Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I am familiar with both runs and SA2 is unquestionably superior. It is similar to the intended play in only the most superficial way and a comparable human time is even more unlikely than in SA1, in my opinion. The fact that it accomplishes this only through optimisation and understanding of the physics engine, and not through glitches, is noteworthy. SA2 is a great example of the skills and method required to create an optimal tool-assisted speedrun. SA1 is a gimmick.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
As I recall, this game is not emulated properly in fceux. The timer is done by hardware (dipswitches) so it is not properly emulated. Any TAS of this game would have to be done using a hack (it is my understanding that the retrousb.com reproduction has decorative dipswitches, but the software is hacked to the proper time limit). I'm not sure if this site would prefer the TASer to hack the ROM manually, or if it would be best for all TASers to request the fixed ROM from bunnyboy to ensure consistency.
As mentioned above the Tetris game is not random, it is deterministic, so you should make sure you get the best outcome in this particular game.
I think a TAS of this game would be awesome. Good luck to whoever tries it.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Chrono Trigger or EarthBound. Terranigma is better still if you want to count Action RPGs. FF3 should probably be in there somewhere, but I haven't played through it in 5 - 6 years.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Some very nice stuff there. I remember trying to get the blood cooler and pirate ship stuff to work years ago but couldn't get the angles right. Scaling the side of the mountain in the western level looks great.
I remember briefly considering 100% for this game, but this game is too much of collect 'em up at the best of times. It'd probably be too boring for publication, though I'd be interested to see it myself.
All these improvements make me curious as to how much Gex 2 can be improved by...
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I agree that an improvement should be on the psx. That also goes for its predecessor. In Gex 3 you will knock some time off my N64 run by not having your position reset to mission control every time Agent Xtra talks to you. Plus the Greek level is completely different (though I not sure if it would be faster or longer).
Also, wow, I did not know about that boundary stuff. It should definitely save a chunk of time. Hopefully someone works on this.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I've been looking forward to this for a few months now, but I wasn't entirely sure if it was only out in theatres etc so thanks for the link! I'll definitely be checking this out.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Russia and Poland really let themselves down tonight. Two fantastic teams playing great football couldn't close the deal and two of the weakest sides in the tournament snuck through.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
andypanther wrote:
I actually felt sorry for the Czechs, they're one of Europes top teams.
They were a great team, but those days are long since over. They were lucky to qualify for the finals at all. Russia played them off the park last night and should have scored five or six. Though Russia deserve to go far they lack the defensive talent to resist teams like Spain and Germany. I hope they get to the semis again though as I enjoy watching them.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
A good TAS of Robocco Wars or Armadillo could be publishable. Buzz & Waldog could be good, though I guess it is technically a pirate game (and not a famicom one). The namco version of Star Wars may be more complex as a TAS than its western counterpart and so it may make for a an interesting run. Romancia may be interesting, but I haven't played it all the way through to know what the later content is like. Same goes for Wai Wai World 2 (it has a lot of autoscrolling early on as far as I remember), but both should be worth looking into.
By the way, I contest the idea that NES is tapped dry. There are a bunch of games that have not been done and there is the possibility for 100%/low-glitch type runs for a whole bunch more.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
By the way, much of what I learned (and wrote) of this game's movement back then is now moot. Pirohiko discovered that diagonal boosting is applicable and so the difficulty of making a Crash 1 TAS that is even remotely optimal has skyrocketed. See the post here.
I haven't watched this TAS yet so I cannot comment on how well this has been incorporated.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I was wondering when this would be TASed. It's a nice little game, though I definitely prefer Power Blade. As I recall the boss battles are exactly the same between the two games. I'm interested to see if there will be any difference in strategy.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
rog wrote:
Cardboard wrote:
It's not a silly vote because it doesn't agree with your opinion on the run. Remarks like those are among the reasons why people simply will not vote no or meh on runs, because if they do, they will get bashed by other, "more famous", users.
Last i checked, you are not required to explain your votes.
Though it is expected/good etiqutte if your vote is no or meh, otherwise it will be more difficult for the judges to take it into consideration.
As to the run, very enjoyable! I had to double take when I looked at the workbench this morning as I couldn't believe that a substantial SM64 run had actually reached completion without the need to incorporate new discoveries. Does this mean the flow of new discoveries is slowing down? Hopefully a new 120 star run doesn't seem like such a pipe dream anymore.
My favourite star was Big Boo on the balcony, though hazy maze cave had a ton of cool stuff I hadn't seen before. Easy yes vote.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Excellent stuff! Always nice to see progress, and a whole world in three months is incredible progress for this game. You should have this run finished in no time ;) Hopefully there won't be any more massive redos...
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Yeah, there are still quite a few US NES games that would make decent TASes that have not been done yet (Power Blade 2 springs to mind). If you add in Famicom there are tons left to choose from.
As to how long it would take to beat every NES game I have no idea. On a semi-related note, I remember reading a gaming magazine 10-12 years ago that had an interview with a guy that set out to beat every NES game when he was a few games away from this goal. I've searched on the internet a few times since then to find out if he ever finished this, but I never found anything. It's quite a feat to say the least, TAS or otherwise.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Very nice! Knuckles certainly makes a difference. Unlike Sonic this run actually resembles real time play to a certain extent. This was refreshing and it was interesting to see how some of the levels were tackled (especially AI1 and ER). Clear yes vote.
The only thing that I thought may be sub-optimal was the Mecha-Knuckles battle. Gliding increases his invincibility and this can be avoided by manipulating him to spindash or do nothing allowing you to hit him earlier. Manipulation opportunities are limited so you are usually forced to take a few glides, but most of the glides I saw in this run should have been avoidable (unless, of course, choosing Knuckles as a character affects the game in this way. I wouldn't know).
Also, I'm totally with you on Egg Rocket being a nightmare. I'm pretty close to finishing my new Sonic run, but discovered a mistake early on in ER and so I now need to find some motivation for going through the whole thing again... :(
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Ah, one of my favourite unsung snes games. I looked into TASing this myself once upon a time, but I felt the delay after horizontal attack broke the tempo too much and I got bored. However, after watching this it seems far more entertaining to watch than I expected as there is a nice mix of manoevres to keep the tempo up (jumps, bouncing off enemies, spin attacks etc). A good run of this game should be publishable and it seems like a good first project. Good luck!
Also, the Japanese ROM should be used. PAL is a last resort, due to timing differences, and should only be used where there is no alternative.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I don't think this is a 'new' game in the way that Pier Solar was. Nightmare Busters was a cancelled game made in 1994, the ROM has been available for some time and I'm pretty sure there has been a repro run of this game before. They say they are going to make some changes to the ROM though; still, that makes it a hack, in my opinion, rather than a new game. Also, I'm not sure what is meant by an 'official' release (this surely won't be licensed by nintendo?).
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I found this run entertaining. The Gerudo gate and the Deku Tree were probably my favourite parts. Congratulations on finishing a long project SL. Yes vote.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Yeah, my TASing motivation pretty much died after finishing that huge project, which is annoying as I am as far as Angel Island with SA1. Once I pick it up again it will only take a few days to complete, and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Excellent run. I've been waiting for this one for some time. It's a shame that you have to take damage at the end, it's a small stylistic blight on what is otherwise a very satisfying piece of work. Voting yes, thanks for going through all the hassle of getting this one finished.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player
(1098)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Thanks for the feedback mklip2001.
mklip2001 wrote:
I believe you said that you felt this Arcade run felt a lot like the NES run, whereas the Arcade run of Ghouls and Ghosts has been judged to be distinct enough to merit separate publication.
I think you are misunderstanding the decision in Ghouls and Ghosts. I completely agree with you that the similarities between the Ghouls ports are far greater than in Goblins, but I disagree with your point that Ghouls was "judged to be distinct." To quote adelikat from that thread: "This movie was published without obsoleting the SNES version, not because it was decided it shouldn't nor does it set a precedent for future decisions." In other words, no decision was made on the point of version preference, this issue was simply ignored. I directly address this in my decision ("...no decision was made on the point of cross-platform obsoletion, perhaps due to lack of feedback in the thread, or perhaps 2009 was the wrong time to make such a decision, when so many of our newer emulators were still young."). Therefore, the differences in Ghouls cannot be used as a comparator for this run, that was not adelikat's intention.
mklip2001 wrote:
For instance, you mention the glitch to fire rapidly in this Arcade version of Ghosts 'n Goblins. That changes the gameplay quite significantly, allowing boss strategies that wouldn't be possible in the NES version. Arc's NES run manages to have a very different feel in those fights, as he must be much more careful at managing his distance to a boss.
He must also be much more economical about where to take damage boosts in the stages. When watching Arc's run, I was quite surprised by how clever some boosts were (especially Stage 6). I was not as surprised by the boosts in this Arcade run, even though I did appreciate them.
It all boils down to what one considers to be a large enough difference. As I state in the decision, I thought it most consistent to draw an analogy with how we determine separate categories within other games. For example, you mention the rapid fire glitch, I don't disagree that it does affect the gameplay, but suppose it were possible in the NES version and one run was submitted that used this glitch and one was submitted that didn't, would we accept both? I doubt it, the run with the restriction would not be considered different enough. However, some people may believe that the differences need not be that great, I merely tried to make the best decision I could while staying true to previous practice of keeping categories to a minimum (i.e. avoiding multiple movies of similar substance).
mklip2001 wrote:
Ultimately, I will not pursue a fight on this decision, and I mean no disrespect to any author or judge here.
I think that you should. If you honestly believe that a mistake has been made then you should talk to DarkKobold and see what he thinks. I am satisfied with my decision, but I certainly see why a controversy exists. This was an immensely difficult decision, and not one I made lightly. I spent days scrutinising both of these runs. One of the most difficult things to deal with was that Arc's run was of superb quality, but so was Ferret's. There was no easy way to tell them apart in that respect. I must concede that I dislike the idea that the slate can be wiped clean on a run of many iterations purely because a new platform becomes available, but I also dislike the idea of judging emotionally (as a TASer myself, I know the work that goes into these things) and against the judging guidelines and previous practice. When I dissociated myself and observed the issues rationally and objectively this was the decision I came to (fully aware of what it could potentially mean for my Golden Axe run, something I worked on for 18 months). However, I would be mortified to think that I made a mistake on such an issue, so I hope you (or anyone else for that matter) attempt to do something about it if you feel that you have a case.
