James Pond is a fishy spoof of James Bond, starring in early nineties side scrolling adventures. A nefarious supervillain named "Doctor Maybe" taken over Santa's workshop. James must stop him.
Special thanks
Thanks to RoboSparkle for his 28:15 RTA WR for this game.
Also thanks to feos, that he was so lazily slowpoke working with gargoyles that i had enough free tasing time to finish this second-class project.
I remembered this game sort of fondly from my Amiga childhood. I don't know why it kind of sucks with an incredibly repetitive soundtrack, but at least it was better than actually eating a penguin biscuit so yes vote.
It seems like a solid run, I do wonder if it is possible to take more damage / collect less mysteries without impacting the level time for less time spent on the score screen. But I guess probably not.
Enjoys speedruns but hasn't actually tried making any yet.
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Sorry it took a while for me to catch this run. I'd been pretty interested, since I really like the James Pond 3 run by Flip. However, when I watch this one, I am disappointed in comparison. Pond doesn't run super-quick as often (I miss seeing Pond run on walls all the time in game 3), and the music sucks. On the other hand, Pond gets to ride a bathtub in this game :-)
Honestly, the game reminds me more of an imitation of Castle of Illusion. It does have some occasional fun gimmicks though. The run does get better as you keep going. There are some nifty boss fights, like that mirror match.
I'll say this makes the cut for a Yes vote.
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.
It seems like a solid run, I do wonder if it is possible to take more damage / collect less mysteries without impacting the level time for less time spent on the score screen. But I guess probably not.
I used damage boots wherever is possible; Score screens always have the same length.
mklip2001 wrote:
I'd been pretty interested, since I really like the James Pond 3 run by Flip. However, when I watch this one, I am disappointed in comparison.
If you say that it boring - it's ok, but when you say that it even worse than JP 3 you break my heart in small pieces. Cruel, cruel mklip2001!
It's true, all games from JP series are bad, but i thought 2nd part is the best of them...
Aqfaq wrote:
This game feels like Rolo to the Rescue, so improving Rolo is worth checking out, if you enjoy TASing stuff like this.
Sorry, Rolo will never truly happy again. My plans for future tasing look approximately like this (all = sega genesis):
2015
The Flintstones
Improving Bram Stoker's Dracula*
2016
Gargoyles / with feos
Epic 1st April submission
Improving Comix Zone*
2017 and beyond
The Adventures of Batman & Robin**
Improving Disney's classic games: Lion King, Aladdin*, Jungle Book.
* = May be or not to be, depend on some external factors.
** = Hopefully Truncated will finish it earlier, and this bowl pass from me.
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)
Ради всего ценного, прекрати уже так делать. Человек не получает извещение на мыло, и сидит ждет как дурак (каждый раз). Потом, уже забив, заходит в тему, чтобы чо-то новое написать, а тут оказывается ответ предательски закрался в прочитанный пост. Не издевательство же!
TLDR: don't embed replies into old posts!
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.
Archanfel, you have notable improvements/glitches to khv-user's submission of Flintstones?
Nothing notable, only small optimisations here and there.
Besides using hard difficulty (longer bosses fights) & non-japanese ROM (longer text dialogues) so in result run would be even slower faster than [url=
http://tasvideos.org/3322S.html]khv-user's rejected submission[/url] :)
feos wrote:
Ok.
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)
Hahah, challenge accepted. I'll make a better one. You'll see...
I already begun to be afraid.
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)
Well, I can see optimizations in it, but also lack thereof.
Probably the most important bit: I can tell this isn't an all level run because you don't say so in the submission, and because you don't enter some secret levels. So, you should've just skipped levels 1, 4, and whatever the one with the tabletop games is, by not entering their doors.
You should try to reach the end of the level with only one peg of health left. That'll give you a smaller energy bonus at the end. ...At least that's what I think that is. Try something similar for the mystery bonus, too.
On the level with loads of blue metal girders, you go on top of some bell-like blocks on the ground that are connected to long vertical chains. Does walking on these make you lose speed? You should memory check if you're not already. Check your speed in other places too.
Finally, it's somewhat lacking in the entertainment department for the first half or so. In stretches where you just walk forward, you could break the monotony a bit by jumping or something. On the autoscrollers, you could try standing on the obstacles until the very last frame before you get crushed, react to stuff before the audience can even see it on-screen, circle around a collectible... the entertainment catches up later on, but you have the tools to do super-human things, so do them!
That said, you had a few brilliant moments, like the transition between the Christmas level and the music level.
Sorry, I'll have to vote no because of what I said above. But I can't wait to see your improvements! I want to see a really good run of this game, and you're almost there.
I'm Espyo from the SRB2 Forums.
Current project: A Pikmin fan engine, Pikifen
Probably the most important bit: I can tell this isn't an all level run.
I never said that it is all levels run. In this game (beside you mention) exist dozens unnecessary bonus-levels and even whole secret world what was not played in this tas as well.
Espyo wrote:
On the level with loads of blue metal girders, you go on top of some bell-like blocks on the ground that are connected to long vertical chains. Does walking on these make you lose speed? You should memory check if you're not already. Check your speed in other places too.
Yeah, i used it all the time. X-position is 0xFFB3DA, feel free to check all suspicious places and to see that speed was lost or not, instead of unfounded accusations.
Espyo wrote:
Finally, it's somewhat lacking in the entertainment department for the first half or so. In stretches where you just walk forward, you could break the monotony a bit by jumping or something.
Some surfaces have non-obvious walking-boots (4pixel/frame instead standart 3ppf speed) so jumping without good reason will just lead to losing time.
Espyo wrote:
Sorry, I'll have to vote no
Why sorry? It always very interesting to read negative reviews. Thank you!
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)
WTF is this game? I never did drugs I swear, but now I know what a bad trip is. Voting GOD NO PLEASE STOP! ...help me...
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.
WTF is this game? I never did drugs I swear, but now I know what a bad trip is.
I never said that it is a good game! Seriously, even pingu is a better game than this.
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)
Probably the most important bit: I can tell this isn't an all level run.
Oh no, I wasn't saying that the fact that it isn't an all-level run is bad. I said that to tie in with what I say next. Basically, it's me pointing out that I DO understand that it's an any% run... But I just don't understand why you don't skip the levels, if it's really an any% run. That's the biggest gripe I have with the run. Like I said, it's good stuff, but this should either be an any% run that skips all optional levels, or a 100% run that does all of them. Not a sort-of arbitrary in-between.
I'm Espyo from the SRB2 Forums.
Current project: A Pikmin fan engine, Pikifen
But I just don't understand why you don't skip the levels, if it's really an any% run. That's the biggest gripe I have with the run. Like I said, it's good stuff, but this should either be an any% run that skips all optional levels, or a 100% run that does all of them. Not a sort-of arbitrary in-between.
If you mean to use trick with getting this sequence of items:
Cake
Hammer
Earth
Apple
Tap
...and to skip nearly all levels i consider this action as a cheat and not used it. And i'm willing to bet that any competent judge will reject such "any%" run.
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)
Joined: 8/22/2008
Posts: 118
Location: KUUSANKOSKI, Finland
I don't know why, but I've always liked this game.
There's _so_ many secrets in the game.
There's usually some bonuses "outside" after completing a level.
I don't see much room for improvements.
Archanfel, did you use the super jump at any point? (Since I didn't watch all the levels completely.)
trazz wrote:
Killing the skeletons sooner or letting the skeletons live (unlive?) won't affect that at all.
I don't know why, but I've always liked this game.
There's _so_ many secrets in the game.
There's usually some bonuses "outside" after completing a level.
I don't see much room for improvements.
Thanks, i also enjoy games with tons of secrets. Various secrets usually make game research and route planning more interesting. Btw a few secrets/bonus stages were successfully used as shortcuts in this run.
Zucca wrote:
Archanfel, did you use the super jump at any point? (Since I didn't watch all the levels completely.)
Nope, superjump as well as level-skip were not used because they are kind of cheats.
Closest thing more or less similar to superjump you can notice (if dare to watch completely) is that during flying in Bath or on Aeroplane possible keep high vertical speed after jumping on enemy. This undocumented glitch was used several times with a clear conscience :)
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)
I do like the game and I do like that the programmer left out a easter egg within the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGsyZcTgWiA&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy a short run of the game. This trick works on all systems except the Commodore 64 version of it.
//DMTM is signing out!
I'm not a speed runner, but a game lurker, that's my contribution to the scene. =)
I do like the game and I do like that the programmer left out a easter egg within the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGsyZcTgWiA&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy a short run of the game. This trick works on all systems except the Commodore 64 version of it.
//DMTM is signing out!
Have you read Archanfel's post?
Archanfel wrote:
If you mean to use trick with getting this sequence of items:
Cake
Hammer
Earth
Apple
Tap
...and to skip nearly all levels i consider this action as a cheat and not used it. And i'm willing to bet that any competent judge will reject such "any%" run.
It's not a trick, as you claim it, but a cheat, and the reason why Archanfel didn't collect these in his run.
