VS Super Mario Bros is a modified version of the super popular NES game, Super Mario Bros. This modded version is for the arcade machines, and so it is slightly harder, but easier than Lost Levels. This movie completes it in a hair under 10 minutes and 15 seconds. This is my third attempt of a TAS, the first two were slow WIP's that didn't deserve the name TAS. It is near perfect, but I'd personally like to see what I thought was impossible by TASing, be done.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.1 (2.2.2 and 2.2.3 also work)
- Uses Hardest Difficulty
- Aims for speed rather than entertainment
- Glitch abuse
- Uses collision errors
- Takes shortest route possible
VS SMB is a slightly longer and harder version. There are no warps to worlds 7 and 8, pipe warp maps may have changes, and in my ROM, the game has a faster timer. Some surprising results were found. This TAS has been in the works for almost a year. With that there are a few things to note.
1. Framerules are very screwy. They aren't always every 21 frames
2. Things that are usually faster, aren't always that way in this game.
3. Pipe warp in 4-2 has moved one pipe to the right, thus making the Wrong Warp near impossible.
4. Furthest warp in the game is 6-1.
5. Flagpole skips aren't always possible.
6. Physics engine is ever so slightly different. Not by much, but it can ruin your day.
With all that in mind, let's get started on the stage commentary. If there isn't special to note, and is just what this community expects, I won't say anything.
1-1
We all know and love it. Little to nothing has changed in the level. Slightly different flagpole skip than the preferred one, but it gets the job done.
Time: 357
1-2
Not much to say here, except two things:
1. There are more goombas before the set of three pipes. There are 9 goombas here. This many goombas causes one of the piranha plants to not spawn (notably the second one).
2. Slowdown to clip into pipe might be slow, but it was the fastest I could get.
Time: 324 Onto 4-1
4-1
It's all what we expect. Again, it's that different flagpole skip. This is the one used by speedrunners, and it seems to work every time. The TAS one I can not get to work. But, is it faster?
Time: 265
P.S No backwards acceleration here, because it would cause a 266, and a sad TAS community.(6 fireworks)
4-2
Notes #3 and #4 makes all of us sad. I don't see any visible improvements, but maybe that wall clip is still useful.
Time: 340 Onto 6-1
6-1, 6-2, and 6-3
Grouping these together because they have their notes similar.
Not much to say. A few things to say though:
I can't get the flag skip in 6-1. I feel that this can be done, but for right now, I have to say the the phrase hated by this community: I think it's impossible.
Building on top of that, I also think that the 6-2 flag skip is impossible. I do know for 100% certainty that it is impossible to hit the top of the flag. I'll say that the biggest improvement is in 6-2.
6-3's flag skip looks possible, but I am probably not a sophisticated enough TASer to do it. I'll be surprised if it can't be done. (By the way, does this ring a bell? Does this look like 5-2 in Lost Levels, or am I crazy?)
6-1 Time: 280
6-2 Time: 319
6-3 Time: 231 (1 firework, who cares?)
6-4
Unlike those three levels, I am happy with this level. Everything is so polished and smooth, and it looks great.
Time: 223
7-1
Not much to say, but I do have a challenge. If successfully done, it is an improvement.
Challenge: Get the flagpole skip in this level without getting fireworks or losing two timeunits. There are four ways to skip the flagpole:
1: TAS flag skip
2: Speedrunner flag skip
3: Bullet Bill glitch (if you can get it)
4: Despawn the flag. (somehow. I did that once)
Time: 282
7-2
What can I say that won't bore these people? Yeah, this level is pretty much what you'd expect. I have done the L+R to go faster. Oh, here's something:
Flagpole skip is very possible, I'm not sure what it would do the fish in the next level.
Time: 248 (Mario touched the flagpole at 249, but the timer drained for two frames.)
7-3
Not much here, BUT:
Flagpole skip is almost certainly slower here. I know, it sounds odd, but that's what I got.
Time: 201 (1 firework, who cares?)
7-4
This is probably my best level in this TAS. The maze route is different, but slower. There are probably a few frames to save, but they would be for someone who would grind five years over a single frame.
Time: 320
8-1, and 8-2
The game of: Is it Possible: Flagpole Edition. I think it's possible, but I seem to be unable to pull it off in 8-1.
8-1 Time: 209
On 8-2 I got a very, very surprising, but possibly dissapointing result. Both flagpole skip and Bullet Bill Glitch are slower by at least one framerule. You could imagine the rage boiling in me at that. So, I just did a standard finish.
8-2 Time: 268
8-3
All the standard stuff we know. I got the flagpole skip first try, which was nice, but really nothing here to say.
8-3 Time: 219
8-4
You know the drill. We all do. A few improvements remain:
1. The turnaround to the pipe used for the Wrong Warp in 8-4
2. Pipe exiting the water section (1-3 frames)
3. Bowser boss. With the RNG I got, it was slow.
8-4 Time: 280
I've had this TAS done for four months, but I felt at the time that there was something missing. So, I went back to it in late May, and experimental evidence showed that the only things missing were some swag.
This TAS aims for speed and not really entertainment.
I give permission for anyone to use my TAS as a "base" TAS.
Please use frame 33521 of the TAS as a screenshot.
Masterjun: Replaced file with one that starts from power-on instead of a savestate near the beginning.
KnucklesMaster368: I have made the final decision. ROM is faulty, TAS is suboptimal, and I'm at 7-2 with the best ROM we have, reworking it. Decision: cancelled
