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Spyman is a game by Ikiki, a Japanese game developer that releases games that are action games or action platformers. You may have seen their game "Nijukin" before in BrotherMojo's TAS which is what brought this game to my attention after I TASed it a while ago.
  • Heavy glitch abuse
  • Genre: Action
  • Genre: Platform
I used hourglass r11, because that's what my first run was made on. The run should sync on the newest hourglass however.
Like Nijukin, Spyman's music does not play in hourglass. But I think you can get past that. This TAS took about two days to make, finishing the test run, and repeadetly revising and frame saving.

Tricks

Jump Delay Dodge

Normally, when Spyman lands from a jump, he is delayed a bit. By pressing Shift right before you hit the ground, Spyman will start his jumping animation, therefore avoiding the delay. This also allows you to keep speed from grappling.

Wall-sinking

When you grapple into a wall near the very bottom of it and hit the ground, you can be pushed into the wall. Your movement in the wall is limited. You can move left and right, but pressing Up, Down, or Shift will start ejecting you from the wall.

Level by Level comments.

Level 1

You're outside in rain. This level is fairly simple but is a tough introduction to the game. We wait a bit before jumping over the crates so I don't bump into them and so I can scale the building at a higher length. Note, in order to scale, you have to use your grappling hook. You must be close to the building to avoid the frames where the spy is pulled toward the building, because he moves down a bit. The two guards can be tough for new players. If they see you, they shoot a nearly unavoidable barrage of ammo at you and you die in one hit. We jump accross the pillars and climb the next building. Notice the guy in the suit? He's a guard too. But he is much easier to deal with, because he shoots one bullet at a time. We dart past him so he can't even notice us and slip down the manhole.

Level 2

In the sewers. Most of the level consists of stones that hang from the wall. Perfect for grappling and gaining speed. We contain the speed by jumping a lot. The level isn't very hard. The only problem is the water below which some people might fall into. We reach a ladder and climb up for...

Level 3

Normally, you have to scale the wall, and then grapple through the pillars. But with the wall-sinking glitch, I can move through the building and get to the top. The windows are actually empty here - the glass is an illusion. By repeadetly jumping and grappling I can ascend the building, and then grapple to dodge the two spikes placed to prevent players from climbing all the way up the building and skipping the pillars. On to...

Level 4

So I start out in the ceiling. Two guards are standing. We must not catch their eye or they shoot at us, so I grapple into the wall for a speed boost and then into the lamp to get full speed. By using the jump delay dodge, I can speedily move past all the guards so they don't shoot us. By moving on to the bottom floor, I grapple onto the stairs to start out fast, and then I go to the final stage.

Level 5

The final level of the game. Spyman has a long fall at the beginning and he will die if he just keeps falling, so I grapple into a wall, quickly. Then I use the glitch to position Spyman in the wall so I can skip a section. By grappling accross two blue pipes, I head to the final section. I scale the wall quickly, and then grapple accross the long hallway. I try to be entertaining here by entering the wall while waiting for the smoke to vanish, then jump accross two pipes. Movie end.

Possible Improvements.

I'm not sure. Maybe someone could find a way to glitch into walls without hitting the ground, which could save time in Level 5. There is also the possibility that I did something really dopey and wasted alot of time, but after a lot of revising levels, I don't think I did. The rerecord count is not THAT accurate - I had my previous runs to copy from so I didn't have to test strategies that much. Have fun with the movie pals.
Suggested screenshot: Inside the building in level 3.
I almost forgot: download the game here: [dead link removed]
P.S: Thanks to BrotherMojo for reminding me of the game. And you for reading this submission text.

NitroGenesis: Cancelling. Will redo on 50fps and a newer hourglass soon. EDIT: Check it out now!


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3584: NitroGenesis's Windows Spyman in 01:20.77
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Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
Syncs on hourglass r81 (OS: win7 64, no vm)
  File: スパイマン.exe
CRC-32: 279c1769
   MD4: c5b37f62d6bcd124259d40f855ad6a1e
   MD5: 9c7861b4621cafe0a78bc82c8b5bacfd
 SHA-1: 3a8cb1e1d08cfb7a3b50f30332f8d75b8d34ad69
This should have been run at 50fps. I'm not familiar with hourglass internals, so I don't know whether that's enough of a technical foul for rejection. The game runs at the appropriate speed, just with a 5->6 cadence.
Joined: 3/7/2011
Posts: 23
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Very nice run. A short game, some glitches, and a truly epic ending :P Yes vote, I thought it was entertaining.
Warepire
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Nice run. Short, entertaining and quite glitchy. Yes vote.
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4036
Like the Nikujin TAS, it's short, glitchy, fast, and entertaining. Yes vote.
mklip2001
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Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
This isn't quite as entertaining as Nikujin, since you're not actually trying to fight enemies. The rapid grappling parts are cool, though, and the play seems pretty solid. It's a nice short game. Yes vote.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Joined: 1/8/2011
Posts: 74
Location: Saturn Valley Medical Center
Short and entertaining. Yes vote.
Samus plays the SA-Xaphone
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Joined: 9/25/2011
Posts: 652
Seems more like Suicide Spyman. Yes vote for all the right reasons.
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Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Rock you, nitrogenesis!
Joined: 2/17/2012
Posts: 10
Neat little run. yes
TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... sweet!