Okay, finished up Thanatos - Giga Desp 1. Left Giga-Desp 2 out because I only have a strategy that requires killing Rola at the moment.
Times:
Thanatos: 0'12"06
Arachnus: 0'18"06
Cobra: 0'19"97
Groken: 0'29"73
Virvius 1: 0'17"50
Virvius 2: 0'07"48
Giga-Desp 1: 0'17"23
Thanatos:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/993085251/Metal%20Combat%20-%20Thanatos%20-%20Falcon%20-%20Normal.smv
Arachnus - Giga-Desp 1:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1686853019/Metal%20Combat%20-%20Normal%20-%20Falcon.smv
There's input leading up to the Arachnus battle after Thanatos because I'd stopped intending to continue later, but then couldn't figure out how to resume the file.
Groken: I'm very sure this battle can be improved. I don't think you need to use treble shots at all in this battle and not using them will cut down on lag. It will require discharging shots, but if that's done properly it won't cause lag. I only learned how to manage this better on Giga-Desp 1 and was past here at that point. Timing was hard here because firing causes lag and results in her attacks ending up a few frames further than where they'd be if you didn't fire. This is probably the case for all opponents, but I only began noticing it here.
Virvius 2: In normal you get the V-System no matter how fast or well you do in the game. I put it to good use here.
Giga-Desp 1: It may be faster to actually pick off each orb one by one. Of course, the stage is dark, so it would take a little trial and error to figure out which ones are open and vulnerable and will get destroyed when you fire at them. I really wanted to just be done at this point, so I went with tossing a bomb instead.
If you could, however, pick all the eyes off without a bomb it would:
- Be really awesome because I don't think that's a feasible strategy for a console run
- Save you a bomb which would mean using one on Wong earlier would still allow you to use two each on Viscount and Thanatos (though I guess if you save Rola in the end on a normal run, you'd still have a bomb to spare if you're following my bomb usage plan).
Also, it's very important to discharge shots after destroying the eyes. If you do not have an empty energy gauge, Giga-Desp will take forever to expose his weak point. This is why you see me discharging four shots and then rapid firing.