Post subject: Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge
Joined: 7/28/2005
Posts: 339
Anyone else like this game? I've never attempted a TAS nor do I feel I'd have the patience to do so. I think it'd be a fun game for someone to try to TAS as there's lots of room for time competition (runs to the hundredths on the timer) and strategy development. For those who don't know, it's a super scope mech shooting game. As I said, I've never TAS'd and probably wouldn't have the patience for it... so would any one be up for it? (Having said that... if SNES9X doesn't support super scope that's right out the window isn't it? :P)
Skilled player (1099)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
If you know the game then you would be best to try. TASes are more fun to do than you'd think. SNES9X does have a superscope function, whether it's any good i don't know...
Former player
Joined: 9/24/2004
Posts: 177
Last I checked (which was several months ago.. don't know if there's been a new version since then), SNES9x can't record Super Scope input. Nice try, though.. I'd love to see a movie of this!
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
It should be possible to TAS it using ZSnes 1.42, and .zmv submissions are currently allowed. Also, the next release of Snes9x will support Super Scope and Mouse recording (as in, that feature is already working and being tested). As for this game, I have to agree that I think it would make an entertaining TAS. I don't know any really good strategies except that the second enemy (the monkey guy) dies in only 2 charged hits to the tail. I don't think there is any way to skip the tutorial, though that would be nice...
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
I killed the first guy in one charged hit once. If you can hit the spot inbetween his legs and upper body, he'll explode instantly. It's tricky to do but with frame advance it shouldn't be a problem.
Guybrush: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets." Wally: "Really?" Guybrush: "No. I 'm lying." Wally: "In that case, I don't want one!" Currently working on: Nothing at the moment.
Joined: 4/9/2006
Posts: 54
Location: Durham, NC
I also think this would make an entertaining TAS. Most bosses have distinct weakpoints, as I recall, though it might be more fun to watch you dismantle a robot piece by piece with well placed shots. Should there be 2 TASes, one for each ST (Falcon and Tornado) or just a single absolute fastest time to the end credits run?
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
They could both go in the same movie with a reset in the middle. But Tornado is like an Easy mode and it means playing through the game twice so I'm guessing that would be more boring than a Falcon-only run to the credits. EDIT: Here are some times I've gotten, not using Tornado or any bombs or taking damage: Garan2: 0'04"55 Siamang: 0'08"30 Wong: 0'06"63 Griffin: 0'09"80 Viscount: 0'17"60 I could be missing some weak points. Shouldn't Viscount go down faster than that?
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
Seems like he should. The trick is getting off his shield. With that gone he should fall pretty quick. I don't remember how to make him throw it at you. I think you did it by destroying his super-scope like gun on his other arm, but I can't be sure.
Guybrush: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets." Wally: "Really?" Guybrush: "No. I 'm lying." Wally: "In that case, I don't want one!" Currently working on: Nothing at the moment.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
There doesn't seem to be any advantage to making him throw it at you. It can't be directly destroyed while he's holding it without using items, and destroying it indirectly doesn't damage him. With using that V item it was easy to get 0'11"16, but maybe it's better to save that until a later fight.
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
I always tried to save that V-item until the fight on a later planet. I can't remember the guy's name, he was huge though. I remember you had to fight his mother right after him. He was the one I used it on, seemed to work really well. That and the other items, I think there was a N and a D. Those were really powerful too. It could've been one of those I used on him but I can't be sure.
Guybrush: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets." Wally: "Really?" Guybrush: "No. I 'm lying." Wally: "In that case, I don't want one!" Currently working on: Nothing at the moment.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
How exactly do you get those other items? The only ones I've ever seen are B(ombs), V, and L, which are the ones the game always gives automatically. Also, I was only trying with default settings. Hard mode with the BALL code should be used. EDIT: new times on hard mode:
(Training:0'10"65)
 Garan2:  0'04"06
 Siamang: 0'08"01
 Wong:    0'05"50
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
I'm not sure how you get the items, after some battles the guy was like "You got the <insert name here> item! It does this!" Maybe GameFAQs has something that explains how to get them. Once we know how I'm sure they can be manipulated and recieved when needed. I also think Hard Mode should be used. EDIT: Just checked GameFAQs and they aren't too sure either. CooperTeam's guide lists what each item does and says they are completely random except for one which can only be obtained at the second to last boss. Also lists descriptions for each mech, just as the other FAQ does. Not sure which one is better.
Guybrush: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets." Wally: "Really?" Guybrush: "No. I 'm lying." Wally: "In that case, I don't want one!" Currently working on: Nothing at the moment.
Joined: 4/9/2006
Posts: 54
Location: Durham, NC
nitsuja wrote:
They could both go in the same movie with a reset in the middle. But Tornado is like an Easy mode and it means playing through the game twice so I'm guessing that would be more boring than a Falcon-only run to the credits.
Tornado can be accessed with the BABY code, with no need to play through the game completely. On a regular play through I seem to finish off enemies much faster thanks to the hypershot, though that probably wouldn't make a very interesting TAS (charge charge charge FIRE the end).
Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332
It looks like the new version of SNES9X emulates this game perfectly. I've been messing around with it all weekend without any desyncs. Anyone planning to give it a shot? Also, some sage advice:
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
I'm a little surprised this still hasn't been done... anyway, this game has some hard-to-draw collision hitboxes, but I finally figured it out: red = vital part blue = highly shielded yellow or green = super vulnerable the outline colors don't mean anything the numbers are the remaining hit points of that piece EDIT: the Lua script is here: http://code.google.com/p/tastools/source/browse/trunk/Lua/Snes9x/MetalCombat/mc.lua
Joined: 7/28/2005
Posts: 339
Ooh. Are you going to give it a go, nitsuja?
Post subject: Metal Combat - Falcon's Revenge
Player (184)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
Hello guyz, I was thinking about another TAS and i think this one should be a great one... since the gameplay is very awesome, its a super scope/fighting game, its kinda a mix of super punch-out with handgun punchs(lol), anyway... in this game you are a pilot wanting to free the world from a invasion from somes alien and his boss (Anubis) which brought terror and disaray yet brought this battle game along, like the previous version (Battle Clash) you have a partner, Mike Anderson accompany you in the jorney, both are inside the same ST, Mike want once again kill Anubis for get revenge once again on his father death, so we join him doing our shot work while he only drives the ST... Well about my plans for this TAS, it surely gives a great TAS because the game is very challengeful... however there is a problem which i would like to discuss here, somes games doesn't are acceptabble because from starting from a SRAM, well i surely would be needing start from a save ram because only this way i can acess HARDEST dificult, yet I'm going to use a second character there is available... The ST Tornado, which is only possible by using a code along with the hardest dificult code as well, and i think starting from a SRAM doest take any advantage too because its just change the Rank name (which means nothing there) and using Tornado i could kill faster and precisely the enemies because of her Charger, Falcon Charge are 3 bars which charge faster but are weaker compared to Tornado charger which is 10 bars, take long to charge but a exactly numbers of charger and a precise shot can kill enemies in one shot (for example, on stage 3 there is a boss called Wong... with falco charge i should need 2 triple charge to kill it the fastest way, 1 to open the weak poiint and other to critical damage, with Tornado i should charge 7 bars and kill it with 1 shot only and even faster than charging 2 triple charger) I played the game long enough to find most tricks to kill most enemies in 1~2 charges and i think this would be a good video for thoses who are familiar with the game and who doesnt should be impressed to see such enemies getting killed so fast... So guyz i would like to hear Opnions and ideas about what u all think about it ... should be a great one or not?
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
caitsith2
He/Him
Player (47)
Joined: 3/26/2004
Posts: 194
Starting from SRAM is allowed, as long as you provide a movie file that creates the SRAM that you start from. THe movie file that is used to generate the SRAM doesn't itself have to be a TAS, a real time play through is fine for that purpose.
BigBoct
He/Him
Editor, Former player
Joined: 8/9/2007
Posts: 1692
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
I was toying with the idea of doing this when I was still TASing with ZSNES, and did a couple levels, but ZSNES's desync problems frustrated me enough that I quit. I'd be very interested to see this. You should talk to Nach or Nitsuja about it; I think one of them did some work on finding weak points and other such stuff.
Previous Name: boct1584
caitsith2
He/Him
Player (47)
Joined: 3/26/2004
Posts: 194
There, Generated your SRAM that you may use for playing the hard difficulty now, with no need to do Training for either ST. http://www.caitsith2.com/tas/MetalCombat_smv.zip, both SRAM, and the SMV that generated it included. This SMV plays back correctly in snes9x-1.52.
Player (184)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
Well the run progress is slow atm, I'm very busy here but I'm doing a few moment by moment... yet I'm checking somes projects too... i just would like some patience please if it take a while, sorry for that ;p
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
Player (75)
Joined: 1/21/2011
Posts: 43
Definitely would love to see a TAS of this. I did a couple of segmented speed-runs for SDA, one with the Falcon and one with the Tornado. They haven't been posted yet, so I can't provide any links to them, but here's a link to the topic I started on SDA back when I did the runs: http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/metal_combat__falcons_revenge_speedrun.html. The strategies and videos mentioned in the topic were all developed for the default difficulty, so I don't know if it will help. I'd also be glad to offer any advice I can, if you'd like.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1310)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
There was already a topic on these forums about this game, which might also be worth reading: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=197860 Of note are at least the times I listed and the Lua script (I just posted it there but it's been available for a while). That SDA discussion probably has more specifics than anything that's been posted here so far, as far as strategy goes. I think it's better to not start from SRAM though, because it's always a little controversial to start from SRAM, and you don't need it to enable hard mode, and the training mode isn't that long and it also contains a fight at the end that I think is worth being part of a TAS of the game.
BigBoct
He/Him
Editor, Former player
Joined: 8/9/2007
Posts: 1692
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
Starting from SRAM would probably be worth it for a ST Tornado run; if memory serves, you need to beat the game with the ST Falcon to unlock the ST Tornado.
Previous Name: boct1584
Player (75)
Joined: 1/21/2011
Posts: 43
There actually is a code to unlock the Tornado without having to compete the game with the Falcon. All you have to do is complete training with the Falcon, reset, and then enter B, A, B, Y on the title screen. However, I think you might still have to do training with the Tornado if you do it that way, so it may not be useful.