Stone Protectors beaten in under 16 minutes!
Game Objectives:
Emulator:
- System: Super Nintendo Entertaiment System
- Bizhawk 2.9.1
- Core: BSNES V115+
Game:
- File Name: Stone Protectors (Japan).sfc
- Region: Japan/SFC
- Genre: Beat em up/Side Scroller/Fighting
Movie Tags:
- 2 Players
- Takes Intentional Damage
- Heavy Glitch Abuse
- Heavy Luck Manipulation
- Uses Easiest Difficulty
Movie Info:
- TAS Timing - 15:47.19 @ 60.0988119/60.0988138974405 FPS
- RTA Timing - 15:32.19 @ 60.0988119/60.0988138974405 FPS (RTA Starts from Character Selection in this case, when Player 2 character is selected)
- Frame Count - 56,925
- Re-record Count - 176,576 (One Hundred and Seventy-Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Seventy-Six)
- SHA1: F408B6132E88BB9CDCB6FBB7DCB41723F88FE76D
- MD5: E9353CFD3F7385A462D4FB0B9DE4D48E
Game Description:
Stone Protectors features 10 levels in which the heroes – Clifford, Cornelius, Chester, Maxwell, and Angus – battle The Predators throughout their mission to retrieve Zok's crystal and bring them all back to the kingdom. Weapons can also be acquired but only used by certain characters. Depending on the difficulty setting, the game's ending scene also features different music in which the Stone Protectors are seen performing as a band.
Game Pro Review:
GamePro gave the game a generally negative review, commenting that the graphics are good, but the animation is poor, and the controls make it difficult to pull off special attacks or counteract enemy attacks. They concluded that the game, while not without merits, is overall "a frustrating journey."
My Review:
Game Pro is just wrong. The game is great for what year it came out. The game is highly technical for what it offers. Making the TAS was rather difficult but fun overall.
Game Controls:
- A = Kick
- B = Jump
- X = Punch
- Y = Side Special
- BA = Jump + Kick
- BY = Jump + Side Special (in air)
- Shoulder L = Musical Special
- Shoulder R = Musical Special
- S = Start
- s = Select
- U = Up
- D = Down
- L = Left
- R = Right
- UL = Up + Left
- UR = Up + Right
- DR = Down + Right
- DL = Down + Left
RNG Manipulation Explained:
This game doesn't have typical RNG factors, instead it has movement-based boss fight pattern RNG. This means that walking into a boss arena drastically changes how the fight is determined before the fight even begins. This means that if one of the characters walks too fast or slow, the patterns greatly differ. Say Cornelius or Chester in this instance walked side by side, that influences RNG. Say Cornelius walks before Chester that also influences RNG. Say Chester walks (slower-Ish) than Cornelius into a boss arena that ALSO influences RNG. This can be seen throughout the run, mostly with the level 5 boss as it requires extremely awkward moment to and inside the boss arena to get the pattern I wanted.
Characters Explained:
If you have been keeping score at home, or maybe it's been a while and you forgot, this TAS uses the best two characters in the game no question. Cornelius and Chester complement each other just enough to get a fast time.
Cornelius The Samurai Singer/Leader of the Band
While not as strong as Clifford, Chester or Angus (notice how I didn't say Maxwell, that's because he's the weakest), makes up for the walk speed and special moves in his arsenal. Most notably Cornelius has a move called ‘Mic Toss’ which comes out with a button combo of: DDD,R,LL,r or reverse order: DDD,L,RR,r, this move takes 5 frames to activate, 6 frames to show the animation but takes 52 frames to finish and hits hard. Most of the time it’s pre setup work to find the correct time to activate it. Most of the time I take to wait for enemies is me preemptively activating the move. Cornelius also has a move called: Super-Sonic Reverb which makes him yell: “Twist Me” which takes 5 frames to activate, 8 frames for the animation to start and finishes at 174 frames total. The inputs for this move are: UUU,R,LL,l or reverse order: UUU,L,RR,l. Cornelius has a weird property with his mic toss move. When the move comes out it takes away health from the health bar (indicated in green, yellow, red) which is normal, however when Cornelius faces away from an enemy the bounding hitbox of the mic toss extends backwards just enough to take away health not only from himself but from enemies that are close enough to the move. I use this quite frequently in this run as it’s more efficient in different scenarios. For example, some enemies have way too much health, and as a result I use this to my advantage. Cornelius being the Samurai has a katana in his arsenal that takes 7 frames to activate with a 20 frame cool down. This move is used sparingly. Cornelius has a punch and a kick move. Punches take 5 frames to activate with 0-frame cool-down subsequent punches take 6 frames to activate. Kicks take 6 frames to activate with a 15-frame cool-down.
Chester The Wrestler: (Bass and Jazz) Muscle Man
The muscle man of the band. Chester is used as the 2nd player in this run. Chester has four notable moves, three of which are faster than the other. Chester has a move called: Close-Line Thunder Crush, which when activated makes him fly at his enemies trying to knock them down. Chester also has a weird property with this, which makes him the most useful of the group. Typically, the move makes you fly at enemies trying to either knock them over and do a little damage or sometimes just outright defeat them. You see, Chester is strong, in fact maybe a little too strong. This move can be used to take away health from enemies without even knocking them over. If Chester gets stuck from an object such as a wall or maybe even Cornelius (as the game considers both characters objects) the bounding hitbox of the move is prioritized primarily to the little dash outline, so if let's say a boss were to approach from the back side and Chester faces away from them the enemy will rush into this move while being damaged in the process. This move takes 4 frames to activate with a 17-frame cool-down. Chester also has an uppercut which is used in conjunction to get rid of enemies with lower health quickly. This move takes 10 frames to activate with a 30 frame cool down. Chester also has a drop kick which takes 4 frames to activate with a 25 frame cool down.
Double Hits:
Most of the time I’ll be in sync to hit both enemies at the same time, this is for a couple of reasons, first, if I were to hit one enemy and linger for a little bit to then hit the other enemy, it will in most cases be slower, so if it seems like I’m standing around waiting that’s why.
Breaking the Double Hit Rule:
Most of the time it’s useful to hit both at the same time, but fortunately this game has interesting programming, you see, some screens only activate the next wave of enemies when more than one enemy is defeated. However, some screens break this rule entirely. Screen 3 in Snowy Village is a good example of this.
Levels and a small briefing of what I do in them:
- Snowy Village (also referred to as: Frostbyte) Level 1
- Volcano (Downward) Level 3 (I walk around the platform while waiting for enemies to drop from above) (I guess can be seen as an Entertainment Factor) (I jump with both Characters while waiting for enemies to drop from above) (I guess can be seen as an Entertainment Factor) (I eat the fries to get a burp in before leaving the level) (I guess can be seen as an Entertainment Factor)
- Forest of Mythrandir Level 5
- Market (Bizaare Bazar) Level 6
- Approaching the Castle Level 7 (I spell TAS here using both characters after the boss fight) (I guess can be seen as an Entertainment Factor) | T = Chester | A = Cornelius | S = Chester
- In the Castle Level 8 (I eat the Hotdog and Fries on the ground after the boss fight, which causes a Double Burp from Cornelius and Chester) (I guess can be seen as an Entertainment Factor)
Bosses:
- Zink
- Zink's Gem Extractor
- Lava Boss (did they seriously name the lava boss; Lava Boss?)
- Tackle Jackal
- Wraith
(I promise this makes sense)
- Frank
- Zink 3
- Sucker Puncher
- Predatron
- Zok
Frame Count Differences: (Old TAS 16:29.90)
- Level 1: In = 00:24.04 | Out = 01:31.42 | Subtracted Total: 01:07.37
- Level 2: In = 01:48.47 | Out = 02:47.71 | Subtracted Total: 00:59.24
- Level 3: In = 03:05.16 | Out = 04:14.28 | Subtracted Total: 01:09.12
- Level 4: In = 04:31.75 | Out = 05:30.06 | Subtracted Total: 00:58.30
- Level 5: In = 05:47.29 | Out = 06:54.43 | Subtracted Total: 01:07.14
- Level 6: In = 07:12.12| Out = 08:24.40 | Subtracted Total: 01:12.28
- Level 7: In = 08:41.87 | Out = 10:15.64 | Subtracted Total: 01:33.76
- Level 8: In = 10:32.91 | Out = 12:50.16 | Subtracted Total: 02:17.26
- Level 9: In = 13:07.72 | Out = 14:39.62 | Subtracted Total: 01:31.90
- Level 10: In = 14:57.12 | Out = 16:29.89 | Subtracted Total:01:32.76
Frame Count Differences: (15:47.19)
- Level 1: In = 00:24.03 | Out =01:28.40 | Subtracted Total: 01:04.38
- Level 2: In = 01:45.44 | Out = 02:43.16 | Subtracted Total: 00:57.72
- Level 3: In = 03:00.60 | Out = 04:09.39 | Subtracted Total: 01:08.79
- Level 4: In = 04:26.83 | Out = 05:20.47 | Subtracted Total: 00:53.64
- Level 5: In = 05:37.71 | Out = 06:41.59 | Subtracted Total: 01:03.88
- Level 6: In = 06:59.28 | Out = 08:04.82 | Subtracted Total: 01:05.54
- Level 7: In = 08:22.29 | Out = 09:49.90 | Subtracted Total: 01:27.61
- Level 8: In = 10:07.18 | Out = 12:17.37 | Subtracted Total: 02:10.19
- Level 9: In = 12:34.91 | Out = 14:00.07 | Subtracted Total : 01:25.16
- Level 10: In = 14:18.15 | Out = 15:47.19 | Subtracted Total: 01:29.04
Branches Tested This Run:
sing count this run:
(The amount of times Cornelius sings using Ultrasonic Vocal Reverb)
- Level 1 = 3
- Level 2 = 0
- Level 3 = 0
- Level 4 = 2
- Level 5 = 3
- Level 6 = 1
- Level 7 = 1
- Level 8 = 0
- Level 9 = 3
- Level 10 = 3
- Sing total: 16
- (All current singing, are factored into being the fastest current method of getting through the levels) (no extra singing needed)
Possible Improvements:
At this current time, I can't think of any improvements.
Suggested Screenshots: (these have a frame count, but I didn't write it down)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: Really good improvement over the
previous run. Most of the game, you never get to see your enemies...because you destroy them before they show on the screen. This is one of the biggest differences over your last submission. So good work on this!
nymx: Apparently, I'm getting confused between two different submissions. Setting to delay so that I can get the updates in order.
nymx: I've checked out the new improvements and they sync. A version that cuts 215 more frames has been uploaded.
