Surprise! Hydlide.
Hydlide is a game that is generally considered to be awful. I enjoy it on some strange level, though, and I think it makes a reasonably entertaining TAS. Our hero, Jim, must save the princess, for some reason, and defeat the bad guy. She has been turned into 3 fairies. You must collect these 3 fairies and also the 3 gems to make the boss appear.
The main challenge with this movie is that walking in most environments drains Jim's HP. The only way to recover is to stand around on grass and wait. I have tried to spread the waiting out, so in stead of waiting once or twice for long periods, I wait many times for short periods.
This, combined with the way the bosses work, means I must take damage. There are also cases where damage is taken in order to manipulate enemies.
In this movie, enemeis are manipulated in four main ways:
- Save/load: Used once, while getting the sword. This resets the location of the WISPs and saves me from having to wait around while they pass. This also seems to affect where the key is located in a later cave.
- Timing: Waiting before entering another screen changes where the enemies start and how they move. This game only seems to accept input every 4 frames, and sometimes the enemy formation doesn't change every possible frame. Usually, I can just change the number of steps taken on a given screen, and still reach the goal at the same time, or extend my waiting to regenerate time, and simply have to wait less next time. Occasionally, killing an enemy on a different frame will force them to spawn elsewhere.
- Spawn Points: If an enemy tries to spawn in the same space Jim is occupying, they will appear elswhere.
- Jim's Position: If Jim at a certain position on the screen, the enemy may walk in a different direction.
Items Skipped:
- Cross: Needed to make the vampire appear
- Lamp: Kill the vampire to get the lamp. Dark caves are lit up.
- Sheild: Supposedly increases defence. I didn't notice any difference.
To obtain the Ring, Jim must kill a certain number of enemeis, then the chest appears.
Wave is needed to kill the Wizards. This is why he must take the time to level up on HYPERs and EELs.
The DRAGON fight can be done at level 5. However, it takes roughly 3 minutes. Getting up to level 8 means the dragon can be killed in 2 hits.
I regret that the final boss could not be done any quicker, but facing him in attack mode always kills Jim in one hit. However, the medicine won from the previous boss refills Jim's HP after it reaches zero. Thus one "attack" hit can be delivered. Since I must wait at some point for my life to recover, I also gain the final level before this is done, to maximize damage.
Notes:
- The sword is gotten, but not required. It is gotten so Jim can actually do damage and kill stuff at low levels.
- At some point, Jim's life refills while he's moving. I think it's after he gets the Ring.
- All stategies for this game were based off observations. I didn't look at the 'guts' of the game, because I'm not handy with that sort of thing.
About Attack/Defend mode: On attack mode, Jim does a lot more damage on attack mode, but still can damage enemeis a bit on defend mode. Likewise, Jim takes much mode damage on attack mode then on defense. This is why the dragon fight and the boss fight are the way they are, and why there is powerleveling before the dragon. At level 8, Jim can survive taking a hit in attack mode from the dragon. He cannot survive against the final boss unless he is on defense mode, even at full life. The item that refills Jim's HP can only be used once.
I think that's everything. I hope you like it ;)
- aims for fastest time
- manipulates luck
- takes damage to save time
- any %
edit: a bit of clarification.
Truncated: I think enough people have found this interesting for it to warrant a publication. It manages to make a dreadfully bad game tolerable.