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This is an automatically posted message for discussing submission: #750: DeHackEd's SNES Mega Man X & Mega Man X 2 in 41:41

See details at: http://bisqwit.iki.fi/nesvideos/750S.html

Submission status: accepted
Last edited by: DeHackEd

The submission message follows:

It all started innocently enough with a funny idea in the forum. One thing lead to another and here it is.
This SMV will successfully play and beat both Mega Man X and Mega Man X2 in a reasonably fast manner. The rerecord count is probably slightly inflated because the emulator loved to desync on me.
Both games:
Does NOT aim for fastest time. Given the choice between showing off a bug and doing something as quickly as possible, I'll show the bug.
Finish both games at the same time. I succeed to within a 1 frame margin of error.
No death
Does NOT manipulate luck. Consider the Storm Eagle battles to be textbook examples of why anyone should use luck manipulation during a TAS.
X1:
Only takes necessary damage during the battle with Chill Penguin in order to make him attack the nearest wall rather than me.
Collects all capsule upgrades except the hadoken. Collects whatever heart tanks and sub tanks I feel are appropriate.
X2:
100% run, mostly inspired by Blechy's run. Also gets Zero's parts.
Zero/Shouruken bug executed. Severe sigma taunting results.
Takes damage to save time, or where it otherwise would adversely affect X1.
Use Snes9x 1.43 FINAL for playback.
Making this movie wasn't as hard as I thought. Some source editting to snes9x to accept "joystick" input from a non-joystick source was the key to making the movie. The other issue was adding Frame Advance, Save State, Load State, and Next/Prev State to joypad buttons and analog sticks.
Using tee to split the real joypad input into two emulators, the rest fell into place. To guarantee emulator sync, the movie had to be constructed entirely using Frame Advance with a low CPU load (or snes9x running at SCHED_ISO priority).
As a final note, if you want to see both games side-by-side, I'm making an MKV available for bittorrent download. This is NOT to be considered the published movie - the quality is significantly lower, but still viewable. Clicky!

My SMV cleaner ate the last frame from the SMV. As a result, X1 will end playback with the last dialog box stuck on-screen. My bad.
Bisqwit: Replaced submission file with the updated one. This extends the movie's length by 1 frame, but will still read as 41:41. Let this be a lesson to DeHackEd.

Post-Publishing Comments
Here's a short list of tricks I used to abuse the games
There are times when the game will ignore certain buttons. Pressing Dash in the air without a usable midair dash will be ignored. Most motion will be ignored when firing the double X-Buster. Wall climbing ignores some frames as X kicks against the wall.
If one game lags, it ignores some input frames (usually 1)
When you slide down a wall, you face in the opposite direction of the button you hold to cling to the wall. If you release all directional buttons at this time, you will fall down with your back to the wall. This can be used to get X facing in oppositie directions.
X1 can switch weapons using L and R during some cutscenes, but X2 can only switch when you have full control of X.
You can't switch weapons if there are outstanding shots on screen. This includes some hit sprites and explosions.
There is a new bug list in the forum thread for this submission on the second page.

Mlandry · Active member Joined: 2004-08-03 05:28:31 Posts: 296

you'd have to be insane to vote no on this one =p

i watched the videos you posted before so ill watch the entire thing now

AnotherGamer · Player Joined: 2005-02-02 12:31:10 Posts: 189

Obvious yes.

GWing_02 · Active member Joined: 2005-06-07 01:54:12 Posts: 121

Um, I'd vote yes if I had the permissions to. :P
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Viewer · Active member Joined: 2004-06-04 08:54:15 Posts: 266

Ok, finished watching. A definite "yes" vote from me, but please, PLEASE make sure you download the X1 1.1 ROM. Otherwise, it desyncs during Spark Mandrill's fight.

Spacecow · Posted: 2005-07-15 02:06:24 Post subject:

I've been following this off and on, and I'm voting yes, but only if the published video displays both games at once as Dehacked's example movie does. I imagine watching them separately is not nearly as entertaining.

quietkane · Posted: 2005-07-15 05:57:39 Post subject:

Everything spacecow just said. DeHackEd is a golden god of tool-assisted movies.
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MattyXB · Posted: 2005-07-15 05:59:51 Post subject:

It would be great to see both at the same time. I can open 2 Emulators, but is there a way that Snes9X will not pause the game when the window is not activ?
I found no option to change it. Some Emulators have this option, that the movie still play, when the window is inactiv. But here it will not work, because one window must be activ and one inactiv. So I need the option that the movie still play.

Or is my Emulator to old? I use snes9x-improvement2. Is there a new one, who allows this option?
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Ferret Warlord · Posted: 2005-07-15 06:02:45 Post subject:

Options -> Settings -> Uncheck "Pause when inactive"

The emulator will keep going, but the sound will cut out.
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MattyXB · Posted: 2005-07-15 06:08:48 Post subject:

Thanks, found it too now. But the old version which I own has this option not. But I have download now the new version. Now it will be much better too see both at the same time. :-)
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Last TAS finished: Final Fantasy Adventure (4.0 Warp Glitch Run)
WIP in the moment: Tail Gator (GB)

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HSZZZ · Guest

This sounds insane. Too bad I can't watch until tomorrow.

Stryphe · Lurker Joined: 2005-05-28 20:54:46 Posts: 3

Theres no words to describe this...absolutely amazing
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Thereisnospoon · Posted: 2005-07-15 07:28:14 Post subject:

Sick.

The first movie of its kind I guess, and what a way to open the genre. The only question I have, is why during the intro stages do you not dash in X2, I know you can't in X1, but it wouldn't interfere. Is it a style thing?

Anyway, a yes vote from me. . . . if Kennyboy didn't ruin things for all of us.
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Tombad · Posted: 2005-07-15 07:32:46 Post subject:

Nice work there. A clear yes -vote, for entertainment value which is off the charts.

I agree with Spacecow, if this is published, then the published video should be like the WIPs DeHacked has posted on the forums (ie. displaying both games side-by-side).
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Wodball · Player Joined: 2004-04-24 02:02:22 Posts: 50

Wow... I leave the community for a few months, and come back to this...

I'm really impressed. Considering the aim of the site is to create entertainment, I'd say you've succeeded on many, many levels.

A yes vote for me, and kudos for taking the "pinball competitions" to the next level!

For an added bonus challenge... I wonder if you couldn't manipulate all SNES MMX games? Is it possible to split the input from two to three? That might not be the main issue since MMX3 is a bit longer even with the Z-sabre. Not to mention the last bit of MMX3 where the stage is pretty fixed...

Anyway, I'm glad I came back for a bit.

--Woody

mikwuyma · Active member Joined: 2004-12-21 00:30:14 Posts: 187

Very yes, I think all yes votes for this movie should count double. You managed to discover new tricks to entertain us with DeHackEd.

hopper · Vested member Joined: 2004-11-15 13:38:59 Posts: 622

You... What?... How?... I mean, you just...

Ho-Lee Crap.

You did not just do that. You created a set of inputs that plays two different games and kept it synched through level selection screens, levels and boss fights, still pulling off incredible stunts, playing both extremely well and beating them quickly??? I mean... I have no words for this.

I mean, I guess, in theory, you could make a run like this for any two games but, in most cases, enormous amounts of time would have to be wasted to get everything just right in both games, and they probably wouldn't be very entertaining. This is the most amazing TAS accomplishment I have ever seen. You get a Yes vote, and I salute you.

When this is published, and it must be, both runs have to be shown simultaneously so that everyone can understand why it's played the way it is. Un-freaking-believable.

Can I have your autograph?
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DeHackEd · Coder Joined: 2004-11-06 20:36:55 Posts: 674

Thereisnospoon wrote:

hopper · Vested member Joined: 2004-11-15 13:38:59 Posts: 622

Um, all 3 going at the same time? That would just... are you a robot?
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CoolBumpty · Active member Joined: 2004-12-12 15:36:42 Posts: 158

Both of them eventually desync for me. I was trying to use the 1.43+ version of Snes9x, version 7. When I tried to use the final, which I interpretted as being the uneditted Snes9x that was released a long time ago, there wasn't any way of making it run in the background, but it seemed to get past that desync.

But well, it looked pretty nice for the first few minutes. And the torret gives me errors, so I can't download that either. I guess I'll just have to wait, unless someone figures out what I'm doing wrong.