Sorr mod: The Simpsons Arcade - Better than ever (Huge update to 5.1)

After updating several of my mods I remembered a very old mod that remained untouched and forgotten since the 5.0 version. This mod barely had yellow skins for the enemies and didn’t had custom names; also was missing a lot of stuff, so I decided to look at this mod and upgrading it to a level he deserves.
 
This poor mod didn’t even have his own thread, so here it is: the official release/upgrade of “The Simpsons, the arcade game” mod, game made by Konami. I revamped the whole mod in an effort to make it relevant again, so this is almost a new mod than an old upgraded. There are lots of things that changed, so I’ll split in sections.
 
Scenarios:
The scenarios are no longer a resized version but original size, here a pair of images as a comparison.

                             Old                                                      New

Looking the letters/numbers of the shops you will see easy the improvement of using the original size.
 
 
Layers:
There were some missing layers in my first version of the game. Here still some layers are missing; or I don’t have the sprites (this game doesn’t work with kawaks) or I’m already using 9 layers and there is no room for more (even when I place together a lots of background characters as part of a single layer).
 
In general the levels have more layers than before and now some of them are animated too. For example, in the cemetery level the starts blinks as well as the Moe’s sign.
Background characters like Otto, Sherry/Terry, Barney… have a new/better animation, also now you can find the 3 eyes fish going crosscurrent.
 
By the way, all those scenarios/layers weren’t ripped by me; I used the ones done by “A random talking bush”.
 
Platforming:
I decided to jump (heh) into the platforming system, using the yellow thing. Because this is my first time I took the Golden Rage mod as a model and copied the same style (a good mod to learn, thanks). Now you can jump over some zones (but not all) and cross the mountain level in a single run instead changing scenes several times.
 
I changed a bit the mountain level to be able to go through it in a single scenario and avoiding getting stuck. Here the images to show the change.
 

                    Original                               Edited
 
Music:
No more 3 minutes of music and then fading out. Now all have they have a proper loop. Some are better, some are worse. I tried my best. Also added music for level complete, game over and char select.
 
Cutscenes:
Two big cutscenes. One for the intro, showing the main plot, and another big for the endings + credits. In mid levels there aren’t cutscenes with the Simpsons chasing Smithers. However the “Stage X: <name level>” intros are animated.
 
Even without cutscenes, you can still see my “Smithers” running from you with Maggie in his hands at the start of some levels, so the chase still there.
 
Roster:
Here comes a huge change because several of the enemies are totally different: Vice, Slum and Bongo-3 are no longer part of the roster as regular goons. Only Bongo-2 remains to play the role of fat goons. The new “I am everywhere” enemy is Galvice, but his second palette is owned but another character, bringing variety.
 
Some of the unique enemies (krusty, big foot, lumberjack…) have changed the roster too, based in the style of the original game. Others remain the same as the 5.0 version but now have different HP. (Those enemies with 2 life bars: Yasha, Ninjo... have been eliminated).
 
Bosses:
In general the bosses are the same but with different HP. There is an exception: Smithers is no longer Shiva (and no, he isn’t Ash neither). Also that fight with Smithers is different now (no more bikers throwing grenades). The very final boss fight has changed too.
 
Palettes:
Of course, a new set of palettes. These palettes are much brighter than in my first version. The game is about bright colours for scenarios and sprites, so the enemies will have a palette according with the whole game (and of course now they wear the colour in their clothes that they should). Here you can have an example of two goons. 

            Goon and Fat Goon comparison
 
No only the enemies have been simpsonited; all the heroes receive a new palette too. They will have the same palette as the default, but with yellow skin.
Characters being used as enemies (Roo, Rudra…) have an “enemy-palette” instead. That will make you feel like you are playing a hacked version of the game using enemies as playable characters. Look at these new residents from Springfield.

                                                         Max Power and friends

I used the “palette6” for all, so change the number if needed (you like the original palette or had a custom already there).
 
Custom Items:
When an image is enough:

                                                    MAGGIE!

As a side note. I added more items with food to compensate some zones. For example in Dreamland there isn’t any food, so now you can find some.
 
Placement:
When I did the first version I used my own criteria plus how I remember the ms-dos version and a bit of the original arcade game, but except the unique enemies/bosses those Vices, Slums and bongos-2/3 where place at random. Now I took the arcade as a model but I didn’t copy 1:1, mainly because in that game the enemies appears too spread and the screen stops when there are 3 or more enemies in screen.
 
In general you will fight a similar number/type of enemies, but here they are more grouped.
 
2 players mode:
More enemies and more food if you play with a partner. The boss fight presents a Goon so both players can hit something.
*Is recomended to turn off damage between players if you play with a IA.
 
The mod for newcomers:
Play the game and have fun.
 
The mod for regular players:
The game can be too easy for you so maybe you should apply some (or all) of these rules:
- Use a Sor1-2 character with his original hit-pause-delay.
- Disable run and roll.
- Disable the special power meter (Sor 2 style, specials cost a bit of your HP).
- Play in Hard (same enemies, same HP).
*you can enable or disable other options as you will. Or you can play with your worst character, enabling everything else.
 
The mod for pro players:
- More enemies in general
- Bosses with more health
- Goons accompanying the bosses (some drop food).
- The final boss Fight have a new surprise.

Sidenotes:
In level 7 you can have some trouble climbing the boxes because they are small, but they are climbable. If you feel you can’t, try to move your character a bit to the right/left/up/down.
 
Remember: Carrying a weapon makes your character jump lower. Drop it if you need to climb up.
 
If an enemey reach an area no longer acesible for you, try to walk to the right. When the sscreen moves enough that guy will find a way to reappears at your level.

Final Update to modern era:
- All the cutscenes are centred.
- During the elevator scene, now ends early if all the enemies already has been defeated (so no more waiting).

 
The video:

 
The links:
This mod:
https://mega.nz/file/SzIBHRTA#cMUmDIdwtRQQiLSKNThB0jgcUm6KuhKAMyirund2Xq4

More mods here:
https://mega.nz/folder/OywVSSiR#tJrB6EEqjO1P7c891mblng

Nice! Downloading this new version now

Hell yesssss~! This one looks juicy juicy!

Well, burgers can be juicy but something a bit more substantial is required for each boss fight.

Alright, here it comes my review on this one.

So, in order to understand the new updates, I decided to play the original v2.0 version first (Actually... I downloaded the 2.0 thinking it was the latest update, so I just realized something was wrong when I couldn't find the aforementioned platforms and breakable items featured in the new mod, I'm such an idiot!) and sure the mod was ridiculously improved. I'm gonna break down the points.

• Visuals. Well, now the rips feel complete. Fully animated, tons of new elements added, native resolution, which add a perfect crisp look. Of course, maybe a small downside is the native resolution size compared with the SOR goons, but tribute mods have this problem, I still prefer native res all the way. The layering work was well crafted and felt natural on it.
  
• Palettes. Compared with the yellow skinned palette from the previous installment, the new one feels, as Outkast said once, so fresh so clean. The enemies now have identity and not just SOR mooks cosplaying. I loved the additional enemies added to the existing roster and their color fits great. Special kudos for Bear using the Bear's colors and Binky's kangaroos.
  
• Cutscenes. Remember when we mentioned Cm_Blast's mods were just good tribute mods, but without the enough depth to become immersive or classic due of the lack of other elements to outstand them and make them look as proper tribute mods instead of just an SOR walk over other arcade stages? Well, after the fantastic work done in AvP, those days are gone, and this mod definitely showed that Cm went a higher further and added a proper intro, cutscenes and a fully, beautifully animated ending that gives a nice air of accomplishment. Fantastic work in them!
  
• Stage layout. Another fantastic update! I love when modders get out from their comfort zone and go all the way around to deliver good stuff. Now with the new v5.1 features, it was possible to add the platforming present in the original game, which makes the game feel dynamic and fresh. I liked how some enemies appeared above or below so the players feel the need to explore the new platforms. The new breakable items also added a huge immersion into the game, some were quite funny (like kicking the stack of bagels to reveal the donut) to kick poor Santa's Little Helper (  ). Oh yeah, the platforming in the amusement park's stalls to pick up the soda and the donut was a wonderful idea that reflect perfectly the arcade one). And lol to the M-A-G-G-I-E part! Was epic!
  
• Enemy placement. Now here it comes the sour part of my review. The new cast of goons was wide welcomed and they were fantastic to add variety into a very limited cast of original mooks. However, Konami's games weren't particularly difficult or with an intelligent AI as the SORR one, so, the game is drastically harder here. Emulating the exact energy placement with different values sounds like a great idea for a tribute mod, but, once again, considering the difficulty, this can get into something a bit broken.
  As Thief said above: IT NEEDS MORE FOOD ITEMS! Combinations of Gmen-1 with bats, Noras/Electras and Fatties-2 can be lethal, especially when they come as helpers for the boss! 
  And some boss areas have absolutely no help at all (like the Bear area). While scaling difficulty, I strongly recommend to make the Very Hard or Mania enemies have food drops to compensate the leap. I just tell you, I consider myself a more than average Mania player and lost my first continue in Moe's Bar! So you can have an idea how tough it can be.
  Do not change enemy placement, it was tough and somehow I enjoyed it, but the game needs more health items or enemies should drop more. The enemies will never have the same difficulty as the original Konami one.
  

I truly enjoyed this mod. It was a fantastic leap over the original, and playing both back to back allowed me to appreciate the full updates added. It just needs more balance for the higher difficulties to add the replay value it deserves, because the whole crafting was amazing. It only needs a sound scheme based on the original game to be perfect~! Anyways, fantastic improvement. This mod will become a classic nevertheless!

Thanks for the words and for playing.

Answering you both the problem with the food:
At first point. I played the game in mania once with Shiva to check the enemies and that. Didn't use his "police call special". I died 1 continue but near the end (I also play without running in diagonal). 

I am not a mania played, The only reason I play in Very Hard or Mania is to check the mod works. I remember playing other mods in mania with Shiva (Wof, C&D, Policias S.A) and dieing 1-2 continues and barely beating the game.

In those mods just with the "Stage clear" you get like 5 extra lifes, meanwhile in this mod the stage Clears barely gives you points (and the enemies don't drop score items).

Because of this I assumed this mod was much more easy than most of my others. If I beat a mod which barely gives you extra lifes loosing only 1 continue... then pro players are going to beat it with no problem.

Already here there are more food than the original game. Levels 4-8 bosses don't have any food in the arcade. I added chicken for the 2 last levels and a hamburguer in Moe's boss fight (in Arcade in Dreamland don't even gives you food in the whole level)

If the main problem is "more food in boss battles is needed". I can make 1 enemy per wave dropping food; for example making the bongos being the ones which drop food (they are presents in all fights except the Kabuki one, which have his own chicken there).

If making all the bongos in the bosses giving food is enough to balance the mod I would do it without problems (or if you think that's too much I can make only the bongos in rounds 2-4-6-8 being the ones dropping food).


A question for you two:
What do you think of the "Yamato fight"?
The fight in mania is diferent than in normal, I wasn't sure how that fight will be (too easy/too hard/ok_for_a_six_level_fight).
Just to know if:
a) the hamburguer in the Electra wave is ok.
b) is better removing the hamburguer there and adding a Chicken in the boss fight.

I spend all my time making/testing at the moment so don't play any mods at present, but reading comments in threads on your work CM, there's a lesson to be learned to help you make these even better.

In a tribute mod, there is 'translation' and 'adaptation'.
Translation is direct; x=y. This is the most basic part of a tribute.
Adaptation is where you must think, and consider doing something with x before you get y. This is the personal touch you need, such as with enemy placement/balance, which seem to become imbalanced at the higher difficulties because you stick too much with x=y. Adaptation is not always a constant for every x in a mod, you must consider what you need to do for each type of situation.

Too much adaptation and it's not really a proper tribute, I know, but it only means it can be a new challenge for you to figure out the balance between translation and adaptation.
Consider this for future projects and patches, so crazies like Vecta can have their fun, their challenge, and their tribute.

Yeah, it's definitely a 5.1 mod now...very nice usage of custom breakables and platforming (although stage 5 has a game-breaker...if you go all the way to the end of the screen where the 2 caves are, you can't jump up to the top layer).  The choice of enemies is also a lot better than the original - I like the way that a lot of them only appear in one room etc. and the Barbon fight is quite clever.

The bosses just need balancing correctly - the Bongo idea could work for stage 1-5, as you're getting rewarded for clearing some of the helpers (instead of trying to focus on the boss instead, which is the tactic I found myself using due to number and difficulty of the helpers).  Either that or place a beef/chicken instead of a burger/nothing.

What do you think of the "Yamato fight"?

Yamato isn't too bad, having 2 of them can be tough depending on your character but it's probably about the same as having 1 and a bunch of helpers. Having 2 lots of 2 is also unique. (needs some food though)

Other food issues that I encountered are below:

Spoiler:

The difficulty of the mod itself is fine (and it's a great improvement over the original), just needs a few tweaks to make it fairer.

CajNatalie wrote:Consider this for future projects and patches, so crazies like Vecta can have their fun, their challenge, and their tribute.

What we really need is being able to place food/items etc. on different skill levels, like we can with enemies. Then the low/mid settings can be exact 1:1 and the high settings that don't scale right can have a bit more health for the hardcore mania types

CajNatalie wrote:I spend all my time making/testing at the moment so don't play any mods at present, but reading comments in threads on your work CM, there's a lesson to be learned to help you make these even better.

Just to say. In this mod the only the normal enemies are almost the same as the arcade, but the very-hard/mania enemies went placed by my own. Also the "life bars" of the enemies isn't the same as the arcade. Life bosses are based in the game but if I count the original number of hits R.Bear will had 3.5 lifes and Shouther only 1.8 (but no, in normal this boss have a bit of life because using Axel2-Max2-Skate2... the boss last too short) --> Bosses in very hard/mania have 2 extra life bars compared to normal.

I didn't choose the 2-3-4 players from the original game.
If there are 3 bongos in mania when in normal only were 1, that was all me.
Is 3 bongos unbalanced for mania? Who knows... To me 1 bongo in normal is fair and easy, 3 bongos in Mania kill me 5 lifes and then vecta fight agains 15 bongos with x5 lifebars and he get don't get touched once (of course, I'm exaggerating).

What I Mean; Is hard to me knowing how to balance a level if I don't know easy/hard is.
Just playing myself, at least to me, Galvice ismuch easier than Galsia2 (I get hitted by mad in the zombie part, which have Galsia2/Donovan2, I didn't found Galvice being as half opressive as those other 2). <-- Someone remember my Galsia2 in AvP? I placed this guy because I though he was the easiest guy... but then people tell me that he is more harder than most of the low tier mocks. This is what little I know about Mania.

Again. I added more food when I think the game needed most. I played in normal using Axel3, Skate3 and even Axel2 (original pause hit delay) and the game doesn't feel unfair to me (playing Axel2 with this slowiness in Knights of the round or Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and I will die lives like mad).

All the enemies placed, the extra soldiers (in and out boss battle) and the extra lifes bor bosses is just my estimation of the game. In fact, the very last fight have soldiers in both normal and mania, but in normal the enemies are 2 galvices and 1 bongo per round, in Mania there are 2 Electras and 1 bongo, withouh Galvice. I did this because I think is harder... but again, is just another estimation.

Yeah, it's definitely a 5.1 mod now...very nice usage of custom breakables and platforming (although stage 5 has a game-breaker...if you go all the way to the end of the screen where the 2 caves are, you can't jump up to the top layer).  The choice of enemies is also a lot better than the original - I like the way that a lot of them only appear in one room etc. and the Barbon fight is quite clever.

You couln't jump over here? That's climbable. I walk on purpose until the screen stops a lots of times to check the player could reach the top even then.

The bosses just need balancing correctly - the Bongo idea could work for stage 1-5, as you're getting rewarded for clearing some of the helpers (instead of trying to focus on the boss instead, which is the tactic I found myself using due to number and difficulty of the helpers).  Either that or place a beef/chicken instead of a burger/nothing.

I would go with the Bongo-droping food. I was thinking the same, a reward to players to kill enemies. It's more active and makes the players decide.

Yamato isn't too bad, having 2 of them can be tough depending on your character but it's probably about the same as having 1 and a bunch of helpers. Having 2 lots of 2 is also unique. (needs some food though)

Good to know. In normal is the classic Yamato, Yamato boss intro 1, Yamato boss intro 2. for mania that is too easy so... that's my way to make it harder.

Other food issues that I encountered are below:

I will consider.

What we really need is being able to place food/items etc. on different skill levels, like we can with enemies. Then the low/mid settings can be exact 1:1 and the high settings that don't scale right can have a bit more health for the hardcore mania types

I would like to see custom IA for THIS and THAT enemy.
My best example. Streets of Rage 3, the very last donovan wave that jump from the Shiva boat.
The green Donovan feels like he is in Very hard IA while the 3 blue Donovans fight like normal.

I don't have time to play much this time too, but I tried this mod a couple of day ago and as DV said, it is outstanding, on the same track as The Punisher mod, and it is really cool. However, I didn't beat it, that's why I didn't comment already. CajNatalie and Don Vecta said pretty much all about enemy placement problem. Sure adding food can help balanced out, but I think the problem come from "the meaning of some fights". Create a good challenge in very hard/mania is something difficult for a modder that is not a mania player, exactly like create a fair challenge in normal/hard is something difficult for a moder that is a mania player.

Difficulty scaling is a science that professionel modern video game designer totally forgot because of the audience and the videogame business. I think the key to progress is like every other cluster, you improved your cutscene, you improved your level design, I'm pretty sure you will improved your difficulty scaling with time CM Blast.

Keep doing good work.

As I said, the difficulty setting as it is, is quite fantastic and challenging, but it feels more like a survival mod rather than a normal gameplay. We need energy to keep going.

...and yes, some drops would be awesome. 

Besides that, this mod rocks~!

And I was worried I did it too easy xD.

I am not tied to the original game, so adding and removing enemies can be done without looking into the arcade game. I want to know a basic thing that can help me: order me from easy to hard this enemies: Galvice, Garcia1_Agresive, Garcia1_Normal_metal_bat, Bongo2, Nora, Electra2 (assuming a normal map, not the one in level 7, which is very narrow).

Cm_Blast wrote:And I was worried I did it too easy xD.

I am not tied to the original game, so adding and removing enemies can be done without looking into the arcade game. I want to know a basic thing that can help me: order me from easy to hard this enemies: Galvice, Garcia1_Agresive, Garcia1_Normal_metal_bat, Bongo2, Nora, Electra2 (assuming a normal map, not the one in level 7, which is very narrow).

They don't belong on the same scale at all.
Bongo2 and Electra2 are sub-bosses, so they need to be one or two at most, and rare encounters.
Garcia+Metal Bat is one of the most dangerous enemies in the game, right after Donovan3+Pipe.

The others are all swarmable, so here we go, Easy-to-Hard
Garcia1(other), Galvice, ... ,Garcia1(aggressive), Nora
Though Nora is better in swarms than G1Aggressive. G1Normal should be used for swarming since he's very hesitant, preventing them all rushing you at once. G1Aggressive should not be swarmed without good reason.

I don't like to ask people extra work but I really think the "enemy encyclopedia" should be updated for v5.1 and finished covering the whole roster. I can participate and give some guideline regarding easy-hard setting (by now, it's only a very hard/mania database).
http://www.sorrcommunity.com/t233-the-ultimate-enemy-encyclopedia-w-i-p
This tool will be more than profitable for modders who don't spent time to analyze the SoRR game, and help them to "adapt", "translate" or create innovative battle design.

Quick questions for those who already played the mod. Focusing in the boss battles (assume that the food value in the level/bosses is unchanged).

General boss fights:
a) As it is now but the Bongos drop food (or another guy if I didn't use Bongos).
b) 2 Galvices + 1 Bongo for every boss battle (No more Noras, Garcia1, Electras) - Also Bongos dropping food.
c) 3 Galvices - No food. (or 1 guy droping food, or one guy drops every 2 rounds).
Note: At 2 players 1 extra Galvice appears in the early bosses, keep in mind for later, when people decide to play Mania+2player.


Special fights:
Mona & Lisa:
a) 1 Galvice + 1 Bongo (and food)
b) 2 Galvices (no food/1 drop food/ 1 drop food every two rounds)
*2 players don't spawn anything, because here there are already 2 enemies (bosses) to fight.

R.Bear fight:
The arcade game have some fallings rocks to annoy and hit you. Because of this I want the presence of Garcia1 so:
1 Garcia1 + 1 Galvice (No food/1 drop food/1 every two rounds)
*at 2 players 1 Garcia1 is added.

Rudra Fight:
The original fight already includes 1 ninja respawning, so in Mania there is a second ninja.
The second ninja - no food/food/food every 2 rounds (a chicken is already present in this fight).

Roboburns first form:
Is needed soldiers with him?
\->If yes: 2 Galvices + 1 bongo (2 rounds of enemies for example) - Again -> no food/food/food 2º round.

Roboburns final fight:
In normal is 2 Galvices per 1 bongo (always 3 soldiers on screen).
For mania is 2 Electras per 1 bongo (Same) so:
a) leave it alone (no food/Bongos food/bongos food every 2 rounds)
b) Use the 2 Galvices per 1 bongo like I did for "normal" (no food here. I mean, we aren't talking about Abadede or Shiva as final boss plus the room to fight is big plus free scroll plus a chicken plus enemies in shadow intro gives a lot of time to the player, I don't think a final boss should be more easy than this option).

This is only for battle against bosses.

Pd: I don't really want this mod be the "ultimate challenge", so I'm ok with the "3 Galvice" options and things like that.
Personally I have in mind the "2galvices+1bongo - bongo droping food" or "3 Galvices - droping food every round/second round" so players could have an incentive to kill the soldiers and not just focusing the bosses.

General: I don't think the content of the waves needs to change (just food), so I'd go with a).
Mona/Lisa: Bit trickier here, so I'd go with a) but food every 2 rounds. (as there's only 2 helpers to kill instead of 3)
Bear: If the arcade fight had falling rocks, I'd use Nora instead of Galsia-1 (as she takes time to get up and as such can be avoided for a while). Or you could use falling barrels to simulate the rocks, but would look out of place I guess.
Rudra: Sounds fine, as Rudra isn't as tough as she is in the main mod.
Mr.X This is a harder fight than the final boss, so I'd put a chicken in there (and players will have lost health to the Barbon fight). Bongos should drop food every round if used IMO.
Robot X: Seems fine, particularly as it's easier than the previous fight.

These are just ideas ofc.

CajNatalie wrote:Garcia+Metal Bat is one of the most dangerous enemies in the game, right after Donovan3+Pipe.

I would say Donovan-3 is less of a threat, because he's much easier to hit (ie. predictable) and does half the damage. But still takes top priority whenever he shows up ofc.

DarkThief wrote:General: I don't think the content of the waves needs to change (just food), so I'd go with a).
Mona/Lisa: Bit trickier here, so I'd go with a) but food every 2 rounds. (as there's only 2 helpers to kill instead of 3)
Bear: If the arcade fight had falling rocks, I'd use Nora instead of Galsia-1 (as she takes time to get up and as such can be avoided for a while). Or you could use falling barrels to simulate the rocks, but would look out of place I guess.
Rudra: Sounds fine, as Rudra isn't as tough as she is in the main mod.
Mr.X This is a harder fight than the final boss, so I'd put a chicken in there (and players will have lost health to the Barbon fight). Bongos should drop food every round if used IMO.
Robot X: Seems fine, particularly as it's easier than the previous fight.

These are just ideas ofc.

In the general boss fight at first I was about to do the "3 Galvices" and then I though "Nah, that's too easy". That's the only reason I used Noras, Electras and Garcia1.
I will wait what other people thinks.

In the R.Bear Fight I can't use falling barrels/rocks because the way the map (and the up-limit) is builded. The falling barrels do a weird thing.

Rudra: What do you prefer?: the ninjas (mania) dropping food every round or every second round?

I didn't added food in the Mr.X because I think is weird enter a scene agains Smithers and then, in the same scenario, an item appears from nowhere.
But I can do the same thing I did in the Punisher mod:
In Smithers Fight --> Item with apple
In X fight --> Same item with apple (or just the apple).
This way is like you are splitting a chicken in two, eating half in the first fight and the other half in the second fight.

Robo X: I didn't understad what option you like the most here.
The point is making this battle harder than X, so or strong soldiers with Robo X, or weaker the Mr.X ones (or reducing numbers, like 2 waves of 2 Galvices for example).

Reminder for everone.
I am not modding anything right now. I mean, I am not touching enemies, food and nothing at all.
So free feel to choose what options you prefer. I am just collecting data.

In case of doubt I prefer the easy choices. I would to like to have a mod that all people can play in very hard/mania. And because there isn't Abadede or Shiva even no pro players will have a chance to beat this mod too. (and for very-pro players there are always other ways to make the mod harder, like using a worse character for example).

Ps: I just read the "very little phrase" write from Don Vecta. You can blame me for that. Right now I am getting rid of "<name> Version X.0" and make the very last update as the "only version" available.

Ok. Finally I comeback to this mod.
I did some changes for very-hard/mania players, so right now is much easier than before.
Here the main changes you can see.

-Max enemies reduced to 6: In normal this was already, but in mania I increased to 10 to avoid problems. Right now only 6 are going to appear at maximum, but that's not all.

-Much less enemies: In general most of the "very-hard or above" enemies are gone. Right now there isn't any wave that reach more than 6:
--> In any regular wave (round 2 for example) never there are more than 5 enemies on screen.
--> The way to fill the maximun of 6 is if the players keep walking instead stop and fight the enemies, so when 2 enemies appear, the player keep walking, 2 more enemies appear, the player keep walking, 2 more enemies appears. So, even in this scenario there aren't more than 6 enemies.*
--> the only scenario when 6 enemies can be found are the ones with platforming, so 3-4 enemies are in a blue zone and the other 2-3 in the other blue zone. So is more like fighting two groups of 3 enemies than 6.

*If you are playing in very-hard and 2 players, some waves will have 7 enemies. But in both cases separately (playing in very hard OR with a second player) that don't happen.


-No more enemies in hard waves: If in normal a Wave have 3 Galsia-1, then in very-hard mania there isn't any more enemies. However, if the wave is about 2 Galvices (normal), you can expect and extra Galsia-1 there. I am talking about 1 more guy, not adding 3 or so.

-Enemies returning where they should: Electra-2 is a special enemy in the original game (goon with a broom), They appear in Moe's and in the seventh level, So in the mod those electras the player found in the early levels are totally gone. Of course, in those two levels the Electras are part of the normal waves, so you still need to fight them. Same with Galsia_with_bat, he is even less common than Electra 2.

-Unique enemies: In general are less unique enemies too. In the Bigfoot area, if the wave is about 1 Galvice and 1 Cody (Big foot), in very hard a second Cody join the battle, but if the wave is about 2 galsia-1 and 1 cody, then in veryhard didn't add any extra bigfoot.

-Give me food: A bit more food in the graveyard and Moe's levels. In Dreamland there are 2 chickens in the Electra part, but because the screen don't advance to much the chickens are eatable even in the boss fight.
You reached the Electras-3 with low health? Just eat the chicken
You reached the Electras-3 with high health? Wait until the boss hits you to eat the chicken.

-Bosses's minions: Now all the bosses have 1 Bongo, 1 Galvice and 1 Nora as spawnable minions. One of these three will drop food, so the player can choose if they want to go for the soldiers and recover health, or if he is at full health avoiding killing that Nora so more enemies don't appear.
All the bosses fight have the same soldiers (exceptions like Mona & Lisa because they are already 2 bosses there and the Rudra Fight because the Haku-oh).
In every wave at least one soldier drops food (Even in Rudra Fight, although in this case the player don't know which Haku-oh is the one carrying food).

-Final Level tweaks:
--> Smithers Battle: food is present
--> X Battle: Food is present. Also in very-hard mania there are soldiers with him, just a few of them, but now they aren't the same as my previous version.
--> Robo X Battle: Ok. I did something new to this.
In normal the game is like it was: Robo X and 2 Galvices 1 bongo as round 2,3,4,5... but when one enemy dies another replace him. No food here, but normal players get a reward for killing an enemy: the new one need some seconds (shadow intro) to entry, so if the player kills 2 enemies in one kick, the player have like 5 seconds of freedom before the replacements appears.

Now, Very-hard mania. Sorry pro players, but no rewards for you (I mean, come on!, is not Abadede, is just Robo X in a very big enviroment to run around). Apply the new ".pal" files I added in the zip and fight the special last fight, harder than the normal version, but a bit more easy than my previous version.

-Remember: Just remember to stop and fight every time some enemies appears on screen. Walk to much and 5 enemies at once are going to give you trouble.

-My final play: Ok guys. I played in Mania with Blaze3 with no diagonal running, no 3 blitz attacks, and with no habit in mania at all. I get some lives... I lost some lives... but I didn't die a single continue. So right now the game isn't that hard; every pro player should be able to beat the game. Although the droping food is a bit of gambling, if the player focus in the minions the second or third guy is going to drop that pizza-hamburguer you need to keep fighting.

-Download link: This is only a single patch. I would like to pro players to play and beat the game, and if all is ok I would upload the whole mod with the changes (because I changed the enemies in the boss battles, maybe 2 Noras are going to appear in the same round, if this happen tell me).

http://www.4shared.com/get/fNk29LEhce/TSA__parche_.html

http://sdrv.ms/QiAmTj (if you use onedrive, search for "TSA (parche).rar")

Cool, gonna check it out later. Downloading patch.

Finally, This is the final release. I did some small changes and fixes. Mainly like 2 guys were removed, some others have been moved to avoid collisions with the green map (no more drop down intros). Mona y Lisa now are named as S.Mobster and B.Mobster. Although in Sorr they have the same size, "S" and "B" can stand as a personal name, so don't look out of place and is a bit better to know which one are you hitting.

Also, fixed a game break at the very beginning in stage 7, which an enemy, for some reason, reach a spot in the very top where you can't go. I tried to force this game break several times but never happen.... until now... Well, fixed anyway.

The first post have now update links with the final version with all the palettes I changed, and a video showing the mod.

By the way, I give a final run with Axel1 in Mania. I could beat the game, although I reach the final level with my last continue; but keep in mind I don't use diagonal run, my "pause hit delay" is set as "combined", so Axel1 is slower than the Sor3 speed, And no "X stars running attacks"; just the initial one.

Cool, will download the update now

So, here it is, this is my longplay of the mod in Mania. No continue lost, no cheats. (will add annotations later)

Good.

You get hitted everytime you jump by Noras in Moe's XD.

The only way I found to avoid the hit is just jump and in the same moment your character reach the spot using your special move, because Nora/Electra use her attack as soon as your character step in.

And no, you can't jump in the pool table XD. I wanted to make it climbable too, but too risky to do withouth the player dying by fallin "into a pit". The same with the table with a roulette.

Could be done, but the player need to jump to the right to get down. If the player simply walk the character do something weird.

In 24:14 you learn to fly XD.

Jumping the crates in level 7 is a bit tricky, I tried to make the yellow zone as bigger I could, but is against logic. Is "Jump in the box, going a bit down, jump into the next box, go a bit down..."