(Link to video)

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 2.9.1 (NesHawk core)
  • Aims for fastest time
This run beats NES Flipull "advance" mode in about 26 minutes. This is faster than the current RTA WR by about 6:40.
I used v1.0 of this game. There also seems to be v1.1, but I don't know anything about differences between them.

About the game

"Flipull" is a simple puzzle game. The game objective is erase a pile of blocks. You always have a block and can throw it. When a thrown block collides with the same kind blocks, they will be erased. Afterwards, when a thrown blocks collides with the different kind block, they are swapped. This game was never released outside of Japan.
This game has two modes, "normal" and "advance". In normal mode, blocks are placed randomly. In advance mode, placements of blocks are completely fixed.
The advance mode has 50 stages.

Comments

I examined the frame costs of various actions in this game, and wrote a solver to beat a stage with a minimum frame cost.
I examined the frame costs for throwing a block with a Lua script. By the way, if some blocks remain when you beat a stage, it takes 11 frames per block to erase them automatically.
I'm also considering to make a TAS for the normal mode. For reference, I put a simulator to calculate block placements of the normal mode.

nymx: Claiming for judging.

nymx: Interesting puzzle game...with an interesting approach to solving. Everything looks good here...enjoyed it!
Accepting to "Standard" for publication.

despoa: Processing...

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14962
Location: 127.0.0.1
Experienced player (870)
Joined: 9/18/2008
Posts: 148
Location: Japan
I forgot that I have to treat the last move of the last stage specially, so I fixed my solver a bit. But, this modifications didn't change the solution.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14962
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [5322] NES Flipull: An Exciting Cube Game "Advance" by TaoTao in 25:59.25