Post subject: Metal Slug Advance
Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State
I just started a time attack of this awesome game. I was stunned at how awesome this game is when it is played perfectly, it is one of the most action packed side scrollers you could ever come across. If any of you have any tips, tricks or glitches that I should know about please let me know. I’m not sure what the best way to go about this game would be... But so far I am doing a minimalist run and saving only the hostages that give me the good power ups. But I know If I try to end the level as perfect as possible I will be rewarded with cards that can be used to double my firepower for diff. guns and make the metal slug more powerful possibly saving me a great deal of time. In any case this run I am working on will be a great prelim. I will post my progress in the near future for critiquing.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Don't kill too many enemies. Also, don't save any hostages that won't give you a specific weapon/card. That's about all I can tell you. Also, I was wondering, where exactly is the defined end of this game? When you defeat the secret weapon? The reason I ask is because as soon as the credits are done rolling, you go back to the level select, which implies that the game isn't truly over.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 6/4/2004
Posts: 284
If you find the right cards, you're able to unlock a secret level, but there apparently is no "true" end to the game--you just keep going until you collect everything, get bored, and stop playing.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
The dungeon itself only unlocks when you already beat the game. I assume that we would treat it like the Arena in Kirby Superstar: if it comes after the main credits, it's not part of the main game.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State
i keep trying to post my progress but verizon sucks and all it ever displays is crazy html code when I upload it... I think I should redue the run from a very early part because I missed an important hostage that would give me rockets on the level 2 boss increasing my speed greatly, level 1 I believe is optimized
Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State
Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands
Ehm, i hope this is a WIP, rather than an 'official' run? You say you want to redo stage one coz you missed something. Thus i believe this is not a WIP. Still, you miss various shots, and jump too late/soon so you have to stop in the air or on ground. Also, at the fight with the 2nd boss, it goes all the way to the right at a certain moment. You walk to the right too late, resulting in you missing every shot you shoot for about 2/3 seconds. If this is not a WIP, i recommend you watch your current run with great attention to detail, and try to remove all those bad parts. Especially to think about certain situations where you currently stop. Just my two cents. Good luck.
http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.
Post subject: not for the site
Joined: 8/9/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Washington State
I guess it needs a lot of work. But I wasn’t aiming to get it published on the site. Just for fun really. If I were to finish it, it would just get passed by like my Kid Klown vid. Most likely.
Joined: 7/9/2004
Posts: 13
I was thinking that maybe I could give it a shot. As an avid Metal Slug fan, I feel that this may be a game I could actually do. Plus you never know how cool Metal Slug looks when played perfectly.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Some tips for anyone that plays this: -Never use a non-pistol weapon on your average soldier. Slashing works just as fine, conserves ammo, and is actually stronger than a pistol. -Never end a level with a grenade count above 0. Ever. -I'm fairly sure that running is faster than the Metal Slug's treads, so if you are headed somewhere and won't keep the Slug, bail unless you need the firepower. -There are ways to skip certain choke points if you avoid them properly. For example, I am fairly sure you can skip the first turret in the forest level by going above/over it.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 4/15/2005
Posts: 28
Hey, this is BlackMagic, you know all those times I said in the IRC room that I needed to change my name? I finally did it, AND I was actually serious about doing this movie. This is basically how it looks so far, only Mission 1 is done at the moment. It is 398 frames faster than the previous one listed. http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/270828/MetalSlugAdvancev1BlackMagicakaHyakutaro.zip As fast as possible Takes damage to save time (although in this movie I don't get hit) Manipulates luck The only thing I don't like is the fact that I finished with 1 grenade left but it would have been slower to use it on the boss and there was no where else to use it that would shave off time.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I'm pretty pleased with the first mission now. The only things I would question are why it is that you don't use your last grenade on the boss? Couldn't you have ducked and tossed one out to speed things up a bit? If no, couldn't you have tossed it out when you fought the two helicopters one screen before?
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 4/15/2005
Posts: 28
I tried that and it tossing a grenade made the fight go slower for some reason. I've fought him 3 times trying to use that grenade and in the end, it was faster to just not use it. I don't think grenades can go that high against the helicopters either. In Mission 2, theres only 2 spots I can think of where grenades would speed things up. The hanging submarine miniboss and getting past one of the Japanese soldiers without an unnessesscary hit. Now I'm off to redo mission 2 because of desyncs.
Joined: 1/9/2005
Posts: 219
Location: The Netherlands
Muuuuch better. Although, one thing. WHy don't you jump at roads that go upwards? It seems that your walking speed (as in most games) is slowed down when you have to walk up. Jumping generally fixes that.
http://www.megazpeed.com - THE site for the ultimate MegaMan Zero superplay movies.
Joined: 4/15/2005
Posts: 28
McBAIN wrote:
WHy don't you jump at roads that go upwards? It seems that your walking speed (as in most games) is slowed down when you have to walk up.
I really thought it didn't make a difference but I just did a test on the first hill of Mission 1. You were right, its 12 frames faster to jump hills. Its official, consider this a WIP instead of the real run.
Joined: 4/15/2005
Posts: 28
Oh my god FINALLY! Mission 2 pissed me off to no end but the first 2 missions are all I'm going to show before I make this, find the improvements, then make the real thing. I'm actually EXTREMLY pleased with how Mission 2 came out. I have decided to go for a no damage run as you can see in the video. So far here are the possible improvements I'm seeing: Mission 1
    Menu selection can be faster, I was faster when going to Mission 2. Uphill = slow, we don't want that. Ersatz actually beat my time against Formor (first boss). While on the subject of the first boss, I'm pretty sure I missed one shot when he was moving back.
Mission 2
    Might be able to navigate those cliffs you have to jump to climb faster. Bombs could be thrown faster at hanging submarine mini-boss I beat the 2nd boss (Emain Macha) TOO fast and get his card. Whoops ;)
EDIT: When there are too many sprites on the screen, it lags, lag = automatic desync and thus I needed to get a version with lag reduction. Since I couldn't get lag reduction to turn on, I've decided to just play through the game, find what I can, and make the real movie. Here is the how the movie came out for now. http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/270828/MetalSlugAdvanceWIPcancelledHyakutaro.zip This gets about 5/8ths of the Mission 3 done. I actually recorded a little bit further but I accidently erased it. Wish me luck on the real movie.
Player (102)
Joined: 3/25/2004
Posts: 189
Location: Austin
I'm necromancing this topic, because I went and made a test run of this game, for some reason. http://ohnolookoutitsaraygun.com/Superhappy-MSATest.zip It's a "test run", but I doubt I'll ever submit a finished one, so enjoy this one! It's actually pretty allright... Just a few boners here and there.
http://girlyyy.com/ The El Viento TAS is the only decent thing I submitted here.
Skilled player (1099)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Zurreco was running this, but seems to have lost motivation and last I heard he was trying to pass it off. I was planning to eventually get around to this game, but that's a long way away. I hope you can complete a run of this.
Joined: 4/11/2006
Posts: 487
Location: North of Russia :[
few notes I made during my attempt at it ) ...jumping is faster than running... ...you should aim at heli, avoid shooting its bombs... ...tank's bombs are STRONG, so additional supply wouldn't hurt~ Here's my test run of 1 level (few mistakes here and there), It's shorter (and tank at the end of vertical level mistycally vanished :D )... http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4640/1755%20-%20Metal%20Slug%20Advance%20%28U%29.vbm
Yrr
Joined: 8/10/2006
Posts: 289
Location: Germany, Bayern
A small advice: Among the extra-weapons the Heavy Machine Gun is the less powerful. So if possible, get any other.
Skilled player (1099)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
zefiris wrote:
and tank at the end of vertical level mistycally vanished :D
This is a glitch that I came across against the fighter jet at the start of the level. It is caused by (I think) luring another enemy into the screen at the time when the miniboss is set to appear. I did it by accident and that was the situation so that's what I think caused it. I'll try and replicate it and make a video.
Joined: 4/11/2006
Posts: 487
Location: North of Russia :[
I believe in this movie it's caused by the jum where i missed platform and jumped again (I noticed this mistake only when whole first level was done, and have not fixed it yet...). I think tank appears, clears script option that tank should appear there, then disappears when I fall, and never appears after all.
Skilled player (1099)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gg7tMK8mr4 I managed to replicate the fighter jet skip. I was also able to do the tank skip, but never recorded it. I'll see what else I can dig up, the miniboss battles seem very glitchy and most of them can probably be skipped.
Player (102)
Joined: 3/25/2004
Posts: 189
Location: Austin
Mukki wrote:
zefiris wrote:
and tank at the end of vertical level mistycally vanished :D
This is a glitch that I came across against the fighter jet at the start of the level. It is caused by (I think) luring another enemy into the screen at the time when the miniboss is set to appear. I did it by accident and that was the situation so that's what I think caused it. I'll try and replicate it and make a video.
Yeah, without really trying, I avoided a REALLY slow copter battle at the end of stage 2. =) 'Course, I also used up a lot of time gettng the S.S. Sword on that stage.... probably not something that should be done in an actual run (though it does look cool)
http://girlyyy.com/ The El Viento TAS is the only decent thing I submitted here.
Player (102)
Joined: 3/25/2004
Posts: 189
Location: Austin
I got the first level cut down to about 7200 frames (and this includes me getting the Shotgun Clip), and then I did a run on Normal mode in 6700 frames. I actually liike Normal mode better. Hard mode adds a lot of hit points to the bosses, which cuts back on the "Cool" factor of seeing them beaten very quickly. Anyway... http://ohnolookoutitsaraygun.com/Superhappy-MSATest2-stage1.zip For those wondering, the Shotgun Clip helps out in Stage 4, and I'm pretty positive it's worth the time to get.
http://girlyyy.com/ The El Viento TAS is the only decent thing I submitted here.