Take 2! grrrrrrr
This TAS improves my previous submission by 4557 frames.
I got re-involved in this TAS, because I was annoyed that it appeared to have unaddressed lag. I started shortly after it was published 3 years ago and made the discovery, a few months later, that it was more unoptimal than I thought. So, here I am again trying to put a bullet in this game so that I never have to come back to it again. Why? I'm not a fan of this version, like I am the original arcade. But...I have OCD problems and I need to correct it. :)
Special Thanks
Thanks goes out to Worsel for helping me stream this TAS and to put commentary to it.
Game Details
Q-Bert 3 came from the concept of the classic arcade game. Even though this game is classified as a puzzle, it had action qualities as well.
The object of the game is to change the color of each cube to the designated color, noted at the top of the screen. As the game progresses, the coloring patterns change.
During the quest of completing each screen, enemy avoidance is necessary to stay alive. The basic concept of identifying enemies, would be to note their color...which Q-bert 3 veers a bit from. Basically, Purple and Red (Coily, the purple snake, Ugg and Wrong way are bad...with the exception of red fruit. With Q-bert 3, the addition of new enemies include non-purple/red enemies...such as the Frog (which follows you around slowly), Pipes (which shoots tiny red balls) , Hats (which bounce back and forward in a defined/static pattern), and purple kisses (which move around in a defined pattern and then drop off of the cubes).
Goals:
Improvement Strategies:
- Heavy experimentation led to some rounting changes
- Found better ways to use Slick/Sam (green guys) more to my advantage
- Found that "resisting" the green "freeze" ball was a much better option in some places, as the layout of the screen changed for the better and improved routing and reduced bonus tally drops.
- Enemy manipulation was pushed beyond efforts of the previous submission.
- Some deaths were removed and actually showed faster times, with great adjustments to accomodate.
Level Coloring Patterns
Levels 1,3,10,15: AB
Levels 2,4,11,16: ABC
Levels 5,7,12,17: (AB)
Levels 6,8,13,18: A(BC)
Levels 9,14,19,20: (ABC)
Frame Improvements
| Stage | Total Frames Cut (Cumulative) | Stage Frames |
|---|
| 1-1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1-2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1-3 | -4 | -4 |
| 1-4 | -4 | 0 |
| 2-1 | -9 | -6 |
| 2-2 | -9 | 0 |
| 2-3 | -113 | -104 |
| 2-4 | -113 | 0 |
| 3-1 | -115 | -2 |
| 3-2 | -114 | 1 |
| 3-3 | -115 | -1 |
| 3-4 | -124 | -9 |
| 4-1 | -127 | -3 |
| 4-2 | -187 | -60 |
| 4-3 | -276 | -89 |
| 4-4 | -300 | -24 |
| 5-1 | -412 | -112 |
| 5-2 | -418 | -6 |
| 5-3 | -502 | -84 |
| 5-4 | -662 | -160 |
| 6-1 | -884 | -222 |
| 6-2 | -957 | -73 |
| 6-3 | -963 | -6 |
| 6-4 | -1018 | -55 |
| 7-1 | -1016 | 2 |
| 7-2 | -1151 | -135 |
| 7-3 | -1157 | -6 |
| 7-4 | -1170 | -13 |
| 8-1 | -1247 | -77 |
| 8-2 | -1501 | -254 |
| 8-3 | -1530 | -30 |
| 8-4 | -1713 | -183 |
| 9-1 | -1965 | -252 |
| 9-2 | -2259 | -294 |
| 9-3 | -2283 | -24 |
| 9-4 | -2410 | -127 |
| 10-1 | -2409 | 1 |
| 10-2 | -2411 | -2 |
| 10-3 | -2417 | -6 |
| 10-4 | -2480 | -63 |
| 11-1 | -2480 | 0 |
| 11-2 | -2541 | -61 |
| 11-3 | -2633 | -92 |
| 11-4 | -2710 | -77 |
| 12-1 | -2711 | -1 |
| 12-2 | -3035 | -324 |
| 12-3 | -3064 | -29 |
| 12-4 | -3205 | -141 |
| 13-1 | -3212 | -7 |
| 13-2 | -3244 | -32 |
| 13-3 | -3272 | -28 |
| 13-4 | -3347 | -75 |
| 14-1 | -3350 | -3 |
| 14-2 | -3374 | -24 |
| 14-3 | -3377 | -3 |
| 14-4 | -3506 | -129 |
| 15-1 | -3512 | -6 |
| 15-2 | -3507 | 5 |
| 15-3 | -3509 | -2 |
| 15-4 | -3509 | 0 |
| 16-1 | -3547 | -38 |
| 16-2 | -3551 | -4 |
| 16-3 | -3572 | -21 |
| 16-4 | -3570 | 2 |
| 17-1 | -3568 | 2 |
| 17-2 | -3605 | -37 |
| 17-3 | -3607 | -2 |
| 17-4 | -3616 | -9 |
| 18-1 | -3718 | -102 |
| 18-2 | -3803 | -85 |
| 18-3 | -3805 | -2 |
| 18-4 | -3806 | -1 |
| 19-1 | -4044 | -238 |
| 19-2 | -4061 | -17 |
| 19-3 | -4061 | 0 |
| 19-4 | -4061 | 0 |
| 20-1 | -4257 | -196 |
| 20-2 | -4360 | -103 |
| 20-3 | -4515 | -155 |
| 20-4 | -4557 | -42 |
feos: While the feedback was positive, this movie doesn't feature any significant improvements in entertainment, and the old movie only got 3 votes in 3 years, and they're not incredible. Gameplay is just as monotonous as the last time, since it's all this game has, aside from the constant background barf. Accepting over
[3574] SNES Q*bert 3 by nymx in 54:04.02.
