Submission #2257: FuzZerd's PCE Bonk's Revenge in 18:29.47

Bonk's Revenge is a game where a small caveman uses his head to fight hordes of monsters as he headbutts his way to defeat the third in a line of drooling dinosaur kings and save the moon (well half of it anyway).

This run:

Rerecords: Over 9000!!!!!! (seriously it was a lot, hard to tell exactly because it kept going back to 0)

There are a few glitches that I use throughout the run.

-By headbutting the ground just before running into a ledge you are able to land on your feet when you wouldn't otherwise be able to. This is used mostly for entertainment, but was useful in some places. Something similar even let me headbutt elevators and get back on my feet quickly later in the game to save a few frames.

-If you're going above your max speed you can keep your speed simply by not pressing forward. Similarly if you want to turn around in the air when you're going above your max speed you can press forward for a frame to slow down quickly.

-At the end of every level a trigger is flipped saying that you beat the level and control is lost, and bonk just walks right slowly and jumps if he runs into something (the exception to this is elevators). As soon as you touch the right wall after the trigger is flipped the fade out starts. This was highly abused on miniboss levels, and the end of round 5.

Pregame - 95 frames

Round 1 - 9982 (total 10077)

1-1 water-fall - 2000 (total 2095)

I headbutt the flowers from below to change them to spring flowers and bounce up to them. A few frames could probably be saved from subpixel optimazation and better use of the waterfalls. Theres also a pointless jump that I wish I didn't have towards the end.

1-2 flower field - 1931 (4026)

I thought that you had to go from the right side to get the flower to give you a big meat. I now know this isn't true. the speed of bonk when hes invincible seems to be about 3 times faster then normal bonk, and normal meat power is about twice as fast, which is why I need to get the meat. Similiarly small meat power gives you twice as much damage, and big meat power gives you 3 times as much. When the invincibility wears out I can keep his speed by staying in the air and not pressing right. boss goes down in one hit. normally you have to wait a long time while the ending music plays, and then bonk walks slowly to the right while the screen scrolls at the same pace until it reaches the end of the level. I avoided this by hitting the right wall as soon as the music starts playing.

1-3 caverns - 1785 (5811)

I take the upper route to avoid having to break through a lot of rocks, then I take the lower route to avoid smilies and more rock breaking. Along the way I dig up a sandwhich worth 1000 points by headbutting the ground at the last frame. I bounce off the last enemy at the first possible frame so that I land as soon as possible which saved a few frames compared to doing it a few frames later. Grabbing the big meat in this level might save some time.

1-4 volcano castle - 2552 (8363)

I do the headbutt glitch to just barely make it over the gap at the start. I'm about to run out of meat power so I grab a small meat so he can go invincible again. It might be possible to keep your speed after landing. I need to grab the meat from the flower at the end to save a lot of time on 2-1, it also saves a bit of time getting to the elevator and on the boss but it wouldn't have been worth it for that alone. Elevators stop opening (and start closing after a delay) as soon as you land on them, so I land on the elevator as early as I could manage.

1-boss - 1467 (9831)

I have to be as far to the right as possible or bonk will take a long time walking slowly to the right side of the screen so I luck manipulated the boss to be facing right, and to have the fireballs miss me. Then I just stood as far to the right as possible while still being able to hit him on the earliest possible frame by attacking at the earliest possible frame. When I hit him the last time I held right to be even closer to the right wall.

Elevator scenes

if you have over 50 smilies you'll skip the next round which sounds like it would save you a lot of time until you realize how long it takes to gather 50 smilies, plus the long elevator and train rides, and the wrap scene. If you have even one smiley you will waste a lot of time waiting for the elevator to open, bonk to jump in, it to go up a little, and then fall back down and let you out. Which is why I avoid all smilies in this run. I also try and do some input animation in the elevator scenes but I think it probably didn't turn out that great.

Round 2 - 6678 (16755)

2-1 Piranha River - 1815 (11892)

I had a glitch before when I landed after losing meat power the logs gave me extra speed, but I couldn't seem to replicate it. Meat power helps me defeat both minibosses in one hit each, and again I hit the wall just after its first possible saving me loads of time.

2-2 Bamboo Jungle - 1571 (13464)

This is a great level when tool assisted. Again the meat saves me a lot of time in the next level. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what the best methods were for climbing through the bricks. I should have been able to bonk the wall at the end after I hit the egg shell guy, I don't know why I didn't. I jump at the end of the level to avoid Bonk's slow ass walking.

2-3 Cloud Ruins - 2049 (15513)

I dig up some beverages by going through the ground they're in. Some time might be savable when I'm turning around. For some reason I couldn't land on the elevator when doing a full jump so I went with a 1 frame jump instead.

2-boss - 994 (16507)

I run with the boss so I can get more hits on it in a single pass, then of course I try to get as far to the right as possible.

Round 3 - 8897 (25652)

3-1 Snow Mountain - 2193 (18948)

I land on the meat from up high to make it give me a big meat. I have to be on the right side of the flower so the meat will fall too the right. Going between the smiley and the dinosaur was originally done for entertainment, but it turns out it was needed to manipulate an enemy spawn. when invincibility wears off I again spin all the way to the miniboss and kill him in one hit. I don't think the saved time, but it looks cool.

3-2 Hot Springs - 1431 (20379)

Running on the ice makes you go faster, and lets you not slow down when you bonk. I bonk through the enemies and stay on the ice as much as possible. The headbutt at the end here actually saves time because otherwise I would have to walk slowly to the end.

3-3 Mammoth Tomb - 3234 (23613)

I manage to keep my speed from the ice by spinning on the first frame possible after jumping. I then keep that speed for most of the way through the level. It was really hard to get by the falling spikes with out falling. I manage to keep my speed even after landing by jumping the first frame possible. Bonk doesn't seem to go any faster on the ice when he's invincible.

3-boss - 1791 (25404)

I need to have her come from the left side on the final hit. I could have sworn I was able to manipulate the way she moves by my placement when she comes out of the ground, but I wasn't able to this time so I had to deley the first hit by a frame to manipulate her movement. Note that you can't manipulate the number of passes she does though. The hit I take wasn't needed but wastes no time.

Round 4 - 8050 (33702)

4-1 Parasol Beach - 2069 (27473)

Having meat power for the first small portion of the level nearly cuts the time in half. Not much survives in this level. For the miniboss I headbutt the middle one, spin into the top one, and headbutt the bottom one.

4-2 Warship Hold - 1354 (28827)

I take a hit to boost myself and bounce off the side of the ship to skip most of this level. I didn't think it was possible to bounce of the side of the wall in one spin at first. bouncing speed is faster then your max speed with out meat so I press left for a frame to slow myself down.

4-3 Radio Tower - 818 (29645)

Again this shortcut cuts off most of the level. With good timing of the spins I'm able to make it up with out bonking the wall. I use the headbutt glitch to land sooner.

4-4 Sailor Saloon - 2403 (32048)

I finally get another meat unfortunetly I have to get hit a few times before the boss. with careful positioning I'm able to fall off the wall on the same frame that I stop. I didn't quite manage this by the elevator though. The spin at the end doesn't do anything.

4-boss - 1406 (33455)

I manipulate him to coming out the pipe I'm standing on. but I don't think I managed to do this and hit him on the first frame possible. I also manipulate his ship to appearing on the right side of the screen. Then I give myself the right speed so I can hit him the right amount of times and fall off his head afterwards.

Round 5 - 6304 (40006)

5-1 Fireball Field - 2254 (35956)

I couldn't avoid getting hit by the fireball at the start. the second meat flower may seem like a waste but I need it to stay invincible on the next level. I land just before hitting the wall so that I don't have to deal with slow walking.

5-2 Lava Flow - 851 (36807)

By getting the meat at the end of the last level I can have invincibility speed for the whole level. The jump at the start was to dig up an item. I land just before the right edge of the level again. If any level is perfect its this one.

5-3 Orange Waterfall - 2331 (39138)

I use a lot of bouncing off enemies in this level. By bouncing off the wall at the top of the waterfalls you can go through the floor. I could have hit the meat flower earlier. I didn't think this flower would save any time but when testing I couldn't get the level anywhere near as fast. At the end of the level I take a hit to boost myself up to the level trigger, then when I hit the right wall below the end sign the level still ends.

Round 6 - 7280 (47287)

6-1 Laundry Pools - 1753 (41759)

Not much to say, grab the first big meat, keep the speed till the end of the level.

6-2 Hatchet's Hometown - 1213 (42972)

Grab the wall for a frame, Bounce off enemys to climb the building. I had some trouble getting the exit skip perfect. And then had to redo it because I loaded the wrong save state to play the next level.

6-3 Haunted Tower - 1920 (44892)

I thought the meat flower here would save time but it didn't, even taking the boss into account. Lots of wall climbing in this level. Hitting my head saved a few frames over trying to land earlier. I bounce off the wall and randomly manage a variation of the headbutt glitch into the elevator.

6-boss - 1287 (46179)

I stand as far too the right as possible and still have him try and land on me. I bounce off his head and take a hit so I can stay in the air. he doesn't have a chance to do anything after that. After killing him I saved a few frames out of no where, I think it had to do with subpixel placement.

Round 7 Moon Pyramid - 19088 (66375)

I picked this order because I wanted to have meat for the Ice Ballerina and I thought starting in one of the bottom elevators would be the quickest way to get to the center elevator.

Ambush Tunnel - 2891 (50178)

Fliping into the crab crushers at the right time makes them not affect you (only when they're crushing down), this allows you to start moving a few frames earlier and means you don't have to turn into a crab and get hit.

Rhino boss - 838 (51017)

I thought this guy would be tough with out meat power but he went ok. I finally don't have to worry about being to the right.

Conveyor Tunnel - 3550 (54568)

These conveyors give me a hell of a lot of speed that I can hold onto by not pressing forward. They even seem to speed you up when you're invincible! I got really lucky to manipulate these two meats so easily. You could save about another second by getting another meat later in the level but I was having trouble getting it in a decent time. I grab the last meat so that I can keep the power for the Ice Ballerina.

Sailor boss - 1072 (55640)

I need to avoid getting hit so I can keep butthead bonk for the next level. but I need to be invincible to do that on the ship part of the battle which is why I needed the upper of the two meats at the end. For the first half of the battle I actually hit him three times, once with a headbutt, then I spin into him, then pound the ground to do the last bit of damage.

Aquatic Tunnel - 3212 (58852)

I could have made it past the first crusher, but I needed it to turn me into a crab so I could get past all the ice blocks, and so I could keep headbutt bonk for the boss (the timer doesn't count down when you're a crab). It turns out that jumping lets you go faster under water. It probably would have saved some time to turn me back into headbutt Bonk for a short period of time.

Ice Ballerina - 1586 (60438)

I play around with the crab before having to get hit. I don't have to luck manipulate her this time around. It looks like I'm a little bit higher then I was in the last battle with her but I couldn't get it any better, it might have to do with the fact that I'm butthead Bonk instead of nuclear Bonk.

Spook Tunnel - 2075 (62513)

I manage to keep meat speed till the end of the level.

Turtle boss - 1399 (63912)

Bonk likes to hang out in the center of fire spitting volcanos. This battle goes pretty well, I wish I could have his head not go so high up though.

Final boss (King Drool III & sidekick) - 2463 (66375)

His sidekick goes pretty well, its a little harder to bounce off his head then in the first battle but that doesn't affect you in a TAS. I manipulate King Drool's attack to be the ice spikes because you havn't seen them in this run and it does the most damage. Its really hard to get all 10 hits on his first pass.

The last neccesary input is at 66361 and the last hit is around that time, but I extended the input a bit to get the credits load in a little earlier, the ending loads at 66924.

adelikat: Accepting for publication.