v1.15 - interesting ending
You can get .fm2 here.

Game Info

Super Contra (スーパー魂斗羅 エイリアンの逆襲 Sūpā Kontora: Eirian no Gyakushū, "Super Contra: The Alien Strikes Back") is a run and gun video game by Konami originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System under the shortened title of Super C in North America and in Europe and Australia as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces. It is the sequel to the original Contra and part of the Contra series . The game stars Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, as they are sent to thwart another alien invasion. Both the arcade version and the NES version have been re-released in various other platforms since their original releases.

Comments

Super Contra is my favorite game when I was a kid. Play once and once again. Also, this is the game that I made my first TAS on this site. 8 years later, I return to this game and finished a nice job. New glitches found these years have been used in this run. They are boss in area 1, elevator in area 4, and ceil glitch in area 8.
At the beginning of this work, I just wanted to use area 1 and area 4's glitch. Because I thought that ceil glitch belongs to "game end glitch" branch. Since mtvf1 suggested me to give it no branch, I agree with him. So this run aims to beat both "1 Player" & "2 Player". 2 players play through until the final ceil glitch.

Level-by-level compared

  • Compared to "2 Player" run
  • Area 1: 71 frames saved.
Using cannon glitch saves time for me. Such as 1 player & pacifist run.
  • Area 2: 8 frames saved.
Beat tanks faster.
  • Area 3: 0 frames saved.
Though beating boss saves 1 frame for me...
  • Area 4: 814 frames saved.
Huge improvement comes from the famouse elevator glitch. Double glitch used. But lost some time due to weaker weapon. On the other hand, I lost a few frames at the beginning of the vertical scroll. The second small screen movement couldn't appeared by me.
But due to Player 2's S weapon, boss's HP increase 36 in total (4 for each one).
  • Area 5: 88 frames lost.
Due to fewer lives.
  • Area 6: 0 frames saved.
  • Area 7: 2 frames saved.
Beat necessary scorpion nests (face hugger plants?!) faster. Avoid lag.
  • Area 8: 23402397 frames saved.
ceil glitch used.
  • Total improvement: 31473204 frames.

Notes

  • Score is very important in this run. More lives could save more time for me. So beated enemies as many as possible.
  • 30 thousand scores give the first bonus life. And 20 thousand each life after.
  • S weapon is not good choice. Because Boss will increase its own HP. I used S in area 4 because there is no better choice. And 4 more HP for each column.
  • 070F is another useful count ram for crab in Stage 3. Routine count is 7-0, and you can change it in 5-0 if Bill near the crab.

Tools used

  • Helpers mentioned in previous 1 player submission.

提升点

  • Area 1: 提升71帧
利用同屏敌人上限,卡掉直升机最后一个炮筒。(这个bug在一些hack里更明显,可能直升机一出现直接就是红蓝区域给你打)
  • Area 2: 提升8帧
这关能提升我都吃了jing,双坦克那里有稍稍的改进,行进路线也有一些改进。
  • Area 3: 无提升
虽然boss比原记录早死1帧,但未知原因并没有存下来。
  • Area 4: 提升814帧
如此大的提升源于电梯bug。在电梯处用F或者F+R,当屏幕Y坐标为0时,射到敌人使之掉血,但经试验蓄力F无效。而第1个电梯有些特殊,在坐标变成0的下一帧打爆弹夹才能触发。而录像中必须1P打爆才有效,原因未知。
第二个电梯那里在一个适当的实机跳起来能够稍微起到拉屏的作用,给第2个电梯的起步位置一个增益。 但由于2P用了S,使boss比正常情况下共增加了36血(每根柱子加4血)。没错,S是会给boss增益的。虽然我在打boss前领先1000多帧。
  • Area 5: 落后88帧
为什么落后,因为我没那么多命卖了啊。
  • Area 6: 无提升
可劲打嘴刷分
  • Area 7: 提升2帧
避免2帧lag。
  • Area 8: 提升2397帧
天花板bug,没什么需要说的。

笔记

  • 分数对于这次录像来说至关重要。命越多,卖队友的次数也就越多,捷径也就走的越多。理想情况下第5关还能再多卖2次,而最后的2次死亡能够避免。
  • 第1条命奖励需要3W分,之后每条命2W分。
  • S武器并不是明智的选择,因为他会加强boss。
  • 070F是个有用的RAM。在第3关螃蟹boss,你可以发现bill靠近boss时值会从7-0连续变化变成5-0.
  • 其它RAM请留意上一个单人记录投稿的百科外链。

Soig: New 57-frame improvement.

Nach: Judging.

Nach: Replacing with aforementioned improvement.

Nach: This was a nice improvement to a great existing run. The "game over" is somewhat questionable, but based on feos' arguments, I will allow this.
Good audience response, quite entertaining. Accepting to Stars.
feos: Pub.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5971: Soig's NES Super C "2 players" in 11:25.49
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Awesome stuff, voting yes!
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.
Memory
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Nice work. I don't think TASVideos uses labels like "Any%", but I imagine a solution for branches can be found nonetheless.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
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"2 players", by the current publisher guidelines.
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.
Challenger
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I waited for an 2p improvement of this game for years. Great work improving every stage! Yes vote. How picking "S" weapon increases boss HP? This sounds a bit odd for me.
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Soig
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Challenger wrote:
I waited for an 2p improvement of this game for years. Great work improving every stage! Yes vote. How picking "S" weapon increases boss HP? This sounds a bit odd for me.
That means boss comes on with more HP if player have S gun. For example, Boss in Area 5 is 32 HP. If anyone has S, it will be 48, if double S, it will be 56. That has been already mentioned in "2 player"s submission.
Editor, Skilled player (1441)
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That was incredibly cool. I highly enjoyed the action, the elevator glitch and the 2 player antics. Also, what a wtf ending. Yes vote.
ViGadeomes
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Eaziest yes of the day !
PJ
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"Wait, why are they dying after the crusher section? I thought the ceiling glitch was done earlier.....oh......oh nevermind" -Me Definitely yes. Very entertaining run!
Post subject: Re: #5971: Soig's NES Super C in 11:26.44
fsvgm777
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
At the beginning of this work, I just wanted to use area 1 and area 4's glitch. Because I thought that cell glitch belongs to "game end glitch" branch. Since mtvf1 suggested me to give it an "any%" name, I agree with him.
And I don't agree with him, since all any% TASes on this site do not have a branch at all or have a branch that's not just "any%". Per the Publisher Guidelines:
We don't have a concept of "default goal", therefore we don't use labels like "any%" as a branch label. Instead we identify what is unique in every branch or set of branches, something that the other branches of the same game don't represent.
NB: The branch has been removed in the meantime.
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Post subject: Re: #5971: Soig's NES Super C in 11:26.44
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fsvgm777 wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
At the beginning of this work, I just wanted to use area 1 and area 4's glitch. Because I thought that cell glitch belongs to "game end glitch" branch. Since mtvf1 suggested me to give it an "any%" name, I agree with him.
And I don't agree with him, since all any% TASes on this site do not have a branch at all or have a branch that's not just "any%". Per the Publisher Guidelines:
We don't have a concept of "default goal", therefore we don't use labels like "any%" as a branch label. Instead we identify what is unique in every branch or set of branches, something that the other branches of the same game don't represent.
NB: The branch has been removed in the meantime.
I never suggest him use any% as a branch. I told him with no branch.
Post subject: Re: #5971: Soig's NES Super C in 11:26.44
Soig
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mtvf1 wrote:
I never suggest him use any% as a branch. I told him with no branch.
I've corrected the text. I remembered a wrong message.
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That was excellent! Yes vote for sure. One question: at the end of area 5 when the boss is defeated, the blue player is slightly behind the red player when they exit the level. Would it make a difference if they were both as far right as possible?
Soig
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c-square wrote:
That was excellent! Yes vote for sure. One question: at the end of area 5 when the boss is defeated, the blue player is slightly behind the red player when they exit the level. Would it make a difference if they were both as far right as possible?
Nope, it doesn't waste time at all. To be honest, it won't be slow if players don't jump to the right while exiting.
NhatNM
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Wow, nice run, skip final boss glitch is too cool. Vote Yes Btw, I'm wondering noone ask why at final actions need spend time to wait for suicide?
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Soig
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xxNKxx wrote:
Wow, nice run, skip final boss glitch is too cool. Vote Yes Btw, I'm wondering noone ask why at final actions need spend time to wait for suicide?
Using suicide at the key position to avoid the ceil falling down. And "1 player" spend time to wait, too. But it's much shorter (~<10 frames). It takes longer time to wait due to different player's pos on screen. Enemy will appear and the glitch could be avoided only when the screen move to a right position. And player's position in single mode is behind in double mode. So I have to do like this.
XYZ
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Epic final of last level. Yes vote.
fcxiaopengyou
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good improve and nice eye to see,yes vote!
Working on: [NES] Downtown Special - Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou! (J) ''2 players 100%'' Plan: [SNES] Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba (Japan) _________________ My English is pour. 
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yes vote!
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
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Post subject: Re: #5971: Soig's NES Super C in 11:26.44
fsvgm777
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mtvf1 wrote:
I never suggest him use any% as a branch. I told him with no branch.
Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification.
TASVideoAgent wrote:
Soig: New 57-frame improvement.
It would be really nice if you actually posted the improvement in this thread instead of leaving it as an edit to your submission, because it can be easily missed if just left as an edit. (by the way, the reported time on Microstorage is wrong, it is in fact 11:25.49 long)
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Post subject: Re: #5971: Soig's NES Super C in 11:26.44
Soig
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fsvgm777 wrote:
(by the way, the reported time on Microstorage is wrong, it is in fact 11:25.49 long)
. After my [2940] Genesis Contra: Hard Corps "secret ending" by Soig in 04:57.42 event, I didn't care about the time but frame count.
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I'm not sure what to make of the ending of this run. How do you guys feel about how it was completed? The players getting game over?
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.
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I don't personally mind the Game Over. After all, what happens during the game over is more entertaining to me than just shooting the final boss.
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They don't waste all the lives they have, they just share them to effectively prevent real game over where both players lose a continue and start the level from scratch. The same thing as here also happens in [983] NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project "2 players" by Xipo in 30:30.87, where one player constantly gets game over (to reduce enemy spawns) and borrows lives from the other. So yes, it's not "the game over", lives can be refilled, the game keeps progressing as long as at least one if alive. Additionally, the game still gets beaten. Finally, there's no appearance of the string "game over" in the Movie Rules. Arcade continues are mentioned, and even they, as DarkKobold, senior judge at the time, originally stated, may be allowed on the case by case basis (hence "These rules are not strict"). More info here: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=469917#469917 So I don't see any points against what is actually present in this movie.
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.
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Nach wrote:
I'm not sure what to make of the ending of this run. How do you guys feel about how it was completed? The players getting game over?
This tas is aim for the fastest, no matter what is 1 or 2 players. The logo of game over is a part of plan for fastest. So it's not the full 2 players run. The similar movie is [983] NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project "2 players" by Xipo in 30:30.87. Xipo use death to reduce the number of enemies and boss's HP, though this trick is not happened on Super Contra. [1069] NES Guerrilla War "2 players" by X2poet in 13:01.06 In this game, you can use the unlimited lives. And these 2 tas all obsoleted the 1 player's run. This 2 players' tas obsoleted 1 player's, too. [1807] Arcade Metal Slug X "2 players" by X2poet in 18:32.20 Because of the hardest difficulty. And some 1 player's obsoleted 2 players'. [1164] NES Jackal "1 player" by klmz in 07:25.98 [2267] NES Snow Bros. "1 player" by asdfgary in 13:12.61 I don't know what the hell of these tas happened. Because of the low rate, the 2 players run be changed the tier to Vault. And the 1 player run have to obsolete the 2 palyers. But someday I remember FractalFusion changed it back to moon. In fact, the fastest tas of this game is a low quality unpublished warp run #1871: max12187566's NES Snow Bros. in 12:58.20