NES Panic Restaurant
by Mukki
- used fceu-0.98.15-rerecording
The Game
From the empty response at the thread i posted i have gathered that most have never played/heard of this game, in short;
Panic Restuarant is the story of the head chef of a restaurant named 'Eaten'. The restuarant, however, is unfortunately taken over by another chef named Odhove and it is up to our hero to get it back.
Our hero must battle through 6 levels, each named after a course on the restaurant's menu, whilst battling past mutated food and fearsome bosses.
TASability of this game
Personally, i think this is an almost (i'll get back to this in a minute) perfect game to TAS. Why?...
- Bright, colourful, entertaining levels.
- Catchy, relevant music.
- Variety.
- High tempo.
Version Differences
The Japanese version of this game is different to the USA version in a few ways i am going to outline here.
This is a run of the USA version.
- The Japanese Version features a boy instead of a chef.
- The Japanese Version is easier than the USA version (i haven't played it thoroughly, but that is the general consensus.)
- Level design, enemies, bosses are exactly the same.
- Some weapons are different.
I chose the USA version because;
- It is the equivalent of 'Played at hardest difficulty' (although this isn't one of my tags.)
- This is the version i know and personally i think it is better/ more entertaining.
The Bonus Rounds
I said this game was almost perfect for TASing. Here's the main problem; in development the creators of this game must have thought "hmmm, we have to find out a way that the character can get stronger after each level" and rather than finding some normal way to do it they did something else. Throughout the levels, when you kill an enemy, you get a coin, and after the level you use these coins on a slot machine to play for more lives and a bigger health bar.
Now, when i first saw this i thought 'great, luck manipulation heaven' WRONG. From my testing i could'nt find out what stimulated different results; i took it from inside the previous level and played to that moment and still got the same results. My guess is that it is manipulated by the number of coins (i'll get back to this) or it is predetermined at the start of the level/game.
However, i want to make this loud and clear;
THE AMOUNT OF TIME LOST THROUGH THIS IN VERY SMALL INDEED.
In total it is perhaps a few seconds. After winning a line on the slots the line flashes for about a second or so before playing your next line, if i were able to manipulate it i would win nothing to avoid this flashing time. However, the delay between when the slots stop spinning and being able to play the next line is longer than from the flashing to being able to play the next line. Therefore, time lost is probably no more than a few second over the course of the run, considering that only five of these bonus rounds are played.
These bonus rounds are frame perfect and last for not long at all to make them as bareable as possible.
Coins
I want to take a minute to explain this.
- The more coins i have the more lines i have to play in the end of level slot round. Hence it is most desireable to kill no enemies and so collect no coins, therefore no bonus rounds.
- Here is the problem:
This game is evil :)
- Unjumpable enemies; the hero is the slowest thing in this game, so sometimes if i am to successfully jump an enemy he'll catch me when i land anyway. Or some enemies come in pairs so if i jump one the other will get me etc.
2. This game suffers from lag; if any more than three enemies are on-screen the game slows drastically and so they have to be taken out.
3. Sometimes it is just faster; as said before the amount of time lost in the slots is very small and so in most cases it is faster to just take the coin rather than find a way around, which brings me to my next point...
4. This is a no damage run; the damage animation in the game takes ('ages') and so at no point in the game is it worth taking damage.
5. I can kill an enemy and depending on scenery etc. i may not come into contact with the coin at all. I t is possible to avoid all coins, but this takes time, more time than is optimal. Some coins, however, land normally out of my way.
Items
I use only three of the games items;
Frying Pan; the game's standard weapon, i use this the most.
Spoon; I get this wherever i can. It is identical to the Frying Pan but has a much bigger range and so i can use it to deal with more than one enemy at a time.
Pot; This makes the chef invincible for a short time. Self-explanatory really.
The Levels
I want to very briefly point out a thing or two about my run. This should clarify all i have said above.
Level 1 -- Starter
This takes place outside the restaurant, i think.
- first kill is to avoid damage.
- second kill is anti-lag.
- Third kill avoids damage.
- fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh avoids damage.
- I then grab the spoon to take out all those enemies to avoid lag and i jump the carrot to avoid a coin.
- I then use the spoon to take care of two enemies at once, i take out the carrot too because if i don't it got me at the other end of the room.
- I also took care of the bagguette because it was too long to wait to be able to run under it.
- This also allows me to run directly under the second, but i have to take care of the third.
BOSS -- This is a giant pot of popcorn for those that don't get it.
- The spoon is immensely useful against bosses because damage is difficult to avoid and time consuming whilst trying to use the frying pan.
- At the end the boss bursts into coins, these coins are impossible to dpdge if they are comming your way, however i luck manipulate them out of the way.
Level 2 -- Soup
This level takes place inside the restaurant.
- First enemy avoids damage.
- Second, third, fourth, fifth avoids lag.
- sixth is damage.
- I always climb ladders as close to the sides as possible unless there is another reason to do so. Also, he always automatically turns to the left after coming off the ladder however from pushing right on the correct frame i avoided this, saving time.
- Seventh is damage.
- Eighth & ninth is unjumpable.
- tenth, eleventh is damage.
- twelfth (pizza after ladder) is interesting as it is one of the many enemies in this game that always break your momentum. Watch carefully. I have a period of about 2 frames in which to hit it. Impossible in real time.
- The bolts of lightning were also annoying, but i was able to pass them frame perfectly with only a stall of a few frames.
- (Okay, numbers now.) 13th, 14th, 15th are very unjumpable.
- 16th is damage
- Now first use of the pot; i don't attempt to jump here because it wastes frames and most of 17 -> 22 are unavoidable and/or will come back and get me anyway.
- 23 is damage and to get me into a good position on the ladder.
- 24 is lag and to allow me to jump the next two flans (i think ??).
- 25 and 26 is damage.
BOSS -- Microwave with Chickens
- I managed to dash across and hit the microwave before it could get loaded with chickens with the extra reach of the spoon and i also send a chicken ayonder for entertainment value.
- What this boss actually does is it bounces around before shooting chickens at you, however, i was able to destroy it before it had the chance.
- I luck manipulate the coin explosion at the end.
Level 3 -- Salad
This level takes place in the kitchen.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th is damage.
- 7th is also damage but i have to stall for a few frames so that i don't take damage as i drop from the ledge.
- You'll notice that i miss a fork, this is an item i choose to miss because he bounces on it which takes longer.
- Next is a series of flames, i have to stall until they go out.
- 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th is damage
- I jump alonng the next conveyer belt as it is moving against me and so i jump along it. This also works out nicely for getting the spoon.
- 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th is damage.
- Next i use some luck manipulation, the toasters always fired toast at me as i was coming up the ladder, i was able to persuade them to give me a chance to at least become mobile again. Also, i couldn't avoid landing between the toaster and the box. Jumping is quite short in this game.
- 20th, 21st, 22nd is damage.
- There is then some lag from the projectile toast. It wouldn't be worthwhile hitting the toasters, however, i luck manipulated the toasters to allow me to get most of the way across the screen before shooting their load, therfore lag is negligible.
- 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th is damage.
- There's a bit i like next. The baguettes work out really well and i am able to run directly under them unharmed.
BOSS -- Bowl of Hot Soup
- This boss moves up and down the top level spilling soup to the level below, all the while shrimp fall from above.
- Jumped to the boss' level and destroyed him with my spoon before he could attack.
- I luck manipulate the falling shrimp so that they stay ou of my way.
- Again, i luck manipulate the spillage of coins.
Level 4 -- Fish
This level takes place between the restaurant and the ice house (or something) i think.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th avoid damage.
- I like the way i run under the deckchair here, it looks very nice, this one worked out nicely for me.
- 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th avoid damage
- Notice how the carrot runs through the door and doesn't come back, apparently it has been lost between screens, i'll come back to this in the final level.
- 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 avoid damage.
- This chicken is another ladder annoyance. It runs directly over me as i try to get off so i have to stall for a few frames to let it pass. The same with the next one too.
- 20 avoids damage.
- Yet another ladder problem, this time with a kebab, i have to stall to let it pass.
- I then get a pot and take care of enemies 21,22,23,24,25, 26 for the same reasons as stated in the pot sequence above.
- 27 is taken out for avoiding damage. There is a few frame stall here, for the carrot to move its orange ass, this is quite invisable at 100% however.
- 3 carrots jump out the ground at the same time and cause a lag, however, this is a small screen and so i have no need to kill any of them.
- 28 is a chicken i have to kill for the damage i would get trying to get on the ladder.
- 29, 30, 31 avoid damage.
BOSS -- Hamburger (or Beefburger, i can't tell.)
- The bread causes damage and the meat doesn't. I am aiming for the meat.
- Although it may not appear so, this is optimal. The collsion box for the bread is quite large and always gets me when trying to hit the meat from certain angles. This meant that it was rarely possible to give damage without recieving it while the burger is in the air. I got in most of the hits when the bread flies off and finish it off soon after.
- Yet again i manipulate the coins.
Level 5 -- Meat
This takes place in the freezer.
- 1st avoids damage.
- There is a lot of lag in this first section. I do not take out enemies here, however, because more enter the screen regardless making for only needless coins.
- 2nd, 3rd avoids damage.
- I don't pick up the throwing plates; these ('would') have been useful for beating the boss, however, it would make the level itself longer and so making them pointless.
- 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th avoid damage.
- 11th is a popsicle, i get rid of this for damage, but i have to stall a few frames in order to get it, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th is the same.
- 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, avoids damage.
- 22nd, I said i'd get back to it. This ice-cream went through the door and rather than disappearing it came back and so i had to kill it for damage.
- 23rd damage.
- I missed the spoon because i'd have to stall massively to allow the popsicle to pass. It wasn't needed for the boss anyway, i made each hit in time.
BOSS -- Giant Ice-Cream
- I aim for the cone, the ice-cream causes damage.
- This is really self-explanatory; it throws ice-cream, after running out it knocks away the floor.
- For the final time i luck manipulate the coins :(
Level 6 -- Dessert
This level takes place in the sewers i think.
Because there are no slots at the end of this level i don't need to justify the death of each enemy.
One thing worth looking at is the fish that jump out the waterfalls; i use luck manipulation here to stop them pissing me off.
BOSS -- Odhove
- He gets a decent balloon, while i get a beat up frying pan.
- I throw eggs at the balloon to deflate it, everything else causes damage.
- Nothing else to this really. I stop the movie after final input and that's all.
Conclusion
Well, that's all i really have to say, i'll leave the rest to the movie.
Finally, here is the list of movie tags.
- Aims for fastest time.
- Takes no damage.
- Manipulates Luck
Enjoy. I hope everything is explained here, if not just ask.
Thanks to DEngel of gamefaqs for the Japanese to USA comparison.