Thanks for sharing (: I also want to take advantage of this thread with different options and strategies for Blaze on Normal difficulty: Playlist on Youtube
I've uploaded a playlist of the best times I've gotten in each stage for Blaze easy (including both save state practice & live attempts), with commentary on all the waves in the descriptions of the videos. Note that not all of the strats I currently use are featured in these golds:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVSx9HYHHwUppu1vVcjNFg4yp4zASteG2
Sum of these golds = 21:15.817. If you replaced the two practice session golds with the live run golds for those stages, it'd be 21:19.133, so there's not too much difference.
Came up with a new fast approach to the stage 5 twins fight on easy that beats them in 3 cycles. It's not quite as fast as the fast 4 cycle strat pulled off optimally, but it's probably a bit more consistent.
For comparison, the following vid has my fastest twins fight that I've pulled off (as well as the fastest pre-twins wave, as a bonus).
I've come up with a couple of fast approaches for the stage 8 twins fight. Unfortunately, I find these to be considerably tougher than the stage 5 fast loop, with less time saved. So I don't recommend them unless you want to get to hyper-optimizing the run.
3.5 cycle loop with flip kicks (slower) - this saves roughly 2 seconds over the standard loop
4.5 cycle loop with catch & release (faster but very tough) - this saves just under 3 seconds over the standard loop
Decided to write up an explanation for the fastest known X loop on easy, developed by @naddiwolf (maybe this should be in guides, but for now I'll use this thread again). More demonstration videos of alternate situations at the bottom of the post:
Standard loop (no delay in 7th cycle)
Start a bit to the left of Mr X, wait for him to stand before moving forward & grabbing himâyou want there to be a brief delay between him fully standing and grabbing him (.15 to .2 seconds seems to be the sweet spot). Once you grab him, do the first 5 cycles without hesitation:
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2 knees
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1 knee
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1 knee
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2 knees
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2 knees
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On the 6th cycle (facing left), you generally will have to wait for the galsia behind you to get close enough before throwing the 2nd knee.
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On the 7th cycle (facing right), you need to read the position of the galsia coming behind you. If he's far enough away, you can do two knees without hesitation and go on to the next cycle. However, he might be too close for that, in which case you need to wait and do the 1st knee with the right timing to get him to back off.
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8th cycle is 2 knees without hesitation
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9th cycle (facing right) you will usually have to wait for the galsia coming behind you before throwing the 2nd knee, though if you took the delay on the first knee mentioned above for the 7th cycle, you might instead have to throw the 2 knees right away
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10th cycle (facing left) is another cycle where you have to read the galsia coming behind you. Depending how things played out earlier, you might be able to throw two knees right away and get him to back off, or have to hesitate on either the 1st or 2nd knee for that.
Alternatively, you can pretty much always do two quick knees and the over the shoulder throw for the finish, but that loses about .3 seconds compared to finishing with 2 knees in the 11th cycle. If you mistime things and the galsia starts throwing punches on this cycle, you have to finish with the throw to salvage the situation, otherwise you risk losing substantial time (~10 seconds is pretty common).
One final noteâif at some point you get caught up and don't get the knees in time for the loop, and a galsia starts throwing punches, it is sometimes possible to salvage the loop by timing your knees so the i-frames prevent you from being hit. This depends on the galsia's punch combo finishing up with the correct timing so he'll back off due to the final knee, so it's not always possible.
Obviously, this alters the timing for all subsequent cycles, so you have to read & react the rest of the way.
More demonstration videos:
Finishing the fight with a throw over galsia punching
GenesisáŽáŽáŽ
GenesisáŽáŽáŽ
