*Will be updating more of this later, and explaining more of why these common games are easier for testing*
1. Metroid:
Ahh the original game for the NES, that shocked many after beating the game and realizing that guy that was actually playing as was actually a gal. It's a rather linear game... unless you know how :). Here are some TAS's that show how glitched this game can get!
NES Metroid (USA PRG0) "100%" in 33:25.7 by Thomas Seufert (Lord Tom)
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/1320M.html
Video:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/adelikat/videos/311/
NES Metroid (USA PRG0) "any%" in 08:19.32 by Thomas Seufert (Lord Tom).
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/1144M.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KYA3ssuGv8
NES Metroid (USA PRG0) "low%" in 11:08.78 by Thomas Seufert (Lord Tom)
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/1443M.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNHw2zwJKBE
2. The Legend of Zelda:
Mostly the most popular Zelda game up until Ocarina of time! With pixel perfect precision, and luck manipulation, you can rummage through this game in under 25 minutes!
NES Legend of Zelda (USA PRG0) in 24:04.05 by Phil Côté (Phil) & Lennart W. (Baxter)
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/868M.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMlKSvYDcA
NES Legend of Zelda (USA PRG0) "2nd quest" in 24:59.83 by Lennart W. (Baxter) & Joshua Horst (Morrison)
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/1205M.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlmb6AK75QQ
3. Mario Bros :)
Okay, no need to ask who Mario is :P... If you do, you deserve to be slapped... HARD. It was always a joy playing this as a kid, even though I didn't grow up in this era :D. Not really all that much I can say about this game though I'm afraid.
FDS Super Mario Bros (FDS) "-3 stage ending" in 02:44.61 by Lee (HappyLee).
Publication:
http://tasvideos.org/1365M.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWUgw--Xco&fmt=37
FDS Super Mario Bros 2 (FDS) in 08:06.96 by Lee (HappyLee).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SFGz_Q2lY
FDS Super Mario Bros 2 (FDS) "Luigi Version" in 08:16.42 by Phil Côté.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ-ZyRAlEas
NES Super Mario Bros 2 (USA PRG0) in 07:52.67 by adelikat & Cardboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbPjBHmel80
More.. and I do mean many more Mario TAS's can be found on the NES Submissions section here:
http://tasvideos.org/Movies-NES-FDS.html
4. Pokemon
Ahh who could forget trying to wake up early Saturday morning or Wednesday evening to turn on the TV to the WB and watch this kick arse show :)? But after 2nd gen the series went down hill in the eyes of true fans, however, the games themselves are still fun, and even more fun to TAS. Heavy glitch abuse can be used to even beat the game (Red/Blue/Green/Yellow) in under a minute! Or if you're going for a true legit run, luck manipulation can be used to beat the game as fast as possible, even showing off those incredibly rare, and nearly impossible to find shiny Pokemon. :P
- Links added later.. I'm sleepy :P -
5. Super Metroid
Samus is back after kicking the Metroid's arses on SR388, with his rival Ridley, and a.. Very Confused Metroid Larva. Whether through TAS'ing hacks (Google Super Metroid S.M.I.L.E), Redesign, or the all time classic original, I'm positive you'll have as much fun as I've had with this game!
- Links added later-
6. Donkey Kong 1, 2, & 3
Gotta love them Monkeys :), now some other things to be sure to look at about this game is the various warp points in the games, some are even inentional to the developers, such as the memory problem after beating the first level in DKC1, where you can glitch warp after Stage 1 level 1 to half way through the 3rd stage.. half way into a level!
- Links added later-
7. Zelda Ocarina of Time/ Majora's Mask
~Description Added Later~
- Links added later-
8. Super Mario 64
Contrary to what MANY people say on this site, after learning a few of the glitches to this game, such as the Back Wards Long Jump (BLJ), TAS'ing this game can be highly educational to your TAS'ing career, because this game is easy, very fun, and a big part of MANY of our child hoods.. Just because it's 3D, don't mean jack after you get the hang of it, and I'll be the one to say that, this game was my very first experimental TAS's :)
9. Castlevania
~Description Added Later~
- Links added later-
10. Spyro
~Description Added Later~
- Links added later-
Thanks for reading my thread, whether you've just skimmed through it, or read it all, I hope it has helped you, and for your first TAS, don't try to compare yourself to a PRO, just sit back, set a time, try to beat it, if you can, good! Keep setting it lower and lower, but don't set it too low that its near impossible/impossible even with maximum optimization. After you really get the hang of TAS'ing, try to beat one of the submitted movies here, or maybe some of those that didn't make the cut here, on Youtube. Who knows your TAS may end up here one day!