Gargamel kidnapped once again Smurfette and other smurfs. We are back to deliver them here.
I watched Tomygood's TAS on YouTube and it seemed pretty well optimized. I then contacted him to have his movie file and try to improve it, and if not I would have let him submit this alone. Since I'm writing this now, you know what it means.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.4.2 exported from a FCEUX 2.2.3 movie file
- Uses hardest difficulty
- Fastest Completion
- Takes damage to save time
Comments
We actually managed to save 57 frames in gameplay and 239 frames by skipping the first screen of the game over Tomygood's previous TAS.
Main strat is to avoid if possible stars or you lose 10 frames at the end of the level. No differences between jump and run only Right and run button matter.
Stage by stage comments
Menu
I discovered that the first screen was skippable by pressing buttons which saved 239 frames but it wasn't the goal of the first movie. I also changed the language to English for no frame changes.
The forest
We saved 6 frames by avoiding differently the last Black Smurf of the level thanks to maaris100.
The River Smurf
Autoscroller that I changed a little bit but nothing too crazy.
The Swamps
Blaze managed to cut out waiting for the frog.
Boss Azrael
The big improvement of this movie comes from here. I found a way to hit Azrael at the very first frame possible when he jumps to the right : 33 frames saved.
The Sarsapilla fields
No changes here.
The Flight on a Stork
Autoscroller where I saved 2 frames by avoiding a lag frame.
The Mountains
Taking the springs to jump over the big holes. The last one isn't needed, but we avoid lag frames by taking it. I saved 1 frame by keeping it until the end of the level instead of releasing it in the last hole.
The Old Gold Mine
No changes. The cart goes alone at constant speed we can only jump and reduce our speed to avoid water drops.
Boss Dragon
No changes. This strat was first found by TheMotherBrain86. Blaze saved 91 frames with a quicker platform pattern.
The Sledge Race
No changes. Taking the "S" medals to jump over big holes.
The Bridge
No changes.
Gargamel's Manor House
We turn back if possible when we take damage in order to be pushed in the optimal direction. Blaze used the present bomb to save a bit of time on one of the required invuln abuses.
Boss Gargamel
No saving time on spawns of nuts. But I managed to save 15 frames by jumping as soon as possible and doing a big jump instead of a little at the last one.
Other comments
RAM Watch
| 006B | Velocity |
| 0037 | Xpos |
| 0038 | Xpos big |
| 02F9 | HP Azrael (atleast) |
RAM Table can be found at: https://datacrystal.romhacking.net/wiki/The_Smurfs_(NES):RAM_map
Lua script can be found at: https://pastebin.com/R8cLm8CK
Thanks
- Baruch who found most of the RTA strats.
- maaris100 who found the strat of The Forest.
- TheMotherBrain86 who first found the strat of the Dragon boss.
- ThunderAxe31 for having found few improvements (asked for no co-authorship).
- Blazephlozard for having found big improvements (asked to be retired from co-authorship).
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 220 frames improvement, and judging.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 28 frames improvement.
ThunderAxe31: This is a nice looking game, similar to its GB counterpart. The movie is well optimized and it was appreciated by the audience. I also want to note that the GB version movies are in Moons, so I really don't see why it shouldn't be the same here. Accepting for Moons.
ThunderAxe31: Removing Blazephlozard's name from autors list per his request.
feos: Pub, with Zinfidel.