Posted: 2/23/2010 12:17 PM
Post subject: Weird Self-Imposed Rules / TASing Time Trials
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Dark-Koopatrol
Joined: 7/3/2009
Posts: 5
I was thinking, I read on the official Nintendo forum, (while it was still around) a bunch of people who in Mario Kart DS, recorded with a video camera their records for completing a time trial for each of the possible tracks, and get this, without using the A button! That's right they completed the courses in reverse! With that rule, it made things a lot different strategically, seen as you can't really snake, you have to use your 3 mushrooms (3 was a must) right away or save them for a required boost to get you across a gap. going through slow-down areas of the map didn't slow you down, (you were already slow) so you could take shortcuts there. Albeit it made some maps like rainbow road impossible because as soon as you backed into the boost panels you would be shot into the direction you were facing, which isn't very helpful. The reason I put this in the laboratory is because this idea of excluding a sole-purpose, helpful but not required button (or game function) as a TASing rule could be something that would bring to light more games so that extra people could be challenged without actually competing with the current record for normal TASing. I only used Mario Kart DS as an example because it was the best idea to come to mind. Anyways, what that would mean for it to be TASed, someone prominent in the TASvideos community would have to assign movie files to each game, which sole purpose is to unlock every game mode / level / course, and not exactly fast, in fact it could be normal play, just as long as it unlocks everything. In the case of Mario Kart DS, it would be racing the first 3 Grand Prix Cups in both the Nitro and Retro GPs then leave the cursor on time trials. After that has been posted people who wanted to would TAS each course possible without pressing the A button, except in menus. I don't need to see this as serious TASing, but I would like to get some (positive or negative) reception on the idea. Dark-Koopatrol
Posted: 2/23/2010 12:43 PM
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Baxter
Skilled player (1410)
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 1821
TAS of 2013 SNES TAS of 2013 Speedy TAS of 2007 Innovative TAS of 2007
Did you know there is a Super Mario Bros TAS that doesn't use the B button?
http://tasvideos.org/Baxter.html
Posted: 2/23/2010 12:47 PM
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Dada
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
It's a neat idea, but it's typically something that's done by and for a subculture among speedrunners. This site's published movies are aimed at a larger audience, although there's SOME overlap (the "unofficially endorsed" hacks/demos/etc section). But yeah, the idea itself is pretty cool because, like speedrunning in general, it forces you to think about things differently, to try out strategies that normally would be inefficient and to be creative.
Posted: 2/23/2010 12:51 PM
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Kuwaga
Joined: 10/20/2006
Posts: 1248
The only way to push concepts like this through is starting a run yourself and prove the results are entertaining to a broad audience. If it works out well, you might even win an award with it at the end of the year. ;p
Posted: 2/24/2010 6:10 PM
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NMcCoy
Joined: 6/1/2006
Posts: 64
I seem to recall a run of aLttP on GBA that didn't use the sword button at all.
Posted: 2/25/2010 9:18 AM
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Personman
Other
Joined: 4/20/2008
Posts: 465
I am a huge fan of novelty runs. HappyLee's SMB walkathon made me _so_ happy when it came out. Contrary to what Omega said, I think such runs will actually *broaden* the appeal of TASes - while plenty of normal runs are pretty amazing to the average viewer, there are many that pretty much just look like a guy running forward for a while unless you are a hardcore TASer and know how to spot all the optimizations, or read the submission text. With runs that have to do obviously amazing/clever/silly things to accomplish some goal, everyone can understand the work that went into it and appreciate the new perspective on the game, or humor value of the situations the runner gets into. It also leads to more "Wow, you can _do_ that!?!?" moments - it's obvious that every game has some optimal time to completion, but it's not obvious that every game can be beaten without one if it's primary controls, or with the most useless item equipped the whole time, or without collecting any powerups, or whatever. In fact, my very first attempt at a tool-assisted run was of this type - I just posted a run in the relevant thread of the first level of SMB3 in which I minimized the number of frames spent touching the ground or a normal platform. It's pretty sloppy, since I'm a n00b at this, but being able to do new things to the big famous games is a big incentive for me to learn at all.
A warb degombs the brangy. Your gitch zanks and leils the warb.
Posted: 2/25/2010 3:08 PM
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Warp
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
Personman wrote:
HappyLee's SMB walkathon made me _so_ happy when it came out.
Note that he didn't invent the concept nor was he the first to submit (a published) SMB walkathon. It was Bisqwit who first came up with the idea. (Just pointing out credit where credit is due.)
Posted: 2/25/2010 5:13 PM
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Personman
Other
Joined: 4/20/2008
Posts: 465
Ah, thanks! Always good to know the history. I'd known about this site for a couple years, but HappyLee's run was one of the (many) things that got me to start paying more serious attention to this site, so I'm not too familiar with things before then.
A warb degombs the brangy. Your gitch zanks and leils the warb.
Posted: 2/26/2010 11:56 AM
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Dark-Koopatrol
Joined: 7/3/2009
Posts: 5
Mario Kart DS desyncs I believe. The CPUs are getting different items each time, but other than that, it stays the same, as in driving is perfect until an item interferes with the recording. anyways here's the (short) rerecording: MK-DS.dsm EDIT: i forgot to say that when I played it back I got hit with a red shell. but i don't recall that being done when I was recording it.
Posted: 4/8/2011 4:12 AM
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chiefsizzlechest
Joined: 11/11/2010
Posts: 18
im doing a zelda child dungeons TAS without getting the sword XD cant do full game though =/
Posted: 4/8/2011 2:54 PM
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scrimpeh
Editor, Skilled player (1441)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2113
TAS of 2017 First edition TAS of 2017 PSX TAS of 2017
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Posted: 4/8/2011 6:20 PM
Post subject: Re: Weird Self-Imposed Rules / TASing Time Trials
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ALAKTORN
He/Him
Former player
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
Location: Italy
DS TAS of 2012
Dark-Koopatrol wrote:
Albeit it made some maps like rainbow road impossible because as soon as you backed into the boost panels you would be shot into the direction you were facing, which isn't very helpful.
what?
Posted: 4/9/2011 5:25 AM
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Kirkq
Player (210)
Joined: 7/7/2006
Posts: 798
Location: US
The fact that you made a video over 2 years ago that disproves such a random claim is impressive.
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Posted: 4/9/2011 8:12 AM
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ais523
Editor, Player (44)
Joined: 7/11/2010
Posts: 1029
In the GBA version, Mario Kart Super Circuit, it's actually possible to complete Rainbow Road without pressing A or B, at least in time trial mode. (You get a small speed boost upon hitting a jump, and that, combined with the boost pads on the track, combined with the three mushrooms you get in time trial mode, are just enough to complete the three laps of the race.)