I did it again - this time it's a Wonderswan game.
- Crazy Climber Wonderswan port Arcade Mode
- Contains Luck Manipulation
- Climbs all four towers in under 5 minutes
- Ends input as early as possible
This game has controls that are about as easy to use as the modern game QWOP, but predated it by 28 years. The Wonderswan can be rotated to expose two dpads which have to be used synchronously to get anywhere. All changes of direction must be held for 10 frames while ignoring the lag frames that hit every fourth frame. The game seems practically unfair to me and I have no idea how it could even be possible to beat the game without getting hit on a normal playthrough because of places where objects fall at narrow points of the building where there is no way to avoid getting hit.
Luck manipulation in this run often required moving in very specific patterns to force objects to fall in places it won't hurt you; it was usually possible to do so while climbing at maximum speed but it was often necessary to move to the side to get around closed windows and building layouts. Overall I am happy with how this turned out. Potential improvements would include finding better ways to manipulate windows and falling objects but unless an entirely new strategy is discovered I wouldn't be surprised if any potential improvements resulted in more than a couple of seconds.
This run was accomplished using a Lua script [dead link removed] to press a given joystick control combination for a given number of frames (always 10, in this case). The script was needed because if you want to do something simple like go up and left in this game you have to hit the buttons (I kid you not) Y2, Y1, X4, and X1 at the same time. Thanks go to adelikat for the first version of this script and micro500 helping me adapt it, after which I expanded it for this specific purpose all without exposing what exact project I was working on.

feos: Updated the movie file.
Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Accepting for the Vault.
Guga: Processing...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4569: dwangoAC's WSWAN Crazy Climber "Arcade" in 04:41.55
Spikestuff
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Link to video Controller Input: Link to video
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Would it be possible to take the right side of the final building, manipulating the debris away, in order to grab the helicopter sooner? Or is that after ending input anyway? (watched Spikestuff's encode, which doesn't show when input ends.)
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evknucklehead wrote:
Would it be possible to take the right side of the final building, manipulating the debris away, in order to grab the helicopter sooner? Or is that after ending input anyway? (watched Spikestuff's encode, which doesn't show when input ends.)
I assume input ends at the top of the tower. And man, this game looks unfair. Could be interesting to see a controller input overlay, assuming the controls are as painful to work with as dwangoAC described. That climbing sound effect could make a good basis for a chiptune soundtrack.
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Technically impressive, but rather repetitive to watch. I'd say this is Vault material.
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Looks like an awful game done quick. Yes for vault.
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Needs an encode w/ input visualization
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Derakon wrote:
And man, this game looks unfair. Could be interesting to see a controller input overlay, assuming the controls are as painful to work with as dwangoAC described.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nahVT592wNc
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I didn't say it in my notes, but it took me literally an hour just to figure out the controls to go up even a single window row. I encourage whoever judges this to try playing the game (use "rotated" controller settings mappings, with "left" as the first button going clockwise). For your own sanity, you'll have to map the left hand (Y1 through Y4 mapping to L, U, R, D in order) and the right hand (X1 through X4 in the same manner) and try going up the building. Go on, don't be shy, just one or two rows, that's all I ask... You'll be flailing limbs everywhere and your progress will be glacially slow. The secret is to have one set of limbs down and the other up, if that makes any sense at all. Getting into a pattern is very annoying, and keeping any speed is inhumane as you have to hold opposite buttons for exactly 10 frames and *immediately* switch to holding the opposite combination of buttons without losing a frame if you want to keep going at maximum speed. Oh, and that window that's closed right above you that you have to go around? You'll need to hold left, but on *both* sticks at the same time. It was something along the lines of left hand left and up, right hand left and down, and frame advance - it was so many keys at the same time that my keyboard got angry with me and I had to start doing creative keyboard mappings to be able to hold all 5 buttons down at the same time. The insanity drove me to trying to use a script, as no combination of autohold or autofire did what I needed. To be honest, most of the time the input will be up on one hand and down on the other alternating every few groups, but you'll see lots of stutter-stepping going on to manipulate luck. For such a simple tower climbing game it took an insane number of rerecords, or perhaps I'm just ham-handed. :)
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evknucklehead wrote:
Would it be possible to take the right side of the final building, manipulating the debris away, in order to grab the helicopter sooner? Or is that after ending input anyway? (watched Spikestuff's encode, which doesn't show when input ends.)
Actually, from checking a few other videos of this awful game (and its inexplicable numerous ports), that's a good question. It looks like there's just a random chance you get knocked off when you're hit by falling debris, so it'd be faster to just power through that. Or possibly even die and restart from there instead of having to wait so long at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nahVT592wNc&#t=1m35s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCrAAIEnSYI#t=2m10s
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Tangent wrote:
It looks like there's just a random chance you get knocked off when you're hit by falling debris, so it'd be faster to just power through that. Or possibly even die and restart from there instead of having to wait so long at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nahVT592wNc&#t=1m35s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCrAAIEnSYI#t=2m10s
From that second video, it looks like it's not random chance, but some move you can perform to bop falling objects with your head to prevent them from knocking you off the building. I wonder how that would factor into the TAS...
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Some clarifications: I choose left and manipulate the helicopter into a flight pattern that it will eventually reach me, *long* after I've ended input. Left vs. right will make no difference to when input is ended, in other words. It mattered more in the earlier buildings where I needed the helicopter to reach me as soon as possible, but it always, always takes at least one "hop" before it comes low enough for you to reach it. Also, in case anyone is curious, the balloon takes you up 10 levels but I out-climb it, or to rephrase, the only way I'd be able to reach the balloon would be to slow down which would obviously not help. Getting hit: That happens a couple of times in the run, with the most noticeable being in the first level where a plant bumps off. It slows you down, so I only did it when not doing so would have caused a window to close above me completely. More time is spent trying to manipulate windows into not closing than almost anything else, it's very annoying. FWIW, Spikestuff posted an encode with controller input so you can see the crazy button names now. It's some bizarre combinations...
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Post subject: Replacement movie requested
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Hold on here, something is off with the submitted movie - I watched Spikestuff's controller button encode and the frame count implies the movie doesn't end until well after the helicopter picks me up, even though it's supposed to truncate input as soon as enough frames have passed to get him to raise his hand up. It's a substantial amount of time, too... I'll post a file in userstorage and ask for a substitution. It won't have any impact on the rest of the run. You'll see in the controller button encode that there are multiple buttons with the same number - it's kind of hard to keep straight, but effectively there are two controller buttons named 2, two named 4, etc. You'll see at brief moments when a whole lot of buttons are being pressed at the same time - this is to either move sideways, either to avoid an obstacle or to manipulate luck, and it happens fairly often. Edit: I've requested that the movie be replaced with this one: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/20389755674972373
I was laid off in May 2023 and became too ill to work this year and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD is stalled. I'm dwangoAC, TASVideos Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; when healthy, I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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I was wondering if someone would do this game! You made it look easy, or at least a lot easier than it is to play. I didn't find it entertaining though, so I'm voting No.
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dwangoAC wrote:
Also, in case anyone is curious, the balloon takes you up 10 levels but I out-climb it, or to rephrase, the only way I'd be able to reach the balloon would be to slow down which would obviously not help.
Oh? And I thought that the balloon was just one more thing trying to kill you.
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The gameplay is deceptively simple, it's technically impressive enough for a yes vote from me.
Post subject: Movie published
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2778] WSWAN Crazy Climber "Arcade" by dwangoAC in 04:41.55
Spikestuff
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We might need the feature to have both rotations for Wonderswan games.
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At the very least, the screenshot ought to be rotated. :)
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Derakon wrote:
At the very least, the screenshot ought to be rotated. :)
Yeah, if the site would allow 144x244 screenshots
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What was the purpose of those balloons? Also the beeping noises were highly irritating.
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The balloons can carry you up a bit, but it's slower than optimal climbing so dwangoAC doesn't bother.
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According to my old notes, this movie can be improved by better luck manipulation to reduce the number of switching columns.
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