(Link to video)
Remember nitrogenesis? He's back, in pog form.
This TAS is over 30 seconds faster than my published run (and that's with the new SMS boot screen in BizHawk). My old TAS is pretty out of date, but even then I still didn't expect sub-5 minutes.

How to make this crappy game faster

You don't need to get Lucky (the cat) to beat the game. I guess I figured since Twisted Eye went out of his way to collect him, he is necessary. But yeah, he's not. In addition, not getting Lucky adds another death warp when I leave the cavern for the last time.
ALF's swimsuit generates in a random place (3 spawning locations). I had no clue it was random, so the past two TASes settled for suboptimal locations. Luckily, the new Master System boot-up screen changes the RNG to the optimal location on its own. Bonus.
The ladder that was formerly needed to get the fuel from the basement can be skipped with a glitchy jump. This also means I can skip getting money from the oyster in the swimming section.

Blabbering

It's a shame the last 2 minutes of the game are so boring. I think the rest of the game is pretty good for a TAS. It's pretty strategic and requires some mild luck manipulation and decent optimization. Too bad the game itself is horrible. In addition to the music being shit, the controls are super stiff. And sometimes the game just unavoidably freezes for a few seconds for no discernible reason.
I was going to end this with a joke about how this will be the only time ALF is relevant in 2020, but I looked it up to be sure, and he actually appeared on Duncanville with Paul Fusco reprising the role. Wow! Maybe this TAS is part of an ALF renaissance!!
Make some noise for Twisted Eye for TASing this game in the past. And TascoDLX and Starbird, the speedrunners who I believe found the ladder skip.

feos: Nice improvement!
The votes completely disagree with feedback in posts and ratings of the previous movies, but due to their silent nature they seem to be irrelevant in this case.
fsvgm777: Processing.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14848
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6767: NitroGenesis's SMS ALF in 04:52.39
EZGames69
He/They
Publisher, Reviewer, Expert player (3964)
Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2706
Location: Michigan
Ok, not to take away from the TAS but HOLY CRAP WELCOME BACK NITRO!!! How have you been? Ok now about the tas itself: not much interesting to see, the music sounds really bad and the controls look awful. Might be the worst SMS game I’ve seen. Meh vote. Also side note, did you skip the BIOS in your encode or does this run just not make use of it?
[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
Post subject: Re: #6767: nitrogenesis's SMS ALF in 04:52.39
Editor, Experienced player (608)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
Welcome back NitroGenesis! I missed your funny submission texts.
nitrogenesis wrote:
He's back, in pog form.
I totally read that as porg form. I'm not used to seeing Pog in lowercase. Good job improving your movie by so much, but this game is still boring and the music is grating. Anything after the 2 minute mark I had to skip forward through. Not your fault, it's just this game. Voting No, but congrats to you, Twisted Eye, and those speedrunners!
Twisted_Eye
He/Him
Active player (332)
Joined: 10/17/2005
Posts: 629
Location: Seattle, WA
can you believe I used to play this at my cousin's house, for fun Nice work updating this! The new tricks and routes surprised me, I may be biased (thx for the s/o) but I enjoyed the watch.
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1637)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1034
ALF is a good sitcom, but this game is terrible! Anyway, nice work improving it. I'm voting yes. Also, welcome back ;)
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Lobsterzelda
He/Him
Skilled player (1220)
Joined: 3/17/2019
Posts: 280
Nice improvement! The size of the time save gained via improved movement and better routing is surprising, considering how short this game is. Unfortunately, the horribly obnoxious music and long autoscroller section at the end act as an anchor that weighs down the entertainment value of the movie significantly. Nevertheless, I find the movie entertaining to watch as a result of the clever use of death warps throughout the game to save time, coupled with good routing (the fact that the TAS is so short also helps, since if it went on any longer, the music would make the video even more unbearable to watch). As such, I'm voting yes on this - this TAS deserves a nice spot in the back of the vault, where no human can ever be hurt by this game's atrocious quality ever again!
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14848
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. ---- [4209] SMS ALF by NitroGenesis in 04:52.39