Fire n' Ice is the sequal to Solomon's Key. The goal of this puzzle game is to remove fires using iceblocks.
- Movie plays back on: FCEUX 2.1.5.
- Emulator originally used: FCEU 0.98.28 (I converted the .fcm to .fm2, but the resulting movie file was over 5mb large, compared to the .fcm which was 92 kb. So the submitted movie file is the .fcm due to the 150kb limit on movie files. The .fm2 did synch, however.)
- Aims for fastest possible time.
- Genre: Puzzle.
About the game
Fire n' Ice is a puzzle game, where the goal is to remove fires using iceblocks. Our hero, Dana, can create new iceblocks and move them around by pushing them. The game is not very complicated, I belive you will have no problems understanding how the game works simply by watching this TAS.
How this run compares to Ragowit's TAS
The biggest difference between this TAS and Ragowit's TAS is that this one is done on the U version of the game, while Ragowit's TAS was recorded on the E version. Besides the obvious PAL/NTSC difference between the two game versions, the only differences are:
- The screen scrolls faster on the U version than on the E version (see level 3-10, for example).
- Enemies that move, move faster on the U version than on the E version.
- The final boss level is different.
Because of the first two points, most of the final levels on each world are played differently than in Ragowit's TAS.
In total, 24 of the 101 levels are played differently than in Ragowit's TAS. In most of the levels, the improvement is very minor and saves only a few frames, while in other levels, the improvement can add up to a few seconds.
They levels that have new strategies are: They are: 1-10, 2-4, 2-10, 3-3, 4-1, 4-2, 4-6 ,5-3 ,5-5 ,5-6 ,7-1 ,7-6 ,7-7 ,7-9 ,7-10 ,8-10 ,9-2 ,9-6 ,9-7 ,10-1 ,10-4 ,10-7 ,10-9 and 10-10 final boss.
It's hard to compare this run to Ragowit's run due to the version difference, but I've calculated that the improved strategies alone add up to about 30 seconds. I did not consider optimized movements, although I don't think there are many of them.
The in-game timer increases faster in the U version than in the E version. That's why my in-game time always is higher than in Ragowit's TAS.
Observant viewers might also spot what looks to be wall-hacking in a few levels. If you press left+right after you've performed an action, it will be visually performed again. Dana won't actually perform the movement again, but his sprite will move in that way. So if you move from left to right and then hold down left+right, Dana's sprite will continue running, even run inside a wall if there is one next to him. But again, this is just a visual glitch, and Dana doesn't actually move anywhere.
Closure:
The reason for the low re-record count is simply because this game is extremely easy to TAS. Once you have the strategy for a level planned out, you don't need many re-records at all to record it. I also used a lua-script that allowed me to use less re-records than I normally would.
If you find an improvement to this run, please don't hesitate to let me know. This game is very edit-friendly, so the improvement can easily be edited in, without any risk of desynchs.
I'd like to thank the following people:
- Obviously Ragowit, for his TAS. Most of the strategies he used are still used in this TAS.
- Wilson Lau for his FAQ on Gamefaqs. Ragowit said in his author's comments that he used about 90% of Wilson's strategies in his TAS. In turn, I used about 80% of Ragowit's strategies in my TAS, so Wilson's guide is really good, even for a tool assisted speedrun of the game.
- Slotermeyer for his strategies on levels 2-4 and 2-10.
- Aglar for his strategy on 1-10.
- Xepher for his improvement on 8-10.
- Omega for his encode of Ragowit's TAS. I used that encode a lot for comparisons.
- Everyone else who has shown interest in this game!
It was fun making this TAS, and I hope you'll enjoy watching it.
Bisqwit: Submission updated ― author says the movie was improved by 36 frames.
mmbossman: I'm rejecting this movie due to viewer feedback and concerns regarding (lack of) entertainment value. Good luck on your next project Randil.
Nach: Here's the video to watch directly:
(Flowplayer module removed)
This video is a great Solomon's Key 2 walkthrough / Fire 'n Ice walkthrough.
Here's some post ending video with a bit of a surprise:
(Flowplayer module removed)
Nach: This movie was actually one of our most searched for movies a while back. Perfect for a vault category.
Brandon: Publication underway.