TASVideos discussion board

[NesVideoAgent]

This is an automatically posted message for discussing submission: #752: Xaphan's GBA RockMan Zero 4 in 41:27

See details at: http://bisqwit.iki.fi/nesvideos/752S.html

Submission status: accepted
Last edited by: DeHackEd

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The submission message follows:

Pffffeww.... Second version of this TA is finally out ;)... And that was not a piece of cake... this is in normal mode this time so you shouldn't have any SRAM pbs... This are the caracteristics of the movie :

• Intend to be as fast as possible
• Take damage to save time
• Manipulate luck a lot
• Do not die
• Use (but not abuse) programming errors or things like that

So do i have to describe this game again?? I'm sure most of are familiar with the Megaman Zero series...It's megaman without megaman :) and this is the 4th episode of it and frankly it's not the hardest nor the longest, though i like it...

So about the hard point of this TA, the most horrible thing was to MANIPULATE LUCK, as i still do not get how it really works (how to obtain pieces from defeated enemies, make bosses do certain moves...)

I collect the pieces of the galacta armor (twice damage inflicted but twice received from enemies...), it enables me to use the blaster more often, to kill the bosses in a very short time as well ws some enemies... I won't list the part of the armor here as i'm not fluent with japanese and as it would be too long... You can find information regarding it on Internet (gameFaqs...)

Some weird things are that you can combo the bosses with certain skills even when they're blinking... The most effective one is :

• Uncharged buster shot
• Charged saber slash
• Triple saber slash
• Heat Genblem EXskill
• Nobile Mandrago EXSkill

Which inflicts lots of damage

Another weird thing is that buster is stronger when fired while sliding... this is weird but it's true, i don't know why...

And finally i shall describe some things that may look strange :

• Being touched before climbing the wall is faster than taking the elevator handle in 2nd mission.

• It seems to be impossible to change the configuration of the blocks in Cockapetri's stage... It seems to be linked with elapsed game time...

• Jumping while entering the boss room makes him do different moves as if you've just slided in...

• I kill the tubular generator enemy at the end of T. Kraken's stage with the triple slash in order for him to give me its needed part...

...

And FINALLY, a VERY VERY BIG THANK TO MIKE UYAMA & McBAIN who helped me a lot doing this TA... Thank you guys i would never have made it without your advice...

That's all... enjoy!!!

[McBAIN]

Great run, great execution. Although it is a great movie, it still has some minor flaws here and there. I know we checked the WIP movie regularly, but there are actually some minor flaws. (in the first few levels as well, before you went online and finished the movie yourself) I'm sorry i didn't see those :(
(I discovered that you need to have ran a game yourself before you can truly ultimately judge runs)
As well, i myself discovered the awesomeness of the jump chip. (as you might've seen in your topic) I'm not really sure though what it takes to make this chip, and if it would balance out (the time needed to pick up parts and produce it) for the shortcuts here and there, so i can't fully judge this.

This aside, the movie still looks great and fast, especially once you've produced the galacta armor chips. Those 8 bosses in the final level were slain faster than you could say "omgwtfbqq". (an "expression" of when you're truly amazed)

Definately worth a yes vote.

Oh and yeah, thanks for the credit ^_^

[mikwuyma]

Nice to see you again Xaphan. Haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been?

Yay, the first run of the Zero series that is publish-worthy. Like McBAIN said, great run, but there are some minor errors here and there. Some I just noticed now, even though I haven't watched any wips from you in about a week. Still I'm voting yes because it's fast, entertaining, and well-planned.

One question, in the first Weil stage somewhere in the frame range of 99000, there was this area with a flame thrower and some spikes. Could you have taken a hit from the flame thrower and climbed up the spikes?

I liked how you brutally raped the final stage so bad that it happened not to be your slowest stage. I swear the longest boss fight was 10 seconds o_0.

[Xaphan]

Hi guys... As i'm working during my holidays i'm in another place than before and so i do not have access to the Internet as easily as before...

I know that it can be improved and i'm already working on a new version where i would manipulate luck in a better way and improve some minor things here and there... Though it might took me some time as i have less time during July and August because of my work... Though it'll be out someday so you'll have to be patient...

I shall try to post the WIPs when i'll progress on it so be sure to check it as i will rarely be connected to MSN...

And thanks again for your help, i thought that it was worth posting this one at least as I think it's not so bad and fast-paced especially at the end of the movie... The improved version is coming...

Thanks for your votes too... ;)

[Squ4ll-]

Where did all the bosses go? You killed them so fast:) Yes vote from me.

[ramond]

As usual, I wonder: where are the savestates in all stages? Could you offer a link to get them?

[Xaphan]

Just explain me how i can do that with VBA... I don't have a clue on how to do a savestate with this emulator while not stopping the movie...

And why do you need savestates??? To watch some parts back??

[Mlandry]

ramond, save states arent really a requirement for making a time-attack

[Xaphan]

Please VOTE, VOTE, VOTE (yes or no, if you don't like it, but VOTE...)

:)

[Truncated]

Haven't seen it and it's unlikely that I will. None of the sites I visit carry GBA roms. Because of this I haven't watched any GBA runs except for the ones published as video. Sorry.

I don't know if that goes for more people or if they are just generally uninterested in this game/run.

[mikwuyma]

Xaphan, I think the only reason why people aren't voting on this is because it's a japanese game that will come out to the US soon. I think people would rather watch a Zero TAS in English. Don't worry, the lack of votes has nothing to do with the quality of your run.

P.S. Get on MSN messenger more often so we can talk about Zero 3.

[HSZZZ]

Yes vote from me, the movie looked entertaining. It was cool how most (?) of the bosses got sliced in half from the zsabre after they were defeated. What'd you do near the last stages of the game when Zero went from red to blue? Just purchase powerups? Overall good run.

[Xaphan]

I'm collecting the galacta armor which double the damage inflicted and received... making the bosses so much easier:)

I guess you're right Mike, though i don't think that's the only reason... Most of the people do not seem to be interested in a MMZ3 run too..

That's a pity, but i hear you, i shall be connected more often :):)

[Iriasu]

I also saw some minor mistakes here and there, but not anything serious. I'm gonna vote yes, because this TAS sure needs attention! Good work, Xaphan! I couldn't have done it better myself... >_>;

[Xaphan]

Thx Iriasu, by the way what is that avatar??? Is it from any particular game??? I find it cool!!

[Iriasu]

I made the animation, but it's from [GBA] Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3. The character is Valkyrie from the 1989 Namco Arcade game Valkyrie no Densetsu. She's a Norwegian Viking who's drop-dead gorgeous. ^^;

But enough of that. I managed to make an Xvid AVI of your run called rockmanzero4_tas_xaphan.avi which is roughly 255 MB (I know, I suck at codec stuff), and it's pretty viewable (the moviefile timetag is 45min,11sec). The Staff Roll as well as your Playtime is included, which is *dundun* 00:22'41, the fastest RMZ4 TAS time yet. :P

I'll be uploading it somewhere so those who prefer AVI movies can watch it.

[Xaphan]

That's COOL, thx a lot, let me know when you'll post the link :)

And thx for the description ;)

[Truncated]

Heh. So I got around to watching it now, in total contradiction of what I said above. I don't know the game enought to comment on the actual playing. Probably the wall-jumping is difficult to get good. It seems like an interesting series to run though.

Some of the bosses comments when they died or when you meet them are kind of fun. Like the rooster (?) who says "WHAT?!" when he dies, or the octupus thing who says "Just as I expected..." in a very disappointed voice. It bugs me somewhat how even the big evil guys have squeaky japanese voices.

So did Zero die at the end of this game? Again? For which time now?

[Iriasu]

Let's see, we have X1, X5, and Zero 4.

He didn't die in X2, but can turn evil thanks to not getting his parts, and he can be damaged in X3 so you get his saber, and he didn't die in X4, X7, X8 and CM.

But, if you would count X6 as some form of death (Zero sleeping for 100+ years and re-lives in Zero 1 inside a copy body) then I don't know what to say... I'd leave the profanities out of my rants though. :P

Oh, and Cockapetri's "Nani?" IS funny. Yet, it's so disturbing that the other bosses has light voices. >_>

Oh, and Xaphan:
Megaupload - rockmanzero4_tas_xaphan.rar

Hosthelpers doesn't recognize my FTP info, so you have to stick with this, since I do NOT want to hog the bandwidth on my current rockmanpm.com host. >_>;

[Xaphan]

Iriasu I love you...