Run Information | |||
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Completion Date | Oct. 30, 2014 | ||
State | Published | ||
Runner | 'Zakky the Goatragon' | ||
Internal Comments: | |||
Comment State | Information | Checkpoint | None |
13:44 |
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Links | |||
Verification Thread |
Run Comments |
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Low G Man has long been a favorite game of mine, but I am pretty sure that for the longest time I never envisioned seriously running it. When I obtained a copy a few years ago the thought was certainly in the back of my mind, but I only got around to my first "run" of it earlier this year. What I would call my first official run of the game clocked in at a little over 20:30. Then the game slipped under the pile again as other projects took precedence. A few months later PJ tweeted about having obtained a copy of the game and having found a way to clip into/through ceilings. I was looking for a new run to work on and it seemed like a good time to pick up the game again. In less than a week, I beat the time of the previous SDA run of 15:32. Then not much more than a month later, if even that, this run happened; a 12:54 that is over two and a half minutes faster than that 15:32. What a ride! From a PB of a little over 20:30 down to 12:54 in just over a month! And now, about the run. Let me start by addressing the controls for this game. The controls are finicky and when you try to do ANYTHING precise, they become downright awkward to work with. - Running: Pressing the d-pad twice in a direction and holding the last press will allow you to run. Seems simple, right? This is really a lot more awkward than you would think it should be. There is often a slight delay before you even start running and sometimes you can start a run intentionally or just not run at all at a critical time. - Jumping: You can increase the maximum height at which you can jump by picking up certain power-ups. This is awesome, but also makes controlling just how high you jump a lot more difficult. - Spearing: By holding up or down and pressing B you spear in that particular direction. The problem is if you are not exclusively holding up or down you will fire the Electro Magnetic Disruptor Pistol (EMDP, or freeze gun as most know it as). For instance, if you hold up+right on the d-pad you will not spear, you will fire the EMDP instead. Techniques and Tricks: - Attack Invincibility: While an enemy is taking a hit from your EMDP or spear you are invulnerable to taking damage. This helps a lot when spearing upwards using the Sideways Jump Spear technique on some bosses. It also is helpful in preventing damage when a frozen boss you are attacking from above unfreezes, also allowing you to refreeze the boss very easily from within its sprite. - Clipping: Frozen enemies have interesting properties. They are essentially platforms, but the game will either force you on top of them or down from them depending on how you jump into them. If there is a one block ceiling, you can use this property to cause the enemy to force you into and through that ceiling. This trick, as also mentioned above, was discovered by PJ. - Slide Prevention: Sometimes when you land from being airborne you will slide momentarily and be unable to perform any action until the slide ends. Firing the EMDP within 15 frames of landing will prevent the slide. It mostly just saves a few frames, but in some places it is beneficial in avoiding getting hit by things. I attempt to use this pretty extensively in 4-1 and there are scattered places throughout the rest of the run where I also try to make use of this. RNG - Metorilla: This guy is the boss of 4-1 and he teleports around the room to random places. So naturally, he can either teleport somewhere completely outside of the room, in the walls, or somewhere else inconvenient. "Twenty seconds ahead, you say? Well I'll take care of that!" Also the death of many runs. - Warpwing: He is the boss of 5-1 and exactly like Metorilla, except that he is accompanied by four Metorilla clones. ALL of their teleport locations, of course, are random. Fortunately the Metorilla clones only take one hit, but if you do not kill them quickly, they will inevitably get in your way. The teleports are not as bad here as in the Metorilla fight, at least as far as being able to attack the boss, but unlike Metorilla, Warpwing can teleport right on top of you. Chapter by Chapter: 1-2: Manufacturing Zone I maxed out the EMDP and received the 1 jump power-up I needed at the start of the stage. I did not receive any spear power-up drops so I had to kill a few enemies at the end of the stage. Fortunately those enemies dropped both spear power-ups that I needed, leaving me 1 jump power-up short of where I needed to be overall, but in very good shape power-up wise. The stage itself went well and, aside from being too quick and taking a bullet to the face, the Lumpy fight went well, too. 1-3: Metal Head 2-1: Frozen Waste 2-2: Ocean Depths 2-3: The Submarine Toward the end of the stage I missed the downward spear on a gun that I froze. I stopped to destroy it because leaving that gun up will prevent the turret used for the second clip from spawning. I then messed up attempting to freeze the next gun and took a hit from it. The rest went smoothly, though, as I performed the second clip first try and the boss fight was good. 3-1: Cobalt Mines Note the upwards spear during the last high jump of the stage. I took advantage of the attack invincibility to do something stylish. It was also a little bit practical, as well, as it removed any chance of accidentally getting stuck on top of the enemy had I tried to freeze it instead. I defeated Eggriphobe in one freeze cycle exactly as I should have. 3-2: Magma Mountains 3-3: The Cliffs 3-4: Super Tank 4-1: The Tower This fight is a lot like the Spiron fight in how you have to react to what he does, or in this case where he teleports to. Given where he decided to teleport and the time I had to react, I think I handled this fight decently. 4-2: Industrial Zone Fourarm is a nasty boss. Taking a hit in the wrong place will result in a massive overdose of poison. This fight could have gone better, as I shorted jumps on a few spear attacks and fired the EMDP once, but it did not take any more passes than usual. 4-3: Mother Ship 5-1: Getting Close It was not my best fight against Warpwing, but far from the worst. Aside from the missed Metorilla clone opportunity and one awkward spawn from him, I did all right keeping up. 5-2: Final Encounter The rest of the stage went very well and I was really happy with how the final boss fight went. I purposely took that hit from the last bubble to get it out of the way. The bubbles are very dangerous as they follow you around, are indestructible, and often launch you to the side and put you at risk of dropping in a pit when they hit you. In this case, I got the best possible outcome and got boosted straight down. Conclusion Thanks |