VASARA Final Boss+TLB - no bombs, no Vasara attack, no death, no autofire [Yukimura Sanada - Normal]
12Hey everyone!
This morning I was able to pull off what I’ve been working away at in Vasara for the last number of nights and I can honestly say this is one of my greatest shmup accomplishments...shmuplishments?
Vasara has become one of my all-time favorite shmups. Every aspect of this game possesses an immense degree of intention not always achieved in STGs. The level design, pacing, bosses, mechanics, etc are all masterfully crafted. The result is a non-stop, action-packed ride (on a metal horse hover bike, no less!) through relentless encounters that will push your skills to the absolute limit the further you get in a run (especially if you are imposing super strict limitations on yourself like I often do).
So why did I do a no-bomb, no Vasara attack, no damage fight against the final boss(es)? Because the game is crafted so well that it deserves this sort of commitment.
While browsing 1cc vids on YT, I noticed a trend. People would master the first few levels or bulk of the game (which is no simple thing) but then as soon as they’d reach the final boss, it was suddenly a bomb spam-fest, lives lost, and the Vasara attack was a saving grace for players. This struck me as really strange and got me thinking. Do I just want to earn my way through this epic game by playing masterfully until I get to the final boss fight and then suddenly need to rely on bombs, lives, and the Vasara attack just to finish it off? Somehow that didn’t sit right. That kind of approach felt to me as though it would be sloppy, lazy and anything but masterful. So I chose to devote myself to nailing this fight without help.
Approximately 24hrs may not sound like a lot when spread over a handful of evenings but I seriously pumped my entire being into experimentation during those hours. I was determined to discover a way to do every single phase in a way that was efficient, aggressive, and calculated.
That being said, my intention is not to put anyone down for using bombs, losing lives, etc because this is a tough game and I have yet to even record my 1cc run of Vasara, which I will be tackling next and likely allowing myself to use bombs, lives, and Vasara atk, but I at least wanted to prove to myself that I could do the fight without it and encourage anyone who has struggled with certain parts to see if they can clean them up a little more!
Doing this was not only an immense challenge, but really tested my patience, endurance, determination, and everything else. It is super rewarding though. I feel like a much stronger player because I put myself through this experience.
As some of you know, a little over a week ago I jumped back into Vasara while streaming and had a blast with it, though I came to realize that all of my previous playing (which was very little) was done without the correct approach utilized.
When I first got Vasara for Switch, I was treating it like any other shmup where the main thing to do is shoot enemies/ bosses. It was neat having a sword slash that could cancel out enemy fire but I viewed this as a sort of “once in a while” perk. It turns out the whole game revolves around using the sword about 99% of the time and shooting is used much more sparingly.
As I played the Switch version over those first few days back into it, the game grew on me bigtime with this new approach and it’s easily one of the best shmups I’ve ever played in terms of engagement, challenge, stage crafting, boss design, and fun! But there was an issue, the character movement on the Switch version felt super slippery and this often led to overshooting slight adjustments in position or simply flailing about even though I was playing in a controlled way.
I practiced a ton and was making progress, but felt like I was being majorly held back by the controls and also the lack of a practice mode or save/load states. Since the levels always continue scrolling when you die, it was exceedingly difficult to get even a tiny bit of quality practice against late-game bosses or enemy-heavy sections of certain stages. What would often happen is I’d reach a boss and want to practice the first attack pattern or two but if it was fumbled, the only way to practice that precise point again would be to restart the entire run.
I weighed my options and decided that if I was going to get anywhere with Vasara, it’d be by playing the MAME version on my laptop. For those who know me, you’ll know that I never play games on the computer so this was a huge deal and reflects how serious I was about crushing this game. Thankfully I had a Logitech controller on hand from 2019 and it has been absolutely stellar! In addition, from my first sit-down with Vasara on the laptop, the difference in control and execution was night and day and my experience and skills in the game skyrocketed immediately!
This game is seriously underrated! Enjoy!
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