Once already Chiaki and her reluctant demon servant Zenki have saved the world from the forces of darkness, but apparently once is never enough. Chiaki has a vision of five cloaked figures and knows that only she and Zenki can stop them. At once they set off to track down the demon leaders.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Snes9x 1.43 v17 svn146
- Plays at normal difficulty
- Takes damage to save time
- Manipulates luck
I started this run when I was still a lurker here at TAS videos. Back then, I was excited with the idea to make my own runs, and maybe become a player here. But this excitement did not last long, and after some frustrated attempts, I put the project aside. Now, with a little more experience with those frame advance and memory address things, I can finally finish the project. I played the game in normal mode for two reasons; to activate the hard mode you must finish the game once, thus the game would start from a save state, the other reason is the amount of enemies on screen, which causes lots of lag in hard mode.
Stage 1-1
The game starts with Zenki in his Powered down Form where he can only Punch, Jump, and Dash. In this form, the faster way to travel is doing Back Dashes. Throughout the run you'll see me destroying some Stone Monuments, when destroyed, it will drop items as well as alter the level or remove obstacles that prevents Zenki from completing the stage.
Stage 1-2
A mid boss is waiting for Zenki right at the start of stage 1-2 and it will chase him the entire stage. This boss looks like a giant stone turtle, and the strategy to defeat it is pretty simple, even in real time; Jump and Kick, simple as that.
Stage 1-3
After Chiaki recovers her bracelet, she can transform Zenki into his Powered up Form. In this form Zenki deals more damage and has a much longer list of attacks; a Pillar of Energy, an Electrified Punch, and a Dashing Attack. By picking up scrolls Zenki can do a powerful Rudora Attack that damages all enemies on screen, but this attack damages Zenki as well. The Dashing Attack cannot only kill enemies, it also makes Zenki move forward faster than the Back Dash, if there's nothing in his way, that is. An energy field is blocking the door at the end of this stage, and Zenki must back track to destroy a Stone Monument.
Stage 1-4
Time for a real boss fight! This is one of those five cloaked figures that Chiaki saw in her vision. The Electrified Punch is the most effective attack against this boss, but a Rudora Attack can inflict damage even when he is out of range, so, the time saved per use compensates the time spent to collect the scrolls.
Stage 2-1
A cemetery full of ghosts and zombies makes it difficult for Zenki to use his Dashing Attack effectively, also a purple kind of goo just worsens the situation. Other than that, this stage is pretty straightforward; break some Stone Monuments to activate the elevators and you are good to go. Zenki must collect three scrolls to use one Rodora Attack, and since I have already two of them from the previous stage, just one need to be collected here, which will save a lot of time in the next stage.
Stage 2-2
A flying demon head is the second mid boss of the game. Fight this boss without those two Rudoras is a terrible idea, as it will be out of range most of the time. Not even the Pillar of Energy can damage him when he is flying from one side to another.
Stage 2-3
Back to his Powered down Form, Zenki must travel the only water stage in the entire game. Zenki has a lot of abilities, but unfortunately he is not a good swimmer, so he must use those logs to reach the end of the stage. The time spent to collect the scroll here was not as long as it may look, since he must wait for the next log anyway. Again a Stone Monument must be destroyed to disable a force field at the end of the stage.
Stage 2-4
The second cloaked figure from Chiaki's vision. After two Electrified Punches she shows us her true form, a snaky girl. You may notice a long delay to skip her last conversation, it's needed to manipulate the height of her tail, this way Zenki can stand next to her without taking damage.
Stage 3-1
A wise man said; wiggle nervously is stupid! It's true for this game more than any other game, so the best thing for Zenki to do when he is waiting for the next enemy is to stand completely still. This stage is really short, but that doesn't mean it's an easy one, lots of enemies to avoid, Stone Monuments to destroy and places to visit just to find out Zenki took the wrong way, but in this case, the wrong way is the right way anyway...
Stage 3-2
Those mid bosses are getting stronger by the minute. This one for example will recover his strength if Zenki punches him repeatedly. The Dashing Attack is not as effective as the Electrified Punch against this boss, but since it generates less lag, it's the fastest way to finish him off. Again, a Rudora Attack is the only way to damage him when he is out of reach of other attacks.
Stage 3-3
This stage is hot, literally, but it's an easy stage to finish. A Stone Monument must be destroyed to weaken the force field at the end of the stage, an Electrified Punch will weaken it a little further and a Dashing Attack to destroy another Stone Monument will disable it completely.
Stage 3-4
The third cloaked figure requires a combination of attacks to be destroyed; first a Pillar of Energy to cool him down, and an Electrified Punch to inflict a lot of damage on him. A Rudora Attack is the only way to avoid another one of his jumps, thus, saving some time here.
Stage 4-1
Powered down again, Zenki will have a hard time to finish this stage, killer bees, bats with laser eyes and lots of piranha plants trying to bite his ass, making this stage a real pain. But it's also a short stage so, no big deal.
Stage 4-2
I know it's not elegant to take damage from a boss, but it's the only way to manipulate him, avoiding his jump or sliding animation, which makes him invulnerable for some time. After some Electrified Punches, punch him in the throat to finish him off! Well, not exactly in the throat...
Stage 4-3
Stone Monuments, without them it would be possible to finish this stage simply taking a short-cut right at the start. It doesn't waste time, but the scrolls collected on the second Stone Monument are not needed, as the big scroll at the end of the stage is worth nine Rudoras and two scrolls.
Stage 4-4
The fourth cloaked figure is a really fierce boss, most of his attacks are really difficult to avoid. But when you know his patter defeat him is not so hard, after some Rudora Atacks combined with Electrified Punches he will be history.
Stage 5-1
Given the difficult of some stages in the game, you can say this one is a piece of cake, a couple of Stone Monuments to destroy a few enemies to avoid or kill and that's it.
Stage 5-2
Did you notice that this mid boss looks like a heart? Well don't let this boss fool you, it may look cute but he will kick your ass without thinking twice. Electrified Punches are useless against him for obvious reasons, but one punch and three Rudora Attacks are more than enough to rain on his parade.
Stage 5-3
This is the most challenging stage in the entire game, almost all enemies are here to make Zenki's life a little more miserable. Even that damn force field at the end of the stage forcing him to back track for a Stone Monument is present.
Stage 5-4
The final boss will summon the four cloaked figures to help him in this fight. Unfortunately for him, it's a TAS and his tricks are worth nothing against Zenki, two Rudora Attacks and four Electrified Punches and it's game over for him.
Possible Improvements
Some Stone Monuments can be manipulated to drop specific items, if you manage to manipulate them to give you more scrolls it would save time on some bosses.
Suggested Screen shot
Frame 18110
DarkKobold: Colorful game, good audience feedback. I especially liked the lava shortcut. Accepting.
