Movie Quote: (obviously the most important detail to put in this text)
"Wise men say, 'Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Movie Goals:
•Uses Bizhawk 2.9
•Plays Easy Mode
•Goes for Fastest Completion with current knowledge.
•Uses Playaround: Spells TAS, Circles Objects, gets close to objects etc.
What this game is about:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus is a Stealth Action Platformer for the Gameboy Advance released in Autumn of 2004. It differs significantly in many respects from its console and PC ports. The player collects the Turtles' weapons on each stage and features massively different levels, enemies, and bosses. Occasional hoverboarding and 'Shump' stages break up the action. The video game has the Turtle(s) going through 3 worlds across 6 levels each, totaling 18 levels.
Playable Characters:
•Don used twice
•Leo used once
•Mike not used
•Raph used quite frequently
GBA Button Layout for TMNT2: Battle Nexus:
•A = Slide/Jump (Slide requires Down to be held for 2 frames)
•B = Attack/Weapon Attack
•U = Upwards (for Alcove)
•D = Downwards (for Water/Alcoves/Ducking)
•L = Left to move Left
•R = Right to move Right
•Shoulder r = Special (Hoverboarding/Shump levels/Heavy Weapon Attack)
•Shoulder l = Look Around (not used)
Other Button Combos:
•LL_LL = Run left quicker
•RR_RR - Run right quicker
•LL_LL+B = Sideways Attack
•RR_RR+B = Sideways Attack
•D+B = Doward Attack (drill like attack)
•U+A = Ledge Grab Jumping
•B+Falling = Swipe (to get to the ground faster)
•L+A = Walls on the left with Raph can be held onto (to get off the wall press A again on the next possible frame)
•R+A = Walls on the right with Raph can be held onto (to get off the wall press A again on the next possible frame)
How to Slide:
In order to be in a sliding state one of the Turtles needs to be in a ducking position that is not located under a small ceiling already. Once in the ducking state you are able to slide for 18 frames before exhausting the small delay of waiting again. The slide state can be used for up to 20 frames but ends up being slower and less convenient at times. Not all slides are 18 frames, some are shorter for door entries, and some are longer for ledge sliding.
How to Ledge Grab Jump:
by hanging onto the ledge, you can press Up & A which start the Turtles in a jump state. In this state you can move to the right or left to land on the platform that you were previously hanging onto.
How to Wall Cling:
Wall clinging is only possible with Raph, as his weapon is a pitchfork esk shape, which stabs. Once Raph is attached to a wall, you can either climb up/down or jump off the wall pressing A which sends you in the opposite direction to which you are facing.
Swiping with B:
When falling off a ledge OR jumping, Raph can start a downward stab by pressing B mid-air, which is useful due to being a fast-falling move. I use this quite often as it speeds up the falling state either from a ledge or from jumping.
Special Move with Shoulder R:
The Shoulder R button provides the turtles with a heavy hitting special attack. I use the move in conjunction with a sideways swipe in order to start attacks faster.
Don Vs. Raph Vs. Leo Differences:
•Don: has a higher jump than Raph and Leo but can't hold onto walls like Raph.
•Leo: has two swords, doesn't have a high jump and can't hold onto walls like Raph.
•Raph: has the wall cling, a fast swipe, but can't jump high like Don and doesn't have two swords.
•Mike? Not used, although can float through the air with his nun-chucks, but ultimately ends up being useless due ground movement being faster.
Gem Collecting:
•The Gems are interesting part of the run. I found out that only on some stages and some bosses does the gem total matter when the level ends. Why would this matter? Well, I tested both grabbing and not grabbing gems, and the outcome is that grabbing the gems on the levels that are not hoverboarding levels turned out to be quicker because the game expects you to at least collect the reward it drops for defeating the bosses. The total amount of time takes forever to finish IF you don't collect the gems this way, but sometimes it's not faster, so I had to manually test each of the outcomes to get a better result.
Area - Base:
•Raph: Base 1-1: Sliding to the door ended up being faster in the first room. The second room requires me to get Raph's Twin Sai's from an alcove, and defeat one of the guards holding a keycard. The last room requires me to wall cling up past a grabbable pole and defeat the last enemy for the ending card to finish the level.
Leo: Base 1-2: The first room is a stealth •section, and I do mean a stealth section, defeating the enemy here would take way longer than needed in order to go fast, so I have to avoid being seen and seek into the door on first possible frame. I grab Leo's Katana Swords in this room, which are located up in the corner on the right side. I have to avoid the laser beams coming through the floor, so I have been extra quick. Luckily by being in a ducked state which happens when you are in a small space, I can avoid knock-back from the laser beams, and take damage. When exiting the room, I'll need to kill the guard that's holding a keycard after a small space slide. The last room I can rush while being seen.
Raph: Base 1-3: Hoverboarding level. I tested •whether or not special B charge is faster, and it ended up being slower than doing the Shoulder R attack. I'll collect the gems here as it seemed to be faster. Nothing else to mention.
Raph: Base 1-4:
•Stealth is the name of the game, but I'll need to wait out the cycle for the motion sensor moving back and forth so I just stand in place (no the movie didn't desync I am literally just standing there). The first room requires stealth, so I'll have to hide in the little door alcoves and exit on the first frame possible. In the second room I climb the pole while also getting "caught" by the sensor, I need to jump over the guard since sliding past won't work. Once above, I'll grab the Twin Sai's and head right. I use the wall cling ability in order to skip having to climb the pole which ended up being much faster. I'll make my way across and up to the door on the far left. In here I'll get a keycard from a guard and exit. This keycard goes to the red door seen earlier. When backtracking to get the keycard door I get caught once again, and I have to kill the guards here otherwise the door does not and will not allow me to go through. I tested if it was faster to kill them or to wait and killing them was faster, and this same thing applies in the next room.
Raph: Base 1-5:
•Unlike 1-3 with the same mechanics, I have to defeat enemies behind me and in front of me. I tested that it was faster to use a charging B special for the enemies behind me rather than do the heavy Shoulder R button attack, as seen previously on 1-3. 1-5 introduces the first boss and I'll keep the combo going on the boss with fully charged B special and Shoulder R button to drain the health as quickly as possible.
Raph Base: 1-6: Area 1 Final Boss. I'll collect the gems while waiting for the boss to become targetable by heavy attacking with Shoulder R. I let the boss hit me, since I want to be on the same side at all times because I found out that by moving in certain directions only after the 1st cycle is finished does the spot change, so I had to test where the boss would be, and turned out that standing and getting hit was the play. I'll finish off the boss and I'll have to avoid the grab move it does and attack again on the next possible frame. I'll collect 20/20 gems here as it's faster.
Area 2: Prison:
Don: Prison 1-1:
•By selecting Don, I can utilize the higher jump here. The first room has a bigger enemy that would take longer to defeat, and getting the path of it would make it so I'd get grabbed, however I'll avoid this by jumping at a precise time so that the enemy will use the wipe as priority first to which I'll barely avoid. I'll go into some alcoves, climb up some poles and eventually end up getting Don's Bo-Staff. In the next room I'll need to wait for a platform cycle to go from left to right back to left, so in the meantime I'll play with my food and teabag the enemy on the ground while waiting, a nice little treat. I'll have to wait so the outcome of the platform cycle is barely close enough to ledge grab. Ledges are different in that, the one seen on 1-1 and here are ones that won't make sense to quick jump with since the ceiling is lower. By using Don's Bo-Staff I can pogo high jump to a ledge to avoid any unrequired rooms. In the next room there are sphere-like bounce pads that will spring you upwards. I can mitigate the time it takes to bounce high up and fall back down to the bounce pad by swinging the Bo-Staff with B, I'll use this method for future platforms of the like. I'll make my way up to the door and defeat the bigger enemy here holding the keycard so the platform can lower.
Raph: Prison? 2-1:
• While the area is called prison I'll end up in outer space for some reason. This is one of those Shmup levels mentioned earlier. I'll end up messing around here waiting for the targets to become available to hit. I'll even spell TAS (although invisibly) for fun. Nothing else to mention here.
Raph: Prison 2-3:
•I can ditch Don for 2-3 and go back to Raph here. I'll attack the bigger enemy here and make my way down. Once down, I'll need to avoid the spike ceiling otherwise I'll take knockback damage which would be slower. I'll slide/jump over the gaps and to the other side collecting the Twin Sai's and wall clinging upwards. In the next room I'll also wall cling upwards. More of the bounce pads, so I'll take advantage of the sideways bounce which tosses me further to the side decreasing the distance between me and the ledge grab. Another spike room, except this time I'll play with the spikes and make it to the lower part right before I would have taken damage. This room can be done in 1 cycle despite having two little floor alcoves. I'll defeat the enemy for the keycard to lower the platform.
Raph Prison?? 2-4:
•So back in outer space for some reason. Another Shmup level just like 2-2 and nothing oddly different from this and that. There is a boss that needs to be defeated so I'll take advantage of the special explosives the game gives me to defeat the boss quicker.
Raph: Prison 2-5:
•Escape is the name of the game, well at least for this part. Can I make it out in time? Yes. Nothing to write home about just escape before the timer in the middle reaches 0 to win.
Raph: Prison 2-6:
•2-6 is Area 2's final boss. I found that by collecting NO gems (okay 1 gem) here it was faster to wait it out, so I did just that. I'll also avoid getting attacked by the boss, so I'll need to time the attacking pattern in order to make the boss take damage asap.
Raph: Jungle: 3-1:
• I'll avoid grabbing the sideways pole which will spin you and toss you in the direction you were previously distanced from. In the 2nd room I'll grab a hold of them to avoid an oncoming enemy stampede. In the 3rd room I'll need to hide in the alcove in order for the enemy to be like: "?" before I can even think about going inside the door in the middle of the room. I'll attack the bigger enemy in the next room otherwise I won't be able to go inside of the alcove, I tested whether or not I could sneak my way past, but it turned out to not be possible. I'll have to deactivate the glowing green buttons in order to bypass the blockade, I'll do the same all the while ducking in the electrical flooring (as mentioned before I can be in a ducking state which won't put me in knock-back. I'll grab the Twin Sai's after climbing the alcove and make my way to the enemy on the far left of the room on ground level for a keycard. These enemies require 3 hits instead of the usual 2 as seen previously as they are much stronger. I'll had back and defeat the enemy seen previously after getting the Twin Sai's. I'll need to defeat the enemy here in order to make it past otherwise I'll grabbed. Once outside on the other side, I'll head right and through a stampede room, although the stampede won't reach me in time thankfully, due to timing the slides correctly. I'll defeat the enemy on this next screen here otherwise the door will not open. Once in, I'll do a sideways swipe with RR_RR+B to put the bigger enemy in a stun position to go into the alcove. I'll end the level by putting the keycard into the keycard slot.
Raph: Jungle: 3-2:
•Yet another Shmup level, but I felt like if I can make it "entertaining" I should do so while I have the chance. I'll mess around Gradius style on some of the spike balls and spell TAS (again for the sake of it). Nothing else to mention.
Raph: Jungle: 3-3:
•I'll take advantage of the sideways poles here in the first room. The second room requires the alcove just like 3-1 did since I don't have a weapon to defeat the enemy quick. Once in the room I'll need to deactivate the glowing green buttons again to access a different part of this room. I'll attack the bigger enemies here and grab the Twin Sais. I'll head up and defeat the enemy that's holding a keycard, and I'll travel back to the entry door. In this room, I'll take the momentum gotten from swinging and carry myself into a body of water. I'll swim and eventually get to the keycard slot. I'll cling to the walls in this next room so I can avoid climbing the pole for extra height and speed. I'll jump over the enemy shooting the gun at me and I'll attack the block behind. I'll take damage on the spike floor and enter the door. I'll attack the final enemy that holds the keycard and end the level.
Raph: Jungle 3-4:
•More Shmup level action. I'll defeat the boss at the end with the fastest combo attack with the bomb special move. Nothing else to mention.
Raph: Jungle 3-5:
•Escape yet again in the time limit before the timer reaches 0.
Raph: Jungle: 3-6:
•Final Final Boss level. I'll be as close as I can to the final boss to minimize the travel distance of the special B move shot, while also incorporating the bomb move to deal more damage, after the boss is defeated its GG.
Possible Improvements:
•If there happens to be any improvements that can be added feel free to add yourself or be asked to be a co-author on this movie.
Hope you enjoyed!