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- Created By Desbreko
I don't speed run, I just play fast
Inspired by watching TheSpeedGamers' recent Metroid marathon, I just beat Super Metroid in 0:52 with 31%. I had to use a few save states because my skillz are really rusty after not having played the game seriously in a couple years, though. (Way too many wall jump fails. orz) Without them, the time probably would've been around 1:00. This was also the first time I'd done a non-100% run since finding all of the items years and years ago, so I was mostly winging it in deciding which items to collect.
I ended up with a spread of all the suit upgrades minus the Spring Ball, Grappling Beam, and X-Ray Scope, with 5 energy tanks, no reserve tanks, 35 missiles, 25 super missiles, and 5 power bombs. I considered skipping the Ice Beam, but decided the extra damage it provides plus enabling use of the Zebetite skip glitch would more than make up for the time spent collecting it. I'm not sure I would've been able to get past the first part of the Mother Brain fight without backtracking to refill my missiles otherwise. (Not to mention, killing Metroids with power bombs is a pain.) I also considered skipping the Screw Attack but wussed out since I've never gone through lower Norfair without it before and that would've also meant skipping 5 missiles and 5 supers which I wasn't sure if I'd need for Mother Brain (I didn't).
If I ever try a serious speed run, I need to work on better low%/no Grappling Beam strategies against Draygon. I wasn't in danger of dying, but that fight took way too long. Phantoon got a little dangerous, getting me down to 86 energy at the end, but I really should've been more careful from the start instead of remembering half way through the fight that I didn't have eight energy tanks like usual. Ridley hardly touched me because I'm frickin' awesome at that fight. I could've actually skipped the energy tank you get after him and I would've been fine.
A funny moment happened as I was exiting the Wrecked Ship after getting the Gravity Suit. I realized I'd forgotten to re-enable the Hi-Jump Boots after disabling them to jump across the platforms in the water outside. So, I went all the way through the Wrecked Ship without them equipped.
Update:
I played it a couple more times today. Got down to 0:47 with 26% while only using a handful of save states. I'm decently familiar with the any% route now, so it's mainly just a few tricky parts that I'd need to practice if I wanted to do a true single segment run with no saves.
Learning how to do a super short charge would help in a few parts. I probably can't be arsed to practice the timing enough, though. Draygon still takes way too long with only 13 super missiles, but I can't kill it with a shinespark unless I can pull off a super short charge in the boss room.
Lower Norfair with no Screw Attack was a huge pain at first, but now that I've figured out what to do, I can blow through it without any trouble. Ridley's also a breeze once again since I've figured out how to adjust my pattern manipulation tricks to avoid touching him at all.
2D Zelda Never Disappoints
I've been on a classic Zelda stint lately. A few months ago, I started playing through A Link to the Past yet again. After Level 5: Ice Palace, I got distracted and didn't play for quite a while, but then I started up the original Legend of Zelda on a whim. After beating that (first quest only), I went back and finished up my game of LttP, and now I'm playing through Link's Awakening.
Poor Zelda II gets no love.
I think it's been around ten years since I played Link's Awakening. I played through it twice back-to-back when I first got the game, along with my Game Boy Color, back in the day. But then I never played it much after that, which is rare for me with a Zelda game. Even Majora's Mask got picked up again a while after I beat it the first time, though I couldn't bring myself to do the Great Bay Temple again and stopped there.
While I don't remember a lot of details in LA anymore, I still amaze myself sometimes by sort of instinctively knowing what to do or where to go. And the more I play, the more memories of my first time through the game keep popping up. It's been a fun nostalgia trip, and I've only gotten to Level 3: Key Cavern so far.
Maybe I'll play the Oracle games again after I finish LA.
Edit: No, wait, I know what I need to replay once I finish LA. Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. I played it to death when I first got it because it was and still is the only 2D Zelda game to rival LttP, but it's now been around six years since I played it. That needs to be fixed.
RB3 Cymbal Penny Mod
Rock Band 3 pro drums are a lot of fun, but as soon as I started playing, I noticed a big problem: My blue and green cymbals were over-hitting (i.e. being struck only once but registering multiple hits), and they were doing it a lot. Holding a 4x multiplier was just impossible in a lot of songs. And even in songs that were mainly snare/bass/hi-hat, as soon as I'd hit the green crash to activate overdrive, that 8x multiplier would turn into a 2x.
I spent a while fiddling with the screws that hold the cymbals down on the supports and control their tightness, and that helped some. Instead of over-hitting every single time, no matter what, I got it so they wouldn't over-hit as long as I hit them softly. Better, but still not practical on fast songs.
After a couple minutes of googling to see if others were having the same problem, I came across the penny mod. I also found several posts that said people had talked with Mad Catz support on the phone and had been pointed to this mod as a possible fix that wouldn't void the warranty, which I think is pretty cool. So, I decided to give it a shot and got out my screwdriver.
Ten minutes and two cents later, I now get zero over-hits on my blue and green cymbals, even when whacking the green hard at the end of a drum roll.
Animal Crossing: OCD
Because of Sabrina and Miss A, I started playing Animal Crossing: Wild World again. I finally got my town into perfect condition and should get the golden watering can in another eleven days. My insect collection is also nearly complete now, though I have to wait till July to catch most of the rest that I need.
I stuck my friend code up in my intro again. If anyone has the game and wifi, you're welcome to visit. Unless you mess up my perfect environment; then I'll have to kill you.
Also, here's a list of stuff I'm looking for. If you have any of it or can order it from your catalog, I'd love to buy it from you or trade if I have something you're looking for.
Exotic theme
Exotic Bed
Exotic Bench
Exotic Lamp
Japanese set
White Katana
Ninja Sword
Bonsai set
Plum Bonsai
Quince Bonsai
House Plant set
Pothos
Lady Palm
Rubber Tree
Snake Plant
Welcome Kitty set
Lefty Lucky Cat
Lucky Black Cat
Saharah carpets/wallpaper
Tatami Floor
Shoji Screen
Gyroids
Timpanoid
Tall Timpanoid
Metatoid
Edit: Thanks for the stuff, Miss A.
The Crystals Shed Their Light Silently
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years was released for WiiWare on Monday so I downloaded it and just got done with my first play session. I thought I'd post my first impressions as someone who knows FFIV like the back of his hand.
First off, AY (The After Years, which I don't feel like spelling out every time) is very much classic FFIV. It looks and sounds almost exactly like FFIV Advance, though the sound quality is better and more akin to the original SNES version. The character sprites are also more like FFVI's in their animations and the way the same ones are used for both overworld and battle views. Battle and menu mechanics are nearly identical, right down to being able to manually sort your spells and using equipped weapons as items in battle, except for one welcome exception: You now have many, many more item slots than in FFIV so you don't have to constantly worry about running out of space. Most of the monsters I've fought have also been straight out of FFIV, though with some stats and abilities tweaked here and there. And the difficulty level seems about the same, though it's hard to say for certain this early in the game. If you're familiar with FFIV you'll feel right at home with AY.
There are also some new features to keep things interesting. The biggest I've seen so far is the addition of four phases of the moon that change over time or whenever you stay at an inn. Depending on which phase of the moon it is the strength of different types of abilities will be affected for both your party and enemies. There are four categories, melee attacks, white magic, black magic and ranged attacks, and during a full moon, for example, black magic will become more powerful while melee attacks are weakened and the other two are unaffected. It seems like each phase raises one category, lowers another, and leaves the remaining two unaffected. You can view the current phase and its effects in the pause menu and affected commands are also color-coded during battle to show if they're strengthened or weakened. The changes in strength are very noticeable and I can see the phases playing an important role in some fights.
You can now also perform Band moves, which seem a lot like the double and triple techs from Chrono Trigger. Apparently only characters that share a bond can perform them together. (Biggs and Wedge could do one together but Ceodore couldn't perform it with them. I forgot to try one with Cecil and Rosa while I had control of them.) They also don't just hand them out as you level up, though you do learn some through story events. To learn most of them you have to experiment by selecting the Band command in battle and then Search for Bands to choose which other character(s) you want to attempt a Band with. If the Band fails, you just lost a turn, but if it works you can then select that Band move any time you want from the menu. Bands take a small amount of MP from each character involved (characters that can't use magic now have a little MP to use for Bands) and obviously require all of of them to have their ATB gauges filled.
So far the story is very intriguing. The second moon reappears right after the start of the game and then things go south fast. If you've beaten FFIV you'll know the significance of the second moon. If not, you'll probably be pretty lost. This is a sequel to FFIV, after all, and the game expects you to know what happened so I wouldn't recommend AY if you haven't already beaten FFIV. (I would instead tell you to go play FFIV because it's a great game and my favorite in the FF series.) I'm not very far into the game yet but I'm really interested in seeing where it goes.
One thing to be aware of when buying AY (for 800 Wii points) is that it's not the full game. In Japan it was released on mobile phones in monthly installments, there being thirteen chapters total. From looking at the game's official website it looks like those will be condensed to nine chapters for the WiiWare release, with the initial purchase getting you the first one. The second chapter, Rydia's Tale, is also currently available to purchase from an in-game menu for an additional 300 Wii points. 800 + 8 x 300 would be 3,200 points altogether, which is about the same price as a new DS game, though who knows whether the others chapters will all be the same price.
I'm very pleased with the game so far and unless they price gouge us with the additional chapters I can't imagine I'll have any complaints. Since FFIV is my favorite in the series, I'm happy they left the core game mechanics the same and just added new features on top of them.
