City Connection

City Connection is a side view driving game. The game was originally developed for the arcade by Jaleco in 1985, it later received a port on the NES in 1988. The story is fantastic, and oddly specific. You've broken into an exclusive paint store in New York City and are now on the run whilst carrying leaking 10 gallon cans of paint. You must inexplicibly drive over every mile of highway in order to make your escape.
Just another day in the city.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.2.2
  • Complete all six cities. True to the arcade style, the game loops indefinitely (the stage rolls from 255 back to 0). The backgrounds for the 6 cities rotate and do not reset when the stage counter rolls over. The platforms are shifted in later stages, but the discription of your world tour is in the game's manual and the progression of cutscene images between each stage in the North American version of this game suggests that the game should be considered complete after the sixth stage.
    • New York
    • London
    • Paris
    • Frankfurt
    • New Delhi
    • Tokyo

Game Mechanics

Controls

  • up - hold up when jumping to jump to a higher platform
  • left - turn left
  • right - turn right
  • down - makes the car fall down faster, doesn't work when jumping
  • B - shoot oil can
  • A - jump
  • select - select 1 or 2 players
  • start - pause

Items

  • Oil cans - You can collect and shoot these at police cars to take them out, but any extra left over are counted for extra points at the end of a stage, costing some time. So we want to end each level with no cans left (only acception is the last stage)
  • Balloons - collecting 3 balloons rewards you with a warp. The warp takes you to the next "stage" (increments the stage counter), but in the limited testing it did not seem to follow the normal progression of backgrounds. Additinally it is not used in this run since the warp animation is so long that it's faster to just finish the stage and sit through the cutscene.

Enemies

  • Police cars - you lose a life if you hit them, but you can take them out with oil cans
  • Cat - you lose a life if you run into a cat. Cats are impervious to oil cans
  • Spikes - these appear if you spend too long on the same level of platforms, but they're not seen in this run.

Strategies

The most difficult part of this TAS is the routing. The route is simple enough that stage by stage details probably aren't necessary, but the high level strategy is to keep turning and changing platform levels to a minimum. It turns out that the best way to achieve this is to work from top down, finishing each layer as you go. If platforms lined up in the right way it may be useful to change levels in some situations, but there were no cases like that in this run.
If you hold up and jump, you can jump towards the next layer up, but if there is a platform in your way you'll bonk against the ceiling. It turns out that you gain control to turn around 5 frames earlier when you bonk into a ceiling, so this is used as much as possible to save time.
You can gain a little extra hang-time during a jump by pausing and unpausing at the right time. This is used to avoid wasting time switching platform levels in New Delhi. Credit to L33Tz0rs (ツ ツ) on youtube who used this strategy in his good, but slightly slower TAS of this game.

Improvements

  • Route testing was by no means exhaustive, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of saving a few frames with an improved route, but I think what we came up with is about as good as it's going to get.
  • Better enemy manipulation may result in the ability to end input slightly earlier, but should end up with the same real end time.

Thanks to:

  • EZGames69 for the collaboration and for suggesting this project.
  • LackAttack24 and other RTA runners for their interest in the project
  • my Twitch chat for the ideas and encouragement
  • Takanawa for his TAS and for showing us the down button strat.
  • The TASMania team

Screenshots:

372, 4204, 7280, 10862, 12619, 15117

Memory: Claiming for judging
Memory: Replacing file with switch to Japanese version that saves 5 frames with no changes in gameplay.
Memory: Replacing with improvement that reaches the final cutscene 304 frames faster.
Memory: After the implementation of pressing down to fall faster, this TAS seems fairly optimized. While the game does go on pretty much indefinitely, it does have a clear story ending which was reached in this TAS as indicated by the manual, completing Tokyo.
While the improvement seems to have received a little better reception than the original TAS, it still is on the bubble. The TAS is fairly repetitive outside of the one pause trick.
With the road this TAS has painted, I am accepting this to Vault.
feos: Oh hi. I've heard this movie's branch isn't obvious. Let's handle it as I publish.


TASVideoAgent
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I know Takanawa has make a tool-assisted play 7 years ago, though his tas was not aim for fastest, only aim for show all hide items. I don't know it's helpful or not, but I'm sure he is widely know this game. Maybe he can make some help. About his tas: New York → London → New Delhi → Tokyo → Paris → Frankfurt → Tokyo He got a hide item UFO in New York. Get 3 balloons and warp from London to New Delh; Get 2 balloons in New Delh; Get a hide item bunny in Tokyo and warp to Paris; Show a comet in Paris; Get 1 balloon in Frankfurt and warp to Tokyo.
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This was pretty samey to me. I felt like I saw everything there was to see by about the second stage, even if the ceiling bonks and pause buffering were pretty cool. But that's a criticism of this particular game, not the amount of skill and effort you put into the run. A solid Meh from me. Could've been a Yes if this game were more varied...but it's not :/
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I loved this game in the arcade, and had forgotten there was a NES version. It's a pretty good port.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
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The run was simple, but short enough not to get boring. The pause glitch was pretty unexpected too. Yes vote.
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Pause jumping pushed this up from a no to a meh. I appreciate the work put into this, unfortunately it's just not entertaining. Perfect for vault though!
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What mtvf1 mentioned was my first run of this game and had uploaded it to Nico (and deleted). Here is the movie file of the second run. It looks like a normal speedrun and uses warp technique to shortcut. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47438983708268465
EZGames69
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Takanawa wrote:
What mtvf1 mentioned was my first run of this game and had uploaded it to Nico (and deleted). Here is the movie file of the second run. It looks like a normal speedrun and uses warp technique to shortcut. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47438983708268465
So this uses the Japanese version while our submission uses the USA version. Is there anything different between both versions that could be useful to save time?
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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EZGames69 wrote:
So this uses the Japanese version while our submission uses the USA version. Is there anything different between both versions that could be useful to save time?
I don't know, but don't forget this [3685] NES Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight "warp glitch" by MESHUGGAH & Challenger in 06:50.22 [369] NES Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight by nesrocks in 17:39.98 this [3657] SNES Brandish "map glitch" by Osse101 in 11:12.19 [2833] SNES Brandish by FatRatKnight in 38:42.41 and this [3677] GBC Survival Kids "game end glitch" by MUGG in 02:45.70 [1696] GBC Survival Kids by klmz in 05:37.50 So maybe you have to find the difference by yourself, and choose the fastest version, too.
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I did look at the jpn version earlier on and didn't see any obvious differences. checking again now it looks like the between stage transitions are 1 frame shorter, but otherwise the run syncs. This means we can switch to jpn and get 5 frames for free, so thanks for the suggestion. The fact that the rest of the run syncs likely means those are the only differences, I didn't do an exhaustive check or anything though.
EZGames69
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I look link_7777's file and fixed the header to contain the right Hash and boardname for the Japanese ROM. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47445997830367680
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
EZGames69
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So we realized that the down button has a purpose, it speeds up the falling speed when going off a ledge. this new movie should be about 200 frames faster. here's the new movie file. and the temp encode has been updated. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47457340075095885
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
GJTASer2018
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Hmmm... I think the second update doesn't just make the run faster, it also increases the entertainment value because you have more opportunities to hit the police cars with the new pattern. Anyone else think so too? (One downside though for EZGames to note: The bit about "progression of cutscene images between each stage" in the Game Objectives section should be removed from the text because the new encode - using the Japanese version, I'm guessing - doesn't show this happening anymore.)
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
EZGames69
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GJTASer2018 wrote:
(One downside though for EZGames to note: The bit about "progression of cutscene images between each stage" in the Game Objectives section should be removed from the text because the new encode - using the Japanese version, I'm guessing - doesn't show this happening anymore.)
Good catch, I've now clarified that it's the American version that shows this.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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Should use "warpless" as the branch. Takanawa has show a warped run.
EZGames69 wrote:
So we realized that the down button has a purpose, it speeds up the falling speed when going off a ledge. this new movie should be about 200 frames faster. here's the new movie file. and the temp encode has been updated. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47457340075095885
Thanks to: EZGames69 for the collaboration and for suggesting this project. LackAttack24 and other RTA runners for their interest in the project my Twitch chat for the ideas and encouragement The TASMania team
So no need to thank Takanawa?
EZGames69
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mtvf1 wrote:
So no need to thank Takanawa?
Sorry for forgetting to thank Takanawa. Fixed the sub text.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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Given the large gaps in India, wouldn't it make more sense to tackle two rows per pass instead of pause glitching to do one per pass?
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
EZGames69
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Ferret Warlord wrote:
Given the large gaps in India, wouldn't it make more sense to tackle two rows per pass instead of pause glitching to do one per pass?
when the car jumps upwards to a higher platform, the airtime is significantly longer than normal jumping. so it would require a bit of waiting to paint them. It most likely would lose time.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Memory
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There was some confusion as to what qualifies as finishing the game and whether or not this run should be labeled as Warpless. It has been decided that beating the sixth stage layout is considered beating the game. Stage backgrounds and in between level cutscenes appear to be completely independent of stage number. When one uses a warp, it only increments to the next stage, but may use a completely different background and cutscene than that of play without warps. Because of this we cannot truly consider beating Tokyo as beating the game, since what Tokyo may be is not consistent. The layout of the stage on the other hand is consistent to stage number. There are only 6 truly unique stage layouts, the next ones being variants of the first 6 with platforms shifted. Therefore we will qualify passing the 6th stage as completing the game. The movie by Takanawa does not beat the 6th stage, but only completes up to the 5, therefore it does not qualify as beating the game. What qualifies warps as being significant enough to label is the amount of gameplay content potentially skipped. It does not matter that warps cause long animations, what we care about here is the amount of in-level content. If warps have the potential to drastically reduce the amount of in-level content, then it is considered to be worth labeling. Additionally, warps are explicitly suggested by the game as a feature, even being mentioned in the manual. Therefore this run should be labelled Warpless.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3722] NES City Connection "warpless" by link_7777 & EZGames69 in 04:35.60
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Is it really this simple to stay away from the cats??? every time i've played the game RTA cats would get in my way, and this run seems to somehow manipulate them out of the way reliably. and yet no luck manipulation tag?
EZGames69
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zaphod77 wrote:
Is it really this simple to stay away from the cats??? every time i've played the game RTA cats would get in my way, and this run seems to somehow manipulate them out of the way reliably.
you can manipulate the spawning position of the cats if you shoot an oil can at the right time.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Alyosha
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I am skeptical of the assertion that this game has only 6 unique levels of content. The block layout is governed by $00A1. (The background is $00A0.) Here is how the game uses this to load a level:
398:  A5 A1     LDA $A1         A:00 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:27 nvTbdIZC Cy:519250913
A39A:  C9 10     CMP #$10        A:06 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:25 nvTbdIzC Cy:519250916
A39C:  90 04     BCC $A3A2       A:06 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:A4 NvTbdIzc Cy:519250918
A3A2:  0A        ASL A           A:06 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:A4 NvTbdIzc Cy:519250921
A3A3:  AA        TAX             A:0C X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:24 nvTbdIzc Cy:519250923
A3A4:  BD F8 A3  LDA $A3F8,X *   A:0C X:0C Y:00 SP:FB P:24 nvTbdIzc Cy:519250925
A3A7:  85 10     STA $10         A:A0 X:0C Y:00 SP:FB P:A4 NvTbdIzc Cy:519250930
A3A9:  BD F9 A3  LDA $A3F9,X *   A:A0 X:0C Y:00 SP:FB P:A4 NvTbdIzc Cy:519250933
You can see that the game compares $A1 to #$10, indicating that the game loops at 16 stages. Actually, if you are over 16, the game does this:
A39E:  29 0F     AND #$0F        A:10 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:27 nvTbdIZC Cy:519250920
A3A0:  09 08     ORA #$08        A:00 X:00 Y:00 SP:FB P:27 nvTbdIZC Cy:519250922
So the last 8 levels are the ones that are repeated. It promptly discards the value of $A1 after this point. I'm not aware of any other variable affecting level layout. And anyway, level 7 is pretty clearly not just a shifted version of the previous levels. EDIT: Also, there doesn't seem to be anything special about the initial 6 levels. You could say that every level is 'procedurally generated' content.
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I played around with the level counter again and it looks like Alyosha is right. It looks like the levels go 0 -> 15 and then the layouts would loop 8 -> 15 over and over until the counter rolled 255 -> 0 and put you back on 0. I think i was probably fooled before because the 7th stage looks sort of like it might line up with the 1st if you shifted the middle platform. And I had checked the rollover before which does bring you back to the first stage. This probably means we'll have to revisit this and do 16 stages instead.
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So what's about use warp to complete all 15 stages step by step? I think a warped run is worth to obsolete warpless run, and more funny to watch. But becaues of the rule, must make sure all the cars and cats probabilities of their occurrence don't increase, and other difficulty won't be increased. Maybe it could be checked more loops.