Introduction

Run notes

• Emulator used: BizHawk 2.9.1
  • PicoDrive core
  • Emulation note: The HUD for the other camera angles is graphically glitched in Stage 5 onward. As far as I can tell this is the only emulation issue that I ran into when TASing this game.
• Plays on Hard difficulty, the hardest difficulty
• Avoids intentional damage, though there's one spot where it's unavoidable for ???

Mechanics and techniques

• Enemy Kills: This is earned from defeated enemies. Points earned are dependent on the enemy.
• Shield Remain: This is earned from the remaining mech armor at the end of a stage. However, there's an extra 100 point bonus if the mech is undamaged at the end of a stage.
• Time Remain: This is earned by the remaining mission time divided by 10 and rounded down to the next integer. This one of the lowest score values in the breakdown.
• Reserved Ammo: This is earned by whatever leftover ammo is on hand at the end of a stage if the mech is equipped with weapons with limited ammo. Ammo is restored between missions and the bonus isn't enough to just have a weapon for the bonus. Thus ammo should be used in the name of success rather than horded.

Hammer Knuckle & Heavy Hammer Knuckle

This main weapon can go on the left and right arms. This technically launches a very short range projectile. This does an incredible amount of damage that matches the grenade launcher's shots. This also has the second highest rate of fire as well as infinite ammunition. This is utilized throughout the TAS as careful movement is possible to get in position for hammer knuckle attacks.

Chain Gun & Mega Chain Gun

This main weapon goes on the right arm only. This is a weak weapon but has the best firing rate of all weapons. This is used for the first three stages due to its range and firing rate, and then ignored for the rest of the TAS.

Laser & HD Laser

This main weapon goes on the right arm only. This is a powerful weapon but its low rate of fire and high cost means that this weapon is ignored for the TAS.

Grenade Launcher & Hyper Grenade Launcher

This main weapon goes on the left arm only. This is a powerful ranged weapon that can lock on and home in on enemies at far distances. Its firing rate is dependent on when the last grenade launched connects, so it's faster to fire it up close. Due to its cost, it's ignored for Stages 2 though 4 but is heavily used to handle distant foes in Stages 5 & 6.

Float Mine

This is an optional weapon. The mine shoots forward and detonates whenever something comes close it. This can also damage the player. This is ignored in the TAS as it's not necessary.

Missile Launcher

This is an optional weapon. The missile launcher fires 4 missiles in succession in a straight line. Each of these shots have the same damage as a standard grenade shot. It's possible to turn during the firing to have the shots at different angles. Due to its cost, this is only used in stage 6.

Extra Armor

This lets the mech not take contact damage when running into enemies. This goes well in conjunction with the hammer knuckle as it makes melee attacks safer. However it doesn't seem to reduce other sources of damage. This is ignored in the TAS.

Extra Speed

This increases the mech's movement speed slightly. This is only used in stages 5 & 6 as there's enough points and areas to navigate that warrant the extra speed to be worth it.

Stage breakdown

Mission 1-1

This is a simple seek-and-destroy mission where the goal is to blow up everything.

Mission 1-2

This is mostly the same as mission 1-1 but at a certain side of the mission there will be bombing run by allies that can take care of some of the enemy mechs. Its possible to also get caught in those bombs and take significant damage.

Mission 1-3

The goal is to take out the enemy tank boss. Rushing over to the tank and spending the grenades makes quick work of the boss.

Mission 2-1

For some unknown reason there's unavoidable damage taken here, possibly by a projectile spawning there. This is the only damage taken this entire TAS and it bugs me to no end. Anyways, the goal is to find the enemy base and report back to the helicopter. Once the enemy base is found, a brief bit of waiting has to be done to take a picture. No enemies were harmed in this stage.

Mission 2-2

The goal is to guide the helicopter to the enemy base door. I immediately run to the location and spend some time farming enemy kills for points. Once the helicopter arrives at its destination, the mech has to be positioned under it for the mission to be completed.

Mission 2-3

The power generator at the center of the base needs to be destroyed. Once that's done, the base has to then be evacuated. Taking a right at the start of the mission is the fastest route to and from the generator.

Mission 3-1

This is another enemy destruction stage. Nightfall happens when the timer hits 282 but the mission is completed before then and thus skips a message.

Mission 3-2

The experimental Covered Tripod mech boss is the only enemy that needs to be destroyed in this stage. Its movement speed makes getting hammer knuckle hits hard to connect but is otherwise a very straightforward mission.

Mission 4-1

Only the explosive truck needs to be destroyed, though I do get a quick kill on the way. It's faster to go backwards since that path is shorter than going forwards. The explosive truck opens up a pathway to mission 4-2. Also the Bloody Ox enemy mechs are supposed to shoot missiles but for some reason do not. This also happens on console so it's a bug with the game itself.

Mission 4-2

The goal is to take out the train. The only problem is that the train arrives when the timer is 80. Thus I spend the majority of the mission farming enemy kills with hammer knuckle fun times. Those poor Blood Ox mechs get the ol' 1-2 punch treatment for a while. The train itself goes down in one punch.

Mission 5-1

I did test this for hours and it is indeed impossible to destroy the mech part before assembly. Thus I instead take out the two gun vehicles escorting the part and then run around the edge of the map to reduce lag for the most part. The overhead camera view has more lag than the others but I thought it was a decent entertainment tradeoff to visualize exactly how Metal Head moves about. The assembled enemy mech goes down quickly as soon as it assembles. Despite its high speed, strafe running closes the distance gap extremely well.

Mission 5-2

The goal is to simply reach the end of the stage, though there are enemy mines placed in inconvenient spots. Thankfully strafe running gives enough speed to outrun their detonation and avoid damage.

Mission 5-3

While there are three boss mechs in this room, only the green one has to be destroyed. The others are ignored in favor of bum rushing the green mech.

Mission 6-1

The goal is to take out the correct yellow bit to advance. To spawn the correct yellow bit, a lone green parked truck must be destroyed and Metal Head must move far enough to spawn the yellow bit. A single missile launcher volley at the right angle takes out the yellow bit in short time. Also as a note, it's possible to spawn a fake yellow bit by destroying the group of green trucks parked in a line. While this is good for points this does waste time and resources.

Mission 6-2

The terrorists have kidnapped the president. The goal is to simply reach the end of the stage as quickly as possible. Pretty straightforward though there's a few noticeable Hard mode changes that make the shortest path harder to take.

Mission 6-3

The final boss comes in two phases. The first phase launches missiles and then flies around the entire arena. The second phase moves about fairly quickly, launching yellow bits to throw off the grenade launcher's auto aim and firing a number of pot shots. However, a rapid volley of heavy hammer knuckle punches, hyper grenade launcher shots, and missile launcher volleys, make quick work of both phases in record time. However I didn't earn the medal for 150 kills but I was mostly aiming for speed. Guess no anime girl portraits for this TAS which is a thing that can be unlocked for some reason.

Potential improvements

• Better enemy kill routing in the missions where that's the goal
• Better movement optimization
• Better lag management since that's a pressing issue for this game in particular
• Potentially more optimal weapon loadouts for stages
• If there's a way to actually destroy the mech part in mission 5-1 that would potentially save a tremendous amount of time

Special thanks