Idk if optimized, but yea i tried i can completing the game on Hard mode, due to Easy mode having same level sets, but Easy and Hard modes in comparasion are time depleted but yea
i tried all i can
Emulator used= EmuHawk 2.4.2.1
Level 3-4 comment
It was very impossible bypassing the time adding item on Hard mode, so i grabbed all of them to complete this level even TASing
Level 5-4 comment
at almost very ending of level 5-4 it was impossible to reach the floating platform when i tried to be frame prefect to reach it, so i cancelled that
Edit 1= I tested using the same password when i completed this TAS, after losing the last stock, game over resets the stock count to 04 (5 stock), so the password shown on the TAS is directly starting from 1-1 to 5-5 on Hard mode with 1-stock (more like Permadeath mode or similar)
Edit 2= I'll see a better solutions to improve this TAS, while I'll see the errors
Goals= clear the hard mode from 1 stock with lowest possible time
feos: Judging...
feos: Cleared the branch since we don't put difficulty there (usually).
feos: From the start, menuing was done by input that looked like turbo-mashing, so I checked myself and saved about 40 frames at entering the first level.
Switching to Spanish language wastes 2 frames compared to English (default), but I'm not sure if it matters in the game, since you skip all the dialogs anyway. Probably it doesn't, because dialogs consist of several entries that you skip separately, which doesn't depend on size of the sentences.
Using hard difficulty is probably not justified either since it reduces the time you have and you have to collect items that increase this time, which defeats the purpose of hard mode. Haven't precisely checked if losing a life would save time anywhere, and if it wouldn't, hard difficulty is also not justified since it reduces your life count.
During the first level I learned that movement in this game is extremely forgiving, because the character only moves on a grid, and you have a ton of room for when you start holding another direction. Yet in the first level I was able to save more than 10 frames.
Here's a movie that plays through the starting menus and the first level, it's 52 frames shorter than this submission, even though the first level is very basic:
Comparison video, for clarity:
I also checked the last level, and it honestly felt like real-time play, because of the routing with the moving platforms. I tried a couple different platforms and they all were a lot faster than this submission. Movement is also sloppy overall, with lots unnecessary turns in a game where this is the main mechanic.
Here's my quick and dirty test movie of this level which is 3692 frames faster than this submission.
Rejecting for sloppy play. Just like our Movie Rules say, "Judges will check your movie's technical quality: they should not be able to easily improve your movie by large amounts of time."
reddy_2434/MTRD metaride, please pay attention to optimization, because it is the main thing TASVideos is all about! We have lots of Guides and Guidelines that will help you improve your skills. Better luck next time!