Submission #9904: CoolHandMike's Arcade Time Crisis in 09:21.20

• Time Crisis is a first-person on-rails light gun shooter series of arcade video games by Namco, introduced in 1995. The arcade machine includes a light gun and a pedal that can be released to dodge attacks and reload. This is also one of the only games that uses the Namco Super System 22.

• This TAS uses the default Dipswitch settings.

Gameplay

• The game uses the light gun to fire up to 6 bullets before needing to release the pedal for a time to reload. Enemies appear on screen and need to be shot once unless they are a special enemy like a boss or a vehicle. The timing and some positions of enemies can be randomized based on time. This means that on some occasions gaining time previously can result in a lower time if the enemies have better spawns in following sections. Once all the enemies for an area are defeated the guy moves to the next area. The game seems to restrict the number of enemies on screen to six at a time. Enemies generally disappear faster if you shoot them in the head then a couple times in the chest. However there are a lot of situational scenarios where it may not matter since it may be best to do something different. For instance, sometimes an enemy will be hiding with only a small body portion exposed. If that happens it may be better to just shoot them rather than wait for their head to be exposed if they stay hidden for a long time.

• Enemies tend to have a couple invulnerable frames when they appear or come into the view area. There are some spots where enemies will have fairly long periods where they are not vulnerable at all. Two notable spots are https://youtu.be/xD52ox1syuo?si=lUqEq5hTNtQEAx8i&t=122 where the enemies in riot gear are invulnerable for a pretty long time, and the gold armored ninja on the right here: https://youtu.be/xD52ox1syuo?si=hF3gJ4jTcQxdJ2Ft&t=454.

• There are some differences with the PSX version of the game. The PSX version seems to have it where almost all enemies are immediately vulnerable once they are viewable. Cutscenes start earlier as far as I can tell in the PSX version too. In the arcade version the two enemies at the start of the area are not shootable from the start https://youtu.be/xD52ox1syuo?si=lppaH6vohGNlINle&t=83, unlike here in the PSX version https://youtu.be/978UD6KPcDc?si=E4tgMVddlCF0AL7h&t=135. The PSX version from looking at the inputs for the tas seems to allow a higher precision with a wider range available. The only downside for the PSX version seems to be that there is a larger amount of time between firing and hitting a target.

• Video of an existing tas of Time Crisis with the IGT of 8'37"82 (Story mode): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_XkhmlfGPc
• For comparison the IGT for this submission is 08'15"63.

Potential Time Saves

• Would love to have a hitbox viewer seriously. There are some strange hitboxes and periods where enemies are not vulnerable or are partially visible through other objects. Having a hitbox viewer would most likely be of great help.