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There are two 'Felix the Cat' games released for Famicom/NES: an official one by Hudson Soft (released in 1992) and an unlicensed one by a Chinese company named Dragon Co., with a 1998 copyright date.
This movie was done using the unlicensed version, which by the way was the base for lots of hacked versions on some Famiclones and plug-n-plays released in mainland China, also for 'The Hacker (NJ049)' by Shenzhen Nanjing Technology.
Completing this game the normal way takes around 17-18 minutes, but apparently there is an alternate way to do this in less than 5 minutes, which is the main purpose of this movie.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.3
  • Main objective here is to show an alternate way to complete all levels in the unlicensed version of Felix the Cat, especially in levels 1 and 7 where you normally have to beat the boss in order to finish them. This method implies exploiting a glitch where if the player is close to go off-screen to the right, it'll autofinish the level.

Comments

How the 'glitch' method was used in the movie: basically the player requires timed jumps while moving forward, plus using the attack button while jumping in most cases. As long as it is done properly (by avoiding walls where possible), it'll place the player at a farther distance than the normal centered position, slowly reaching the right border of the screen. In the case of levels 2, 3 and 6, it also requires jumping over the horizontal-moving log until most of the front sprites are very close to the border.

Other comments

NOTE: Do not confuse this version with the official Hudson Soft one. While both are based on 'Felix the Cat' cartoon, both versions are completely different each other.

Maru: While this is an improvement over your first submission, it is not quite up to the optimization standards that we are looking for. Your TAS contains slowdowns that could have easily been avoided to save time. For that reason, this TAS must be rejected. Better luck in the future.
Edit: For reference, you just need to jump as much as possible to get to the right of the screen. I have a test file that saves 855 frames in level 1. This can be found here: test file.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6487: KAGE-008's NES Felix the Cat "glitch exit" in 04:33.80
Spikestuff
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Spikestuff wrote:
Your input has problems to it as well with button mashing that can be seen present in your starting input which to me means you aren't taking full advantage of the tools provided to you.
Here's a 3 frame improvement with better opening input (see quote) as well as an additional 315 frames shaved for better ending input and truncating. Enjoy whoever replaces the submission file.
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Post subject: Re: #6487: KAGE-008's NES Felix the Cat (Dragon Co) "glitch exit" in 04:33.8
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Good run, bad game.
KAGE-008
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I can say for sure that this was fairly easy for me. With the RTA speedrun as a guide, I made a few optimizations at some levels in order to finish faster. Next one might be Bao Qing Tian on Famicom. Current RTA record is 11:25 long so that's something to take into account. (btw, yes I joined much earlier but I didn't have a good PC to encode back then)
GJTASer2018
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Kage, do you have a memory address for Felix's horizontal on-screen position? I think it would help whoever is judging this decide how optimized it is, as well as give insight into why the glitch happens in the first place.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
KAGE-008
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GJTASer2018 wrote:
Kage, do you have a memory address for Felix's horizontal on-screen position? I think it would help whoever is judging this decide how optimized it is, as well as give insight into why the glitch happens in the first place.
Don't know at the moment, I might check it later. But, for some reason, when you make properly timed inputs of the A+Right button combo (and B button where possible), the system thinks a single frame is the 'final' part of the level, when there is actually more to explore. When this glitch is exploited repeatedly, it can eventually place Felix very close to the border, tricking the system and consequently autofinishing the current level. This is more noticeable when jumping onto a horizontal-moving log without advancing (something that I even reproduced on real hardware via a Famiclone). There might be other games from them (Dragon Co) with this same exploit. I might check that with 'Wait And See' since that game has some glitches accidentally left unfixed.
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I remember you from pirated game central. I remember you helped me with ffiv nes. Have you thought about making a tas on that? With tools, it shouldnt take 3 days to beat the final boss.
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om, nom, nom... blech!
Post subject: Re: #6487: KAGE-008's NES Felix the Cat (Dragon Co) "glitch exit" in 04:33.8
EZGames69
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
<a>Maru</a>: While this is an improvement over your first submission, it is not quite up to the optimization standards that we are looking for. Your TAS contains slowdowns that could have easily been avoided to save time. For that reason, this TAS must be rejected. Better luck in the future. </div></blockquote>
Uh, can you explain where these slowdowns occur rather than just saying they exist? It’s not really helpful when a rejection is done for vague reasons.
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I can say the same thing about delaying an action in an RPG. Rejecting because you could have easily saved time if you didnt slow down. Maybe there was a reason he slowed down. Some games dont accept input in some areas until you wait.
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If anyone is interested in improving this movie, please see my test file in my judgement note. The general rule is that it is best to stay in the air for as much as possible.