On Willow...


skeezix

Internal Development
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Ever have one of those ..

.. you say "this'll be the one I log the score for!", and you start out and kill the baddies towards the mountain where that first shopkeeper is; you kill the wolf, then hop down and go for the treasure chest there.

While hopping down though you hit jump too soon so Down is still held, and he does thr power slide (which I didn't know he could do at all) and swooshes right off into the waterfall and dies.

Its like "this is the one.... insa-dead." DOH!

Make sure you pick up that treasure chest top left of that first mountain with the wolves, free 100 points :)

jeff
 
skeezix said:
Ever have one of those ..

While hopping down though you hit jump too soon so Down is still held, and he does thr power slide (which I didn't know he could do at all) and swooshes right off into the waterfall and dies.

Its like "this is the one.... insa-dead." DOH!

Make sure you pick up that treasure chest top left of that first mountain with the wolves, free 100 points :)

jeff


Well, if it makes you feel any better I did the exact same thing. Even after I had read this post. Right as it happened I had to laugh.

To try to save face, it was on my first try of the game and I was trying to figure out all the buttons.

LGR
 
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Heh, I haven't even figured out how to get down off things yet, thanks!

Mind you, I've only just got Willow working. I spent ages unsuccessfully trying to get MAME set up on Ubuntu only to realise it's a CPS1 game and I can run those on my trusty old xbox. Oh for a machine with decent controls that supports PNDs too ;)

Oh and by 'free 100 points', do you mean 100 gold?
 
Yeah - gold. I was trying to horde gold for later but occurs to me .. If we're doing score before any continues, then spend gold on everything that can help :)

Jeffphone

What do you think of the game? I used to love it back in the day, but been a good 15 years since I played it :)
 
I'm enjoying it more than I thought I might. It's a good looking game, especially given it's one of the earlier games released on the CPS-1, and the music's up the Capcom's usual standards. I haven't seen much of it yet, given I've not got to the first shopkeep in the second stage, but you could argue it's a bit repetitive. It controls well though, especially given the large sprites.

I doubt I'd give it a second look if it weren't for this challenge, but as a score attack game it works well - the levels aren't so big to make learning the levels a chore. It's a bit stingy to only give you two lives per continue though!

I too am hoarding gold - but only 2500G so I can buy an extra life unit. Then I only need to be able to make it through the first level in my first life so I can get two extra hit points from that 2500G. Although, put like that maybe getting a charm bracelet would be better value for money. I spend 850G on a spell for use on the wolf boss, then start saving.
 
I'm actually glad there are no prizes or I wouldn't want to talk strategy.

I found it best to upgrade the magic right away with the gold (btw, the chests are random, I once got a potion from the first chest). If you can get the money to buy it from the first shop, it makes the bridge boss much easier and the final boss of level 1 is a piece of cake if you've upgraded your magic and u use the power shot. Just hold the button down and wait for the boss to commit to where he is shooting his fire, then dodge and shoot. Repeat that 4 or 5 times and hes dead.

Its funny, I feel like I'm playing Willow different because of not having continues but when I think about it, if I was at an arcade back in the day I wouldn't want to be pumping quarters into the machine for continues. So in essence I'm forced to play it exactly the way it used to be played. :) Mame games are more fun when you actually care about using continues.
 
Agreed. I always try not to use continues when I'm playing older games. Or at least, games without saves. With games that don't save, I don't mind replaying from the start every time and refining my technique. Also, they don't tend to have complex storylines, so there's less of a desire to see the story continue. Rather than level 2 being the thing that naturally comes after level 1, it's nicer to think of it as the reward for completing level 1.

I dunno, I'm not explaining it well.

Agreed about the magic. It's the first thing I buy, since it's useful against the wolf boss (or at least, I think so - I've never beaten him without it, but then I've not tried in ages). Next is extra max HP, although I'm starting to wonder if that's the right thing to do.

I don't use it against the bridge sub-boss though. Just spam him with shots. I don't find it easy to be mobile and hold up the charge at the same time. Besides, if you spam him enough you can beat him on his second reappearance.

And yes, the chests are random - they either spit out a health potion, 1 gold, 100 gold or 200 gold. I'm not sure if they do small and large potions. On the first hill you usually get a couple hundred out of the chests which is usually enough to get magic at the first shop, but not always. I do remember only getting 102 one time. There are two guys on the approach to the hill that drop 100 (the two on the rocks - the rest just drop 1), and the two before the bottom chest (one of which ambushes you) are usually worth 100 each, but not always. Ditto the wolf, and one of the top guy who drops down. So usually you only need to get 300 out of the chests to get enough for the 850G magic which you get most times but not always.

No big deal though - there's the second shop on the second hill which you can buy magic off. Otherwise I don't use that shop.
 
I found an easter egg in Willow, but its not helping me at all since I die really early. I'm already getting used to the idea that with working on minimenu and libpnd for the next hotfix, and generalyl sucking, that I'll come in last ;)

To be fair .. on the second 'short platform' before the main hill, on the first level of Willow, if oyu just stand on it and shoot to the right for a few seconds, a brownie or pixie or something will appear; I seem to recall from back in the day that you'd get this guy from the shopkeep later or something, but you can get him right away for free. .. but he vanishes as soon as you die, so I tend to lose him right away anyway :)

jeff

So there, now you can get more points than me, more efficiently ;)
 
Oh yeah, I saw that in a youtube video I watched (yeah, I know). I'm not sure if it's worth it though - it disappears if you die and I'm not sure if it makes it through to round two. It also takes a long time to get, and my current strategy is to try to speed-run level 1 to still get some time points while not losing a life.

However, I'm not sure what it does when you charge attack. If it does make it through to the second level, you need to charge attack there, but you're vulnerable in a firefight when you charge attack - and much of the second level is just that. If it fills in during a charge attack that would be very useful.

Seems like I need to experiment. I'll report back.
 
Okay, I've tried it out. Turns out you lose it if you lose a life, and it doesn't make it through to round 2. Moreover you need to speed run level 1 to do it without losing a life thanks to the time it takes to get it - I did a reasonably quick run and only ended up with 11 seconds left on the clock (and consequently managed to make it through to the second round with only 7k on the scoreboard!).

It'd be worth it if it made it through to the second stage, but given it doesn't and given it costs you on the first stage, I'd advise against getting it.
 
Same here, definitely not worth getting. Oddly enough I also noticed that its not always there to get. Only way I can see it being worth getting is if you are fast enough to get it as not to have to rush through the game, it does help with the bosses. hmm, I wonder if you did get to level 3 and your character switched back to willow if you'd still have it, then it'd be worth it for sure. I was able to get it pretty fast after I realized that the last 3 soldiers won't jump on the platform to get you and they don't hurt you when running beneath you. I finished level one with about 30 seconds last time I tried it and almost topped my score in level 2 (14,700ish), so I might actually continue getting it with the hopes of making it to level 3.
 
Trouble is that, as levi said, you lose it as soon as you lose a life. This means you'd need to get to level 3 without dying surely? Or are you thinking it'll carry over as long as Willow doesn't die?
 
Yeah, you're safe up there. I often find it difficult getting down if you've been up there for long enough to let three of them collect though. Also when jumping up the second 'hill' on the second level, if I don't do it straight away I often have to fart around for ages before the guy moves out of the way. Am I missing something?
 
Second hill? you mean after the bridge? I typically drop down with the bridge and try to get the money dropped by the bridge boss and then quickly go right and take out the axe dude and then jump up to the shop and clean up the enemies/chests that way. Works for me.

@tickles, yea that's my theory, I'll test it out later when I beat boss 2 ;)

edit - opps, just noticed you were talking about hill 2 on level 2. my bad
 
What is hill 2 on level 2? I'm inside on level 2, at least until I get to the cart
blink.gif
 
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I assume he means the stairs and the the dude must be the axe guy that keeps coming out the door on the stairs.
 
Yeah, by 'hill' I mean the stairsy balcony things. It's not the axe guy - he doesn't come out until you get up there. There's a random lurking about up there already who tends to hang about where you need to go (especially if you're waiting there, so don't do that!). If he comes over to you when you're doing your climbing animation, you can't attack him as I understand it.
 
You can hit him from underneath, but you have to get your timing right.
 
tickles, did you use your run-through-the-level stategy when you got to level 3? btw, congrats on getting through boss number 2, that wagon ride is hell!
 
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