Monday, March 2, 2015

Round 3 - Additional game - Probotector (Genesis) w/ 3 hit restoration hack

OK, We decided to add a second game... 

organic io's choice was:   Probotector for Genesis/Megadrive.

He chose this over the US and Japan region "Contra Hard Corps" because the EU version has Robot characters.

We also patched the game with the "hit point restoration hack", due to the fact that the original Japanese version had 3 hit points, and for some reason they reduced it to 1 hit kills for American and European audiences. WTF? Usually the Japanese versions are more difficult!







Let's go!!!

37 comments:

  1. Awesome pick! Packed with action, I didn't know it, loving it so far (mid of stage 2, with the hack of course)!

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  2. Hey ! I'm glad you got it working. I thought I sent you a link with the hack but I guess I forgot to :) Hope you can get Hurrican working

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  3. Apparently the game has 5 endings. After the jungle stage, there is a really long boss fight, and then you are trapped by this colonel guy. According to Wikipedia, after this point the decision you make branches off into one of 5 endings. I've gotten a little bit past this but not to the ending yet.

    The game defaults to 4 continues. Should we limit it to a certain number of continues, or just see who can finish the game in the least number of continues? :)

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  4. Hey, I'm for keeping the 4 continues. I managed to get to the end of stage 4 (Jungle). The bosses are rather imaginative and even funny ;-) The pace is pretty hectic, I'm definitely liking it.

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  5. Just wait till you get to the next section... If you choose to "Stay and Fight", there is this really cool laboratory where it combines different enemies together to create mutant versions of enemies.. For example flying plants, etc. Funny and cool.

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  6. I noticed each of the characters has different weapons. I also noticed the short guy (CX-4) can double jump, but he has the most unusual weapons.

    I am going to make a list of each character and their weapons.

    There are 5 weapons lots, the first 4 being labeled ABCD, with the 5th always being reserved for bombs. It appears everyone starts with a rapid fire machine gun type weapon, but later it can be upgraded to something different. So I will list the upgrades in slot A.

    So far I have:

    CX-1 (Blue guy)
    Slot A (upgrade) - Blue laser
    Slot B - Rapid fire "Grenades" that go straight and do not fall towards the ground
    Slot C - Spreadfire
    Slot D - Homing


    One last observation, the spreadfire seems a lot weaker than it was in the NES Contra games, it seems more balanced and less of a weapon of mass destruction. I think this is largely because many enemies in this game take more than 1 hit to kill, so the spreadfire is relatively weak compared to the other weapons which do more damage.

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  7. Oh, I had not noticed the double jump for the short guy!

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  8. CX-2 (Red guy)
    Slot A (upgrade) - Blue and red machine gun bullets
    Slot B - Rapid fire grenades that do fall towards the ground
    Slot C - Blue laser
    Slot D - "Homing Spreadfire"

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  9. CX-3 (Grey wolf type guy)
    Slot A (upgrade) - Super spray ... No idea what to call it but it's pretty powerful
    Slot B - "Fire Fist"... Short range weapon
    Slot C - Flamethrower
    Slot D - Blue fireballs.... Slow to fire. Also if you hold down the fire button, it charges up to a more powerful blue & yellow fireball

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  10. CX-4 (Short Cyborg guy with double jump)
    Slot A (upgrade) - Blue arrows. Disadvantage because when you switch rapidly between shooting left and right, it takes a few seconds because the aim arcs 180 degrees above you first
    Slot B - Boomerang projectiles. These are actually pretty cool, but have a medium-range. It seems you can shoot a maximum of 8 to 10 projectiles before you have to wait for them to return. In practice you usually never run out of them before they come back.
    Slot C - "Homing claw hand". What a weird weapon
    Slot D - "Homing balls"

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  11. In general, I'm not a fan of the homing weapons since they take away from the fun of actually having to aim at your target. Also I think CX-4's weapons are made intentionally weird or weaker since he has the advantage of being small and double jumps. Sometimes his small size makes it easier to avoid enemy attacks, especially during bosses.

    I tend to prefer the more traditional weapons of CX-1 and 2, but they are all interesting in their own way.

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  12. I'm making a run with CX-2 right now to see how far I get on a single credit.

    Commentary about each section as I go along...

    So far I beat the first stage without being hit.

    My opinion is for the second stage, the one where you chase the alien commander is easier.

    Man, the garbage dump stage's midboss is hard... My best tip is to pay attention to what appendage he throws out. If he throws out his arms, DUCK and do NOT jump! If he throws out his tail, then jump!

    The virtual reality boss set is really cool. The constellations are easy, but the squares that turn into the tank and helicopter are fairly challenging. Really unique and innovative boss. I love it!

    Beginning of jungle level is stupid... It has a ridiculous amount of little gremlin guys. I just took upgraded A weapon and tried to keep moving as fast as possible and mowing them all down. If you don't keep moving, they just keep regenerating , they only stop when you get near the statue head that falls.

    The next few sections are fairly unremarkable until you get to the jungle boss. It is irritating because half the time it is invulnerable to hits, so you have to patiently wait for the sections when it is vulnerable. I still shoot at it anyway even when it's invulnerable. I don't know why. You also have to make sure you don't get killed by screen-scroll when you go up the vertical shaft. Sometimes the game seems to give you extra lives when you die, and I can't quite figure out why or when.

    OK, I am near the last phase of the jungle boss, but with only 1 hit left! We'll see if I can make it past its evil 360 laser beam. Nope... lol. It instakilled me as soon as the laser turned on !

    The best way I've figured to get past this boss is to slide under its body, and keep going in counter clockwise circles around the body ahead of the laser.

    But it's usually best to approach this boss right after a continue, that way you have enough chances to get past it.... :) Until we get better of course!!!

    Well, ,that was entertaining. I just got off work 5 hours ago, now I need to sleep for an hour and a half before I get ready for work again :) lol

    Peace!!!

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  13. Hey, I've passed the jungle level, got till a big robot at the end of the train.

    Ah, you noticed the sliding trick, incredibly helpful, especially cause it seems to provide invincibility for the sliding duration.

    Still hectic and fun as hell, really really entertaining game!!! :)

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  14. Hey, I just learned something. I was looking in this faq:

    http://www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/563317-contra-hard-corps/faqs/60395

    There are 2 types of shooting controls: Shot I (or Type I), which is the default, and Shot II (or Type II), which you can switch to at any time by holding your 'shoot' button, then pressing your 'select weapon' button. Switching to Type II shooting means that whenever you hold down your 'shoot' button, pressing any of the directional pad buttons will aim your gun in that direction. Of course, this also means that you cannot move while shooting in Type II mode.

    For Type I, being the default, this means that when you hold your 'shoot' button, you will also move in whatever direction you are aiming at. Whenever you have to aim at tough angles or when it's critical to stand still while shooting, you should consider switching to Type II shot. Note that it is possible to beat the game without ever switching to Type II shooting, especially if you're playing Browny.

    What!!!

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  15. FYI that faq is for the US version

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  16. P.S... I saw 2 of the endings today, they were kind of a let down. I think they were based on if you follow the alien for level 2 instead of rescuing the research center.

    Next I am going to try to get the other endings that happen after you rescue the research center.

    Then I am going to take a bunch of screenshots and see if I can get the "best" ending on the fewest credits :)

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  17. According to this graph:
    http://db.gamefaqs.com/img/95/60395-1.jpg

    I have completed ends A and B. I did B first, and the last bossfight series was really easy.

    IMO "D" seems like the "real ending" since it has a 7th level. I guess I'll go for C next and then D

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  18. Wow !!!! I just did an attempt at C ending.... I was doing really well, got all the way to stage 6 on my second credit! Then I got to the final boss.... Holy moly this thing is difficult! After 4 credits total, I still can't beat it... It has several phases, some of which are weird and grotesque. The one that gets me, there is this beating heart, surrounded by about 2 dozen heads that come out in a sphere around it, and it is really hard to dodge them when they expand out.

    Craziness.

    Also there is a huge blue robot boss at the end of the train level which is REALLY cool. I took a ton of screenshots, will post some of the best ones in the post-mortem.

    Next run I'll try for D ending!

    Peace out!

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  19. Here's the big blue robot:
    http://s16.postimg.org/5cv7g3ipx/2015_03_11_02_55_33_Fusion_3_64_Mega_Drive_PR.png

    Here's the boss with the heads:
    http://s16.postimg.org/dq0warhxh/2015_03_11_03_06_34_Fusion_3_64_Mega_Drive_PR.png

    wtf? I don't even know if that is the last phase of the boss or not.

    Craaaazy .

    I wish you could post images in the comments here.

    Anyway.

    I'll stop spamming our comments now :)

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  20. P.S... Type 2 shooting is very useful for bosses.

    PPS, i saw your previous post you already saw the huge blue robot! Sorry !!!!

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  21. I just 1cc'ed the special stage ending.

    Umm, weird is all I gotta say about that....

    Now to conquer D ending!

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  22. Man, you're good!

    Yes, I knew about the Shoot types, but that didn't help me to reach any ending so far. That FAQ looks really interesting, I might read it all.

    Crazzzyyyy, I don't know how you found that game, but that's really one of a kind!

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  23. For whatever reason, I decided to record my playthrough last night. I used the emulator "Fusion" (Previously known as Kega Fusion).

    I did really well, getting to the Ocean stage on my first credit! Also I had never played this stage before.

    Level 1:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l9DbqoSKgw

    Level 2 (Research facility):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kgEphVreIY

    Level 3:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mCRP57RCJ0

    Level 4:
    http://youtu.be/zTIMBUUp1A8

    Level 5 (Stay and Fight):
    http://youtu.be/KNLNcEgPYyg

    Level 6 (Ocean):
    http://youtu.be/q9KR4Cco5ik

    :)

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  24. Hey, hey, very impressing! I like how you beat the mid-boss of the first stage (just getting in the middle of the fire bursts), and the last boss of stage 4 (just turn around it to avoid the tesla beams, lol, I didn't think about that).

    I didn't watch beyond to avoid the spoiler.

    But right after watching them I managed to clear the first ending (the secret stage), and with only 1 credit. That was not that hard but that's a start! ;-)

    I'll try to see if I can record my games as well.

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  25. Sweet, good job on the secret stage! Weird stuff isn't it? I would recommend the A and B endings next, they aren't too hard. I'm still working on D

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  26. Here's me playing if you're curious ;-)

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2987665/Probotector_A-Lin.avi

    Sorry for the many pauses (my son woke up multiple times).

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  27. Watching..

    We definitely have different playing styles. You seem to be really confident with the sliding move. Whereas I am scared to use it most of the time :)

    I lol'ed when you hid off the top of the screen during the vertical shaft on the jungle boss. I had no idea you could do that!!! Awesome!

    Cool, you chose the train route. The time or two I played it, I thought that was an awesome level.

    Lol, you paused it right when you were getting kicked in the face by the huge blue robot. You know that screenshot is going on the blog later lolllll

    When the game is paused, I can imagine you saying "Ce est OK , aller dormir petit gars" :)

    Good job on the playthrough my friend! Keep practicing that last boss for the C ending, it's got some really evil phases... Particularly the "sphere of heads" as I mentioned before !

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  28. "When the game is paused, I can imagine you saying "Ce est OK , aller dormir petit gars" :) "

    Hehe, exactly :-D

    Actually at the time of recording I didn't realize it's the C ending, I'll try the A and B this evening as there easier. :-)

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  29. OK, I'm going to have some time this weekend, and I'm going to practice the last parts of the D end a couple times, and then I'm going to make an attempt at the D ending and see how many credits I use :)

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  30. Woohoo! I've finally managed to 1CC ending A. :)

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  31. Dude good job!!!! I haven't done that yet. I also haven't had a chance to make my run at the D ending. Sooon, very soooooon :)

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  32. Rumor has it that you have also 1cc'ed B and C endings !!! What!!

    I really haven't had any time to play it in over a week. I better get my game on. I did try to play a bit on Saturday night on PSP while I was camping out in a tent on, but it was toooo cold (about -3 degrees), so not very fun.

    I'll try again soooon

    :)

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  33. Hey, the rumors are correct. Actually I've just 1CC D!!! With 4 lives an 2 energy levels left. :-)

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  34. Dude!

    That is really impressive. OK, I have got a LOT of work ahead of me. I'm going to have to stay up late tonight to get a good attempt at this!

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  35. Sweet, I just 2cc'ed the D ending! What got me was the boss at the end of the alien level, with his speed of movement. The second time I played it, I tried to think more like you and slide a lot instead of jumping... and it worked. :)

    I say we might be able to handle this game without the hitpoint restoration hack soon :)

    But I'm getting pretty tired of it as is. Gonna make another run on Hurrican soon.

    When do you wanna retire these two games and move to the next round? I'm ready pretty soon.

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  36. 2cc D, you're almost there! What I found the most difficult is the triple-boss on the water. The ending boss is actually very easy, if you slide.

    I won't be playing Probotector, and I gave up trying to get Hurrican to work. So I'm done for that round. I'm gonna be pretty busy for the next 8 days. I'm ready to start the new round after that.

    To conclude, Probotector was a hell of a pick, I'm gonna remember that one! Very fun round. :-)

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  37. Sounds good my friend :) I will make a couple more runs during the next 8 days, and then post a "post mortem" with a bunch of screenshots and then we'll start the next round!

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