atrocity3010
Frogger: Hes Back! (PSX) - Bat Zone
updated
I randomly found this while playing some Duke 3D addons. Normally, "Damn I'm Good" difficulty has the same number of enemies as "Come Get Some", but in TamDuke, selecting "Damn I'm Good" turns the first map into a ridiculous mini slaughter map with an absurd number of enemies (I'm guessing around 3-4x as many) and nowhere near enough ammo to deal with them.
At first I thought this was a cruel easter egg and wrote it off as impossible, but it turns out the map is doable with the right strategy and some luck. I left in a couple of deaths in the beginning that I thought were amusing, just to show how most of my attempts went. Whether this difficulty was intentional or some weird eduke32 bug I'm still not sure.
TamDuke download:
forums.duke4.net/topic/8380-release-tamduke
This is the ending to the original Pac-Man World but is now the "bad" ending in the remake if you don't rescue all 5 friends.
This video makes frequent use of a mechanic where if you butt-bounce 3 times in a row, Pac-Man starts rolling in the air and will do quicker and fully-aimed butt bounces. This allows Pac-Man to be very agile and is useful in many spots in this set of levels.
I end up getting the magic key (unlocked at 750000 points) just in time for it to be completely useless against Toc-Man.
The Toc-Man fight was redesigned, and as you would expect for a fight where up to 5 friends can restore your health fully, he's pretty tough to beat without taking any damage. The last phase in particular is awful to deal with. His feet have very questionable hit boxes and he likes to turn around all over the place, making hitting his feet frustrating at times.
The ending shown here is the new "good" ending, not the one shown in the original game which I think was better.
Well, that's that I guess. See you guys in 2030 when they remake Pac-Man World 2.
Disclaimer: This playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Intro
0:33 Ghostly Garden
11:54 Creepy Catacombs
22:59 Grave Danger
32:44 Magic Key
33:19 Toc-Man Intro
34:07 Toc-Man
37:20 Ending
39:51 Credits
Despite the notorious difficulty of these levels I ended up having a much easier time than the nightmare that was the Factory Area. Strangely enough I had more trouble completing Barrel Blast than Spin Dizzy, the level everyone remembers for being brutal. I guess the improved controls help with navigating the spinning platforms.
Clown Prix is a joke now and is about as easy as HMS Windbag. What a shame.
Sorry for the frame drops in this video. For some reason these levels and particularly the mazes give me lag, not sure what's up with that.
Disclaimer: This playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Intro
0:24 Clowning Around
8:21 Barrel Blast
17:33 Spin Dizzy
28:29 Clown Prix
Down the Tubes was very stressful and I'm glad to be done with it. You can tell I was nervous because there was some sloppy gameplay in that segment.
The Krome Keeper fight was redesigned completely and is a lot more fun and interesting now. Probably my favorite change they made for the remake.
Disclaimer: This playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Intro
0:29 Perilous Pipes
11:12 Under Pressure
22:01 Down the Tubes
35:46 Krome Keeper
King Galaxian ended up giving me a lot of trouble. The boss itself is harmless, but the popcorn enemies are the real threat despite them not having shields anymore.
Disclaimer: This playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Intro
0:27 Space Race
8:07 Far Out
16:40 Slots Melon Fever
17:36 Gimme Space
25:10 King Galaxian
Crisis Cavern is deceptively difficult to beat without taking damage and took a lot of tries. The two pufferfish in the water are the hardest enemies in the game to dodge, and they require a specific strategy to get past. Beyond that is an annoying maze and some devious traps. There were a number of close calls throughout, and the added delay on the butt bounce and pac-dot attack means you have to plan your moves ahead.
Manic Mines isn't too bad as long as you're careful. Thankfully I remembered to save the dog this time. The bonus stage can't be skipped by dying so I just complete it twice instead.
It just wouldn't be Pac-Man World if Anubis Rex wasn't the hardest boss in the game. Even though they made him easier, I think he still takes the throne as the toughest fight in the remake, save for possibly Toc-Man himself. Surprisingly though, getting through Crisis Cavern damage-less took far more tries than him.
I didn't realize until editing the video that I missed a banana after beating Anubis Rex. Oh well.
Disclaimer: This playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Intro
0:16 Crisis Cavern
10:47 Manic Mines
24:37 Anubis Rex
15 years ago I uploaded a Pac-Man World playthrough presented in glorious 240p butter vision. Hopefully this playthrough of the remake will look a tad better. That being said, there will be some frame drops throughout as I have an old computer, so my apologies for that. I'm running the game off an SSD with the recording going to a separate hard drive so I've done all I can to reduce lag.
To make up for it, I'm aiming for a 100%-ish playthrough (though not every pac-dot will be collected) with no damage taken. Each bonus stage will be completed once, then on subsequent times I'll lose on purpose to skip them. I'm also skipping the slots at the end of each level because they're time-consuming and not very interesting. Finally, there will be splices in between levels for two reasons - one, I'm not good enough to no-damage an entire world in one go, and two, to restart my recording and/or game to minimize frame hitching.
Also, the devs added an air hover move that would make things easier but the game is fully playable without it so I'm not using it.
Overall I think Re-PAC is a pretty decent remake and will hopefully bring the game to a new generation of gamers who never played it. There are some things the remake changed that I'll note in each video - in this one you'll notice chrome enemies that can only be defeated with the chrome ball powerup. You only get 3 lives in the mazes and you die in one hit, making them more challenging. This is one of the few changes they made that increased the difficulty - most of the changes make the game easier.
Now they just need to make Frogger: He's Back Again and Croc: Return of the Gobbos and my PS1 childhood memories will be complete.
Disclaimer: As mentioned before, this playthrough is not continuous and was recorded one level at a time. Some levels took many attempts to complete successfully.
0:00 Buccaneer Beach
4:19 Corsair's Cove
14:33 Crazy Cannonade
25:11 HMS Windbag
One of my favorite arcade conversions on the FM Towns, Operation Wolf is a light gun game where the protagonist guns down everything with a pulse as he casually saunters to his destination. This playthrough completes two loops without dying and gets the good ending (if you skip stages you get the bad ending where the President is less than impressed by your efforts).
The FM Towns version requires a mouse; it is not compatible with the controller. I'm using an old ball mouse, and if you've ever used one you know just how inferior they are to optical mice. With some practice though it's manageable.
In the options menu there are two mouse-related settings. The first allows you to display a cursor, but only for the first 20 seconds of each level. You'll need spatial awareness and familiarity to know where your mouse is once the cursor is disabled. Sometimes it's helpful to fire a "tracer" shot to see where the mouse is. The second setting is for the model of mouse you have - MO101 or MO102. Mine is an MO105 but choosing MO101 makes the sensitivity higher which helps quite a bit. Note that there are adapters that will allow you to use PS/2 compatible optical mice, but I wanted to go with the more authentic experience for this playthrough.
As far as I know, the game loops repeatedly. I didn't notice much different on loop 2 so I ended the game at the start of loop 3. Also this game barely gives you any time at all to enter your initials, so you have to be fast.
Overall, I prefer this even to the arcade version as this has music in the stages, making the game more lively. Short of having access to an arcade cabinet, I think this port is the best way to play Operation Wolf.
gamingalexandria.com/wp/2021/09/raiden-proto
There are some differences between this and the retail version. The startup sequence is different - usually it shows the high score table but here the title just loops to itself repeatedly.
The most notable difference is that the game softlocks after the 5th stage. Normally you aren't able to move as the cinematic sequence for stage 6 plays, but in the prototype you are free to move around, and are eventually frozen in place, unable to progress. There is no level select code available for Raiden Densetsu so I'm not able to see if Stage 6 and beyond are programmed.
Also noteworthy is that the missile powerup is significantly slower in the prototype. Why they decided to make it overpowered in the retail release is beyond me.
The gameplay is much more difficult in the prototype, with Normal mode (misspelled "Noroal" in the options) playing more like Pro.
If you recognize some of the music in this map, it should come as no surprise that back when I made this map almost 10 years ago, I was big into arcade shmups.
It plays a little better in the Starcraft HD Remaster because of the widescreen option reducing the need to scroll as much.
You can download the map here (v1.01)
mediafire.com/file/fdqzuc9qy7df2p9/Duel%20-%20The%20Tournament%20v1.01.scx
Edit: I went back and changed the final boss's last attack pattern to something that's a lot more interesting. You can check it out here:
youtu.be/tGnAjrKAYa0
This is a Tool-Assisted Speedrun using Zan and Blaze on Hard difficulty.
More info: http://tasvideos.org/3984S.html
I use Max, and HardType Mania is extremely difficult so I'm not screwing around. Expect to see A LOT of sliding and weapon abuse, as that's just about the only way to play Max on Mania. There's also a special surprise at the end (I do very well on the final boss).
http://www.bombergames.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2687
This was on Very Hard difficulty.
Also, the achievement display got mostly cut off because I was in windowed mode. Oh well.
Yes, I'm aware there are Missile Boy runs on YouTube that use only Meat Boy and do the stages in order. I'm still uploading this because for a subpar gamer like me it's a badge of honor, and one of the hardest things I've ever done in a game.
Credit for the Bile Duct strategy goes to extreemru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmH7SATdOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78B_idrAxU
The museum costs 150 tokens to unlock and is a slideshow of concept art, deleted scenes from the game, and the development team. Most noteworthy are screenshots of Pac-Man on an inner tube as well as possibly removed enemies/bosses.
As said before, Ms. Pac-Man requires 180 tokens to unlock. Don't ask me why it's apparently 170 tokens better than the original game. The only main differences are that the fruit moves around and the mazes are different. Ghost AI may be different for all I know, but it's impossible for the average joe to tell.
Before anyone says it, I'm aware that I suck at classic Pac-Man games a lot.
Well, that's it for Pac-Man World 2. All that's left is to get some more tokens to unlock Ms. Pac-Man in the arcade.
One thing you need to watch out for after the galaxian checkpoint is the test of brawn re-activating. Thankfully you can skip it by staying away from the area. I ended up accidentally triggering the test of brawn and failing the first time, so I edited that death out of the video.
Another terrible design decision that shows off the worst hit detection in the game, the designers decided it was a good idea to hide an apple inside a bat, which is incredibly hard to hit but seems to have no problem hurting you. It's pretty realistic though, because flip-kicking a bat in this game is about as hard as it would be in real life. Did they honestly expect you to flip-kick all the bats in this level in order to find that one last apple?
Also, this level doesn't have a galaxian, but makes up for it by pitting you against spiders in a close-quarters maze.
You know, I would normally talk about how this is my favorite level in the game, but screw it. Whoever thought that putting pac-dot arcs in the last section was a good idea should be fired. The second set of pac-dots is the hardest to get, and it took me a long time to figure out a somewhat reliable strategy to get them. If the board falls the wrong way, it's pretty much impossible to get all the pac-dots.
Speaking of the boards, their behavior can be unpredictable, and sometimes they'll plunk you right into the water before you can say "god damn it".
Believe it or not, this was actually my second attempt. The first time I went in with 42 lives and lost them all. So in total this level has costed me 151 lives. Friggin' ridiculous.
There isn't much to collect, just a few cherries, oranges, and apples. However, they're randomly scattered throughout the level (except for the oranges, the enemy subs carry those). Thankfully none of them are ever hidden inside mines.
It took me quite a few tries to beat him without dying (often I accidentally rev-roll into him and bounce into the lava).
That last melon can be gotten without being hit (thanks BoulderDasher54), but it's a pretty risky jump getting on that tiny ledge.
This is without a doubt the hardest level in the game to get 100% on. Even if you take it as slow as you can, there are sections where you're forced to go at full speed to clear jumps. Every single pac-dot has to be collected, and as you can see in the video it's very hard (a lot of times impossible) to go back and get ones you missed. I originally thought I could never get 100% on this level, but with enough patience (and lives), anything is possible.
The full version with all my deaths included is 30 minutes long, so I've taken the liberty of cutting out all the extra deaths.
The worst part is that in the PS2 version, you slip out of control a lot easier, which pretty much makes the ice a death trap.
Note: My videos have a smoother framerate than this (60 FPS), but YouTube keeps butchering them. I've tried Xvid and H264, both produce the same result.
I know I missed a life that spawns after the maze is finished, but I didn't feel like getting it. Besides, the best place to get lives is the next level, Butane Pain.
I would've gotten those tokens at the end, but with this level's input dropping, I didn't want to risk falling off.
Since the mazes aren't very interesting, I'll be editing them out.
Overall, this is a solid sequel to Pac-Man World, offering some excellent and challenging levels like Haunted Boardwalk, Clyde in the Caldera, and Blade Mountain. I would have done this game much earlier, but I had no clue there was a PC version until recently. This version is a direct port of the Gamecube version, which is slightly easier than the PS2 version (but only slightly; it's still a hard game, especially if you're going for collection). You can configure it to work with your PS2 controller (given you have a USB adapter), and it's highly recommended so you can have analog movement.
This will be a 100% walkthrough. Note that tokens do not count towards 100% (only pac-dots and fruit do), so I will usually not go out of my way to get those. As far as this level goes, the rooftop launches are pretty tough to do, and they require precise rev-rolling.
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
Pretty much the exact same as the last video. Same setup, same spells. If you didn't see the last Proud Clod video before it was taken down, I'll let you know what's up.
Proud Clod has an abundance of HP (60000) and a healthy dose of magic defense. This means I have to use my two best magic users (Vincent and Red XIII) against him. Even then, I need every bit of their MP to win the fight. But that's not quite enough, I still need to have Red use Trines (which are more efficient than Beta) until he reaches 315 MP, then he switches to Betas.
The goal here is to have Cloud keep as much HP and MP as possible. The absolute bare minimum requirement was that I wanted him to survive with 2000+ HP and 200+ MP. With who knows how many attacks Proud Clod gets off, that equates to a luck festival right before the big luck carnival up ahead (Hojo).
Apparently Cloud thought his Bronze Bangle was a Mystile because he dodged 2 of the 5 physical attacks that were thrown at him, one of them being that damn machine gun that I hate so much. Just goes to show how much luck you need here.
Cloud: Ultima Weapon, Bronze Bangle
Vincent: Supershot ST, Silver Armlet
Red XIII: Spring Gun Clip, Mythril Armlet
Here's the save file if anyone's interested:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0h4sd9bq95bqh39
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
Had to start the Midgar Raid over because my strategy for Hojo didn't go as planned, and I want to enter that battle with enough MP to blow away Lifeform Hojo with just Shadow Flares.
This time, Cloud only takes two hits (one mandatory, one defended) and uses no MP, while Yuffie/Cid use half Shadow Flares, and half Betas not only to conserve MP, but do just enough damage to Reno and end the fight.
Cloud: Ultima Weapon, Bronze Bangle
Yuffie: Conformer, Carbon Bangle
Cid: Venus Gospel, Gold Armlet
Music: UT 2004 - Mercs' Entrance
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
Now here's a boss you usually don't see in challenges. Why fight him, you might ask? Well, there are several reasons:
1. Getting Shadow Flare before the Midgar Raid. With no accessories, a certain someone in Midgar will prove to be a real grade-A bastard. Can you guess who it is? Oh, I think you can...
2. Killing Ultimate Weapon gives you the three best weapons in this challenge: Ultima Weapon (+51 Magic, +35 Spirit), Supershot ST (+54 Magic) and Spring Gun Clip (+55 Magic).
3. 35000 EXP, although only a few of my party members will actually get it.
4. Because I can.
With that said, beating Ultimate Weapon requires careful planning in advance, a lot of luck, and a calculator. With Goblin Punch he would've been so much easier, as Cloud is the same level as Ultimate Weapon and would do 9999 damage a pop. That's why I banned Goblin Punch in this challenge.
Here's a breakdown of the different battles:
Mideel: This is the mandatory one just before the Lifestream sequence. He always uses Quake2, Claw, and Ultima Beam in that order. The only thing I need him to do is use Claw on Barret. Then I get Ultimate Weapon's HP as close to 80000 as possible before using Magic Breath (he automatically flees when you do more than 20000 damage to him). After this, Cid and Barret are completely spent during the Rocket Town battles, so they can't be used.
Junon: This is where he appears after Diamond Weapon has been defeated. Since this is an aerial battle, he alternates between Ultima Beam and Thunderball before fleeing. I need Ultima Beam to do less than 1200 damage to Cloud, and Thunderball must hit Cait Sith. I use Beta because it's more efficient than Magic Breath, and I'm going to need every bit of MP I have.
Land battles: After Junon, he starts flying around and randomly chooses a battle location when you bump into him 5 times (or is it 4?). The ground battles are highly preferable because Claw and Quake2 hurt a lot less than Thunderball and Ultima Beam.
Cosmo Canyon: Before this fight, I deal as much damage to him as possible in the previous battle. He automatically flees to Cosmo Canyon when his HP goes below 20000. Here's where that fourth E.Skill comes in handy. Yuffie is equipped with three E.Skills and Vincent has the one without Trine. I purposely chose Yuffie and Vincent because they have the two highest Magic stats other than Cloud at this point. In this battle, Ultimate Weapon's AI is different, and he will randomly choose between Thunderball and Ultima Beam instead of having a set pattern. This is a very good thing or else he would be impossible to beat. I need Yuffie to deal the final blow and get Shadow Flare on her 3 E.Skills.
Cid: Partisan, Gold Armlet
Barret: A-M Cannon, Bronze Bangle
Yuffie: Spiral Shuriken(first battle)/Conformer(final battle), Carbon Bangle
Cloud: Heaven's Cloud, Bronze Bangle
Cait Sith: Gold M-phone, Silver Armlet
Tifa: God's Hand, Bronze Bangle
Red XIII: Centclip, Mythril Armlet
Vincent: Death Penalty, Silver Armlet
Music: Various tracks from Quake II (see what I did there?)
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
Pretty similar to the last challenge except for no fire protection (and I use Aqualung instead of Beta, as he halves fire). His foot stamp always targets the person with the highest HP, so Cloud has to take damage sooner or later. The goal here is to keep him above 2600 HP.
Cloud: Heaven's Cloud, Bronze Bangle
Vincent: Death Penalty, Silver Armlet
Red XIII: Centclip, Mythril Armlet
Music: Sonic 3 - Final Boss
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
I redid this fight because I found out that Ultimate Weapon was impossible with my setup, so I needed to conserve MP wherever I could. This took dozens and dozens of tries to do because of the retarded amount of luck involved. Ironically, I got it on my first practice attempt, but I wasn't recording so I had to scrap it.
Trine is over 150% as efficient as Magic Breath, so it needs to be used as many times as possible. Here's where you need to take a good look at the AI script in order to use the spells in a way that minimizes the chance for a Lapis Laser/Arm Grab. The more you damage Carry Armor, the more likely he is to use Lapis Laser. Once he's below 6000 HP, he uses it every single time, so the last turn has to be 3 Magic Breaths in rapid succession. The goal is to keep as much of Cloud and Vincent's MP intact as possible while not allowing him to use Lapis Laser at all.
Cloud: Crystal Sword, Bronze Bangle
Vincent: Winchester, Silver Armlet
Cait Sith: Gold M-phone, Silver Armlet
Music: Frogger: He's Back! - (Scorching Switches)
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
This battle is a big luck festival, and after numerous failed attempts, everything lined up on this attempt. First of all, Cloud must survive for at least 3 turns, which kind of sucks because he can only take 2 hits. Then, Silence must either miss or target Cloud (ironically, it did both). Only then do I have a chance of beating Jenova Death before she silences/kills the party.
Cloud: Enhance Sword, Bronze Bangle
Tifa: Kaiser Knuckle, Bronze Bangle
Vincent: Lariat, Silver Armlet
Music: Unreal - The Sunspire
No materia except Enemy Skill
No attacks/limits
No items
No non-mandatory inns
Initial Armor
Start the challenge at level 15
No Accessories
No ???? (except for Jerseys and Demon's Gate)
No Goblin Punch
This is why I needed all that HP. Schizo's final attacks really hurt with no lightning protection.
Also, someone should note in the FAQs that the weapon shops in Costa Del Sol/Junon don't change until AFTER Meteor has been summoned (they just say Disk 2). I had to learn that the hard way.
Cloud: Enhance Sword, Bronze Bangle
Cait Sith: Red M-phone, Silver Armlet
Cid: Mast Ax, Gold Armlet
Music: Vendetta - (Final Stage)


