Here, for your viewing pleasure, is my run of the Lion King for the Sega Genesis. The run itself is 2294 frames faster (38.23 seconds) than the currently published run by Dan. The Lion King is one of favourite games for this console; visually and musically it is one of the most beautiful, the gameplay is very responsive and tight and the difficulty is very high (and misleading for a Disney game). The plot of the game is faithfully (for the most part) based on the movie of the same name. Being a huge fan of the movie and the game I was drawn to doing this TAS and am glad I was able to churn one out. I began this project almost immeadiately after submitting Majora's Mask and was not prepared for how challenging a TAS it would be (this project was very redotastic). The improvements come from a couple of new tricks, new routes, a dash of new glitches, all seasoned with better precision.
Aims For Fastest Time
Plays At Hardest Difficulty
Abuses Programming Errors In The Game
Manipulates Luck
Genre: Platform
Recorded using Gens 9.5b
Improvements
I'll list here only the main and obvious improvements.
Level One: The Pridelands
I jump to grab a ledge about halfway through which saves about three seconds This ledge is insanely difficult to get as Simba's position has to be of an exact value for it to work. This allows me to take a slightly different route up the left side of the level.
During the Hyena battle you may notice that I take damage. This means I can get inside the hitbox of the hyena to damage it a few frames earlier when it become vulnerable.
Level Two: I Just Can't Wait To Be King
After riding the ostrich I press jump for a single frame causing Simba to long jump for some reason. I use this to grab onto one of the higher animals. Saves about three seconds.
Level Three: The Elephant Graveyard
There's a secret tunnel about a third of the way through that Dan didn't know about that saves about three seconds.
If you jump over the top of the screen the game, for a single frame, thinks Simba is on the ground. There is only one place I can use this but it conveniently allows me to jump over a few Hyenas.
Level Four: The Stampede
Bleh...
Level Five: Simba's Exile
No real new tricks...just frame shaved.
Level Six: Hakuna Mattata
As above...
Notice the cool little glitch I show off after defeating the gorilla. Notice it!
Level Seven: Simba's Return
One of the most beautiful levels of any game from this era in my opinion. Perhaps a screenshot from here?
Many of the ledges that Dan grabs can be jumped over using a high-jump (jump + attack button).
Dan never glitched past the second leopard battle. It seems impossible because they don't exhaust like normal but after a bit of luck manip I found a way to pull it off.
Rolling the boulder near the end can be skipped by a high-jump to the platform.
Level 8: Be Prepared
Some of the geysers that Dan takes damage from can be jumped over with a high jump.
I tried to make the "boss" interesting. Feel free to skip it...
Level 9: Simba's Return
Same route but frame shaved in places.
Level 10: Pride Rock
Usig a high jump I was able to grab a higher grapple rock than Dan right before the final boss.
Special Thanks
Aqfaq: Extra special thanks to this man. Thanks for advice, tips and for discovering most of these tricks. I'd also like to thank you for your WIP of the first few levels. This is as much your run as it is mine.
Dan: Cheers for your movie. I used it for comparison at many points and I hope you enjoy the results!
Frezy_Man Of SDA: Thanks for your speedrun. I wasn't aware of the shortcut in The Elephant's Graveyard which saved a nice few seconds.
Grizzly Of vgmaps: Thanks for the level maps. They were invaluable for route planning.
Enjoy!!
adelikat: Accepting for publication as an improvement to the published movie.
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
I'm not sure I got the right ROM though. (I tried Lion King, The (W) [!].gen, which was the closest match to what you wrote.) Well, here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Wow, thanks!
Phew, I'm relieved you finished it finally, Lion Mukking. Well done!
Oh, there was some lag in the lava level (in the part where you needed to wait for your ride) but maybe it was unavoidable or a result of speed/entertainment trade-off? To me it seemed to be the many bats and some hyenas nearby that caused a lot of action on-screen and then some lag.
Heh, it was funny how you lured the hyena into the lava. It sank so fast that it did not even splash!
Well, it is a superb TAS. Just like Contra without the armed wolf and exploding robots, so only slightly less entertaining. Technically, I can't imagine this being improved below 14 minutes without some serious jungle-bungle-bugs. Mukki is really careful with small details.
Anyway, there exists some tricks that fail only barely, so the future of this movie is still open for surprises, as always.
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1943
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Nice run there! Too bad you didn't make it sub 14, but that will the next version I hope :).
Sometimes I really can't stand the music in the Genesis version, it's awful...
Amazing as usual.
I like how you handled the stampede and all the little details you took care of (input animation, perfect timed jumps on the ostrich, roaring at beaten enemies, jump glitch in hakuna matata, etc.)
The boss fight in "be prepared" must have been really tedious ^^
PS: The movie file somehow failed to deliver the final blow to scar. But I think the problem is rom I used.
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
Aqfaq wrote:
Oh, there was some lag in the lava level (in the part where you needed to wait for your ride) but maybe it was unavoidable or a result of speed/entertainment trade-off?
Yeah, it was mainly the bats. I could've killed them earlier and reduced the lag, but that would've made the wait less interesting as I would've only had the leopard to play with. If you know the game well you'll agree that those bats are really irritating so I thought that dodging several of them plus a leopard whilst so close to instant death lava was much more intersting. Also, the leopard's pouncing animation added to the lag, which could theoretically be reduced, but avoiding it would mean that I couldn't make it dive into the lava. The lag still only costs a few frames and I didn't think it was so noticable.
Tompa wrote:
Sometimes I really can't stand the music in the Genesis version, it's awful...
Boo! I couldn't disagree with you more :P I dislike the SNES version's sound, but I think this game sounds great (apart from the thunderbolts in the last level).
I vote yes. I only played the SNES version, but the Genesis version seems the same except for the music and sound effects. I really liked this run, and I loved how easily you climbed the waterfall on those logs. That part always takes forever for me.
Same problem here. I used the (W) [!] version, too...
Likewise. I think it's because I didn't sacrifice a goat in Upthorn's honor last solstice.
Emulator voodoo aside, the run had a lot of entertaining scenes, such as Simba mauling the hell out of everything toward the end. Stage four could possibly have been more stylized, but it's hard to say.
Yes vote and a bag o' chips.
Noticed the cool little glitch you show off after defeating the gorilla. Noticed it!
Yes vote for another great game on the genesis, that has a great tas made of it.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
This movie has been published.
The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie.
----
[1101] Genesis The Lion King by Mukki in 14:02.73
I did watch this run as a matter of fact. I would say more speed than entertainment on this one? Was there really any dancing, or would that kill time?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
