Here is my submission of Gex 3: Deep Pocket Gecko for the Gameboy Color, completed in 27’23”. This cart is a close relative of the N64 game for which there exists a run found
here. While this game does not have to variety that its big brother does, there still exist some charming elements about the hand-held version, and there are quite a few similarities between the two games. Unfortunately, unlike the N64 counterpart, Gex still wears adorable little outfits, but they do not have any sort of additional powers associated with them. So, throughout this movie Gex appears to be putting together a reunion tour for the Village People, all by himself. Additionally, you may notice that all of the levels and goals which appear in the GBC game also appear in the N64 version, but are now rendered in
beautiful 2D.
Some goals and notes:
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time, and for entertainment during waiting periods
- Absolutely 0 luck manipulation (very little in this game can be manipulated)
- Does not collect all remotes
- Shamelessly steals Mukki’s submission format
Mechanics
The most two important things about this game from a TASing standpoint is that: 1) Gex has only one height of jump and one height of tail-bounce, which greatly simplifies optimizing input but leads to a somewhat sloppy looking movie; and 2) Gex is able to instantaneously change his velocity vector to the opposite direction within one frame, thus leading to a total lack of momentum, and thus a total lack of speed monitoring via RAM watching. All in all, this is a rather easy game to pick up and TAS, although there are some small nuances that aren't really worth mentioning here. If I perform a movement that doesn't make much sense, ask about it in the discussion and I'll be happy to answer it.
The Levels/Overworld
Remote 1: It’s sitting on top of the first door. Woo.
Holiday TV: Totally Scrooged
Remote 2: Defeat Evil Santa
Bad Santa gets dropped first, mainly because he is the fastest to start the game off with.
Remote 3: Create five ice sculptures
Each sculpture takes two hits, and the route was fairly straightforward once I had mapped the level out for remote 5.
Remotes 4 and 5: Whack the two ice-skating elves, and collect 100 tokens
A total of 23 remotes are needed to access the final level, and there are 6 main levels, each having three goal-derived remotes and one remote to be had by collecting all 100 tokens in the level. There are also 2 boss fights, each worth a remote, and one remote to be collected in the overworld. If you’re counting, that makes 21 remotes by conventional means. I chose to access one of the bonus levels (Remote X) for an additional one, and was left to collect the tokens from level one for the final remote needed. I believe the route chosen is probably the best, although there may be slight alterations made to it to make things slightly faster. Although it’s slightly tedious to collect all the tokens, it shows off a rather fun level. It also allows me to collect the first of the three bonus coins I need for the bonus level.
Mystery TV: Clueless in Seattle
Remote 6: Survive the hedge maze
Pretty self-explanatory. Note the poor collision detection on the tokens at the very end of the level.
Remote 7: Break three blood coolers
Up the stairs, then a nice free-fall. Yum
Remote 8: Steal the magic sword from the ghost knight
I don't know why there's a magic sword in this level, or why it's behind a giant checkerboard, but whatever, the knight is a pushover.
Tut TV: Holy Moses!
Remote 9: Release the spirits from the three lost arcs
The strange fist enemy almost didn't want to cooperate, but by entering the screen with the pyramid while in the air, I was able to catch him before he moved further to the right. I guess this would be a good place to mention that taking damage while falling will cancel the long "Gex SPLAT" animation from falling too far.
Remote 10: Recover the three staffs of RA
As I said in the introduction, there is very little manipulation that can be done with this game. The elevators leading to the last two staffs are a perfect example.
Remote 11: Ride the raft into the ancient temple
I tried to make the long ride as interesting as possible, but there's only so many moves that Gex has. And yes, the damage taking from the bug was intentional, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Oh, the TVs release flies when broken, giving Gex powers. Two blue flies will give him extra strength (as seen later in the game), but I have no idea what the purple flies do. Oh, and there's some moon-walking.
Western Station: The Organ Trail
Remotes 12, 13, and 14: A big pile of poo, some cards, and a lot of the same scenery.
Do yourself a favor: Watch the first remote in this level, then fast-forward through the next two. I intentionally do the goal with the cards first, to show off all the level. The last two remotes are almost identical in their path, and I actually pass by the last TV twice, just to show how stupid of a level this is. I also pick up a bonus level coin to complete my set of 3.
WWGex Wrestling: Invasion of the body slammers
Remote 15: Not much of a fight with this guy, who looks like a big hemorrhoid.
Anime Channel: When sushi goes bad
Remote 16: Find and destroy the rogue mechs
I have to get two blue flies to be able to damage the mechs, otherwise I just get hit.
Remote 17: Deactivate the planet-o-blast weapon
The small yellow blobs are one of the few things that are able to be manipulated, but they it takes more time to manipulate them than to just dodge them.
Remote 18: Destroy the three alien culture tubes
Creepy jumping asian girl! Some enemies (like her) are triggers for force fields which have to be lowered to continue on. The mech is a trigger for the door above him, and each alien tube is a trigger for the next door, so even when it seems like there is some flexibility in this game, linearity raises it's ugly head again. I apologize for the long walk back.
Bonus Bonanza: Gextreme Sports -
Remote 19: Whack the 5 elves
Each elf takes two hits to kill, and they stay in their very slow 'damaged' animation until they reach the end of the ice patch that they're traveling on. So, for 3 of the 5, I damage them once then come back to finish the job so that I don't have to wait for them. I tried this technique with the first elf too, but it proved to be about 20 frames slower.
Superhero Show: Superzeroes
Remote 20: Rescue the stray cats
The second large jump is somewhat of a sequence break; I'm actually supposed to break a water cooler at the top of the level with two of the blue flies. The large jump is much faster.
Remote 21: Defeat the mad bomber
It took me a long time to find the friggin' end of level TV after I'd beaten the bomber when doing my test run. It's so out of the way...
Remote 22: Find the 5 escaped convicts
Another goal with some backtracking of the previous goal. The black and white convicts look really out of place in an otherwise very colorful game.
Lizard of Oz: Lions, Tigers, and Gex
Remote 23: Watch out for pesky rezlings
Again, I tried to pass the time with a variety of movements and activities, and the damage taken is, of course, intentional. If people don't like what it looks like, I can hex edit in a new fight, this game is very hex friendly due to the lack of randomness.
Boss TV: Rez-Raker
A somewhat difficult platforming section when played in real time. The final boss is incredibly disappointing.
Credits.... and then you get to play again where you left off! Interesting way to end the game.
Closing
I hope you enjoyed watching, and please let me know if you have any questions about any part of the movie.
cpadolf: Viewer response have been somewhat sparse, but that is to be expected from most GB/GBC submissions, the responses that have been made though are positive. The run is somewhat repetitive, but it's fast paced and it looks optimized. Accepting for publication.
