SuperSprite (Compute's Gazette)
The SuperSprite character resembles a super-powered being with arms outstretched in flight. SuperSprite is not steady flyer. This is unfortunate, as his flight path is blocked by barriers of kryptonite, impassable except for narrow gaps. The gaps are movable—luckily, for SuperSprite does not wear helmet—but moving them requires deft hand at the controls. And that's where you come in.
You are the keeper of the Spritely Gates, and you get 20 turns to manipulate the barriers on the screen so that SuperSprite can make his way to the bottom. If you make it, you increase your score and begin a new turn at the top of the screen.
Why TAS This Game?
The continuation of TASing games from my all-time favorite magazine, Compute's Gazette. This makes my 28th TAS from this series.
When I saw the screenshot of this game, I was not impressed at the time. I thought it was a simple navigating game...where the barriers scrolled downward, while you fly through each hole. The SuperSprite looked like a flying machine. Only if I had read the article. Now...almost 40 years later, I know exactly what its about. This game was extremely difficult and worthy of a TAS.
Previous Compute's Gazette submissions include (In order of submission):
Game Ending
You get 20 turns, and that's it. So I figured this submission should be best categorized by "Maximum Score".
Effort In TASing
I found TASing this game to be extremely annoying. It was slow and took days on end. Why would I do this? Because I was in search of the best RNG "Seed". Little did I know that the best seed was going to be my 2nd attempt. But hey...I have to try.
One of my goals, during this "Seed" search...was to find a situation that allowed me to end input early. The others, was to cycle through all the "Drop" patterns to see which ones would finish the game off the fastest.
Even though I think this game is extremely challenging for a human, I hate it in terms of TASing, due to the monotony.
Human Comparison
This video proves how a human suffers in trying to get to the end destination.
Special Thanks
- feos: For identifying a "Save State" issue, that was causing my inputs to desync. It was this game that I could never get completed, because of that situation.
- Development Team: for fixing the "Save State" issue.
ThunderAxe31: This game looks weird. However, it's very clear in its definition of maximum score, to the point that the game tells you in advance what's the best you can achieve, as well as a complete guide on how to play... which is pretty uncommon, since in that era games used to keep their useful info in paper manuals.
Anyway, this movie achieves full completion and does it fast. Accepting.
