Battle Circuit

fake

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The biggest draw in Capcom's Belt Scrolling Collection was Battle Circuit. It's always had this allure for me. It's super stylish, has SF-style move inputs, and has a sense of humor.

That said, I had never put much time into it. I've never played a legit CPS2 version (though a phoenixed version has been on my list since I got a CPS2 A board). I could've played on my Pandora's Box, but I wanted to wait for "the real thing."

The compilation is close enough to the real thing for me... but holy shit this game is tough. At least in my opinion. But apparently it's the CPS2's easiest beat 'em up?

Am I missing something? I play as Blue and can get to the end of the third stage (with the breakdancing fight on the beach). At first I thought this was decent, but then I realized there are ten levels.

Any tips to get me farther into this game?
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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Doing A+B desperation move gives you invincibility frames after it wears off, even if it doesn't hit.

I usually use Yellow Iris or Ostrich so I can't help you with your character. The former builds up money the best out of everyone imo with her whip upgrade and can otg bosses with her infinite dragon punch down+up A if you get it upgraded / Squirrel charge. Ostrich can fly and peck away at stuff with leg air attack. Alien green seems real good from what I've played too since he is a grapple character and has a healing death blow.

but yeah I would look up 1cc videos of your character and study what the bosses do. A lot of them seem to have attacks that are either invincible or out prioritize your stuff so you need to know when to attack.

Only way I've been able to look at hitboxes is with mame-rr using damnits lua scripts. They can be tremendously helpful in seeing what is invincible or not.
 
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jeffkun34

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I never found this game tough, if anything it is too easy through most of it. Like most beat em ups it gets harder at the end especially with the boss attacks. Like CCF mentions, many of the upgradeable attacks are a bit OP especially Yellow's DP. I can see playing alone being a slight challenge but almost every time I pick this up is with a buddy.
 

Jedah Doma

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Thanks for sharing, boss. But this is the Game Play subforum.

I get where you're coming from, but you can tone down the disdain. My apologies as I didn't look where this was posted. Only saw it posted as I was browsing the new posts. In terms of gameplay, I'm a bit sad we more than likely won't see any sequel or spiritual successor that builds on both the fun and customization the game brought. Now beat em ups simply recycle what we've seen before without adding much new.

Just the customization aspect could be built on huge. Imagine having a beat em up that you could level up an even more expansive list of traits and abilities. However with the beat em up genre mostly dead, I doubt we'll see these kind of improvements.
 
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fake

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I can get to Johnny / Elvis without taking damage. But Johnny just kicks my ass...

Also, I lol'd out loud last night. I just now noticed that when you beat Johnny, his suit bursts and he turns into fat Elvis.
 

andsuchisdeath

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I get where you're coming from, but you can tone down the disdain. My apologies as I didn't look where this was posted. Only saw it posted as I was browsing the new posts. In terms of gameplay, I'm a bit sad we more than likely won't see any sequel or spiritual successor that builds on both the fun and customization the game brought. Now beat em ups simply recycle what we've seen before without adding much new.

Just the customization aspect could be built on huge. Imagine having a beat em up that you could level up an even more expansive list of traits and abilities. However with the beat em up genre mostly dead, I doubt we'll see these kind of improvements.

I guarantee any future/hyped beat 'em up will be exactly what you've described above.

A padded/bloated rpg in beat 'em up clothing. The actual combat will more or less serve as a task simulator for grinding so you can buy stuff! Because, you know, no one wants an actual straight up action (belt scroller or otherwise) game because it will "recycle what we've seen before".

Also, what current beat em ups are you referring to when you say "now"?
 
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Jedah Doma

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I guarantee any future/hyped beat 'em up will be exactly what you've described above.

A padded/bloated rpg in beat 'em up clothing. The actual combat will more or less serve as a task simulator for grinding so you can buy stuff! Because, you know, no one wants an actual straight up action (belt scroller or otherwise) game because it will "recycle what we've seen before".

Also, what current beat em ups are you referring to when you say "now"?

That's what I fear. Every time someone describes a new game as a "beat em up" I play it and am completely unimpressed. There's no more room for skill. It's a clunky mess that doesn't play right. Even though Bayonetta may be classified as a third person action game, the hit and attacks all have this satisfying weight and sound to them that one would expect from a classic beat em up. It makes you feel like you're doing real visceral damage. Hell God Hand is one of the best of the newer beat em ups we've gotten. I know it's over ten years old. I know there are some flaws with the camera and graphics to an extent, but fuck if it isn't a blast and fun as hell.

In terms of "current beat em ups", I think the closest thing we have to a stable long running series is Dynasty Warriors. Even though it's not strictly a beat em up, it was the only thing we had for awhile to scratch that itch. While fun, the hits had no power behind them and enemies fell by the dozens like paper. Yes I love those games for their own merit, but I think it diluted the genre down.
 
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ChuChu Flamingo

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Dragon's crown is what comes to my mind when thinking about leveling up and being a beat em up. Dragon's Crown, God Hand, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry etc challenge lies imo in short burst since they are pretty long.

Arcade beat em ups on the other hand give you much more limited tools and expect you to master them efficiently for an endurance test from start to finish (if you plan to one credit or do limited continues).

Both are entirely different experiences and that isn't bad. I like both.

also god hand is awesome
 

fake

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Finally got to the fourth stage in Battle Circuit. I got lucky with trapping Johnny in a big combo while I was powered up.
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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1cc'd it with Yellow Iris. Did another run and decided to fight extra boss and lost both my remaining lives. He isn't too bad but you need to abuse invincibility after desperation attack to dodge things easier and know when its your turn to attack. Getting hit by his fire attack took off like 3/4 my health.

Ima keep playing as Yellow Iris to defeat the true final boss and then work on other characters.
 
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fake

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1cc'd it with Yellow Iris. Did another run and decided to fight extra boss and lost both my remaining lives. He isn't too bad but you need to abuse invincibility after desperation attack to dodge things easier and know when its your turn to attack. Getting hit by his fire attack took off like 3/4 my health.

Ima keep playing as Yellow Iris to defeat the true final boss and then work on other characters.

What strategy with Yellow Iris are you using that makes the game easy?
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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Stage 1 grab Whip Upgrade 50
Stage 2 grab Dragon punch Upgrade for 100
Stage 3 Grab Health Increase for 400
Stage 4 grab Jump in Air attack

You can juggle most enemies and bosses with the default squirrel charge and dragon punch. Below is a video of what I mean.

Also using desperation attack whiffing to gain invincibility frames comes in handy especially for the last bosses and Zipang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO5XQZRFBok&t=2m8s

Basically charge squirrel up and be facing right let go of A. After launching squirrel start walking right and hold A immediately. Once it is charged again face left and let go of A. Repeat. You need to be relatively close for it to work.

Doesn't work on the stage 6 boss Zipang. You either relaunch him with dragon punch or forward jumping kick. The time to relaunch for most enemies is after they bounce twice. Never watch this video before just google'd but that zipang strategy with the jumping kick is a lot better than dragon punch relaunching I did.


EDIT: At stage 5 destroy the top house to release the boss in the machine. He will give you a Vitality up. Just learned about it from playing.
 
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ChuChu Flamingo

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Here is a crappy run I did on the beat em bundle.Did a deathless run on my actual real board but don't have a way to record real hardware. I plan to fix that this year hopefully as I would love to upload more 1ccs of the games I own. Emulators always feel off to me, even on a near lagless asus monitor and groovymame. Cyber blue or Alien green will be my next characters for sure. Did this on the capcom beat em up bundle.

 
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Jedah Doma

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Here is a crappy run I did on the beat em bundle.Did a deathless run on my actual real board but don't have a way to record real hardware. I plan to fix that this year hopefully as I would love to upload more 1ccs of the games I own. Emulators always feel off to me, even on a near lagless asus monitor and groovymame. Cyber blue or Alien green will be my next characters for sure. Did this on the capcom beat em up bundle.


Nice! A whole lot better than I can fucking do. Shit now I need to play this game more.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

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Nice run ChuChu! I also checked out that Cannon Spike Arthur vid too. Good stuff!
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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Thanks. I plan to record a Arthur 2-all for cannon spike sometime once I get a setup for recording actual hardware. Dreamcast emulation has a lot of input lag.

But yeah battle circuit is pretty fun. Some tips would be to max out health upgrade first and get the health upgrade in stage 5 by destroying the house. Also remember A+B desperation attack has invincibility, so you can whiff it when no enemies are around and take no damage. It allows you to escape certain situations since the invincibility lingers (this also applies to Battle unit activations in the air). Last if you hold down or up during your combo you will either throw automatically at the end of it (like final fight) or do a special move.

Only thing I don't like is bosses seem to have a lot of invincibility or priority over your attacks. So you really need to reverse engineer the AI if you don't abuse loops and know when its your turn to attack. It will be fun exploring the other characters.
 
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Jedah Doma

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Much respect. What difficulty do you play Cannon Spike on? I did above average but was never a master. Still want to get better at it.
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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Level 5/normal.

To access the loop you need to be on level 4 or above iirc. From what I see level 7 just does more damage. The AI ranks ups the same in the first loop. Their ai can be different though depending upon what stage order you get though. Also dying seems to lower the rank and it is especially noticeable on boss patterns and the dmg you take.

Loop 2 though everything seems to be max rank and harder than level 7 loop 1.
 
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