Shock Troopers: Expert Scoring Strategies

[Huxley]

Oh boy, Shock Troopers! I just put this game back in my cab a couple of days ago, and I'm loving it all over again. It might not be as immediate as the Metal Slug series, but it has it's rewards.

I'll try my best to get a decent highscore...

One thing: the sound might be great for the majority of the game (especially the music...love those jungalistic beats!), but has anyone noticed how bad the sampled sound is during the cutscenes? That one cry of 'Cecilia!!!' has me in stiches every time. I'd swear it's one of the developers putting on an OAP voice!

 

[BBH]

Huxley:

One thing: the sound might be great for the majority of the game (especially the music...love those jungalistic beats!), but has anyone noticed how bad the sampled sound is during the cutscenes? That one cry of 'Cecilia!!!' has me in stiches every time. I'd swear it's one of the developers putting on an OAP voice!

dude, I love that scene

"Onee-chan!"
"Ceeeciliaaaaaaaaa! (....ceciliaaaa.... ceciliaaaaaa....)"

okay, so it took my lazy ass long enough, but here is the location of the route branch for Valley 5.

sorry for the relatively crappy pic, but I took this from one of my recordings

anyway, there will be three weapon boxes there, and then a part of the background that can be destroyed at the top of the screen.

To take the "factory" route, head up to the top of the screen. You might have to wait a few seconds if you've left a weapon or two on the screen. After the weapons disappear, you will head into the factory.

To take the "alley" route, just move to the right at any time and the screen will automatically scroll over that way.

So what's the difference?

The factory route is relatively easy to get through, and doesn't have many enemies. At the end of it you will encounter the clawed minibosses again. If you can easily take care of them on Jungle 3, you won't have any problem with them here either. When they're killed, you exit and then get placed at the stage boss. Dispatch them with close-range kills and you can have two fresh lifebars going into the difficult boss battle, a major plus!

The alley route is much harder. Enemies appear in close quarters with some land mines on the ground semi-obscured from view, making it easy to accidentally step on one if you're not looking out for them. There's a lot of enemies leading up to the boss and even some tanks, but there is a plus side - there are TWO bomb pickups (one of them is left by a tank), and a rare Speed-up to boot. Usually I've used some bombs on previous bosses so it's nice to get a lot more of those back for the boss battle and the final stage. Also, it's worth pointing out that if you take this route, regular enemies will come out every few seconds when you destroy the boss tank and fight the super-soldier boss! They're not much of a threat since they walk quite a bit before firing at you, so they're some easy points.

So which route is better? Well, if you're going for survival, the factory route is much easier and gives you a chance at some lifeups before the tough boss. If you're going for points, it's the alley route all the way. Simple as that.

 

[BBH]

random score rambling ahead

When I broke the 30 million mark on Shock Troopers, I started compulsively tracking and analyzing my scores on each game. I believed that by charting my performance from level to level, I could get a good idea of what the "maximum" score possible would be if I had performed optimal play on every level.

Here was a breakdown of my current record:

Jungle 1 - 8277500
08277500
Jungle 2 - 3836000
12113500
Jungle 3 - 6874300
18987800
Route Switch - 2008000
20995800
Valley 4 - 7123500
28119300
Valley 5 - 5324500
33443800
Final Stage - 4324500
37768300

-

Now, I had my best ever scores on Jungle 1 and Jungle 3 in that game. But for the rest of the stages, I'd actually achieved higher on previous attempts. So my best recorded scores:

Jungle 1 - 8277500
Jungle 2 - 3952500
Jungle 3 - 6874300
Route Switch - 2144500
Valley 4 - 7313500
Valley 5 - 5601000
Final Stage - 4704000

Total - 38,867,300

If I could improve my scores a little more, it would make a theoretical max of at least 39 million possible. But I have yet to break 38 million. Sadly, a lot of it does rely on luck, as you need as many 30k gems as possible from the close-range kills. frown

 

[Spike Spiegel]

I'm bumping this. Why? It's one of the best series of posts ever made by anyone here, and I think we all deserve to have another look at this. A great game that nobody plays, and it's a shame.

Spike

 

[BBH]

I'm bumping this. Why? It's one of the best series of posts ever made by anyone here, and I think we all deserve to have another look at this. A great game that nobody plays, and it's a shame.

Spike

mucho thanks, Spike.

it IS a damn shame that the game still remains unappreciated by most people.

EDIT: I edited most of the old posts in this thread since things like the img tags got screwed up in the transition from UBB to VB. Everything should be viewable now.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Jesus, you're a pimp. Great pics. Will help me sad game out a lot! Can't wait to get this on MVS (coming in a few weeks!)

Thanks again,
Spike

 

[elbarto]

Don't forget to take part in the score thread when you get the game

I STILL can't beat my high score from months ago

 

[VNM]

Was just able to start playing this one yesterday and so far I'm quite disappointed, nearly to the point of selling it. Would someone please tell me what they are seeing in this game that makes it so great? I feel like I'm must be missing it. So far all I see is repetitive enemies, extremely slow moving characters and drawn-out boss battles. I guess if you are a huge gore fan then that's a plus, but I don't get it...

 

[BBH]

Was just able to start playing this one yesterday and so far I'm quite disappointed, nearly to the point of selling it. Would someone please tell me what they are seeing in this game that makes it so great? I feel like I'm must be missing it. So far all I see is repetitive enemies, extremely slow moving characters and drawn-out boss battles. I guess if you are a huge gore fan then that's a plus, but I don't get it...

Take it to another thread please if you're not enlightened enough to enjoy this masterpiece of a game. Thank you.

 

[SNKJorge]

Was just able to start playing this one yesterday and so far I'm quite disappointed, nearly to the point of selling it. Would someone please tell me what they are seeing in this game that makes it so great? I feel like I'm must be missing it. So far all I see is repetitive enemies, extremely slow moving characters and drawn-out boss battles. I guess if you are a huge gore fan then that's a plus, but I don't get it...

Good. Get the fuck out of this thread if you don't like it then, idiot.

 

[VNM]

Fine be assholes.

 

[Jedite]

Shock Troopers is a very addictive game, I love it just as much as the Metal Slug series. Its sequel is not nearly as good, tho.

 

[VNM]

I've had more time with the game now, and it has grown on me a bit. Though my score is nowhere near BBH's I'll give my thoughts.

I'd advise against the factory route as it takes more time and can lead to the clock running out against the boss. Also, you will likely get health refills from the close kills presented in the alleyways.

If you want to raise your score, milk the clock. Know you have tons of time and try to find places where groups of enemies are spawned (ex. section before the bridge and also near the towers in J1).

Not much else to say, but stay away from the side of the screen that will be scrolling. It will move even if enemies are still left when the "go" text has flashed.

BBH, I tried to watch your replay, but it seems the shocktroopers rom has changed since you made it and I could not get it to work. Just letting you know.

 

[twalden]

I can one credit the game, but my scores suck Thanks to this thread, I should be able to get better scores now

 

[BBH]

I've had more time with the game now, and it has grown on me a bit. Though my score is nowhere near BBH's I'll give my thoughts.

Glad you came around.

I'd advise against the factory route as it takes more time and can lead to the clock running out against the boss. Also, you will likely get health refills from the close kills presented in the alleyways.

On Valley 5? I'm never in danger of running out of time on that level because there are almost no extra enemies that will come out if you "stall" in certain areas. So you're better off just hauling ass whenever possible.

If you want to raise your score, milk the clock. Know you have tons of time and try to find places where groups of enemies are spawned (ex. section before the bridge and also near the towers in J1).

Yup yup, milking the clock is what it's all about for the really high scores. It then becomes a matter of figuring out which areas in each level are the best spots to stall. I've had those patterns pretty refined in my recordings, but...

BBH, I tried to watch your replay, but it seems the shocktroopers rom has changed since you made it and I could not get it to work. Just letting you know.

You're right, the roms have changed since version 0.80 of MAME, I believe. And the version of MAME I had used to make them was an old DOS version, which ironically I can't even run now since I'm on a new computer that uses XP. Soo, if there's demand I'll try to record a new one with an updated version of MAME. I haven't played in a while so I don't think I can come close to my old records, so I'd just upload it somewhere else, not MARP.

 

[VNM]

On Valley 5? I'm never in danger of running out of time on that level because there are almost no extra enemies that will come out if you "stall" in certain areas. So you're better off just hauling ass whenever possible.

It happened to me twice, guess I was just being slow. I just take the normal route for the bomb refill and speedup.

Soo, if there's demand I'll try to record a new one with an updated version of MAME. I haven't played in a while so I don't think I can come close to my old records, so I'd just upload it somewhere else, not MARP.

Well, that matters... Is the $500 still on the table?

Any idea how much playtime it took you to get that record? I've put about 6 hrs in to get 23mil, and don't have tons of time right now.

In regards to my opinion of the game, reading your post about picking a team and characters having different speed in different levels made a huge difference. That, and I got into the funky jungle music.

 

[Toby]

I picked this game up about a week ago and at first i was a bit dissapointed but stuck with it and now am hooked.Its great for a quick blast or a more intense sesion.Id say it is a deeper game than the metal slugs!

 

[BBH]

It happened to me twice, guess I was just being slow. I just take the normal route for the bomb refill and speedup.

Well it is the better path to take on that level anyway. Because my playing pattern always has me using bombs on the Valley 4 boss, so I need that bomb refill too.

Well, that matters... Is the $500 still on the table?

I don't even remember where I made that offer, haha...

Any idea how much playtime it took you to get that record? I've put about 6 hrs in to get 23mil, and don't have tons of time right now.

6 hours and you've already broken 20 million? Very nice! Um... it's hard to say how long it would take to reach 37 million, my progress was a lot slower because I had to figure out EVERYTHING about this game on my own.... nobody wanted to discuss it on the DHP mailing list at the time. All the "stalling" patterns that I came up with... that was the culmination of over 100 playthroughs of the game. I really should have kept track.

Realize also that my progress was further impeded by the fact that I didn't know how beneficial turning blood off would be to the score... had I realized this a lot sooner, I could have broken the world record a lot faster than I should have...

So how fast is it possible to reach scores of 35+ million, with all the information I have made available? I honestly don't know. Because it took me a LONG time to analyze everything about the game and figure out how exactly to get the highest scores possible.

In regards to my opinion of the game, reading your post about picking a team and characters having different speed in different levels made a huge difference. That, and I got into the funky jungle music.

Well I'm glad you came around sorry if I was a little harsh (although not as mean as too_short ). It's the music that originally got me hooked on the game! When I realized just how badass the soundtrack was I wanted to keep playing it just to listen to it. And it's then that I came to appreciate everything else about the game. I honestly don't know if I would have played the game as much as I did back then if it wasn't for those friggin awesome tunes.

 

[Technos]

Okay, for starters, I have not read anything beyond BBH's initial post. This is way, way, way too much information to absorb at one time.

I have always done the Valley to Jungle route, basically what BBH suggests but in reverse. What say you to that, BBH? How much more are we talking in points in doing it the other way around?

Its tough to sacrifice turning 'Violence' off. Sawing off some asshole's arm with the machine gun or blowing up a drum next to a soldier and seeing his charred remains splatter is just so satisfying. So here is where another question comes in: BBH says to shoot a guy up to 13 times before stabbing him. Is that counting actual bullets as they connect? Because roughly 3 bursts while holding the shot button with the standard shot will drop a green soldier/makes him explode with Violence on.

Finally, I always play Team Battle. My team is Big Mama, Southern Cross, and Loki. Is Team Battle the way to go for score? Oh, and my score is 14 million something.

-Tech

 

[BBH]

Okay, for starters, I have not read anything beyond BBH's initial post. This is way, way, way too much information to absorb at one time.

That's why the subject says "Expert"

I have always done the Valley to Jungle route, basically what BBH suggests but in reverse. What say you to that, BBH? How much more are we talking in points in doing it the other way around?

Lots. Lots and lots of points. I'm not quite as familiar with this route in terms of scoring potential, because it really wasn't worth figuring out once I realized that Jungle to Valley was the best. If the game had different high score charts for different routes I would have made the most out of all 9 possible route combinations.

But anyway, I took a quick look at the first stage of Valley and was only able to get a little less than 2 million on the first try. On the first stage of Jungle, my all-time best is 8,277,500, although I didn't break 8 million all that often. So that's a 6-million point deficit after the first stage alone. The later levels MIGHT have some potential in terms of whether or not you can stall to bring out more enemies, but I'm not sure of it.

Its tough to sacrifice turning 'Violence' off. Sawing off some asshole's arm with the machine gun or blowing up a drum next to a soldier and seeing his charred remains splatter is just so satisfying. So here is where another question comes in: BBH says to shoot a guy up to 13 times before stabbing him. Is that counting actual bullets as they connect? Because roughly 3 bursts while holding the shot button with the standard shot will drop a green soldier/makes him explode with Violence on.

Yes, actual bullets as they connect. And actually, they drop on the 13th shot so the max you can get is 12 shots plus the close-range kill. With Violence on, soldiers tend to drop at completely random times... sometimes you can get all 13 shots in before they die, sometimes they drop much earlier. In the long run it doesn't make it worth the effort to fill them with gunfire since you run the risk of missing out on close-range kills + 30k gems. Sometimes it's still recommended though to try it on white or purple soldiers since they're worth more per shot.

Remember, my high score with Violence on is 29.5 mil, with Violence off it's 37.7 mil. Pretty big difference.

Finally, I always play Team Battle. My team is Big Mama, Southern Cross, and Loki. Is Team Battle the way to go for score? Oh, and my score is 14 million something.

Team Battle won't automatically give you a higher score, but it definitely makes things easier in the long run so don't give that up however, I wouldn't recommend that team for the Valley-Jungle route. Loki in particular does not get many speed-ups at all in that route, I would substitute Milky for him. Both Southern Cross and Big Mama are decent enough for the route though. I would substitute Rio for Southern Cross though since he gets a couple speed-ups on the Jungle levels. Walking speed is very important if you're going for the combo gunfire + close-range kill, or even just regular close-range kills on their own so it's always important to find a good team with a lot of high ratings on the stages you're going to play. I always find that the best teams are those that have at least one fast character (Milky/Marie, or one of the "standard" characters if they get lots of speed-ups for the level) and one character with double-shot gunfire (Southern Cross/Big Mama, Maru has double-shot too but decreased defense), the third character should also be one that benefits from a lot of speed-ups on that route... or of course you can just one that has a bomb you like. It's really up to you.

(repost of the character breakdown by stage):

            Jackal   Milky   Loki    S.C.    Marie    Rio    Maru    Mama 
____________________________________________________________________________
Mountain 1 |   2   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   1   |
Mountain 2 |   2   |   1   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   0   |   2   |   1   |
Mountain 3 |   1   |   0   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Mountain 4 |   1   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   1   |
Mountain 5 |   2   |   1   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   3   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Jungle 1   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   2   |
Jungle 2   |   3   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |
Jungle 3   |   2   |   1   |   0   |   1   |   1   |   3   |   1   |   3   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Jungle 4   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   3   |
Jungle 5   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   2   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Valley 1   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |
Valley 2   |   1   |   3   |   1   |   0   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   0   |
Valley 3   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   1   |   1   |   0   |   0   |   1   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Valley 4   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   0   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   0   |
Valley 5   |   2   |   0   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   1   |   2   |   0   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
Train      |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |   1   |
-----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
BSG HQ     |   3   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   2   |   2   | 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[topher]

Thanks BBH, I am not sure who bumped this thread, but it's my first time seeing it. Great stuff here. The game came with my cab when I bought it, and I have played the hell out of it. Always played with blood on and had figured out the multishot, multipoint thing but could never consistantly gauge how many shots to fire due to the seeming randomness of how many shots an enemy could take. Now I know...next time I fire that game up, blood comes off and the new stratigies begin

 

[BBH]

Thanks BBH, I am not sure who bumped this thread, but it's my first time seeing it. Great stuff here. The game came with my cab when I bought it, and I have played the hell out of it. Always played with blood on and had figured out the multishot, multipoint thing but could never consistantly gauge how many shots to fire due to the seeming randomness of how many shots an enemy could take. Now I know...next time I fire that game up, blood comes off and the new stratigies begin

amazing how just one simple little thing like that can completely change the game huh? I miss the gore, but besides the high scores I find it more fun to try to go for the multi-shot + close-range combo kills. Before that my gameplay was all close-range kills, which is fun too since you have to learn the best times to roll through attacks to get close, but combining the two takes even more skill. Good luck

 

[topher]

i tried playing a close kill only game to see how that would affect the score with blue diamonds...but usually i try to mix it up 'cause i love the animations. great game.

 

[jepjepjep]

I've been playing Shock Troopers lately and thought this thread deserved a bump, especially since the Shock Therapy site seems to have disappeared.

Awesome game.

 

[rcantor77]

I have recently started getting into this game (only thanks to the Wii) and it is now very close to being my favorite Neo game. Why did they never release an AES version...

Also, must say... BBH this is an absolutely awesome thread and so glad it got bumped as I never would have found it. Thanks for putting in the effort to write this all down.