When I look at any submission an hour or more in length, I want to make sure I look at it thoroughly from a judgement standpoint.
Length vs. Entertainment
This submission is nearly an hour and a half long. However, as Goemon games often seem to do for me (and others I know), it has that mesmerizing factor that keeps your attention in and of itself. However, one needs to look past mere mesmerizing-ness and look into how entertaining the input is. As it turns out, this video has good entertainment merit. I'll explain this below, but all in all, it held my attention the entire way through.
Story/Objective Knowledge
* Plot Point Knowledge. The author clearly knows what needs done to trigger plot events, and goes straight to who he needs to talk to. This is done in the fastest manner possible to minimize non-action time, which is how it should be.
* Shopping. The author seldom ever buys anything; shopping in a game like this is rarely necessary in a TAS, so this is not a surprise. Again, how it should be.
Usage of 2 Players
* Unique Input. I always look for unique input between multiple players rather than just a run where both characters are using the same exact input, perhaps on a slight delay, 85% of the time (same positioning/movement, same actions). The author demonstrates many occurrences of unique input throughout the run, even when the characters' X positions are overlapping (they jump at different times, or alternate slashing, or have other forms of unique input). The piggyback rides are always interesting too; they never seems to get old. XD
* Character Choice. The author chooses Sasuke and Yae as soon as they become available for a reason; their movement speed is good (and Yae does especially well underwater). I happen to be a fan of both those characters in particular too. But still, the technical merit for which they are often used shows knowledge of how the game works.
* Deaths. When playing as 2 characters, getting rid of one of them is done smoothly without making it obvious that their death was necessarily intended (by this, I mean it looks like one character simply didn't make the jump properly or what-not, as would naturally happen in a real 2-player game from time to time). Also, mid-stage deaths in order to warp one character or the other to a farther point in the stage is a genius time-saver. The author appropriately abuses this as possible, demonstrating knowledge of good places to do it.
Usage of 1 Player
* Deaths. When playing as 1 character, necessary deaths are done at the soonest possible convenience by entering a stage with 1 HP left and taking a hit from the nearest enemy. Despite being obvious, there's really no other way to do this, and it's done cleanly.
Impact Battles
There was zero variety in these battles. Although they appear to be done as fast as possible, as generally expected of a TAS (and as I know the TAS of "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon" did), I still would appreciate a bit more variety in these battles than just "position them right and use the special hyper punch move over and over." This is the only aspect of the TAS I'd really appreciate more effort put into entertainment for, despite the fact that it would lose some time, since it's utterly boring to watch the author use the same exact move over and over until the boss dies.
Usage of Game Overs
This run triggers multiple Game Overs to reset character life stock. I understand that this saves time in the long run, and as these are all triggered by the aforementioned beginning-of-stage one-player deaths on the last life, it is done efficiently, and gets back to play as soon as possible. Also, the male hula-dancers are always hilarious to see.
Overall Entertainment Value
This run was entertaining to me. I enjoyed watching everything get systematically killed in some stages (sometimes by alternating slashes from both players), and playing leapfrog over certain enemies in others to give some variety to how things were handled. He also doesn't just stand there at stage ends; he entertains during the completion fanfares as well. Boss downtime is also dealt with via entertainment-based input. This author clearly demonstrates a desire to entertain the viewers, and in my opinion, does so.
Overall Technical Value
The run seems optimized; it utilizes two players as possible, uses death-warps, demonstrates clear knowledge of what needs done, and clears the game as quickly as possible overall.
Verdicts
* I chose to vote Yes on entertainment. I enjoyed watching this run.
* This run, in my opinion, qualifies for Moon tier publication due to overall entertainment value.
Other Stuff
* 2 Players
* Takes damage to save time
* Uses death to save time (a lot)
* Sasuke and Yae leave Goemon and Ebisu in the dust (as it should be)
* Gets hula dancers as a Game Over treat multiple times
* Farts on the final boss
1/60 of a second is important; every frame matters.
EDIT: Wow, the input I see after the movie is >43^5 SABLR C^v<> D^v. Where the hell does it come from?
EDIT 2: The frame 272476 already has no input, but the movie still lasts. Weird.
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