This is a Tool-Assisted Speedrun of Chuck Rock, for the Game Gear. I hope this will become the first Game Gear submission to hit the main site. I play all the levels with the only goal of speed. This game doesn't have any known/useful glitches; therefore, this run aims for pure optimised play.
Game objectives (and categories too, while I'm here...)
- Emulator used: dega-1.15-win32
- Beat the game as fast as possible
- Takes damage to save time
- Starts from reset
- Kinda pacifist (enemies are killed only when necessary, there are no useless deaths)
- Doesn't aim to collect items and power-ups: if they're collected it's just because they are on the way
- No death
- Manipulates luck
- Uses no passwords
- Genre: Platform
Where can I start? Well, for one, let's say that I used to have this game on my real Game Gear since I was a kid, and I always liked it. Combine this with the fact that the lack of Game Gear submissions on this website always seemed a bad thing to me, and you'll find out the motivation behind this submission. With the aid of Dega I play from the beginning to the end as fast as possible, all the game has been played in frame advance mode, frame by frame, with a massive use of savestates: I tried all the things I could in order to reach my goal. Too bad Dega doesn't have a memory viewer, it would have been useful in a couple of circumstances, oh well. Sometimes damage has been taken, sometimes the routes are unconventional, all in all I think this is my best attempt at a speedrun ever, and I seriously hope this is a good candidate to make the starving Game Gear section a bit more populated :)
Level 1
Not much to see here, the first level is rather simple. Here we get introduced to Chuck's main moves: he can walk, he can jump, he can crouch, he can lift rocks, which can be used to reach higher places or to kill enemies, but also to activate the crocodile-shaped lever. Chuck has two attacks: while standing still, he can hit enemies with his belly (this attack has been used a very few times due to the fact it requires you to stop), and he can kick while jumping. The boss of this level takes a mere one hit to be killed. As I said, an easy level. Damage is taken to save time in a few places; luck is manipulated (the bouncing rocks).
Level 2
Things start to get harder. This level contains water sections. Chuck can swim, but he will eventually drown. The amount of air remaining is shown in the life icon, which will get more blue as you stay underwater. This level also contains frogs, which will jump if you jump on their head. The fight against the boss doesn't follow a particular strategy, it's a good old bruteforce attack.
Level 3
This level, too, contains water sections. Apparently Chuck can swim almost naked also in frozen water without getting ill. Damage is taken in several places to save time (the falling ice stalactites are unavoidable unless you stop, and that requires more time). The boss of this level is (in my opinion) the hardest of the game. It takes 20 hits, which aren't few per se already, and the sloppy hitboxes and his tricky attacking pattern which makes him invulnerable for most of the time don't help. To beat him I have to follow a (boring?) attacking pattern too, as a sort of dance between Chuck and the mammoth. I didn't take damage this time: there was little to no use. Except at the end for the comic effect, the life indicator is refilled anyway.
Level 4
The hardest level in the game. In the other 3 levels I could keep on walking right for most of the time, but here I have to stop and/or backtrack due to the placement of the enemies, sometimes not even taking damage is enough to save time. This level features bones and a free tour inside the stomach of a dinosaur. The final boss is a Tyrannosaurus Rex with boxing gloves and silly underpants. It's not as hard as the boss in Level 3. I could follow an attack pattern in this fight as well, but I thought to add some variety in this case. The difference is in the order of a very few frames anyway, so it's not really "a speed/entertainment tradeoff", it's just that it looks better. Once the Tyrannosaurus Rex is done, enjoy your non-existent credits. Last input is used to get to the game over screen.
<Explain here things the audience would probably like to see>The fact that this is an interesting game. And I hope it can be the first approved Game Gear TAS :D
<Explain also things that could be improved in your movie>I think most of my paths are optimised. If something can be saved it's probably a frame war, I doubt I left out something THAT big.
<You may also suggest screenshots.>None I can think of.
mmbossman: I changed to title name to be both more informative and less obnoxious. Everyone wins.
