Submission #1925: BigBoct's SNES Run Saber in 14:54.50

Super Nintendo Entertainment System
baseline
ZSNES 1.51
53670
60
3435
Unknown
Run Saber (U) [!].smc
Submitted by BigBoct on 4/8/2008 4:00:41 PM
Submission Comments
Run Saber (SNES) beaten in 53670 frames, 14min 54.50sec
Run Saber is a pretty blatant rip-off of Strider, by Horisoft. It's still a lot of fun for that. Basic plot is that aliens have taken over the Earth, and the Run Sabers, two genetically enhanced soldiers, are the planet's only hope. This TAS, using Alow (the male Run Saber) clears the game in 14min 54.50sec, with input ending at frame 53670 and the final hit connecting 3 frames after.
This is an improvement of 1290 frames over my previous submission, which you can see here.
My goals were, in order of priority:
  • Aims for fastest time
    • Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs (boss fights)
  • Takes no damage
  • Plays at hardest level
  • Manipulates luck (enemy locations)
  • Abuses programming errors (funky hit detection in some areas)
Recorded using ZSNES 1.51. Significant options:
  • New Graphics Engine Disabled
  • Windowing Enabled
  • Offset Mode Enabled
All the stages are the same concept (Get from Point A to Point B, kill or avoid everything in your way) so there's no need to discuss them.
Future optimization possibilities:
  • Use two players? I don't see this helping too much.
  • Use bombs? Very doubtful; they take 300 frames to execute and you can't do anything during.
  • Take damage to save time? Also doubtful; hit-stun is pretty long.
  • Go for pure speed on bosses, never mind entertainment?
  • Jump from ledges instead of walking/sliding off more often?
Stage by stage optimization possibilities:
Stage 1 (Taj Base):
  • Nothing comes to mind
Stage 2 (Tong City)
  • Nothing comes to mind
Stage 3 (Jodvalley)
  • Better manipulation of enemy placement over the spike pit and vines early in the stage
Stage 4 (Grey Fac)
  • Nothing comes to mind
Stage 5 (Bruford)
  • Get the last hit on Red Saber while he's on the ground. (?) (See below)
Things Which May Look Like Mistakes But Aren't:
Stage 2:
  • Killing the two Cloud Surfers right before the boss. At this point, the screen had to be clear of enemies before it would scroll to the boss.
Stage 3:
  • Killing the Iron Lizard near the middle of the stage. There was no other way around him without taking damage.
Stage 4:
  • Killing the three Mutant Engines before the Iron Knight. I couldn't get them to scroll offscreen, and the screen needed to be clear of enemies before Iron Knight would spawn.
Stage 5:
  • Stalling the last hit on Flaming Orb Head. He doesn't begin exploding until he hits ground, so waiting until he was over the protrusion on the left made sure he exploded as early as possible.
  • Getting the last hit on Red Saber while he was still airborne. When I fought him and got the last hit on the ground, the Abomination's attack pattern wasn't as conducive to killing it quickly.
Thanks to:
  • Dromiceius, who pointed out that you can dash
  • Dyce, for his Run Saber FAQ on GameFAQs
  • VolcanoStormWind, who pointed out that you can dash along ceilings
  • Nach, for updating the ZMV checking script for ZSNES 1.51
  • Everyone who offered critique in the Run Saber thread in the SNES forum

BoltR: After double checking the situation with Bisqwit, i'm accepting this run for publication

Solon: Nach seems to think it's significant to playing the ZMV, so here's my sound settings.
  • Sound enabled
  • Stereo enabled
  • 44.1 KhZ
  • Gaussian interpolation
  • Lowpass off.
Last Edited by on 1/1/2022 6:13 PM
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