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Sorry, but I don't find this game interesting at all.
If I knew what was going on, it might help, but probably not.
The only thing interesting is the platformer parts. But even then, it is mildy interesting at best.
I vote no. I think it is a poor game choice, sorry.
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TheRandomPie_IV wrote:
You win the race either by getting for bonuses or by having more points after three laps have been completed. Completing three laps at the speed of your opponent would be much slower.
That makes sense. Unfortunately, the result is something very frustrating to watch :/
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I had never seen this game until the current published run, and I found it very entertaining. I find this movie even more entertaining, and am impressed you improved it so much.
Yes vote.
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Then Baxter has never played Holy Diver :P
Really, this game is insanely hard. I have never heard of anyone beating the game unassisted. Holy Diver > Arkanoid, no question.
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Whenever you get a full screen ahead of your opponent you get a bonus. This bonus takes forever and kills the momentum of the movie. You could you not minimize these in order to complete the races better?
Even then, I am don't know how impressed I will be with this game.
Heads up seems a little better of a choice than the race with multiple cars where you just run around in circles (I forget the name) though.
All in all, I have to give this submission a no vote.
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I really enjoyed watching this movie. It has a lot of action for a puzzle game. It displays some bugs and other suprising solutions. Route planning and optimizing movements is not straightfoward or obvious. Looks like there are many things to consider when optimizing movements.
I think this game is good for TASing. The run looks nice as well. I am voting yes and accepting it for publication.
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It is about style points. Like aiming for fastest time is such not a big deal to the character that he can perform insane stunts to pass the time and "oh, might as well grab 99 lives while I'm at it". As if it wasn't a big deal.
And also the fact that it is apparent that it could easily have been done without loss of time. Not a big deal, but a noticeable flaw nonetheless.
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The advantage to modifying GENS instead is that you get all the sophisticated TAS tools already to go. Modifying a new emulator would mean crude tools as first.
Though I am happy either way as long as we can see SMS submissions soon :P
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I vote yes.
I found the lack of pacifism in the first level to be a better decision than the published run.
Also, I like taking damage more. There was more than 1 character used, so I don't think the lack of variety is much of an issue.
All in all, this movie has none of the "speed/entertaiment tradeoffs" but I liked watching it more.
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FODA wrote:
If this movie is published, it shouldn't mention anything about sex, the submission text should be edited to remove the comment there, and a suggestion should be made in the movie description that a newer version must use hardest mode.
Agreed. And I will be doing exactly this.
What happens on hardest mode is that there are many more enemies, so the movie would be a minute slower. The bosses have same amount of energy, but are more aggresive.
This is the reason the hard mode should be done; it adds difficulty other than boss/enemy HP. This is exactly in line with the guidelines
As far as the entertainment choices. They didn't entertain me much as I found it particularly sillly; too much so. Though more entertaining that just standing there doing nothing perhaps. I put in on a level slightly above wobbling. Therefore, I am annoyed that one scene cost 26 frames of lag. I think preciesly 0 should be wasted for this.
I don't think anything displayed in the movie it too inappropriate for the site. Certainly not more inappropriate than other games published (Smash TV for instance).
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I found the first 50 levels simple and boring.
Things didn't get interesting until 51 or so. Even then though, it was only mildly entertaining.
Also, 100 level is way too much.
I vote no.
This game has a password system. Could you just use a password to go right to 51, or maybe some other level? I know that which level to choose is rather problematic though since it an arbituary decision as to which level to begin at.
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I'm not sure what to think of this movie.
I enjoyed the vast amount of damage taken. It became a limited resource that had to be managed througout the levels. Also, I assume that each hit was planned so that it saved more than it cost to refill health at the end of the level.
Your sidekick bringing an axe instead of a hose and putting fires out with it is hysterical. Best element of the game :)
It is repetitve but not terribly so. I did watch it all the way through in one sitting. Though I was ready for it to be over around frame 30,000 or so.
I find it a rather borderline game. If it were rejected, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. If it were accepted I wouldn't be upset either.
I dunno.
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mushroom wrote:
It's less about it being arbitrary and more about the restriction just not showing off anything horribly interesting, at least nothing more interesting than what's in the current 120-star run. The small-mario SMW run did, because nearly every level's strategy had to be rethought. Avoiding coins, cannons and caps, while eliminating nearly half of the total number of stars that are possible to get, still leaves very much the same exact strategy for the ones that are possible to get.
These are my thoughts exactly. Just stated more elegantly than I would have been able to do.
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Upon closer examination, I DO think a more optimized run could have good TAS potential.
I attempted to redo level 1 and got a time 17 frames faster than your submission. I think with better understanding of the game physics (which are quite weird) I could have done more. I barely knew what I was doing.
In the process I discovered how rich and varied the movements are in the game. (In many cases it just makes it more annoying though. Like when the character lands on the ground and stops for number of frames, or falls on his belly >:|)
The main problem with the movie is that the character gets going at warp speed, smashes into a wall, fumbles around, and then jumps over it. Even if this is the best solution time-wise, it still looks bad to watch
These things really take way the entertainment of the run. If they can't be avoided, then the game is not as good of a game choice because it makes the game LOOK not optimized and isn't an elegant demonstration of superhuman ability.
If it can be avoided it then it must be redone to cut out such mistakes.
Also, I suspect some of these situations can be avoided with more effort. I suspect this game can be improved by 30 seconds to a minute; possibly even more. More importantly, many of these improvements will make the game more impressive.
Also, I noticed the movie does not end until the credits are over, but no user input is required to make the credits scroll. The input should end on frame 150923 rather than 155970 making the movie length 41:55.38 not 43:19.50. This will need to be fixed in a future version.
I am rejecting this movie due to needed improvements. However, an improved/optimized version is not a garuanteed acceptance. I reccomend posting WIPs in the SNES discussion forum in order to get an idea of audience response. Better to find out before the movie is completed.
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I voted No on this submission.
1) For a TAS, the concept is rather arbituary even if it is a classic challenge for speedrunners.
2) It is too similar to the 120 stars run
I fast fowarded through the parts that were the same/very similar, which meant I spent more time fast fowarding than not.
I don't think the few stars that showed new glitches were enough to warrant another hour long movie.
If the creative solutions to a couple of stars is the main justification to publication, then why not make a movie that just does those stars? Perhaps a playaround that just shows off crazy shortcuts and ideas that didn't get an opportunity to be shown off in the 120 stars run?
3) Avoiding coins is not impressive from a TAS perspective. Maybe that can be tricky on a console, but the use of savestates makes that a mundane task.
Again, so the only point seems the stars that deviate from the 120 star run, which is a fraction of the movie.
4) Goals are not designed to enhance entertainment.
In fact, this movie is less entertaining than the 2 currently published run, why should it be the 3rd run of the site?
It seems to "clerical" to me. Rather than being a goal that gives you artistic freedom, and aid in maximizing entertainment, it simply gives you a statistical goal to achieve. If the save file saying 0 coins + max stars is the objective, then just show a screenshot of that; no need for an hour long movie file.
5) Not optimal
Even if the concept was good, this isn't an optimal performance anyway. The author even admits to a minutes worth of improvement. Which on a TAS level is large even for an hour long movie. I suspect the improvement potential is even larger. There are many places where it is clearly not as precise as it could be, and that hurt the entertainment value as well.
As a result, I think this movie does not warrant pubication. None of the current justifications have pursuaded me otherwise.
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I find this to be an awesome game, but for a TAS it is rather dull. I think the current run drags on too much so a warpless/100% run would just be way too much boringness.
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I voted meh.
This game is marginal, but not too bad. It is very optimized in typical Randil style.
The problem is that I find it too straightfoward and simplistic. The optimal solution is obvious for most situations. Therefore there was nothing impressed/suprised me in the run. In most situations, it is optimal to simply run right and jump/attack to handle the occasional enemy. In boss situations, attacking the boss quickly is straightfoward. The game is very limited in terms of types of movements, weapons, power-ups. There isn't anything in the way of route planning to consider.
However, it isn't terribly simplistic, and is somewhat enjoyable so I didn't vote no. I feel that it falls into the gray area on the borderline of publication vs rejection.
