Alter`s Metroid II 100% in 0:55 (ingame timer) / 206969 frames
There is no previous run of Metroid II published.
This run aims for the fastest time with 100% item completion, including optional and unneccesary items (such as the springball, all beams and energy tanks.).
The emulator used is VisualBoyAdvance 1.7.2 rerecording v19.3.
The run starts from power up.
The game
Not as popular as Super Metroid or the GBA games, Metroid II is still a game liked by many for it`s unique atmosphere and the famous Metroid game play. Many things are similar to other Metroid incarnations, while others differ (weapon acquisition, physics...). I loved the game as a kid, so I decided to try my first TAS with this.
Techniques used
First of all, the "Select-glitch" (A glitch that allows the player to open unintended paths by pressing select at certain frames) has not been used. No programming errors are abused, however I am not sure if some of the techniques are actually intended by the programmers, or are glitches (see below).
The Morphball
As opposed to the first submitted version, rolling instead of walking is only used until I obtain the Varia suit. Running with the suit is as fast as rolling, obsoleting rolling for a good part of the game. Thanks to moozooh for finding this out.
So this is all only valid until acquisition of the Varia suit:
The most important item for speeding the game`s completion up in Metroid II is the morphball. It is the fastest way of horizontal movement (walking [without the Varia suit as we now know ><], jumping and the spiderball all being slower, in that order), so whenever possible (or feasible) horizontal movement is done with the morphball.
The morphball has several drawbacks:
- The main weapon cannot be used
- Morphing into a ball takes one to two frames
- Falling more than 1 block causes the ball to bounce, resulting in slower movement (which can be cicumventet by unmorphing for one frame)
This is still valid fot the whole game:
Another property of the morphball unique to Metroid II (compared to other Mertrooid games of course) is mid-air-unmorph-jumping(tm). When leaving the ball form while jumping or falling, Samus can start a jump for a few frames, just as if she was standing on solid ground (spinning is not possible however). This allows for some interesting movement. This might be a glitch rather than an intended feature.
Jumping
As jumping is a rather slow type of horizontal movement (but the fastest vertical) it is avoided as much as possible. That means, all jumps take place in an as short time as possible, which is not easy in this game.
Before Samus passes half her maximum jump height, the jumping movement can be canceled by releasing the jump button. But if she passed half maximum height, she will execute a jump at maximum height, which takes time if in horizontal movement.
Several techniques are used to avoid that:
- Kneeling before a jump reduces maximum height
- Using the morphball in various ways (jumping, falling, spiderball) before a jump
- Taking damage to gain height before the actual jump
By moving horizontally for one frame, and then jump without holding any direction, Samus immediately rises up some pixels, saving a few frames on almost every Jump and a lot of time overall. This, again, might be a glitch.
Cutting corners
By jumping at the very end of a ledge at the right frame, Samus can cut almost any corner, making her fall at maximum speed immediately. This is used extensively to cut airtime and thus move faster overall. This is likely to be a glitch.
Taking damage
Just like the mid-air-unmorph-jump when Samus takes damage from any souce but acid, she will be able to jump without being on the ground (and be repelled away from the source of damage before that, pushed upwards). This is used whenever possible and feasible while moving upwards. This might also be a glitch.
Every time an energy tank is collected Samus`s health is fully replenished, which makes collecting health from enemies unnecessary (still happens sometimes, but at random).
Weapons
Hardly any enemies except the obligatory Metroids are killed in this run, so weapons aren`t used much.
I kill some enemies when it's not slowing me down, but most go unharmed.
By far the most used weapon is the missile, necessary for killing Metroids.
Route changes
I use the acid dive sequence break, allowing to save a lot of time that would be needed to backtrack. I skip some refill stations. Still, nothing spectacular here, but there might be no better route without resorting to the select bug.
Apart from the rerecord VBA version I used Maximus`s TAS Movie Editor to splice together the final movie. Mad props to him.
Notes and thanks
This is the second version of my run, and if I may say so myself, a much improved version. I'm still new though, so as last time: Please criticize away.
Thanks to fellow Metroid II TASer Cardboard & moozooh for testing and commenting, as well as everybody else following the topic.
adelikat: Accepting for publication alongside with the any% run.