Table of contents
Introduction
This page will host all runs that attempt to find a non-trivial minimum for an action, such as jumping, weapon usage, and puzzle moves. Non-trivial means the minimum is not clear, meaning that low% runs do not qualify if it is known before running what path yields the lowest percent. HappyLee's Super Mario Bros. "lowest score (500)" is another example of a trivial minimum.
Ranking
Although there is no consensus on how these types of TASes should be ranked, Brandon suggests completely separating each sub-goal as attempting to achieve several at once would inevitably lead to trade-offs, which would render ranking impossible. In these divisions, runs with less actions will obsolete runs with more actions, and a shorter run with the same amount of actions will obsolete a longer one. However, the "record holder" for a particular game is the first person to reach the smallest amount actions. Here's an example of a possible list of Super Mario Bros. TASes in the "minimum buttons pressed" category:
300 buttons pressed by John
- Added Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Chris with 300 buttons pressed in 5:00.75 (2011-07-16)
- obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by John with 300 buttons pressed in 5:01.99 (2011-07-07)
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Added Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Bob with 301 buttons pressed in 4:59.88 (2011-07-04)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Bob with 301 buttons pressed in 5:00.30 (2011-07-02)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Bob with 301 buttons pressed in 5:01.66 (2011-07-01)
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- obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by John with 300 buttons pressed in 5:01.99 (2011-07-07)
As you can see, John, the first player to achieve 300 presses, holds the rank. However, Chris' movie obsoletes John's.
Minimum Buttons
Nach once suggested the idea of a kind of TAS where button presses were minimized. Sadly, no one could agree on what constitutes a press. Therefore, Brandon proposed two groups for these kinds of runs:
Pressed
This category means that the player tries to press as few buttons as possible. A button press is defined as one button down counting as one button press, regardless of how long it's held. For example, if a player holds down two buttons for 5 frames, the number of buttons pressed is 2.
Runs - 5 active, 7 obsolete
GB Super Mario Land
289 buttons pressed by MUGG
- Added GB Super Mario Land (any v1.0) by MUGG with 289 buttons pressed in 18:24 (2011-07-19)
NES Donkey Kong
35 buttons pressed by nitrogenesis
NES Donkey Kong Jr.
47 buttons pressed by Brandon
- Added NES Donkey Kong Jr. (JPN/USA) by Brandon Evans with 47 buttons pressed in 2:22.15 (2011-12-04)
NES Super Mario Bros
142 buttons pressed by Brandon
- Added #3556: Brandon's NES Super Mario Bros. "minimum button presses" in 05:48.04 (2012-04-06)
- obsoletes #3534: Brandon's NES Super Mario Bros. "minimum button presses" in 05:46.33 (Submitted on 2012-04-01, originally added on 2012-01-19)
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obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by MUGG & FractalFusion with 147 buttons pressed in 06:45.57 (2011-07-20)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by FractalFusion with 148 buttons pressed in 06:59.09 (2011-07-19)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Brandon Evans & MUGG with 156 buttons pressed in 05:43.33 (2011-07-18)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by MUGG with 158 buttons pressed in 05:34.45 (2011-07-18)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by FractalFusion with 163 buttons pressed in 05:59.08 (2011-07-18)-
obsoletes Super Mario Bros (JPN/USA PRG0) by Brandon Evans with 171 pressed in 05:45.90 (2011-07-17)
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- obsoletes #3534: Brandon's NES Super Mario Bros. "minimum button presses" in 05:46.33 (Submitted on 2012-04-01, originally added on 2012-01-19)
Super Mario Bros. 3
235 buttons pressed by Brandon
- Added #3586: Brandon's NES Super Mario Bros. 3 "minimum buttons pressed (235)" in 12:42.13 (2012-05-01)
Inputted
This category means that the player inputs as few buttons as possible. For example, if a player holds down two buttons for 5 frames, the number of buttons inputted is 10.
Runs - 1 active, 1 obsolete
NES Urban Champion
40 buttons inputted by Brandon
- Added NES Urban Champion (JPN/USA) by Brandon Evans with 40 buttons inputted in 00:49.98 (2011-07-20)
- obsoletes NES Urban Champion (JPN/USA) by Brandon Evans with 40 buttons inputted in 00:56.59 (2011-07-20)
Resources
bkDJ created a program that can calculate several statistics on the buttons pressed and inputted for a movie file. In addition, Brandon wrote a Lua script to track button presses and input. Its best incarnation is for Bizhawk. There's another version which works satisfactorily on several other emulators, which you can find at Brandon's TASing repository, tastools, and FCEUX's repository (It is set to be bundled with the release of FCEUX 2.1.6). For more information on both scripts, such as what platforms they support, see their tastools Wiki page.
Encoding
For encodes of these runs, we have FractalFusion's DDR Input Lua script. It generates the input as if it were a song from Dance Dance Revolution, making it clear what the duration of the presses are. It also displays the number of buttons pressed on top. A few tweaks will be necessary to make it work for "minimum buttons inputted".