(Link to video)
Submission Text Full Submission Page Publication Page
It's been a while since I've submitted something, so... here's something:). This tas improves the current movie by chupapi by 2954 frames. The majority of the improvement comes from faster movement in the tunnel sequence and a faster route during the final level but there are other minor tricks that I'll explain later.

Objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.3
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Manipulates luck

Improvements

  • In the jungle level there is a frame rule for when the animation for traversing screens begins (every 10 frames or so). If you try to move on a frame where movement is not registered your character will freeze in place for a few frames before the animation begins. Optimizing this frame rule, plus manipulating more enemies not to appear (jumping/turning around to shoot costs frames) saved about 3 seconds in this leve.
  • In the sewer stage it is much, much faster to move by tapping up as opposed to holding it like in the published tas. Also by strategically pausing for a frame you can ensure that no enemies appear unlike in the current run which wastes time killing them.
  • The movement in the final level is much improved largely by manipulating luck to get the enemies to shoot differently and away from the player. A new route is taken that reaches the final boss much quicker than the previous movie. Also I managed to kill the final boss without dying so unlike the previous TAS I can just walk to the end of the game without having to respawn.

Misc

Well, this game is still boring... but it's under 8 minutes now. I'd like to thank chupapi for his movie, also AKheon for finding some glitches which inspired me to try TASing it to see if any were implementable. Unfortunately not, but the run still ending up being much faster, so I guess everything worked out.
Noxxa: Replaced movie file with an 1133-frame improvement and accepting as an improvement to the published movie.
thecoreyburton: Processing.

Show more

Hide
Posted: 8/31/2017 12:57 AM
Quote
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15628
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5647: Jules's NES Platoon in 07:37.13
Posted: 8/31/2017 7:31 PM
Quote
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1702)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1065
Sega TASer of 2017 TASer of 2017 NES TAS of 2017
Nice to see you again, RobynS! Well, I'm not familiar with the original run, this game isn't much entertaining, but was a bit enough for a yes vote. Looking forward for your next project.
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Posted: 8/31/2017 8:25 PM
Quote
AKheon
Editor, Experienced player (885)
Joined: 1/23/2008
Posts: 529
Location: Finland
Aww, thanks for the shout-out. You did well optimizing this terribly monotonous game. 3 seconds saved in the jungle level alone is pretty impressive! And it was almost nostalgic and fun to experience this game with my senses again, since I last played it for so many years ago. Here, have a nuanced "meh" vote.
Posted: 9/1/2017 2:26 AM
Quote
Jules
Any
Skilled player (1173)
Joined: 7/13/2015
Posts: 102
Location: California
Rookie of 2016
It turns out there is a recent real time run on speedsrun.com that I hadn't seen that beats the published TAS by 2 seconds because of a faster route in the last level which I also overlooked. So I'll implement that and have a new movie file shortly. It should save slightly over 10 seconds.
Challenger wrote:
Nice to see you again, RobynS!
Thanks! I didn't mean to drop out of sight, but my old computer stopped working and the replacement wasn't suitable for tasing on (horrible keyboard and insanely slow speed.) I got a new one and it works much better than even the one I had before, so hopefully I'll be much more active here again
Posted: 9/1/2017 2:35 AM
Quote
c-square
Active player (378)
Joined: 9/25/2011
Posts: 652
Speedy TAS of 2015
Nice run, RobynS. Do you have to get the torch, map, flares and compass? Are any of those optional?
Posted: 9/1/2017 8:06 AM
Quote
ThunderAxe31
Any
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1361)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
Arcade TAS of 2023 Homebrew TAS of 2023 PSX TASer of 2022 Gameboy TASer of 2017
Welcome back. The run is very boring, but from the submission text I can see there are some nice exploits, so I'm voting Meh.
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: 9/1/2017 6:52 PM
Quote
Alyosha
He/Him
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (3827)
Joined: 11/30/2014
Posts: 2834
Location: US
GBA TASer of 2023 Homebrew TAS of 2023 Gameboy TASer of 2022 NES TASer of 2015
Somehow I don't think I never noticed the original run. I laughed at the character falling when the bridge exploded, that's a silly re-use of existing animations. I also really liked the screen transitions this game has, I don't recall seeing that elsewhere. Voting yes, nice run (even without the pending improvement.)
Posted: 9/4/2017 2:05 AM
Quote
Jules
Any
Skilled player (1173)
Joined: 7/13/2015
Posts: 102
Location: California
Rookie of 2016
New movie completed, 1133 frames faster than before. It took longer than expected to make because I had to implement a minor route change in the tunnel level that saved about 80 frames. The total improvement over the published run is now 2954 frames. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/41503096039536617
c-square wrote:
Nice run, RobynS. Do you have to get the torch, map, flares and compass? Are any of those optional?
It bars you from exiting the tunnel if you don't collect all the items.
Posted: 9/4/2017 2:23 AM
Quote
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1702)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1065
Sega TASer of 2017 TASer of 2017 NES TAS of 2017
Wow! Very impressive and unexpected update!
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Posted: 9/8/2017 5:54 AM
Post subject: Movie published
Quote
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15628
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3514] NES Platoon by Jules in 07:37.13
Posted: 10/1/2017 4:50 AM
(Edited: 12/2/2017 2:15 AM)
Quote
TheCoreyBurton
He/Him
Joined: 10/14/2013
Posts: 335
Location: Australia
Here are some extra encodes of this run. Higher resolutions are based on the game's native resolution and are scaled at 2x, 3x and 4x respectively: Direct Downloads: 10bit444 MKV: 224p, 448p, 672p, 896p Compatibility MP4: 224p, 448p, 672p, 896p Torrents: 10bit444 MKV: 224p, 448p, 672p, 896p Compatibility MP4: 224p, 448p, 672p, 896p To download these files you may have to right click on the link and select "save link as" (this option may be named differently depending on your web browser).
I'm not as active as I once was, but I can be reached here if I should be needed.
Posted: 10/21/2017 5:23 AM
Quote
SnowySideofTown
He/Him
Editor, Player (123)
Joined: 8/3/2014
Posts: 204
Location: USA
This game, as mentioned and seen by most viewers, is extremely monotonous and appears to repeat itself quite a ton. The run itself wasn't particularly entertaining to me, I have to admit. Although, there was indeed a lot of impressive work involved in making this, which should be noted, and it's a very nice improvement to the previous publication. Also, my decision not to vote no was also caused by the fact that the game itself is not extremely annoying-looking or ugly. So, overall, I voted meh. Very good job on the TAS, though.