Protongue
Credit goes to Turbodog702 for discovering the escape. Currently a 2 player strat, although there might be more to it. Turbodog's encounters were not necessarily the same as this one (he had full stamina when the game resumes after the cutscene), so there could be more useful variants.
updated 10 years ago
Get Feathered Escape: yokoboko.itch.io/feathered-escape
1. Find a red treasure chest (weapon upgrade) and line yourself up with it. Hold boost (R1) and attack (X).
2. Release charge attack (X) to break the chest open.
3. Turn around toward the upgrade, and hold attack (X).
4. Release charge attack (X) immediately before picking up the upgrade, then hold attack (X).
If executed correctly, your boost meter (upper right corner of screen) no longer exhausts while in mech mode. This effect lasts for the duration of the mission.
Boost is still limited in fighter mode, as demonstrated at 0:26.
Works on Steam release v1.00.02 - not tested on other versions.
1. Get Adrenal Injectors upgrade (4 seconds of slow-motion when dropped to critical health).
2. Go into Deep Space and get "instantly killed."
3. Survive the blast, now immune to all damage.
Works on Steam release v1.00.02 - not tested on other versions.
With careful timing and placement, you can clip through the top of the level on the second throw, but it seems useless. If we can find a means to get back in-bounds to meet X'tabay, then this might be something.
Throwing enemies in either tight spaces or with a solid object between you and the enemy triggers zips and clips. This is the first practical use of this exploit I've found.
Dance between these two lines: http://i.imgur.com/vQ2ynrF.png
How fast the cactus drops is dependent on its throw RNG. You can hear when the cactus has dropped by the volume of its throw sound effect.
Use in conjunction with this X'tabay trap escape setup: youtu.be/-OrSOVz30io
Step up your armadillo dodging skills.
* Simultaneously press Select on controller 1 and Start on controller 2. When done correctly, the map screen and the "Here Comes a New Challenger!" dialog both open.
* Press Start.
* The glitched main menu opens. Follow the SDG warping process from here.
1. Stand on the shrubbery, then bubble clip right.
2. Stand against the left side of the big cat statue and jump forward.
Goat Fly still might be slightly faster with great execution. However, doing the staggered climb with all swap hops is about 3 seconds faster in either case (0:24 - 0:48).
I would love to see someone well-practiced perform the ideal Goat Fly strats for these sections so we can determine which approach is faster. It's really close by my estimates.
Please let me be done with this shell of a category.
Store Helladeck level select screen (0:00 - 0:21):
Prerequisites: Complete 198X.
1. Enter a Helladeck Level 1-4 (which level matters when performing the following "Skip a level" section).
2. When the level loads, press "Pause" and activate "Exit to Title".
3. From the title screen, activate "Continue".
* Now the Helladeck level select screen is stored in the background of the overworld screen (it's invisible). The Helladeck level select screen remains stored so long as you don't press "Back" on any world's level select screen. You can reassign the level number to skip at any time by repeating this process from the top.
Skip a world intro cutscene and quickly access its level select screen (0:21 - 0:33):
Prerequisites: Store the Helladeck level select screen by entering the Helladeck level number equal to the world's level number you want to skip.
1. With your mouse, left-click to the right of Repeatski to select a world in the Helladeck level select screen.
2. Press "Accept" to simultaneously start the intro cutscene and load the Helladeck level.
3. Once in the Helladeck level, press "Pause" and activate "Exit Level".
* Note that if you have already seen the world intro cutscene, then this crashes the game.
Skip a level (0:33-1:04):
Prerequisites: Store the Helladeck level select screen by entering the Helladeck level number equal to the world's level number you want to skip. Enter the target world's level select screen.
1. With your mouse, left-click to the right of Repeatski to select a world in the Helladeck level select screen.
2. Wait at least 1/2 a second, then press "Accept" on with controller (if you press "Accept" too early, the skip won't work).
3. The Helladeck level loads. Beat it to complete the target world level instead.
You can also use this to get unbeatable times on the in-game leaderboard, you dirty cheater.
Since "beating" Infinity-"4" gives you the credits roll and unlocks Ultra Force/Super Hardcore Mode, that's a reasonable enough definition for beating the game in my opinion. If seeing the final cutscene is part of your definition, then you'll want to "Return to Title" from Helladeck Level #3 before skipping Infinity.
Hellatech overview: youtu.be/FNTns85bnUE
I haven't really optimized this run - just wanted to share new tech as soon as possible. I will revisit this with improvements soon.
Skipping Atlantis saves about 3.5 minutes in Any%. Setup details:
* Store the tutorial pause menu (check the first half of youtu.be/rTt0ooY0s5I for details).
* Play through 198X.
* Enter Atlantis and prepare yourself for death.
* Press "Back" to restore the tutorial pause menu.
* Select "Skip Tutorial".
* Once you die and the slow-mo lag stops, select "Yes".
* The game loads in 198X-1. Pause and Exit Level (DO NOT Return to Title here or you'll softlock!).
* On the level select screen, press "Back" and skip past the following cutscenes.
* The world select screen is temporarily invisible but still functional. Enter your next world and carry on your run.
This can only skip a single world per run. There might be further optimizations, b
I love it when cut/early development content is somehow accessible in the final product. This exploit can also be used to skip a few levels, but that's a story for another time.
* Start a new game.
* When the tutorial begins, Press Pause.
* Put the menu cursor on "Leaderboards" and press A+B simultaneously to unpause but leave the menu active.
* Press A to open Leaderboards. Press Pause to re-open the menu.
* Select "Skip Tutorial", then select Yes".
* Play through the beginning of 198X-1.
* Press B to re-activate the pause menu, then rescue Jef.
* When the "Jef Leppard Rescued!" screen appears, select "Skip Tutorial", then select Yes"
* Exit the level. From the title screen, select "Continue" to enter this cut Dr. Infinity boss fight.
Might as well make a new category to preserve the goodness of Super Hardcore. But let it be known, Tohloo owes me a gorillion dollars.
You can warp to any level in Super Hardcore. Here's a setup:
* In normal mode, open the level you want to warp to.
* Press Pause. Put the menu cursor on "Leaderboards" and press A+B simultaneously to unpause but leave the menu active.
* Press A to open Leaderboards. Press Pause to re-open the menu.
* Put the menu cursor on "Exit Level" and press A.
* As you see the level select screen appear, press B to load the main menu. Put the menu cursor on "Super Hardcore Mode" and press A.
Team up setup:
* Stand on the ledge of the left platform. When Dr. Infinity buzzes, jump straight up and fire.
* On your descent, start running right, hit the lower switch, then die in the laser.
* Time out/in to when Jef was last standing on the platform.
* Hold right. Jump twice, with your second jump bringing you close to blow up the final switch.
Slow-mo cancel setup:
* Stand directly underneath Dr. Infinity when he's aiming his final shot.
* When this shot is centered on the background seam where wall/space ends (http://i.imgur.com/rBci76r.png) release your killing blow.
If you're really good, you can shoot shot a few frames earlier and jump into Infinity's final shot. Heck, if you're that good, you should go for shots that deactivate all four lasers at once!
* 0:11 Get through the leftmost waste pipe: Full jump while standing directly underneath the leftmost drain cover in the background. Attack against the waste.
* 0:15 Destroy the mines and the flamethrower with a single charge shot: shoot while Cleo is lined up with the white brick in the background (as seen in video).
* 0:26 Get through final set of waste pipes: Full jump through the first waste pipe from the middle segment of the yellow hangable thing. As with all active waste pipes, have a few boomerangs in supply before jumping and attack against the waste.
Phase 1: All your bullets must hit, and timing/distance is also a factor. Time your shots so they land when Infinity's gun is facing upward.
Phase 2: Imagine a line between Turbodactyl's head and the torpedo position. Place Melanie at the midpoint of this line when firing your diagonal charge shots. With good positioning, this should yield a charge + normal kill.
Phases 3 and 4 are basically identical to Tohloo's. The slow-mo setup is slightly different - I find it easier to jump over the penultimate stray bullet and hold left to collide into the final one.
1. Time out.
2. Press pause. Move menu cursor to "Leaderboards", then press A+B simultaneously. The game unpauses but leaves the menu open.
3. Move menu cursor to "Restart Level". Then press A to open this menu item and the character select wheel. Press A again to say "No" and to also select a character.
4. Play the game with the menu open. Don't pick up any power-ups since they deactivate the menu.
5. Go to some level destination and then select "Resume". The camera warps from where you timed in to your current spot.
6. Time out and move the timeline to a spot where the camera warp occurs. Time in and something good or bad might happen.
(No, this doesn't count as a victory, but the world needs to know Jean's story)
Press A+B+Start simultaneously to leave this world.
* When the horse starts charging, do a non-jump bounce on it.
* Land on the horse again, and do a jump bounce this time.
* Vertically align with the torch in the background and do a jump bounce off the grenade.
* Land on the leftmost archer and jump bounce to the exit.
1. Vertically align Da Vinci here: http://i.imgur.com/rC4CMdw.png
2. As depicted in the linked image, Line up Da Vinci so his lower foot touches the end of the cloud (use RB [lock position button] for precision). Place two turrets at this position.
3. Drop down and then fly back up. If all goes accordingly, you will clip through the clouds. Don't get killed by cherubs!
1.Go left to the low ceiling. Jump and release turrets on the upper half of the drain cover in the background. Repeat this until you fall through the floor (might take a couple tries).
2. Hold in right while falling. You want to land at the gap between the three birds.
3. Place and climb two generously-spaced turrrets and then jump right to clear some invisible walls.
4. Keep on running and jumping right. Jump at the last horizontal pipe section to avoid a nasty boundary which can snag you.
Pack your ultra turrets in a tight column and jump against the ceiling. Kind of tricky - more experimentation required for consistency.
Hover against the sloped ceilings of the stage and use Da Vinci's turrets to clip out of bounds. It's easier to do this with Ultra Da Vinci, as depicted here. Maybe there are other ways to get out-of-bounds in this stage...
Position Player A directly against a wall/ceiling. Then place a shield engine wall on top of them with Player B. This allows Player A to displace themselves out of bounds. Once here, Swoop allows you to zip upwards and horizontally, and both Giganto Missile / Drill Dash nudge you left or right. From my testing, these are the only abilities that have useful movements effects in this state. You can also use a standard jump to climb upwards.
This trick can be done with as few as two players. I used four here for setup/positioning ease. This enables some shortcuts/arena skips in levels, but entire levels in the hub world cannot be skipped due to how progress is checked (all levels must be beaten sequentially to complete the game).
This run is dedicated to the wandering crab that donated its shield at 1:47. Remember folks, if you see a crab holding something in its left arm, it has a ~14% chance of dropping it!
Really good part drops and no major equip issues, although I should have equipped a damage up leg before entering level 6 for faster flyer kills. Still plenty of minor mistakes to clean up.
I am still considering using this combination in any%. Here are the trade-offs:
* Slice dash has strong synergy with Submachine Gun-Arm. 3 shots followed by slice dash kills normal enemies while denying them a chance to retaliate.
* A leg slot is now occupied. This likely means a slight reduction in movement speed.
* There would be no ability slot for spinkick. This frees up the hip slot, which is only mildly useful early game otherwise (possibly an extra jump, or movement speed if lucky).
* Mantibyte Leg is very common, so slice dash is an easy ability acquisition.
As demonstrated at 0:05, pause+unpause twice in quick succession while he's walking on the ground to make him dash towards you (this trick works on all NPCs except the snake mini-bosses and the final boss). This is not necessary for the quick kill, but it saves a little time.
NOTE: There is a quirk in the "New Game" option where bits gathered from your previous save carry over under most circumstances. If you're using the shop within truly new game runs, make sure it's on a clean save file!


