Improvement breakdown:
Level 1: 22 frames
Level 2: 11 frames
Level 3: 22 frames
Level 4: 18 frames
Note - as you can tell from the numbers, there is an 11 frame rule in this game.
This is actually potentially a very interesting version of this game, that brings up a lot of issues to sort out, but I will break down the issues and what I think the results are:
- Wii VC
- This version of the game was only released on the Wii Virtual Console, the Rom used here was extracted from the .wad file
- The game is actually a completely legitimate NES game, identical to the NES release. And officially released by Nintendo, even though that release date is about 20 years after the lifespan of the console
- Given that this is a real nintendo game, I think it makes more sense to TAS it as a NES rom, not a dolphin VC TAS which would result in a double layer of emulation (dolphin emulating the VC emulating a nintendo
- Treat it as an official game or a hack?
- The major difference is the introduction of an extra level (which was in the original arcade version)
- The board type used for this game is MMC1 while the original was NROM
- I think this is evidence that this version actually predates the original!
- The game doesn't quite fit on the (cheaper) NROM that is limited to 32kb, so rather than use a more expensive board such as MMC1, a level was gutted. It makes more sense that the pre-gutted version was released 25 years later as opposed to someone going back and writing in assembly an extra level into the game
- Given that this is an official release, and likely intended to be released originally, I think it makes sense to treat as such, and thus it would be vaultable
- 50 or 60hz?
- It was released on the VC as a PAL (50hz) game
- However, the original NES rom is not region specific (the PAL release of Donkey Kong was just the NTSC version)
- The PAL behavior in the Wii is the result of the VC, not the game, therefore I think it makes more sense for it to be the preferred NTSC speed
One final thing to sort out on this submission is the category.
This is the "full completion" type category for this game and is thus vaultable. It is arguably rather trivially different from the any% movie, but that shouldn't be a factor with vaultability. The items collected are clearly intended to be collected as part of a full completion (it is even mentioned in the instruction book as such).
adelikat: Replaced submission file with a 12 frames faster movie. I made a mistake in the original submission and forgot a ladder boost near the end of the movie.
GoddessMaria: It appears that the responses for this game and goal choice are divided. Some are okay with it and others are not. Considering that a consensus was made in the IRC in regards to the game and goal's legitimacy, I have come to the decision of accepting it for the Vault. The optimization is solid and the goal is considered "100%" by the game's manual.
The Consensus:
The ROM has been confirmed to run as a proper NTSC game at 60 FPS by BizHawk. As for the region coding, the game is identical for both NTSC and PAL regions and as such works for both regions as evidenced by the Wii and 3DS releases of this game. The extra stage was excluded from the NES DK game due to size and time constraints, but looks as if it were probably planned to be included. As such, we can consider this game extract of the Virtual Console WAD to be the "true" version of the game. The goal is also considered valid, as the game's instruction manual refers to the collecting the accessories as an extra goal, mentioning it as "what a true hero would do", and fitting the basic criteria for 100% completion.
