Aqfaq

About Me

I'm not recording any TAS movies at the moment. However, I may be able to help people with their efforts, if I know the game. I also try to update the Genesis game list every now and then.

If you have something to say about the movies on this page (or about some other topic), feel free to PM me or write your thoughts to the discussion forums, thank you.

Existing Improvements

Dark Castle (Genesis)

Here it is done 11 frames faster than the current published movie: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1048384091/dark-castle-11-frames-improved.gmv

I have not submitted this, because the improvements are unnoticeable and I hope that someone improves it a bit more. I honestly believe it can be improved further. It is a short and stupid game, so whoever tries it will be having fun for sure! If nobody improves it before 2009, then I will submit it.

Gods (Genesis)

I found two new strategies:

  • In world 1-3, I avoid enemies instead of dying.

  • In the final shop, I downgrade my weapon to get money in exchange! This allows me to buy an additional extra life, which I use in the final level to save time.

These strategies are not obvious at all. It required a lot of testing and hex-editing to make them work. Planning what gems to pick up and what enemies to shoot matters from the very beginning of the game. Sometimes you need to do something slower to gain a long-term benefit. There are a few minor differences scattered around the movie due to a small-scale "butterfly effect" with money/score/health/enemy randomness and bonus countdown, but the changes are mostly unnoticeable.

Here's the movie, 132 frames shorter than the current published one: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1206848623/gods-improved-by-132-frames.gmv

I'm not submitting it yet, because even with the new strategies, the movie is essentially the same old stuff and does not feel much faster. Also, after I made the 132 frames faster movie, I found another two new tricks:

  • I had known that shooting from the ladder is faster than shooting from the ground. However, I had missed the possibility to use it in world 1-1 to save 6 frames.
  • Some damaged enemies cause less collision damage! This can be used in world 2-3 to improve the health-management in the snake pit and when getting the candle. It could save 10-30 frames.

I've had no time or interest to record a new Gods movie, but I know exactly what needs to be done. If you are interested in a short project, please consider this one.

Cancelled Projects

I'm not going to continue recording these, so I encourage others to consider them. I'm willing to help in any way I can, if someone decides to try any of them. I think these games have a lot of TAS potential!

Lone Ranger (NES)

Hilarious action in the wild west (or wild bugfest?). I ran out of ammo in chapter 6, because I had not planned bullet usage from the beginning. I lost motivation, because I did not want to redo everything. I managed to find many surprising shortcuts, so this is definitely a very good test run for someone to use. It's also one of the funniest movies I've ever managed to make, thanks to the game. Here it is: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/5686/loneranger6boss.fcm

Monster World IV (Genesis)

In my opinion, this is the best Gens game that has not been TASed yet. It is fast paced and full of neat tricks accompanied with nice graphics and music. I cancelled it, because I discovered a corner boost trick too late. I had already wasted 40 000 rerecords and didn't feel like starting over. Here's the first 40 minutes done without the corner boost trick: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/408853094/MW4-WIP.gmv

King Colossus (Genesis)

...or King Shortcut? There's a bug that allows disrupting the scripted overworld travel sequences, so that you arrive in a wrong location. This can be used for two shortcuts, which together save about 10 minutes. The movie (mostly recorded by a friend of mine) does not use these shortcuts, but plays the game to the final castle in 62 minutes. Many clever tricks and lots of luck manipulation are used throughout the movie, which can be found here: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/4857/KCWIP.gmv

A Boy and His Blob - The Rescue of Princess Blobette (Gameboy)

This game is almost as funny as the NES prequel. There is a problem with huge lag in one room, but otherwise the movie is cool, I think. The game takes less than two minutes to complete: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/5559/blob2.vbm

(Note: I have not tested the game with the latest versions of VBA.)

Wardner (Genesis)

A simple platformer with lots of skippable bosses, most notably the level 2 spider boss, which can be skipped by hugging the exit when the miniboss dragon dies. Here's a cancelled partial movie of mine, possibly improvable in some of the ladders and if the level 2 hazards can be manipulated: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/499332286/wardnercancelledWIP.gmv

Current Records

I would very much enjoy seeing any of my own movies obsoleted. Some of them are more improvable than others and I believe none of them is perfect. My full support is available for these games!

Wonderboy in Monster World: It's probably improvable with sub-pixel optimization and better understanding of the randomness. A sub 42-minute run would blow my mind, because such a time would probably require something new and cool.

Splatterhouse 2: Maybe lag can be reduced in the levels and a few frames in some of the boss fights?

The Humans: This game is complex and I did the movie all by myself, so some routes may not be the best possible. I know a few minor improvements in some levels too. The number and magnitude of available programming errors in this game is astounding, so anything can happen...

A Boy and His Blob: I believe that if the route is perfect, then no more than a few frames can be saved. But who knows...

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle: Some optimized movements are definitely possible here, but without a new route the time will not get significantly lower.

Mystic Defender: A rather fast-paced game. It is not as simple as it looks, thus very likely improvable. Also, stylistically, it would be better to not shoot for nothing, whenever it can be avoided by equipping a different weapon.

Magical Taruruuto-Kun: This is not quite as precise as my standard movie would be. Might be improvable everywhere. Easy to obsolete. Go for it!

Immortal: I recorded the movie even though I had no idea how to optimize the inventory menu handling. This is easy to obsolete, if you know what to do with the crazy menu behavior.

Get Firefox!Aqfaq last edited by Aqfaq on 2008-07-19 15:26:53
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