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Down to 12:03 - significant improvement Used FCEU
I take damage to save time. Played on 'normal' difficulty. Aims for fastest time.
Metal Storm is a fun little platformer where you can 'flip' gravity to get around.
There has been a lot of talk about doing a run on this game in 'expert' mode, but I still wonder if the slower pace in order to get through the game would really lend to a better movie to view. Perhaps, maybe I'll try it later.
A few improvements: 1) Used the fireball to get past the blocking robot, so I didn't have to pick up the armor in 1-2 2) Used the fireball to kill the bosses of stages 3, 4, and 5. 3) Used the fireball to get as many of the lasers in stage 5 as possible. This is where the bulk of the speed increase came from. 4) I used the 'P' powerup in stages 6 and 7 because of the boss for stage 6. The 'P' is the only reasonably fast way to kill him. 5) I killed a few more random enemies, just for the heck of it.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #499: unclejed's NES Metal Storm in 12:03.27
Joined: 9/26/2004
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Much improvement - having never played the game, I have to wonder why it takes so long to beat the boss of stage 6. I'm sure there's something to it. Also, you miss some shots here and there. It's obvious you used the turbo function and it got a bit out of control, but I would recommend cleaning it up. If you slow the emu down to frame by frame, you never need the turbo. All in all, an impressive run though.
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I haven't watched submission yet but if there really are missed shots they should definitely be fixed. I hate unnecessary missed shots in time attacks almost more than anything.
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Much improvement - having never played the game, I have to wonder why it takes so long to beat the boss of stage 6. I'm sure there's something to it.
The boss of stage 6 can only be hit when those 'brains' are exposed, which is done with a set time. The only way to speed it up is to hit them as soon as they appear, and with 3 to work with at the same time, I think I hit them rather well.
Also, you miss some shots here and there. It's obvious you used the turbo function...
No turbo was used at all. The issue with the autofire is that 2 shots come out at a time unless you are both VERY quick and rather lucky. Even then, the threshold between firing no shots, one shot, and two shots is rather slim. I remember about 5 missed shots during the game which were done in areas that even with the missed shot, it was still better than my other attempts. If this one gets published, I'll just start working on the expert level (since there seems to be some clammering about it), and it will probably be done at a slower speed as it is.
I haven't watched submission yet but if there really are missed shots they should definitely be fixed. I hate unnecessary missed shots in time attacks almost more than anything.
Watch it anyway. It's fun to watch the robot dance (in the few places I had the time to dance.)
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The issue with the autofire is that 2 shots come out at a time unless you are both VERY quick and rather lucky.
Jed, do you know about the frame advance? It's all right, I didn't use it on my first run :). Anyway with this you can do all sorts of cool stuff including perfecting shot accuracy and pulling off some pretty freaky stuff. In this game it's an amazing help with the firebounce. Of course this makes doing the runs much more tedious but the results are worth it. Your run is really good, but there are still a few problems. You could have been more aggressive fireballing through the lasers in level 5. Also, fireball with firebounce kills the first boss faster. On boss 3 why don't you just keep firebouncing? If you are using gun on boss 5 is faster to jump on the spikes, but it doesn't look like you use that glitch at all. I can also see some little movement optimizations but nothing big. Anyway, I'll vote for this as it is, but I am producing an expert level run which will hopefully be the final word on this game.
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On boss 3 why don't you just keep firebouncing?
This one was kinda tricky... one more firebounce, and the boss would have moved to the bottom of the screen (since that was where I would have ended up when it 'closed up'. It was faster to hang out up top, then I just shot it enough that 1 more firebounce would finish it off. I look foreward to seeing your expert run on this. I might give it a shot next week as well, just to see what it will look like.
Joined: 9/26/2004
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unclejed wrote:
Watch it anyway. It's fun to watch the robot dance (in the few places I had the time to dance.)
Of course - I meant to comment on that! Certainly the best part of the movie.
nesrocks
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i never played teh game (because the background palette was sadly chosen, a palete hack needs to be made for this game to make the bg DARKER, my eyes hurt). besides that this is a game i'd like to have played, some pretty interesting level concepts are present. i found the run to be very entertaining, the use of the gravity change move looks very tough to perform in real time. i found it funny how fast the last boss dies :P voting yes
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Cheez has posted an 11:43 normal mode run in the forums so this one is now obsolete. It's been decided that expert mode is the way to go in this game anyway. I'll hopefully submit mine soon, maybe tonight. Jed, you should cancel your submissions.