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Hello.

Crash 'n the Boys is, for lack of a better descriptor, a party game. It's dressed up as a 5 event sports game. I'm tired of working on this TAS, and I feel like it's of a good quality, so I am submitting it. The Southside team is used to achieve the proper ending. Crash is used because there's never a reason to not use Crash, given the goals. FCEUX 2.20.20 was used for this movie. This movie improves upon GuanoBowl's Movie by 11,837 frames (~3:17) with the same goals.

Goals

  • Finish first in each event
  • Achieve the ending
  • Go Fast

General Strategies

RNG is manipulated to face opponents with low defense in relevant events. It is further manipulated for CPU controlled characters to fail quickly in events. An item in the health food store known as "<!(&/&X!" reduces a random character's HP to single digits. RNG is manipulated so this always affects the CPU characters Crash must face. Attention is paid to the exact number of HP an opponent gets to reduce the number of hits they take as much as possible. An opponent that "wins" its previous match will regain half of its HP. It is not always possible to get the computer to select the characters with the lowest defense, and they don't seem to ever select a character with low HP, so <!(&/&X! is purchased before each event as required.

Events

400 Meter Hurdles

Characters with low defense are manipulated to take part. Spin kicks are the fastest way to quickly deplete an opponent's HP bar. <!(&/&X! is purchased 3 times to reduce the 3 opponents to single digit HP.

Hammer Throw

It is possible to win the event in 4 throws with no upgrades. If you hold right, the hammer will fly farther and bounce higher. <!(&/&X! is purchased so the opponent can be manipulated to fail the event quickly.

Swimming

Characters with low defense are manipulated to take part. Single kicks deplete the opponent's HP more quickly than grapples. <!(&/&X! is purchased 3 times to reduce the 3 opponents to single digit HP.

Roof Top Jumping

Using the pole vault for the correct number of frames gives a big speed boost. Right can be held to go even faster in air. The opponent is manipulated to fail the event quickly.

Fighting Scene

Characters with low defense are manipulated to take part. An opponent must have 0 HP and 0 PP to be defeated. Punches are used when the numbers are small, and the special Fireball Spike is used to deplete large amounts of HP. <!(&/&X! is purchased 3 times to reduce the 3 opponents to single digit HP.

Possible Time Saves

It is possible to win the game without winning every event. A combination of failing some long events, manipulating opponents to win events evenly, and making up medals elsewhere would make for a shorter movie. However, I wasn't interested in making that sort of movie. It is also possible that better RNG can be manipulated given this movie's goals. The RNG is very interconnected and it's often unclear what the perfect luck looks like.

So what

I don't know. This is a pretty simple game, but I had fun working on this movie.

oh.

Yeah, okay. Thanks for your time, Tasvideos.
Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Delaying, pending an investigation of potential improvements.
Noxxa: Replaced with a 96-frame improvement. The situation with the nicovideo TAS is dubious, as it does seem to point towards the run being improvable and not beating existing records, but I'm giving this TAS the benefit of the doubt - multiple TASers failed to reproduce the trick used there, so it currently is practically impossible to verify if the improvement really is possible. Maybe there will be a more clear answer later, but for now I think it's fine to publish this TAS. As such, accepting as an improvement to the published movie.
feos: Pub.

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Posted: 8/20/2017 6:29 PM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5638: Inzult's NES Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge "best ending" in 08:10.86
Posted: 8/21/2017 1:25 PM
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mtvf1
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Sorry, did you watch this nico's run? As your said this nico's tas didn't win anything, and played in 7:35, though he use the Japanese version. Link to video This nico's run has been published near 9 years ago,and has been posted in tasvideos, too. Post #374274 Maybe the GuanoBowl's Movie shouldn't be published if they knew there is a faster run. So maybe your run can't be published. Your 400m run is better than nico's, and got the better luck in Roof Top Jumping. But he reduced HP in 400m run, and you are slower in swimming and fighting. I think it's very hard to improve the nico run, you know the RNG is hard to control. Do you want to improve the nico's? Good luck.
Posted: 8/21/2017 10:03 PM
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Inzult
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Looks like reducing the player's HP for 400m is only useful if you want to fail the Golf? Even so, it might be better to win at 400m and buy two HP reducing items before Golf. I didn't measure intentionally losing events. For swimming, it looks like he takes an RNG setup I found as well, giving Baldy in the second round (61 defense). But when I reduced HP on him, he always lost his first round. I didn't consider buying 4 HP reducing items. Also, I'm not sure how he gets so many hits before the opponent gets stunned and sinks? He is able to get 15(!) whereas I'm only able to get 6. So, there's two things to think about with swimming. Does the time spent buying 4 items make up for the extra time in the event with a higher defense opponent? It looks like the answer is no, if I can replicate the long combos. So I think my RNG is better, but the execution of the event is not as good, so I end up losing time here. Perhaps it is possible to let the CPU regain some oxygen between hits, but I'm not sure how that strategy is done. For the Fighting Scene, it's a bit simpler. I didn't consider that strategy. The opponents I got were Spoon (74 defense), Clint (114) and Bubba (114). Looks like he took Nate (77), Clint (114) and Foil (120). So if I'm slower here, the problem is only strategy. I will take a look at what I can do for these two events. Fighting Scene is right at the end, so a change of strategy there will not affect anything. Swimming will certainly affect the Rooftop event, however, so whether or not an improvement there makes the overall movie faster is uncertain. I suppose the best course of action is to delay the submission. The watchability of the run won't be drastically altered with slightly faster punching in one or two events.
Posted: 8/21/2017 11:41 PM
Post subject: temp encode
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ThunderAxe31
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Link to video
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
Posted: 8/22/2017 6:33 PM
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link_7777
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Easy yes vote, well done. Love all of the Technos games, and this one is a great button masher. Perfect fit for TAS. Also the ending sequence is nearly as long as the run, lol.
Posted: 8/26/2017 7:27 AM
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Dacicus
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Another wacky and entertaining sports game from Technos. The ending even logically leads to an ad for their next game. Yes vote.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Posted: 8/26/2017 9:12 PM
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Inzult
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Alright. I don't understand how that other TAS gets such long combos in swimming. I'm probably missing something obvious, but I can't get the opponent to not get stunned as soon as he runs out of oxygen. Does anyone have any insight?
Posted: 9/2/2017 3:31 PM
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Alyosha
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Inzult wrote:
Alright. I don't understand how that other TAS gets such long combos in swimming. I'm probably missing something obvious, but I can't get the opponent to not get stunned as soon as he runs out of oxygen. Does anyone have any insight?
Any progress on this? It may sound obvious, but did you try the (J) version to get the swimming combos?
Posted: 9/2/2017 4:02 PM
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Inzult
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I did, in fact. I got the same result. I don't know what I'm missing. At this point, my plan is to just fix the Fighting event and call it a TAS.
Posted: 9/2/2017 5:15 PM
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Alyosha
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Inzult wrote:
I did, in fact. I got the same result. I don't know what I'm missing. At this point, my plan is to just fix the Fighting event and call it a TAS.
Ah, oh well. It looks like the first enemy in swimming in the nico video doesn't take any damage on the first hit (takes 2 kicks to kill him) are you able to reproduce that at all? Weird. (I tired briefly but couldn't do that either.)
Posted: 9/3/2017 7:39 PM
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Inzult
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Here's the updated file: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/41497130963789971 96 frames faster than submitted version thanks to better Fighting Scene. If it's not publishable because of the Swimming event, well. Someone else will have to take another pass, because I am completely stumped.
Posted: 9/4/2017 4:16 AM
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mtvf1
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I don't think this run is enough to be published. And I don't think the nico's author さぼP is the man who like use cheat. He has made a lot of tas. http://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/7881059 Many of his tas have been improved by others of tasvideos. #5145: keylie & KadMony's SNES Final Fantasy VI in 31:47.69 This tas has the more reason to be published, like more entertaining, different ACE, but still be rejected. And I don't think the deathless run is more interested, I think any of this game's tas must be faster than the nico's, then it should be published. Accept GuanoBowl's movie is a mistake, we need another one?
Posted: 9/4/2017 9:21 AM
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Noxxa
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I don't believe the nicovideo author is a cheater, but without a movie file or any other known way to reproduce the glitch (where multiple TASers have unsuccessfully tried), there's not much I can do here. I cannot confirm that this movie can/should be improved before it can be published. If a movie file or clear reproduction steps come in, then that would change the situation.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Posted: 9/4/2017 10:21 AM
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mtvf1
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I mean he should use death, no matter what he use the swimming trick or not. Swimming is the only one small reason for reject. If tasvideos publish the tas of this game, it should be the fastest run in the world we can find. 'Finish first in each event' is not a good reason for publish. If FF6 change the goal that use the more funny ACE, or we can accept it? If we publish this, a death run can obsolet this? Even this death run is slower than the nico's, or we can accept it, too?
Posted: 9/4/2017 10:39 AM
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Noxxa
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A faster movie using deaths would obsolete this, yes. Especially considering this is a Vault movie, where entertainment choices are not deemed relevant. However, it seems like making and routing such a movie would not be trivial. I'm accepting this movie for now because as of right now, it is the fastest completion of this game with an available movie file. And for what it sets out to achieve, it is optimal enough, and it has not been possible so far to improve the movie file further. However, I am very open to seeing a version with deaths (and possibly the swimming trick, if it is reproduced) which could obsolete this run.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Posted: 9/4/2017 2:42 PM
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Inzult
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For the record, I'd vote yes for a movie that uses death to obsolete this one. I can't think of a good reason to have two runs of this on the site. Unless a 4 player playaround or something like that really knocks my socks off, of course.
Posted: 9/5/2017 4:37 PM
Post subject: Movie published
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TASVideoAgent
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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. ---- [3513] NES Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge "best ending" by Inzult in 08:10.86
Posted: 10/21/2017 5:42 AM
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SnowySideofTown
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Crash 'n' the Boys, huh? What a wacky game. The game is quite hilarious, and the TAS is even more hilarious. What bullying TASing can be, haha. There's nothing I really disliked about this run. Definite yes vote from me.