Turok: Evolution is a fast-paced and rather hectic shooter/platformer for the GBA. Due to some rather odd behaviour with the grappling hook-type weapon, which I've taken to calling the Chain (after the very similar Chain Rod in Mega Man Zero 2), the main character Djunn flies by many areas at absurd speeds.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 2.2.1, mgba 0.6.0
  • Beat final bosses and reach credits in shortest possible time

Tricks used:

  • Djunn is used over Tal'set since Tal'set's melee weapon is just a boring old axe. (Branch idea, perhaps?)
  • The Chain stuns enemies, allowing Djunn to run through them.
  • When grappling onto the ceiling and holding down the intended direction (left or right), Djunn starts to swing left and right. While swinging, pressing A or B on (usually) the second frame it is allowed lets him cover a significant amount of horizontal distance. Jumping immediately after that often maximises this distance. (At normal walking speed, jumping does not make him travel faster)
  • This technique has limited effectiveness with low ceilings. With high ceilings, it can still be used; Djunn just has to spend extra jumps to reach the ceiling.
  • This technique is not very good for vertical scaling, but in urgent situations, it can be used to swing up to a platform above. This requires building momentum and releasing it on the third swing.
  • Using the technique while standing right next to a door allows you to clip through it.
  • Damage boosts are not very significant in this game, so they are used sparingly.
  • As long as you don't use up a weapon's ammo, it appears to refill on the next level.

List of selected weapon damage

  • 2 - pistol
  • 5 - chain
  • 10 - shotgun
  • 3*5 - rave, flamethrower
  • 15 - rocket, laser
  • 20 - (something that ends with -age; the first half was obscured by scenery)

Boss HP

  • 50 - container (spawns purple dinos)
  • 20 - slime guns
  • 255 - big tank
  • 120 - gun dino
  • 240 - floating skull
  • 150 - king dino
  • 240 - gun dino 2

Useful memory addresses

  • 13A0: X
  • 1418: Y
  • 5460/5494/54FC/54C8/5460: Boss HP

Areas for improvement

  • Clean up swinging; a few of them can definitely be further optimised
  • Moving platforms are the biggest time-waster in this run
  • Use vertical scaling where possible
  • Weapon management; I only picked up weapons that weren't out of the way
  • Some of the more open-ended levels (usually the later ones) could be optimised with better routing
  • Find a way to bypass the minefield in stage 1, or clip through the egg-doors on stage 5
  • Utilise more damage boosts
  • Figure out how the guns in the slime boss work (they appear to still be alive when they have 0 HP)

ThunderAxe31: Judging.
ThunderAxe31: This run features many fast-paced movements, thanks to the abuse of Djunn's special weapon. I have to note that making a run with Tal'set would be pointless since he doesn't feature any kind of special movement that could speed up the game in any way.
The author has also chosen to leave the default difficulty, which is the easiest available. This was also a good choice since the harder difficulty does only increment the enemy health, which would have the only effect to make the boss fights uselessly longer.
I see that this run is a clear example of tool-assisted gameplay, and the audience found it entertaining. Accepting for Moons.

feos: Pub.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15629
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5785: hejops's GBA Turok: Evolution in 19:43.44
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1361)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
Sorry but this encode is just too bad. Please, use this guide for better video quality. If the the download link in the first post is still broken, you can use this.
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"
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
ThunderAxe31: Temporary encodes are not a requirement, so they can be whatever quality the uploader wants. It's fine to suggest better encoding guidelines, but your message makes it sound like the author wasted their time with a temp encode. As someone who hasn't really been able to run my emulators lately, I'll appreciate any attempt at an encode and leave it to publishers to make a publish-worthy video. This run looks promising, but I won't have a chance to watch it until after work.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1361)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
mklip2001 wrote:
ThunderAxe31: Temporary encodes are not a requirement, so they can be whatever quality the uploader wants. It's fine to suggest better encoding guidelines, but your message makes it sound like the author wasted their time with a temp encode. As someone who hasn't really been able to run my emulators lately, I'll appreciate any attempt at an encode and leave it to publishers to make a publish-worthy video. This run looks promising, but I won't have a chance to watch it until after work.
This is what I see if I try to play the video on my smartphone: And I can't set any higher resolution. However, after a quick check, I've found that this is probably caused by a YouTube bug. Still, this makes me totally unable to watch the encode. By the way, while I watch it on emulator, I'll make a better encode for the submission.
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"
fsvgm777
She/Her
Senior Publisher, Player (226)
Joined: 5/28/2009
Posts: 1217
Location: Luxembourg
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
And I can't set any higher resolution. However, after a quick check, I've found that this is probably caused by a YouTube bug. Still, this makes me totally unable to watch the encode.
It's more likely he uploaded the AVI straight to YouTube without resizing it at all (the GBA's screen is 240x160, and thus, if you upload a such a video to YouTube, it'll stay at 144p and horrendous quality forever)...so it's not really a YouTube bug.
Steam Community page - Bluesky profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
Player (200)
Joined: 5/12/2017
Posts: 32
Temp encode is now 480p.
#6717 Interested in: GBA Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (any%) GBC Dragon Warrior III (Pachisi glitch - skipping Kandar 1 means Kandar 2 won't be triggered)
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Ok, I watched this. It's amusing, though it hardly feels like a Turok game at all except for some dinosaurs. Nice grappling exploits.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1361)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
Woah, nice run. Yes vote. By the way, I've just replaced with my 720p60 temp encode. It took way more time than what I planned, sorry.
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"
Active player (466)
Joined: 3/30/2012
Posts: 405
Great TAS! The grapple makes the run very entertaining. Watching you fly across the level faster than the game can scroll the screen was really funny. Definite yes vote.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15629
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. ---- [3610] GBA Turok: Evolution by hejops in 19:43.44
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1361)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
I'd like to try to improve this movie someday. If anyone feels the same, please contact me for joining efforts.
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"