Practice vs Bosses mod?

Hey all,

I received a copy of Cave Story+ on Steam as a birthday story from a good friend of mine.

Me typically liking a challenge, I chose Hard Mode as my first run-through. I figured with all the Mega Man I played, I should be stellar or at the very least decent here, right?

Big mistake!

Regardless, I persevered through out it all, even restarting the game at one point because I would miss out on the best ending, still in Hard Mode. In fact, I'm at the final boss.

And now I can't win. I tried for 12 hours straight one day and I haven't even managed to defeat either of the two cohorts to the boss. The randomness of the first Doctor battle also doesn't help matters much. Of about 50 tries, I've only had 5 chances to fight the Undead Core, all of which ended in almost instantaneous death.


So, the question. Is there a mod, for Steam or the freeware version, where I can simply pick a boss to fight, choose my HP and arsenal and then just play against that? I know there's a boss rush mod, but that doesn't change the fact I'd need to fight against several bosses before hitting the one I want to practice against. I just want to say "I want to take on Undead Core with 3HP, Spur and Nemesis" and then fight him as many times as I want without having to go through cutscenes, Misery and the Doctor.

Thanks in advance!

 

For undead core, take out Sue (you can pass through her when she is not spinning, and she only spins one out of two moving actions, use this opportunity to maneuver, burn your missiles on her if you want to take her out quickly, it's up to you), then Misery (she does bugger all most of the time unless attacked directly, use her enemy spawning to recover ammo), then finally the Core (he's a sitting duck without Sue and Misery, though when you see the core's open mouth then try to avoid his lazor face), in that order. Also, you need to take your time. Sit back for half a second and be sure of your choices before you move and, most of all, don't take risks, not even minor ones, defense before offense an' all that jazz.

For the first doctor fight, when he hovers in the air, get to the other end of the room so that you have that extra half a second to figure out where you need to stand to avoid that red energy barrage of his. Everything else in that fight should be easy enough.

For Misery stand underneath and shoot upwards so that you can spam her with shots. However keep in mind not to attempt it if she is hovering too close to the ground. Other than that it's all about knowing when to stop shooting and get out of there.

As for the second doctor fight.. I have no advice for you there, he was an utter pain during my bubbler run.

As for practice you could try modding the game or save file (backup first) to deposit you directly into the the undead core room (a.k.a. black space).

 

Don't have missiles to use, unfortunately. Cave Story+'s Hard Mode is a no Life Capsule, no Missile Launcher run. The strongest attack I have is the Nemesis, which is bad because Misery spawns regular enemies which can drop triangles. In Hard Mode, Lv2 Blade is actually the strongest damage dealer, but.

Destroying Sue first I'm told will have Misery release homing projectiles. From the YouTube videos I've watched, that seems to be the case and since I only have 3HP, they're probably deadly. Misery should be my first target, then Sue. Which is tough, because Sue's somersault kick is hard to predict while I'm watching for the Undead Core's assault as well.

For Misery alone at the start of the segment, she's easy. I can mop the floor with her since I've fought her so many times now.

For the Doctor, his first form is giving me hell. The fact he always retains his hitbox, even when he's reappearing from teleportation, has led to my death multiple times over when he decides to do it right on top of me (which is instant-death!). You think it wouldn't be a problem, but it is, and there's no signal where he's going to be. Where he decides to release the radial burst is another thing, since I've only managed to figure out how to safely dodge two different formations of them. One time, he decided to teleport right in front of me just as I was jumping to dodge the radial burst. Augh. There's too much randomness to the fight to make me want to play through it as often as say, Misery.

Doctor 2 isn't so bad since my only weapon restriction is the Missile Launcher. I have the Nemesis which can chain damage pretty quick and I can kill him before he uses the massive bat attack. Which is good, because that one's probably instant death.

Really, it's just the first Doctor fight that's driving me nuts when all I want to do is have another shot at the Undead Core. And the cutscenes. There really should be a way to skip it after you've already seen it once.

Oh, and for modding, are there any useful guides/tools that will let me change my location data? I expect most would only work for the freeware version though and not Steam. Though, I'm all right with that if that's what it comes down to.

 

Even though Misery (during the core fight) shoots fish missiles (and you have already beaten the final bosses anyway, but whatever) I should note that you can shoot the fish missiles.Also, if you attack Misery first you essentially have to avoid Sue at the same time, however defeating Sue first means that you can fight Sue, Misery and the core one at a time instead of all at once. I found it much easier to do things this way during my bubbler run. You can always splash damage the missiles and spawned enemies with the lvl3 blade if needs be.

 

True. I really shouldn't have traded the Blade for the Nemesis, I didn't think there would be so many triangles to avoid later on.

I noticed through my many attempts that Misery spawns enemies the instant she gets hit. That said, it probably would be better taking out Sue first since Misery will let you take your time. For the most part. She did appear to spawn enemies after a certain time period passed. It was either that or my Whimsical Star nudged her when I wasn't looking.

Bubbler run, though, really? Against everything? Gracious, I don't even know how you handled the living Core, let alone some other problematic bosses and stage segments. You have a playthrough I can watch? Sounds pretty interesting.

 

Bubbler run, though, really? Against everything? Gracious, I don't even know how you handled the living Core, let alone some other problematic bosses and stage segments. You have a playthrough I can watch? Sounds pretty interesting.

Yep, against everything. I don't have a video though since I did the whole run on my PSP.

Here's some info on a few of the bosses in any case...

Living Core:
The good thing about living core is that you can pass through him. Essentially if you hold the fire button down on your bubbler (lvl.3 for best effect) every single bubble will find it's mark. Other than that, like with many other boss fights, you just have to keep your xp meter high. When doing a bubbler run xp is your lifeblood, because the lvl.1 bubbler is a death sentence.

Curly:
Since you can't exit the building without the lvl.3 bubbler you essentially have to retain the lvl.3 until the very end. So I used a technique called single shot (something that is immensely useful for a large number of these boss fights). Instead of holding the fire button down for the lvl.3 bubbler you need to press it repeatedly which makes it good for shooting in a straight line and it preserves ammo. Use straight shot on the mimigas and since you can pass through Curly (like with the core) stand in the middle of her and hold down the fire button to line her face with bubbles.

Balrog pt 4:
You know when he jumps towards you and shoots missiles? Just before that is a moment when if you jump over him he will still jump in the direction you were in. This gives you much more room. Now this is the tricky bit. Don't try to shoot down the missles, it generally doesn't work, instead try to dodge them.

Ironhead:
The bubble shield should deal with the puffer fish, but remember to recharge it between rounds. Focus on dodging blocks first and foremost. Try to hit Ironhead of course but your focus should always be on dodging blocks 'cause it's gonna be a long fight. Never attack Ironhead as he swims forward though, he'll be hard to hit and you'll just exhaust your ammo faster.

Monster-X part 1:
Do one round on the offensive (stand in the middle, hold down the attack button and jump up and down to reach the middle, else the purple things will get in the way), and then use subsequent rounds to recover xp until your xp bar is full again, repeat.

Monster-X part 2:
Retain your lvl.3 bubbler the best you can. Use single shot while on the offensive to preserve ammo and use your bubbler shield to take down the fish missiles and regain xp if you are hit while taking the offensive.