Post by Manocheese on May 14, 2013 0:22:47 GMT
I've thought about speed running Challenge Mode before and posted about it a little on Speed Demos Archive, but I didn't spend much time on it. I decided to give it another go, so I'd like to start a strategy discussion. Here are my thoughts on each difficulty:
Normal: I've been using a Death ICBM and a G Black. The Death ICBM is there for Battle 5. With it, you can kill both dragons in one explosion. G Black is there for the other four battles. He dominates in the first two; almost every enemy dies in one hit from his air dash melee (an overhead swing), and he can kill them right after they become vulnerable. In Battle 3, some borgs die with one overhead swing and others take a few more. Black Crash generally does a little more damage than an overhead swing, so I sometimes jump over a borg, then Black Crash down into them. Once I fill up the Hyper Meter, I enter Hyper Mode immediately and finish the battle with Black Crash. Battle 4 is similar, except that the borgs generally have more health. It can be useful to attack them until you knock them down, then switch to another borg. I've finished Normal mode in 3:36 with these strategies.
Tuff: A big dragon is probably the best bet here. The choices are Flame, Blizzard, Plasma, and Cosmic. The breath attacks are pretty close in power and HP isn't much of an issue, so the B attack is the most important factor. Cosmic has a relatively weak B attack, so he's probably the worst. Plasma's B attack generally makes borgs invincible for a while, so he's probably not the best either. Of the other two, Flame's B attack is probably more useful because it creates a big explosion, so I think he's the best choice. It may be desirable to put a Death ICBM before Flame Dragon, but it's hard to say. I'm not sure what a good time would be, but it would probably be under 9 minutes.
Insane: Jamescom1 did a run of Insane in 13:58 back in 2006. He used two Death ICBMs and a Plasma Dragon. As discussed above, I think Flame Dragon would be better. Also, I'm not sure how much time the Death ICBMs save. It might be a good idea to take out one or both of them.
If anyone has any strategies or times to share, post away.
Normal: I've been using a Death ICBM and a G Black. The Death ICBM is there for Battle 5. With it, you can kill both dragons in one explosion. G Black is there for the other four battles. He dominates in the first two; almost every enemy dies in one hit from his air dash melee (an overhead swing), and he can kill them right after they become vulnerable. In Battle 3, some borgs die with one overhead swing and others take a few more. Black Crash generally does a little more damage than an overhead swing, so I sometimes jump over a borg, then Black Crash down into them. Once I fill up the Hyper Meter, I enter Hyper Mode immediately and finish the battle with Black Crash. Battle 4 is similar, except that the borgs generally have more health. It can be useful to attack them until you knock them down, then switch to another borg. I've finished Normal mode in 3:36 with these strategies.
Tuff: A big dragon is probably the best bet here. The choices are Flame, Blizzard, Plasma, and Cosmic. The breath attacks are pretty close in power and HP isn't much of an issue, so the B attack is the most important factor. Cosmic has a relatively weak B attack, so he's probably the worst. Plasma's B attack generally makes borgs invincible for a while, so he's probably not the best either. Of the other two, Flame's B attack is probably more useful because it creates a big explosion, so I think he's the best choice. It may be desirable to put a Death ICBM before Flame Dragon, but it's hard to say. I'm not sure what a good time would be, but it would probably be under 9 minutes.
Insane: Jamescom1 did a run of Insane in 13:58 back in 2006. He used two Death ICBMs and a Plasma Dragon. As discussed above, I think Flame Dragon would be better. Also, I'm not sure how much time the Death ICBMs save. It might be a good idea to take out one or both of them.
If anyone has any strategies or times to share, post away.
