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Pac-Land is a 1984 arcade game that saw ports to later home consoles, the PCE version being more true to the original release. it also has a stage in super smash bros ultimate, so that's pretty cool!
this run completes 8 trips of the game, after that the game shows a "The End" screen.
there's not much I'm going to mention in this tas as it's fairly straight forward. there's a few times where I can clip in the haunted house levels to get farther and some places where I can jump at the right time to push me forward. everything else is just clever timing to get around object in the fastest way possible.

ThunderAxe31: Judging.
ThunderAxe31: I took a quick look at how the movement works in this game, and I was able to save about 3 seconds during the first 32 seconds alone (movie file here, more explanations here). Since these improvements could be applied to a whole run, it means that the submitted movie is largely suboptimal. Rejecting.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6299: EZGames69's PCE Pac-Land in 23:09.63
nymx
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This effort doesn't seem to miss any optimizations, some places exist where you have to slow down...but its necessary to avoid the barrage of enemies. One thing that really bites about this games...it doesn't seem to be possible to skip the bonus time tally. :( Yes vote.
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Techokami
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Wonder why you don't go for score bonuses at the end of stages? I don't think it costs time, and nailing the best bonus is tricky to do in real time as well. Same goes for getting fruits and bonuses that are in the way that shouldn't cost time to collect. The door clips in Round 19 are cool and good! Also, before anyone mentions it: the warp that is present in the arcade version does not exist in this port. If you try it in this version, all it does is make Pac-Man walk backwards or turn upside down. Though, there is a hard mode that you can play by pressing Start at the ending, but I don't know if it would be worth doing. Yes vote!
EZGames69
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Techokami wrote:
Wonder why you don't go for score bonuses at the end of stages?
do you mean grabbing fruit that randomly appears? i did try to get some of those but kinda gave up and got bored doing it.
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GJTASer2018
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EZGames69 wrote:
Techokami wrote:
Wonder why you don't go for score bonuses at the end of stages?
do you mean grabbing fruit that randomly appears?
No, not that. This is what Technokami means:
At the end of each round, you’ll receive bonus points if you jump right before the game “takes over”. The closer you are to the ground before the music ends – without touching the ground - the more points you get (10, 100, 300, 1,000, or 7650). This works going either to the right (towards the church) or to the left (towards home).
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Memory
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I got really bored after the first 3 minutes due to how repetitive it felt. Voting no.
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Spikestuff
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Entertainment isn't there much like the Lynx port. Voting No.
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Post subject: Re: #6299: EZGames69's PCE Pac-Land in 23:09.63
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
there's not much I'm going to mention in this tas as it's fairly straight forward.
I have to disagree. After some basic routine checks, I found that there are some acceleration quirks that allow for TAS-only tricks that would save time through an entire run:
  1. If you start pressing the running button before the Pac-Man has finished his scripted walking at the beginning of a level, you will begin with a speed of 0. Instead, you should begin keeping the running button after that Pac-Man finished walking on his own, because it allows to start with a speed of 224 subpixels.
  2. Running has an acceleration of 16 subpixels/frame, while during a jump there is an acceleration of 8 subpixel/frame. This means that you get to the peak speed earlier by walking, so you shouldn't jump before reaching a speed of at least 448 subpixels/frame.
  3. Releasing the running button for two frames and then pressing it again for two frames allows to get an additional speed of 224 subpixels/frame, for a maximum of 512. Doing this repeatedly allows to save an appreciable amount of time through a whole run (11--11--11--11--11--). This should be done preferably while jumping, as the acceleration is lower and thus you keep more overall speed between these input cycles.
  4. Sometimes Pac-Man will lose speed if he lands while you're not pressing the running button. In order to avoid this, you need slow down a bit before landing, by delaying the input breaks (111--111--).
Here are the RAM addresses in .wch file format (BizHawk 2.3.1): Download PCE_Pac-Land.wch
Language: wch

SystemID PCE 0178 w u 0 Main Memory speed 0600 b u 0 Main Memory subpixel 04C0 b u 0 Main Memory pixel 0500 b u 0 Main Memory uppixel
And here my attempt of TASing the first section of the first trip, saving 175 frames off your submission: User movie #54588952993562208
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