Submission Text Full Submission Page Publication Page
At last, we get to see Earth's ancient history in a game! In which the whole world revolves around a single creature, the aliens invaded, and there are a few other creatures that are actively trying to ruin the world. Quite an amazing history lesson!
Basic stuff about this run:
  • Aims for fastest time
    • There are Speed/Entertainment tradeoffs
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Manipulates luck
  • No damage
    • I never found when damage saves time in this run.
Options for movie file:
  • Emulator: Snes9x 1.43
  • Use WIP1 Timing
  • Allow Left+Right / Up+Down
  • Volume Envelope Height Reading
I have created lua-scripted subtitles for this run. They can be found in the forums here. If you're viewing the forums itself, just scroll down!

About this game

In this action/platformer game, you are a wimpy little creature guided by Gaia in an effort to reach Eden. You don't stay wimpy long, since after killing a few enemies and chowing down on their meat, you can evolve various parts to improve your capabilities whenever you like. Of course, along the way, plot happens, and the road to Eden is a little tougher than expected.
For this run, our hero is in a hurry to reach Eden, and goes through a few hundred million years of Earth's history in about 40 minutes. Seems that he did his homework and knew exactly what to do. And likes to jump through each level, using poor creatures as stepping stones. Hey, all in the name of Eden!

Mechanics

I'll talk about a few details in general here.

Evolution

In order to speed through places and beat stuff up in a timely manner, I need to evolve a few things. While there are many things that you can improve, this run focuses entirely on Agility and Strength, and Jumping is important as well. These three stats work together well since most of the things that add Agility also provides Jumping and Strength.
Whenever a Great Power gives you a new body, you revert to a rather weak form with none of the upgrades of your previous form, except size and neck length. When becoming a Mammal, even the size is lost. I seek a few ways to get around this shortcoming, generally involving crystals.
There are a few crystals that you can eat to temporarily transform yourself into something else. The required Red Crystal can pick a manta or an eel at random. The Green Crystals can transform you to an earlier, recorded form. I record my fish just before leaving Chapter 1 and use that to maul a boss, and record the amphibian to completely skip evolving Reptile parts.
One primary reason for the whole detour to become the bird is that the higher potential speed and strength lets me get through battles faster. 12 Strength and 20 Agility manages to beat the time the detour takes, compared to the 8 Strength and 18 Agility the reptile can get. The flight just helps out even more.

Movement

Seeing as a great deal of stuff depends on getting from point A to point B, you can imagine why I seek the fastest method. In order from fastest to slowest form of movement: Dash-Jump, dash, jump, walk. As a bird with enough Agility (more than 16, I believe), repeated tackles is slightly faster than dashing.
To dash, double-tap in a direction. The direction you tapped is in 0x7E074B and the timer is in 0x7E074B. When the timer is 12 or higher, you can't initiate a dash on your next tap, so you'll probably need to double-tap again. You can hold down one direction and walk in that direction and initiate a dash in another direction, which is done at times when I need motion away from something but still need to tackle it.
When you are currently in the middle of some action, the timer freezes. After you get out of your dash through whatever method, it is possible to initiate another dash with a single tap thanks to this timer.
Left+Right or Up+Down moves your creature up. That's fine while swimming or flying, but if you're standing on ground and hit Left+Right, you'll move up, off the ground, then have to wait as you land once more. Left+Right and Up+Down has proven useful on occasion, especially that part I mentioned where I need to move away yet still need to tackle.
The jumping mechanic is rather restrictive... You can either jump as high as you can, or make a short hop designed to drop down through certain platforms. There is no in between, short of reducing your jump stat. In all my jumps, I hit B for one single frame, and it's often max height. That limits the usefulness of jumps for precise maneuvers, but dash-jumping is still the fastest by quite a fair margin.
When I become a bird, I gain the power of flight. Although flying is slower than dash-jumping, flight allows for a few shortcuts and provides a much better method to tackle stuff. As well as stats, but that's another thing.

Offense

A quick overview of attack methods and the time they take for each repeat: 
Bite: 30 frames; uses Bite
Tackle: 18 frames under optimal conditions; Uses Strength
Bounce: Instant, but requires downward motion from jump; Uses HALF of Strength
Horn: Instant, just dash; Uses Horn; Usually breaks after 3 hits
Kick: Did not measure; Uses Kick
Strike: Did not measure; Uses Strike
There are quite a few methods you can use to pummel your enemies into submission. Of which, I primarily use one: Tackles. Strength pretty much goes up with Agility, so that's a plus. Then there's the fact they're faster than bites, another plus. Bosses, when still stunned from the last hit, are invincible, but if they didn't get pushed from your tackle, it's usually shorter than the 18 frames needed for your next tackle.
However, tackles can push bosses around -- This motion extends their invincibility time. They need to come to a complete stop before they can recover from their stun. The three ways they will stop are when they:
run out of momentum (slow)
hit screen edge
hit the ground when previously airborne
Although I never let bites exceed one damage, it is fairly crucial in Chapter 2. As a fish, I can't bounce, so I need to stun enemies by bite. Just long enough that I can get through, hit-free. Then there's the boss bees, both of which needs a bite to bring them to the ground where I can then tackle them dead. Plus, bites can eat meat, too!
Then there's bouncing. Has roughly zero use for speedy offense thanks to the jumping mechanic, but is freaking useful in avoiding landing lag. That's about all I use bouncing for, utilizing enemies to travel a little faster.
Horn was used in a test run, but I found it's unneeded here. They last 3 hits, far below what you need to do to most enemies. Evolving with a horn will restore the horn back to 3 hits, but then there's the flashy yellow animation.
Kicks and Strike are never used because I never become a Mammal.

Luck

The RNG addresses are at 0x7E00DE and 0x7E00DF. If you want flashing meat, these two must sum to some multiple of 16, 32, 64, or 128, depending on the enemy. They change every frame, and may change more than once in a frame if an enemy has to think or when determining flashing meat.
I should thank Dromiceius for helping me out with cracking the RNG. After I fully understood how the RNG generates its next number, I created my own program that spits out a list of frame numbers I should try, bringing a LOT of guesswork out.
Aside from a nifty program, the enemies also uses the same RNG when deciding their actions. I spend a few frames here and there so that enemies don't get in my way. Or move into a better position to bounce off of. Those work too.

Glitches

There aren't many glitches I could take advantage of. However, there are two that sticks out.
One is an upward zip glitch. This is only possible on certain terrain, where you can stand on a platform and be blocked from simply walking off one of its sides. This block is what's important. When you jump, hit Y and bite nothing in particular. After the bite, you can hit B at any time you're inside this block to zip straight up. Saves a small amount of time for a better jumping position, while adding a bunch of WTF when the sky has a band of strange red stuff suddenly.
The other allows me to make one action on the elevator when I activate it. Upon finishing an animation on the ground, such as landing from a jump or finishing a tackle, you have one frame in which you can act, prior to the earliest possible frame in which down or up would move the elevator. If you walk for that frame, you will continuously move until you hit a wall. If you jump, you have control over where you go, but you can't do much else. Control is limited, but the one extra jump can put you someplace closer to your goal.

Random notes

Dialogue has a 4-frame rule.
Optimal conditions for tackling is a bird in flight, with one frame spent to dash again.
Less optimal conditions probably isn't slower by more than a few frames anyway. Swimming seems to be worst.
Downward tackles from flying bird is godly. Left/Right would push things around. Up would lift them off the ground and delay things.
There is a day/night system in the game. I just go too quick for night to ever show.

Stages

I'll try to keep it short, since there are a lot of places I go into. Besides, I'll let the subtitles do a lot of the talking.

Chapter 1

First, the Jellyfish dialogue. It is almost unskippable. Almost. You can skip it by avoiding all Jellyfish. Note that this is not limited to the first room. If you manage to avoid them in Ocean of Origin, they'll be glad to inform you in the next area. If you can get around those, they'll ambush you with their speech in Cave of Zinichthys. If you manage to squeeze through that, there's a whole bunch guarding the entrance to Cave of Origin, ready to talk you down. ... Something tells me that avoiding them is more trouble than it's worth.
  • Ocean of Terodus
    To get through here, the enemy counter at 0x7E0766 must hit 50, then clear out any remaining enemies. By swimming back and forth at that one spot, I spawn two of them at once, then scroll them out of existence really quick. I move upwards while avoiding lag so to prepare the jumps out.
  • Coast of Pange
    Choice of name was picked by Dammit. Nice site recognition, anyway.

Chapter 2

I take a significant detour to the Green Crystal. Going back to fish form lets me skip one dialogue, jump through early areas faster, and defeat the first boss with 6 damage tackles. In spite of the length of the detour, the fish wins out by quite a margin.
  • Cave of King Bee
    When I eat the bugs and bones, I actually delay the appearance of the meat by a frame for each meal. I figure I shouldn't be picky anyway, and it's almost impossible to spot this delay in realtime, so why not? This factor actually becomes important inside the cave when I couldn't kill a larva right at the "golden frame", but by eating the nearby bones pile, that one frame delay saved the day.

Chapter 3

Interestingly enough, I don't use the Reptile form. At all. Sure, it's like a major change and all, but for the entire "useful" life of being a Reptile, I'm Green Crystal'd into Amphibian form. The detour to Bird is quite lengthy, roughly 2 or so minutes at a guess, but all that time is saved by better stats and the power of flight.
  • Ocean of Plesusaurus (revisited)
    The reason for the second trip is because I went and tested out that Green Crystal in the Tyrosaurus place. Compared routes and stuff. The Green Crystal route ended up slower than this detour.

Chapter 4

I could become Mammal here, but they have lower max speed (14) and no flight. Besides, I'm back to the basic form if I do become a Mammal.
  • Door to Mt. Snow
    There is an alternate path, but it involves going into the overworld map a few times. Just climb up those steps! Seeing that screen transitions do take a while, I simply assumed that the upper path would be slower.

Chapter 5

Ah, the final chapter. It's the longest chapter, but that gives more of the run for you to see!
  • Cave of Monkey Human
    Bird Flight > elevators. I even skip a dialogue here! Cheers! As for the boss here, he has an incredibly short stun time. Even tackling upwards to get him slightly off the ground doesn't delay his stun long. Yeep!
  • Entrance of Eden
    Cro-Maine gets buried, I jump on the elevators, and I goof off while waiting for Bolbox's next attack. Sure takes a while, but it's finally done. The thing that slowed me down was trying to figure out an entertaining option while waiting for Bolbox to do its thing. Also, for some mysterious reason, most of the summoned critters have a longer than usual stun... It does slow things a bit when I must wait on my next tackle.

Possible improvements

There's a fair chance that there's still frames to be saved. I haven't found any major glitches that allow me to skip stages or something, so barring that, I'm not sure if sub-40 minutes is possible.
I can't think of much off-hand, considering I put in everything I could in here. I'm not sure what can be done, exactly, but go ahead if you want to try things.
mmbossman: What a uniquely different RPG. The biggest complaint I have is actually the lack of variety with the land levels... you jump/fly to the right/left for 5 seconds, and then return to the overworld map. This certainly isn't a fault of the run though, more a fault of game design. People, myself included, seem to think it's publication worthy, so I'll go ahead and set this to 'accepted'.

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Posted: 10/8/2009 2:04 AM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2419: FatRatKnight's SNES E.V.O.: Search for Eden in 40:31.17
Posted: 10/8/2009 2:09 AM
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FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Lua-scripted subtitles. Instructions for viewing: - Copy entire code block into a simple text editor, like Notepad. - Save as filename.lua, though replace "filename" with whatever you want. Be sure to set "Save as type" to "all files". Now bring up your Snes9x emulator, load the right ROM, run the movie, then run the script. Just look in the File pull-down menu for a "Run Lua Script..." option. Words should appear on occasion in the emulator window. 
--Subtitles for EVO

local MX= 2  -- If not using latest revision of Snes9x, set to 0
local MY= 2
local MsgDuration= 300
local t, y, L1, L2= {}, {}, {}, {}
local MsgTmr= MsgDuration
local Line= {}
Line[1]=""
Line[2]=""

-- Sets message and resets timer. Can also set y position
function NewMsg(Line1, Line2, yt)  -- y is optional

    MsgTmr= 0
    Line[1]= Line1
    Line[2]= Line2
    if yt then
        MY= yt
    end
end


-- Displays text
function DispMsg()

    if MsgTmr < MsgDuration then
        MsgTmr= MsgTmr + 1
        gui.text(MX,MY  ,Line[1])
        gui.text(MX,MY+9,Line[2])
    end
end

local i= 1
-- Shrinks file size
function S(st,sy,sL1,sL2) --Time, Y-pos, Lines 1&2
  t[i],y[i],L1[i],L2[i]= st,sy,sL1,sL2
  i=i+1
end

--*****************************************************************************
-- Begin text

S(    60, 2,"This run aims for speed"         ,"")
S(   500, 2,"Yes, this intro is unskippable." ,"")
S(  1840, 2,"This run has more evolutions"    ,"than a Pokemon TAS!")
S(  2300, 2,"I'll let you know my stats..."   ,"Stats: str= 1  agi= 4  jump= 1")
S(  2630, 2,"str for damage, agi for speed."  ,"jump affects... Jumps... Joy")

S(  2960,30,"There are other stats."          ,"They're all useless in this TAS.")
S(  3340,30,"The first Jellyfish you come to" ,"will always tell you this stuff.")
S(  3700,30,"Original Dorsal Fin: +1str +1agi","Stats: str= 2  agi= 5  jump= 1")
S(  3990,30,"Also boosts HP. Unimportant in"  ,"this run, so I don't care.")
S(  4300,30,"Jumping is the fastest form of"  ,"travel. Why else would I do it?")

S(  5400,30,"... If I can just avoid going up","for one frame...")
S(  6250,30,"Quick exit due to R button."     ,"")
S(  6870,30,"The cave where much luck is"     ,"manipulated in my favor.")
S(  7430,30,"1/16 chance for each flashy meat","and done rather stylish, too.")
S(  7700,30,"Different enemies have different","chances, however.")

S(  8080,30,"Eel is very fast. Though this"   ,"can randomly pick a slow manta.")
S(  8500,30,"Oh, right. The Eel's stats..."   ,"Stats: str= 3  agi=12  jump= 6")
S(  8890,30,"50 enemies must spawn. This is"  ,"why I swim at this spot.")
S(  9210,30,"Address 7E0766 is useful here."  ,"It is an enemy counter.")
S(  9600, 2,"Time limit for crystal forms"    ,"is 32 seconds (1920 frames)")

S( 10580,30,"Evil RNG... Poor jellyfish takes","a tackle thanks to it...")
S( 10980,30,"And this is why I want the RNG"  ,"to behave: Flashy meat.")
S( 12410,30,"Quick pause to manipulate luck." ,"Blame the evil RNG, man!")
S( 13200,30,"Stuff in the following cave have","1/32 chance of flashing meat")
S( 13600,30,"Tackled here to maintain Eel"    ,"speed for a short while.")

S( 14020,30,"Kuraselache's Tail: +4 agi +4jmp","Stats: str= 2  agi= 9  jump= 5")
S( 14330,30,"More HP, too. But again, HP is"  ,"not imporant in this run.")
S( 14700,30,"Tackle Fin: +3 agi, +2 str"      ,"Stats: str= 4  agi=12  jump= 5")
S( 15260,30,"Kuraselache's Dorsal Fin."       ,"Stats: str= 6  agi=14  jump= 5")
S( 15820,30,"Heads-up! Our heroic fishy will" ,"make silly faces!")

S( 16550,30,"Again, nothing is faster than"   ,"jumps. There's more, trust me.")
S( 17800,30,"Guess who's tackle will win out!","Imagine the perfect snapshot!")
S( 18750,30,"A message would pop up here."    ,"Naturally, it is skipped.")
S( 19800,30,"Oh, crud! I lost my fish stats!" ,"Stats: str= 1  agi= 4  jump= 1")


--Chapter 2
S( 21500, 2,"A few hundred million years"     ,"pass in less than 10 minutes.")
S( 22950,30,"Wazzat?! A Yellow crystal?  It"  ,"summons Dialogue: Time Waster!")
S( 23280, 2,"Detour. It's long, but the time" ,"it saves makes up for it.")
S( 24450,30,"And there's the reason for the"  ,"detour: Green Crystal!")
S( 24950, 2,"Ah, yes... Recall the fish..."   ,"Stats: str= 6  agi=14  jump= 5")

S( 25800,30,"Oh, silly me. I skipped another" ,"dialogue! Impossible w/o fish.")
S( 26600,30,"As a fish, I can't bounce on"    ,"enemies. So I bite instead.")
S( 27000,30,"Bites can stun enemies long"     ,"enough for me to jump away.")
S( 28080, 2,"Alas, it's many, many more jumps","from here on out.")
S( 30000,30,"It's silly how quick this battle","goes.")

S( 31500,30,"I make a short delay here, to"   ,"get rid of fish frames.")
S( 32700,30,"You can't bounce as a fish."     ,"But as an amphibian... Boing!")
S( 33040,30,"Gulping air in order to keep"    ,"bouncing. Maintains fish speed.")
S( 33350,30,"Keril: +4 agility"               ,"Stats: str= 1  agi= 8  jump= 1")
S( 34540, 2,"Those amphibians aren't foes."   ,"They're still good for bounces!")

S( 35500,30,"Look! I'm an amphibian! These"   ,"things are known for jumps!")
S( 36000,30,"10 minutes have passed"          ,"About 25% done with input file!")
S( 36600,30,"Eating stuff delays death."      ,"Still, less stuff to lag with.")
S( 37000,30,"Jumping Dorsal fin: +3s +5a +4j" ,"Stats: str= 4  agi=13  jump= 5")
S( 37400,30,"1/32 chance for flashing meat."  ,"I don't need them all to flash.")

S( 37900,30,"The boss won't show until ALL"   ,"the enemies and meat are gone.")
S( 38750,30,"Spring Tail:+2 str +2 agi +7 jmp","Stats: str= 6  agi=15  jump=12")
S( 39200,30,"Actually, I'm done evolving as"  ,"the Amphibian. No need for food")
S( 41190,30,"Another green crystal..."        ,"I'll make use of it!")
S( 42390,30,"I jump once. Fun how releasing"  ,"control coasts me through.")

S( 44400,30,"Biting Megausu gets him off the" ,"screen sooner.")
S( 45200,30,"Shorter tackles because I let"   ,"Queen Bee off the ground.")
S( 46130,30,"Oh, dear... Not again! NO!"      ,"Stats: str= 1  agi= 4  jump= 1")


--Chapter 3
S( 47900, 2,"I hear this is a bad time to be.","I mean, the meteors and all...")
S( 49050,30,"Ugh... No wimpy dino... Oh, my"  ,"Green Crystal! I'll use it!")
S( 49400,30,"Remember the amphy's stats?"     ,"Stats: str= 6  agi=15  jump=12")
S( 50900,30,"There will be a chain of stages" ,"where I simply jump through...")
S( 51780,30,"Eh? Don't want it? Oh joy! I'll" ,"take it off your hands, then!")

S( 53700,30,"Ah, another new creature to jump","on! Imagine the plot unfolding!")
S( 54700,30,"These yell when attacked. That"  ,"noise can deal damage to you.")
S( 57950,30,"Wait, did I see 'reptile' in"    ,"there? I'm not one, am I? Uh...")
S( 58150,30,"Gah! No reptile! NO! Must use"   ,"my other Green Crystal!")
S( 58550,30,"Seriously, 1 damage a hit?"      ,"6/hit takes a while as is!")

S( 59500,30,"Detour: Going to become a bird." ,"It's freakin' fast, man!")
S( 60700,30,"Sweet! A plot twist! We get to"  ,"jump to the LEFT now! Awesome!")
S( 61700,30,"Note, I never got any EVO.P as"  ,"a Reptile...")
S( 62500,30,"Ah, Mt. Brave. Amphibians like"  ,"me can jump up easily!")
S( 63460,30,"Reptile...?"                     ,"")

S( 63560,30,"Reptile...?  REPTILE!?"          ,"")
S( 63660,30,"Reptile...?  REPTILE!?"          ,"NO! Not that again! So weak!")
S( 63860,30,"I'm... Doomed... No more..."     ,"Bye world... I'm jumping off!")
S( 64180,30,"But wait!! What's that?! Joy!"   ,"I'm a bird! My savior!")
S( 64810, 2,"Bird stats start decent, though.","Stats: str= 1  agi= 9  jump= 4")

S( 65400,30,"But I need a little more stats." ,"One side trip here, and...")
S( 65800,30,"This thing has a 1/128 chance"   ,"to drop flashing meat.")
S( 66200,30,"Pronesaurus Dorsal Fin"          ,"Stats: str= 4  agi=11  jump= 6")
S( 66400,30,"Ptenodons Crest"                 ,"Stats: str= 5  agi=13  jump= 8")
S( 66850, 2,"The detour finally ends..."      ,"We're on our way through now!")

S( 67300,30,"Still smilin'. That meat was"    ,"THAT good, I tell ya!")
S( 68500,30,"Caution: Glitch ahead. I zip,"   ,"causing a mess with the sky.")
S( 69700,30,"Boss battle: Defeat 10 of these" ,"silly things.")
S( 70050,30,"They have a 1/64 chance of"      ,"forking over flashing meat.")
S( 70500,30,"The pre-emptive evolution helps.","5 damage instead of 1!")

S( 70950,30,"Mmm... Luck-manipulated meat..." ,"Part of a balanced diet!")
S( 71350,30,"Longtail birds Tail"             ,"Stats: str=10  agi=20  jump=11")
S( 72000,30,"20 minutes have passed"          ,"I'm just chugging along.")
S( 72500,30,"I hate lag. Avoiding it made it" ,"less epic than my test run.")
S( 74400, 2,"Ominous Green Crystal..."        ,"Floating like it's nothin'...")

S( 75000, 2,"Extreme dodgeball! Looks like"   ,"The Dinos are losing this one!")


--Chapter 4
S( 77400, 2,"This is the coolest chapter!"    ,"... I don't mean figuratively.")
S( 78650,30,"Non-mammals can't walk on ice"   ,"all that well...")
S( 79000,30,"I can always jump! Somehow, air" ,"has more traction than ice.")
S( 79400,30,"Tackles work well, too."         ,"Silly ice...")
S( 79750,30,"This is where you'd become a"    ,"mammal. I'll stay a bird...")

S( 81000,30,"Yes, I need to visit in order"   ,"to continue...")
S( 82300,30,"Now we can jump in a cave!"      ,"All the places we can jump!")
S( 83000,30,"There's actually an alternate"   ,"path. But this one's faster.")
S( 84050, 2,"Wonder how my bird manages with" ,"that cold air...")
S( 84650,30,"Now what did I just say? Now"    ,"it's not cold at all!")

S( 85600,30,"A more impressive zip glitch"    ,"takes place here.")
S( 85940,30,"I have indeed touched the sky."  ,"It's kind of red and stuff.")
S( 87280, 2,"Classic wraparound effect."      ,"I head south to North Pole!")
S( 87700,30,"Must be the off-screen teleport" ,"that I always heard about.")
S( 88650,30,"Another boss battle."            ,"Result is predictable.")

S( 89000,30,"Note how useful those downward"  ,"tackles are. Bird only")
S( 90750, 2,"Okay, this wraparound is silly." ,"Don't think too hard on it.")
S( 91720,30,"Warted Body: +2 strength"        ,"Stats: str=12  agi=20  jump=11")
S( 92100,30,"Notably, flying up this pillar"  ,"lets me get grabbed faster.")
S( 93100,30,"Ah, my favorite scene! Look at"  ,"how I bounce through!")

S( 93900,30,"Bird flight speeds up this place","dramatically. So neat!")
S( 94270,30,"Yes, this is a teleporter maze." ,"It's quick enough, anyway.")
S( 94800,30,"Here's why Birdy speeds things:" ,"Going up. Yay for flight!")
S( 96400,30,"I take my time eating these."    ,"I must wait a fixed time!")
S( 97200, 2,"Dramatic escape sequence! ...Oh?","I'm already out?! Yay!")

S( 98000,30,"There would be this ice barrier.","A boom miles away took it out.")
S( 99100,30,"This tackle sequence is used to" ,"prevent me from taking damage")
S(100600,30,"You can tell she's female by the","teal eye shadow she wears.")
S(101100,30,"Same attack pattern to avoid"    ,"the same sort of damage.")
S(101700,30,"That time I needed to eat quick" ,"to trigger the next scene.")

S(102500,30,"Oh? About that 3800 EVO.P?"      ,"You'll find out later.")


--Chapter 5
S(104600, 2,"Never thought history would be"  ,"anything like this.")
S(105800,30,"My goodness! We're jumping to"   ,"the left again! Madness!")
S(106850,30,"You can become human. It is"     ,"disappointingly weak...")
S(107165,30,"Human form is only for mammals." ,"Like I care for this run...")
S(107670,30,"Water causes evolution. I fly"   ,"to avoid that mess.")

S(108000, 2,"30 minutes have passed"          ,"Are we there yet? NO!")
S(108700,30,"Rather conveniently placed"      ,"foe, would you say?")
S(109400,30,"Odd, but the Y button allows me" ,"to bounce off them...")
S(111850,30,"I tried. I really did. I just"   ,"can't manipulate them...")
S(114150,30,"Dialogue skip! No monkey shall"  ,"tell me to use elevators!")

S(114550,30,"Yes, repeated tackles is faster" ,"than straight flying...")
S(114870,30,"But only at a high enough"       ,"agility.")
S(115350,30,"This boss has an unusually short","stun time. Tough thing...")
S(115680,30,"However, short stun times are"   ,"good things for a TASer!")
S(116800,30,"If you think about it, this"     ,"place is insane...")

S(117400,30,"First, we have a bird underwater","")
S(118100,30,"And quite suddenly, there's ice.","")
S(118600,30,"And a fish riding another fish." ,"  With a gun, too.")
S(119100,30,"I manipulate their patrol so my" ,"dashes aren't interrupted.")
S(120500,30,"Then we meet a spell-casting"    ,"boss. Now there's magic?")

S(121600,30,"Top it all off with a throne"    ,"room.")
S(121920,30,"Complete with royalty, curtains,","red carpet... Underwater?")
S(122800,30,"Yeah... Back to the land for me!","I'm outta here!")
S(124000,30,"They talk about that flying fort","over in Chapter 4.")
S(125000,30,"I could use that zip glitch, but","low ceiling made it useless")

S(126050,30,"Alright, Cro-Maine, I'm-a go"    ,"and bury you!!")
S(126500,30,"Well, uh... What do you know?"   ,"I DID bury him! What the hey?")
S(127500,30,"Ah, the final place. You can"    ,"tell from the music.")
S(128100,30,"Elevator glitch. I can jump and" ,"still trigger it.")
S(128420,30,"Generally good for getting a"    ,"better position.")

S(130100,30,"Bolbox... A boss that takes"     ,"forever to die.")
S(131390,30,"Armor Body"                      ,"Stats: str=14  agi=18  jump=11")
S(131630,30,"Horned Helmet"                   ,"Stats: str=16  agi=16  jump= 9")
S(132000,30,"Agility has little meaning now." ,"So, strength all the way!")
S(132650,30,"I can attack Bolbox, but no"     ,"progress 'til minion is dead.")

S(133080,30,"Must eat as well. " ,"enemy won't show!")
S(133550,30,"Just killing time. May as well"  ,"act out while waiting.")
S(134000,30,"My test run used 12 damage hits.","")
S(134600,30,"Ulch... Avoiding lag made this"  ,"dance so much less appealing.")
S(135500,30,"If I hit again before eating,"   ,"Bolbox would recover 80 HP.")

S(137400,30,"That white ball transforms into" ,"a cute harmless amphibian!")
S(137900,30,"Finding actions to entertain"    ,"you during waits ain't easy.")
S(138470,30,"Static noise? Seems it tried to" ,"attack. I didn't let it.")
S(139100,30,"It's nearly over... Just one"    ,"more orb after this one...")
S(140250,30,"Uh, oh... Bolbox's last resort"  ,"is coming! Here it comes!")

S(140625,30,"It's almost here! It's... It is-","")
S(140705,30,"It's almost here! It's... It is-","... A hunk of meat?!")
S(141200,30,"Alas, Bolbox's last ditch effort","to bribe me ends in failure.")
S(144000, 2,"40 minutes have passed"          ,"Enjoying the ending?")

--End text
--*****************************************************************************


i= 1
while t[i] and (t[i] < movie.framecount()) do  i= i+1  end

while t[i] do
    if t[i] <= movie.framecount() then
        NewMsg(L1[i],L2[i],y[i])
        i= i+1
    end
    DispMsg()
    snes9x.frameadvance()
end

local timer= 0
while true do  -- Idle loop. Prevents pre-lua pause state
    DispMsg()  -- To get that last message...
    timer= timer+1
    snes9x.frameadvance()

    if timer >= 72000 then
        gui.text(0,200,"Um, sir... You have an active script...")
    end
    if timer >=216000 then
        gui.text(0,210,"If you want hidden messages, open the darn script!")
    end
end
Posted: 10/8/2009 2:40 AM
Quote
Nicos
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
holy sh*t
Posted: 10/8/2009 2:59 AM
Quote
ugetab
Emulator Coder
Joined: 1/12/2007
Posts: 95
Having played this game, passing up all the food went against my 'Get it! Get it! Get it!" mentality. That said, it was quite fast. It looks like there are some points where you're dawdling, but I'm quite convinced that you weren't. It's been a while since I went all the way through the game myself(I'm half-way convinced to go through it again just based on what I saw in the TAS), so I can't exactly confirm or deny where the delays are likely to happen. Aside from the technical details, it was fun to watch. I think the few idle times weren't filled as much as they could've been, but neither were they devoid of activity. Yes vote
Posted: 10/8/2009 3:45 AM
Quote
Comicalflop
Editor, Experienced player (735)
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Speedy TAS of 2009
I didn't really enjoy it. By the time I got to the Ice Age, I was suitably bored and stopped watching. Meh vote.
☣ Homepage ☣ Retired
Posted: 10/8/2009 5:14 AM
Quote
Priam
Joined: 6/20/2008
Posts: 150
Never did finish this one on my own, thanks to terrible timing of power outage. Good to see what happens, though I guess I technically didn't need a TAS for that. The run was amusing in appropriate dosages, and I can't think of anything to contribute as far as suggestions or gripes. The caption script was helpful in seeing some of the behind-the-scenes work, which I'm sure works to your favor, and breaks up the monotony of the game. Yes vote from me (though I do wish you'd put the emulator version number in the description of the movie).
Posted: 10/8/2009 5:43 AM
Quote
FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Priam wrote:
Yes vote from me (though I do wish you'd put the emulator version number in the description of the movie).
Oh, shoot... That is kind of important. I'll update the submission text! Thanks for letting me know your thoughts, everyone!
Posted: 10/8/2009 9:57 AM
Quote
Nightwatch
Joined: 2/12/2008
Posts: 67
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Looks solid and kept me entertained. Voted yes. I definitely endorse the subtitles, by the way. Subtitles are much more user-friendly (for the casual watcher) than a long scene-by-scene submission description.
Posted: 10/8/2009 11:33 AM
Quote
Nicos
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
yes vote, the subs are more than recomended if this run is published. also, i'm surprised that you didn't upgrade jaws even once in the run as they should add str (if i remember corectly ?) and could have shortened amphibian / fish boses (did the evo animation took too much time ?) also too bad you didn't take the dragon form :/
Posted: 10/8/2009 3:36 PM
Quote
DarkKobold
Skilled player (1652)
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy
Arcade TASer of 2010 PCE TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 Lucky TAS of 2009 Lucky TAS of 2007
Yes, very yes. I've been hoping for this run for a while.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Posted: 10/8/2009 6:58 PM
Quote
zidanax
Player (217)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Awesome, and I agree that the subs should be in the final encode. They really help to keep the run from getting too monotonous.
Posted: 10/8/2009 7:56 PM
Quote
FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
Priam wrote:
The caption script was helpful [...]
Nightwatch wrote:
I definitely endorse the subtitles, [...]
Nicos wrote:
the subs are more than recomended if this run is published.
zidanax wrote:
Awesome, and I agree that the subs should be in the final encode. [...]
Clearly, there's a lot of positive feedback here. There's not much I need to say here, pointing these out should let you know how I feel.
Nicos wrote:
also, i'm surprised that you didn't upgrade jaws even once in the run as they should add str (if i remember corectly ?) and could have shortened amphibian / fish boses (did the evo animation took too much time ?)
It's actually a combination of reasons. See how fast I knock the bosses around? King Kuraselache has 75 HP, and with 6 Strength, it takes 13 tackles to finish him off. Adding a single point of Strength would allow 11 tackles to do the job, which might save a second, but the evolution time and hunting for EVO.P would swamp out that saving. Note how I reach each early boss with 0 EVO.P, so I would have to hunt for more. Additionally, jaws don't affect Strength at all, unless you're a Mammal. Probably the big reason why I didn't touch the jaws at all.
Nicos wrote:
also too bad you didn't take the dragon form :/
The detour to the dragon... Is simply long. Very long. I didn't see any way that the 30 damage bites and 25 damage horn would make up for that. On the other hand, I didn't actually test it -- I merely checked the length of time to get through the clouds and back for the dragon. It was something like a minute or so detour. Domain of Tyrosaurus takes less than a minute even without the high damage.
Posted: 10/8/2009 10:21 PM
Quote
DrJones
Joined: 4/3/2005
Posts: 575
Location: Spain
This game is awesome and the run reflects that. A pity that you cannot show all the possible endings in one sitting. The only thing I miss is that you don't marry the sea monster, or is it that only mermaids can do that?
No.
Posted: 10/8/2009 11:13 PM
Quote
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Is it weird that as soon as I saw the intro of the game (I usually let a new game run a bit before starting a movie), I could tell the game was made by Enix because of the style they use to draw the blue Earth? It reminded me immediately of Illusion of Gaia :-) I enjoyed this run, though it has a really large amount of downtime in the overworld map. Also, why do bosses have to pause for about a second before you can scroll their text? The subtitles helped with the downtime, but occasionally they were in the way... I'm not sure there's much you can do about that. It dawned on me, though, that the reason that the downtime seems so long is BECAUSE you're hurtling through the stages at breakneck speed, sometimes chaining jumps off of creatures. The fights are generally awesome. It's clear that the game wasn't really designed to be played as minimalist as you did, skipping so many enemies. Also, I found it darkly funny how you beat up Papa and Mama Yeti and then Junior goes by crying, and then even later you beat Junior up too! Anyway, Yes vote. I would be interested in seeing other evolutionary paths too, but I'm not sure if any other paths are worth making a run category for.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Posted: 10/8/2009 11:28 PM
Quote
Zurreco
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Great run. This really puts that sloppy test run I made a while back to shame. I'm glad to see that this game finally has a legit run done. Yes vote. I think that a lot of people won't find this run as impressive as they could/should because the average player usually has the exp hording mentality when playing this. Trying to speed through this game skips a lot of what makes it charming: branching evolution paths, interacting with NPCs, killing random amounts of people for days. Still, the slight repetitiveness and lack of involving content is a byproduct of simply skipping what isn't necessary. I hope that this doesn't hold the run back from publication.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Posted: 10/9/2009 2:32 AM
Quote
Nicos
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
my fav part of this game is that you can actualy kill the npc's and eat them (funny drawback too) @FRK : i think too that the dragon would be a waste of time because basicaly you would have to fly trought a cloud maze...
Posted: 10/9/2009 9:09 AM
Quote
klmz
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (2159)
Joined: 5/22/2007
Posts: 1134
Location: Glitchvania
NES TASer of 2018 GBA TASer of 2018 GBA TAS of 2016 Lucky TAS of 2016 GBx TASer of 2008 NES TAS of 2007
Much like wat Zurreco said, it's a great run. I didn't expect you could find such a zipping glitch. But congratulations! However, I still wonder whether it can be faster by manipulating more flashing meat when you fought tyrosauruses to get the warted body earlier.
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days <adelikat> no doubt <adelikat> klmz, they still do
Posted: 10/9/2009 2:23 PM
Quote
Bp_
Joined: 11/30/2005
Posts: 81
Location: Quebec
wow, I can't wait to be able to watch this !! I'm really happy someone made a run of this game
Posted: 10/9/2009 2:53 PM
Quote
ObadiahtheSlim
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 150
I couldn't get this to sync. It kept desyncing right when you attacked the guys who split in half. Any ideas why?
Posted: 10/9/2009 7:01 PM
Quote
FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
ObadiahtheSlim wrote:
I couldn't get this to sync. It kept desyncing right when you attacked the guys who split in half. Any ideas why?
That sounds exactly the spot where left+right or up+down is used for the first time. Is that disabled on your emulator? Enable it if possible! It is one of the listed options in my submission text. If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas.
klmz wrote:
However, I still wonder whether it can be faster by manipulating more flashing meat when you fought tyrosauruses to get the warted body earlier.
That's a good point. However, the reasons I didn't: - The last two Tyrosaurus' meat comes practically free in terms of time. Before those, I would have to spend a second or two of waiting. - The extra strength after the Tyrosaurus would only be of benefit at the Mammoth Brothers. They have 75 HP each, so 12 Strength would save a total of three hits. About 1 second. - The RNG was uncooperative. Look at how long I delayed at the last Tyrosaurus before the last hit! THAT was for one last flashing meat. Incidentally, I was thinking about increasing my size for Bolbox, to maximize my strength at 18. But I didn't have the EVO.P for it... I'm not sure if it would save more time than it eats up, but manipulating flashing meat from both of the last two Tyrosaurus is a start.
Posted: 10/9/2009 9:41 PM
Quote
ObadiahtheSlim
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 150
Clearly I am retarded. I forgot to set it despite double and triple checking my settings.
Posted: 10/9/2009 11:26 PM
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teronist09
Joined: 3/28/2009
Posts: 28
Great to see the finished run. Definite yes.
Posted: 10/11/2009 8:31 PM
Quote
Itstoearly
Joined: 8/10/2004
Posts: 173
Location: Bethel, VT
Yes
Posted: 10/11/2009 9:21 PM
Quote
FatRatKnight
Editor, Skilled player (1203)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
You know, I realized I forgot some suggested screenshots in my submission text... Suggested screenshots: 17970 - Mirror match? 71721 - Double smash 85938 - Red mess 126451 - Buried boss Suggestive screenshots: (... No comment) 101028 - ... Really, no comment! 139388 - I will especially "no comment" this.
Posted: 10/14/2009 3:30 PM
Quote
Dooty
Expert player (2470)
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Sega TASer of 2013 SNES TASer of 2012 SNES TASer of 2010
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
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