My impressions on this (as someone who can't do a decent TAS himself)... aren't good. it looks close to my style of gameplay unassisted by tools. There are, however, a few points I need to clarify on this one, having experience with actually playing the game on hardware (read: genesis and three four-button gamepad)
mklip2001 wrote:
At the beginning:
* You move past the plane you eventually pick. Why?
The game scrolls from the 3rd fighter (I believe it's the Seylen) to the first fighter (the Silph) before allowing you to pick any of them. This is present in both the Genesis/Megadrive port and the original arcade version, and cannot be skipped. For a 2-player TAS, joining 2P in after the start of stage 1 and having 1P pick the Silph (Plane #1 - the one at the top of the "hangar") avoids the issue.
First stage:
* Lots of missed shots with the regular weapon. It doesn't seem to lose time or create lag, but it looks bad.
* First boss looks alright. You look like you're using turbo fire though. Does the first shot land as soon as the boss is vulnerable?
more or less my thoughts, save that it should've been possible to avoid damage without losing too many frames. Since there's a bit of inconsistency over when damage is taken, a no-damage run might actually be better in my opinion.
The only part about the second stage that really stood out was the plane dodging between the midboss and the land carrier. Detonating (and losing) the S-unit on the boss as soon as it became active, as counter-intuitive as it sounds to normal players, actually speeds this one up to no end, and taking a hit means nothing as one of the three guns around the core drops a life-up.
It's around the third stage that I start wondering whether or not this guy actually knows this game as well as he thinks he does, and I start seeing stuff that screams "mistake" to me. For starters, I have never had to use the barrel roll in the tunnel, and I've gotten through the whole thing unscathed back on the actual Genesis. It's also here that I would like to point out that the console version lacks the first part of the boss fight.
The fourth stage is probably the least entertaining stage of the game (a shame, since I got so many game overs on it back when I played it on the Genesis. the damn satellite didn't help, either). I don't see why you need to practically glue yourself to the bottom of the screen for a good portion of it.
As for the fifth stage...
* Whoa, what was that special attack which shot the ring of fire? That was cool but short-lived.
That's what happens when you hit the "roll" button with the S-unit attached. it consumes the S-unit, but acts similar to a bomb in current shmups. Since S-units don't stack, it's a standard tactic to do this if another one pops up while you have one on you.
Anyways, learn something new from every TAS (usually), and in this case, it's the positioning for those bomb-droppers. I would never have thought of flying just behind the cockpit of them. The console version's boss for this stage is a palette-swapped version of the first boss with a different second phase. Shame, since the arcade version's boss is actually interesting.
* I have the same concerns about this boss fight as the first: autofire. Also, if S is more powerful, why do you use the fire ring so early in the fight? It looks like you should use it as the last attack, not one of the first.
I'm not sure either. I dunno if the Valkyrie's vulcan attack, powered to max, has a higher damage rate than the S-unit's shot on a large enemy, which is the only reason why that tactic would be feasible, which begs some other questions (such as why he doesn't do it on the first boss... or the next one...)
Now the final boss is a bit... annoying. For starters, anyone attempting a pacifist run (Yes, they are possible) will have to deal with a multi-minute timeout for the first part, and then another multi-minute timeout for the second part. And the "dancing" mklip2001 mentioned is pretty much required to avoid taking damage. The good news is that those two lasers that open up partway through the first part do NOT have to be destroyed (and the guy actually figured THAT out and saved them for last). Considering the guy used the S-unit throughout the fight, I have to wonder why he took the hit.
I'm severely tempted to go and work on a submission of my own for this game (although I'd probably do the Arcade version, provided the emulator cooperates with me)
Given the recent publication of a second TAS for Arcade Mode (which obsoletes the OP's movie), I'd like to ask if anybody's looked at the Advanced Story Mode which is unlocked by clearing Arcade Mode.
I'm not exactly good or efficient at TAS'ing games (hell, I still have trouble pulling off a no-damage run), but here's my thoughts, level by level, for Advanced Story:
1: not a problem, just make sure you get the headshot on the boss on screen 3.
2: Number of cruise missile trucks is 8. This is the first of two time-eating stages
3-A: Good news is that the timer stops when the alarm goes off until you regain control. the bad news is the alarm takes a few seconds and (AFAIK) is unavoidable. You'll use one of the 16 cruise missiles here, leaving 15 for 3-B.
3-B: 15 shots to work with, only 3 are required. You have to seriously lead your targets on this one or catch them right as they start turning.
4: First off: **** Shark. Two hits are needed to kill Shark off, but only one is needed to finish this stage. If Shark is not killed now (a parachute hit counts as perfect, IIRC), he will appear in stage 5
5: The other time-eating stage, this time with virtually nothing to do even if you let Shark live in the previous stage. The number of shots you need is 3 minus the number of shots you used in the previous stage (assuming perfect accuracy). The last shot will go to the target's head. The other shot, if applicable, goes straight to our friend Shark.
My 2 cents on this?
It looks a bit ambitious and would rely on a good amount of luck in that the games in question DON'T CRASH (QfG 4's Error 52 being the infamous one)
I would still separate this from a single-game run, because while one specific class may work better for one specific game, there may be another class that works better for 3 of the games in the series.
...that, and I would still like to see a TAS from scratch in each game for each class (except the paladin, which requires [apparently] prior saved data)