This is my first run so I apologize If I am missing some details.
This is a TAS of 'The Ninja Warriors Again', a somewhat overlooked (and extremely long) beat-em-up on SNES. It was created using SNES9x 1.43 improvement 14. The Japanese version was chosen because it features some enemies not present in the U.S. version.
The main tool other than the emulator itself was Dromiceius' LUA script which he has kindly mirrored on his webpage.
http://dromiceius.googlepages.com/ninjawarriors.lua
This script provides Enemy HP values as well as distance from your character. This run would not be possible without him as he gave me a lot to work with instead of me having to start from scratch.
The Details
- Aims for Fastest Time
- Manipulates Luck
- Takes No Damage
- Crotch Punches anything deserving.
Game Specific Notes
The Kunoichi is the fastest character in the game. She can quickly move the length of stages using her left or right + throw, dragging along any enemies with her. She also has 2 of the game's most abusable attacks in her down + throw (major damage) and her Blaster. (High Damage and hits all enemies)
Stages are broken down into sections, and each section spawns an infinite amount of minor enemies until you first get to the end of that section and then kill any major enemies left on the stage. For this reason I avoid killing minor enemies unless it is useful (for example using one to drag along.) and try to head to the end of each section as soon as possible.
Enemy attacks are heavily manipulatable. You can manipulate the enemy into doing what you want in many fashions such as delaying swipes for a few frames, stopping before chasing them down, jumping, delaying a throw of another enemy, holding down for a couple of frames, etc. This is heavily abused for speed -- enemies are prevented from using invincible attacks whenever possible, bosses are manipulated into not using their most annoying attacks or missing me just out of range so I can easily punish them, and so on. This also explains a few moments where I slightly delay an attack or walk in place.
Here are the damage values for each of the kunoichi's attacks:
- Swipes = 8 x 4
- Ender (standing) = 16
- Ender (crouching) = 16
- Blaster Ender = 32
- Blaster = 48
Throws
- up + throw = 32
- down + throw = 4 x 5 + 32 (!!!)
- left/right + throw = 16
Jump attacks
- neutral jump + slash = 16
- forward jump + kick = 12
- recoil kick = 8
Stage 1
This stage is pretty simple. The most notable part of it is manipulating the enemies to die to one of the missiles that appear in the background saving me a heap of time compared to having to go all the way back to the left side of the screen and kill them.
The Boss is nothing to write home about except his long invincibility times which I avoid wherever possible.
Stage 2
Simple much like stage 1. Near the end of the stage I once more abuse the background by making the fans damage some enemies that are off screen to the left putting them just low enough on health to be 1 hit killed with Blaster, saving me easily 300 or so frames where I don't have to make my way back through the fans to kill them.
The boss gets crotch punched a lot.
Stage 3
Nothing special. The Boss is prevented from using any of his jump around nonsense and dies quickly.
Stage 4
There is an amusing section here where I drag one of the large samurai with me for a huge chunk of the stage.
The stage will not continue until the helicopter has attempted to shoot you 4 times, even if all enemies are killed.
The boss is prevented from using his very annoying 'jump on the roof and call a satellite to shoot lasers on you' attack, thankfully, as it wastes a chunk of time whenever he does it.
Stage 5
Nothing special here. I have to avoid fighting near some of the background items from time to time, as pressing the attack button will cause me to pick them up and throw them which takes a huge chunk of time and is only useful for invincibility.
The boss is manipulated into flying towards me so I don't have to chase him. I also prevented him from using his defensive teleport except in 2 instances which were both very useful to me. Thanks!
Stage 6
Very short. Both Bosses share the same lifebar. Hitting them at the same time does not do double damage, but hitting them with the same attack on different frames will. I abuse this with the Blaster attack twice for a whopping 192 damage. I sneak in a normal attack that hits on different frames here or there as well. These guys are impossible to attack when getting up at times, so I manipulate them into using their rush attack so I can block and punish.
Stage 7
Very long stage. There are a lot of those annoying items I don't want in the background. Occasionally I have to fight using a slightly different strategy with jump attacks or more throwing so I don't lose time. This boss is actually the hardest one in the game by far, but I am able to exploit his AI and get in a lot of damage before I have to force knockdown.
Stage 8
A little anticlimactic compared to the previous stages. On the boss I occasionally have to pretend I am going to grab one enemy and then go for the other or they will run away from me. Also the guys who look like they are something out of dragonball are invincible to throws when they start glowing.
Thanks
- Dromiceius
- Bisqwit
- DeHackEd
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
I'm not sure I got the right ROM though. (I'm not even sure which ROM I actually tried.) Well, here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.
mmbossman: One of the more entertaining beat-em-ups I've watched, and others seem to like it too. Accepting for publication.
Chaosv1: Encoding...
