Kid Niki 2 TAS by Randil

This run is 900 frames faster than the currently published run of this game. Improvements come mostly from picking up speed shoes in the last levels, but also faster boss fights and overall optimized movements. More details can be found under the "Improvements" section below.

Essentials:

  • Emulator used: FCEU 0.98.16
  • Aims for fastest possible time.
  • Takes damage to save time.
  • Genre: platform

Goals (In order of priority):

  • Beat the game as fast as possible.
  • Avoid taking damage.
  • Aims for highest possible score.

About the game:

"Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 2" is the sequal to the game "Kid Niki", and was never released outside Japan. The game is very simple, you make your way through 8 levels, and meet a boss at the end of each level, except the last level which is full of bosses.
Your weapon is a shuriken, which you can attack with both horizontally and vertically. You can also transform to animals in this game, if you have picked up at least one fruit. This is however generally useless, except if you want to reach places you can't normally reach, like when I pick up the speed shoes on the last level.
You can pick up something called speed shoes in this game. This shoes will increase your speed from 1 pixel per frame to 1.5 pixels per frame, which is very nice. I pick these up as early as possible on every level.

Improvements:

The first 7 levels have only been improved by 149 frames in total. But although they haven't been dramatically improved in terms of time, I think they look a lot better anyway. For example, I don't take any damage unless it saves time to do so. This means that this time I don't take any damage on the level 2 boss, level 3 boss or the level 5 boss, since it didn't actually save me any time.
Some normal TAS-tricks that I didn't use in the published run have also been used this time, such as jumping down ledges, increasing my vertical momentum when I reach the end of the ledge. This saved quite a few frames at the end of level 7.
I kill more enemies and pick up more items, making me finish the game with a score of 40 700, compared to 35 750 in the published run.

About TASing this game:

This game is very easy to TAS, especially if you're using Memory Watch. If you attack when in air, your speed won't be affected, regardless of if you're attacking, up, down, left or right. I haven't encountered any lag at allin this game, so that isn't anything to worry about either. The only thing I had to focus on on the levels was sticking to the highest possible score goal and trying to make things as entertaining as possible without loosing time.
Boss fights were really easy to TAS time this around, compared to the published run. By looking at the RAM-address for the boss' invulnerebility time, I knew exactly when to hit him without having to test my way through. Besides this, I hit the boss on the first possible frame. All bosses have a longer invulnerebility time before the last hit, that's why I hesitate before dealing the final blow.
I doubt that I can improve this significantly unless a new trick or shortcut is found. The game is just so easy to TAS that there isn't much room for creativity. This game is very edit-friendly though, so if something is found it will probably just be edited in. Well, enjoy the run! :)

NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots of this movie and placed them here. Here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.

adelikat: Accepting for publication as an improvement to the published movie.

adelikat: Processing.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14873
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1669: Randil's NES Kid Niki 2 in 09:06.88
Joined: 2/1/2007
Posts: 245
Location: Israel
Weird that I missed prior runs of this game... I'll edit in my impressions in about 10 minutes. Edit: This game gives a new definition to ninja chicks. :) Having to get new shoes each level was kind of meh, but the weird enemies and such made up for it. Voting yes.
adelikat
He/Him
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player (3585)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4738
Location: Tennessee
Wow, I didn't think there was much to improve compared to the previous movie. On the surface it seems very simple but apparently it has a lot more TAS depth than meets the eye. Entertainment-wise my biggest complaint is the slowness of the character. So more speed shoes is a big plus :P Yes vote.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Player (120)
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 1522
Blah blah blah, Randil rules, yes vote :)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Skilled player (1885)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
alden wrote:
Blah blah blah, Randil rules, yes vote :)
*sniff* That's... that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me... *sniff* *dries the tears running down my face* :P (hehe, but seriously, thanks :) ) Oh, and I agree with adelikat that this game is a little slow before getting the speed shoes (1 pixel per frame isn't much to brag about), but luckily speed shoes can be picked up quite early in most stages.
Player (120)
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 1522
Sorry, I should have been a bit more verbose, I was a little out of it :) I love the weird game in general, and the boss fights were sweet. I didn't think she ran too slow either personally. But I guess I'm kind of a patient guy...
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Skilled player (1670)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
The game was slow without the speed shoes, but the graphics were amusing enough to keep me entertained. Yes-vote.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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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. ---- [953] NES Kid Niki 2 by Randil in 09:05.98