, meaning I could skip Area 5 altogether as well, but, again, no go. What's really getting me, though, is that every time I rewatch the movie, I notice little points where I can save frames. Yes, it's NEVER more than one or two frames possibly saved, but still it's frustrating how that always happens in my TASes, hehe. I'm sure it's a common problem though. But yeah, the plan at this point is simply: Beat Area 5's boss, die shortcut to bring the tank halfway through the level with the Dive upgrade as well, go to Area 6, get its two keys and beat its boss, die to Area 5, die twice to Area 3, die to Area 2, glitch to Area 8, get the two keys and beat the boss, game zer0ver. ---oh, and in all my years, I can't remember if I ever knew you could strafe in the NES Blaster Master, but you're RIGHT. I played the game for years and I seriously don't remember ever being able to do that!
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
The run is looking very good so far, keep it up. On a side note, I am also looking forward to seeing you finish the Pool of Radiance run. I made a Topic for that a long time ago, last year I think it was. Nobody seemed interested in running it. I watched what you did so far in Pool of Radiance, and I like it. ;3
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (398)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 632
Location: Seattle, WA
Thanks. I'm at Area 8 now, trying to manipulate a creature that can give just one point of Hover for a ceiling glitch. After that it's just the same ol' key hunt and bossrape ;D As far as Pool of Radiance is concerned, I have absolutely no idea what to do about the RNG. I can seriously jump straight to the final two battles, but if I can't manipulate some hits and misses, I am absolutely screwed. As far as I can tell, it only advances when used, and that depends on HOW it gets used as well. The problem with the last two battles is that the enemies' thac0s and ACs are so top notch...augh. Heck, the REAL reason I make two characters is simply because the final boss will never miss and will always instant kill in this situation, meaning I simply hope and pray that all of my guys hit for an average of 8+ damage per turn every turn so that the last possible guy to do the last possible damage gets precisely the kill. ---wwwwaaaahhhhhhhh
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
Hehe. I've never gotten past the first area of Pool of Radiance. So that is why I am so interested in seeing the run done. I wanna play it, and crush it. :3 If I am correct, I am sure your party has gained some experience. Just take them and level them if you have to. Should make them tougher to kill.
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Oh, you're talking about a different game now... At first I thought The Pool Of Radiance was an area in Blaster Master.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498
I suppose you could call area 5 of Blaster Master the Pool of Radiance. Seriously, it's so far underground and I don't see any sort of light source down there...Jason shouldn't be able to see jack. Not to mention pressure and other physics issues. :p