A year of (Time) Crisis - Follow up

"VSSE! You fools!"

So it's been two years since I tried to get back into the Time Crisis series with Smraedis.

2013 was a busy year for trying to play to my best as well as giving assistance to SM in co-op play. Here's what happened with the first game and the 1997 sequel if you want a refresher on what happened.

Here's a catch up on what happened since then.

In 2014, I got an Elgato Game Capture HD capture device and could easily record and stream from my PS2 as well as today's consoles. I started off streaming Time Crisis II on the PS2. I even streamed practice sessions (on an ISP that provided less than 1Mb/s upload speed - Thankfully no longer use their service!). Thanks to some reminders from SM, I got 1.4 million live! That so far is my best score. It's been a while so I can only manage 1.2 at best at the moment.

Just reached it! (12/3/14)

Additionaly, I've managed to pull off more some 1CCs on TC3 and 4 which is making me confident (I'll work on score when I can get 1CCs more regularly).

There's one more thing regarding TCII that I want to share at the end. But first, what of the original game?

Unfortunately, the AC version of TC1 is a rare sight these days. You might remember that I mentioned there was a (mostly) working cab in Blackpool's Funland. But going there in April 2014, SM and I found that the gun didn't work. And there was no sign that it was going to be fixed any time soon. In fact, going there at the time showed me that the video game scene there was just all but remaining machines from the 2000s on their last legs. People declared the UK arcade scene "dead" in 2000 but I always thought there was something to play on ten years ago. No video game cabs are being worked on and no sign of new games are showing anymore. A sad time for anyone who grew up with fond memories of the seaside arcade.

In other words, playing the AC ver of TC1 isn't possible for me...but SM took steps to get it working at home!

The PCB and the supergun all hooked up. The inside of an arcade machine isn't a glamorous as it looks!

The gun and pedal.

He managed to buy a Time Crisis PCB and the complete setup (sans cabinet) some time ago to run it on a supergun (a device made to run arcade JAMMA games on your home TV and whatever specially built controls you can plug into it to play). But many issues stood in the way before he could get it working. The video sync cable internally split, the light gun's signal failing to pick up, lot of rewiring based trial and error, too much power that ended up damaging a JAMMA adapter. All sorts of things going wrong. Even the gun had to be carefully connected or it can lose power. But after much persistence, it finally worked.

People used to say with the PS1 version, you could have the arcade version of Time Crisis in your home...This is a better way of having it at home.

And how well is he doing? Pretty well so far! He's finally nailed under 10 minutes for Story Mode. This was a goal he wanted to reach for a long time. Gamest magazine's best known record is 9'35"05. Can SM conquer it? Only time and practice will tell.

(And if anyone can hook me up with a supergun/JAMMA cab converted TC1 kit, let us know!! I'll have a lot of catching up to do at this rate)

Back to Time Crisis II...

Seeing that the AC cabs are just as hard to find as the first, it's down to the PS2 port to continue our link play attempts. Back in 2013, thanks to SM's strategy and score analysis, we reached a massive record of 2.2 million. This was when we were at our best too. Could it been done again?

Fast forward to Play Expo 2014 in Manchester.

To my surprise, someone had a good number of light gun games set up. Including PS2 TCII on linked consoles! Set up well too! (I've lost count how many times something never worked 100% on a setup - either by a rushed setting up process or wear and tear - or even abuse from the punters)

Nearly a year after our 2.2 million run, we had a few attempts. Our technique were pretty much the same. Our results follows...

• 11/10/14 - 1954790
• 12/10/14 - 2011210

Certainly not bad. Been a while since we last played on link and the setup wasn't as good as we would have it at home (video output was composite connections which isn't as good as RGB and can affect the gun's accuracy slightly). But we had fun.

And nearly another year later, we wanted to keep going. To get that little further in our 2.2 million score. Not only that, we had the idea of doing something a little ambitious.

August 2015. Popped over to SM's place. After having a good through "test" of his TC1 setup. We decided to play TCII again. We had a few practice sessions to shake off the rust. We even tried changing some of the strategy to see if it would help improve anything. In the end we stuck to what worked for the most part.

A few satisfactory runs later, one of us had an idea. Do something that's rarely seen: Use two game capture devices on both PS2s and record both sides in action! Usually, only one side was recorded for reference. But we thought wouldn't it be neat to record both player 1 and 2 on link and sync them up to create a genuine link play video?

Some time was needed to set it up to say the least. A desktop PC with a capture device hooked up to Player 1's PS2 and a laptop with another capture device handy hooked up to Player 2! To complicate matters, they were two different capture devices so some time was required to make sure both were recording fine. Also on my side, the capture device had trouble with the video signal. Said device could only output S-Video instead of a split signal from RGB Scart cable (S-Video never took off in Europe). We had to switch to composite as a last minute compromise. A lesser quality picture was a small price to pay. Though it did also mean shooting the edges of the screen was slightly harder but I was determined to give it my all.

The recording on both consoles was successful! Because of how different the two capture devices recorded the footage, a lot of polishing was required in post production. Thankfully, SM knew how to make it look good when he edited and a few weeks later (and a day of rendering/uploading). This appeared on his YouTube channel...

Not only did we manage to get both consoles in action, we got a little further with our past record! From 2200390 in 2013 to 2231360 this year. A nice little boost!

If you watch the video, you can see for yourself why one player does certain waves while the other player remains inactive. This is to maximise the scoring potential as opposed to having both players "sharing" the score. This was mostly left to SM. His experience in chaining hits is greater than mine but it was left to me to try and take care of certain waves if my side reached it first.

Taking care of the tank

One example: In Stage 1 - Area 1, the 2P side reaches the tank quicker and while either one or both players can take down the enemies then the tank as seen in SM's solo play videos, taking down the tank instantly in Link Play gives a similar score thanks to a quicker time bonus at the end of the area. A more quicker and effective way of getting through Stage 1. Another example: In Stage 2 - Area 2 after taking on the tank with the machine gun, I have better reach of the enemies up the stairs.

Taking on Buff Bryant. Note that in the PS2 version, he is a lot quicker with handling the missile while he's more slower in the arcade version

We also made sure to get the yellow "bonus point" enemies. Some are harder to reach on certain player's sides but we were in good sync with taking as many down as possible.

My only real flaw in my performance is taking a few hits. It's not unusual to lose a few lives in an average run but at best, a "no-miss" (lose no lives) is possible. SM lost no lives in this run. At Stage 2 - Area 2. I was expecting a red coloured enemy to appear at the end of the wave but I was caught by surprise by a blue coloured enemy who managed to fire a "Crisis sighting" (AKA a red "fatal" shot that will hit you unless you take cover).

Blue guys = cannon fodder (most of the time)
Red guys = Marksmen (most of the time)

For those that haven't played the TC series, blue enemies are the least threatening (with roughly a 1 in 10 chance that their first shot will be a fatal one) while red enemies are the ones to look out for because their first shot is fatal 99% the time (oddly enough sometimes, this isn't always the case in TCII). Knowing the red enemy would appear last, I let my guard down. The difficulty adjusts itself for 2 player mode to make it more challenging. Wild Dog in Stage 3 requires more hits to take down in link play.

Ernesto Diaz isn't going down without one last bullet.

My second life was lost right at the last hurdle! To maximise scoring against the final boss (Ernesto Diaz), it's simply a matter of firing and chaining as many shots as possible against the satellite. Shooting Diaz is a more quicker way of defeating him but the satellite is the priority for scoring. In the final wave, if you keep piling the shots on the satellite instead of Diaz, he's programmed to fire a parting shot just before he is finally defeated! I was in the heat of the moment and didn't take cover. Looking back, I thought our combined fire would take him down before he could do that. But on a positive view, this was right at the end and would have only hampered our score by a tiny amount. SM finished him off!

I did also make the mistake of hitting my partner once in Stage 1. You lose 1000 points with friendly fire but SM got an enemy who cross our paths before I could. Thankfully, we didn't hit Christy Ryan in Stage 3 (you lose a lot more - although an accidental hit on her registered before defeating Wild Dog, it didn't count - It's Area 3 that you have to be careful not to hit her)

The results of VSSE teamwork! Why is my score lower? Simply because SM took care of most of the solo waves as mentioned before.

Despite my few errors, they were minor and I still think this was a fantastic run. The fact that it's our best score so far pretty much says it all. I am very pleased to be involved and I hope you enjoy watching the video!

People have asked if we will cover Time Crisis 3 and 4 in the future. I personally wouldn't say no but the scoring system in those games are different to the second game. SM has this to explain:

"With TC3, getting full combos and maintaining the no miss hit bonus adds a great amount to score, dropping both of these will just reduce your maximum score potential. There isn't a no miss hit bonus in TC4, and time bonus and accuracy bonus reduces the importance of full combos"

With that in mind, it's not likely going to happen. And in the PS3 version of TC4, there isn't a link option. There is a split screen mode but it's not the same and the port plays somewhat differently from the arcade version (it lags more if you play it with the PS3 on a high definition display setting - it still does on a standard definition setting but not as much! Both the standalone and Razing Storm pack versions are identical)

Never the less, you can check out SM's YouTube channel and enjoy his solo runs on mentioned sequels. You can learn a lot from them.

So with those games having been thoroughly played, what's next?

A new crisis in 2015

I hope to do a write up on the recently released Time Crisis 5 in the near future. Thanks for reading!

"Don't let Wild Dog escape!"

北斗のショック

(Special thanks to Smraedis for his input)

2013: A year of (Time) Crisis - Part 2

After being inspired to play Time Crisis to improve my skills again, Smraedis said he needed a co-op partner to see what the highest score can be achieved on Time Crisis II (At first the PS2 port and later the arcade version). I was willing to help despite not having much confidence or experience in my skills. And so we attempted to reach a new milestone. As SM demonstrated, increasing knowledge of the scoring and combo system and regular practice is the key to improving oneself in the sequels of Namco's hit light gun game.

TIME CRISIS II (LINK PLAY)

PLAYSTATION 2 VERSION

On a trip to Manchester, I visited SM's place to see what we could do. SM managed to calculate that the highest score that was practical was just above 2.2 million. A much higher score could be possible in theory but would require a completely flawless playthrough (the only way would be by doing a
"Tool-assisted speedrun"/TAS which wouldn't be fair game). Human error always has to be factored into when you play a game.

In an average game, it's not unusual to lose a few lives although we both managed a "No-miss" (meaning no lives were lost in the entire playthrough) run many times. To get a decent score and increase your skill, it is recommended to practice until you can regularly managed a 1CC (1 credit clear - the ultimate challenge in an arcade game. Basically means to clear the game without losing all lives and using the continue function). To do a 1CC and/or a No-miss requires playing the game to study the enemy/bosses' patterns, getting the hang of your aim and honing your reflexes to dodge "Crisis sightings" (red marked bullets coming towards the centre of the screen - the game's warning that your character is about to be hit and lose one life).

This can take a lot of time to succeed so don't give up if you're losing confidence as time passes. If you're feeling extremely frustrated, a little break from playing can work wonders. In the end however, persistence pays off. For more information on how to effectively clear TCII and understand the scoring system, GameFAQs has a few great guides for reference.

With the use of a capturing device, SM recorded many runs on TCII to study when was best to either clear a section of a stage as quickly as possible (while maintaining a high combo and score) or to milk as much points as possible. He figured that it was best for one player (the 1P side) to take care of certain scenes (usually a large constant wave of enemies) on their own as it would ensure a higher score and combo than two players co-operating. As I usually played on the 2P side, my character would reach some scenes faster than the 1P side so it would be up to me to take care of what awaits.

Here were our playthrough results.

20/4/13:

• 1,843,830
• 1,824,370
• 1,986,990
• 2,008,350

In the first few attempts, it was clear that I had to get used to new tactics and we experimented with a few differences to see what would give us a superior score. It was during these warm-up playthroughs I realised something important: I never paid full attention to the scoring and effectively taking down enemies before. The best way for score would be to shoot the enemy three time.

Ideally, all three shots should be to the head (most points are awarded for head shots, least are shots to the limbs) but because of the way the enemy falls and the risk of losing your no-miss streak bonus, this isn't always possible (You're rewarded 500 points for every ten shots that successfully hit. Miss one shot and the streak resets. The highest hit streak bonus is 5000 if you land 99+ hits without missing! Knowing this can make a big difference in your score). To minimise the risk of missing your streak and keep a good score going, it is best to try a counter terrorist unit style takedown: One shot to the head, two to the torso.

If we were going to reach a new high score, I would have to play big or not at all. I paid more attention than ever before to clearing the areas. I was familiar with the patterns but my method of scoring needed to improve and fast. In the end, 2 million was finally reached! I never thought we would ever reach it but we were both happy. Our afternoon of practicing gave us the results we were looking for!

 

20th April 2013: Reached 2 million!

We felt we were on such a roll, we even attempted to score high on the arcade version of TCII in the Trafford Centre*. Results on that later.

*As of this writing, the TCII machine is no longer at the Trafford Centre. To my knowledge, few TCII cabs remain across the UK. Currently, there is one in workable condition in Oasis (Morecambe) and one in Heart of Gaming (London). The Trocadero in London has a few machines but both are at very poor condition (most of the machines in the Trocadero are working terrible to be frank).

Several months later, I returned to SM's place to try and crack the ideal goal of 2.2 million. After a few practice runs prior to arriving, I was feeling more confident. We discovered a few changes were needed to improve our score and to keep going at it. A few differences on my end was to take care of the wave of enemies after the tank in Stage 2, Area 1 and trying to concentrate all rounds on the satellite (and if possible to reach 99 hits) in the final boss stage.

And our results? See for yourself.

19/11/13:

•  2,080,220
•  2,200,390

19th November: 2.2 million achieved! Close to the ideal score!

As far as I can remember, getting used to the new changes in our strategy and understanding why they worked better is what landed us 2.2 million! You may have noticed that my score (2P side) is lower than SM's score. This is partly because SM cleared some scenes on his own as it would benefit our total score. It was better for one to get as the highest combo and bonuses possible. My skill level still needs much development but I can safely say I got a better hang of things than ever before. We finally triumphed!

TIME CRISIS II (LINK PLAY) 

ARCADE VERSION

Celebrating our success, SM suggested we try to achieve a higher score on the arcade version. As we were on a roll, I went for it.

One thing worth pointing out is that there are small subtle differences between the AC and PS2 version that can make differences to the scoring. (one little example is that in Stage 3, Area 2, you can still pile in hits on the attack helicopters even after taking them down on the PS2 version. You can't on the AC version).

I also had to admit that I'm not used to the AC version entirely. The arcade guns are more heavier than the PS Guncons and the recoil feature on the AC guns take some getting used to (the slide blows back when you fire to imitate the automatic function of a handgun - a neat feature). There's also a difference between sitting down and standing for a few hours (my foot on the reload pedal gets worn out after a while) which could speak volumes of my physical stamina!

20-21/4/13:

At first, our best was at 1.4 million. Then we reached the impressive feat of 1.5 million. But we weren't satisfied...

...until we filled the top 5 with 1.5 million!! This happened a few hours into our practice.

Small anecdote: Before I caught up to SM for our co-op session, a couple of idiots were fighting each other around the cinema and grappling on the ground near SM. But he carried on playing the game like a trooper! Now that takes nerves of steel!!

I don't have an exact record of our scores but the above photos shows it all. We fed quite a few credits and were on such a roll, we filled the link play ranking board. All previous players were blown out of the competition!

Could we go even further? Fast foward several months later...

11/10/13

The day before Play Expo 2013, we arranged to meet up in the evening and see if we could go beyond 1.5 million. I was quite exhausted and felt rusty as I didn't regularly practice around the time. And I spent most of the day wandering around Manchester city centre with a friend which did take its toll on me.

After a few minor adjustments to our tactics and much persistence...

 First success: Close to 1.6 million.

One hour later: 1.6 million! Close to 1.7 as well. Unfortunately, as I was exhausted and rusty, I had to continue once right at the last boss. I mistimed dodging the satellite lasers.

We were pretty much satisfied with the end results. We believed we could have gone further but the machine was removed around a month later. This sadly leaves very little arcade games worth playing in the Trafford Centre. Even so, we were pleased we reached so far on both versions. It was all worth it.

TIME CRISIS II (SOLO) 

PLAYSTATION 2 VERSION

Not much to note on my end. Needless to say that SM excels at both versions on Solo Play and I have a lot of catching up to do. As of this writing, SM has reached 1.9 million in the end of 2012. You can watch this playthrough in action here.

As for me?

18/7/13:

Reached 1.3 million. (Amateur photography by Hokuto no Shock)

What you don't see are my old initials I used a decade ago. G.F (Gray Fox) and SFK (Slugfest King - Too long to explain the origin of that name)

Compared to when I first played this game many years ago, I couldn't reach 1 million (on average it was 600,000-800,000 points) which showed that I used to never carefully consider the scoring as much. Many runs over the years have been 1CC however and No-miss at best. It was since seeing SM in action that I was inspired to play again to improve myself even if it was a slight boost in score.

As said before, SM uses a capturing device to record (and occasionally stream) his playthroughs. Great for playing back and studying what needs working on (and a good way to broadcast your best moments on the internet). I bought one sometime after April and started to record several attempts on TCII.

It's nothing impressive but I have uploaded a few runs. This one is admittedly not my best but an attempt to return to form. This double gun run is just for a laugh as I mix shotgun on Gun 1 and machine gun on Gun 2. Trying to breeze through the game John Woo style. As you'll see, it can be game breaking!

If you want to see some high level play, I recommend Smraedis and otoko4th/KRT. (I may update more channels as I come across more)

TIME CRISIS II (SOLO)

ARCADE VERSION

UPDATE: SM has confirmed his best AC Solo score is 1,707,120. Done at Heart of Gaming. Quite a record. As for me, I've only begun to scratch the surface:

9/3/13:

 Reached 1 million twice in one day. Both 1CC! This was in the Oasis arcade in Morecambe (the only video game in there)

 4/5/13: 1,088,610 (Not pictured - Failed to 1CC)

Not much of an improvement. This was when I kept attending arcades on a weekend. That came to a stop as I couldn't handle a 2 hour train ride every week and the weekend does bring out some obnoxious people. On on of my last trips however...

22/6/13:

 Two attempts: 1.13 million and then 1.17 million (with 1CC)! Quite a boost between two runs. This is so far my best score on the AC version.
Also at some point the score reset between my trips (note the default score on 4th and 5th place)

And for now, that's the highest I managed on both versions. I'll be the first to admit that I need more practice if I want to reach a higher score. But as I won't be able to play the AC version much, I'll need to concentrate on the home version and see if I can beat 1.3 million and if I can take it further.

And after that? I'll likely try to get decent at the sequels. I must confess I have still yet to clear Time Crisis 3 with a 1CC. I find the difficulty spikes near the end of the game. Since TCII, the future entries have a dynamic difficulty adjustment system. The better you are, the more fierce the enemies will be.

As for TC4, I did manage to 1CC it once on the PS3 version. The PS3 version does have quite a few changes from the AC version which takes some getting used to. Furthermore, TC 3 and 4 are more longer than the first two entries (Average game of TCII: 15 minutes. TC3/4: 30 minutes).

But for now as SM and I continue to better ourselves in this light gun game series, our hunt for a superior score still goes on.

"Keith and Robert are on their way...No one can beat them..."

北斗のショック

2013: A year of (Time) Crisis - Part 1

ACTION!
(This machine was played in the upper floor of Funland in Blackpool. Gun's aim is slightly off by an inch but workable.)

Keeping up the tradition of rarely updating a blog, I thought it's finally time to update some milestones in my Time Crisis rankings this year.

2013 has been a difficult year for me personally (hence the post's title). But after being inspired to pick up on Time Crisis and reach new achievements, I can be proud of at least of my game playing skills.

And it started with getting to know an expert player who has taken many first place spots in the Time Crisis machines of Britain: Smraedis. If you haven't seen him in action, here is his YouTube channel. This guy has practiced hard on shmups and light gun games for a long time and it shows. In the late 2000s, I used to keep seeing my scores in nearby arcades taken over by a certain ".SM". I wondered who this new challenger was for a long time! After meeting him in Replay 2011 and Play Expo 2012, I was inspired to take up a game I used to play regularly once more. At long last, both of us had a reason to practice. A drive to aim for the top!

I took many shots of our rankings but I'll stick to my best ones. I couldn't keep track of all the rankings and I can't remember all of SM's times so I'll show what I was up against.

Time Crisis 1 (AC)

STORY MODE

My best time: 10'22"02 (VS .SM 10'23"25)

(28th August 2013)

Previous records:

23/2: 10'56"20 (SM: 10'39"67) 

16/3: 10'52"97

30/3: 10'44"27

6/5: 10'43"97 (SM: 10'38"35)
1/6: 10'34"75 (Finally reached 1st beating SM's previous time)
24/7: SM defeated my 10'34"75 (Afraid I can't recall what exact time it was. I will update this if I know what it was)

Between May-August, SM and I had meetups to practice and compete our best times. During these meetups, SM discovered new strategies to beat his time of 10'38"35. By our last meetup, he went from 10'34"53 to his best time 10'23"25. I started to study and learn his new methods of taking down enemies quicker than before. Our times were so close, any little mistake in our playthrough would cost precious seconds.

After several attempts, I finally reached 1st place! I was slower than usual in Stage 1 (which usually isn't a problem) but had a quick boost by Stage 2. I was able to pull off head shots more consistently (the quickest way to take down a wave of enemies. Three point shots is the 2nd fastest way). Stage 3 was mostly a great run. Successfully taking down enemies quicker like SM could. I didn't think it was ever possible but we were pleased that our meetups produced good results from both of us.

So what's next? Unless we can buy a cabinet (and get a home with lots of space!) or Namco makes a spot on arcade port for today's consoles (the 1997 PlayStation version is very much inferior to the arcade version), there hasn't been much chance to play TC1. Hopefully, our competition shall continue...

"Good luck, Richard!"

北斗のショック

On a personal note: I haven't made regular trips to arcades lately for various reasons. Some personal. Some practical. I have to travel for mainly two hours by train to play in a seaside arcade. So many trips have taken their toll and going on weekends have been personally overwhelming. Blackpool for one isn't so much the family-friendly spot it used to be. My enthusiasm has waned too. With the quality of the cabinets deteriorating over time and with lack of maintenance, it limits what games I can enjoy. In Blackpool's Coral Island, over half of the machines have major faults. In my last trip, a worrying number of games didn't have their displays working. And all it takes is usually reconnecting the signal cables.

So I think from now on, arcade trips will be occasional and practice will continue on console versions. At least at present.

Time Crisis AC Ranking (March 2013)

Improved on my Time Attack rankings from last time. Same machine in Blackpool. Worth noting that gun accuracy is acceptable but it about an inch below the gun sights which can throw my shots off at times. Gun recoil not really working. And there is the occasional graphical glitch (usually explosion effects which doesn't affect the game).

I probably won't practice on the PS1 port for the AC version as there are too many differences that affect performance. For example, the transition from cover to attack or vice-versa (as well as how fast your gun reloads) is more faster then the PS1 version.

In any case. Here are the results. Can't quite nail 1st place in Story Mode. Mainly because there are certain scenes where I'm not quick enough. Such as taking down a group of enemies before they take cover. I often make up for it by taking down the bosses quickly enough but any small mistake can cost seconds.

Time Crisis AC Results - 16/3/2013

Stage 1

2'34"27

 Stage 2

3'22"67

Stage 3

4'48"08

Story Mode

 10'52"97 (Personal Best)

北斗のショック

My Time Crisis Scores (Feb. 2013)

Seeing that I've been trying to improve my personal records on the arcade games I play on Twitter, I thought it would be better to archive them on here. Make things look more clean.

Starting off with the arcade version of Time Crisis. The original. A good working DX machine can be found in Funland, Blackpool. But the cabinet is located upstairs which isn't always open. Seems to be if there's a lot of potential customers around.

I managed to reach 1st place on all three stages in Time Attack mode. Beating .SM/Smraedis' own times but have yet to top Story Mode. Very pleased nevertheless.

Time Crisis Results - 23/2/2013

Stage 1

2'38"30

Stage 2

3'25"78
Top my previous record back in September 2010.

Stage 3

4'57"10

Story Mode

10'56"20

Two playthroughs on that day. Improved by 3.80 seconds on second playthrough. Both 1CC. Improvement came from taking down bosses quicker then before.

So overall, A great improvement on Time Attack but need to work on Story Mode. Tried practising on the PS1 port but it feels quite different from the AC version. Next time I get to play the cab, I'll see what I can do.

That is all.

北斗のショック