Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

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Pixel_Outlaw
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Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

I played Raiden for the first time after a long shmup hiatus from the series.

It is immensely fun to just sit in the middle of the bosses in the first level as they gradually die a slow unavoidable death.
I thought maybe we could start a thread of safe zone exploits in different games.

I'm sure there are plenty of them across the genre.
Do you know of any others? :mrgreen:
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by OmegaFlareX »

I was playing Daisenpu (arcade) the other day and the final boss was slaughtering me, so I looked at the Replay Burners run... right before the boss there are some stairs and railings. Position your plane directly over the right railing at the bottom of the screen and there's a safe spot when the boss appears. It only works for about 5 seconds though, hope you're powered-up enough to take out two of the turrets in that time.

The vast majority of stage 3 in Salamander can be safe-spotted in the lower-left quadrant of the screen, with your options above you (firing constantly of course). All but like, 2 of the flares will miss you there. There's also one on the stage 4 boss, but I could never get that one to work as it's very precise.
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Pixel_Outlaw
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

Some great tips there OmegaFlareX!
Thanks for contributing your knowledge.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Kollision »

Some of the coolest safespots I've seen are in Judgement Silversword. :)
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Ruldra »

Fun fact, there's one in the final boss of Raiden. There are way too many safespots in the genre to list them all.

One thing I learned over the years is that, if you're fighting a boss that doesn't move and doesn't fire aimed bullets at you, it's very likely that a safespot exists somewhere. The screen corners are the first place I check. Case in point, this one in Mars Matrix.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by LordHypnos »

^I think that that safespot maybe doesn't exist in the DC version (that's what I've heard, anyway).

However, there are at least two that I can think of that do exist in the DC version of Mars Matrix:

On the stage 1 boss there is a fairly large safe area above the boss on the final attack. It should be noted that if you don't eventually damage this pattern there is at least one more pattern that follows it. The way to use this is to wait right around where the bullets come out and then start grabbing them once your shield recharges for a boss-kill-technique. This video on nicovideo uses it (It's around 2:00, maybe a little earlier). I have tried using it before, but I seem to get even less consistent experience than with my normal route, so I usually skip it. I'll bet if you did it enough you could probably get it to a pretty solid consistency.

On the third car of the fifth stage boss there is also a safespot, which is theoretically good because it's kind of a tough pattern, but it's a pretty precise spot, so I usually don't attempt this one either. I'd actually wager that there's more than one safespot here because the way that the bullets are aimed it seems like they have some level of angle snapping going on. Will perhaps test this later. Maybe I'll actually try to get a video of this spot at some point. I'm pretty sure videos exist, but I don't remember where.

It's not quite a safespot, but another similar thing is that on the "field of death" in stage 4 if you constantly tap just a little bit to the left you'll avoid the bullets. To be safe you should probably tap shield occasionally too. You do also need to stall a little bit on the right hand side using tap shields in order to not get trapped eventually at the left side though. Before I learned how to read this pattern I used to do this and be amazed by how I didn't die. This tech is described in Randorama's strategy guide. It's even easier if you don't kill any big enemies because they fly away after attacking and you get bonus enemies when you kill them. The pattern is just easier without the extra bullets, but they are just aimed at you, so it still can work with them around. Note that you will miss a lot of points if you don't kill any enemies here. These are pretty valuable enemies. I use this technique in my digital camera 1cc video, unfortunately stage 4 is way too bright and you can only sort of see what's going on in that part of the video.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Jeneki »

Pixel_Outlaw wrote:I played Raiden for the first time after a long shmup hiatus from the series.

It is immensely fun to just sit in the middle of the bosses in the first level as they gradually die a slow unavoidable death.
If that seems too cheesy (or you don't like mashing/autofire) there's another safe spot towards the bottom of the screen, directly below the left tread on each supertank. Even the aimed spread doesn't hit there for whatever reason. Raiden 1 bosses have a lot of stuff like this. :wink:

And speaking of sitting in the middle of enemies, I love how the Raiden Fighters series added a few secret bonuses when parking right on top of certain turrets.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Stevens »

LordHypnos wrote:^I think that that safespot maybe doesn't exist in the DC version (that's what I've heard, anyway).

On the stage 1 boss there is a fairly large safe area above the boss on the final attack. It should be noted that if you don't eventually damage this pattern there is at least one more pattern that follows it.

On the third car of the fifth stage boss there is also a safespot, which is theoretically good because it's kind of a tough pattern, but it's a pretty precise spot, so I usually don't attempt this one either.
The Tree of Life safe spot is not in the DC version. I would have way more 1 CC's of MM if it were.

I didn't know there was another attack from the first boss. He also has a safe spot when he shoots his purple lasers, it's by the GHB meter. Scarab boss has some sick patterns if you let him live a while too.

Next to last train car you're safe if you don't move since the shots are aimed around you. I didn't know about the 3rd car though.
Last edited by Stevens on Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Perikles »

While the list of safespots within the genre is interminable, most of my favourites are to be found in titles from Irem. At their best, Irem games are emotionally unsettling both from the aesthetic and the gameplay front, forcing you to be steadfast in the face of vile horror. As a quid pro quo, sitting in scientifically accurate safespots and inexorably wiping out lurid bosses with a vice-like grip is incredibly satisfying, most notably in the case of R-Type II's last two bosses in loop 2.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by LordHypnos »

Stevens wrote:
The Tree of Life safe spot is not in the DC version. I would have way more 1 CC's of MM if it were.

I didn't know there was another attack from the first boss. He also has a safe spot when he shoots his purple lasers, it's by the GHB meter. Scarab boss has some sick patterns if you let him live a while too.
If this is the one I'm thinking of, it doesn't actually matter where you sit (tho it probably has to be bottom of the screen). The two parallel green lasers are aimed around you. The purple bubbles won't hit you either, and when you destroy them you get gold. You can see this here: https://youtu.be/HlMaxgvN6Q4?t=1m55s
EDIT: This is actually an important part of the boss milk
Next to last train car your safe if you don't move since the shots are aimed around you. I didn't know about the 3rd car though.
Ditto with this one. The pattern's aimed around you. See here for example: https://youtu.be/Ufow5nl8vn8?t=2m50s
I got a vid of the car 3 safespot. Will upload soon.

Ironic that I didn't think of these, since I actually use them :P

EDIT: here: https://youtu.be/1fuPN33j6bU
Last edited by LordHypnos on Mon Dec 12, 2016 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by MaXXX »

During the final attack of Mushihimesama Ultras TLB, you can tap left and right at just the right moments to avoid getting hit
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by Eaglet »

Use safespot - get a free 300k.

This can be used with Gain as well but a 300k gain with Miyamoto is huge.
Aside from that DOJ and Ketsui have safespots at or close to the top of the screen for some otherwise annoying patterns.

Ketsui Stage 4 boss
DOJ Stage 2 boss
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by MathU »

Thread for gutless cowards eh? :P

Vermilion Coronatus in Darius Gaiden has this ridiculous bullet spam attack in its final form of which the only way I've ever determined of avoiding is via a somewhat precise safe spot.
Perikles wrote:... the case of R-Type II's last two bosses in loop 2.
I'm not aware of any other way to beat the stage 5 boss than with safe spots. It seems to me like finding a safe spot is just part of the puzzle, which goes great with the rest of the level. The final boss safe spot on the other hand is super lame!

Image Fight also has that goofy safe spot parked behind its otherwise-ridiculous stage 3 boss. I often wonder if that one was intentional.
Of course, that's just an opinion.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by The Armchair General »

Donpachi's Stage 5 Boss's Final Pattern Safe Spot

So fun to see an otherwise nearly impossible pattern be reduced to nothing. Only works with the type B ship. This was "fixed" in the Hong Kong version.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by mamboFoxtrot »

A borderliner case, but the only "safe spot" I've really ever used is in the final boss of The Red Star.
He has three different Bullet Pattern phases where his two hands shoot at you, and the third one, while the most simplistic, is quite fast, and the hitboxes in this game are kind of vague as it is anyways, so I was stuck on it for quite a while. Eventually I realized that when hanging out in a bottom corner, the hand you're under for some reason can't angle towards you, so you only have to dodge half of the actual pattern, with maximum distance to react to at that.
On the one hand, I was relieved to finally beat the fucker, but... it was still kind of an anticlimatic! :P
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by maximo310 »

In Assault Plus, the big yellow tanks that shoot spreads love to become " depressed" after firing one volley, and refuse to fire any additional shots at you. Very helpful in later levels for survival and score.

Phelios apparently has a safespot on the stage 4 boss near the nose.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by bcass »

Gradius II / Vulcan Venture (arcade) - you can park your ship right in front of the stage 3 (crystal stage) boss core at the start of the fight and just sit there firing until it's dead. It looks unsafe, but it works due to the forgiving hitbox on the player ship. You can also do something similar with the boss "Wall" in stage 8, this one:

http://cdn.wikimg.net/strategywiki/imag ... age_8c.png

Park in front of the core, use missiles to destroy the laser turrets above/below, then laser to destroy the core.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by ciox »

Psyvariar Medium Unit and Revision
Even with the invincibility boosts aside, the games are all about finding fun but brief safespots in the bosses' bodies or during stages, there's too many to count, what's good is you can't stay in them too long because aimed shots are relatively frequent and you can't use the rolling technique to both reduce your hitbox and sit perfectly still for more than half a second, at least not on default settings.

Psyvariar 2
The same in principle but with less aimed shots and easier rolling (just hold a direction) which gives you a really good tool for finding safespots along the edges and corners of the screen as you inch along with an infinitesimal hitbox. As a result most of the stages and bosses have some pretty long safespots around the edges of the screen.

Battle Bakraid:
Sit at the top of Bahamut's first form, only works at low rank otherwise the turrets it spawns will shoot at you
Cyclops' final form has a safespot right under it as long as it's not stepping horizontally, its attacks will look scary but won't hit you
The big airship in the final stage can be "silenced" for a very long time if you get high on the screen quickly and sit there, as you seal every single turret on its massive body for about 10-15 seconds depending on rank, this can help you set up a bigger chain as sealed turrets can still be bombed and you'll get more of them on-screen at once through scrolling
Vampire has alternating safespots depending on its selected combination of attacks, either at its sides or right in its face, these can be very useful at saving you a bomb during a crappy combination

Ikaruga:
Lots of unexpected safespots are available to make "Dot Eater" possible, most infamous being in chapter 2 where you can pass vertically inbetween the flying boxes, one that people might not know about is you can hug the wall at the end of chapter 3 and the bouncing enemies can't hit you.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

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bcass wrote:Gradius II / Vulcan Venture (arcade) - you can park your ship right in front of the stage 3 (crystal stage) boss core at the start of the fight and just sit there firing until it's dead. It looks unsafe, but it works due to the forgiving hitbox on the player ship. You can also do something similar with the boss "Wall" in stage 8, this one:

http://cdn.wikimg.net/strategywiki/imag ... age_8c.png

Park in front of the core, use missiles to destroy the laser turrets above/below, then laser to destroy the core.
A bit trivia : In a game interview on certain site, the st3 boss safespot was intended by developers whereas the wall boss isn't.

There's more safespots here, even you can kill Big Core Mk.2 without any power-ups.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by MathU »

I always beat the wall boss by first hiding in one of the notches to the left while my options destroy the more dangerous turrets. Seems to me the more obvious safe spot.
Of course, that's just an opinion.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by LordHypnos »

Not sure if it counts, but one of my flavorite things about Zero Gunner 2 is the way that you can avoid some of the bosses' attacks by hanging out behind it and moving around along with it while keeping your fire trained there. It just feels really cool for some reason.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

Post by CloudyMusic »

It's pretty obvious but I've always found that one Seseri safespot fun to do.
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Re: Safe zone exploits and other fun "cheats"

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