Topic by yarbles

Posted: 8/12/2004 2:02 AM

Post subject: Life Force

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

Basically a sequel to Gradius for the NES....probably even the same game engine underneath. Anyone thought about doing this one? Has a lot of potential to be done well, just like the Gradius.

Posted: 8/12/2004 2:57 AM

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Josh_the_FunkDOC

Former player

Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH

<Boco> SALAMANDER/LIFE FORCE IS NOT A SEQUEL TO GRADIUS. IT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SERIES. </Boco> But yes, this is definitely worth looking into. I would suggest doing a 2-player run; this is one of the very few good NES shooters that actually has this feature (Crisis Force is the only other one I recall, am sure there are others though). -Josh

but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice

Posted: 8/12/2004 5:04 AM

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4matsy

Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498

And I would suggest doing Salamander (the Japanese version). Slightly better graphics. Status bar easier to read, and actual credits during the ending...=P

Posted: 8/12/2004 11:35 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

Agreed...a 2-player time attack of this would rock. I remember never getting further than the 2nd level as a kid until we used the konami code

Posted: 8/13/2004 12:59 AM

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4matsy

Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498

Well, there's a lot of cheap hits/kills in this game (like the flares on level 3...ARGH!)...you'll basically find the game a near-cakewalk once you have the obstacles memorized. o_O I actually started this in VirtuaNES a few weeks ago. Didn't get any farther than 20 seconds in though...I had player 2 run right up to the right edge of the screen and start weaving in between the enemies, and player 1 kill 'em right after they passed player 2...it looked totally awesome...then I loaded a too-early save, which of course destroyed the rest of the recording, and I hadn't backed up, so I said "Aw, screw it", and haven't touched the game since...=P

Posted: 8/16/2004 2:35 PM

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4matsy

Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498

Oh yeah, I better mention this before you get too far, I can't believe I forgot it earlier...=P The force field kills bosses in one hit. o_O I just found this out a few months ago by accident, when I was playing around with some Game Genie codes...turns out the force field is programmed to just destroy the enemy outright when you ram it, but doesn't check what kind of enemy it is...use it on a boss's weak point, and he's dead, just like that. o_O

Posted: 8/24/2004 12:30 PM

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Highness

Player (71)

Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden

I would love to see that game made. Don't have much time to make my own though. :/ Besides I'm a newbie to speed runs.

Posted: 8/24/2004 5:38 PM

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Seppel

Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 29

I just did a run through Life Force and couldn't manage to defeat the bosses of levels 2 and 5 with the forcefield. Doesn't matter much though, as all the bosses can be easily defeated in, like, three seconds. Life Force would be a style run.

~Seppel

Posted: 11/17/2004 6:02 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

I started working on a run for this over the weekend. You can check out the FCEU movie file for the first level here Thanks for the tip on the forcefield on bosses, it saves quite a few frames :) Note: This is a one player attack rather than two player, as this is my first attempt at doing a time attack altogether.

Posted: 11/17/2004 6:06 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

Also note that this is a run against the Japanese version (Salamander) rather than the US version (Life Force)

Posted: 11/17/2004 7:51 PM

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feitclub

Former player

Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN

I would say "don't miss shots" but once you get the Option that's nearly impossible. Maybe kill the boss a little faster? I know you have to lure his arms away from his eye, but it seems like you waited a little too long once it opened.

Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com

Posted: 11/17/2004 8:48 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

Unfortunately, you have to wait for the eye to open completely in order to be able to deal damage. You'll notice that I wait until the eye is open and "bulging out" before I can strike the blow, otherwise I run into him and die. I'll probably redo that last section of the fight and see if I can strike at the precise frame where he becomes vulnerable, as I'm probably slow by a few frames (this is where the step frame function in fceu will come in handy methinks). Since most of the game is a fixed-rate scroller, did you see any issues with it stylistically? I don't think I'll be able to achieve Morimoto-style playaround in this game, but I at least try and keep it interesting.

Posted: 11/18/2004 11:50 AM

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Highness

Player (71)

Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden

Movie was pretty good. But it can be improved in the artistic way. In the beginning you can fire shots right before the enemy appears on the screen, making all one see is an exploding mass. At those arms that comes out from the ceiling etc, try not to miss shots at them. That really sucks. Are you playing this frame by frame or at what rate are you playing?

Posted: 11/18/2004 9:01 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

12% most of the time (slower for the trickier parts) One thing to keep in mind (and I have yet to decide what I want to do here) is that the laser always goes through enemies if it kills them, so it makes it look like single shots are missed. Also, as others have pointed out, getting options means its nearly impossible to land every single shot. I try to use the option to help land shots as much as possible (e.g. lining it up to double up the firepower) Thanks for the feedback so far guys, keep it coming

Posted: 1/23/2005 6:26 PM

Post subject: Salamander / Life force

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julianch

Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Valencia, Spain

there is diference between this versions?. this is a gradius style game. Salamander is japan version. Life force is usa version.

I am a Mega Man fan that hates Megaman X8.

Posted: 1/23/2005 7:02 PM

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4matsy

Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498

1. The flare/fireball/comet thingy on the title screen is actually animated in Salamander, and makes a cool sound as it wraps itself around the logo. =P Also there are stars coming forth from the center of the background, creating a "moving through space" effect. Life Force doesn't have the stars at all, and the comet starts out already wrapped around the logo. 2. Salamander allows you to get 3 options, Life Force only 2. 3. In Salamander, the players' powerup bars are stacked one on top of the other, so you can actually read all the weapon names at once; in Life Force, they're horizontally squished, one on the left and one on the right. 4. Salamander actually has half-decent credits, featuring a picture of the pilot of one of the ships. (I hear the pic changes depending on how many continues you use, but I never checked...) Life Force just shows the Konami logo during the whole ending song, without any credits...-_- Other than those graphical changes and the option limit, though, I haven't noticed anything different. Gameplay seems to be identical...*shrug*

Posted: 1/23/2005 8:20 PM

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julianch

Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Valencia, Spain

thanks. i'll start this time attack soon.

I am a Mega Man fan that hates Megaman X8.

Posted: 1/23/2005 9:05 PM

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feitclub

Former player

Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN

julianch wrote:

thanks. i'll start this time attack soon.

Good luck, sir. Please plan ahead and try to make your time attack special in some way, because autoscrolling games can get boring. I think someone made a movie of the first level somewhere around here.

Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com

Posted: 1/23/2005 10:48 PM

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BlackMagic

Joined: 7/9/2004
Posts: 13

Yes, someone DID make a run of the first level, I have it. However he only used 1 player. I will post a link later. If possible, I beg you, make this a 1 player controls 2 characters run. This game practically begs for it. I have tried this myself but, I don't have the patience to go through it. Especially since my only option on controlling both Vic Viper (player 1) and Lord British (player 2) would be to do the entire movie frame by frame. No planning probably didn't help either. Edit: Heres the link http://www.geocities.com/kennyscores/Salamander.zip

Posted: 1/26/2005 6:17 AM

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todd

Joined: 4/4/2004
Posts: 66

There is an entertaining Life Force video played by CCC-Shiner and hosted at sdkess's site. http://www.vortiginous.com/vids/shiner-lifeforce-done.zip I like the music in this game, and I enjoyed how CCC-Shiner occasionally rocked his ship back and forth or shot his lasers in time with the music :)

Posted: 1/26/2005 6:19 AM

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Josh_the_FunkDOC

Former player

Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH

Yep, that's Shiner's gimmick basically. All his movies are worth a look...I especially love Gradius Galaxies: The Movie. -Josh

but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice

Posted: 1/26/2005 4:39 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

There is already another thread about this game in this forum http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=929 The attempt at the first level (one-player) was probably mine. I had started on a run when I had some free time back in November of last year, but wasn't able to continue working on it. I definitely agree that a 2-player run would be preferrable, but I don't have the time or the patience to resume work on it.

Posted: 1/26/2005 4:47 PM

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yarbles

Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 143
Location: Colorado

BlackMagic: The run you posted up here is indeed the one I had started. To whoever attempts this game, there's a good timesaving trick that works against most bosses (mentioned in the other thread): Using the forcefield on the boss weakpoint usually kills them in one hit. I use this against the level 1 boss in my video.

Posted: 3/2/2005 11:16 AM

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