Die Hard

Merry Christmas!

Die Hard is an action packed Christmas movie that follows John McClane as he attemts to save the hostages (including Holly) from the terrorists. Though the controls make the game a bit difficult, it may be one of the more movie accurate games out there. For example your feet have an independent health meter and if you ruin them by walking on broken glass you will move slower (including up and down stairs).

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.2.1
  • Plays on Beginner mode (Advanced mode merely gives enemies more HP)
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Good ending

About the run

There are multiple different endings as described in the manual, including a worst ending where you shoot out a window and just jump out of the tower. This movie triggers one of the good endings by blowing up the helipad. Another ending can be achieved by killing all of the terrorists, also the ending is modified if you've chosen to call the cops.
The old RTA route took the stairs with low foot health to burn down the in game time and allow access to the final floor, then glitched into the boss room by walking through the wall at the elevator door.
This run effectively takes the RTA route and just cleans up the execution. The run first goes up to grab a key needed to access the roof. Then it goes back down (burning some extra in game time on the stairs) to pick up C4 and a Detenator. Last off to the roof to blast it.

Improvements

  • I tried to optimize movement as much as possible, but due to the way the game engine works this may not have been perfect.
  • I tried playing around with enemy spawns a bit, but it may be that there is a faster way to get the C4 and the detenator without taking so many stairs.

Thanks to:

  • The BestofNES team for having this game in a big 20
  • SubStylee for his WR run
  • The TASMania team
  • my Twitch chat for the ideas and encouragement

Screenshots:

195, 5877, 8098, 8260

feos: Accepting for Vault. Intense stairs walking is probably healthy, but it kills all the entertainment of the run, which is short enough thanks to the glitch, but most of its time is occupied with those stairs.
"All enemies/zipless" sounds like an acceptable 100% goal if it ever gets done, but it should be discussed separately, as this game has quite some stuff to offer regarding endings/routes.
Spikestuff: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5766: link_7777's NES Die Hard in 02:12.93
Spikestuff
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
Plays on Beginner mode (Advanced mode merely gives enemies more HP)
DieHarder% when? Also I thought the confrontation with Hans is the "good ending". This bit is just.... Is just this scene: In terms of votes, I'm giving this a Meh.
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I would have thought so too, but it looks like the ending for killing Hans and the one for blowing up the roof are the same
Blazephlozard
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I'd have thought this game would have had a TAS a decade ago! (Or at least since the Vault became a thing...) Definitely nice for it to finally get one. The intense stair-climbing action is too much for me to handle though. I had to pause a few times to get through the R-rated thrill ride. So, meh.
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
Plays on Beginner mode (Advanced mode merely gives enemies more HP)
Isn't that one of the purposes of hard mode? Can you give an example of where it isn't the case, and hard mode would be chosen instead? Edit: an example of a game with a TAS I mean; not some game where someone finds hard mode more difficult in real time play, but ends up similar TAS-wise.
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jlun2 wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
Plays on Beginner mode (Advanced mode merely gives enemies more HP)
Isn't that one of the purposes of hard mode? Can you give an example of where it isn't the case, and hard mode would be chosen instead? Edit: an example of a game with a TAS I mean; not some game where someone finds hard mode more difficult in real time play, but ends up similar TAS-wise.
My opinion has changed over time, I was originally in more of an 'always choose hard mode' camp, but others have convinced me that games like Super Star Wars for example would only be made more boring by setting them to a harder mode just to force the TAS to slog through more HP. I did not research extensively, so it is possible that something besides HP is different in NES Die Hard and I just didn't notice. NES Metal Storm would be a game where hard mode doesn't just give enemies more HP, there are significantly more enemies in hard mode resulting in a very different game experience. There are RTA runs for both modes, but the TAS only plays hard mode. It seems to me like the community has decided the 'hard mode = more hp' to be a cheap developer strategy which doesn't usually add entertainment to a TAS. If that doesn't sound correct I'm sure someone will set me straight.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3596] NES Die Hard by link_7777 in 02:12.93
ajfirecracker
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I think hard mode is possibly a time save since you spawn on a random floor and can (in a TAS, or with resets in RTA) choose the floor you start on. Stairs burn in-game time effectively which is needed for the run, but I believe some floors you would spawn much closer to the stairwell than the 32nd floor (where you always spawn on beginner difficulty)
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It looks like it is 50/25/25% that you'll start on 32/31/34 just taking a quick look. if this allows for better spawning and fewer stairs it could be an advantage
ajfirecracker
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I think you can also save time by getting the best Heinrich spawn and collecting the C4 next to the roof stairs (can shoot open the door just to the left of roof stairs on your way up) instead of collecting the C4 from Heinrich's room I'm interested in TASing it out if you're not, but I'm hoping you can provide some insight on the "RNG" aspects of the game. What determines whether the roof key guy is in the utility closet? Do I need to adjust the frame I go up the last staircase or would I need to go further back (to the title screens perhaps)? Similarly, what would I need to do to control Heinrich's spawn location? Thanks!
ajfirecracker
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kirkq has been working on optimizing the route for Any% Beginner I've done some RTA runs of his route and have a 2:07 RTA published and a 2:05 pending currently (as well as a 2:03 that failed to capture properly) EDIT: I have a 1:54 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/291246066 Current route is: Go floor 33 and walk on glass to reduce 'foot health' Take a bunch of stairs to advance in-game time past the Heinrich trigger (40s remaining on the second lock) Go to 31 and get the detonators (maybe get a first aid kit to restore foot health, maybe not, it's unclear whether it saves time on net) Go to 35 and get the roof key on the way up to the roof Blow up the roof using the roof explosion glitch to win the game