Custom Robo Arena Redux

Custom Robo Arena Redux
General
Author	FMArthur
Type	Game Hacks
Version	1.0
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2018/10/09
Links
Download
Website

This is a romhack to make Custom Robo Arena more balanced and more replayable.

The objective of this hack is to make all robots usable, change where necessary to fit their intended role or to create wider niches, and otherwise make as many options as usable as possible without removing what made any of them fun. The secondary objective is to expose more information to the player and make it actually accurate info. Also many guns were modified making them more usable.

Features

• Robo stats are extensively modified to be more balanced and more diverse.
• Overall the robo selection process should feel more open in viable options, and choosing within a robo class a more nuanced decision.
• Certain weak guns (even Basic) are made to be more usable,
• Battles do not get robos dirt.
• No more slow start. Nearly all legal parts are buyable within the first 3 shops, including robos.
• The main character also has an overworld palette change mostly to let you know the mod worked.

Installation

ROM information
File	0934 - Custom Robo Arena (U)
Country	USA
MD5	AC2872223D356E795F3EC191D96BC4BA
SHA-1	E031BD8819E646354468DA1D778FAC3E335E3D04
CRC32	0EB1B51B

This patch is in xdelta format, to the patch to your ROM:

• Windows - Use DeltaPatcher or xdelta UI.
• Mac - Use MultiPatch.
• Linux - Use xdelta, or run DeltaPatcher in wine.

User guide

Overall changes

General changes:

• The player sprite is the "dark" version, so when you see it, you know the patch worked.
• Dirt doesn't exist. No battles get robos dirty.
• Nearly all legal parts buyable in the first 3 shops, and all legal leg parts are available at each.
• Stages don't cost money because they do nothing outside Free Battle at the Arcade.
• All Power robos now have +10% power instead of their previous +5%, which didn't distinquish them enough and generally cost them in special features compared to their sibling robos.
• All text descriptions for robos are now unique and actually describe the robo or its features.

Battle changes:

• All playable robos except Ray Mk III are fought in battles somewhere (ie a Ray01 replaced one of the Hurricanes).
• Sling's legal robo is now Ray Mk II, and his illegal robo is Ray II Dark. Snipe's spot in the game is replaced with the new postgame illegal robo that your clone now uses.
• The clone's robo? A new creation called Dusk. See below.
• Liv's Battle changed to be a bit tougher and to be a more fun battle - she uses the improved low-risk Basic Gun in L-Formation with Burrow Bombs D and Sky Wave Pods blocking movement all over the place.
• Free Battles at the arcade now actually end, so they're more like custom fights than practice.
• Author's note: Postgame Kris's setup with the X-Ray is the "main" set (personal favourite) - say hello when you see it.

Reading the stats/changes:

• The stat charts are actually made-up by the devs and not dependent on data. They can be (and have been) wildly inaccurate.
• All "Speed" robos are 4-5% faster than their Power and Armor folks. Armor is generally 5% defense and +100 endurance (1000 is the normal Ray III value).
• Armor robos also have DOWN damage reduction, from the base game.
• Acceleration is separate from maximum speed; those are referred separately or just by "speeds" (for both).
• +X% -> +Y% means it used to be X% higher than baseline (per robo type) and is now Y% higher.

Robo changes

Shining Fighter:

• Ray Mk III now has 25% higher jumping, +0% -> +10% bonus aerial movement and endurance, landing lag from 2/8/16 -> 1/3/5. Ingame chart Endurance and Aerial 5->6.
• Apollo's aerial agility increased from +5% to +20%. Apollo's landspeeds increased from +5% to +10%.
• Shadow's Defense +5% -> +20%, ingame chart Defense 6 -> 7.
• Ray's power -5% -> -10%, Defense +5% -> +20%, ground speeds +5% -> +20%, air speeds +5% -> +0%, endurance +5% -> +0%.
• Ray II's power +2% -> +5%, defense & ground speed +2% -> +10%, Aerial and Endurance +2% -> +0%.
• X-Ray power from 105 to 110, charge sound effect is "whoosh". X-Ray now is knocked back 20% farther and down for 20% longer. Ground and Air speeds +5% -> +10%.
• Ray01 power from 105 to 110, Defense +5% to +10%, now flinches shorter and is knocked back shorter.
• Author's note: Mostly buffs. Ray and Ray II now actually conform to the displayed stats, while Ray Mk III now has the complement stats to Ray Mk II.

Aerial Beauty:

• s/m ground acceleration reduced to -5% Shining Fighter.
• Miranda and Comet top airspeed to -10% Luna's.
• Luna ground topspeed from +5% to +10%, ground accel dropped to -5% Shining Fighter.
• Defenses reduced about 10%.
• Power from 100 to 90.
• Author's note: Still very likely the best robos in the game, but hopefully these nerfs makes it a more interesting decision.

Metal Grappler:

• Power from 105 to 115 (so Rock Hound hits 125).
• Metal Ape speeds from +5% to +10%.
• Crazy Baboon puts his Armor style all into Defense (+20%).

Little Raider:

• Power from 95 to 90.
• ground acceleration increased by 15% and speed increased by 5%.
• Robin speed +5%, accel +5% -> +10%.
• air dashes replaced with Trick Flyer instant-dashes (original form).
• Rook Defense +5% -> +10%.

Little Sprinter:

• Bit Endurance 300 -> 400.
• DOWN damage values matched to Little Raider (increased damage taken while down).
• Chick robo's bombs and pods are now 50% more powerful than a normal robo's.

Sassy Stunner:

• Power from 100 to 110.
• Amy ground and air accel +5% -> +10% (Amy ground and air maxspeed still +5%).
• Airdash speed increased.
• Max airspeed without Wide Jump Legs increased to be more reasonable and give some momentum benefit out of the crummy down-dashes (possibly a bugfix - it's a huge discrepancy).
• Vanessa's utterly useless charge is replaced with a short variation of Hadron's - a forward dash and uppercut.
• Vanessa is only DOWN 75% as long.
• Author's note: Sassy Stunners really lack a useful or even unique role in CRA. The transition to a power category gives them something, at least. Give them Wide Jump legs and they're big-jumping cannons.

Wild Soldier:

• Airdash distances with Short Thrust legs fixed to Zola's values for Klimt and Carlyle.
• Regular airdashes shortened and slightly higher-angle.
• Wild Soldiers now are only flinched and knocked back 65% of normal robos and only down for 75% - they're quite intimidating to fight.
• Carlyle ground and air speeds +5% -> +10%.
• Author's note: Wild Soldiers were even worse off than Stunners in CRA, with a very bad airdash that was possibly bugged.

Big Boy:

• Big Boys get full benefit of their huge Defense when on their feet, but take increased damage while downed.
• Borane's waddle speed fixed (was glitched for sure, at Jameson speed despite the graph).
• Gigantron only receives half the bonus damage that other Big Boys take from hits when down.
• There is an added 'increased fire rate from air' tip into one of their descriptions, but it's not a change.
• Author's note: One of the more powerful robo types in the game because of their listed and unlisted features. They now get hugely damaged by down attacks.

Old Timer:

• Power from 100 to 95.
• Down time from 75 to 90.
• Descent speeds decreased by about 30 percent, giving you lots of time to coast.
• Fogey has 5% lower gravity relative to the other two.
• Gramps' charge damage increased to Codger's (~160 -> ~178).
• Author's note: Old Timers aren't weak, so why'd they get buffed? Basically because their niche is often overshadowed by the big three: Aerial Beauty, Big Boy and Lightning Sky all make you second-guess any Old-Timer set you make.

Trick Flyer:

• Power from 100 to 105.
• Airdashes from 3 to 4.
• Airdashes even FASTER.
• Airdashes now ascend slightly.
• Descent speed slowed so they float more.
• Oracle ground accel and airspeeds +5% -> +10%.
• Stinger doesn't have increased Defense, but Endurance 1100 -> 1300 and stunned time 282 -> 256.
• Author's note: Trick Flyers have a hard time in CRA and no niche because they can't exploit their amazing air maneuverability enough by staying up and keeping options open. Now they have a little extra oomph and more tricks to pull.

Strike Vanisher:

• Jump Height raised to SF's.
• Javelin's and Pike's charge damage increased by 50%, from 98 and 95 to 147 for both.
• Javelin's airspeeds from +5% to +10%.
• Glaive defense from +5% to +10%.
• Author's note: Strike Vanishers had poor jumps that totally wasted their nice stealth-dashes, so they always stacked up poorly to Shining Fighters, especially when forced to use specific legs to break even.

Burning Beast:

• Power from 100 to 105.
• Wolfen ground and air acceleration from +5% to +10%.
• Tricerion Defense from +5% to +10%.
• Author's note: Burning Beasts are good at many things - high jumping, stealth dashing, meleeing, accelerating on ground - but a slight push in the power direction gives them a clearer edge over other options at whatever you set them to.

Lightning Sky:

• Power from 100 to 95.
• Ground acceleration reduced to Shining Fighter, except Hurricane.
• Tempest robocube size fixed.
• Tempest Defense lowered; its Armor style only gives it some Endurance now, considering how safe its special cruise makes it anyway.
• Ray Sky graph now reflects its real stats.

Illegal Robos:

• Hadron has higher defenses than before, by about 15%. That sounds small but it's the difference from being able to "bulldoze" the fight with a strong getup combo and win a damage race.
• Snipe is gone, replaced with Ray II Dark users where it appeared (uses Indigo set the first time so as not to be a crazy difficulty for its place).
  • Snipe, its too-normal Halo Gun knockoff the Sling Gun, and its Sling Legs are all replaced, whereas the bomb and pod are simply renamed.
• New postgame boss robo.
  • Dusk uses a Ray Sky White model never seen in the West. Stat-wise, it's effectively an Old Timer but dashes higher than ever and is more resistant to being swatted down.
  • The Dusk Gun is a Glider Gun that replaces the gentle birds with TITAN GUN shots. Dusk Bomb and Dusk Pod are renamed Sling parts. The legs are new.
  • It has so much time above that it can use the modified Sling Winder Bomb to litter the battlefield with explosions while its pods and Dusk Gun shots hunt you.
    • The gun model is Carat's, who now uses Eagle Gun's model. The bomb model is Indigo Bomb's, which itself now uses Sling Bomb's model. The pod uses Float Pod model and the legs use High Jump model.
• Author's note: Few real changes except for the replacement of Sling's frankly too-ordinary Little Raider. Sling himself uses the much more fitting Ray II Dark now - and the legal robo he fights with before that time is a Ray Mk II, same as yours.

Weapons changes

Gravity Gun:

• Increased upward angle of air shots to not allow short robos/burning beasts to hit grounded opponents with the superquick deadly air shots
• Air shots' damage reduced to be less absurdly deadly (even without the low-gun exploit, the weapon is a little crazy in its invalidating of aerial strategy)
• Ground shots now shoot the enemy very high, allowing for a bit of a clownier, more fun gun combo that can exploit the still-high damage of the air shots.

Basic Gun:

• Power now stays constant instead of halving during flight.
• Time before the first shot from 3 to 1.
• Time between shots from 5 to 4.
• Vulnerability time after shooting reduced from 20 to 12.
• "Reload" from 4 to 8 [visual].
• Author's note: Changes emphasize its (falsely) advertised ease-of-use and try to push it into a niche as a plain, consistent weapon even for skilled users.

Gatling Gun:

• Damage increased 30%.
• Flinch time on hit increased significantly to properly disrupt enemy action (from 00~03 to 06~06).
• "Attack" from 4 to 5 [visual].

Vertical Gun:

• Time between shots increased slightly.
• Endlag time reduced so that it takes the same time - basically the opponent is forced to dodge for longer into the attack's duration, or risk a trade.
• Author's note: Changes emphasize the weapon's advantage over the Needle Gun - coverage over time.

Titan Gun:

• Damage x1.5.
• Cooldown time reduced dramatically (fill the air with hazards: the gun) at the cost of a tiny bit of extra startup.
• "Attack" from 2 to 3, "Reload" from 2 to 8 [visual].

Blade Gun:

• Increase projectile travel speed from ground slightly, increase projectile speed from air to previous ground value.
• Increase hitstun at short/med/long range from 5/0/0 to 6/5/4.
• "Speed" from 5 to 6 [visual].

Meteor Fall Gun:

• Reload time reduced by 10%. The air shots now work like the ground shots do.

Standard Bomb K:

• Replaced with "Air Gemini Bomb", a Gemini Bomb B whose air and ground firing modes are flipped! It's the B version because this is a strong option for air-fighters, who can't block both sides with bombs from the air outside the Delta Bomb.

Burrow Bomb D and P:

• Air shot now waits 2/3 the amount of time as a ground shot before exploding, instead of nearly instantly - from 5 to 40 ticks.

Mission Battle Changes:

• Combo Battle 16 (a Gravity Gun combo) now requires only 240 max combo instead of 350.

Screenshots

External links

• Romhacking.net - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4172/