Would anyone be interested in a Damageless category? I think it would offer a pretty different gameplay experience from Any% and Best Ending, and it could give a fresh challenge to anyone interested in the game.
The thing I like the most about the category is that encourages some unique strategies/glitches that aren't as relevant in Any% or Best Ending. Examples include:
- Making Reapers fall through/off their platforms
- Despawning enemies
- Manipulating easier enemies to stay on the screen to prevent spawns of more troublesome enemies
- Zipping through the wall during a wall clip to avoid landing on an enemy (e.g. in 1-4)
There are also several potential tradeoffs to make regarding safety vs speed, such as:
- Picking up the protective crystals to prevent some accidental hits
- Picking up the feather in case you need to fall to prevent a hit (or want to launch yourself past a section in World 3)
- Picking up 700+ hearts in case a Pluton steals your weapon
- Picking up an extra strength level to be able to kill certain enemies in one shot (this is particularly useful for the jumping enemies in 3-2 and 3-3, the red enemies in the room you drop into in 3-4, and the green bricks in 4-1)
- Waiting in a safe spot for enemies to spawn 4 times (such as the snakes that fall through the small opening in 3-1 or those pink balls that fly up from the bottom in World 2)
- Taking longer routes in 2-4 and/or 3-4 to avoid some difficult rooms
- Walking into doors for safety (or to force different spawns when you walk out)
I'm sure there are many more of these that I haven't thought of yet!
If you want to see it in action, here is the video by fruitbatsalad that inspired me to try it out. I also did a much slower run with some different strategies:
Hey, i think its in the works now? I know @Slackanater is currently running / streaming Damageless Kid Icarus at the moment
Nice run!
I am not a mod here but other nes games also have damageless categories, so I would be in favor of adding it.
Awesome, it's cool to see that there's some interest!
Skipping through Slackanater's most recent VOD- Using timed pauses to skip over points in the spawn cycle in the training room is really clever! I'm interested to see what strategies come out of this :)
Nice to see a completed run! I'm all for a damageless category. Though I'm more of a one and done with damageless. Zetorux please let me know if you are ever able to catch a live stream and I will go over all the strategies I use.
That would be great! I live on the opposite coast and I tend to be a late riser, but I'll try to catch the tail end of a stream sometime. I haven't really gotten a chance to exchange information about the game, so I'd definitely enjoy learning more, and hopefully I could share some findings/ideas as well!
Okay, the "Any% Damageless" category has been added. Here is what I put for the rules:
SDA timing: Start on character control and end when you leave the Medusa screen. Taking damage or dying for any reason invalidates the run.
Rule should be simple but complete. Hopefully this covers any potential loopholes.
Have fun y'all!
Run approved.
I love that my heart raced at SEVERAL times in World 3 while watching this run. Even though the title says "Damageless," I still bit on close calls like 3 or 4 times. Well done, Zetorux! Amazing run!
