Submission #2938: DarkKobold's PCE Bloody Wolf in 14:19.74

Bloody Wolf is a run n' gun game from Data East. This game is a port from an arcade version, with large changes, including a new end level, and plot changes. The game's eight levels are divided into two halves, the first half has Eagle rescuing the president, and the second half has Snake rescuing Eagle. (more on this later.) I really enjoyed making this run. I've never done a run in which I had to manage lag so closely, and this has definitely been a learning experience.

First off, this game should be called Laggy Wolf. Any more than 4-5 enemies on screen, and the game will begin to hemorrhage lag. However, the game makes no limitations, and will often try to have 5-10 enemies on the screen. Further, the enemies scrolled off screen wait a very long time to disappear, so you can't let them build up behind you. All blue enemies must be destroyed immediately, as they will fire 10-20 bullets, causing the game to stutter like a bad first date. Flamethrowers Lagthrowers also need to be destroyed as soon as possible. Amusingly, the game has a version of the 'Spread' gun, which can cause the game to practically freeze when shooting.

Jumping is faster than walking, but it stops the ability to shoot. Thus, I had to balance jumping forward while still clearing the screen of enemies. The motorcycle is by far the fastest form of movement, but I only get to use it in 3 levels. Every weapon does one damage, with the exception of the knife, which does 3. Bosses that normally don't trigger the knife can be stabbed if an enemy is close enough to trigger the knife. Also, many bosses have invulnerability timers of up to 128 frames, which means very little shooting can occur.

This part is hell for lag, after you pick up the motorcycle. It took quite a few tries to kill enough to keep lag down. Also, the motorcycle can only shoot once per 4 frames, as opposed to every other frame, and also can only shoot forward and forward-diagonals; both of these reduce the amount of kills possible, I use the knife on the first boss, as he has a very long invulnerability. Also, since I skip him being at 3 health, he never calls reinforcements. After the boss, I pick up the motorcycle on top, so I can bring it into the 3rd part of the level. When fighting the Submarine boss, I make sure to minimize the amount the Sub has to move before shooting a missile or resurfacing, as it is dependent on player position. Also, this boss has an 8 frame invulnerability, so all shoots are spaced with 8 frames. I die at the end for amusement's sake.

I take damage from the blue gunner so that I don't have to waste time killing the stupid gray machine (insta-death). This also kills him, so he can't fire more lag-bullets. Since he is the first and only thing on the screen, his first volley doesn't cause lag. The first boss, the Scuba-flamethrower, has an invulnerability of 128 frames, which is painful. I had attempted to use the knife-the-boss trick, however, it caused the game to glitch out - the boss goes invisible, and the game just goes on forever with nothing happening. I avoid lots of lag in the brush by killing the numerous enemies. The helicopter is a pretty typical boss for this game, 8 spaced shots, etc.

The first thing I do is pick up "Powerful Grenades" which I like to call the anti-lag grenades. These are grenades with a larger blast radius than normal grenades, and last longer. They are great for clearing out enemies that are draining the game with lag. I also use these grenades to kill the tree branches barreling down on me, this saved about 50 frames worth of lag alone. The sniper is another boss that can't be knifed - he has 255 health, and for whatever reason, his health isn't the determining factor in his death, so no knifing the boss trick here, either. I jump to my death before he falls, but the game still lets me win.

I grab another motorcycle, and kill many enemies along the way. I have to kill both of the other motorcycles afterwords, which proved quite difficult, but the savings paid off. The following scene in the hallway is another horrible lag zone, I kill all the flamethrowers in the first part to avoid as much as possible. The boss has an invulnerability time of 20 frames. He's pretty easy for TASing once you have the timer in memory watch. Thanks to the jump at the beginning, I reach him so that I can deal enough damage that he can only fire once. Once you free the president, you can only use the knife and grenades for the rest of the level. Back in the hallway, I just need to make it to the end ASAP. Outside, however, I have to wait for the president anyway, so I use my time to minimize... you guessed it, lag.

Alright, so at this point, Eagle gets captured, and Snake has to go in after him. Now, I speed through the dialogue, so I'll give you an overview. They get to the helicopter, and the person who comes out says "There is only space for one more!" Thus, they leave Eagle behind to get captured. As if they couldn't squeeze one more person in?!?! Yes, the entire second half of the game is based on the fact that the president needed enough leg room.

I have to free all the prisoners. I choose the route based on avoiding as many of the gray insta-death machines as possible. However, it is impossible to free the one hostage before that insta-death machine gets you. The knife-boss was manipulated to never jump, which wastes mucho-time. I also pick up the rocket launcher and more powerful grenades.

First, I enter the building to get more powerful grenades. Since you can't leave a building with a hostage still in it, I kill him to save time. I make sure, during the autoscroller, to kill everything for entertainment. The tank is just another silly boss battle, with 8 frame invulnerability. This is the easiest of the levels to TAS.

All I can say is this level is ridiculous with enemies for no reason. The anti-lag grenades are very helpful for removing all the nasty waves of lag-enemies. Also, the boat boss is fun, only 4 frames of invulnerability, and I can finally use my knife-the-boss glitch. I manage to get off 3 stabs at the end, to finish him off.

The longest and most drawn out level. The first section at least affords me a motorcycle. More killing for lag reduction. I'm forced to waste a grenade on the top blue guy to reduce lag. Also, inside the base, had I wasted the time to pick up infra-red goggles, you'd see the laser traps. The first boss is just a repeat of the tank, but drops debris as well. This battle is extremely difficult in real time. The second boss battle is a joke, but a well played one. I'll leave it to the viewer to watch. The following room has 4 insta-death machines, but thanks to powerful grenades, they go down fast. The 3rd boss is a possessed Eagle. He has 2 main attacks, a knife charge and a bazooka blast. He has to use both before he is vulnerable. I use the top of the screen to trick him into a zero long knife charge, which allowed me to kill him faster. (I was quite proud of myself for this discovery). Anyway, his final attack is two charges, a bazooka shot, and then a final infinite knife charge. You can't attack him until 60 frames after the infinite knife charge starts, so I get far away, and then attack. The first hallway with the statue enemies is painfully bad. My original try had me picking up 300 lag frames. I got it to zero, thanks to good application of grenades! The final boss is easy, I make sure to get close enough to knife him twice in his circle, and then as he comes at me with his hallucinations. The final hallway is a nightmare of, yup, lag. I kill as much as I can, to minimize the number of grenades thrown. Also, the end notes that the President has been kidnapped (again.) Seriously, that makes 3 independent kidnappings in this game.

The president is actually hard to kidnap, guys.

Flygon: Added YouTube module. Removed, replacing with syncing module. Replaced YouTube module.

adelikat: Good viewer responds, good game choice, good optimization, and nice suggested screenshot. Thus, accepting for publication.

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