This is an improvement over the old TAS by 1356 frames. Most of those frames are removed lag.
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time
- Uses FCEUX 2.1.2
The old order was Intro (A) F D C B E Final (G), while my new order is A B D F E C G. My main hope was to carry as much Power as possible into area C, and stage E is the only one where you easily can leave with a lot of Power, hence C had to be after E. E would benefit from as much Power as possible, but has to settle with the one you carry with you from Area F. Area F doesn't need Power in the beginning, so damage could be taken after the boss in the level before, making Area D a good subject for the level before F. This left out Area B as the final level not having a placement in my route, so it ended up as the second level to be played.
The hero has hands of steel, which he uses to hit people. And bullets. Striking three times in a row enables a "super punch" to be involved in the combo. It has twice the damage but is half as fast so meh. The fastest way to inflict damage is generally to do repeated jump strikes.
Area A
I start off by taking more damage than in the previous TAS, and I collect the coins from the enemies rather than the box. Overall, I have some minor improvements and gain a handful of frames throughout the level, and as I took more damage during the level, I gain a lot of time during the Score Countdown after the level has ended. The boss, Mr. Bison, offers little to none resistance. Overall, I gained 87 frames during this level.
Area B
I made a few jumps better so I ended up gaining 12 frames in the first room. There wasn't much time to gain in the second room, and I gained a handful of frames against the bosses in this level, and got away with 66 frames of improvement.
Area D
I lost a few frames in the beginning due to not having Power with me, but the gain from the previous level was well worth it. I could, however, abuse this to take more damage and therefore end up gaining frames. There was some small improvements during the level, and better RNG and more aggression at the boss, Mr. Frog, gained 59 frames on the boss, and since I had a level where I don't need Power following, I could take as much damage as possible. The score tally was 99 frames faster.
Area F
Admittedly, I lost 31 frames by not carrying Power into the level, but I gained 45 frames on the previous level's score tally due to taking the more damage, and I got damage with me here as well, saving more time later on, but not carrying Power was a direct loss of 31 frames, slightly ruining the flow. The auto-scroller is a bit dull to avoid lag frames. Only 3 of them is pretty well done. The boss is done a lot faster by skipping the bot, and overall 177 frames were gained at the boss and score tally.
Area E
Getting the large coin in the first part of the level at a different place saved somewhere near 60 frames. Other than that, minor improvements are spread around the level, and in total 134 frames are gained.
Area C
This level has left my soul bleeding. I have never in my live seen something this bad. I mean... it's... just... wow. I though the Waterway of CotM was bad but holy shit. This is so horrible that I don't want to TAS anymore. My inital strategy was to run through it without killing and hope for the best. The lag was then unbearable and made kittens cry, so I redid it with a more murderous strategy, with a huge success. Anyway, the route change finally paid off. Having more Power allowed me to gain well over 500 frames in this level by lag reduction by having less shit on the screen. The actual gameplay is ~300 frames slower than the previous TAS, but I have 800+ less frames of lag in my version of this area.
Final Area
The tension increases as Hero has less Power entering the level, a result of the not too sane lag-removal from the prior area. I lose some time to the first container due to this, but regain it by removing a lot of lag, as usual. As for the boss-rematches, nothing to say about the M. Bison-rematch, but when it comes to Mr. Fire, I use a different strategy to avoid his flames which didn't work in the first match due to the elevating floor. So you know. Late in the level, I crack a crate so I can land earlier and get a faster outcome for the next jump. This game sure has goofy rules of physics. The final boss has some insane invulnerability, which is... random, to say the least. Well he dies. Like a rat in a fire.
Many thanks to Deign, adelikat, Brushy and JXQ!
EDIT I made a crappy version of Area C from the J-version. This level is MUCH faster, even this sloppy 14-rerecord history is around 4000 frames faster than my Area C from the U-ROM. I still vote for the U-ROM though, the hero looks more awesome :(
mmbossman: Holla! Accepting!
Velitha: Processing...