Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
Ok, now that I know there is no problem when it comes to lives, do you know exactly how far I have to be for the death to count? This should help if I could manage to get killed by one of the birds.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
"It is common knowledge that you must visit a certain area (near the end of Armored Armadillo’s stage, high up on the last wall with energy capsule) five times, and you must have all the items, weapons, and upgrades to get the hadōken. However, there are a couple misconceptions:
* It is assumed that you must have all the items, weapons, and upgrades to begin the sequence; this is not true. You can have nothing and start to visit the hadōken area and it will count as a visit. This is why it is sometimes reported that you need four visits (because the first visit to Armored Armadillo’s stage counts as a visit if you get close enough). As for having everything, it comes into play only on the last visit.
* It is assumed that you must grab the energy capsule; this is not true. Getting near the area where the capsule would appear is enough. You can simply make X hit the lower-left corner of the visit area, as shown in the image above.
Note that you also need full health on the last visit to make the capsule appear.
The number of visits is stored in memory address 7E1F7E. Check this address to make sure that you visit. "
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
Here's an update.
http://www.savefile.com/files/1863579
I ran into some extreme bad luck in the Chill Penguin fight. He just wouldn't behave the way I wanted him to. If anyone thinks they know a quicker way to defeat him, let me know. Otherwise I'm going to continue on.
Hold on. I'll see if I can improve it.
Edit:
Saved 19 frames in the Chill Penguin battle:
http://files.filefront.com/mmx+tassmv/;12191136;/fileinfo.html
dezbeast, it requires perseverance to do boss battles well. How I saved 19 frames was because I knew I could spend two non-alternating opportunities, and to try something else if it does not work.
It's all yours now (at least until the next boss battle :) ).
Edit 2:Comicalflop wrote:
When dashing, if you stop at the end then dash again, are you stopped for 1 frame? It looks that way. shouldn't you always end each dash with a jump?
Only if X is not limited by a ceiling. If there is a low ceiling, X is better off dashing only.
That is because landing costs 2 pixels (so about 1 frame for every 2 landings). If X's head hits the ceiling, it costs a whole frame, but there is hardly any need to do such a thing.
There are other instances where it is better to do a dash-dash, depending on the position of the obstacles ahead.
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
Many thanks. I shall keep your improved battle. Hey, would you mind doing the battles with hadoken and you could be co-author of this tas. The reason being there is no published run that I can compare those particular battles with, and you would do a better job than me.
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
That is so odd. In real time, landing from a jump then dashing does not look like it loses any time at all because it looks so smooth, yet dash-dash has that 1 frame pause that looks obvious. This pause is most notable in Rockman and Forte.
Oh well. I noticed in Chill Penguin you did some downslope-boost jumps up uphills in places where you weren't going for height. When I tested the trick, it didn't seem to save me any X pixels; it only seemed to be a trick to gain more height. The boost achieved didn't make up for pressing left for two frames. Was there any reason that boost was used in places where you weren't trying to gain more height? (For example, one used just before getting the dash boots.)
Briefing for Boomer Kuwanger stage:
- parrot14green's trick: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=96153#96153 . I don't know if it saves time or not. If the net gain is 0 or more, do it. If the net gain is less than 0, it's your call.
- My 100% test run shows how to get the heart tank in this stage.
- Boomer Kuwanger tends to either dash around, throw a Boomerang Cutter, or teleport. Don't let him teleport because it wastes frames. I settled for shooting him at 3/4 screen distance (when he dashes) but see if you can do better. This one is also a pain to luck-manipulate.
Comicalflop wrote:
Oh well. I noticed in Chill Penguin you did some downslope-boost jumps up uphills in places where you weren't going for height. When I tested the trick, it didn't seem to save me any X pixels; it only seemed to be a trick to gain more height. The boost achieved didn't make up for pressing left for two frames.
Uphill downhill-boost jumps only save time on some of the steeper uphills.
Normal speed is 1.5 p/f. Slight slope jumping is 1.6 p/f. Steep slope jumping is 1.8 p/f.
ZSNES still has core randomness in it which is why it isn't that good for TAS'ing. SNES9x doesn't suffer from core randomness which is why a lot of work has been done on it in the TAS community. ZSNES v2.0 is aimed to fix/replace the core with something that doesnt suffer from randomness.
I see the problem. Perhaps parrot14green should stop experimenting with 100% savestates where unnecessary.
parrot14green's AVI:
my attempt in emulator:
Exact same thing, exact same position, different X recoil. Reason: Armor Upgrade.
The problem with the X recoil is that, without Armor Upgrade, X rises significantly while recoiling. This rising will actually push X downward as he passes through the wall, making it impossible to escape even if he is very close to the other side. If I wait so that this downward pushing does not occur, then X does not make it far enough.
I have not exhausted all options yet. I'll see if X can gain even more height beforehand (but this requires taking another hit, even for no damage).
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
It turns out the glitch is slower by almost 50 frames. To bad. It's a neat discovery however and how you were able to figure this trick out is beyond me.
I'm still wondering how you ended up with 32433 rerecords. That seems like a lot (maybe not to you).
Are you using Snes9x Watch? It would be helpful for Storm Eagle's stage to find out the health of the exploding blockade (near the capsule).
(I'm assuming you're doing Storm Eagle next. If you have better ideas, let us know.)
Storm Eagle notes:
- The Sub Tank can be obtained either from the left or from the right. I haven't tested it but the way as shown in my 100% test run looks faster.
- The exploding blockade near the head capsule has 32 health. Damages are as follows:
X-Buster uncharged: 1
X-Buster uncharged dashing*: 2
X-Buster blue charge: 2
X-Buster yellow charge: 4
Boomerang Cutter: 2
- Against Storm Eagle, you can try to use the right side of the airship to luck-manipulate, if you can.
*) Only one shot maximum on-screen can be designated as doing special damage of 2. For example, if you fire three shots on-screen, the first does 2 damage and the second two do 1 damage. That's why it is good to be very close to the target, so that every shot does 2 damage.
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
I've only used memory watch for X's x and y position. My re~record count is high due to my little knowledge of the game mechanics. The rate should get lower as the game progresses. But you seem to constantly surprise me with tricks I never would've thought of.
Anyway, I shot Boomer Kuwanger 1 frame later after reading what you said in the other thread about possible lag from the boss explosions. Now I'm 27 frames faster.
I've got to see if I could grab that heart tank in Sting Chameleon's level.
Joined: 2/28/2006
Posts: 2275
Location: Milky Way -> Earth -> Brazil
That would be something.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself.
It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the
kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional
functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success."
- Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
I must be missing something here -- why would that be so impressive?
Probably because getting heart tank without water in that stages would change normal boss order and that's never done before (getting the heart tank without water I mean). Or it at least saves one revisit to Sting Chameleon's stage.
Call me pessimist, but I think that trick is impossible. I've used several hours trying to test different possibilities, but I have never been even close to get the tank. That gap is huge!
But anyway, good luck with that :) I hope that you can get the tank!
I must be missing something here -- why would that be so impressive?
No water where the heart tank is (one needs to beat Launch Octopus for that).
So far, no one has succeeded without X-Buster Upgrade, including OgreSlayeR and me. OgreSlayeR even said he was "one frame away", though I personally consider this an exaggeration.
my attempt in emulator:
Exact same thing, exact same position, different X recoil. Reason: Armor Upgrade.
The problem with the X recoil is that, without Armor Upgrade, X rises significantly while recoiling. This rising will actually push X downward as he passes through the wall, making it impossible to escape even if he is very close to the other side. If I wait so that this downward pushing does not occur, then X does not make it far enough.
I have not exhausted all options yet. I'll see if X can gain even more height beforehand (but this requires taking another hit, even for no damage).
