Submission Text Full Submission Page
This is a TAS of Super Mario XP for Windows.

Game objectives / info

  • Emulator used: Hourglass r81
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Manipulates luck
  • Uses warps
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors

About the game

This is a fangame that crosses over elements of Castlevania with old-school 8-bit SMB1. It is made in 2001 in either Click 'n Create or Multimedia Fusion by a Japanese developer called CnC Darkside. Read more about it here [dead link removed] and download it from here [dead link removed]

Tricks I used

Moving platform glitch

I used this glitch in stage 4 just for entertainment.

Invincibility

I found this glitch accidentally when I took damage from a plasma ball and shot a fireball at the same time in stage 5.

turska: Judging.

turska: The movie uses an incorrect FPS setting, which causes highly distracting visual anomalities with this particular game. 50 seems to be the correct setting; this movie uses 60.
This game simply doesn't make for an entertaining TAS. The grievous audio and glacial speed make watching the run a grueling experience.
As such, I'm rejecting this movie for bad game choice, technical issues regarding Hourglass settings and overwhelming negative audience response.

turska: NOT unrejected under the neo-TASVideos publication system, since the technical issues regarding the Hourglass settings are still sufficient for rejection.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15585
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3658: Anonymous6327's Windows Super Mario XP in 13:20.00
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4125)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4090
Location: The Netherlands
Bleh, the game looks really messy. No vote for game choice. It looks like Mario and Castlevania put straight into a blender, taking random elements from each. There's barely any creativity involved, and the game's core design is messy as hell. Graphically it looks kinda ugly, especially some of the sprites look really bad. Animation and movement are choppy, and the action is a bit sluggish and slow, which also makes it more boring to watch a speedrun of. The sound puts me off, the music is 8-bit at times, pseudo-8-bit at other times and some odd kind of midi at other times. The sound effects are also often something way beyond that, and greatly inconsistent. If a game attempts to resemble 8-bit, it should do so all the way, and this messy half job just puts me off. I don't know about the speedrun quality itself, it looks decent, but the game isn't worth a publication in my opinion. No vote.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Editor, Skilled player (1439)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2108
I need to be honest, I didn't find the run very enjoyable. It seems like Super Mario Bros' stupidly simple stage layouts were taken while Mario's legs have been crippled to Belmont level. It doesn't make for a good combination, I have to be honest. And despite being so slow, you still had to slow down a couple of times. If you could at least control your jump height, or use subweapons more often, the run could be more entertaining, but this way, it doesn't look good. The platform glitches and boss fights were fairly amusing, but to me, they weren't enough to save the run. The game itself is also not very enjoyable because of the sound: Randomly picked low-quality* Castlevania tracks combined with Mario's jump sound and a really annoying yell - Not good. This way, the game does not really have enough for me to offer to make a good TAS. Therefore, I'll have to vote 'no'. Please don't be discouraged, but unless it can somehow be made entertaining enough to excuse the sound, it's a bad game choice. *To be fair, this could also be the encode's fault. Mothrayas: I think some tracks were taken from the (J) version of Castlevania 2 and Castlevania 3, both of which use extra sound channels to enhance the music beyond what a NES normally can do. Therefore, they are authentic. Still doesn't sound good, though.
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4125)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4090
Location: The Netherlands
Yeah, I underestimated the sounds of the music made in the Famicom version of Castlevania 2. (I was aware of the music upgrade for Castlevania 3, but not for 2, nor did I know its music well enough). Still sounds horribly inconsistent though.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Site Admin, Skilled player (1254)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11478
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
So booooooooring...............
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Editor, Experienced player (860)
Joined: 8/12/2008
Posts: 845
Location: Québec, Canada
Bad game choice. NO vote.
fsvgm777
She/Her
Senior Publisher, Player (226)
Joined: 5/28/2009
Posts: 1214
Location: Luxembourg
Stage 4 was the only entertaining part of the TAS. The rest was really boring to watch. I'm voting no due to bad game choice, just like pretty much everyone else so far.
Steam Community page - Bluesky profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4036
The game is slow-paced, not pleasing to look at, and has too limited of a moveset to do anything entertaining while Mario runs and jumps right for justice. The sound effects aren't very good either, especially the annoying low-quality yell Mario makes sometimes. Bad game choice, no vote.
Experienced player (705)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1800
Location: Brasil
this looks better than a normal mario walkathon in my opinion,the bosses are more interesting also.
I want all good TAS inside TASvideos, it's my motto. TAS i'm interested: Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS? i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
Cooljay
He/Him
Active player (397)
Joined: 5/1/2012
Posts: 468
Location: Canada
This game is painfully slow. Most of the time watching this. I was thinking "Come on Mario hurry it up." Game design is confusing too.The game creator can't decide whether it's SMB 1/3 or Castlevania.
Joined: 5/2/2009
Posts: 656
This game takes the worst of Mario and Castlevania and mix it together. The TAS is well done, but it does not make entertaining enough. Sorry, no vote
My first language is not English, so please excuse myself if I write something wrong. I'll do my best do write as cleary as I can, so cope with me here =) (ノಥ益ಥ)ノ
Joined: 8/2/2011
Posts: 39
Voting no. This game is ugly, slow, and has a really bad jumping sound effect. The run looked good though, just wish the game choice was less horrible.
Editor
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 1466
Location: Not playing Puyo Tetris
That, is a bad game.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 29
Its Super Mario Bros. with Castlevania graphics and sound...... Voted No for game choice
Editor, Expert player (2073)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
This game is weird. I actually like it. The platform ride in Stage 4 is rather long, unfortunately. Also, I didn't catch the warp to Stage 3 first time around so I found myself asking where "Stage 3" was. What's more interesting, there was actually an older 14:17 version of this run on Nicovideo by the same author iiro2 that has over 150K views. It came in #2 spot on June 2012 Nicovideo TAS Rankings. (All links above are actually two links, first one for account, second one for no account.) No wonder the final boss fight seemed to be familiar to something I watched in the past.
Editor, Skilled player (1536)
Joined: 7/9/2010
Posts: 1319
Bad game choose --> No vote
Favorite animal: STOCK Gt(ROSA)26Sortm1.1(rtTA,EGFP)Nagy Grm7Tg(SMN2)89Ahmb Smn1tm1Msd Tg(SMN2*delta7)4299Ahmb Tg(tetO-SMN2,-luc)#aAhmb/J YouTube Twitch
Joined: 4/1/2010
Posts: 96
That stupid NES Garfield game was worse. I watched this whole thing and enjoyed it. Marginal yes.
Joined: 7/16/2006
Posts: 635
Anyone else hoping Bowser would throw a goblet at Mario and ask him what a man was? No vote. Rather dull really.
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2178
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I liked the idea of a Super Mario / Castlevania mash-up... But it didn't turn out so well, graphics where mostly cool, but the game is horribly slow and not all that exciting. I have to vote No for game choice.
Joined: 6/22/2010
Posts: 44
Location: The Hell of Blazing Fires
You guys will give a hundred yes votes so enthusiastically to any given Castlevania game but immediately dismiss this as boring? Has anyone here that voted no actually watched a classic Castlevania run on here? If anything, this run is more interesting because it actually uses more then one weapon. Maybe I'm biased because I never actually played Castlevania and I thought this game was intriguing if only for it's well executed retro mash up but if you ask me, this doesn't look a whole lot different from something like the original NES Castlevania run or even the GB Castlevania one. By the way, people who say this game isn't pleasing to look at clearly never appreciated having an NES in their childhood. Although I will admit the sound quality is abysmal, but after Nikujin, I started forgiving that in games like this.
This is only a little obsessive.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
RinKaenbyou wrote:
You guys will give a hundred yes votes so enthusiastically to any given Castlevania game but immediately dismiss this as boring? Has anyone here that voted no actually watched a classic Castlevania run on here?
I vote no and give low ratings on all Playstation and Gameboy Advance Castlevania runs. Edit: Forgot that Chronicles was on PSX, so apply what I said to all but that one.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4125)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4090
Location: The Netherlands
RinKaenbyou wrote:
You guys will give a hundred yes votes so enthusiastically to any given Castlevania game but immediately dismiss this as boring? Has anyone here that voted no actually watched a classic Castlevania run on here?
At least the original Castlevania actually looked anywhere near decent.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Okay, I finally got around to watching this. At first I was very put off by this, because this looked like a Mario game, and the frame rate is way too slow for a Mario game. But after the first level, it looked more like a Castlevania game, and for Castlevania, I thought this was decent. Overall I would accept this game. However, some of the play looked inoptimal. I don't know the game well, but I have the feeling you can improve this run by a good 20 seconds if not more. Therefore, I'm voting meh, for the playing, not the game.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Mothrayas wrote:
It looks like Mario and Castlevania put straight into a blender, taking random elements from each.
I disagree. The music is from Castlevanid. The background are from Castlevania. The enemies are Mario with some Castlevania twists to them. Mario himself is Mario, but moves like Simon. The levels initially look very much Mario, but then look mostly Castlevania but with a Mario feel to them. Lastly, some game elements seem to be stolen straight out of Super Turrican.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Laggy scrolling and some ill fitting sound effects is what I find in the game. But I have to agree, it looks like this has some instances of suboptimal play. Yet at the same time it looks like there was skill involved in playing.