I used to play this game all the time when i was a wee laddy. I loved it to death, but i wasn't that good at it, i would play it all the time and wouldn't get very far. I believe this would be a very interesting speed run. You have your variety of heads and stuff, the game can be quite fast paced, the music is interesting to hear in the backround. Would anyone care to give it a try?
If I would just have the time for it I would pick it up =/, but I have too much other projects running: Secret of Mana, Wonder Boy III, StarTropics... ok it's only 3 but I don't have very much time because of school =/
I hereby try and breathe new life into this!
Headdy's one of the better platformers for the Genesis, sad as that is, and it definitely needs a run made of it. It'd be a right pain determining proper paths, what heads to use in any given situation, etc etc. I've done some messing around in the intro stage, and it's annoyingly long. Mainly due to the opening part, where you have to run away from the robot that's grabbing Headdy's buddies (can you even kill it?) and then at the end, since the boss can only be hit when it's normal-colored... It'd be impressive to find a jumping pattern through the energy it draws in, though.
Anyway, here's to hoping.
Sure. I'll pick up a copy of the rom and fool around with it.
Edit: Alright. Here's the first result. There's alot of screw-ups, but I went through the game first at normal speed to get an idea, then went through again using re-records. I haven't found the most optimized route yet, for the part after the cage, but i'll be able to do that later, when I play through the game again.
Anyways, here's the .gmv. :D
Dynamite Headdy (UE) [c][!].gmv
Mainly due to the opening part, where you have to run away from the robot that's grabbing Headdy's buddies (can you even kill it?)
Yeah. You can. You'll see me do it in the .gmv. Apparently, it counts as the level's only secret.
Alright. I've been playin' DH for the past few days, and it's coming along pretty nicely. Though the game is a little slow, i've been trying to find as many things to do that'd help resolve any boredom that might show up (mostly due to the long cinematics).
This movie is far from perfect, the bosses being more-so than the actual levels, but here's how it's comin' along so far. Feel free to download and play at your convenience. It goes through to Headdy Wonderland, to the robot boss. Everything goes along fine, but I get up to a part where I accidentally save state, and can't avoid taking damage. I figured i'd wrap it up there and start again from the beginning of Headdy Wonderland later tonight.
Dynamite Headdy (UE) [c][!].gmv
Edit: The link in the last post is also the link to this one. -shrug- >_>
Well, I'm thinking I'd like to start working on Dynamite Headdy. I know there at least used to be some interest and I believe Upthorn had been working on a run already.
Anyone got any pointers or know any nice glitches that might help me?
Still working on planning it out right now but I should have my first WIP soon.
MOST RECENT WIP: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/3388/Trask-DynamiteHeaddy.gmv
I already tried a tas with getting all secret points and digits, but got stuck after 5 minutes in the practice area of beau, because I could't find a proper way to manipulate him. If it is of any help I can upload it.
A run without collecting this extra stuff will be much easier.
Since headdy is not a fast character You will have to focus more on battling and coordinating his head.
Here some basic things, just in case You didn't know:
-headdy stops running when You shoot on the ground, so You should jump before shooting
- since his head becomes slowlier when it is the farest away, it sometimes saves a frame to shoot later and make headdy run the distance
- headdy moves faster when he pulls himself to a hangman. If push in a direction after passing hangman, he won't keep the speed. So waiting some frames is better
- many actions like jumping, ducking and shooting have a delay of a frame, so if you want to shoot, jump, etc. You have do push the botton earlier
- frame number, facing directions and moving seem to manipulate luck
- position headdy at the right spot after a boss fight, or he will run there before point calculation
- point calculation can be skipped by start (3 times)
- no glitches known to me (only the one from the speedrun from speeddemosarchive, which freezes the game after the end)
(sorry for my English, but I'm from Germany)
good luck
EDIT: uploaded movie:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/3366/headdybyemu.gmv
I started a TAS which doesn't take any extra time for bonus stages or secret points (mostly because there wasn't any way to make the bonus stages look good).
I stopped because I was having difficulty on the boss of the first autoscrolling stage, and when I played it through again it didn't look like anything special.
That's available here: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/3370/UpthornDynamiteHeaddyUEwip.gmv
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Great, thanks both for the help so far.
Very likely will be avoiding 100% secrets/bonuses as a pure speed run should prove to be more entertaining.
Also, I wonder if it's possible to enter the secret code to do the bonus boss fight after the credits without actually doing the bonus stages. Would be pretty awesome to just randomly punch numbers in and get it right. :)
Nice run, upthorn I liked the mad mech stages most of all.
Some things I noticed:
- in scene 2-2(Toys in the Hood), after fighting Catherine Derigueur, the way splits up. Going the lower path saves more than 100 frames, if You go left into the secret path afer the long fall
- I think there might be some places were taking damage could save time (jumping into the Pit in down under, skippinkg the wheels in terminate her too(?))
- I'm not sure, but I think score calculation is triggered, when there are no more pieces of the boss, so maybe it saves time to focus on the last chunk (or whatever these things are :) ) which is released
- like I already mentioned, after a Boss battle, positioning Headdy on the right spot prevents him from going there, which might waste time
- since I'm especially interested in the luck manipulation of the game, I would like to know, if there would have been no way to manipulate Trouble Bruin in Stair Wars to always ram You instead of cutting pieces out of the tower
- in the flying scenes, the laser is not a steady stream. Maybe (hopefully not), You have to shoot at the right moment to hit bosses after the invincibility time instead of holding the B-button (mainly while in backward movements)
- Yes, it would be very interesting, if You can enter the secret code without completing the bonus stages, but it would be much work to enter ten thousand different combinations :) specially since intuitional I think it is not possible ;)
I'm really looking forward to Your run,
good luck
Nice run, upthorn I liked the mad mech stages most of all.
Some things I noticed:
- in scene 2-2(Toys in the Hood), after fighting Catherine Derigueur, the way splits up. Going the lower path saves more than 100 frames, if You go left into the secret path afer the long fall
Are you sure about that? my fight with the dragon is far from optimized, and I recall using the small head being very, very slow
emu wrote:
- I think there might be some places were taking damage could save time (jumping into the Pit in down under, skippinkg the wheels in terminate her too(?))
I entered the hard mode code (hard mode codes are one of the exceptions to the no cheat code rule), so any hit from an object is instant death.
Jumping into the pit in down under might help in one or two places, though.
emu wrote:
- I'm not sure, but I think score calculation is triggered, when there are no more pieces of the boss, so maybe it saves time to focus on the last chunk (or whatever these things are :) ) which is released
As far as I can tell piece collection can't speed up the score screen
emu wrote:
- like I already mentioned, after a Boss battle, positioning Headdy on the right spot prevents him from going there, which might waste time
That's something I never noticed or thought about.
emu wrote:
- since I'm especially interested in the luck manipulation of the game, I would like to know, if there would have been no way to manipulate Trouble Bruin in Stair Wars to always ram You instead of cutting pieces out of the tower
I did that long before Gens had a RAM viewer, so I'm sure that it can be manipulated better.
emu wrote:
- in the flying scenes, the laser is not a steady stream. Maybe (hopefully not), You have to shoot at the right moment to hit bosses after the invincibility time instead of holding the B-button (mainly while in backward movements)
The laser only fires every 4th frame. it doesn't matter if I hold it down or not. But the part of that boss where I am holding it down is where I got bored and switched to real time.
Trask wrote:
I wonder if it's possible to enter the secret code to do the bonus boss fight after the credits without actually doing the bonus stages. Would be pretty awesome to just randomly punch numbers in and get it right. :)
It would be interesting if that is possible, but I suspect that you would, at least, have to enter each bonus stage, and lose. As each digit comes from the random number generator when you beat the stage.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
- in scene 2-2(Toys in the Hood), after fighting Catherine Derigueur, the way splits up. Going the lower path saves more than 100 frames, if You go left into the secret path afer the long fall
Are you sure about that? my fight with the dragon is far from optimized, and I recall using the small head being very, very slow
I tried it again and using the lower route WITH the secret path (left into wall after long drop) the curtain started to lower at frame 13897 (unotimized). In The movie it falls at 14058. So the number of frames gain is under 100, sorry for exaggerating.
I entered the hard mode code (hard mode codes are one of the exceptions to the no cheat code rule), so any hit from an object is instant death.
Ok, now I understand ;)
But actually it seems, like the code didn't work, since in mad mechs Headdy loses health.
Thanks for clearing me up on the boss pieces and laser issue, now I know.
I did that long before Gens had a RAM viewer, so I'm sure that it can be manipulated better.
O_O I didn't know what use that tool has. Sorry for that nooby question, but where can I read how to use that RAM viewer and what it does?
We don't have a help section on RAM viewers at the moment.
The basic idea is to narrow down a RAM position in memory by checking against a condition several times (such as "it decreased from last time i checked"). Then you can monitor that value directly, and be sure that you hit the boss with the strongest weapon, that you use the fastest method of movement, etc.
I'm thinking that it's probably best to not play using the Hard Mode cheat. It doesn't add anything to the game other than forcing "Does not take damage," right?
Well, as you can see from my movie there, the hard mode doesn't affect the amount of damage from falling off the screen. And I have some difficulty imagining a situation in which taking damage any other way would speed things up.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Entirely possible.
Once I've looked into it some more and actually thrown something together I'll be able to call it better.
Been busy lately, so haven't had time to do much other than a small amount of planning and watching the WIPs that have been posted.
If there's any time where taking damage would save time apart from fall damage then I'll just not use the Hard Mode cheat. Otherwise, I'm game. :)
Also, I'll look into it soon but does anyone know offhand the differences in version? I know that the (J) bosses look much cooler and I think the bomb will kill the boss in Terminate Her Too in one hit. That's what I think I remember offhand. :)
I think I've figured out a good way to test if we can do the secret bonus boss. I'll just unlock three numbers - that should leave me with only 10 combinations to try. :)
EDIT: The (J) Version probably won't work. I just remembered that it has a lot of added dialogue.
RE-EDIT: Looks like the (J) bosses actually die MUCH faster. I'm not clear on the ruling but what do you all think I should do in this case?
If there's any time where taking damage would save time apart from fall damage then I'll just not use the Hard Mode cheat. Otherwise, I'm game. :)
Damage would save time on a number of bosses, possibly Mad Dog (to get the Hammer a little earlier than I did in my run on SDA), Baby Face, TB on Fly Hard, Missile Man, and Twin Freaks, and definitely on Nasty Gatekeeper. The idea with Nasty would be to stand directly under him whenever he targets your head, as it takes much less time than to have him reach towards the sides. It might be possible to stand slightly to the side of him and fire down diagonally towards his feet to get the same result without taking damage, but I haven't tested it.
Also, I'll look into it soon but does anyone know offhand the differences in version? I know that the (J) bosses look much cooler and I think the bomb will kill the boss in Terminate Her Too in one hit. That's what I think I remember offhand. :)
I think some of the bosses have more health in the English version. I know they changed Twin Freaks to be much harder. In the Japanese version, you can just stand next to him and keep firing up/diagonally to hit him, while in the English version you actually have to hit him exactly in the ear. And yes, there's the added dialogue you mention. I'm not sure which would end up being faster to use overall.
Stair Wars should definitely be manipulatable so that TB always moves into the center of the screen... not sure how, but I've had him do it four times in a row in real time, so there's got to be a way. The bomb is the fastest method to kill every boss you can use it against, which is only two bosses (Mons Meg and Nasty Gatekeeper). Against Dark Demon, figure out which attack takes the least amount of time and try to manipulate DD to use that attack every time. And make sure to get the Hammer the very first time items circle you. I'm guessing that the fastest attack, for a TAS, would be the purple one where he shoots enemies out of his hand, since the length of it is only determined by how long it takes you to kill the enemies.
I tested it and You were right about Hard Mode: You don't get killed by pits. However I have to agree with Arrow, there might be occasions, where taking damage can save time (I'm thinking of the baby of Baby Face, where You normally shoot from the left and pretty often get hit by one of these balls). And it would be a shame, if after so much work You would have to realise, that You to needed take damage. I would not take away that option. But that's just me...
btw: Arrow, You said Trouble Bruin rammed You four times? Did YOU make that awesome speedrun on Speed Demo archive? If yes: congrats on the flying level, I was shaking :)
@Trask
Good idea with collecting 3 digits. Saves You a LOT of work.
However, I don't agree with the (J)-Rom idea yet. I'll try to test it out, but I remember that there were many dialogs which will cost You time. The (really helpful) FAQ on gamefaqs.com would have mentioned it, if Bosses would be easier. Like Arrow already said: Twin Freaks has even double health.
But I can't say more until I know for sure, so I don't want to decrease Your motivation. I'm glad someone does it!
@Trask and upthorn
I'm not sure, if You noticed it, but it seems upthorn found a little glitch: Moving always on the edge of the screen in Mad Mechs 2 (I'm not sure which stage; the one with the fans, and blue crosses) seemed to enable You to leave the stage earlier (maybe a quarter screen). Maybe I'm wrong and it is not a glitch, however, at normal speed, You have to go a little bit further.
btw: Arrow, You said Trouble Bruin rammed You four times? Did YOU make that awesome speedrun on Speed Demo archive? If yes: congrats on the flying level, I was shaking :)
Yes, that was me, and I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I had a lot of things go wrong though, like Stair Wars taking way longer than usual and missing DD a couple times. I have had TB ram me four times in a row, but I'm not sure what triggered it. Obviously it didn't happen during my recorded run -_-
Good idea with collecting 3 digits. Saves You a LOT of work.
I'm fairly certain that the digits aren't created until you complete the bonus stages, but this would definitely be the best way to test that. If it turns out that it doesn't work, it might still be worth it to complete the bonus stages so you can play the extra stage at the end. I think that watching the basketball games get owned in TAS form would be pretty entertaining. Skip the SBPs, though. Some of them waste a lot of time, and there's no reward for collecting them all.
I'm not sure, if You noticed it, but it seems upthorn found a little glitch: Moving always on the edge of the screen in Mad Mechs 2 (I'm not sure which stage; the one with the fans, and blue crosses) seemed to enable You to leave the stage earlier (maybe a quarter screen). Maybe I'm wrong and it is not a glitch, however, at normal speed, You have to go a little bit further.
I've noticed this before. Sometimes if I tried to use the last spinner to flip me up towards the door, it would appear that the level ends earlier than it should have. I never tested to see if this could possibly be abused on the earlier spinners, but it would be a huge time saver if it works.
