Top Gear 2 is an arcade racing game made and developed by the company Kemco for the Super Nintendo and was released on September 15th, 1993. Here you sit in the year 1993 and this is it, the race of your life... However! We'll make this quick. You're watching the new, super-accelerated #1 world leader in racing games. this TAS will be screaming through 16 countries and 54 races. This car will not be twisting, (sometimes jumping), not spinning, or flipping, At speeds of over 260 MPH. With Top Gear 2 's new and improved weather system you'll be driving through conditions such as Night or Shine, Rain, Snow or Fog. If you win all the races you will be claimed as the best racer in the world. Get your rear in gear because there's no half-fast about it.
Game Objectives
- Emulator used: Bizhawk Developer Build 2.0.0
- Uses the Same Color Until the Last Level
- Manipulates Frame Perfect Luck
- Uses Glitches to Finish Quicker
- Uses Best Upgrades
- Uses a Pre Generated Password
- Skips Naming File to Save Time
Upgrades:
- The Screaming V12 = Best Engine will allow me to keep the speed needed throughout the track.
- Kemco Rain Slicks = Best Wet Tires is only used once during this run and is for New York.
- No Generic Radials = Believe it or not, you actually don't need Dry Tires in this run, I didn't purchase any to save some inputs.
- 6 Speed Race Tranny = Alongside the Engine, this too will help me keep my speed.
- Total Boost 600-R = Gives the best and longest boost available in the game.
About the Run
This run is done on the USA version of Top Gear 2 and uses English Text. The goal of this run is to get to the credits as quickly as possible (100%) using the fastest known methods currently possible. I started making this TAS on 5/6/2018 and finished it on 6/12/2018. This TAS uses TAS only viable tricks on some portions of some tracks. The RTA run which is held by RallyFTW with a time of 2:46:05.650 which was completed on May 22nd, 2017. This TAS beats the current World Record by a staggering 20 mins & 28 seconds! This TAS can definitely be improved by another 2 1/2 mins or more if other times saves come about in the near future.
About the Category
100% Super Car Wall Glitches is exactly what you'd expect it to be. Basically, you take your car through the entire game (54 tracks in total). The game originally has 64 tracks, however, I get to skip 9 of them throughout the entire run. This run heavily relies on frame perfect skips which in turn allows me to end tracks quicker than the developers intended. This category was entirely an addon to the 100% category as an extension, which could promptly be named "NG+" (New Game Plus). This category is great for those who have completed the game for the first time initially and what a little more of a challenge and better overall experience.
Console Differences
As previously mentioned in my other submission: Top Gear 2 was the only Top Gear game to be released on multiple consoles at a time. Top Gear 2 was released on SNES, Genesis & Amiga CD 32. Top Gear 2 is the most optimal on the SNES version and this TAS will be using the SNES version for the most optimal gameplay and performance.
Regional Differences
Top Gear 2 and all of the other Top Gear games, all have different regions in which the game can be played. Top Gear 2, and all of the regions don't have any major updates that limit the current categories of the game, and all regions kind of play exactly the same. The only thing that changes from region to region is the aesthetics & Password inputs this includes: Brighter HUD & CPU 2nd place is noticeable, JPN version and EU version passwords differ from the USA game. Some characters on the password screen will include, Left & Right arrows for moving the cursor to a certain position to change a letter or number.
Wall Glitches
Since this category does allow what is called a "Wall Glitch", I will be able to exploit the game in an unintended way. The way Wall Glitches work is this: A wall glitch is a glitch that allows the runner to make the game think he/she has finished the race by hitting the wall. An object needs to be in contact with the hitbox of the car in order for the glitch to work, however, not all walls are the same. The game will then proceed to find the next correct move to make since it has your first place finish stored in memory, it then will "warp" you to the finish line, thus ending the race in a prompt manner.
Automatic Vs. Manual
There are two types of transmissions in Top Gear 2. One is Automatic, which increases your speed automatically (go figure), and the other one is Manual, which you can tune yourself. Before Manual transmission was used, we used Automatic. The switch from Automatic to Manual was faster, so much faster than it saved around 10 seconds.
Tracks (In order, By Name, By Semi Alphabetical Order)
Australasia
- Australasia: Auckland
Auckland is the starting race in Top Gear 2 and lets the player feel the game for what it has to offer. Auckland doesn't have any Wall Glitches, so it will be finished as intended, the quickest amount of time possible.
- Australasia: Ayers Rock
Ayers Rock is the only track in the game that will have a sunset backdrop added on. In addition, not only does this look really cool, it makes it feel more engaging since every other track after this will be the same standard backdrop color. Ayers Rock also introduces the first "trick" in the run, called Barrier Skip (not referring to Wind Waker). What is Barrier Skip? Barrier Skip is when the car can go in between the arrow merge signs and keep a little bit of speed. Outside the playing field, aka the race track, there are dirt, grass, & objects preventing you from traveling outside it’s intended boundaries. I had to slow down at the start because I got really bad RNG from the car setups along the way. This track has 5 laps and all 5 laps are the same.
- Australasia: Canterbury Plains:
Canterbury Plains is the 3rd track in the game that introduces nighttime driving. In my opinion, the nighttime stages in this game as the best ones. Canterbury Plains has nothing special just like Auckland, and 4 laps in total.
- Australasia: Sydney
Unlike the previous 3 tracks, Sydney opens its doors and introduces the rainy element in the game. Unlike dry conditions, Rain can affect your cars forward momentum with sliding. Thankfully sliding has been resolved, so going really fast won’t be bad. Found by RallyFTW, if you are traveling into a curved turn, you can rapidly tap left or right on the directional pad, in that direction to cancel out your sliding animation. This trick can also be applied to snowy levels, however, some levels have sharper turns, so not every turn can be done with this trick applied. An example would be Zurich and Munich both snow levels with sharp turns.
Britain
- Britain: Loch Ness
Loch Ness or Nessy for short introduces a new element called fog. You might be noticing a trend here with these elements rolling in, where the first 5 stages will introduce the elements besides snow. Loch Ness also introduces Speed Ups. Speed Ups are ½ a nitro, so using a nitro perfectly near a speedup will be tacked onto your speed total for an extended amount of time. Speed Ups can also be a reversed role to nitro. If you grab a speed up and then use a nitro, it will also have the same effect.
- Britain: London
BIG BEN is back and better than ever! With that terrible unfunny joke out of the way, London will introduce the first sharp turn of the run. Sharp turn as in, not Ayers Rock sharp, like slow down all the way sharp. However, in the TAS (Tool Assisted Speedrun), I use the arrow barrier skip to avoid the sharp turn and keep my speed. The arrow barrier skips are 1 frame and require really precise inputs, however, this proves no challenge for the TAS (Tool Assisted Speedrun).
- Britain: Sheffield
This is the track that the game developers intended to use the gas element but failed to do so. By this point 7 tracks in, you would think they would have introduced it a little earlier than this. The gas tank animation is still on screen, however, doesn’t do anything besides go down and warns you of running low on gas by 3rd lap. Personally, I feel they did the right thing here and kept the player racing at all times without stopping for gas refills. Sheffield is the first of many tracks that will warn you when your fake gas is running low. Sheffield also introduces Puddles into the game. Puddles are tiny water pockets on the road to slow your car down but are avoided to maintain speed. Nitro’s on this track are spread out and you will notice a trend from here on out, that I will wait a little bit then use a nitro, wait a little bit then use a nitro. The reason I do this is that if I were to use the nitro’s any sooner, I lose all of my speed from a steep hill, however, I don’t lose speed, as I use the nitro at a perfect frame.
- Britain: Stonehenge
Stonehenge features the famous standing stones. This track has 3 laps and is the last track featured in Britain. You will notice that I am able to keep my speed, after boosting at the finish line on each lap, that’s because again I timed my nitro just right to make sure I kept my speed there. It doesn’t lose any time so I might have well used that method, throughout the track. I also am skipping the jumping animation, the reason is that, if you use a nitro and jump over a speed bump you lose 10 MPH, losing 10 MPH would cause a time loss.
Canada
- Canada: Banff
Welcome to Canada. Canada Banff is another one of those tracks that include a speed up. You will notice throughout the track I will use a nitro right before picking up the speed boost. I also lose a little bit of speed, and lower my gears to increase my speed faster, the reason I do this is because if I stayed in 6th gear and picked up the speed up, I wouldn’t have gotten a speed value above 232, the higher the gear you are in the slower the ½ nitro will be. However, this is not always the case for normal nitro use after the 1st nitro at the beginning of races. On lap 3 you might have noticed that I was still going 230 MPH while obtaining the speed up which increased my speed from a fully used nitro, I did this because I wanted to go fast, but I hit the roadblock next to the jump because I would have crashed, and going outside of the track would caused me to slow down even more. Hitting this roadblock gave the same amount of speed after that section, from the previous 2 laps.
- Canada: Niagara Falls
As previously mentioned Rainy stages have the slide animation cancel so I am using that trick effectively here. Niagara Falls is an interesting track, it’s interesting in its own ways. Firstly it’s the only track in the first set of 10 tracks that will introduce a sharp rainy corner on a track. This is also true for Sydney, but Sydney doesn’t have a sharp turn, as it has a wide turn with rain. Niagara Falls will prepare you for a later track called Madrid. Niagara Falls has 3 laps and all 3 laps are the same.
- Canada: Toronto
Toronto is the third track in Canada and will be the first track to introduce a 2 lap track up until this point in the game. Toronto will also introduce a new element called grass. The grass is slippery in Top Gear 2 so be careful where you end up placing your car. Toronto will mostly prepare you for Japan: Hiroshima since that track also has a lot of grass on both sides of the track. Toronto also has a cool thing about it and it's not the only track in the game that will have this, however, you can almost use all of your nitro's in succession without running out beforehand. The track Toronto also prepares you for is France: Monaco.
- Canada: Vancouver
Vancouver or as I like to call it "Van Cover" will be the 16th track and will be the 2nd track to have nighttime driving. Vancouver is interesting because this is where the game decides to ramp up in difficulty, which would make sense since it gives you 15 previous tracks to race on. Vancouver another one of those tracks that will prepare you for a later race called: Japan Kyoto. The nice clean race here, nothing too out of the ordinary just yet.
Egypt
- Egypt: Abu Sunbul
We are now 30 mins into racing and chill and we have come face to face with the very first country that will introduce multi-lap short distance tracks, welcome to Egypt! Top Gear 2 has a funny backstory when it comes to naming race tracks. In particular, this will be the first instance of copyright avoidance by the developers here. Abu Sunbul, which is actually named: Abu Simbel temples features two massive rock temples at Abu Simbel, a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan.
- Egypt: Aswan
You might recall seeing a track earlier that I have mentioned named Britain London. Way back in London which will prepare you for this race here called Aswan (City in Egypt). Aswan is no joke when it comes to traditional play and will force the player to slow down, this instance will also be present in a later track called South America: Chile Aswan contains significant archaeological sites like the Philae temple complex, on Agilkia Island near the landmark Aswan Dam.
- Egypt: Cairo
Back at it again with the nighttime driving. Cairo is another one of those fun tracks in Top Gear 2. You might have seen a pattern by now, and that is, each track or every 2 tracks you will play will be either really difficult, which mean the follow-up track will be smooth and nice, or reversed statement. At its heart is Tahrir Square and the vast Egyptian Museum, a trove of antiquities including royal mummies and gilded King Tutankhamun artifacts.
- Egypt: Hugh Sitton
So .. remember when I told you that Top Gear 2 likes to avoid copyright in its video game? Do you? Good! Okay well ... This track is no stranger and was promptly renamed Hugh Sitton, which is one of the artists that did the backdrops in the game. Hugh Sitton or actually named The Giza Pyramids will feature the very first instance of a Wall Glitch, which will allow me to finish the race by glitching out the game.
France
- France: Bordeaux
Bordeaux is not only a really cool name, but it is a call back to the first Top Gear game. Bordeaux returns in a fashionable way. Bordeaux will is not a difficult stage to deal with and was an overall fun experience. The track has a nasty turn at the start, so in order for me to keep all my speed I need to slow down in order to make the turn, otherwise, I would hit the merge signs on the righthand side. Bordeaux is a warm-up track to Hiroshima and Yokohama.
- France: Monaco
Okay, hear me out ... MONACO IS A REALLY GOOD TRACK .... okay sorry caps lock was stuck :) Anyway, Monaco will be the 18th nighttime track and will be the first track to allow the runner to use all of your nitrous in succession without running out. Since Monaco has extra nitro's, there will be no need to slow down at all, meaning avoiding cars will be a lot easier as they come earlier. Monaco will prepare you for Japan as that country is basically all two laps beside Yokohama.
- France: Nice
It's Nice of you to be reading this :) This track is pretty Nice wouldn't you agree? Anyway, this is a 3 lap track and is a little more uninteresting for the most part. Nothing really to mention here, in particular, just really good driving overall till the end.
- France: Paris
Paris is the third rainy track in the game (believe it or not). You might think that there where more rainy tracks before this one in Britain but nope. Paris is the 20th track and will include rain physics. Paris is a little bit more difficult than Niagra Falls and makes Syndey look like chump change. Since Paris is a rainy track it too will have the turn throttling trick applied, (Turn Throttling def is above if you don't know).
Germany
- Germany: Bavaria
Bavaria is another rain track. If you were not satisfied with Paris, well you will definitely get your fill here as the ENTIRE track is almost (but not classified as a pond). Bavaria is the 21st-century track in the game and will feature rain physics.
- Germany: Cologne
It's time to put on some Cologne my guy. Cologne is not only a fancy smelly body spray but it just so happens to be a track within Top Gear 2. Cologne is another one of those tracks that is fun to play. Cologne will be the 22nd track and will feature long downhill sections. These long downhill sections are perfect for keeping my speed after a nitro is used. Since Cologne has nothing special to offer besides downhill I decided it would be funny to continuously press Left and Right on the D-Pad to somewhat annoy the viewer, however, this doesn't go on for very long and ends after lap two finishes.
- Germany: Frankfurt
Did you know? Frankfurt has the largest inner-city forest in Germany, taking up around 80 sq. km. (a third of its territory), and the world-famous 20-hectare Palm Garden, which hosts plants from every climate zone on the planet. Frankfurt will be the 23rd track and will be the 2nd foggy track in the game. Frankfurt is just short enough, to semi-spam nitro's every lap, which I kinda do here to lower the time.
- Germany: Munich
Did you know? Munich has 45 museums, the most popular of which is Deutsches Museum (the world’s largest science and technology museum), visited by over a million people every year. If you wanna talk Snow (the dreaded 4 letter word), then let's talk Snow! Well, Munich is the 1st track that will introduce Snow and is the 24th track in the game. (There is snow at Banff, but not actually snowing) which doesn't classify as a snow stage. We will be racing at 7:45 in the AM so make sure to go to bed by at least 10:00 PM :) Munich is a snow stage and will later prepare you for Helsinki and Reykjavik.
Greece
- Greece: Athens
Greece: Athens is an interesting stage. For one, Athens on the Amiga version has lightning, whereas on the SNES version does not. Athens is another one of those tracks that will have a sharp turn, however, to negate that, I slow down for a couple frame in order to make it but continue to press X after a certain threshold of light posts, so I don't crash. I manage to also skip the jump that is surrounded by barriers which are frame perfect and going for it in a real run is very dangerous as you can lose a lot of speed.
- Greece: Meteora
Did you know? The track location is featured in the James Bond movie, ‘For Your Eyes Only’. Getting back on "track" here ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Meteora will feature another wall glitch, and will be the 26th track in the game and will be the 4th track to introduce insane sharp turns, however after that, the track really doesn't get it's showtime as I glitch through a wall to finish the race quicker.
- Greece: Mykonos
Did you know? The name “Cyclades”, where Mykonos belongs, was given to the 33 islands surrounding the sacred isle of Delos because of their cyclical formation. Mykonos is another one of those tracks that feel a little lame and I try and finish it as quickly as possible. This track has 3 laps and does not feature a wall glitch (as of yet).
- Greece: Santorini
Santorini is fun track while it lasts. Just like it's younger millennial brother Meteora it too has a wall glitch to show off turning show and tells. This wall glitch was particularly interesting because I messed around with the setup, and game pushed me so far forward so quickly past the wall, it wanted to spin me out, but it noticed that I have already finished the race, so it sent my car in the reverse gear without actually being in R gear while still in 6th gear, in reality the game pulled a sharp 180 degree 200 IQ trick in all.
India
- Amber Port
Amber Port is another interesting track because it too features a name change due to copyright infringement and gave the developers "demonetized sign". In reality, "Can we Copystrike Kemco"? Welcome back to the introduction to a 7 lap track, which was last shown in Egypt. Nothing really special here in particular and done as quickly as possible.
"Why only be the world champ when you can be the universe champ"? - Montucky 2018
feos: I know you were waiting for me, 6017S. Judging...
feos: This is a decent start at TASing, and I really encourage you, Technickle, to resume working on this game, but this particular run can't be accepted here.
I'll start with mentioning that this game, while enjoyable for those familiar with it, does not entertain the broad audience of TASVideos. This movie has been up for 8 years, and look at its entertainment rating.
We have a LegacyPages/tier system for our publications, and we have special rules for our biggest tiers, Vault and Alternative. We publish all the entertaining runs in Alternative, including branches that have arbitrary goals. And the runs that are generally not that entertaining we publish in Vault, where the goal choice is limited to any% and full completion.
This submission doesn't seem to be entertaining for the general audience, and it has a goal that's incompatible with the Vault tier - it uses a password to obtain the upgrades you normally have to buy during a regular run.
This is addressed by our Movie Rules. They say that if one wants to use a password in a movie, the password has to make the game harder, or at least more appealing. If a password is used to make the game easier and/or unlock something hidden, such a movie has to be entertaining enough to be published in Alternative. Because Vault doesn't accept anything aside from any% and full completion, and we don't accept such passwords in those 2 categories.
Now let's talk about the 100% goal for this game.
The manual directly orders you to howl through 64 cities. Since the any% branch for that game is able to only "howl" through the USA, playing all the tracks is a legitimate form of full completion here.
Unlike real-time speedrunners, we don't allow forgoing time-saving glitches in Vault. So using the wall glitch is mandatory for a full completion TAS of this game. As explained by the author, this glitch doesn't make you completely skip any cities - it just lets you complete them faster, so it's fair play.
This run also has some missed opportunities to optimize the play, as mentioned in the submission thread, but optimality factors for this game's TASing will be duly reviewed in the other submission's thread.
Rejecting for goal choice.