Revision as of 12:02, 7 November 2014

Ikari_warriors_2

Level-by-level description

VIDEOS WITH AN ASTERISK (*) USE FASTER STRATS THAN IN THE CURRENT SDA-RUN

These videos have been recorded on emulator, but use strats that have been made with console speedruns and the use of a d-pad in mind.

Level 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6_pPsw_u5M *
A random level. The enemy behavior in the first stretch is inconsistent and many times enemies will run into you without possibility of dodging (without losing time). Pretty much all the flying enemies before going into the menu can also give bad bullet patterns that are impossible to dodge or only possible to dodge with time-consuming movements. The part after the menu trip should be consistent (or at least very close to).

The enemy that chases you in the first half of the level can't be scrolled off screen, so a little time will always be lost by turning around and shooting it. Otherwise it will eventually catch up to you and inflict two damage.

A consistent way of beating the boss quickly is (from when the boss appears) to move diagonally up-right a short bit until your horizontally aligned with the "bubble" on the ground. Shoot a grenade (to reduce the boss hp by 1) and start moving straight vertically up. When aligned vertically with the "bubble" on the ground to the left, start walking straight horizontally to the right. There are methods that are a few frames faster that rely on diagonally walking up-right, but they seem to increase the risk of the boss slipping away.

Boss HP - 15. RAM-address - 0634.

Level 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9RGM5A6_zA *
Finding the right horizontal pixel when flying can be a little bit tricky. Too far to the left and you will take hits by the flying enemies right before the boss and too far to the right will make you crash into one of the knight enemies. Overall, this is probably the easiest level clear consistently without unnecessary damage though.

The boss in this level seems to slip away from the quick kill more often than the first boss. A plan that usually works is to start moving diagonally up-left all the while launching two grenades (to get the boss hp down to 13). When right in front of the boss, but still below it, start walking straight up and then straight right as soon as you start dealing damage. There is a little leeway when doing this so this is usually ensures the quick kill. Like with the first boss, it's possible to save frames by walking diagonally up-right instead of straight horizontal walking. No consistent setup has been found yet though and the potential time gain is small.

Boss HP - 15. RAM-address - 0635.

Level 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbAlvnFINuE *
It's quite lucky to get through this stage without taking a hit like it's shown in this video. Most of the time (80-90%), you will take a hit near the end of the fortress from one of the flying monsters' bullets. Other than that, the level isn't very random.

There is a potential 1.5 seconds to gain by entering the fortress on the right hand side. However, there hasn't been found a way to get to the right side without taking quite a bit of damage.

Another potential time saver would be to fly over the fortress instead of navigating through it by foot. However, there is no known location of an additional flying item, so it would then require to walk through level 2. Flying in level 2 saves ~13 seconds (and is very consistent, while walking almost always results in one or two damage), while flying in level 3 only saves ~7 seconds.

The boss quick kill has probably to do with dealing damage to the boss before it has received HP. There is a 3-frame window for launching the lightning attack and achieving the quick kill (see screenshots below). Moving diagonally doesn't increase this time window. This boss can't be beaten with the "robo armor" like the first two bosses. The reason being that the "face" has to be destroyed before the boss can be killed. Until the "face" is completely gone (it has three parts), the boss HP just loops. The "robo armor" doesn't damage the "face".

The first frame on which the boss quick kill is possible.

The second and third frame on which the boss quick kill is possible. Notice the black line in the upper right corner that has just become visible.

‎ Boss HP - 10. RAM-address - 0632.

Level 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO8VjU7Bcs *
The hit taken halfway through is unavoidable. There are other ways of clearing that section that don't involve taking damage, but the result on console has been very poor (due to the d-pad). There are several spots where "random" damage can be inflicted, which makes this a fairly difficult level.

Boss HP - 15. RAM-address - 0633. The boss can't be damaged by the "robo armor".

Level 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI-_mqdnpx8 *
The beginning can be played out in several different ways. Unfortunately, what seems to work well on emulator has given relatively mediocre results on console. This method seems to be fairly promising though, but it's still very common to take one or more hits. The damage taken during the flying section is more or less unavoidable (like in 90% of the attempts).

Boss 1 HP - 10. RAM-address - 0632.
Boss 2 HP - 20. RAM-address - 0632. Just like for the level 3 boss, there is a 3-frame window for the quick kill.

The first frame on which the boss quick kill is possible. Notice the position of the character's head and the green stuff.

The second and third frame on which the boss quick kill is possible. Notice the position of the character's head and the green stuff.