(Link to video)
Submission Text Full Submission Page
Blue Sphere, also known as "Get Blue Spheres!", "No way! No way! No way! No way?", or "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic the Hedgehog" (not to be confused with Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog), is a "compilation" of 134217728 levels that look like the sphere minigame from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. You get it by locking the S&K cartridge onto Sonic 1.
(no please don't force me to TAS all 134217728 levels, I am not Blue Sphere Guy)
One goal that can be taken as a (sane) completion of this game is to get a "Perfect MAX". Each level has a "difficulty" from 1 to 13 (MAX), and if you get Perfect (get all rings) on a MAX level, you unlock a special completion scene which is the best scene you can get in this game. So the goal is simply to choose a MAX level, and complete it "Perfect" as fast as possible.
Note that, without passwords, this game is utterly boring. The first MAX level is 164, which requires playing at least 19 levels to get there (16 of which are perfect) and each of them alone takes far longer to complete than the level you see in this TAS. Whereas you can access all kinds of unique levels directly using passwords. Basically, I justify the use of passwords by: Just get to the point already.

Goals

  • Aims for fastest "Perfect MAX" completion.
  • Passwords are allowed.

The chosen level

Before I get to how I chose the level I want, you may have noticed that I put the word "compilation" in the first paragraph in quotes. That's because this game is not really a compilation of 134217728 levels, but rather, a level generator that puts one of 128 possible 16x16 tiles (numbered #0 to #127) in each quadrant of the map. This site and this online generator have some more details about how the level generation works, but basically, a bunch of math is used.
The fastest MAX level to choose for the "Perfect MAX" goal is the one with all quadrants #7 (level 108589448, stage 014795655). The one with all quadrants #6 is easier for "Perfect MAX" in casual play, but takes longer.

The password code

Based on the algorithm for the password-to-level function, each level has two possible passwords: a normal "Sonic 1 cart" code which auto-advances when you beat a level, and a "non-Sonic 1 cart" code which doesn't (associated with passwords you get from locking onto other carts). Note that I have a script with functions that can do this conversion: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638595168763566191
For the level with all quadrants #7, the two codes are 3782 6047 8577 ("Sonic 1 cart" code) and 1635 3098 8145 ("non-Sonic 1 cart" code). The second code is faster to enter, so I use that one.

Playing the level itself

The level is set up so all the rings and blue spheres are near each other. Just collect them all and there you go, Perfect MAX. (Note: The rings must be collected before you get the last blue sphere.)
It is possible to jump over two consecutive bumper spheres without bouncing off of either of them. It requires a frame-perfect jump, and may not work if Sonic/Knuckles is moving at a faster speed.

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Posted: 8/17/2024 8:15 PM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #9240: FractalFusion's Genesis Blue Sphere "Perfect MAX" in 00:18.46
Posted: 8/18/2024 12:15 AM
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GJTASer2018
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Ah yes, one of the earliest good examples of procedural generation in video games - although I personally think someone in Sonic Team took what was supposed to be a joking "feature suggestion" way too far.
(no please don't force me to TAS all 134217728 levels, I am not Blue Sphere Guy)
Wouldn't that be longer than the Desert Bus submission, which was already itself problematic to handle? I don't think any sane person is going to be asking you to do that. :)
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...
Posted: 8/18/2024 12:29 AM
(Edited: 8/18/2024 12:30 AM)
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CoolHandMike
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First edition TAS of 2023 Sega TAS of 2023
GJTASer2018 wrote:
(no please don't force me to TAS all 134217728 levels, I am not Blue Sphere Guy)
Wouldn't that be longer than the Desert Bus submission, which was already itself problematic to handle? I don't think any sane person is going to be asking you to do that. :)
So....do you think you could do all the levels? j/k
discord: CoolHandMike#0352
Posted: 8/18/2024 1:41 AM
Post subject: Game has no perfect time.
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ShiningProdigy9000
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TASing this game would either be way to long or short. I like the TAS but I don't think TASvideos would accept a TAS that is 18 seconds. Voting No because of how short the TAS was and the "Aimed goal"
ShiningProdigy100
Posted: 8/18/2024 9:44 AM
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DigitalDuck
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I like the goal and it looks optimal to me (I'd assume nothing less) but I think I'd rather the no-password route; not because this is too short (it's not even FF's shortest run), but this just feels like "pick a random level and do it", similar to "use level select to skip to the last level". For a goal choice somewhere between 20 seconds and a century, I did all symmetrical levels a couple of years back; playing through all 125 levels which use the same chunk in each quadrant (one of which is the level shown in this run). There are 128 chunks, but because of the way the levels are assigned there are no levels that are entirely made up of chunk #125, #126, or #127. This was the closest to a "100%" run I could come up with that doesn't have a runtime of several human lifespans.
Posted: 8/18/2024 11:01 PM
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GJTASer2018
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"All symmetrical levels" would probably be a reasonable Alternative goal choice. But for a more straightforward way of dealing with the goal choice of this submission, the submission text provides a pathway for doing that:
The first MAX level is 164, which requires playing at least 19 levels to get there (16 of which are perfect).
Assuming that the level order is not randomized, starting at the same starting point (i.e. power on of the locked on S&K + Sonic 1 cart) and playing until you reach a MAX level for the first time would be the better way to approach this goal. Yes, it would be a lot longer. Yes, it would be at least somewhat repetitive (albeit perhaps not as much as you might think given the 128 chunks that are used in the generation code). BUT, it would be much more likely to be accepted and published than the arbitrary entering of passwords going on here.
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...
Posted: 8/19/2024 10:12 AM
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FractalFusion
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GJTASer2018 wrote:
Assuming that the level order is not randomized, starting at the same starting point (i.e. power on of the locked on S&K + Sonic 1 cart) and playing until you reach a MAX level for the first time would be the better way to approach this goal ... it would be much more likely to be accepted and published
Nope, disagree here. It has no chance of being accepted. To be fair, the goal choice "Perfect MAX" is the real problem, as it can easily be argued that the game does not consider "Perfect MAX" to be completion (the game continues just as if you got some other "Perfect non-MAX", or "non-Perfect"), and doing a 20-minute TAS for the sole purpose of getting to the "Perfect MAX" scene doesn't really solve this problem.
DigitalDuck wrote:
For a goal choice somewhere between 20 seconds and a century, I did all symmetrical levels a couple of years back; playing through all 125 levels which use the same chunk in each quadrant (one of which is the level shown in this run). There are 128 chunks, but because of the way the levels are assigned there are no levels that are entirely made up of chunk #125, #126, or #127. This was the closest to a "100%" run I could come up with that doesn't have a runtime of several human lifespans.
Actually, I saw and then forgot about that Youtube video for some reason. "All symmetrical levels" sounds interesting as a concept even if it takes a couple hours (too bad about the missing #125, #126 and #127). Perhaps not restricting to symmetrical levels but allowing for each of the 128 quadrants to show up at least once might be interesting too; would be about 1/4 of the time (32 levels) and allow inclusion of #125 to #127. And of course the non-password version of this goal might be interesting too, though I can't tell off the top of my head what the optimal level route would be in this case. Maybe requires 70 to 80 levels? Probably these all sound better as a goal choice. Also, I didn't realize "procedural generation" was an actual term. Something new I learned.
Posted: 8/20/2024 1:40 AM
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TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... juicy!