It's my boy Q-Boy, after nearly 2 years this crap is done

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.2
  • Abuses some programming errors
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates Luck
  • Unofficial game
  • Genre: Platform

Comments

k im good now lets start this thing. Q Boy is an unlicensed game developed and published by Sachen in 1994. It stars the titular character, Q-Boy, on his search to track down the evil Dr. Mouse, in his attempt to steal the Flower of Dream and destroy the peace of the Q Galaxy. Honestly, this is a really good game, not only as a bootleg game, but as an NES game in general. It's tight, fun and charming, being better than some actually licensed games. It's one of my favorite games on the system, and it's one of the best pirated games ever, joining in with Metal Force and the the Zook Z games on Game Boy in terms of quality and fun.
As for the TAS itself, well... I started this TAS back in July of 2014, nearly 2 years ago. Yeah... that long, mainly because my TASing skills back then were crap, hell, I didn't even know what a TAS Editor was. Another reason being the improvements and such, and my overall motivation for the project. But at last, this movie is finally done. Actually, this movie is almost about 2 minutes faster than the original TAS of this game back then, DAMN SON TIME SURE FLIES.

Tricks n' stuff

For more info regarding this section, go check the Game Resources page.
This game has some rather unique mechanics involved, such as float jumps, shooting air puffs and other fun stuff. It really feels like it's own thing and not like a ripoff.
This game is FILLED with frame perfect stuff, such as avoiding refilling your power bar, avoiding spikes/lava, jumping while charging your shot, among other things. There's few glitches, but not enough to call them significant. There's also a frame rule thingy with the timer, which screws with u forever if ur not fast enough... sad D:

Stage by stage comments

TODO TODO TODOTODOTODOTODOTODOTODOTODOTODO TODO TODO TODO TODOTODOTODOTODOTODO

Stage 1

A grassy land with waterfalls and a castle, where the Blob King resides in.

1-1

1-2

1-3

1-4

Boss 1

Stage 2

The ice world, with some unique physics thrown into the mix.

2-1

2-2

2-3

2-4

Boss 2

Stage 3

A sky level with autoscrollers, nothing interesting here.

3-1

3-2

Boss 3

Stage 4

A desert with a maze and an unusual surprise at the boss.

4-1

4-2

4-3

4-4

Boss 4

Stage 5

Dr. Mouse's lair, where the Flower of Dream is located.

5-1

5-2

5-3

5-4

Final Boss

Bonus stages...

Other comments

Alyosha's Comments

Dekutony had asked me to help get this finished up, so I did. The run was largely finished, I simply went over it and made improvements where I could find them, saving about 30 seconds overall. I found the game to be pretty interesting and the balance of health and power led to some interesting strategies. Unfortunately I think the entertainment value suffers quite a bit from long back to back autoscrollers and the maze in level 4. Still though, pretty good high quality unlicensed game.

Speshul Tnx

To Samsara, for the encode and support in the thread.
To Spikestuff, Patashu and MESHUGGAH, for posting in the thread and showing interest.
To TASeditor, for his incredible help, improvements, LUA script, RAM Search, Tutorials and support.
And to Alyosha, for finishing this TAS, improving it and great help! srsly man thanks a lot ur da best

Screenshots

later. maybe you can suggest your own too! :D

Q-Thanks 4 Q-Watching!!!


Fog: Q-Judging!
Samsara: NO I'M Q-JUDGING (picking this up from Fog with his permission).
Samsara: Cute little bootleg game with some solid TAS work behind it. Accepting to Vault.
Spikestuff: Publishing.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15628
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5127: dekutony & Alyosha's NES Q Boy in 30:41.75
Site Admin, Skilled player (1255)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11495
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
need to backup my files
Someone is still not using Git?
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, Skilled player (1537)
Joined: 7/9/2010
Posts: 1319
You can remove me as author, since I didn't really work on it.
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
Experienced player (691)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2239
Location: Guatemala
Um actually, you kinda did. Some of the input is yours, as well as some improvements and pretty much you helped me a lot when I initially started TASing this game (and in general) , so I thought that would be the fair thing.
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2241)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Skilled player (1743)
Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
Location: ̶C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ "Kanatah"
Can the submission text please be expanded on? It makes it sound like a "simple" game that warrants no comment despite taking 2 years plus 2/3 authors to create. I'm really curious why/how. :P
Ford
He/Him
Joined: 3/5/2013
Posts: 183
Location: California
Seemed a little repetitive. Looks like you utilized some glitches, though? Who's Puffkid, btw?
Experienced player (691)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2239
Location: Guatemala
Puff Kid was the original name of the game and character, before it was changed to Q-Boy. It is a nice easter egg, though.
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Editor, Skilled player (1537)
Joined: 7/9/2010
Posts: 1319
jlun2 wrote:
Can the submission text please be expanded on? It makes it sound like a "simple" game that warrants no comment despite taking 2 years plus 2/3 authors to create. I'm really curious why/how. :P
It just was put on the shelf for that long. And it doesn't need multiple authors, dekutony just wasn't good enough back then to analyse the game well and perform certain tricks.
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
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
This is slightly improvable on most parts, but improvements are gated by a frame rule. (I tried :() Yes otherwhise, entertaining run.
Experienced player (691)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2239
Location: Guatemala
xy2_ wrote:
This is slightly improvable on most parts, but improvements are gated by a frame rule.
Please elaborate.
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
Experienced player (691)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2239
Location: Guatemala
oh,i forgot about that hehe. im glad you enjoyed the tas anyway
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4038
A nice little run, and I agree that the game is better than some actual licensed games on the NES. Yes vote! Also, the character reminds me of Kirby. Maybe it's the air puffs and cute faces.
Alyosha
He/Him
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (3827)
Joined: 11/30/2014
Posts: 2834
Location: US
I happen to notice in Samsara's temp encode that the health never goes down. I have no idea why this might be, different ROM? I just mention it as a note to publishers since health management is a pretty important part of the run.
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2241)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
Alyosha wrote:
I happen to notice in Samsara's temp encode that the health never goes down. I have no idea why this might be, different ROM? I just mention it as a note to publishers since health management is a pretty important part of the run.
Yeah, different ROM, my bad. I can re-encode it on the right ROM if it makes any difference. It might help get more feedback for the run as well.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Invariel
He/Him
Editor, Site Developer, Player (171)
Joined: 8/11/2011
Posts: 539
Location: Toronto, Ontario
The character stops moving for no apparent reason from time (1:21) to time (1:31), and the game seems to be "run right and jump and blow smoke" to victory, with really annoying sound effects. I can't comment on the optimization but I can say that this game bored me. Voting 'meh'.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Experienced player (691)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2239
Location: Guatemala
Invariel wrote:
The character stops moving for no apparent reason from time (1:21) to time (1:31)
This is faster than keep moving forward. I need to refill my power bar a little to make a jump without getting tired and doing consecutive frame perfect jumps that delay my movement before that. (see original WIPs from long ago). BTW, any screenshot suggestions? I dunno which one to choose, so what are you guys' favorite moments from the run?
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15628
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3166] NES Q Boy by dekutony & Alyosha in 30:41.75