ColecoVision TASing has arrived!

Intro

Jumpman is a platform game originally released in 1983 for the Atari 400/800, but was also released for ColecoVision (as well Commodore 64, Apple II, IBM PC).
I chose this game to TAS because it is a surprisingly interesting platformer. The Game consists of 12 levels, each with its own unique twist. I chose hardest difficulty because it is the fastest speed and the most challenging for a real human to do (virtually impossible), win win for a TAS!

Tricks

  • If you get yourself into a ceiling/floor/wall enough, Jumpman will rise up through it, I use this extensively to save time.
  • You can jump up the "down vines" to go up them
  • If you die, your dead carcass will flop around randomly until it falls to the bottom of the screen. If you get items during this time you keep them. If you get the last item during this time, the level still ends. Several levels I save time by dying in order to get to the last item quicker. The reason this is useful is that if you jump too far/long without touching something, you die, so jumping down from a high platform to a lower one is lethal

Movie Info

  • Emulator Used: BizHawk 1.3.0
  • Aims for Fastest Time
  • Uses Death as a Shortcut
  • Plays on Hardest Difficulty
  • Genre Platformer

FractalFusion: Accepting for publication to Moon tier. To publisher: Don't forget to set the first platform flag.

Brandon: Publication underway.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3778: adelikat's Coleco Jumpman Junior in 04:48.58
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2141)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1934
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Great to see another system added to the list of TAS-able platforms! Good job. As for the run, it went very fast and I enjoyed watching it. Here's the second ever yes vote for a ColecoVision run!
Editor, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
I found the music and obstacle patterns of the game more interesting than what the player was doing, so I'm going with a Meh vote.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Former player
Joined: 3/27/2010
Posts: 270
*claps* Coleco kinda rolls of your tongue :P .. Good music too here. I can't say for the game itself was personally amazing but considering what you did here looks rather amazing (I've never played this game), I'll go with a ye.
Joined: 1/3/2009
Posts: 20
For people who are looking for the player to do something mind-blowing on a Coleco game; please keep the era, technology, and complexity (or lack thereof) of the basics of the game in mind... Also, voted yes.
Skilled player (1670)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
Holy fucking shit this movie is straight out of the 10/10-archives. Very much yes vote.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Editor, Experienced player (608)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
I was entertained throughout. Yes vote to the first to-be-published ColecoVision run! It looks like Syobon Action/Cat Mario was inspired by the Figurit's Revenge level in this game.
mklip2001
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Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
This was a surprisingly varied game for its length. That was pretty good to watch. I'm especially a fan of the way you end the run... that was pretty stylish, like the hero is cartwheeling for joy.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4014
You need to have played this game to understand how hard it is - you only have fixed length jumps, if you fall too far you die, if you get shot you die, if you collect in the wrong order you might have to kill yourself, etc. It needs a lot of planning and precision and timing. Yes vote, but I'd like to see a TAS of one of the versions with more levels (for example the DOS version)
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Active player (405)
Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708
Noooo! Jumpman Junior should be a C64 run!
Active player (405)
Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708
...actually by the looks of it, this is a considerably different game than the C64 version. Both can be published separately. Yes vote. (I wasn't seriously going to give it a no vote just because I like Commodore. I was just being a fanboy. :p)
Joined: 3/9/2009
Posts: 530
And now I know where pretty much all of BttF2/3's ministage's came from. http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9909
Joined: 2/7/2009
Posts: 52
Location: 127.0.0.1
What a quirky game. Rather enjoyable as it kept me watching for most of the video. It was short enough to keep me from feeling like it was being dragged on too. Yes vote.
Joined: 7/10/2008
Posts: 56
I have spent a lot of time trying to perfect this game on my Atari 1200xl. While, i certainly prefer that version over this one for most levels (Except for dumbwaiter... cause that level is awful at slower speeds) The subtle changes between versions are actually interesting and makes me wonder why Epyx changed up the levels between consoles. For example, Hatchlings is much more difficult on my version since they spawn immediately instead of waiting to hatch Anyhow, this is a yes vote for me for bringing back memories and introducing this game to a lot of people who may have never heard of it. Some of the routes used are quite different than my own personal routes in real time, but I will have to test them out to see if I can use them to my advantage =D Thanks for this run!
i see...
Joined: 1/13/2007
Posts: 335
This is in fact the same game as the c64 version. just different gfx. THe atari 800 version IS different. And, well, you really have to play the game to appreciate the TAS. It's a LOT harder than it looks, especially at fastest run speed. Some things, like the hatch timer, run in real time, and are independent of the game speed. Others, such as the speed they travel are synced to the game speed. This explains the strange behavior. This is a holdover from the original jumpman, where the robots of robots II move at the same speed regardless of yours.
Joined: 7/10/2008
Posts: 56
zaphod77 wrote:
Some things, like the hatch timer, run in real time, and are independent of the game speed. Others, such as the speed they travel are synced to the game speed. This explains the strange behavior. This is a holdover from the original jumpman, where the robots of robots II move at the same speed regardless of yours.
I just loaded up Jumpman and you are right! I always play at speed 3 so I never noticed that the robots in II move that speed no matter what you choose. It actually made playing that level at a slower speed more difficult. I did notice long ago that there were some levels like Freeze where I will switch to speed 2 so that I can outrun the freezing things. Oh man, I love these two games. So much creativity in Jumpman that wasn't shown in Jumpman Jr.
i see...
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
Ah, the time when games sold simply because something moves on the screen when you press buttons...
Post subject: Re: #3778: adelikat's Coleco Jumpman Junior in 04:48.58
Player (26)
Joined: 8/29/2011
Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
Jyenmxm paup! By which I mean, yes vote. Great game, and great to see it ripped to pieces like this. On that note, I would love for you or somebody else to run Jumpman (the original), Jumpman Lives (the MS-Dos shareware clone), and Jumpman Zero (the windows fangame).
Player (12)
Joined: 11/23/2012
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Tangent wrote:
And now I know where pretty much all of BttF2/3's ministage's came from. http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9909
I thought of that game, too! The platforms that appear and disappear. . . and I thought LJN was being original.
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. ---- [2214] Coleco Jumpman Junior by adelikat in 04:48.58
Invariel
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Editor, Site Developer, Player (169)
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Location: Toronto, Ontario
This game reminds me so much of Wizard for the C64. I'm voting yes, but the game has already been published, so the vote doesn't matter as much.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Joined: 1/13/2007
Posts: 335
This game predates wizard. :) Yes, wizard is heavily inspired by this game.
Invariel
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Location: Toronto, Ontario
Regardless, reminds me of it because I was aware of Wizard first.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
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Ratings look like this game is a complete vault.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 3/8/2012
Posts: 15
Does this game predate Ms Pac Man? Because that music is giving me some serious auditory deja vu.