Finally, the infamous Gradius run by adelikat!
(note that this run uses the (J) ROM but that it plays fine in the (U) rom. Either is fine for encoding purposes)
Gradius is an old and popular game that is well known in the TAS world for Morimoto's run. This run attempts to obsolete the run by a) pushing the playaround to more extreme levels and b) shortening the length of the run significantly (which also provides more entertainment by being less repetitive). Also, it attempts to be faster in each section than both of Diman's 13:15 and 13:25 submissions.

Details about the goals:

Goals:

1) Maximize speed upgrades as early as possible 2) Aims for maximizing entertainment in a "playaround" aspect. 3) Aims for fastest time possible whenever it doesn't sacrifice 1) or 2)

Overall Aim:

The goal is to take a game with this kind of speed potential and push it to the limit. This allows me to create a run where the on screen animation becomes a visual pattern resulting in the less & less importance on the game itself. The run transcends the usual gaming logic and becomes a sort of abstract art. The run becomes something unique and emphasizes the potential for TASes to truly be considered art.

Speed:

This run is 3min 17 sec faster than Morimoto's. Here is the details of how this was achieved:
  • Warping
In Morimoto's run and both of Diman's submissions, they used only 1 warp. That is the one that result from destroying a boss quick enough. I discovered that you can in fact warp twice by using the level 1 and level 3 warps. This shaves almost 2 minutes from the movie, and greatly reduces the repetitiveness of the game. To warp to level 3 from level 1 you need to destroy 4 hatches while your thousands digit of your score is even. To warp to level 5 from level 3, you need to destroy at least 10 stone heads. I tried using the quick boss destruction to warp yet again from lv5 to lv7 but it does not work. (I tried variations where I do not kill the level 1 & level 3 enemies and kill the lv5 one very quickly). Apparently only 2 warps are possible in the game.
I believe this route also adds entertainment by skipping level 4 instead of level 3. Level 4 is the same as level 1 except upside down. Skipping this level helps the run be less repetitive by having more level variety.
  • Mini-bosses
Each level has a mini-boss before the Main boss (with the blue eye in the center). Note that level 6 & 7 do not have a main boss. The mini-boss section is where the scrolling stops and you must avoid a particular kind of enemy for a set amount of time. Upgrading certain weapons will EXTEND this time by 256 increments. Therefore optimal upgrades are necessary for fastest time. Interestingly, this is where Diman loses the 10sec in his 13:25 movie.
  • Boss-fighting
The boss fights are the only parts of this game that aren't auto-scrolling based, so it is critical to minimize the length of them. The boss will become vulnerable at the earliest possible frame as long you do not fly behind him (which Morimoto did frequently). Flying behind him will slow him down and delay the vulnerability significantly (several hundred frames).
  • Sacrifices of speed for "entertainment value"
This run does not achieve the fastest possible time. However each instance of delaying the fastest time was carefully planned and considered. The following are situations that sacrifice speed and the calculations of each.
1) Maximizing speed upgrades. The irony is that max speed makes the run LONGER. Max speed means that the ship moves at 8 pixels per frame and has no acceleration or ability to slow down. As a result the boss fights are each about 10 frames longer due to the poor ability to aim when you are moving in 8 pixel chunks. The fast speed of the ship is really the whole point of this run so sacrificing 30 frames is certainly OK :)
2) Having both "options" (the orange balls that echo the ships movements) extends the mini-boss fights in level 3 & 5 for 256 frames each (512 total). Options are necessary in the designs & patterns that I create.
In level 5, having both options minimizes lag greatly saving about 150 frames, so there is only a net loss of about 100. In level 6, I find away to recover some of those 256 frames and manage to only lose about 150 net. Therefore, using options sacrifices about 250 frames (about 4sec) total. Given the value they add to my overall goals, this is a worthwhile sacrifice.
Also, having the options actually increases the length of the boss fights by a few frames since the ship's shots are a little slower due to having to place 3 on the screen instead of 1. This adds about 6 frames total to the run.

Tools:

Morimoto's movie was not just a playaround of the game but a playaround with the concept of TASing and the new tools that allowed it; kind of a "proof of concept". It is only appropriate that it be obsoleted by a run that is also an experiment with new tools. To create this run, I used a "macro-editor. With this editor, I can create a series of button presses and put them together into a single command. This allows me to push one button to initiate very complex movement patterns. Writing my name "adelikat" for instance was a large programmed macro (well, 2 actually since there is a 256 frame limit to any one macro :P). I simply had to find a frame to start it that didn't result in the ship being destroyed. This feature also allows any button to be a "random" button. This allows for a more accurate way of attempting luck manipulation in certain sections of a movie. This feature is currently somewhat experimental and written by miau and can be found here.
This run is unique in that is uses every tool made for TASing. In addition to the macro editor, I used basicbot to play segments of level 7. I used cheat search, memory viewer, and memory watch to debug the game and find conditions for this bot to check as well as getting hp values for the lag-creating monsters in lv5 (a real bitch to find because the hp INCREASES instead of decreases, arg). I of course used frame-advance, and frame counter, read-only toggling, and just about every other "tool" for FCEU.

Special Thanks:

Many thanks to miau, who is as much responsible for the creation of this run as I. Miau patched together the above mentioned macro-editor, without which I would not have been able to do this. Also miau was indespensible with helping me learn to use basicbot & finding some ram addresses :)
Moozooh, cardboard, and JXQ who watched my wips and helped me make some crucial decisions. And also, they helped keep me motivated through this rather tedious TAS.
To Morimoto and Diman for their ideas and contributions to TASing gradius. Without Morimoto, I would have never thought to make a TAS of this game in the first place. Without Diman's two submissions, I would not have discovered the varying lengths of the mini-boss fights.

Summary:

  • Plays on FCEU .16 with experimental macro editor patch
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses deaths
  • Abuses programming errors in the game (poor collision detection)
  • Uses warps

Level by Level description

This section provides a lot of "spoilers". It is recommended that you watch the run first and then read this to get clarity on what was going on.

Level 1

The main goal of this level is to get the 13 speed upgrades needed for maximum speed. Enemies are avoided except to kill the minimum necessary to get the most upgrades and to initiate the level warp. The warp to level 3 is caused by destroying 4 hatches (the things spitting out enemies) while the thousands digit of your score is even. In some cases, enemies are destroyed in order to get the right score. Other enemies are destroyed in order to cause the power-up enemies to appear.
In this level I try to show a preview of the potential of the macro editing feature. Certain small movement patterns are introduced that will be used later in more complex ways. Consider this level a "prelude".
In the mini-boss section (the volcano), I attempt, like Morimoto, to move about the screen avoiding the rocks. I try to push this to the extreme, playing with death as much as possible.

Level 3

To initiate the level skip, I must kill at least 10 of those stone heads. I felt it appropriate in this section to go for %100 kills since this is near impossible. Most of the heads can only be destroyed by setting up the "options" to be inside the head. At the end of this stone heads section you may notice a little message ;p Also, I play with the collision detection abuse that results from such a fast ship. I fly through some thin walls where it would normally be impossible.
I upgrade to 2 options and missle. Double,laser or shield extends the length of the mini boss fight and are avoided. I use the mini boss section to simply move about in circular patterns and orbit the enemies as tight as possible. Also, I am pushing the movement patterns to more complex shapes and trying to build up the overall intensity.

Level 5

The beginning of this level is not lag, but rather me artificially slowing down the ship by putting in 1 frame delays between each button press. I felt that the speed of the ship was "wearing off" and I did this to restore that feeling of "OMG that ship if fast!".
This level has the infamous lag-creating 2-armed monsters in it. Here, I attempt to destroy the ones that create lag as soon as possible to minimize lag. Here I had to make a sacrifice in speed. By having both "options" it extends the mini-boss section by 256 frames. But not having them would mean defeating them much slower, increasing lag. I estimate about 150 extra frames of lag would be caused by not getting the options. But of course they are crucial to most of my complex ship patterns. In addition, the length of the mini-boss fight isn't perceivable and therefore doesn't look "bad". While lag is definitely noticeable and would make the run look more "sloppy".
I used the boss hp ram addresses to find the earliest frame that I can deliver damage, and to find the most efficient means of destruction. Note that lag only occurs when two "arms" are on the screen at once, the body has no effect. As a result I only kill the 2-armed variety as quick as possible. Actually, I managed to destroy them so fast that the lag is hardly noticeable (only about 2-3 lag frames per enemy). The one armed ones only need to be destroyed before then next creature appears. I hold off a little and allow the viewer to at least see the creature before it is destroyed. The ones with no arms are of no consequence so I simply avoid them or orbit around them.

Level 6

At first you may have thought the run desynced at the beginning, but in fact the death was intentional. Like the previous level, the boss would be extended by 256 frames if I have the options when the fight start. Surprisingly, dying only costs about 100 frames, giving my a approx 150 frame net savings. I felt the death is good because it keeps things interesting. You remember how slow the ship was, and re-upgrading helps keep the intensity of the movie going. There are more than enough power ups in this level to get max speed and 1 option (which I don't "turn on" until after the boss fight starts). During the level, I play with the poor collision detection by flying through segments of the "spider-web" stuff in the level.
At the boss, I demonstrate that you can shoot a space in the web underneath the entrance and not be harmed by the boss. I only demonstrate this for a short time before I bust through and fly around the boss's bullets :). At the end of the boss fight, he begins to explode in a grid-like fashion of tile removal. Notice how a manage to speeze through these sections and pass through the boss before he is done exploding.

Level 7

Finally, I don't have to worry about which upgrades I get. I upgrade to double and laser in this level just to try to show off these weapons a little. From the beginning of the entrance way to the final hallway was mostly played by a bot. I use basicbot (programmed into FCEU by luke) to create a sequence of random directions. With the proper set up, I was able to get the program to spit out random directions while still avoiding death and gradually moving left & right in a chaos-like pattern.
The boss requires nothing but waiting and not smashing into it. As a result, I see no reason to record input there. So I try to find the earliest frame that I can end the movie and still float into the room and complete the game. In this case, I think the early stopping creates more excitement and extra entertainment value :)
I achieve such an early input stop by using the shield (which is conveniently off screen ;) By using the shield, I am able to stop input much earlier since the ship can absorb 5 bullets.
Wow, long submission text, I hope you enjoyed :)

Bisqwit: Submission file updated.

Truncated: Accepted because of overwhelming user feedback.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1324: adelikat's NES Gradius in 10:52.35
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Edit: Question deleted.
Twisted_Eye
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Ahhh, because it stops early. I was watching on the (J) rom (if that matters) and he ends up just smashing into that big brain boss and dying; not good. Up to that point though, this was an excellent run, very different from Morimoto's. The way you used those options was incredible, and each level was more or less different enough to keep the attention all the way through without the viewer thinking, 'oh this is just the same old autoscroller B-S,' and getting bored, and at the end you were sporting some serious firepower, which was also fun to watch. Only problem I have is with the death; it's different yes, but it does kinda ruin the flow. It's good to surprise the viewer, but perhaps not in this sort of way. In a way, watching you rebuild definitely was a bit refreshing, and the fact that it also saved time was cool, but for those brief couple seconds when I thought the movie was all screwed, I was pretty uncomfortable. Eh, I'm sure it's fine overall. Keep in mind that I don't play these games much if at all (though this run makes me curious what an agility-based TAS of a bullet-streaming, screen-covering game like DoDonPachi would look like...woo) but anyway yeah I'll probably just copy this post into whatever new thread is made and give it a yes.
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Hmmm, I don't quite like the death part too, just didn't sit well with the momentum of the run... but who cares, it will all well done (except when crashing into the brain). Will definitely vote a YES when it's completed :P Btw, what were the words you were spelling? I know I managed to spot ADELIKAT, but after that what did you spell? It seemed to end with 'JOES'. The run looked quite good in terms of optimization though you did admit some slowdowns for entertainment, which is forgivable ;) In a way, I appreciated the lag at the start of stage 5 since it allowed me to follow the movement of the ship more clearly o.O it sure is fast even with lag LOL
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Why did you cancel this submission? From what I read from the description, it could be quite interesting.
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According to IRC: <adelikat> Hoe`: I crashed into a BOSS? <Hoe> The final boss. Than you blew up. It was after your input ended. <adelikat> Hoe`: shit <adelikat> I fucked something up <adelikat> *cancelling*
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xoinx wrote:
Btw, what were the words you were spelling? I know I managed to spot ADELIKAT, but after that what did you spell? It seemed to end with 'JOES'.
Hmm, could be "EAT AT JOE'S"!
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
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A bit preliminary since the site was down for a day and the movie file hasn't been replaced with the correct one yet. Still, here go my thoughts on this run. I was one of those lucky fellows who were able to track adelikat's progress and sometimes give him tips on what to do next. I should say that I don't like all the formerly submitted Gradius runs (including Morimoto's) for various well-known reasons. But this one is VERY different from them all. I consider this to be the first Gradius run fully worth publishing here, historical reasons aside. First, it is much shorter. How often do you see an autoscroller improved by three minutes? It is also technically flawless on top of that. Adelikat used pretty much every tool possible, with the exception of ROM disassembling, and the result speaks for itself: every boss/miniboss battle is frame perfect, aside from the awesome feats in the levels themselves. Second, there's not a single dull moment. Adelikat uses a wide variety of possible options (including the ingame "options", literally) to bring something different to every level, so that his movements don't have enough time to get old. Besides, adelikat's version have much more perceived dynamic range between the slowest and the fastest speed. He even slows the ship down artificially to let you regain the feeling of speed. And the death at one of the later levels serves the same purpose; it may look unusual or disturbing, but in fact it resets the speed and thus doesn't get you overly bored with constantly fast movement. Third, this run is an example of true TASing art. How often do you see "EAT AT JOE'S" written in a speedrun? The movie transcends from just a playaround to something that doesn't have anything to do with the actions intended by developers, it just ignores all the boundaries. It is also one of those runs that take a simple game and pwn it to the extent that can seriously make you gasp and laugh at certain parts from the beginning till the very end, much like the Excitebike run. That being said, I think it deserves the star as much as it possibly can. Is there a better way to show the beginner what a TAS is if not by recommending them this run? Yes vote!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Post subject: uncancelling
adelikat
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This run was cancelled due to a miscaluclation (wrote down the wrong ship y position) at the end. As a result, the ship crashed into the brain. I corrected this AND managed to end input two seconds earlier :) I am uncancelling it, and hopefully Bisqwit will replace the updated file soon.
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This run makes the previous run look like theg arbage. [21:17:25] <JXQ> adelikat, my fav part was the level 6 boss [21:17:37] <JXQ> *hiding hiding hiding.......* [21:17:53] <JXQ> WHOA WHATS UP BITCH HERE I AM FUCKER TRY AND HIT ME WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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hehe, I picture a funny upper body gyrating motion while JXQ is saying that :)
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
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Yes damnit! YES YES YES!
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
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I thought I was going to have a seizure it was so good. Also, I liked how you used the plane and options to spell out words :)
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Well, I never thought I would vote Yes to a Gradius movie. Morimoto's incessant circling around every frigging space ship was so boring that I had to watch most of the run in fast forward. The first level of this run is pretty boring, too. I think you probably have to kill everything in a Gradius run. 100% kills would be more interesting than spinning around the enemies and letting them scroll off of the screen. Nevertheless, it got better as the levels got more complicated. The bosses were destroyed instantly, and it was pretty funny that the movie stopped that far from the end. Also, it was much shorter, which is critical to making a run of this game watchable. I was actually able to watch the entire movie at normal speed. I still wish you had killed everything, but it definitely deserves to obsolete the existing run. I voted Yes.
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This run was highly entertaining, with very precise and unexpected flying, and to top it all off, it's an autoscroller. No vote. j/k I voted yes. :P
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EATATJTOES? Yes vote. You managed to do something different. Less mindless wobbling around than the other contesters so far. (You had a pattern.) Also, I didn't know that this game has warps. Also, who would have guessed that a death could be a shortcut in this game under any circumstances.
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Yes vote here too. You did a great job on this movie, and the wobbling that first annoyed a little in the WIP I watched, got more entertaining and fun to watch when I learned that it was an intentional macro-pattern. Boss-fights where amazingly fast, and overall, I was very entertained. Thumbs up! :)
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Boring moments, though not nonexistent, are in a minority here. The movie is strangely hypnotic at times. Spelling out words alone is a touch worth the yes vote. I especially appreciated the death, the intentional moments of respite, and the deliberately slow section. Overall this is a vast improvement to a run I never before considered had the potential for entertainment.
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This, to me, is probably one of the best movies I've ever seen on this site. It was very well done to the point in which I thought an actual robot was playing. It's definately a yes vote from me.
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this is the best tas on this site imho. yes vote is obvious from me
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VANDAL wrote:
This, to me, is probably one of the best movies I've ever seen on this site. It was very well done to the point in which I thought an actual robot was playing. It's definately a yes vote from me.
Hmmm, aren't macros sort of robots... pre-programmed to run at the single hit of a button? haha
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xoinx wrote:
Hmmm, aren't macros sort of robots... pre-programmed to run at the single hit of a button? haha
yeah, pretty much but adelikat set it up to revolve around the game with such precision, and that is what makes it feel more robotic, to me, rather than just the macros being used (not that I take credit away from you).
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This is good; i've been hoping to see Morimoto's run replaced because by the site's current standards that run is not worthy of a star. It misses shots and is generally boring. This is very much different and improved. Excellent.
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Mukki wrote:
This is good; i've been hoping to see Morimoto's run replaced because by the site's current standards that run is not worthy of a star. It misses shots and is generally boring. This is very much different and improved.
Hmmm, actually I thought that was one of the better movies on the site. At least it was the movie, together with SMB3 and SM64, that got me into TAS :) In my opinion, it was quite a milestone back when it was published, basically because playing on frame advance wasn't possible, and the velocity should have been tough to optimize fully with slowdowns... It was perhaps the best concept of sidescroller TASing, that is until adelikat showed how more art there is to it!
Bisqwit wrote:
I recommend against trying to "improve" this movie. The author was not aiming for game clear speed. It's merely a demonstration of what happens when you have tons of speed upgrades.
Haha, interesting to know that adelikat managed to change Bisqwit's opinion on the game so much (compare with a post by Bisq in page 1) :P
Truncated wrote:
Truncated is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man. -- xoinx