Tool-assisted speedrun of Normy's Beach Babe-o-Rama, extremely fast-paced platformer developed by EA for the Sega Genesis, based on a comic strip titled "Making It." This game is very obscure but makes for an awesome TAS mostly because Normy can move very fast.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: gens_11b
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Genre: Platformer

Comments

This game is weird. The levels are strange, the enemies are bizzare, the weapons are abnormal, and the main character is unusual. But he has a dash! It's used nearly everywhere, and it makes him move like a bat out of hell. You also become virtually invincible, as any enemy you hit while dashing only makes Normy bump back a little - it doesn't do damage or anything, and if you hit "A" the first frame Normy collides with the enemy, the bump will be ignored and Normy will continue to dash forward, which costs no time.
It all seems rather puissant, no? The game designers must have realized this, so they added a "dash meter" (probably isn't the official name but who cares, that's what I'm going to refer it by) which can be seen in the bottom left corner, resembling a speedometer. Whenever Normy uses his dash, the meter will start fill up with red for every few frames Normy is on the ground dashing. I was able to watch the RAM value for the dash meter 00FFB0A9 so I could make sure that it didn't increase when I didn't want it to. The maximum it goes to is 8, at which Normy will be unable to dash until the meter decreases. But however, I found a way to avoid this. By jumping, Normy's speed will be kept, and the meter won't increase! This is the reason for all the constant jumping in this TAS.
It's important to plan health and when Normy takes damage. Like I said above, when dashing, Normy will only be bumped back a bit by minor enemies. But however, natural traps, like the lava in stage 1, will damage Normy no matter what, and since health never refills unless Normy dies (never happens). So it was very important to plan when it would be faster to take damage.
Ducking will stop Normy's movement if he is walking.
Normy loses his current weapon when he enters a new room.

Weapons

  • Punch gun
    • A basic punch gun. It's the first weapon Normy can obtain the game.
  • Rocks
    • First projectile Normy can obtain, which is also the weapon of New Jersey's boss.
  • Chicken
    • It's like the punch gun, except you are choking a chicken (eww). You can hold the attack button down to keep the chicken out.
  • Pies
    • Basically rocks, except larger and they don't bounce off the ground.
  • Spears
    • Projectile, not as big as the pies but longer, so they hit the target earlier.
  • Hammer gun
    • Basic gun with a hammer that pops out and makes a noise.
  • Squirrel gun
    • Chokes a squirrel who fires out a puff of air.
  • Bananas
    • Basic projectile. Weapon of Jungle boss.
  • Goop (single)
    • Fires a single blob of goo at the enemy.
  • Goop (multiple)
    • Fires many blobs of goo at the enemy.
That's all the weapons I can remember.

Level by Level Comments

New Jersey

  • Fairly straightforward level. There is nothing really to say in the first part, other then you have to get the baby dinosaur to its mommy so it will duck and then you can pass.
  • In the second part, I have to jump up so I can collect the keys that you need to ride on the green dino across the oil (I think that's what it is)
  • The third part explains itself, just jump across floating platforms.
  • I try to make the fourth part entertaining by throwing rocks to kill enemies.
  • The boss battle went fine.
Moon-Unit, Goddess of Waves, is rescued!

England

  • I don't really have anything to say about the first part.
  • I skipped some parts of the second half of this level using pigs.
Persephone, Goddess of Sunshine, is rescued!

Jungle

  • Went really well. The vines were jumped off of the first frame they could've.
  • The rat boss here is not invincible when he is idling on the ground, so I chug some spears in his face.
  • Shlomo is random, so I don't hit him as fast as I can or he would bounce all over the place, wasting time.
Daphne, Goddess of Surf Music, is rescued!

Transylvania

  • The normal level can be a pain, so I manipulate the books out the way (they damage Normy no matter what)
  • I manipulated the professer during the Pacman game so he wouldn't get in my way when I didn't want him to.
  • The pong game is easy, just nip the ball with the edge of your paddle.
Thalia, Goddess of Warm Sand, is rescued!

Planet X-Y+Z

  • Easy level to do fast, mostly because it's just "Hop on platforms and wait for them to carry you."
  • I like the music in this level.
  • The first part is done quick, mostly by manipulating luck so I wouldn't get attacked by acid whenever I passed those green wormie things.
  • I grab some health in the second part.
  • I have to get the keys to operate the car, like in New Jersey with the dinosaur.
  • Inside the spacecraft basically explains itself. Elevator Action!
  • It's faster to fight the boss with the multiple goop.
Valerie, Goddess of Clean Air, is rescued!

Heck

  • This level has lots of enemies.
  • The punching bags can't be dashed through, so I have to wave through them.
  • I hit the computer nerd out of the way so I can grab the health.
  • The lawyers are zipped past, nobody cares about them.
  • Rampaging pickles make annoying noises damn it. So we go past them fast.
  • Politicians? Snowmen? Elvis impersonators? None of them cause a threat.
  • Lucifier is very pathetic for a last boss. His pattern is very easy to memorize.
Bambi, Goddess of Snow Cones, is rescued and the game is completed!
I hope you enjoy the TAS.
Thanks to these dudes for feedback and stuff.
  • arukAdo
  • Zeupar
  • Highness
  • Twisted Eye
  • Sonikkustar
  • Eye of the Beholder
  • Zaphod65
  • XyRauh
  • tymime
  • and SXL
Every one of your posts was motivation to complete this TAS. I hope you have fun watching it.

mmbossman: Accepted for being one rad Sonic inspired LSD trip. But, I'm setting the decision to 'delayed' so that the author can fix the end of the movie to reach the credits.
sgrunt: Replaced the submission file as requested above and detailed here.
mmbossman: I guess sgrunt beat me to it. Formally accepted for publication.

Brandon: Publication underway.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3239: NitroGenesis's Genesis Normy's Beach Babe-o-Rama in 12:04.42
Editor
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I think the GoodGen ROM name is: Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama (UE) [!] As for the run itself, it is pretty fast but I have no idea what the story is supposed to be.
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Encode requested.
NitroGenesis
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I'm uploading one. 30 minutes remain. Edit: embedded in submission text at top
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
Editor, Experienced player (929)
Joined: 7/20/2011
Posts: 345
Jumping is a fast and interesting way to maintain speed in this game, yes vote here.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
Active player (434)
Joined: 9/27/2004
Posts: 650
Location: Canada
It felt fast and wacky, but even so I found myself losing interest a little about 6 minutes in. Then suddenly there was a pac-man boss and I knew this was the TAS for me. That brought me back in, and my interest held firm the rest of the way.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
What a horrible game. I think this is one of those games that will be in the undisputed or unchallenged list for a very long time because of it's weirdness, and boringness. I want to give my YES vote because of the TAS:er actually made it through, and in such a rapid creation time too. :) Awful ending too. All in all, a boring and slow game done quick and deserves a well earned place among the other published runs.
Joined: 4/1/2010
Posts: 4
Location: Appalachian Hills
I don't know what the hell I just watched, but I liked it! I would have to agree with Inzult, around the five/six minute mark, I wasn't feeling the Sonic-like zipping around, but the change in gameplay brought it back (I think the programmers thought about this as well...the ONLY thing they thought about apparently when they weren't passing the bong around). Yes vote.
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
This game is fucked, dude. Yes.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
mklip2001
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Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Wow, this game is awesome. The graphics and weapon choices are pretty funny. In fact, I've got a few possibilities for screenshot choice: * Riding the elephant over spikes after a boss fight * Using a squirrel's air puff to fly backwards in zero gravity * Running past Elvis impersonators The run looks pretty good, too! There are probably chances for more optimization in terms of health and such, but it looks good enough for a Yes vote. There is an issue with the submission text, though: early on, you mention that health never refills unless Normy dies. I interpret this to mean there are no health powerups (sort of like the game Treasure Master). However, this statement is false, as you grab plenty of health hearts over the course of the run. EDIT: Oh, and it seems there are extra credit screens that the movie file doesn't reach. You get a screen of names by hitting Start when the babes are partying. Should this get treated like the convention for Rygar runs, where the extra screen isn't interesting enough to matter?
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Joined: 7/7/2011
Posts: 140
Location: Germany
thats one of the most random games i've ever seen! and it didn't have that much to do with beach babes, except the ending screen. they could have also named it "Normy's Michael-Jordan-ice-cream-lick-o-rama" with an ending screen showing michael jordan and normy licking ice cream :D but the change of gameplay is rapid and the run seems well executed so here's another YES vote
How should I know what I think before I read what I post?
Joined: 6/5/2005
Posts: 64
So this is where EA got all their lawyers from, the 3rd level of heck. Unusual game to be sure, I got done watching and said "What in the happy hell did I just watch?" Oh EA, I remember these days. Why do you do the things you do now? Even though you did things back then I didn't know about until now, I still want a good memory. Very fast, but feels kinda generic. That isn't your fault though.
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Joined: 5/2/2010
Posts: 7
I never knew there was a special place in hell for Elvis impersonators. ......why is that the only thing that bothers me? EDIT: hit post too soon. I voted Yes. I was surprised at how fast he can run. He would give Sonic a challenge.
Brandon
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I can't believe a game with this name was a serious submission. Great work! Yes vote!
All the best, Brandon Evans
SXL
Joined: 2/7/2005
Posts: 571
It's like sonic on drugs. Great find dude, the game's a gem, and it has been exploited and abused to create maximum entertainement and speed. Voting yes.
I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death - NAS
Synahel
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Joined: 1/19/2011
Posts: 260
Location: France
What the heck was that game?! Anyway, good work, entertaining enough, well-made. Yes of course.
Joined: 5/12/2009
Posts: 748
Location: Brazil
It was a very cool run! Voted yes!
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
That was rad! The weapons were hilarious. Why have I never heard of this game? Super fast, highly entertaining, easy Yes vote.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Warepire
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Quick, interesting enough and seems well made. Yes vote.
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This is what I call a speed run. I had trouble keeping up with what was going on for most of the part.
Experienced player (828)
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Those aren't noisy pickles in heck, those are bagpipes :-P I also noticed that the input file didn't technically get as far as it needed to. Considering waiting to press start to get to the credits will only take another 10-15 seconds of input, I think it should be included before publishing. If the author wants to modify it and send me an updated input file, I'll replace it (I think I can still do that).
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An entertaining and super-fast TAS of a really weird game. Good job, NitroGenesis. Yes vote.
NitroGenesis
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YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
Brandon
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Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 914
Location: Tennessee
NitroGenesis wrote:
Here is a file that gets to the credits. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/698243273/tas-normybeachbabeorama.gmv
Isn't that a big deal? Wouldn't not getting to the credits qualify as not completing the game? Edit: Nevermind, you're clearly providing this movie file so that it can replace the old one...you'll have to re-encode it though, of course.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Skilled player (1604)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
meh. It's just fast, and not appealing. There's a difference between a high-paced game, and a high-paced appealing game. Sorry, no go for me. Not that it matters at this stage but........
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!