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Super Star Wars is a Star Wars game for SNES that fairly loosly follows the events of episode IV.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 1.3
  • Genre: platform
  • Aims for fastest time.
  • Takes dammage to save time.

Stage by stage comments

Level 1: Dune Sea

Manipulated the boss to stay surfaced.

Level 2: First Land Speeder Level

None

Level 3: Outside Sandcrawler

Spent some time waiting around for platforms.

Level 4: Inside Sandcrawler

You can actually stand in the lava while walking left against a wall, but it isn't really useful.

Level 5: Land of the Sand People

None

Level 6: Land of the Banthas

There is a cool Giant Womp Rat, and it is one of two bosses worth using the light saber on.

Level 7: Second Lander Speeder Level

None

Level 8: Mos Eisley

None

Level 9: Cantina Fight

A bit more of an arcade type level, you need to kill to progress. The boss here is the other one worth using the light saber on.

Level 10: Escape From Mos Eisley

None

Level 11: Death Star Hanger Bay

None

Level 12: Rescue of the Princess

None

Level 13: Tractor Beam Core

Tons of platforms that aren't well synchronized, a lot of time wasted waiting for platforms.

Level 14: The Death Star

None

Other comments:

Because I was using TAStudio the rerecord count is 0.

Potential improvements:

  • Manipulating enemy drops to get blaster improvements sooner could save time.
  • If platforms could be manipulated into better positions that would save a bunch of wait time.

Acknowledgements:

I'd like to thank the following for the helpful resources.
Truncated: I'll take this one.
Truncated: Or not... I'm leaving this open until I can get the emulator working. Other judges, feel free to grab it iff you can play it back.
feos: The research before making this run seems to be done very poorly. Since 2007 there exists a WIP that is 532 frame faster in Level 1 + Boss. And that WIP was not even optimized to maximum. Since 2009 there exists a real-time run that uses quite some tricks that prove this TAS's sub-optimality. The main thing is skipping the Level 4 Boss (saves ~13 seconds) by scrolling the camera up, which does not let him spawn. Also, standing right before the mini-boss of that level, one can kill him a second faster than in this TAS. This does not come from the difficulty difference, since that only adds 1-2 HP to bosses. The game speed isn't different in a European version, used by that RTS.
I also can't agree with the difficulty chosen here, because it does not affect the gameplay, it only increases the player's damage. That means you can do much more damage boosts in an Easy run, not losing actual gameplay. Rejecting the run, and hoping more effort is put in a TAS of such a complicated game, ideally several people would work on it, due to heavy luck manipulation required.

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Posted: 12/2/2012 2:54 AM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3779: link_7777's SNES Super Star Wars in 22:00.41
Posted: 12/2/2012 5:26 AM
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Cooljay
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Great damage management and optimization. This TAS was really well planned out. Yes vote.
Posted: 12/2/2012 10:27 AM
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BigBoct
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Sadly need to wait for an encode, as my computer can't power BizSNES to 60fps.
Previous Name: boct1584
Posted: 12/2/2012 10:27 AM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
boct1584 wrote:
Sadly need to wait for an encode, as my computer can't power BizSNES to 60fps.
Even without Rewind? Also, is the sound working for you in the latest release?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 11:38 AM
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BigBoct
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Let me try turning Rewind off, then. I think adelikat suggested that too, but Bizhawk also can't read Nach's JMA ROM compression, which means any ROM I want to play in Bizhawk I either have to uncompress with NSRT or redownload, which is a pain in the ass both ways, so I don't really use it. EDIT: Need to update Bizhawk too.
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Posted: 12/2/2012 11:54 AM
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creaothceann
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SNES ROM compression isn't really needed these days anyway.
Posted: 12/2/2012 12:21 PM
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BigBoct
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My laptop is five or six years old (got it used) and I only have 80gb on my internal HDD, so space is always at a premium for me. ALSO: 1.3.0 runs the game at full speed without a movie, but only 45-50fps with a movie. Huh? EDIT: The sound also seems fine.
Previous Name: boct1584
Posted: 12/2/2012 12:32 PM
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Nicos
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i'll wait for an encode too, bizhawk 1.2 desync on me inside the sand crawler and bizhawk 1.3 simply crash before running even with the prereqs.
Posted: 12/2/2012 1:43 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
Something broke on my side. None of the revisions is working now. Even the one I used before.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 1:52 PM
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GeminiSaint
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Why not good old Snes9X?
Posted: 12/2/2012 1:54 PM
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Tompa
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NES TAS of 2018 SNES TASer of 2017 SNES TAS of 2017 NES TAS of 2014 GBA TASer of 2011 GBA TAS of 2011 SNES TASer of 2010
Disallowed for future runs because of incorrect emulation (Despite versions like 1.52 emulates better than BizHawk). Bizhawk is unplayable for me, so I'll sadly have to wait for an encode.
Posted: 12/2/2012 1:58 PM
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adelikat
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TASer of 2010 NES TASer of 2010 DS TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 NES TASer of 2008 NES TAS of 2008 Funny TAS of 2008 TASer of 2007 NES TASer of 2007 Funny TAS of 2007
Guys, if you are copying 1.3 into the same folder as 1.2 that's why things are crashing. We moved around the dlls. Try a fresh folder.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Posted: 12/2/2012 2:00 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
The newly unzipped one for me keeps lagging the sound (it sounds like when you freeze VBA while it's running). But AVI capture has all sound correct! WTH?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 2:35 PM
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Nicos
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adelikat wrote:
Guys, if you are copying 1.3 into the same folder as 1.2 that's why things are crashing. We moved around the dlls. Try a fresh folder.
I tried directly with 1.3 before trying 1.2 The prereqs didn't help was it for XP or 7, same crash. As i'm on a 3g connection, i lost my morning downloading the whole thing :)
Posted: 12/2/2012 2:39 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
Dumping the video since that still works.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 2:43 PM
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natt
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boct1584 wrote:
ALSO: 1.3.0 runs the game at full speed without a movie, but only 45-50fps with a movie. Huh? EDIT: The sound also seems fine.
Yes, movie recording or playback with the snes core specifically incurs quite a bit of overhead. I'd love a better solution; the basic problem is that the some of the constructions in the core are not very TAS-friendly.
Tompa wrote:
(Despite versions like 1.52 emulates better than BizHawk).
[Citation Needed]
feos wrote:
The newly unzipped one for me keeps lagging the sound (it sounds like when you freeze VBA while it's running). But AVI capture has all sound correct! WTH?
There are three different throttling options available which might help you reach full speed with relatively glitch-free audio and\or video; try them out. The capture being fine no matter what should be no surprise; like all emulator captures that aren't horribly broken, it dumps in a non-realtime fashion blissfully immune to realtime timing problems.
Posted: 12/2/2012 2:46 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
None of the throttles changes the sound lag,
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 3:53 PM
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natt
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bizwhack 1.3.0 
Super Star Wars (U) (V1.1) [!]
SHA1:C6B8BC8C589F21DD8C9FE9A10433B3B4F6736DCA
MD5:0414360A88C2A24B57AE7D181B0E29B1
Posted: 12/2/2012 3:54 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
Hey, do you mean you're encoding it? I finished dumping with no problems and was going to do due encodes.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 3:56 PM
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natt
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I watched and dumped it in an attempt to reproduce your sound problems (was unsuccessful). I could encode it, but I haven't started yet and don't have any particular desire to.
Posted: 12/2/2012 4:33 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
Link to video
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 12/2/2012 6:15 PM
(Edited: 12/2/2012 6:53 PM)
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Derakon
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GeminiSaint wrote:
Why not good old Snes9X?
Not only has SNES9x been deprecated, it also can't handle the Super Star Wars. Why do you think there haven't been movies published for them before? EDIT: thanks for the encode, feos! On the whole, it looks pretty good, though it'd be nice to have some explanations for seemingly-suboptimal parts. Particularly, the Sarlacc Pit Monster fight. Also why do you sometimes shoot at random (especially when jumping over pits in the hangar bay or up slopes in the Princess Leia level)?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 12/2/2012 6:31 PM
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jlun2
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Derakon wrote:
Not only has SNES9x been deprecated, it also can't handle the Super Star Wars. Why do you think there haven't been movies published for them before?
I thought it was because it wasn't a popular game like SMW or Metroid. Oh well, at least I've learnt something new. :P
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 12/2/2012 7:29 PM
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link_7777
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First I think it might sync in Bizhawk 1.2 if you pause the emulator before loading the ROM. There was an issue fixed just before the 1.3 release where some things weren't getting reinitialized when you reload the ROM (which happens when you start the movie) Second I used Bizhawk instead of snes9x because I really only do TAStudio among many other reasons. To address a couple of other concerns the Sarlacc Pit Monster fight looks pretty bad because I have to keep jumping towards him to keep him from retreating into the ground. Then I have to get away to avoid being destroyed, also shooting the rocks before they hit me is taxing. It's possible that there are a few stray shots that didn't get cleaned up, but almost all of them are to break out of the slide. It won't let me jump mid-slide I'll just slide all the way into the pit. I can break out of the slide to shoot though, so I do that and then jump. Edit: Also running up steep slopes is pretty slow and the slide sends you backwards. Sliding on a gentile slope is ok.
Posted: 12/2/2012 9:20 PM
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AKheon
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This actually seems like a decent license-based game. Enjoyed watching the run, nice work.
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