This run improves the current published one by 645 frames (~10.7 seconds)
Aglar's Comments
Finally we have produced something! We started this in late 2009 and thought it'd be a rather small project, but that turned out to be not exactly true and it has now basically taken much longer than both of us or anyone in the community who has sort of followed this could've imagined - andit's not over yet. After some time we decided to do both this run and the warpless one, with the intension of working on them simultaneously and submitting them at the same time when done. This was something that we had to give up in the end though. The warpless run gave us so much trouble that we decided to release the warped run first as opposed to letting all you wait an unknown amount of time for both runs.
I think this started to become a huge project when I found that defeating Birdo with a shell saved time in level 1-1, something that further
evolved into even better strategies in that level and also opened our eyes for the possibility that this game might have quite some unexplored
secrets. Since then we've found numerus of new tricks and strategies, mostly for the warpless run though so you won't see them here:).
I was mostly the one who took care of the optimization part of the run as I quickly got a good hang of how the subpixels work and in the end I
think all the input in this run are from me. However, without Andrewg the run wouldn't have been close to as fast as it ended up being (the final strategy used in level 1-1 was his idea which i'd never thought about) and his discoveries play an even bigger role in the warpless run. I think we complemented each other really well!
I'd like to thank all the previous autors of this game who've pushed it to such a great standard that the only way of keep up with it is learn very well how the game works, just being lucky won't work. I also thanks Glitchman for finding that you can fall through the floor using a vegetable. I also thank the ones the Andrewg thanks (He wrote his comments before me).
Andrewg's Comments
I had a really fun time working on the Super Mario Bros. 2 TAS. As I currently hold the record console time for the game, it was interesting to discover new tricks and glitches in the game. Aglar is a great guy to TAS with, his optimization skills are far beyond mine and he's a really creative guy.
Together, we managed what I'd say is far beyond either of our initial expectations for a TAS of this game. I thought maybe we would save a just time in level 1-2 with the discovery of a new glitch - the "carpet glitch", which was found to save time, discovered by CtrlAltDestroy. He and Guanobowl actually mentioned several things that we were able to duplicate and or just find with complete luck. The fact that we saved time in nearly every level shows the amount of time and effort we spent with this. The real rerecord count for this TAS is probably close to 200k.
I was also really curious of all the glitches mentioned in the Mario 2 thread when I first started this TAS, so I set out to see if I could "solve" each of them. I think I figured out all that were mentioned now, or at least how to duplicate them or use them to our advantage.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this. 1-1 especially was a level where I enjoyed experimenting and testing my crazy ideas. :) Somehow, my ideas actually worked!
People I'd like to thank:
- Adelikat for initially helping me with understand how this game worked a bit better and sending me more info on the game.
- CtrlAltDestroy & Guanobowl - as I actually ended up doing more experiments because of all the tricks and glitches you guys mentioned in the Mario 2 thread.
- Previous runners - for various info I gained reading through submissions and watching older TASes, especially "Sleepz" whom seemed to find quite a few improvements in 2004 or so.
- Aglar for putting up with my procrastination on both the warp and warpless runs. I got very frustrated at points because optimizing in this game is extremely difficult.
Frames saved level by level
| Level | Frames saved | Total frames saved |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | 461 | 461 |
| 1-2 | 129 | 590 |
| 4-2 | 2 | 592 |
| 6-1 | 4 | 596 |
| 6-3 | 42 | 638 |
| 7-1 | 1 | 639 |
| 7-2 | 6 | 645 |
Level-by-level comments
1-1: Huge time saver, and if you checked the fm2 that was posted in the game thread last year you've already seen this - or have you?
1-2: Used the carpet glitch that most people know about by now, it ended up saving 119 frames. The Birdo fight was done 10 frames faster.
4-2: The vine glitch resulted in this small improvement.
6-1: Tight subpixel management saved 1 framed going down the platforms before the sand digging area, and 3 frames were saved from jumping up the sand area better.
6-3: New strategy for Triclyde saved a bunch of frames.
7-1: Lag reduction.
7-2: Lag reduction and throwing the last vegetable at Wart better.
New glitches used in the run (spoiler alert)
Carpet glitch in 1-2:
If there are two carpets on screen at once, it is possible to make them move at extremely fast speeds.
Carry an enemy to the next room:
Drop the POW-block and pick up an enemy just as the block hits the ground, you know it works if you get the "pick up" animation without picking up the enemy, then enter a new room and you'll be holding it.
Getting pushed down while on a vine/ladder (in this run, ladder):
Normally if you're on a ladder and a bomb falls down on you, you'll catch it while still climbing, however if you're already holding a bomb as in this run and another one falls at you it'll push you down the ladder.
Vine glitch in 4-2:
If you're on the very left side of the vine when entering a new screen you'll start a little more to the right in this screen.
DarkKobold Claiming for judging
Flygon: Corrected YouTube module size to the agreed upon standard for NES games.
GabCM: Added comparison link
DarkKobold: This is a no-brainer. New glitches, slight optimizations elsewhere... Obvious accept.