Judging can be a dangerous thing. As a judge, Its important to not just claim a movie looks sloppy, or has a low re-record count, even if it may seem obvious. So, judges often have to test TASing the game. However, this leads to a problem - What if the game makes for a fun TAS to do? You have a new project on your plate.
Mendel Palace is a result of that process.
- Uses 2 players
- Flips Tiles
- Manipulates enemies
- No deaths
Mendel Palace is an Action-Puzzle game. When playing in real-time, it becomes more action than puzzle, and when TASing, it becomes more puzzle than action. The plot of the game revolves around 'Bon-Bon' trying to save his girlfriend 'Candy' from a dreamworld where her own dolls have taken her captive. There are 8 sub-worlds, each consisting of a different type of doll, and then 20 end levels in Mendel Palace. The key is to flip tiles that push the enemies (dolls) into walls or blocks, or reveal special tiles. From Wikipedia:
- Normal floor tiles that can be walked over or flipped.
- Star tiles can be collected by stepping over them. Collecting 100 stars earns the player an [extra life]. Collecting every star tile in a room will grant the player a bonus.
- Bonus roulette tiles.
- Shockwave tiles. This tile depicts a wave in one or more cardinal directions. When this tile is activated by stepping on it, it will flip over all tiles in that direction.
- Sun tiles. Activating this tile by walking over it will cause every other tile in the room to be flipped, usually defeating all enemies and clearing the stage.
- Moon tiles. Touching this tile will start a "bonus stage" where all floor tiles are replaced with collectible stars.
- Spinner tiles. This tile will shoot the player off in a particular direction, breaking blocks and destroying enemies that he touches.
- Impassible block tiles cannot be walked over by the player. These can be flipped to hide them and allow the player to pass.
- Bolted metal tile. Once this tile is revealed, it can no longer be flipped.
- Glowing portal tile. Once revealed, it will spawn a new enemy doll unless it is quickly flipped again.
The worlds can be done in any order - I followed TwistedEye, and went clockwise, as opposed to counterclockwise. No abilities are gained, so there is really no difference. Also, this movie is 511 frames faster than TwistedEye's WIP.
Moko-Moko
This is by far the easiest of the worlds. Every round has a sun tile, and thus one player makes a beeline for that tile, while the other handles the furthest doll. The dolls have the ability to split - however, this being a TAS, that never happens.
Dragon
Dragon dolls hop, which causes a problem for Sun tiles, as they can only be pushed when they have landed. Thus, grabbing a sun tile requires manipulation and timing, so all Dragons are hit on the ground.
Vinci
This doll draws on the ground, creating a ghost doll in the process. It is the only doll with a secondary death method - if all tiles are unavailable, All Vinci's die automatically. However, it is much, much faster to simply push them against walls.
Toby
Brown Toby Dolls can be tricked into not jumping by turning towards them and starting the tile shift immediately. However, the Red Toby dolls jump almost immediately, hence needing to use the projectile ability to kill them faster.
Mira
This doll can be a real pain. She only moves when your character moves, and shifts tiles with your character. However, this world goes relatively fast - when I re-encounter Mira in Mendel Palace, it is much more painful.
Wasser
Wasser Dolls swim across the screen, and are invulnerable on the edges. most of the time, they simply require waiting. However, I think my solution to round 5 was pretty clever - using the swim feature to flip the spawn tiles.
Tako
This doll is supposed to be a male. Uh. yeah. Anyway, a very simple world, as it just requires coordination and timing.
Sumo
This doll bounces when shifted, and can send a shockwave of tiles. I really enjoyed that I could use this to manipulate one Sumo doll to kill another. This starts with the purple Sumo Dolls
Mendel Palace (Ground)
The first 8 rounds are repeats of the first 8 doll types. Round 9 is a boss fight, and Round 10 is a cut-scene. Sadly, while these levels were supposed to be far more difficult, they turned out simplistic, with the exception of round 8. Round 8 was killer to optimize, as only 3 tiles can be flipped! Also, I believe the bosses are supposed to be evil 'Bon-Bon' and evil 'Candy'
Mendel Palace (Sky)
A new ninja-monk-style doll (no name was given in the manual), which can punch tiles flipped. Unlike the other mendel palace, these enemies pose a much harder challenge. Additionally, almost every level contains numerous hidden spawn tiles. Round 8 was especially hard to manipulate, as the monk dolls wanted to flip tiles,and every tile is a stack of 6 spawn tiles. Thus, I only flip 1 tile space per character. Also, the green 'Bon-Bon' makes out with the final Boss. WTF?!??
Suggested Screenshot:
(Click for old skool Nintendo funny.)
Actual Suggested Screenshot:
Flygon: Added YouTube module.
Mukki: Judging...
Mukki: Perhaps overuse of the Sun Tile in some rounds detracted from the entertainment value somewhat, but those that did not make use of it made for some very interesting puzzle action (Mendel Palace Ground Round 8 was my favourite and it's a shame that there was not more like that in the run). A good deal of the audience seems to agree. Accepting for publication.
Flygon: Processing...