Posts for scrimpeh

Posted: 7/21/2022 3:54 PM
(Edited: 8/21/2022 9:39 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I don't know the previous TAS, so I can't compare, but this run was quite entertaining. Very nice work, yes vote.

Posted: 7/20/2022 2:45 PM
(Edited: 8/5/2022 5:08 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Excellent work again, great improvement. I have two questions: 1. Can you hit a ring on the return swing of your fist to get a really long tether? Does anything interesting happen then? 2. Is there a reason you take so much damage in the early autoscrollers? Or is it just for messing around? Anyway, yes vote again. Keep it up!

Posted: 7/20/2022 12:00 PM
(Edited: 7/27/2022 4:46 AM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Does this use the same engine as GBA Doom? The games both seem broken in very similar ways. Either way, like any GBA FPS, it was a bit of a mess of pixels, but it was still perfectly watchable. I like how the walls were basically completely optional to you. Yes vote.

Posted: 7/16/2022 6:40 PM

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

While I personally found the RAM watch feature had a lot of potential, given a few tweaks, I understand if its value is not worth the complexity. Use the opportunity to get rid of old bloat if it presents itself.

Posted: 7/10/2022 1:39 PM
(Edited: 7/28/2022 8:15 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

The TAS looks quite well made, but the hack itself looks pretty unremarkable, honestly. Other than the graphics, nothing substantial seems to have been changed, and the TAS doesn't really show anything you wouldn't see in warpless runs for stock SMB and SNES Lost Levels. In a strange way, the repertoire of ways you can break the wall collision weirdly hurts the entertainment value in this case. Instead of going through the intended path, which would've presented some unique obstacle, you can just clip through the wall or the ceiling and go around the obstacle instead. Anyway, good work overall. Voting yes.

Posted: 7/10/2022 1:35 PM
(Edited: 7/22/2022 4:03 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I haven't played the PC game or the NES version, but the TAS looks quite good indeed. The block jumping really seems to break the level design in a number of cool places. The only question I have is why the glitches were omitted. Would they have hurt entertainment? Overall, it's a yes vote. Do keep it up.

Posted: 7/4/2022 5:03 PM
(Edited: 7/10/2022 4:57 AM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Very cool. This hack shows a number of interesting scenarios that you wouldn't see in the base game, and the glitches used to solve them are great. I'm glad you improved your run, because it's even better now. Yes vote.

Posted: 7/3/2022 6:25 PM
(Edited: 7/3/2022 6:45 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Lately I've been listening through Shimoine's VRC6 collection in full. During the course of this I discovered some really cool tracks I wasn't aware of before. - Hyper Crash - Main Theme - Missing in Action - Guard Post - Ganbare Goemon: Karakuri Douchuu - Castle - Kid Dracula (GB) - Wait, Galamoth! - B-Wings - Main Theme - J-League Excite Stage '94 - JEF United Chiba Theme All links are timestamped. Bonus: Space Manbow - Fire Warning Bonus Bonus: Eschatos - Survive (SCC Arrange) by T4N3

Posted: 6/17/2022 7:40 PM
(Edited: 10/2/2022 2:51 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I highly exhibit the purist sentiment mentioned in the OP. I believe that cheats should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and should seriously carry their weight when used. I think that speedrunning (and by extension, TASing) should be a showcase of absolute mastery over the game. Cheats, when used, should be in service of that. This could involve a cheat that makes the game harder, or a cheat that unlocks a level that would not otherwise be accessible, so we can also dunk on that bonus level. What I think cheats should specifically not be in service of is just getting the fastest possible time by any means necessary. Another valid use of cheats is unlocking a bonus character or something else that drastically changes the gameplay itself. I think the rule suggestion, as it is worded, is quite reasonable. As for external codes, I think the standards should be even higher, because external codes allow more room for subtle manipulation. Again, it's lame to just use a code to remove something inconvenient that you don't like. I think using a code to unlock otherwise broken content, as DrD2k9 put forward, is quite fair however. That said, let me just take everything I've written so far and throw it into the woodchipper here: TASvideos should be inclusionist if it gets new people on the site. If people like speedrunning some category that involves external or internal codes, and people want to see a TAS of that, I think that TAS should also have a place on TASvideos. It's better in the long term than being all high and mighty about purism.

Posted: 6/13/2022 9:39 AM
(Edited: 6/19/2022 12:13 AM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Thanks for posting this, HappyLee. Your TAS is -much- more in line with what I was expecting for this game, and much more entertaining. Indeed, it had a bunch of very cool tricks I didn't even expect. BlueMania X, take that run as inspiration for what you should be doing in a TAS. Don't hesitate if you don't need to. Use frame advance to make the timing as precise as possible. When you need to fall down somewhere, jump from as high as you can so you have the most downward velocity. When needing to turn around, turn around early so you don't spend more time going in the wrong direction than you need to. Use all available tricks. Plan out your strategies for approaching obstacles to solve them as fast as possible. As it is, I have to vote no. Sorry.

Posted: 6/9/2022 4:51 PM
(Edited: 6/25/2022 6:15 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Very cool TAS, very fast and entertaining. I don't think there was a single dull moment in the TAS (save for maybe the loading screens breaking the flow a bit, but there's nothing you can do about that), and the constant weapon usage really made it exciting. The Split Mushroom stage stood out. Yes vote. Great work!

Posted: 6/5/2022 8:01 PM
(Edited: 6/24/2022 5:37 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Thanks for the encode, Spikestuff! The run was pretty damn fantastic. Fast, intense and full of crazy arrow gas usage and tricks I hadn't seen before. I could look at D.W. zipping through walls all day. Yes vote for sure. Great work!

Posted: 6/4/2022 9:25 AM
(Edited: 6/4/2022 2:51 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

It's time for my annual period of feverishly looking over this game trying to find something new again.

Turns out, you can optimize walking down stairs in a number of ways: 1.Walk over the stair entrance by holding Up to walk over the edge and start falling on top of the stairs 2.Continuously jump down the steps. Saves a frame each time it's done. 3.Drop into the screen transition trigger from above. Saves around 13 frames on this staircase. Make sure to hold B when grabbing the staircase again so Simon does not walk upwards for a frame first. This is how the second technique can actually save time. Alternatively, throw a subweapon instead to be able to drop again faster. The second technique is also subject to subpixels which might influence the time save somewhat. It's unfortunately pretty rare for stairs to be arranged the right way though, so the total time save is probably quite small.

Posted: 5/20/2022 9:10 PM
(Edited: 5/20/2022 9:16 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Link to video Stairs have some weird properties when it comes to camera scrolling. The best I can explain it, when Simon climbs up a step, you need to push Right for at least two frames to get Simon moving. The scrolling engine is already enabled on the first frame, allowing us to manipulate it as we would any other camera scrolling, and despawn blocks with well timed pauses and turnarounds. This also lets Simon turn around in place on a step, which is the wiggling you see at the start. I cannot think of any places that would be affected by this off-hand. Input File

Posted: 5/17/2022 5:11 PM

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Link to video Sometimes a song embeds itself in my mind and the whole world must know.

Posted: 4/30/2022 9:50 PM
(Edited: 4/30/2022 10:01 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Memory wrote:

What about the cases where we aren't rejecting a run for optimization, but simply because due to our current rules or our current infrastructure we can't really accept it? Does it really make sense to use "rejected" in such a case? We're at a point where we have a lot of runs on the queue that are delayed because nobody wants to "reject" a run that we ultimately want to at some point or in some way accept. That creates a lot of unnecessary claims and runs on the workbench that are going nowhere and makes it hard to figure out what actually is having work done on it and what isn't. It isn't just about being nicer about it (tho I am definitely in favor of that too), it's also about being accurate to what we actually mean when we don't accept a run.

This seems to be more of a result of the site undergoing significant restructuring at this point, resulting in a lot of movies that were previously considered unpublishable to become publishable. I don't think that situation will occur very often in the future (though of course I could be wrong). I think the issue comes from using 'rejected' to mean two separate things: - Rejected due to bad optimization - Rejected due to game choice / category choice / other The circumstances of the latter may change at some point and can result in a movie being unrejected later. Based purely on the semantics of the word, I don't see a problem with using "rejected" to convey the second meaning also. More open-ended terms might imply that a submission is likely to be revisited in the future, even if it realistically still has no chance to. If we have a bunch of runs on the workbench right now that we want to clear for the time being but know will be revisited later, I would also throw "shelved" into the ring as another candidate to highlight those cases. Even then, I would still use "rejected" for runs that have significant disqualifying factors that are unlikely to change in the future, i.e. that are probably rejected for good. I'm not sure if splitting the terms is a good idea/easily implemented though.

Posted: 4/30/2022 8:10 PM
(Edited: 4/30/2022 8:12 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I would personally argue that this is not a "everyone's a winner" club, and some submissions really are bad and should be rejected. I think the site generally has a pretty good attitude about recognizing work these days and the discussion that I see is usually friendly and respectful. I think the word that is used when a submission gets yeeted* is pretty insignificant compared to the rejection message a judge writes and the feedback that is posted under the submission. Of the choices I've read in the thread, "denied" or "declined" sound best to me. I'd still overall be in favor if just keeping it as it is. *my suggestion

Posted: 4/29/2022 5:15 AM
(Edited: 5/13/2022 9:06 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Why do Mega Man hacks like taking graphics from Yoshi's Island so much? Anyway, nice work. Like with most Mega Man TASes, the run was quite fast and entertaining, with little slowing you down. I liked the playarounds during the autoscrollers. Yes vote.

Posted: 4/26/2022 9:43 AM
(Edited: 6/22/2022 12:02 AM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I've said it in the discussion thread already, but that run was completely outrageous. Blasting through every map at such breakneck speeds with so many different tricks along the way was simply a treat to watch from beginning to end, and there was a lot of stuff in this run that was completely new to me. Total yes vote, and easily a contender for TAS of 2022 for me already. Phenomenal work! Now all I'm hoping for is an updated TAS of TNT Evilution. Pretty please?

Posted: 4/23/2022 7:59 AM
(Edited: 5/24/2022 12:33 AM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

I'd been looking forward to seeing a full up-to-date SMW glitchfest featuring everything that the game has to offer for a long time, and man, you didn't disappoint in the slightest. There were so many crazy tricks, including a lot of stuff I wasn't even aware of before. You entering the test level had my jaw on the floor, but many other things also qualified. I will say that 3 hours is quite a long time for a run like this, but I'd say it was well worth it. I found myself being continually dazzled by what was going on, and eagerly awaiting what would happen next. I can say this game finally has the playaround it deserves. Voting yes. But only because you got 99 lives. Several times.

Posted: 4/21/2022 2:27 PM

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Link to video Probably not worth it, since pause glitching the blocks away is likely faster. Still, I had to know. Input File

Posted: 4/19/2022 3:36 PM
(Edited: 4/19/2022 3:37 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Link to video No, I don't speak Italian.

Posted: 4/18/2022 10:54 AM

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Wow!! That was just insane! There were so many cool tricks and shortcuts I wasn't aware of before. Thank you for posting this.

Posted: 4/9/2022 6:50 PM
(Edited: 5/5/2022 8:16 PM)

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

Oh sick, Drasle Family! I was briefly looking into TASing the MSX version of this game, before I even knew there was a NES version, but the routing and the dependence on item drops very quickly dissuaded me. I can't even begin to fathom how you route a game like this, let alone find route improvements this significant. Huge props for creating commentary for the run. It was hugely helpful in explaining what was going on. I have to admit the gameplay went by too fast for me to follow, so I first had to watch the TAS by itself, and then watch it again with commentary enabled on 0.75 speed. That way I only occasionally needed to pause. I can't believe the scramble for resources you're always under. That is insane. Also huge props for creating the Atlas Encode. It looks great and helps to give me a spatial understanding of all those really maze-y areas. Yes vote for sure, and fantastic work!

Posted: 4/8/2022 4:22 PM

Quote

scrimpeh

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1407)

Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2087

What a strange game. The abstract shapes, color palettes and patterns in the background made it feel really psychedelic. The soundtrack was also quite, let's say, avant garde. I could probably live without it going BRRRRRR every couple of seconds though. That was genuinely quite unpleasant. Anyway, the TAS itself seems neat enough. It's obvious a lot of planning and revision went into the routing, especially considering how it has gone through a second pass. It's sad there's not much more in the way of obviously visible skips and speed strategies, but there's only so much you can do in a game like this. For what it's worth, the gameplay was smooth enough to warrant a Yes Vote. Good work.