Why do you even bother posting? It is clear to me that he is using the pause trick. Even if the majority of the people here didn't support it, I believe he would use it. He is trying to make the fastest movie possible. The movie he is attempting to beat appears so perfect to a layman like me that nothing but absolute mastery of the game beyond perfection will suffice to improve upon it. Not using the pause trick to "make a more entertaining movie" (an arguable point in and of itself) is not mastery, it is merely inferior.
I pity you for even considering that as an option.
I believe his point was that the "tricks" so common at TSC for getting a lower reading on the in-game timer don't really have a use in making an entertaining time attack for this site. As he pointed out, you can obtain even lower times by running your time out at the last checkpoint of every act. Since it is possible to get enough extra lives throughout the game to do this in every act, there is no reason not to do it, if minimizing the in-game timer is your only goal.
The decision to utilize checkpoints to lower the in-game timer in one way and not another is an arbitrary one, and as such it is not clear where you should draw the line. If you decide you want to do one, but not the other, what justification do you have for eliminating the other strategy? True, it would make a long, boring ass movie, but it would also ostensibly meet your goal of minimizing the time displayed on screen when each level ends.
A more laudable goal which would undoubtedly make a more entertaining video would be to just run through the game as fast as possible, only using checkpoints when picking up a shield is actually more time efficient.
If you end up making a video that is nothing more than a bunch of runs as they would appear on TSC, the video will be a disappointment. TSC focuses on a very specific goal, to lower the time displayed on the in-game timer when each level ends, within the bounds of some arbitrary rules.
Time attacks in general focus on a very different goal, to minimize the time taken to complete the entire game. If you actually do complete all of the levels of S3&K in TSC fashion, do not be surprised to find that a month or two later your video is obsoleted because someone has effortlessly made one that is 20% faster.
When you open a movie in read only mode and then select resume record from now from the menu, a message is displayed at the bottom of the screen, "Error: This movie is read-only" or something similar.
This is poor design. Think about when people actually use the resume record from now option. I'd be willing to bet 95% of the time it's a second or less away from the end of a work in progress, and that the movie is paused at the time. As such, the error message is impossible to read through the "Emulation paused frame: XXXXX" text that automatically pops up when you pause the game. The user can then successfully set a savestate despite the fact that a recording is not in progress, unpause, pass the end of the movie within a second or less, reload the save state, and go on their merry way thinking they are recording when they are not.
This is, in fact, what I just did, and wasted half an hour in the process. I think that read only mode as a feature is of questionable use to begin with, even if it didn't break the functionality of the resume record from now option. Since recording cannot be bound to a hotkey, it is impossible to record accidentally. You must very deliberately select the option from the menu with your mouse. If you are that worried about people somehow accidentally doing something very deliberate, you should not put the play and record options in the same window. Another exceptionally simple solution is to automatically create a backup of a movie when recording is started.
Only displaying an error message that will never be seen is useless. In the next version you should either make resume record from now automatically override read only, or have a dialogue box pop up that says, "Error, this movie is being played in read only mode and recording is not enabled. Do you want to disable read only mode and resume recording from now? Yes/No."
The moaning is all the fun ;) .
As I recall, Dragon's Revenge doesn't require any point totals to beat the game, you merely have to progress through a series of bonus tables you access at different points on the main table.
I believe in #5 nifboy is talking about Dragon's Revenge. That could make an interesting video if someone particularly skilled and knowledgeable of bugs and strategies were to play it.
http://kontek.net/davidwonn/snesm.html#S
Scroll down to Secret of Mana. There are lots of interesting glitches including that one. If you all aren't checking for bugs and glitches in games you time attack before you start, that's just stupid. Use some common sense.
Yes, it just sits there for me, too. I was quite looking forward to this game, too. I own and love this game, though it's not quite as hard as chis is making it out to be.
I enjoyed reading your answers, Josh! Anyways, here are the answers to mine:
1) [Secret!]
2) 359.
3) There really is no set answer to this or the previous #3. The first #3 (the one with all the periods) was a reference to a bug early in the game whereby you could drop anyone using a Korean version of the game by typing in a boatload of periods. Their Diablo 2 client would crash and everyone that remained in the game would get the message "So and so dropped due to timeout." "baba_zzang" was just a stereotypical Korean character name. It's common knowledge (whether it's correct or not) that Koreans started the trend of using the abbreviations "baba, soso, ama" and such. (Native English speakers tend to say "barb, sorc, zon" etc.) Koreans were also famous for their humorous appeals for items (again, the legends have far outgrown what actually occurred) and Americans soon began adopting the most outrageous speech patterns modeled loosely after real Korean words (gosu=good, zzang=king, etc.), as well as some of the more unusual errors Koreans committed when speaking English. "Itam" and "otam" became commons substitutes for item, "potal, portar, fotar" or anything similar became common substitues for portal, "prz" became a common substitute for plz, etc., etc., and the tilde (~) was appended to almost everything anyone imitating a Korean ever said.
4) Justice League Task Force. Condor was working on a Genesis port, while Silicon and Synapse was working on a SNES port. This loose affiliation through Sunsoft, the company behind Justice League Task Force, is how Blizzard and Blizzard North first met.
5) Callac, a barbarian of no small notoriety. Many people say Callac and his team "ruined leveling" by being the first group to introduce "sitter runs." To even try to keep up (which no one could, Callac was widely regarded as the fastest leveler on all the realms when he was still actively leveling), other top players were forced to follow suit, which very few could, or level for 3-4 times as long as Callac did each day. The VET clan chose the latter option, as they were famous for leveling 22 hours a day, and from what I could tell that number was fairly accurate.
7) A definitive answer will probably never be known, but it's probably 8-10.
Alright, I'll continue, too, 12Motion! And since you asked, I ain't nobody ;) .
todd: Chess hasn't been a major part of my life for a good time (this is the first opportunity I've had to talk shop in a while, you meet chess people in the weirdest places), so maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but I recall Kasparov saying he stopped playing the King's Indian not because he thought it was unsound but because he didn't have the time any more to study both the Najdorf and the King's Indian, and he chose to stick with the Najdorf. As to why most other top GMs don't play it ... well, most other top GMs shy away from highly tactical lines. Shirov and Polgar are the most notable exceptions, and Morozevich of course, but he'll play damn near anything whether it's garbage or not ;) . Fischer, too, loved to play the King's Indian against the fish of his era, but it's doubtful that he's in the top 10 of players any more, despite what slobbering fanboys say about his prowess!
When I have some time (which may be never, I still have to finish Sonic!) I'll try to go about comparing lines in the Muzio gambit against ChessMaster. I really think that line could be one of the best for a speedy defeat.
Just because 2400's play something doesn't mean it's a good line :P . Heck, just because Kasparov plays something doesn't mean it's a good line. I can remember a particular game in '97 where he opened d3.
In beating NES ChessMaster I don't really try to analyze too much the weaknesses that are specific to programs. I don't think it's profitable in most cases. Just playing hyper agressive chess like you would against any weak player is probably best.
I just played NES ChessMaster on infinite mode in the Smith-Morra and finished it off in 13 moves. I suspect the Smith-Morra, or the Muzio gambit, or particular lines of the Sicilian as black could lead to the fastest wins.
I can't really say I know much theory behind Durkin's attack, though when you say "master play" I am skeptical. Only old masters like Anderssen ever played ridiculous lines like that ... well, and Durkin himself, but he wasn't that good in the grand scheme of things :P . I don't think a modern GM would ever be caught dead in the white side of 1. Na3 ... .
With reference to the other responses, 1. ... Nf6 is too passive and leads to an inactive (or uselessly traded) dark-squared bishop. 1. ... g6 doesn't even pretend at center control and what is the point of it? There will never be a reason to fianchetto that bishop so this move is really nothing more than the waste of a tempo. 1. ... Na6 gives white a strong advantage in developing his pieces. 1. ... e5 is certainly allowable, and probably as good as 1. ... d5, though I personally think preventing Nc4 is better than placing an immediate (and empty) threat on the foolishly placed knight.
You may be interested to know ChessMaster was representing itself quite well in your game until move 11. You were doing a fair job of losing until ChessMaster blundered. Something like 11. ... e4 12. d4 Qd6 13. Kg2 Qd7 14. Rb1 Rab8 15. Rf1 Qf5 16. Kg1 Ng4 17. Qe2 f6 would have had you in dire straits.
http://www.geocities.com/xebranick/Sonic1Acts1-5v2byxebra.zip
Lezard, I guess I had to prove your typo possible ;) . I've added the fifth act to my version 2 run.
Marble 2 0"53
- Made it to the button without braking. (That jump remains the most difficult part of the run.)
- Found a very quick path to the pushblocks.
- Made it past the spikes (!!!) .
- Found a quick enough path at the end to justify skipping the invulnerability.
Durkin's attack is more appropriately notated 1. Na3? d5!
The weaker an opening you start out with, the longer it will take you to beat your opponent. Also, it stands to reason that a highly tactical opening is one that will allow you to defeat the computer the quickest, so consider opening with something else.
There are also some good lines that experienced players will sometimes play against inexperienced players that are in fact inferior, but require the opponent to mount an entirely unflawed defense or they get slaughtered. It stands to reason you could luck NES ChessMaster into responding to such lines incorrectly.
It is clear the ROM has some knowledge of opening theory, since it made the absolute only correct move against 1.Na3? , but I doubt its knowledge extends very deep in many lines. Exploit this.
Try again if you like ;) .
nifboy, SpeedRunner obviously put a lot of time and effort into creating an attractive site, and I think he has done it. Frankly I am offended that when he asks for suggestions on how to improve, you address him with such obvious disgust, disrespect, and disdain.
Now to address the few issues you brought up that aren't matters of pure opinion:
I can't right click anywhere except on the flash graphic
I, too, find this annoying. Because I have a slow connection, I don't like to reload script generated pages every time I press << or >> . I pretty much always right-click links and open them as new pages so that I can continue to browse the one I'm at while the new one loads. Please enable right-clicking.
Annoying music greets you on the front page.
The music is hardly annoying, but automatically loading music is generally considered unacceptable. Many people listen to music while browsing the net. Two songs at once is never fun. I suggest the music be disabled by default.
Speaking of flash, I'm not sure what that thing up top is supposed to be, aside from a bit of buffer from the rest of the page, much less why it's in flash. I'm of the school of thought that thinks that if you can't do something useful in flash you probably shouldn't be using flash at all.
Flash stores such vector based graphics very efficiently. The banner at the top, which is quite attractive in my opinion, only weighs in at 50k. I challenge you, nifboy, to construct a GIF with equal framerate and resolution at only 50k.
When I first came here I couldn't find where the speedruns.
Did you have trouble finding how the grammar when you made your post?
The table on the front page, with all the speedruns on it, has absolutely nothing to indicate that they're links and not just plain text listing everything that's available via the "downloads" link in the menu (which also looks like plain text). Links should look like links.
Do you think a lack of sheer stupidity on the part of the user might clue one into the existence of links? Obviously not in your case, nif.
http://www.geocities.com/xebranick
I am making an entirely new run through of the game in an effort to make my play look more professional and aesthetically pleasing. Additionally every level was completed many frames faster than before and all bonus tags at the end of each level are collected. I have only finished redoing acts 1-4, the GSV is at the above site.
Some interesting notes about each act:
Green Hill 1 0"25
- Triple bounced at the beginning.
- Double jumped the loop for extra speed.
- Kept the invulnerability the whole level.
- Weird ringing sound when the level ends, I'm not sure what caused it.
- Retained control of Sonic even while the score was counting up. I exploited this to collect all of the bonus tags.
Green Hill 2 0"18
- Very accurate fall from the ledge.
- Didn't jump after getting boots.
- Quintuple bounce starting with the invulnerability.
- Retained control of Sonic even while the score was counting up. I exploited this to collect all of the bonus tags.
Green Hill 3 0"34
- Very accurate placement onto the springs (this affects the time by a frame or two).
- Bounced from the boots onto the second platform.
- 10 seconds of airtime (!) due to an utterly gratuitous sequence of bounces.
- Exceptionally quick boss battle.
- Perfectly timed ending jump.
Marble 1 0"48
- Much faster and cleaner execution of the first 12 seconds. This can be faster still if you don't collect the shield, but it doesn't matter.
- Cleaner execution of glitchy jumps while waiting.
- The fourth piston is not cleared as fast as possible. (It can be done nearly a quarter second faster than I do.) The spikes at ~29s in my video apparently use your time as a random seed for their initial state (and don't just pop out some fixed time after you spawn them, as I originally thought). 100+ rerecords were spent optimizing this section. One frame faster and the spikes are already there when you fall.
- Cleared the falling blocks just past the lava without stopping.
- 250+ rerecords were spent trying to find some way to not clip the corner at ~38.5s in my video. I can't do it.
- Intentionally took damage to save time in an unexpected spot.
Enjoy!
11 (charms) + 20 (items) + 20 (skills) + 1 (battle command from cta or barb) = 52
However you'll get 54 as I suggested if you got skill shrine.
You are right, I should have specified only wearable or castable effects. Your breakdown is unimpressive. +11 from charms, +1 from BC, and 20 invested skill points are all givens. Obviously the intent of the question was for you to identify the items needed.
It's been a while, and no one has gotten the answers to any of my questions, so I'll go ahead and supply the answers and ask some related questions to keep the fun rolling ;) .
1) Answer: 840.
Related question: How?
2) Answer: Anal-Pokey, Barbarian, USEast.
Related Question: What was the damage of his lance?
3) Answer: baba_zzang dropped due to timeout.
Related Question: kakaka~ otam prz?
4) Answer: Condor Games.
Related Question: Blizzard and Blizzard North both worked on different versions of what game prior to Blizzard North (then Condor Games) being bought by Blizzard's parent company?
5) Answer: Twice for 95 and once for 96. wuscheltom (on Europe) was the first character in the world to hit level 99 in the new ladder season that started with patch 1.10. The first time he hit level 95 he accidentally became a Guardian, so he was deleted and remade to remain a Champion all the way to 99.
Related Question: VET-GrailsGhost on USEast was the second character to ever hit level 99 in the new ladder season. However, wuscheltom spanked the entire USEAST VET clan on the way to 99, passing VET-GrailsGhost despite remaking wuscheltom when VET-GrailsGhost was already level 97. As such, the members of the VET clan are all wuscheltom's bitches. Prior to wuscheltom hitting 99, what was the name and class of the only other character to ever make the members of the VET clan his/her bitches by claiming the #1 spot on USEast, ahead of all the VET clan members that dominated ranks 2-7?
6) Answer: 52.
Related Question: How?
7) Answer: 99,999,999,990
Related Question: What is the least number of moves in which you can beat ChessMaster for the NES on the hardest difficulty?
EDIT: Typo.
Don't buy an Ikaruga gameplay DVD! You do know that the game itself includes not one but two different complete runs through, both without commiting death or chain errors?
Just get up to a level without continuing and you will then be able to access that level's demo. The demos for horizontal and vertical modes are different.
0"53 on Marble Zone Act 2 is a great time, indeed. I'll postpone further development until I see your run so that I can duplicate it. Post the GMV pretty please!
EDIT: Well 0"56 is still great, GMV please ;) . Or if you are really opposed to putting up something on Geocities or the like, just watch my run and tell me where it is deficient.
- Diablo II. I am unequivocally the best in the world. (I can hear you all chuckling to yourselves that this game involves no skill ... well you're all wrong!)
- WarCraft III Beta. I never lost a game during the beta, though I also never bought or played the retail version. I'm not sure how my skills would fare today.
- StarCraft. Top 32 finisher in the first ladder season. I haven't played in years, so again I'm not sure how my skills would fare today.
- TetriNet.
- Spades.
- Settlers of Catan.
- Boggle
My times thus far:
Green Hill Zone Act 1 0"25
Green Hill Zone Act 2 0"18
Green Hill Zone Act 3 0"34
Marble Zone Act 1 0"50
Marble Zone Act 2 0"57
Marble Zone Act 3 1"17
Spring Yard Zone Act 1 0"23
Spring Yard Zone Act 2 0"31
In addition to the GMV, I've compiled a zip file with savestates at the beginning of each act, so that you don't have to watch the movie all the way through if you don't want to.
http://www.geocities.com/xebranick/
