Rastan is a side scroller action game originally released for Arcades by Taito, then ported to master System and Game Gear among other systems. This TAS aims to beat the Master System version as fast as possible and gets a 9:32 TAS timing (9:18 RTA timing equivalent).
I’ll explain everything about the run in this submission text, but I have also made this video reviewing the game and explaining all the speedtech too:
https://youtu.be/CtVay165GlA
Version Differences
Game Gear and Master System are nearly identical, so I will be comparing a lot between this SMS TAS and the GG World Record, as the world record is done on the GG version.
Some differences include:
- Enemy drops have a black outline on GG
- Health values are slightly different
- Enemy drop RNG is slightly different
GG and SMS are almost exactly the same in terms of timing. I TASed the Master System version primarily because I was doing it to explore the game and prepare for the Master 8 Race, where this game was run on the Master System version.
Timing Comparison
| Segment | Frames saved over RTA WR | Frames saved over old TAS |
|---|
| Level 1 | 42 | 50 |
| Level 2 | 64 | 117 |
| Level 3 | 179 | 129 |
| Level 4 | 258 | 84 |
| Level 5 | 39 | 287 |
| Level 6 | 319 | 385 |
| Level 7 | 453 | 286 |
Speed Tech
Jumping is fast in this game, so it is done as much as possible. When you jump you are locked into the arc and you can choose between a big jump or a small jump by whether you’re holding upright or just right. I tend to aim for big jumps because they also give a bigger horizontal speed boost.
Most levels are pretty close to tied with RTA in the platforming sections, because you can just plan out a specific chain of big jumps and small jumps and match it easily RTA. The jumps can be buffered before you hit the ground, so it is easy to chain them frame perfectly. The only hitch in that plan is the technical sections with lots of quick jumps and also the enemy RNG causing you to react on the fly.
The main timesave of the TAS over RTA comes from the boss fights, where I can get a lot of hits in while avoiding damage.
Damage Values
Different weapons have different damage values, along with how you hit the enemy (sideways, up or down and both jumping and not jumping for each of these all have different values). There’s some weird rounding stuff going on, like a weapon will take off 7 health, then 6, then 7 etc. So this table just has damage values for the first hit with the weapons.
| Weapon | Grounded sideways | Jump sideways | Grounded up | Jump up | Jump Down |
|---|
| Sword | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
|---|
| Axe | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
|---|
| Mace | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
|---|
| Flame Sword | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
|---|
RNG Manipulation
I mentioned before that enemy patterns can be manipulated. This is a bit hard to do since it usually involves killing enemies to manipulate which object slots are available, but it was done in practice in some sections of the run, particularly when an enemy that would have spawned needed to be prevented from spawning.
The big RNG manipulation comes from the necklace item, which extends your weapon timer by doubling it. This necklace only does anything if you have less than 50 seconds remaining, so it is optimal to wait until you have just under 50 seconds left, then get a necklace asap to double it up to about 100 seconds which is the maximum. These randomly can drop from enemies, but only specific enemies that will drop an item. I believe the game keeps a kill count and only drops an item on a particular number of enemies killed, but I haven’t looked into it too far.
In terms of manipulating the necklace, you can get different results even when killing the enemy on the same frame by varying your exact inputs leading up to the kill. I was able to use this to get necklaces without slowing down in most cases. I would have liked to keep the flame sword through the entire game, but I settled for the axe later on as I would have had to start losing time to manipulating it if I tried to chain the necklaces through the rest of the game.
Special Thanks
Thanks to the Sega Crew for putting on the Master 8 Race, which was heaps of fun and got me interested in this game.
Thanks to Threecreepio, the current WR holder, for chatting to me about potential optimisations and cool things with this game and being very supportive around the TAS.
Darkman425: Input file replaced with one that both uses the correct sound mode and includes an improvement.
Darkman425: I find it weird that Rastan doesn't instantly dissolve in water in this port. Anyways, claiming for judging.
Darkman425: That's some good barbarian bunny hopping and swift boss kills. Accepting to Standard.
