Umihara Kawase Shun (1997) is the little known sequel to the little known Umihara Kawase for the SNES. This run plays through the game using the shortest possible (as far as I could see) path: Fields 00, 11, 23, 14, 15, 35, 36, 31, 30. There are a few feasible routes through the game; the next closest route that I could find was to go to Field 24 after 35 then 29, 30.
Note: We have been somewhat spoiled by Flagitous' awesome run. The SNES version is more action based, whereas its sequel is more puzzle based. As a result the slick, sexy UK playing isn't possible in every field (Field 00 being the most obvious example), but it should, for the most part, be reminiscent of the SNES run.
Note 2: I'm sure that this game is called Shun, although I have seen it titled Syun in places. I went with the gamefaqs data. Also, there are several editions of this game. I'm sure that this is the original, but I haven't been able to find the second (other) edition to compare to be sure.
Note 3: I suck far too much at encoding to give you guys one now. Sorry :-(
Enjoy.
adelikat: Very good viewer response thus accepting for publication.
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
I have the second edition here, and your run syncs up to the sixth door.
edit: watched the last three doors, thank you mz for the encode.
by the way, on my CD Rom it's called Fishing Hero: Second edition.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
You're just fucking stupid, everyone hates you, sorry to tell you the truth. no one likes you, you're someone pretentious and TASes only to be on speed game, but don't have any hope, you won't get there.
Joined: 10/28/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
I really don't know what to think of this. On the face of it, it seems like something I would enjoy watching - the game short, fast-paced and has quirky gameplay mechanics, and the run is technically proficient and certainly builds upon the success of the run of the original game.
Yet I don't find myself immersed at all in watching it, as though the run is missing something. Perhaps I don't ever get the sense that the character is ever in any sense of danger, or perhaps I don't understand the point of the game at all, but I just don't find watching this very entertaining.
I grudgingly give this a Meh.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
I liked it, it was short, and it kept me entertained. The quirky mechanics seemed to invite potential improvements, but it looked well optimized to my eyes. Here's another yes vote for you.
Cool gameplay, but I feel that it hasn't enough action.
So this series is not new to the site? Anyone want to recommend a run of a more action loaded game in the series?
The SNES version has two TASes: one aiming for speed, and one aiming for maximum levels. I'd say they're both worth watching, though depending on your disposition you may be inclined to skip the bossfights in the latter movie (which aren't "fights" so much as "dodge the boss's attacks until he decides to leave of his own accord").
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
These games always leave me with a "That was it?" type feeling, because of the lack of any definitive ending... she just goes through another door and the credits roll. But the acrobatics are sure good. I give this a meh just because of the game, not due to any fault of the author.
Want moar. There never seems to be enough Umihara Kawase!
Nicos, the DS version is just an anthology release with some extra levels, which probably make it a good candidate for a sightseeing TAS but ultimately useless otherwise: resolution is no better than on either console, and sound is barely different IIRC.
Thanks for the encode. Yes vote.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Canar: at least in the SNES version, such a run would require resetting the game and then replaying through some of the levels, since the game has a branching path that makes most of the levels mutually-exclusive with many other levels. I assume the same is true of the sequel.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Bisqwit wrote:
Intuitive impression: Fields 00, 35 might be improvable by some frames. Other than that, it's good. I'm fond of watching this game type being played.
I realise that Field 00 looks sloppily played. I hated the idea that I'd have to grab the ledge on the first swing. However, as far as I could see it was unavoidable as I couldn't get the optimal pendulum motion from jumping from the ledge without falling into the water or taking a strat that was ultimately slower. I put it down to having too much vertical velocity when the tension kicked in causing a weird bounce (something that I was able to put to good use in Field 23).
Having said that, as Randil put it, this game has a huge scope for improvements. It is incredibly difficult to optimise and there is a huge amount of ways to play every level. I hope that this game sees some competition because I'm sure that there is a lot that has eluded me.
Many of you wrote:
We want more Umihara Kawase!
Agreed. Originally, I had considered trying to improve the current sightseeing TAS, but now I think that a long run of this game would be a better use of my time. The good news is that in order to make this TAS I had to test run many different routes and so I have good solutions for many of the longest route Fields already. I could make a sightseeing run comparatively easily.
The longest routes are both 22 Fields (rather than the 9 in this run):
00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 08, 09, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 29, 30, 39, 44, 45, 46, 53, 54, 55.
00, 01, 02, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 29, 30, 39, 44, 45, 46, 53, 54, 55.
I'd probably just go with the one I find most entertaining.
@ Derakon: To answer your question, I get most of my Umihara Kawase information from this website for both games. It'd be great if our Umihara Kawase articles could be improved using some of this information.
@ Canar: You can't play every field without redoing some (some fields allow you to get back to field 00), which would probably end up being less entertaining than a normal longest route run.
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Thanks mz! Runs of these games always look great since the moves look so difficult to perform in real time. This is also very pretty, even compared to the SNES original. Definite Yes vote.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically.
Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.)
Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html)
Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature!
Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Oh yeah, I wish samus could do that. Maybe she could, if she just stopped wearing a ton of metal on her body.
Umihara Kawase-games are difficult to watch. For someone who doesn't know the game, it's too fast, too unusual to understand what's really going on, and when you almost think you understood, there's a bunch of credits out of nowhere and the run ends.
I guess half the viewers just stop watching, the other half continue watching it again and again until they love it.
I belong to the second group. Yes vote.
I got the feeling that this could be improved. I will refrain from voting, but it just appeared that some of the movements were not optimal. I refrain from voting because I do not feel like watching the movie again and will not try to make improvements myself.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
