Movie objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.3.1
- Beats Tekken Force Mode
- Uses a character available from the start
Manipulates Pushes Luck
- Takes damage to save time (both from enemies and self-inflicted)
- Avoids redauntant loops by using starting from SRAM (verification movie here)
- Ends input early
- "Saves" Doctor Bos
ckonovitch
- Uses hardest difficulty
- Genre: Fighting
About the run
In this movie I attempt to beat the Tekken Force Mode as fast as possible. It's a game mode that it's available from the start, which basically consists in a beat 'em up quest. The final goal of the mode is saving stabbing to death the Doctor Boskonovitch. In order to do so, you need to first beat the main quest 3 times. Right after the 4° time you clear the main quest, Doctor Boskonovitch will challenge you.
About the SRAM
Normally a game (or game mode) can't considered as properly beaten if you don't go through it all from start to finish. However, in this case I considered it worth to make an exception, in order to skip the first three iterations necessary for accessing the fight with Dr. Boskonovitch. In my opinion it improves the entertaining much, while bringing minimal technical demeterits. Here are my three reasons:
- As far as I could tell, there are no differences between each time you face the main quest,
and these would even feature the same RNG, which would end up with having the very same similar movie contents repeated four times during the same TAS. You could even reboot the console for getting the very same RNG again, despite which is the next iteration to clear. In fact, in the verification movie I provided, the first minute of gameplay features the very same inputs as in the submitted movie. The only difference I found is the RNG that decides which character is mimic'd by Mokukin.
- A game featuring loops does usually present these during the same playthrough. Instead, here we have a mode that requires the player to start at least four separated plays, as each time you beat this mode you get brought back to the main menu.
- After beating Dr. Boskonivitch, the game won't present his fight again, unless you erase your save file or remove the Memory Card from the console.
With that said, I wanted to point out that (in my point of view) a single iteration of this game mode can be already be considered as a full playthrough, as the fight with Dr. Boskovitch would actually appear as a bonus that goes outside of the common. After all, we already allow movies starting from SRAM if it's for the sake of starting a second quest or an unlockable game mode. I understand that this is not exactly the kind of cases we've seen until now, but that's because this game is giving an unique situation, so the final judgment will set a new borderline in any case.
About the movie
Optimizing a Tekken Force TAS is a very complex task. There are countless possible scenarios in each fight, as you often have to manipulate two foes at the same time, while at the same time advancing as much quick as possible through the level. Then, add to that that there are multiple playable characters available, whose are all very different from each other. In order to make a (supposedly) perfect TAS, there would need many years of study about every game mechanic and all its possible applications... Which in my opinion would not be worth the effort. I believe that it makes much more sense to just go with applying all the already known techs, while at the same time putting enough optimization in order to make the resulting TAS relatively hard to improve. I hope that this movie will encourage more people into trying to research and improve TASing for this game mode. If you want to know about the specific strategies I've adopted through the TAS, keep reading.
The character choice
With what I just said, of course I picked a character that I'm already familiar with. Still, I had to carefully study his
complete moveset and
obscure quirks, as well as figuring out which moves could be useful and in which situations. From what I've experienced while researching, it seemed to me that Yoshimitsu is a very slow fighter, except for a couple of moves (Fubuki and Side Kick). On the other hand, he features many weird moves that allow him to do fancy stuff that give him unique advantages in Tekken Force situations, mostly for killing enemies out of screen and moving quickly around with freedom, even if still having a target locked.
Foe despawning
Discovered by Spikestuff. Each foe has either a scripted spawn that triggers when you reach the end of the current screen, or a spawn point that it's triggered when you walk past a certain distance. However, in the second case, they won't spawn if the foe slots are still occupied while you reach their spawn point, thus they will never spawn. So it's possible to skip many foes by travelling through the current screen as fast as possible, before the current foes do disappear from being KO'ed. I mostly do this by defeating some foes by using moves that make Yoshimitsu travel far and fast.
RNG manipulation
The actions of the foes depends on your actions, not on your inputs. So you can only manipulate them by changing something in the moves you used and their timings. Other than that, you can open and close the pause menu, in case you're not in a good position for changing your current approach too much.
Moves used
Here is the full list of the moves I used in this TAS, grouped for the different uses I made of them. You can get more detailed informations in this
page; note that the command notation is a standard for Tekken community, you can see a legend
here.
Quick attacks
- Right Punch: If you're not running, then it's the fastest way to KO enemies with the lowest amount of health.
- Side Kick: An incredible compromise between speed and power. Also, its reach is so long that it makes it often your fastest choice for attacking while running, even though you stop running when using it.
- Fubuki: You can either use it while running or from standing. It's a bit faster than Side Kick, but has a shorter reach, as well as a longer cooldown time. Be aware that foes can use this attack, too.
Very long reach attacks
- Sword Impale: Extremely slow, but also extremely powerful. Allows to kill enemies off screen and deal a great initial damage to later bosses.
- Moonsault Slayer: Very slow, but allows to hit from very far away, and it's almost impossible to dodge. I wonder how many friendships has ruined.
Double kill attacks
- Avoiding the Puddle: Good speed, good power and great lateral range.
- Left Kick: Very slow on both engaging and cooldown, but devastating if it connects. With RNG manipulation, it can even OHKO the most healthy foes. However it has a very short lateral range, so prepare yourself for a lot of trial and error.
- Flying Cross Chop: That's that diving attack from running, the one that almost all characters can use. The great thing is that it allows to travel some extra space through the level before the foes have disappeared, which can sometimes be enough for despawning enemies .
Chained kills attacks
- Zig Zag: When you just can't do a double OHKO, use this combo. It's extremely powerful and Yoshimitsu will automatically lock on the following target just a moment before delivering the second hit.
Multi-purpose uber combo
- Shark Attack: Starts from far, travels quickly and delivers a lot of damage. It can also hit crouched enemies, so it's especially useful for attacking a boss right after using Sword Impale.
- Dive Bomb: Can be used only after Shark Attack. It travels very far in an extremely short timespan, thus saving a lot of time, from both having to walk and efficiently despawning enemies. Also, if we exclude the sword attacks, this is the most powerful of Yoshimitsu's moves.
- Kangaroo Kick: Can be chained after Dive Bomb or being used indipendently. Extremely slow and very short reach, gets almost always blocked or dodged. If connecting, it sends the foe up into the sky, allowing to start a juggle... except that juggles are unnecessary in a Tekken Force TAS. Instead, I'm using this mostly as a finisher hit after Dive Bomb: this makes it handy despite being a slow move.
Movement trickeries
- Evasive Side Spin: Allows to move laterally very fast, at the price of sacrificing your own health. Useful for adjusting your position while advancing through the level despite having a target locked to the left of the screen.
- Meditation: I used this when I wanted to turn sides before the current foe disappeared from being KO'ed. In order to do so, it's necessary to press the back direction with frame precision. I learned about this thanks to this video.
It seems that people like detailed explainations and stuff, so why not?
Stage 1: Backstreets
Screen 1
Here we are, where everything starts. We run towards the edge of the screen, where the very first foe will spawn, a Crow, asking to be beaten up as fast as possible. Right after using a Side Kick, we adjust our position with a Left Side Step.
Screen 2
After the screen resumes moving, we begin a Shark Attack combo. The first attack will destroy the first foe, while the subsequent Dive Bomb will be performed just for travelling past some foe spawn points. Right after getting up, we turn towards the other foe and we deliver a Right Punch, as in the meantime he approaches just for saving us the trouble of having to walk to him.
The next foe will be from a scripted spawn, placed on the bottom right, and in order to get there in time we'll need to use a Evasive Side Spin, which will place us right where we need to be. The foe will attack us right after spawning, and we will confront him with a Left Punch from behind, which will result in both parts getting hit, which will conveniently allow us to turn back again sooner, in order to go get the next foe, spawning on the left, and give him a Side Kick.
We turn towards the right again, as we need to go greet our first Falcon foe with a running Fubuki. And since we have some free time before the next foe spawns, we use Yoshimitsu's signature Left Kick for treating him, because in this case turned out faster than other any other idea.
Screen 3
We again start a new screen with a Shark Attack combo, except that this time we hit our next foe with the Dive Bomb part. Then use attack the other Crow with a reverse slap, which is a relatively long-ranged attack to use from behind. That's because this last foe is too much busy hitting the air with his knee, so we had to do the courtesy of getting him ourselves.
While we're still staring at the agonizing Crow, we begin stepping backwards, in order to get closer to where the next Falcon will spawn. Too bad he's a little shy, as opposite of the subsequent Crow, which will instead come right away for meeting our Side Kick. Then the Falcon decides to try it out too.
We then start step backwards again, and right after the first Crow spawns on the left side, we turn to the left while doing a jump. This is not the quickest way to reach the edge of the screen, but for some reason it much less scares away the Crows, which will be happily meet a Side Kick and a Right Punch, respectively.
Screen 4
Without time to waste, we run to the right and surprise a distracted Crow by placing a Side Kick on his back, then we gift a Right Punch to the other one that was standing there.
At this point we perform a Left Side Step and an Evasive Side Spin, as we have little time for avoiding more foes to spawn.
Boss: Yoshimitsu
We beat Yoshimitsu by using Yoshimitsu, with an attack that damages at same time both Yoshimitsu and Yoshimitsu. I had to carefully adjust the position of Yoshimitsu in order to manipulate the position of Yoshimitsu. I did also open the pause menu for a moment, because of Yoshimitsu.
Stage 2: Badlands
Screen 1
Time time we'll have to run a bit before meeting our first guests. However the approach I've chosen ended very traditional: Side Kick each.
We then wait standing still, just in order to not scare away the next Crows. And just as planned, the moment they spawn, they get right away into a Side Kick and a Fubuki.
We then turn and go get a new Crow on the left with a Side Kick, and then get back on the right for another Crow with another Side Kick. We go to the left one last time, in order to meet our first Hawk foe. Since we were able to get there without having to turn towards the new foe, we'll be able to deal with him by using a basic kick from backwards, which is a very fast and powerful attack.
Screen 2
After that we've placed our foot on our last foe, we start running right away to the right. We stop running and turn left as we've just reached the new scripted spawn zone. This time the foes will begin spawning from the left side. One of them is a Hawk with a surprising big health, despite being just at the beginning of the second stage. And since the following foe doesn't show up soon enough, we opt for a Zig Zag combo.
Screen 3
We're already at the third scripted spawn zone of the stage. We have two Hawks to deal with, but since they refuse to get hit with a single attack, we deal with them separately. However, this time we can use something a bit faster than the Zig Zag combo: we use a jumping kick and a Fubuki.
Screen 4
Before the camera resumese moving, we adjust our position with a Back Step and Left Side Step, as we're soon going to be doing a surgical operation. There will be a lot of space to travel before reaching the end of the next screen, and we need to skip a LOT of spawn points. So, what do we do?
We run towards the right, until we get to present our Shoulder Attack to a clueless Crow. While our target is still locked on the corpose of the innocent Crow, we do a full Shark Attack combo towards it. Not only we'll get insanely far quick, but the ending attack of the combo, that is the infamously unreliable Kangaroo Kick, will conveniently meet the armpit of the only foe that our short race against time wasn't unable to prevent to spawn. We'll then cover the remaining of our trip by an Evasive Side Spin.
We'll now quickly deal with the stray Crow by using a Fubuki, and then get to the right for the scripted spawns. Two Hawks will present at the same time, and this time we'll be able to hit both of them at the same time with a Left Kick. We start stepping all the way backwards like a crayfish, just because a single Hawk is going to spawn on the bottom left, and give it a Side Kick.
At this point we use a Meditation move, and press the back direction at the right frame in order to turn backwards, despite the fact that we still have the target locked on the last foe. This allows us to prepare for our next move sooner, as we will begin attacking before that we have the next target locked, as the foe will not be yet spawned... We use a Moonsault Slayer, which will gracefully place our green sword on an unlucky Hawk that has just spawned offscreen.
We then adjust our position and get some distance from the right side of the screen, then we dash again while the new Hawk offscreen mistakenly thinks to be out of the range of our Side Kick. We then make again some distance with the right edge of the screen, just for preparing a Sword Impale that will end inside the guts of another Hawk.
We then ahead for the left side of the screen again. A couple of Hawks will spawn at the same time, and this time it will be they who have the kindness of willingly come into their demise, in the form of a Zig Zag combo, just like it happened during the screen 2. Right after that, without even having to adjust our position, we perform a Moonsault Slayer that will fall on a very healthy Hawk, right after he spawned.
Boss: Mokujin
No, it didn't imitate Yoshimitsu, sorry.
Stage 3: Darkness
Screen 1
We begin exactly like this: one step forward, then a Shark Attack combo. Well, with some minor positioning for manipulating RNG... which ended having the upper Falcon behaving in the most convenient way possible: an evasive backflip. This way, not only he kets rekt by our Dive Bomb, but he also won't hinder our movement in the slightest, allowing us to get as far as possible towards the right.
There will be spawn points ahead that we can't skip, so we'll work out an ad-hoc strategy. We turn towards the left, as we have our target automatically locked on the other Falcon that spawned at the beginning of the stage, and we'll carefully adjust out positioning by walking backwards at the right speed... right after having a new Falcon spawning, we turn towards him and then we'll go all the way with an Evasive Side Spin. Since we're touching the wall, the Evasive Side Spin will make use slide on it. That's a quirk of the walls in Tekken Force. In the meantime, the two Falcons will get close just for experiencing a Flash Attack combo exclusively for them.
We use a short Evasive Side Spin in order to grab a chicken and adjust our position at the same time, then we perform a Sword Spin that will grind two Falcons at the same time. Another Evasive Side Spin for adjusting our position again, and we go with a Moonsault Slayer that will end a huge Hawk before he even figures what's going on. The other one will meet our Left Kick.
Screen 2
Before the screen even begins moving, we start executing a Shark Attack combo, of which the Dive Bomb will hit two Falcons at the same time. We do it again and we hit another two foes again, during the Dive Bomb part. That's it.
Boss: Bryan
Right after having nuked our last two foes, we do a Kiai Tame Powerup (it's the thing when you press all buttons at the same time, you silly!) and we begin to prepare our Sword Impale... the loading of the boss section will begin when the attack is almost ready.
The fight starts, it's Bryan! True of his superhuman cyborg nature, not even getting impaled kills him! But if you add a Shark Attack to that, it's enough.
Actual explanation: the later Tekken Force stage, the more health the bosses have. Prepare for ridiculous endurances.
Stage 4: Mishima Fortress
Screen 1
These two Hawks spawn close to each other, so we get them quick with an Avoiding the Puddle. That's the name of the attack. We then adjust our position and get the two subsequent Hawks the same way.
Screen 2
We dive further in the level with a Flying Cross Chop, because it both hits both Hawks and allows us to skip all the additional spawn points.
We quickly go for the right side of the screen, and we meet the first tow Owls. As they're very eager to make acquaintance, we present a Left Kick to both of them at the same time.
Screen 3
We advance through with a Flying Cross Chop again, we hit two Hawks again, we skip all additional spawn points again.
Did you ever see any foe with that much health before? Well, that's because these are the first. And that's why we have to cast our Kiai Tame Powerup and then barely manipulate them into getting both busted at the same time with a single Left Kick. We also get hit in the process, but it's not a problem: with a Tech Roll, we can get back up before we're even down.
Screen 4
Flying Cross Chop, two Hawks, spawns skipped.
They'll spawn too fast, no time for charging. we'll just go with a Zip and a Zap. Done.
Boss: Heihachi
But for the boss, we do have enough time! We charge and we stab! Then we deliver a full Shark Attack combo, which is something that it's almost impossible to do under normal conditions. There is nothing that could do more damage than that! Well, we still need to deliver a little low kick after that, in order to finish him. And since we're there, we'll also mercilessly rage on the lifeless body of the poor grandpa, just because we can.
Stage 5: Underground
And we're finally here! Yoshimitsu finally got the chance to "save" his old friend! And what's a better way other than standing on top of him with the tip of a sword, trashing him with a full Shark Attack combo and then Impaling him? If you think that's cruel, then I'd like to note how the Doc is as sturdy as a Terminator. Makes me wonder who of the two is the cyborg.
Possible improvements
- Having Mokujin to mimic Yoshimitsu, as it saves loading time.
Thanks
I'd like to thank all the people that inspired me into making this TAS:
feos: This is a nice little movie, but using a save anchor is problematic here, because there's nothing that fundamentally prevents us from playing the entire mode the legitimate way. The movie would be a few times longer, but due to the nature of this mode I can't say we're losing any real entertainment either way: it's just not all that impressive, no matter how long it lasts. The audience didn't particularly enjoy the movie, blaming dirty save. That might sound like a weird reason, since this doesn't affect what gameplay consists of, but for compromised legitimacy we need support from the audience towards the goals imposed in the movie, which we don't get here.
Aside from not being entertaining enough, this movie just
skips ahead via in-game save system instead of having unlocked anything in the verification movie to be played through here. We don't allow skipping ahead for passwords, and saves go through even more scrutiny than passwords, so we have even less intent to allow this for dirty save. This is explained
here in more details.
Rejecting and looking forward to a version with the entire "Tekken Force" mode played.
