Boulder Dash is an action puzzle game. The object of each level is to collect a diamond quota and step onto the exit square without having something crush you, touching a bug, getting trapped, or running out of time.
  • Played with FCEU 0.98.12
  • Uses the password 724045 to warp to the hardest difficulty
  • No deaths
  • Aims for fastest time possible
  • Uses tricks: Catching falling boulders/diamonds on head, running past bugs, manipulating luck to make amebas reproduce faster
Notes:
  • This game consists of 4 quests. Each quest has 6 themed worlds, each with 4 levels. The 4th quest is made up of the most difficult incarnations of each level. The first level played in the movie is 19-1.
  • Levels 20-3 and 24-3 have amebas. Amebas turn into diamonds when they completely fill their space. However, due to the horribly random nature of their reproduction, it usually takes a long time for them to find their last gap and fill it. Luck manipulation helps a little in these cases, but doesn't work huge miracles due to the overwhelming odds.
  • Level 24-3 is a bit boring. On a normal playthrough of this level, on average the amebas wait until about 40 seconds remaining to convert. Many times they will even refuse to become diamonds altogether, causing the player to run out of time. Here, I managed to get the amebas to convert at 130 seconds remaining- although it's still not very exciting to watch.
  • Sometimes the order in which piles of diamonds are collected will seem questionable, but collapsing piles of diamonds take longer to collect than still piles. Falling diamonds cannot be collected until they have settled on something.
  • This movie plays the game 3173 frames faster than the rejected movie, but adds about 10 seconds at the end to trigger the credits.

DeHackEd: I wanted to do the last one you submitted, and this one improves on it. Now encoding.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #656: CtrlAltDestroy's NES Boulder Dash in 20:07.68
Active player (325)
Joined: 2/23/2005
Posts: 786
My fingers hurt. This movie plays the game 3173 frames faster than in the other movie. Most of the levels are as fast as they can possibly go, except for the amebas (which might be improved if the source code was interpreted) or if there were some new crazy strategies for certain levels that I didn't think of. The faster time was the result of the improvement of ALL the levels but one (19-2, which was already as fast as possible). I achieved my sub-20 minute time I was aiming for, but I went on to trigger the credits this time which took about 10 seconds more.
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 325
This was pretty well made but i do have two questions on the last level with the green background and the totem heads or whatever those are, you are pushing the heads one by one to make jewels, but the last one you take a faraway head instead of the one right next to the jewel maker thingy Also in the level where you stand for like 2 minutes doing nothing, there is a jewel left when you create them, is there no way to create them faster so none are left?
Active player (325)
Joined: 2/23/2005
Posts: 786
Mlandry wrote:
on the last level with the green background and the totem heads or whatever those are, you are pushing the heads one by one to make jewels, but the last one you take a faraway head instead of the one right next to the jewel maker thingy
The rocks have to fall into the magic wall (at least 1 square). Otherwise, you're just pushing them on top of the wall.
Mlandry wrote:
Also in the level where you stand for like 2 minutes doing nothing, there is a jewel left when you create them, is there no way to create them faster so none are left?
Although the level requires 80 diamonds, I breed 81 amebas because of a glitch in the game which very often deletes one of the diamonds when they appear. It didn't happen in the recording I accepted, though.
Active player (277)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Hee, I like seeing enemies fall into the glowy squares of doom.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Former player
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 375
I like what you did in the last level, dropping the boulder from up top. I try to do that a lot myself (with mixed results). So, anyway, very yes.
Former player
Joined: 8/15/2004
Posts: 422
Location: Minnesota
Good movie, love the music especially. Yes.
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
It's a nice improvement on a movie that was already good enough to be submitted and accepted, so it's obviously a yes.
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2623
A yes from me.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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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. ---- [343] NES Boulder Dash by CtrlAltDestroy in 20:07.68