Jungle Hunt is a home console port of the classic Taito arcade game. Released in 1983 for the Atari 2600, it was a rather faithful port of the original arcade game, with almost all of the elements carying over to the system. With the games simplicity came much difficulty, jumping from rope to rope, killing alligators (looks a lot more like punching), avoiding boulders, and jumping over cannibals isn't easy. Jungle Hunt was generally well-received and is arguably one of the best games on the Atari 2600.
Game objectives
- Completes game in shortest amount of time possible
- Entertains without sacrificing frames
- Manipulates programming errors
- Has small luck manipulation
This run was a lot harder than my previous work. For one thing, the RNG was really hard to get around, especially during the fourth phase of the game. The way the RNG worked was based on how early I transitioned from the first to second phase of the game. The levels were simple, yet time consuming. I never remember spending so long trying to figure out the third and fourth phases of the game. It was worth it in the end, though.
Deadly Forest
This was very simple. All I really did was jump from rope to rope as quickly as possible so the screen wouldn't stop scrolling. This stage was the setup for the RNG that would either make or break this TAS. Depending on how fast I completed this stage, the RNG would be different.
Reptile River
Reptile River was quite straightforward. Avoid and kill the alligators... also get air so you don't drown. The entertainment also started in this stage, but it ain't that noticeable unless you look at the input log. There wasn't really any way to control how fast this level went, in other words, it was an autoscroller. You know what they say: EVERYBODY LOVES AUTOSCROLLERS!!
Boulder Fields
This was the hardest segment to work with. The RNG was a lot less forgiving than last time. The larger boulders were an greater numbers this time and they were a pain to deal with. I also try to make the entertainment more noticeable. I kinda succeed, but you don't move fast enough to make epic wiggles. There's also a couple frames were I duck on accident so That slowed the run down by a couple frames. All is not lost though.
Cannibal Camp
Yeah, this was the segment that made me think: "My brain should be rotting by now". The RNG for the first happy go-lucky cannibal was okay and he was rather easy to get over with. But the second cannibal was a lot hungrier than the first. In other words, his RNG sucked. I ended up having to slow down to get him to hop in the right position so I could do the newly found "two jump" method (credit to Spikestuff) correctly and save more time.
The girl that constantly looks from side to side waiting for the explorer to join her and end the game
This scene in a nutshell: Walk a few steps, jump, and you beat the game.
I would like to have tried to get some better RNG and make the entertainment a bit more noticeable. A few other things could be revised, but I think I did fairly welll.
I wonder how quickly this run will be obsoleted. I'm guessing a month or two. XD
This alone saved 1544 frames.
Should we really be waiting with this movie?
Oh right. The ending.
There's a "cutscene" at the end: during the scory tally (which only happens when you reach your wife): the characters start moving left and right (okay, dancing). It clearly indicates that the primary goal of the game has been reached, and all you have left now is doing everything over again, pretending you've just let the cannibals steal your wife yet again because it's fun. The game gets harder as the manual says, but I really consider this final event as the game's ending. Just like in Donkey Kong.
EDIT:
Then I tried the 3rd level alone (without the above improvement for the 2nd one):
91 frames faster.
Come on, this isn't even funny.
And finally, if you just jump on frame 8937 of your movie whole holding left, you can stop the movie there. The char will reach the wife and the score tally sill start.
