Quattro Adventure is a cart of 4 games released by Camerica in 1991. One of these 4 games is the platformer Super Robin Hood which is the subject of the current run. The game is unique in its use of hidden 'keys' that open various secret passages allowing the player access to faster routes. Combine this with a developer intended warp and major collision detection glitch and you get the current run of the game in under 5 minutes.
- Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.2
- Completes the game as fast as possible.
- Abuses programming errors
- Uses warps
Comments:
Substantial work had already put into this game by Magical Bag of Food and klmz before I picked it up. They should be considered co-authors of this run as 75% of the work was done by them. Bag found all the secret keys and the warp and made a detailed map which I relied upon heavily. Klmz found the collision detection glitch (where you can jump through walls if you release the directional key press in the same frame you jump.) He also found a useful glitch where if you perform a pixel perfect jump you can clip through edges of platforms and reach higher areas then you should be able to. Basically all the hard things were done by the time I picked this game up. What remained was routing and damage trading. The route is more or less set by the treasures you are forced to collect. You can't finish the game without them. Damage trading had to be done along this route, and I am pretty confident I found the best case.
Stage by stage comments
Beginning up to Warp:
This follows klmz's WIP practically to the frame. I doubt I would have found the crouch-jump door clip on my own had I not already seen it in his WIP. Note you can ignore all the treasures here as once you take the warp you are awarded all of them up to that point.
Warp to Barrel Room:
A couple of ledge clips and another wall clip make this section the least like the intended route. There is a programming error where robin will not crouch after running off a platform onto another platform below, this saves some time in several places.
Barrel Room:
By far the most re-records occurred in this room. Hitting the last bat near the red archer then hitting the archer himself seems simple looking at it now but it took me a long time to figure it out.
Barrel Room to the Evil Platform Room:
Nothing of particular interest here. I thought I could speed this section up significantly only to get shot by the gargoyle head right before going down the ladder, so that took some maneuvering, as you might notice Robin slowing down here.
Evil Platform Room:
Ahhh so close yet so far. I tried every conceivable method to hit that platform, but in the end Robin just stares at it dejectedly as he waits for it to go across the room and return to him. This room does have some careful damage boosting. The damage animation can add a lot of lag when a lot is happening on the screen, Getting hit at just the right time is important.
Evil Platform Room to Cloud Jump Room:
The one glitch I discovered myself is that if you collect a treasure and then within a few frames take damage, the damage animation will be cancelled. This is very useful in this area as Robin must take damage here and it can cause intense lag. Another useful trick here is that Robin's invincibility frames carry over between rooms, allowing me to avoid the orange archer.
Cloud Jump Room:
I am embarrassed to admit that I had to look on youtube to realize you could jump on the clouds, oh the shame.
Cloud Jump Room to Finish:
I take a death here as it is faster then getting back up and I need the health anyway. Then its a short trip to Maid Marian and the game is complete!
Other Notes:
I tried using the ! ROM but when I selected Robin Hood it loaded Boomerang Kid, so unless this is what the actual cartridge does, I am staying with the !p ROM for submitting this run.
Overall this game was very fun to TAS. It is surprisingly good for a game that is so short. I suppose another category of 'All Treasures' could be run avoiding the warp, but I don't think it would add much. Thanks to Feos for making encodes of my WIP in the game thread and offering help.
Thanks for watching.
I hope you enjoy this run.
feos: Accepting to Moons and publishing.