Hi! This is a prototype post for a monthly roundup post proposal I made in Memory's thread about TAS communication and outreach. I'm aiming specifically for a bulletin board style where I shout out work in different platforms by as many authors as I can manage. I'm working on the tone and general structure as I go. Feedback welcome!
Hello and Welcome to Load State, the monthly TASVideos recap! I'm ikuyo, writer for TASVideos and I'll be your guide through the new TAS work on our site released in February 2025.
We got 39 new movies published on the site during the month. As always, I encourage all of you to take a look at them all and pick your own favorites. Here's some I'd like to shout out:
- [6368] NES Lunar Pool by eien86 in 22:53.62 and [6371] NES Lunar Pool "no friction" by eien86 in 31:58.29 are significant improvements to some of the oldest standing publications on the site. Lunar Pool in a TAS environment becomes a physics-based puzzle game where small changes can drastically impact the outcome. eien86 not only improved these two by a combined 6 minutes, but also released a new Minimum Strikes, No Friction movie that aims for as few strikes as possible.
- [6389] NES Kirby's Adventure "game end glitch" by DarkRiolu27 in 00:34.01 is another major improvement to a 8 year old movie. DarkRiolu27 changes the route of the prior run by opting to get the required Stone powerup in the last room, both reducing lag and allowing them to preserve speed in earlier rooms.
- [6375] Genesis Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends "Race, Hard" by Walgrey in 05:09.42 contains some counterintuitive routing decisions that pay off, as Walgrey discovered that intentionally driving through mud patches ends up being faster in the long run. Another reminder that optimization in TAS work is not always obvious!
- [6377] PSX Mega Man X5 "Training, X" by M3 in 01:46.08 is the first published movie for M3 and their first submission as well! A 7 seconds improvement over the original submission by NemoRuby. Congratulations on a successful debut, and I hope to see more of you!
- [6380] INTV Reversi by Winslinator in 00:01.23 is both ingenious and funny, as Winslinator forces the CPU to forfeit on an empty board of Reversi by exploiting a glitch. ILLEGAL MOVE indeed!
- If you enjoy Prince of Persia, you're in for a treat, as three different versions of the game got new movies. [6373] Flash Prince of Persia: Special Edition by Rxser in 02:02.72 beats a lesser known official Flash remake of the original, [6387] GBC Prince of Persia by eien86, TimmyAkmed & NintendoHardGamer in 04:18.97 is a showcase of collaboration and tenacity for the Game Boy Color port, and [6396] Genesis Prince of Persia (Europe) by eien86 in 22:40.26 shows the PAL release of the game for extra levels exclusive to this version.
- Speaking of Flash, there's several new movies here. Rxser has made a few for the Japanese escape room series Home Sweet Home and one for Tomb of Doom. [6382] Flash Super Mario Bros. Star Scramble 2 "all levels" by Mikewillplays in 04:32.47 is an interesting fangame movie where Mikewillplays shows clean gameplay. On the other hand, [6399] Flash SpongeBob SquarePants: Friend or Foe Trash Bash! "uses in-game code" by dekutony in 02:48.97 is a showcase of well planned movement and ignoring the intended gameplay pattern as Tuffcracker cracks through the blocks (pun intended) to beat this licensed game.
- [6381] Linux Paper Lily - Chapter 1 by Tegron in 29:12.05 has Tegron return to Paper Lily, an intriguing indie horror RPG that he's TASed extensively (as well as Project Kat, its prequel). If you enjoy this genre, I may also recommend [6369] Windows acai cOrner "neutral ending" by Tegron in 04:48.18 and [6379] 3DS Corpse Party by Tegron in 2:05:04.09
- And finally, the last publication of the month is [6405] DS Pokémon: Black Version by CasualPokePlayer in 2:49:11.29, an almost 3 hour movie with heavy RNG manipulation for avoiding trainers, usage of new Gen 5 mechanics to speed up each battle, and intricate planning.
Thanks to all our authors for their amazing work this month! Here's a playlist with all of them for your viewing pleasure