Minimalistest Run

whats the least gadgetry you've finished with?

We all know you need every color weapon, and two packs of missiles for the last boss, but how much more can you get away with not having?

You dont need...

Technically any other weapon than pellets and one wave gun, but I would be surprised if anyone got away with this,
Any shield upgrades...
Maybe you can get by without the lava crossing ship? It would be very tricky, but definitely possible.
(you definitely need the third ship though)

Has anyone tried?

No, you definitely can't do without the lava-crossing ship (trust me, I've tried), in particular because crossing the lava without it would be circumventing the reg limit. In fact if you're unbelievably skilled and lucky, you end up reaching a message telling you to turn away and get the second ship, with a force field repulsing you.

Interesting. Do you have a screenshot of this message?

Still, thats many many things you don't need to win.

(sorry for the misspost, btw)

This post has been edited by NebuchadnezzaR : 15 December 2006 - 05:53 PM

@nebuchadnezzar, on Dec 15 2006, 01:49 PM, said in Minimalistest Run:

We all know you need every color weapon, and two packs of missiles for the last boss, but how much more can you get away with not having?

You dont need...

Technically any other weapon than pellets and one wave gun, but I would be surprised if anyone got away with this,
Any shield upgrades...
Maybe you can get by without the lava crossing ship? It would be very tricky, but definitely possible.
(you definitely need the third ship though)

Has anyone tried?

Need is every color, super beam, wave beam, missiles, and both ship upgrades.

Don't need: either shield upgrade, super wave, beam/ super beam, homing/ super homing, any more missiles.

Do you need?: the second pack of missiles: theoretically, it would be possible to win without it. This would require that you get an abundance of boxes when fighting the pen and use most or all of your five missiles before the boxes are opened. However, this would be ridiculously difficult to pull off.

A few days ago, I completed a run using the realistic minimum described above. It is certainly an interesting way to play, and I would recommend it for anybody who is bored with other challenges. For me, there were only two parts of the game that were made much more difficult by it: the part of the wasteland that is completely dark, and the ending boss. The ending boss, in particular, is extremely difficult. The first wave requires that you follow closely on the correct ship while dodging nearly every shot, as a single ship's direct hit will reduce you by around fifteen percent. It took me several hours to finally get through the whole thing, and I have yet to beat it a second time, although several times this was only because I missed with one too many missles. :mad: When I do beat it again, probably this weekend, I will post a screenshot of the ending, as I did not get one on the first run.

edit: additional note: This is only the minimum needed to beat the game legitly. The minimum actually needed to beat the game is minus the wave beam, which as Edwards noted can be circumvented because the pellets travel farther than Sketchfighter's collision detection. This is fixed in 1.0.1 though, so enjoy it while you can.

This post has been edited by Veritus Dartarion : 15 December 2006 - 06:40 PM

I have beaten the game with:
the four colored weapons
super pellets (you need these to get one of the stars, and it helps in one spot in the forest)
the wave gun
10 missles (the pack that

Spoiler

King Crab guards

, and the pack that you get in

Spoiler

the Ice Caves while hitting one of the snowflakes

)
two ship upgrades (one to cross the lava, one to get by the repulsers)

As far as I can tell, this is the absolute minimum needed to beat the game. You need each color to get to certain areas, the super pellets to get one of the stars, the wave gun to get to several areas, 10 missles for the boss, and the two ships. Everything else can be skipped. It can be done without any extra shields, though I don't think it is worth it. And you have to get lucky with the final boss, and hope that the pen draws a couple of rocks that you can blow up for health.

xander

Posted Image

Thus, it appears that 83% is the low to beat, if that is even possible.

Makes me wonder what makes up that 83%... a few items must count for a lot.

@veritus-dartarion, on Dec 16 2006, 07:25 AM, said in Minimalistest Run:

Posted Image

Thus, it appears that 83% is the low to beat, if that is even possible.

Makes me wonder what makes up that 83%... a few items must count for a lot.

The bosses and mini bosses have probably a good amount of %, too.