Bushido Blade (1)

[ZenicReverie]

Here's another game that should be fairly easy to run.  I've beaten it a few times now, and I'm willing to run it.  Although it is a fighting game, it really is a different style then other fighting games, but I still don't know how much fun it would be to run.  I made an early post discussing the relevance of fighting games and side scrollers, and I got a positive response for running this game, so here it is.

I still don't have a way to record, DVD recorder will be acquired for Christmas, but I'll get this thread going to see how much interest there really is.

I'll most likely be using U***, I forget his name, but it's the older guy, I know his name starts with a U, and my weapon of choice is the nodochi.  For the most part, all the characters are the same, but the weapon attacks vary greatly.  I say for the most part because each character has two weapons they excel in using, and they have additional moves with those weapons.

The game itself is a little funky.  The fights are based on body points of contact, so a torso or head hit is death, an arm means the arm is useless, and a leg hit means you're crouched on the ground.  Also, to get to the end of the game, you have to follow the way of Bushido, which basically means there are extra rules you have to follow or you're disqualified in a way.  

The rules are explained in the instructions, but the two that will be most visible in a run is that you have to make sure your opponent is ready (there's a clink sound when they get into their stance), and you can't attack anyone from behind... even if they start to run away.

This makes the run a little more difficult.  I haven't timed it yet, I'll update with an approximate time.  Also, there is one enemy with a gun who makes life tough.  In the beginning you can jump down a well to skip fighting a few people, but it's actually faster fighting those extra fights than running to the well.  After the guy with the gun, the rest of the run is pretty easy.

[mikwuyma]

I'm not so sure this would be a good idea for a run.  The run would solely consist of killing your opponents in one hit (and hoping they don't block).  There isn't much to warrant a speed run other than the fact that the run will be so fast people might not have time to be bored .  Even if you submit a perfect run, I can't guarantee it will be accepted.

If you are still set on running the game, I suggest using the katana instead of the nodachi.  It's much faster and easier to score one-hit kills with the katana than with the nodachi (especially with the triangle, circle combo in top stance).

[ZenicReverie]

Yeah, the problem is I don't have a whole lot of games right now that are speedrunable, mostly RPGs with a sprinkling of others such as this and Einhander.  I haven't been able to one hit everyone, and I can more consistently kill faster with the nodachi triangle, triangle, forward, triangle combo, but I see what you're saying.

I'll leave this alone for now, but if there's enough interest I'll make a video since it'll be pretty short any way.  I know a lot of people that didn't get the whole Bushido fighting gameplay and couldn't get past the underground fight that might be interested in seeing the game completed.

[DAMURDOC]

Come one Mike... we should allow this... It's freakin BUSHIDO BLADE.

[mikwuyma]

I never said the game couldn't be run, I just don't think it's a great choice.  ZenicReverie is allowed to submit a run if he wants to, I just said it might be rejected for being tedious.

However, I definitely don't want to see a run of Slash mode.  Killing 100 ninjas with the same move repeatedly (or mostly the same move) pretty much defines tedious.

[Deadstick]

I would like to see a run of this game. Been a long time since I've played it, but it would still be interesting to see.

If entertainment is a factor in a run like this, you could always use a character that's very agile but not powerful, then use a heavy weapon like the hammer to handicap the person.

[Carcinogen]

Trying to speedrun Bushido Blade would be like trying to speedrun any other fighting game imo.

[Deadstick]

True, didn't think of that.

[ZenicReverie]

I agree.  This is just like any other fighting game.  I use about 2 - 3 different combos that actually look pretty similar to each other.

I didn't record, but from start (title screen) to final blow it's about 7 minutes give or take.  The first fight took a little long, and overall it had 3 - 4 deaths, which only cost about 5 seconds each, but wouldn't be in a final run.  Upon mikwuyma's suggestion I used Black Lotus with the Katana.  I alternate mainly between forward+triangle, circle, and circle, triangle combos.

I got a nice instant kill on the gun guy without dying, but the guy before that was able to kill me twice with the nodachi.  The guy with the two bladed staff was able to kill me because my counter block missed.  Overall though, a clean run if those deaths can be cleaned up.

I plan on recording this later on though since the concensus seems to be that it's not good for speedrunning.  If I get a good record I'm sure I can submit it somewhere else if there isn't any interest.  I was really hoping this might breakdown some of the no fighting game boundaries, but even with the innovative combat system I'm not sure how interesting it would be to watch.

EDIT: I just got 6:xx minutes with no deaths.  I'm guessing sub-6 is possible with truly optimized fights.  I had some cool close call side steps, but alas, most of the time is watching loading screens or waiting for the pre-fight banter to stop.

[nameless]

i think you should put your video on youtube
because sda doesn't want any fighting game run
and yeah i hate this rule

[Carcinogen]

i think you should put your video on youtube
because sda doesn't want any fighting game run
and yeah i hate this rule

We do it for a reason. Fighting games simply can't be speedrun because of the way they're made.

[nameless]

yeah i know
but i'm still enjoying watching fighting games run (like the ssf2 perfect ken and zangief, ssf2t perfect dee jay, etc...)

[ZenicReverie]

That's fine, I'll record it and post it somewhere.  I'll get a game that's actually a good speedrun eventually, at the moment though, all my games are really slow paced since I had to sell all my old games and console systems last year during a last minute move.  Sucks, but I'll buy it all back eventually.

[Deadstick]

Yes, definitely make a speedrun of this game, since it would be interesting to see. And definitely sucks about the whole buying back everything, since I'm in a similiar situation at the moment.

[ZenicReverie]

So, I'm making attempts at this, recording and everything this time.  I have to work back up to being able to do it without deaths.  Probably take a couple of days.  I'm still getting about the same times, 7 minutes with deaths, so 6 minutes without seems good, and sub-6 would be very good.

Edit:
Ok, so now I have a 4:30 recording, I think my timing was off before when I said my last no death run because sub-4 is possible... I had a long first fight, the gun guy gave me a little trouble, and I was a little cautious with the boss.  I'll post the video soon.

The order of characters with their weapons is set and depends on the character you're playing.  There is a second ending if you jump into the well immediately and don't take any damage throughout the game. It might require to play through hard mode?

Question for Mike, is there going to be a category split based on character or weapon or both?  Both seems like a bit much, but a different weapon changes the move list, and a different character changes the ending.  From what I can tell, they don't run any faster (only really matters to get the good ending), but feel free to test.