Game objectives

  • Emulator used: VBA v22
  • Uses a suboptimal character
  • Aims for In-game time instead of Real-time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Uses death as shortcut
  • Uses the hardest difficulty
  • Does not use Ultra-Spindashes

Comments

Originally, this was going to be a "Tails" run that doesn't use nor abuse the Ultra dash glitch, but then a new idea was suggested to me and here is the result. While it doesn't make use of the Ultra Dash, it also uses its fair share of glitches that gives Knuckles a pretty good chance at beating the game in record time.

Stage by stage comments

Neo Green Hill 1 - 0:24:73

Not much to say about this level aside from optimized original strat.

Neo Green Hill 2 - 0:42:33

A high jump helped reach a high area of land much easier. Boss fight was pretty simple and quick.

Secret Base 1 - 0:38:08

Made use of the skip for the gliders at the beginning and optimized the rest of the strat.

Secret Base 2 - 1:04:15

Not much else here to note.

Casino Paradise 1 - 0:35:45

Slope jump abuse was the main focus here.

Casino Paradise 2 - 0:46:10

Running shoes were a huge help here for extra speed. Made reaching the boss much quicker.

Ice Mountain 1 - 0:46:98

Mostly gained extra speed from boosters and optimized the main route.

Ice Mountain 2 - 0:59:85

Mostly route optimization. To explain why I chose to slide instead of jumping into the water, it was so Knuckles can stay afloat for when the boss fight begins. Also manage to cause Knuckles to move in forward as the boss first appears.

Angel Island 1 - 0:29:32

Angel Island 1 is one of two levels where a glitch had to be exploited for a faster time. It also the only death in the run.

Angel Island 2 - 0:56:73

Not much special here aside from picking up an Invincibility midway. Mecha Knuckles fight was rather silly.

Egg Rocket 1 - 7:19:01 (displayed as 3:20:98 in game)

Ohh Egg Rocket, how I hate you so! This run made use of a glitch that pushes Knuckles through the floor and causes the level to lose solidarity. Thus making it possible to complete it in one go.

Cosmic Angel 2 - 1:06:92

Optimization of the current possible strat.

Final Zone - 0:47:55

Eggman 1 and Eggman 2 were no problem, but the final boss was a pain due to trying for manipulating which weapon he attacks with! I had to end the movie a little later due to Knuckles' positioning after bouncing off of Eggman.

Other comments

Major Thanks to Zeupar for suggesting the run idea and giving a bit of support. Also thanks to VanillaCoke for being my potential rival as well as being around when I needed an extra ear :3 Once again, Toothache, you're a wonderful motivator! I also need to really thank Mukki for without his help and his script, I would not have gotten very far. :) Thank you also to footbigmike for his strat for Egg Rocket 1~
Potential improvements are involving optimizing the final boss manipulation a little closer.

Suggested screenshot(s)

Frame 4960; Frame 14147; Frame 15935; Frame 31944; Frame 32241; Frame 32355; Frame 36233; Frame 36272; Frame 37426; Frame 39968; Frame 40132; Frame 40914; Frame 42002; Frame 42790; Frame 43283; Frame 44319; Frame 50706

Nach: Nice run. Accepting as first run for this branch.

natt: processing

Nach: Delaying, because author is making some improvements.

Nach: I replaced the movie file by an improved one from the author, and am judging once again.

Nach: Nice improvement, accepting.

natt: processing with tiny subtitles...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3492: GoddessMaria's GBA Sonic Advance "Knuckles" in 14:59.28
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Syncs on VBA-RR v23.5 svn421
  File: Sonic Advance (U).gba
CRC-32: 63f70fd8
   MD4: e7a2cf5f3bfdf74fea2ae387561cd681
   MD5: 49ecc8ef1988e7ae81fbda1b4cf71eed
 SHA-1: d842afa7dd1e84de08addb94a51506f1bcafd551
Publication quality encodes available upon request. Link to video
Active player (279)
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Great job as expected. Yes vote from me :-)
Editor, Experienced player (569)
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Great job on the run, GoddessMaria! I'm glad you were motivated to finish the run despite Zeupar not wanting to continue working on it. Yes vote!
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Very nice! Knuckles certainly makes a difference. Unlike Sonic this run actually resembles real time play to a certain extent. This was refreshing and it was interesting to see how some of the levels were tackled (especially AI1 and ER). Clear yes vote. The only thing that I thought may be sub-optimal was the Mecha-Knuckles battle. Gliding increases his invincibility and this can be avoided by manipulating him to spindash or do nothing allowing you to hit him earlier. Manipulation opportunities are limited so you are usually forced to take a few glides, but most of the glides I saw in this run should have been avoidable (unless, of course, choosing Knuckles as a character affects the game in this way. I wouldn't know). Also, I'm totally with you on Egg Rocket being a nightmare. I'm pretty close to finishing my new Sonic run, but discovered a mistake early on in ER and so I now need to find some motivation for going through the whole thing again... :(
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Nicely done! The beginning looks more like a "perfect" super play until the two last worlds where the glitches performed are just amazing.
mklip2001
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This does feel like a slower Sonic game when you leave out ultra-spindashes. However, it was still pretty fun. The glitches are the end were awesome. Nice job!
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.
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Now, that's one of the better Sonic TASes I've seen recently. Yes vote, and love the category. (Is Knuckles capable of doing ultra-spindashes? If so, you should add something like "does not use ultra-spindashes" to the list of goals.) The glitched sequence in the final world was nicely reminiscent of unassisted glitched speedruns, actually, with all the amount of cautious-looking movement on platforms that weren't properly solid. TAS categories should require more of that sort of thing.
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thoroughly enjoyable. Yes vote here.
Has never colored a dinosaur.
Synahel
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Last two zones are amazing!
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OK, I have a couple of questions: * Is doing jumps inside loops to go back to running rather than rolling proven not to be faster in this game? * In Casino Paradise 1, you spend a lot of time waiting at the start (presumably to manipulate later objects), but then got stuck behind a couple of bumpers for 2-3 seconds anyway. Was there any alternative for this? * In Casino Paradise 2, when picking up the speed shoes, would it not be faster to just spindash through them and dodge the spikes on the way down? * Could you end input earlier by simply starting a spindash from far to the left on the final boss and then just having Knuckles bounce on Robotnik for all eight hits on the right hand side? I can't remember if that counts as a hit or not. Anyway, going to abstain for now.
GoddessMaria
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ais523 wrote:
Now, that's one of the better Sonic TASes I've seen recently. Yes vote, and love the category. (Is Knuckles capable of doing ultra-spindashes? If so, you should add something like "does not use ultra-spindashes" to the list of goals.)
Knuckles is also capable of doing ultra-spindashes. And thanks for reminding me about that, will add it now.
mike89 wrote:
OK, I have a couple of questions: * Is doing jumps inside loops to go back to running rather than rolling proven not to be faster in this game? * In Casino Paradise 1, you spend a lot of time waiting at the start (presumably to manipulate later objects), but then got stuck behind a couple of bumpers for 2-3 seconds anyway. Was there any alternative for this? * In Casino Paradise 2, when picking up the speed shoes, would it not be faster to just spindash through them and dodge the spikes on the way down? * Could you end input earlier by simply starting a spindash from far to the left on the final boss and then just having Knuckles bounce on Robotnik for all eight hits on the right hand side? I can't remember if that counts as a hit or not.
A1: In some instances, yes. But not always. To explain the jump then roll in Secret Base 2, continually moving at the speed already given would've caused Knuckles to fall through the corner and down to the area before, if not push him back to before the corner with all speed lost. Not rolling would only make jump from the wall to the wrong spot. A2: The waiting in the beginning was to try and manipulate the "SONIC" lights so I can get a punch boost from it once there, however, that is the earliest that it will trigger. Sadly, I did test out other spots and none were any faster. A3: A spindash would cause me to hit the wall first and then touch the spikes. So it will only be slower as opposed to punch then jump. A4: Eggman's moves are very picky and what move he uses depends on the positioning of Knuckles. I had to end the movie after the 3rd/4th hit because of the way Knuckles was positioned after the bounce. I couldn't end it any earlier as doing so would only cause him to take another hit from Eggman.
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natt wrote:
Publication quality encodes available upon request.
Yes, please!
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Anyone planning to TAS the other characters or all Chaos Emeralds?
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GoddessMaria
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Sorry for the delay everyone, but the improvement was quite large and is done. Improvements including of the Mecha Knuckles fight and onwards. Managed to improve it by 1756 frames which lead to 29.2 seconds. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/602940243/GoddessMaria_SonicAdvance-KnucklesTAS.vbm
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I obviously already voted yes, but I'm impressed you made the improvement already.
Guga
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Nice work, GoddessMaria15! Yes vote from me. Though, in the submission text, it says "Egg Rocket 1 - 7:19:01". It can't be 7:19:01, is it?
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. ---- [2010] GBA Sonic Advance "Knuckles, No Ultraspindash" by GoddessMaria in 14:59.28
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Out of curiousity, if you made a TAS with Knuckles AND ultra-spindashes, would he still be considered a suboptimal character (in comparison to Sonic AND ultra-spindashes)?
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Question, you end a level with more rings than time bonus at 14:10. Was there any thought into taking a hit during the wait cycle of the previous boss to reduce the bonus? Unlike time bonuses, you don't really have to wait or do anything otherwise overtly horrid to shorten this one.
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