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The game

This game is based on a movie named "Darkman". The story following is from the actual game:
Dr Peyton Westlake was a brillant scientist who was working on a new synthetic skin ideal for burns sufferers. Taking old photographs of burn victims he was able to mould a mask using a computer to recreate their faces. Unfortunaly the skin was photosensitive and could not last over ninety nine minutes on the light! An evil gang lead by Durant broke into the lab looking for an important document. They killed Peyton assistant and attempting to leave no witness... They blew up the lab and Peyton with it... But he survived!! Horribly burnt, he was given a new surgical technique which made him unable to feel any pain. Unfortunaly the treatment had side effects. He had violent mood swing and adrenalin flowed through his body unchecked giving him great strengh! Peyton escaped from the hospital and became Darkman. Help Darkman control his rage and gain his revenge!!!
The gameplay of this movie is not that great.To hit an enemy for example, you need to be very close of the enemy.

The TAS

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.2
  • Aims for fastest Any% completion
PS:I've used TASeditor a lot

Generalities

Acceleration

Running on the ground makes you gain 30 of horizontal speed per frame. Moving in the air makes you gain 5 of horizontal speed per frame.

Speed

There is three kind of floor you can run on. I'll give them two names: the slow floors and the fast floors When you run on the slow floor, the max speed you can get by running is 512. When you run on the fast floors, the max speed is 768. Moving in the air has a max speed of about 1200(Don't remember the exact number, since it was never reached). However, when you land on a floor, the speed is reset to the max speed if you were moving faster. An exception to this is the moving platforms. Landing on a moving platform reset your speed to 0. The max speed of the moving platform is also 768. When you jump through a slow platform, you don't land on it, but your speed is still reset to 512!
When you're near enough of an enemy, your speed is reset to 0.

Climbing:

When you climb, you have two options: You can jump from it to the opposite direction, or climb to the top or down. You can't jump from the wall and land on top of the wall you wanted to climb. So you need to climb all the way to the top if you need to climb the wall. The climbing walls have very weird physics, more detail in specific level comments.

Hitting:

Hitting, as mentioned early, is very hard to do, since you have to be so close of the enemy to actually hit them. There is something I used in the run is running to an enemy walking away from me and hit him from behind and make them fall from the platform. This is a frame perfect hit. The last character has 2 attack animation and you can't choose which one you choose to do: either shoot a gun or hit with your fists. if you're too far of an enemy OR no of your ball still on the screen, you shoot the gun. Else, you hit with your fists. And finally, the third character has a special bazooka that has a recoil when shooting. This recoil is abused in order to accelerate much faster from a standing point.

Specific level comments:

Level 1

I've jumped out of the rope intentionally since you are faster in the air than on the rope. Nothing more to add.

Level 2

Nothing to comment

Level 3

If I didn't hit the enemy, he would have hit me twice, losing a lot of frames. If I waited and tried to jump over him and directly on the wall, the balloon would kill me before I reach the wall(Yeah, balloons OKO you...). The balloon of the rope section is unavoidable. This level is the first level to use a cheap hit to make an enemy fall. Plus, after that enemy, I accidentally make a glitch that makes me climb inside the wall so you're a little bit more on the left. This and the enemy is used to propel me toward the left quickly(instead of a almost standing run + avoiding or killing the enemy). I didn't jump after the last flame because a balloon later would block my path.

Level 4

It's one of the four "boringest" levels in the game. It's a picture minigame where you need to do the paparazzi and capture a certain person the more often possible. But instead of going 60 seconds of that, I waste all all the ammo and "complete" the levels in 19 seconds.

Level 5

I've been able to climb very quickly on the left side of the "wall" by jumping right over the enemy(being close to anenemy in the air reset your speed) and going left after the reset. Going up is faster than going down since going down invovle climbing an another wall + waiting the enemy to go away. Going up avoid all those headaches. Later in the level, I jumped over an enemy without slowing down, then jumped over an enemy and reseted the speed to 0. If I didn't do this, either I fight the enemy, or I fall in the water...

Level 6

I've stopped climbing somewhere in this level to make only one of the two platform appear. Then I continue so I can land on the first platform and quickly jump on the 2nd platform and so on. I've already made the two platforms appear so it was impossible to jump from the first platform to the second!

Level 7

I'm not even sure if I killed the guy or not. But the fight was unavoidable, since jump is disabled during the fight.

Level 8

ONe of the two autoscroll game. It's relatively hard to avoid all the obstacles AND collecting so much things things.

Level 9

Picture minigame, skipped again

Level 10

I've stopped since the clown can throw something can OKO you. By stopping, I avoided that OKO thingy. He's also the bazooka guy. As you can see, I shoot a ball every time I move from a standing stance.

Level 11

I didn't shoot immediatly after the balloon since it's slower. Level 12: Nothing to comment here Level 13 Picture minigame, skipped again

Level 14 + Level 15 + Level 16

These three levels were tricky since you can take a little more path possibility. On the level 15, I've already succeded to get immediatly bhind the ninja and make him hit me and propel me to the left. But after some major change in the earlier levels, I haven't been able to redo it. It seems that THIS ninja depends on the time you reach him. It's a possible improvement to this movie.

Level 17

Autoscroll level that's also hard to collect AND avoid. I've collected the more thing I could collect without getting hit.

Level 18

Picture minigame, skipped again

Level 19

The most weird thing of this game. If you didn't collect that potion on the left, the third platform wouldn't even move...

Level 20

The very first jump of this level is frame precise, one before or after you touch that machine and die. He doesn't jump high enough to clear the enemy without his speed getting reset.

Level 21

Nothing to comment here

Level 22

I've succeded to jump over the enemy without slowing down since he's crouching.

Last words:

I hope that you liked this run I've made from the past days! Shoot any questions or comments you've got on the forum. :)

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4474: Niamek's NES Darkman in 10:11.79
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Tompa have pointed to me a video of this very same game. In this video, I sw some improvements that can be made to this run which I'd like to implement in a near future if no one does, but not right now as I restart school soon. (That means maybe in the next holidays) Here is the movie he llinked to me: Link to video NOTE: The author timed the run to the last hit, which is about 32 seconds earlier than where I ended my run. So I bested this run by about 34 seconds. As you can see, all the levels, he jumps, then land, then jumps very quickly. Idneed to figure out how he does it. It would save frames mainly on the third portion of the game with the ninjas since it will allow you jump less high it seems, thus avoiding the slow floor. I'd like to point out that speed in the air increase only by 5 per frames and the speed is reset to the floor max speed whenever you touch the ground. Secondly, the boss with a bazooka... well the glitch is interesting and may save some frames, but not much I think. And finally, in the second level, a oversight of me is that I didn't know you can collect rocks and throw them at enemies. I don't know how it works but it seems very effective with the enemy he threw on. EDIT: And finally, some balloons could be manipulated finally, which I wasn't able to do so, need more research... The main balloon to manipulate would be the balloon of the rope section. of the 3rd level. But in the end, I still beat his movie surprisingly. Edit: finally, It's notnsurprising finally, see next posts. I hope this runs is still acceptable to the site even with these improvements. EDIT: Just for comparison, here is a human speed run: Link to video and a long play, Link to video
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If you made it in just a few days and already know a ton of things that can be done to improve it, why not just take a few more days to do them?
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I restart university tomorrow and won't have the time I had the past 4 days.
ars4326
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Correct me if I'm mistaken, but is the real-time run you linked to (9:30) faster than the run you submitted (10:11)?
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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It is pretty nice speedrun, but "A lot of minor improvements can be made" still equal to "Bad TAS". (edited) ---
ars4326 wrote:
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but is the real-time run you linked to (9:30) faster than the run you submitted (10:11)?
YT description said that he deleted stages with making photographs.
I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Current projects: NES: Tetris "fastest 999999" (improvement, with r57shell) Genesis: Adventures of Batman & Robin (with Truncated); Pocahontas; Comix Zone (improvement); Mickey Mania (improvement); RoboCop versus The Terminator (improvement); Gargoyles (with feos)
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Archanfel wrote:
"A lot of improvements can be made" = "Bad TAS". ---
ars4326 wrote:
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but is the real-time run you linked to (9:30) faster than the run you submitted (10:11)?
YT description said that he deleted stages with making photographs.
I'm sad to see that this movie doesn't please you as much as I hoped. I tried my best. I forgot to say that Tompa pointed this video to me after I submited the movie. P There is not a lot of improvement that can be made. Therr is some there and there, but it's very minor. Ars4326: Indeed, the human speedrun removed about 2 or 3 minutes from the video. It not only deleted photographs, but the story cutscenes that came with.
ars4326
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@niamek & Archanfel Ah, ok. Threw me off for a sec, lol.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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You shouldn't just beat the overall time, but all the internal times, or be able to explain that you were slower in one spot because it gained more time somewhere else. It's not like that 2.5 year old easily Googled run was a secret, or the basic mechanic of picking up projectiles to use. Both failing to check for existing runs and not being aware of core game mechanics don't reflect that much effort went into this, even if you did inadvertently end up slightly faster.
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Tangent wrote:
You shouldn't just beat the overall time, but all the internal times, or be able to explain that you were slower in one spot because it gained more time somewhere else. It's not like that 2.5 year old easily Googled run was a secret, or the basic mechanic of picking up projectiles to use. Both failing to check for existing runs and not being aware of core game mechanics don't reflect that much effort went into this, even if you did inadvertently end up slightly faster.
You're right, I didn't search enough to find this video before, which I should have since it's easy to find it. It's true that it's not amcomplicated game compared to the best TASes here, but, hey I gave my best effort with what I knew about this game. I were hoping that my time amd my tricks would show that I put effort on it, but it seems that it didn't show... Too bad. :( By the way,the video is saying 10:13, but I noticed that he didn't press one input after the credit in which I did. So the time difference is greater. I don't know exactly where since I've not studied the video in great details, but I can say easily tell some places I lost times and where I gained time. I already said indirectly where I lost time, so I'll list how I gained time(no precise places, but gemeral places) He goes for slower paths than me sometimes(ex: the 20th level) I have better speed management( I said that running gain speed faster than the air for example and that touching the floor reset speeds. Since he jumps a lot with his glitched jumps, his speed isn't increasing as high as mine) Some place I were more aggressive comcerning tricky jumps(20th, 5th levels are both examples of levels comtaining tricky jumps.
ars4326
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This wasn't bad at all! Aside from the required mini-games, the stages were surprisingly quick.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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I found the run entertaining in general, although I thought that more entertainment could be added in thelevels where you do nothing but shoot nothing. However, I also feel that the run is very suboptimal. I did a quick TAS of the first level and managed to beat it by 56 frames. Voted no for the levels where you do nothing but shoot nothing and lack of optimization.
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I vote NO. max12187566 has made a run in 10:01 before 6 years. Link to video
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thelegendarymudkip wrote:
I found the run entertaining in general, although I thought that more entertainment could be added in thelevels where you do nothing but shoot nothing. However, I also feel that the run is very suboptimal. I did a quick TAS of the first level and managed to beat it by 56 frames. Voted no for the levels where you do nothing but shoot nothing and lack of optimization.
I'm skeptical about the improvement you claim concerning the first level. The first jump should be not improvable. Then comes the rope part. If you jump down, not only you're slowed down considerably(passing the rope reset your speed), but you're going to be waiting for the platform. Trying to jump from the first platform directly to the next floor is impossible unless you wait a whole cycle of the platform. The jumps after the platforms are frame perfect and should not be improvable. Unless you specifically describe how you made the improvements, I'll don't believe you. Concerning the picture minigames, I'm personally not entertained by a moving camera taking random picture that misses, I'd prefer a fix camera.
mtvf1 wrote:
I vote NO. max12187566 has made a run in 10:01 before 6 years. (video)
Again, my last input is after the credits and not from the last hit on the last boss. Exactly like the last video that Tompa pointed to me. So, I beat his run by a whole 30 seconds about. I pressed "A" after the credit so the game can return to the title screen. So that's add about 30 seconds to the movie.
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It's not needed to go back to the title screen after you beat the game. The credits should roll and "The End" being displayed on screen.
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Wait, seriously. I thought this run was too long but it was because of pressing A button where it shouldn't be? ...Wow. Just wow. Thank goodness I didn't look into it and that the author mentioned the thing which shouldn't be there. But because I now know and the author giving a rough estimate of extra input, I wanted to actually check what final time would be. So I opened it and saw something which require me to load up TASEditor instead of using Notepad++ because I never played the game so I need it in playback. So now we have 2 places where input should end and not 3 because the 3rd one shouldn't exist (ending input) Frame 35579 (09:52.01) which loads up the credits OR Frame *34838 (09:39.68) which completes the final level but doesn't load the credits I'd say use the one which shows the credits but whatever. Anyways, wasn't entertained at gun camera parts so I'll give it a Meh. * Frame count might be iffy because the author just uploaded a file which is 9:39.71 but shows frames of 34840... which means, niamek fix your final input for instage, I'm faster than you by 2 frames ♥. If you're figuring out which way I'm choosing, I'm choosing show the credits but don't add the extra input to exit the credits.
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Oh okay, but there is still one small problem: To access the credits, I need to press A somewhere after giving the last hit to the last boss. So, where do I stop the movie? Last input of the last level? or last input before credits? I'll upload both movies, since I won't have time later today to come back. User movie #18625863636125814 User movie #18625839008334444 @Spikestuff: Its camera part, not gun part. :P But yeah I agree it's pretty boring there...
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The credits need to roll.
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Spikestuff wrote:
* Frame count might be iffy because the author just uploaded a file which is 9:39.71 but shows frames of 34840... which means, niamek fix your final input for instage, I'm faster than you by 2 frames ♥.
I stopped the input in the lastframe that reaches the end of the level in the fastest way possible. That's why I stopped later than you. ^^
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niamek wrote:
thelegendarymudkip wrote:
I found the run entertaining in general, although I thought that more entertainment could be added in thelevels where you do nothing but shoot nothing. However, I also feel that the run is very suboptimal. I did a quick TAS of the first level and managed to beat it by 56 frames. Voted no for the levels where you do nothing but shoot nothing and lack of optimization.
I'm skeptical about the improvement you claim concerning the first level. The first jump should be not improvable. Then comes the rope part. If you jump down, not only you're slowed down considerably(passing the rope reset your speed), but you're going to be waiting for the platform. Trying to jump from the first platform directly to the next floor is impossible unless you wait a whole cycle of the platform. The jumps after the platforms are frame perfect and should not be improvable. Unless you specifically describe how you made the improvements, I'll don't believe you.
Uploading WIP file now. Will edit post with link to the level 1 wip once I've uploaded it. EDIT: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18627036031604340 is the wip.
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thelegendarymudkip wrote:
niamek wrote:
thelegendarymudkip wrote:
I found the run entertaining in general, although I thought that more entertainment could be added in thelevels where you do nothing but shoot nothing. However, I also feel that the run is very suboptimal. I did a quick TAS of the first level and managed to beat it by 56 frames. Voted no for the levels where you do nothing but shoot nothing and lack of optimization.
I'm skeptical about the improvement you claim concerning the first level. The first jump should be not improvable. Then comes the rope part. If you jump down, not only you're slowed down considerably(passing the rope reset your speed), but you're going to be waiting for the platform. Trying to jump from the first platform directly to the next floor is impossible unless you wait a whole cycle of the platform. The jumps after the platforms are frame perfect and should not be improvable. Unless you specifically describe how you made the improvements, I'll don't believe you.
Uploading WIP file now. Will edit post with link to the level 1 wip once I've uploaded it. EDIT: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18627036031604340 is the wip.
I'm confused, why I can't skip the second platform in my run and you could without that much waiting if any? Well... I believe you know. Between, for the next times with other submission, I'd suggest you explain the diffrences between your WIPs and the actual submission in your futures comment instead of just saying :"it's suboptimal".
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niamek wrote:
thelegendarymudkip wrote:
niamek wrote:
thelegendarymudkip wrote:
I found the run entertaining in general, although I thought that more entertainment could be added in thelevels where you do nothing but shoot nothing. However, I also feel that the run is very suboptimal. I did a quick TAS of the first level and managed to beat it by 56 frames. Voted no for the levels where you do nothing but shoot nothing and lack of optimization.
I'm skeptical about the improvement you claim concerning the first level. The first jump should be not improvable. Then comes the rope part. If you jump down, not only you're slowed down considerably(passing the rope reset your speed), but you're going to be waiting for the platform. Trying to jump from the first platform directly to the next floor is impossible unless you wait a whole cycle of the platform. The jumps after the platforms are frame perfect and should not be improvable. Unless you specifically describe how you made the improvements, I'll don't believe you.
Uploading WIP file now. Will edit post with link to the level 1 wip once I've uploaded it. EDIT: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18627036031604340 is the wip.
I'm confused, why I can't skip the second platform in my run and you could without that much waiting if any?
By playing around with different jumping times. It took ~40 rerecords at most. EDIT: I'll post a WIP up to level 3 if I can get past a balloon in a better way than I am at the moment. It's the one that disappears for some reason as a blue bottle when it loads in your run, for some reason.
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Now that I retry it, It seems that this jump wasn't properly tried when I did the movie in the start. It's a stupid mistake to make indeed. I've tried the lastest frame possible to jump, not all. Well, I'll improve at least this oversight, give me a second. EDIT: Currently verifying it syncs. EDIT: Here it is: User movie #18627730843176147 But hey, it's the same time than before. As you can see, The legendary mudkip, I now jump over the 2nd platform. Concerning the balloon of the rope section, if you can manage to pass it without waiting, awesome, that would save me some future headache and if you explain what you did, I can try and edit that part now... While I'm bored of my school duties. :P
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niamek wrote:
Now that I retry it, It seems that this jump wasn't properly tried when I did the movie in the start. It's a stupid mistake to make indeed. I've tried the lastest frame possible to jump, not all. Well, I'll improve at least this oversight, give me a second. EDIT: Currently verifying it syncs. EDIT: Here it is: User movie #18627730843176147 But hey, it's the same time than before. As you can see, The legendary mudkip, I now jump over the 2nd platform. Concerning the balloon of the rope section, if you can manage to pass it without waiting, awesome, that would save me some future headache and if you explain what you did, I can try and edit that part now... While I'm bored of my school duties. :P
It had the same time at the end of level 2 for a reason I don't know. I checked in my movie and it does keep the 56 frames in mine. I wasn't talking about the balloon on the rope about the balloon that was holding me up. I didn't manage to get past that one without stopping, however it is the next balloon in the level, when jumping onto the last platform that has a flame on it.
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But If I look at our input difference, you've saved some frames in the very beginning of the movie. You did D+A in the same frame where I didn't... Again a stupid mistake, I'll fix it. edit: I won't edit it today, since it messes up the glitch of the third level. I'll leave it as is it right now, no further modification will be made by me. The legendary Mudkip still saved some frame in comparison of me, and that is because of speed management. I went "too fast" during the first moving platform and that all change the rest of the first level. As always, I hope the current movie in the WIP section(Someone should update it, it's the last one) is still publishable. I intend to correct my mistakes later, but not right now. Thank you the legendarymudkip for your work, it's appreciated.