Congratulations!
Greetings from Finland. I'm taking a break from TASing at the moment in favor of glitching games and even making normal speedruns (heresy!), but I'm always having an eye on the TAS scene and enjoy new runs as they appear on the workbench.
14. 6. 2017
Possible future runs:
- I'd like to do more TASes of the 3d Mortal Kombat-games. However, there's still a lot to test, and I usually become distracted before making much progress. So this might still take a while.
- Once PS2 TASing becomes a thing, I have a few games in mind I'd like to TAS...
Unfinished runs:
Note: if you want to pick up any of these games, or even update any of my older published runs, feel free to do so! In fact, I would really enjoy seeing more talented TASers than I tackle my old work.
- Van Helsing for GBA (five first levels done)
- Baldur's Gate for GBA (first act plus some extra done!)
- Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus for GBA (two first worlds done)
- Madagascar - Operation Penguin for GBA (did first two levels or so)
- Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull for GBA (did first two levels)
...plus here's a page listing all my submissions that made it in.
9. 1. 2012
A word about my entertainment ratings:
- Around 9 means being overwhelmed by joy at the sight of the run. Quite rare, and it never lasts, unfortunately.
- Around 8 means an enthusiastic response, and a willingness to watch the run again once it ends.
- Around 7 means that it's a run I enjoyed enough to recommend to others without much reservation.
- Around 6 means that I found the run generally enjoyable. A slight tinge of disappointment or dullness hovers above the experience.
- Around 5 means that the run started to become excruciating while watching it, and I'm not looking forward to watching it again.
- Around 4 means... well, I'll tell you more once I find a run that deserves a rating this low.
I don't give technical ratings because with most games it feels like I can't estimate it fairly.
See the TAS Guides subsections for thoughts on TASes of various game series. Some of it is also just personal commentary, like a list of what was good in this or that particular TAS.
Wish they'd get the review system in place here already!
1. 9. 2012
More than anything else, the focus here seems to be the humiliation of the opponent and the entire game, all the while having fun of course. There are large combos as expected, but even more than that just spur-of-the-moment trickery, including collision detection abuse, playing with the opponent's moves and lots and lots of glitches. Some of the two-player matches crown the run. How is it possible to end a first round with a finisher, like in Smoke/Nightwolf matches? So much chaos, and some of the worst (in a good way) fatalities I've ever seen.
The run is well-balanced and very versatile, succeeding in its goal of enjoying, or rather, celebrating this game series and its rotten programming. An epic run.
8.1/10
[1955] SNES Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 "playaround" by SDR, Thevlackdemonn2294 & Dark_Noob in 30:28.38
The new, infamous SNES UMK3 run. Twice as long as its predecessor and has the most destructive glitches seen so far in the series. And three people were involved making it. But...!
I watched from the shadows as this thing was constructed and viewed the WIPs the TASers posted in the MKTAS community forum. The three players took turns in doing the matches here, and I think it shows in the final result. While there was a plan in their mutual effort, the composition of the run remains somehow messier and more imbalanced (for example regarding use of characters and keeping the entertainment level high throughout) than in the first, "classic" UMK3 run made solely by SDR. That's what bothered me then, and that's what still bothers me a little. Some rounds are glitched so badly you can't really tell what's going on any more, while some other rounds are relatively tame. In this sense, the run could be improved some day... and who knows, there may be more glitches to be found as well?
But other than that, this run does things no other MK run did before and is overall the glitchiest run of a fighting game I know of. So, it deserves attention.
7.9/10
This run is nice in how it shows, intentionally or inadvertently, many N64-specific MKT things. The three-story arena is one thing like that, as is Khameleon and the 3-on-3 kombat mode. Probably many combos and glitches too, but those I'm not an expert on.
While Khameleon is an interesting character, I feel she is a bit overused in this run. I mean, she is difficult to see properly. But at least her continuing presence makes it feel like she and Shang Tsung are somehow the culprits behind all this glitchiness, ones that have an ongoing rivalry going on between them too. It's like a wrestling soap opera setting. "Oh no, there goes Shang into the pit! Wait, look! He came back and is ready for revenge!" And so on.
The run starts out pretty normally, mainly showing big combos, acrobatics and A.I. oddities at a fast pace. It's not until 12-13 minutes in when the authors start using stuck frame glitch, which is close to being the glitchiest glitch in all of the 2D Mortal Kombats ever. It effects most facets of the gameplay and allows some very strange effects, such as getting stuck in air, totally mangled sprites and (most prominently) these strange glitch characters that start loitering in the fighting arena.
The game is glitchy and the runners know what they're doing. There's a lot to watch too - it's actually the longest Mortal Kombat run so far on TASvideos.
7.8/10
It was a pleasant surprise that we got a run of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on Genesis to this site as well. It fares quite similarly to the SNES version, other than it has worse graphics and sound. There are still plenty of glitches and the action becomes quite surreal to watch on more than one occasion - although it never gets as insane as in the new SNES UMK3 run.
One thing I'd criticize the runners for is that some characters are used very frequently while others are used infrequently. It's not a coincidence: some characters are simply that much more useful for creating glitchy mayhem with. Other than that, the composition of the run is alright. There are surprises well into the end of the run, and as usual, some especially deranged 2p-matches break up the determined climb of the arcade ladder.
Dark Noob's and Ksylatron's other work has involved TASing for example Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy on Genesis (a hack with extra characters), so Genesis UMK3 was pretty familiar to them at this point. A pretty good run, worthy of watching if you're a fan of Mortal Kombat at least. It's likely this is not the last we'll see of these two...
7.6/10
It's a short two-player run designed to showcase the odd Tournament Mode-only glitch, in which a removed fighter character enters the fights and messes things up.
At the beginning the run is just intense fighting with a little bit of strange going on. However, the further it goes, the crazier it gets. *small spoilers ahead* The gratuitous ice clone fight with two Sub-Zeroes should be your first warning. When I watched this run for the first time, I was really impressed with the glitch that makes the background graphics disappear. Made it seem like the world was ending. It's not that epic to me any more, but the following, even more glitched sections of the run wouldn't be the same without it.
At the end, after a botched brutality move and an unceremonious close of the curtains, you are simply left wondering what on earth just happened. Maybe the run could be even more chaotic and glitched, but the cinematic build-up and short length makes it a very solid, fun run to watch in my opinion.
7.6/10
Mortal Kombat II is one game in the series I'm not very familiar with. But if this movie truly showcases the utmost potential of this game, I have to say that this game isn't big on big combos (like the GB port). The player kicks ass with a wide variety of moves and no mercy, but the run often remains less impressive than the TASes of, say, UMK3 due to the slower pace and a more casual feel to the fighting. However, the two player-fights here still rank highly in my book and show that this game has great TAS potential in any case.
One big factor which compensates for the slightly boring vs. CPU matches is the glitch which allows the player to leave invisible projectiles floating in air, disrupting the finishing moves with truly unexpected results. The glitched fatalities are among the best things in this otherwise slightly overlong run.
6.8/10
It's a fast-paced run with the biggest priority on showing large combos and dealing large amounts of mayhem with every character (made possible by this game's equivalent of Shang Tsung, Shinnok, who can imitate any other fighter's fighting style and special moves). The author knows what he is doing, reaching the Maximum Damage-limit for combos with ease over and over again. He also visits practice mode in order to do two stage fatalities later, one of which is glitched... not a bad choice.
A short rant: I think showing regular fatalities in a tool-assisted run is usually not very meaningful. It is catering to the casual audience in a banal way, I mean, you can go watch fatalities from dozens of videos on Youtube if you want. There's nothing superhuman or TAS-only in them. Glitched fatalities can be a different matter, though.
In any case, the author of the run handles things with style and an attention to general pacing. It's not a bad watch at all, but I personally prefer the newer, rejected run by TheVLACKDEMONN2294 which is more insanely technical, and has a few never-seen-before glitches in it too (to that I'd give 7.2/10).
6.5/10
Bonus TASes:
A rejected TAS which was something of an inspiration to me due to the new glitch it used, allowing you to win a two-round match in only one round. Unfortunately the run doesn't utilize the full potential of the game. Much time is wasted on doing simple infinites... Maybe some day this game gets a fuller playaround?
The rejected MK4 TAS I briefly mentioned earlier. Watch it if you're interested. It's less accessible but more respectable as a glitchy playaround - in my opinion - than the current TAS.
An old run by that ended up published at speedruns.net, this movie concentrates on creating cool combos and very little else. Well, a few glitches too. A Youtube-comment sums it up quite well: "this is what happens when chuck norris plays mk". The run takes no prisoners.
It has aged decently thanks to MKT being a pretty broken game at its core. I especially like Reptile's invisible combo in which the player spams the (assumedly) invisibility effect on and off in a flashy, very much TAS-only way.
6.8/10
14. 6. 2017
Games I've glitched with at least some success over the years:
Hack 'n' slash:
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 1 & 2
- Dante's Inferno
- Darksiders
- DmC: Devil May Cry
- Genji (whole series)
- God of War (whole series)
- Knights Contract
- Nier (mostly first game)
Fighting:
- Mortal Kombat (several games, most notably Deception & Armageddon)
- Tekken Advance
Horror:
- Deadly Premonition
- Forbidden Siren (whole series)
- Silent Hill (mainly SH3, SH4, Homecoming & Origins)
Action Adventure and Other:
- Assassin's Creed (most games in the series before Unity)
- Batman: Arkham-games (whole series, even the bad games >_>)
- Battlefield 3
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- L.A. Noire
- Max Payne 3
- Oddworld-games (the earlier titles, I guess)
- Prince of Persia (2008)
- Ride to Hell: Retribution
- Sleeping Dogs
- Tomb Raider (both reboot games)
- Winx Club
- Witcher 3
- (plus a ton of random license-based games...)
Links
Youtube-account with evidence of the aforementioned things!
SpeedRun-account if you want to see my partial speedrunography.
14. 6. 2017
I've been playing synths and singing since high school. I've recently also tried to pick up playing guitar. I'm more of a studio musician than a performing musician, much like I tend to be more of a TASer than a speedrunner. Most of my music is programmed with a tracker, guided by esoteric concepts and themes that are relevant to me at a given time. The style varies a lot, but at the very least you can often hear influences of metal and video game music in it. Everything so far has been released for free in a Creative Commons-license.
If any of that sounds interesting, I tend to upload most of it on this Youtube-channel.