Nova the Squirrel is a 2018 NES homebrew platformer/puzzle game in which Nova Storm finds herself in an unfamiliar world with a new ability to copy enemies' powers in order to stop the Scheme Team. This TAS effortlessly masters the high speeds Nova flies at and makes full use of her abilities, often to a greater extent than what the developer expected.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.8
- Aims for fastest completion
- Glitch abuse
- Takes damage to save time
It's finally done! At many points I never thought it'd be finished but here we are with an easily sub-13 run which is more than I could have asked for when starting. One of the things I was amazed with when first working on this game is how well-optimised it is; there isn't a single lag frame in this entire game despite the chaos going on. The only time I managed to squeeze a lag frame out was by using a pause buffer trick in the final boss (which I'll explain when we get there) but even then, it was only one since the game managed to fix the issue right away. This meant that I didn't have to worry about any improvements or route changes desyncing the rest of the run (for the most part) and so this game ended up being a really pleasant game to TAS (for the most part).
Technickle helped find a few RAM addresses and showed a couple spots that could be improved and then
Polari, the current RTA WR holder, helped point out some major improvements and taught a number of the more time-saving techniques. Both their help was massively useful.
Useful RAM addresses
It was really useful to freeze the i-frames timer so nova never disappeared but if you wish to do this too, make sure to freeze the health as well, otherwise the game will crash.
Abilities
Dinner Blaster
The DB (or burger, I'll most likely alternate between names) is the first copy ability used and is by far the most useful. It has a relatively fast reload speed and is the best ability for wall clipping. I also found that a second burger can be placed before it's meant to be as long as the previous one hasn't exploded. The biggest con about it, though, is that it will only be placed under Nova's feet only if she has touched the ground since the last burger or the previous one wasn't spawned underneath her feet. This isn't too much of an issue, however. One issue that does go for all abilities is that they can't be spawned if Nova is above the screen which is a little annoying since about 20% of the movie is spent up there.
Ice Block
The ice block has a much slower reload time than the DB and the early shoot exploit doesn't work so it mostly isn't the optimal ability. However, it can instantly be shot again upon being unloaded which can happen if it falls into the void or hits a boss and it will always spawn under Nova's feet so the ice block does become the optimal ability in mainly levels with large gaps.
Mirror
This is forced onto us for the final fight which at first seems like a nuisance but it does have a slightly faster reload speed than the DB and overall, there isn't actually anything wrong with it. If we were forced to use it in an actual level then we'd have a problem but it's only for the last fight so it's fine.
Tricks
Wall clipping
Wall clipping can be either very precise or very lenient. For starters, by placing either main ability below Nova's feet while under a 1 high block platform will always push her through. As long as the timing is correct, there is not a single place this won't work.
We also have the ability to clip into the side of some walls which are used way more often, though they can be a lot more precise at times. This works because of the game's fairly aggressive wall ejection mechanic. It isn't fully understood but the general idea is that the game tries to eject you in the 4 directions in a specific order, starting with left which is why clips to the left tend to be easier than to the right (but I don't think this TAS makes use of any right clips).
Sometimes when jumping into a ceiling, Nova's top half can slightly clip into the wall and she'll slowly fall out of it. This can be useful but I think it only ended up being used once.
Final boss pause buffering
The final boss has 5 different attacks that rotate on a cycle: two crescents, dropping walls, ground slams, single projectiles and finally bombs which explode into two horizontally moving projectiles (it can be exploded earlier by landing on Nova's head but then we can't hit the projectiles. The crescents, single projectiles and bombs work on a global timer and will be shot in quick succession if the game is paused while the phase is controlled by a separate timer that is paused when the game is. Normally, the boss shoots 4 rounds of crescents before moving on but I manage to add another 2 through pause buffering. The most I got in testing was 8 rounds. It may be possible to get 10 rounds which would end the entire boss fight in phase one and save a large amount of time but even if it is possible, I have doubts it'd be possible to even hit all the crescents. Even though pause buffering might not save time, it definitely doesn't lose time and I would rather show off this strategy.
Potential improvements
From movement alone, I think 1-5 seconds can be saved from better ability placements. After spending months watching the same thing over and over, it becomes a lot harder to spot places movement like this can be improved.
As for other things (primarily wall clips) I would have liked to implement but couldn't get to work/save time:
- 2-1 there's a forcefield that forces you down about halfway through in the red section but, being so high up on the screen, I was unable to get a clip
- 2-5 while I was thankfully able to get the clip over the door that requires 25 cards, I wasn't able to clip over the door locked behind the key. Not even a double burger was able to do it
- 5-2 (water section) I was able to clip into the first ceiling but I wasn't able to get the second one and just doing the one ceiling ended up being slower than just going through normally
- 5-3 almost an identical issue to the 2-1 issue in the blue section
- Panda Boss the RTA strat for this boss is to use water bottles which can be thrown up through the platform and the panda can remain on the platform for the entire fight. Buying water bottles (and a burger) would be slower so we just have to use what we've got. It doesn't come out as much faster but there is one point where it jumps into the forcefield and becomes vincible while untouchable. I tried my best to manipulate it as best as possible but this was just one moment that I couldn't find a way to avoid
- 5-7 (ice cave) the slowdown at the vertical section has the potential to be skipped but the closest platform to the edge is also too high and it's not flat which makes it really difficult, potentially impossible to clip
- There may also be places I haven't considered and will add before this leaves the queue
If there's something I've forgotten to explain or haven't made clear, feel free to ask
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: This game has a load of techniques to exploit. Great job on the execution of these strategies.
Since there was no feedback from the audience, I can only see that this run was well optimized...especially since it beats the WR run by 2 minutes and 51 seconds.
Accepting to "Standard" for publication.
