When Randil submitted his Tom and Jerry run a while back I was reminded of this little gem, and as such things go I decided to TAS it. I like this game in that it is quite different from the traditional platformer. It breaks down like this: at the end of each level is a boss; to trigger the boss you must find Jerry's furry friend in the level; to find Jerry's friend you may need a special item; to get this special item you may need another special item (etc. all found within the level); to get the special item you must win a mini game; to unlock the mini game you must collect a minimum amount of a certain item within the level. This made the game quite complicated to TAS; finding the optimal route to collect the initial items was challenging and I found many tricks and glitches that allowed me to skip certain special items and parts of the level. Oh...and, on top of that, this game lags like a bitch, probably because the graphics are actually pretty decent.
Special Items
- Bomb
- Used for blowing blockades out of the way and opening the cage in the last level.
- Umbrella
- Used to float over wide gaps.
- Rocket
- Used to gain extra height and to break through weak ceilings to get into new areas.
- Spring
- Used to gain much more extra height with more X-position movement.
- Bubblegum
- Used to float upwards until you collide with something. Can only be used in certain areas.
Tricks / Glitches
- Movement
- Jerry moves fastest while jumping for as long as he can. This entails holding down the A button for 9 frames, all depressions less than that result in lower jumps. However, due to the huge amount of lag in this game it can often be faster to deliberately use a frame slower jump to avoid lag.
- Left/Right
- This game does not like left/right. I use this for entertainment purposes during downtime, especially while using special items. For example, doing it while using the rocket triggers Jerry's 'pushing' animation, using it with the bubblegum triggers the 'entering a door' animation.
- Left/Right Climbing Abuse
- One useful aspect is that when you hit LR before grabbing onto a climbable object (broomhandle, plant etc) Jerry momentarily gets stuck in the object which allows you a window of opportunity to jump upwards which is not normally possible.
- Rocket Glitch
- Once your Rocket runs out you have a single frame on which to press B to quickly get another Rocket. This allows you to access three times as much height as normal and can be used for some major skips.
- Umbrella Jumping
- You can jump at the peak while using the umbrella, you can do this up to three times to gain as much height as you need.
- Quick Bomb Detonation
- When you set a bomb you can quickly pause then unpause to instantly detonate the bomb without any damage to yourself.
- Superjacent Platform Abuse
- When jumping up to a platform above, you can go through the platform as much as you want until Jerry's feet register on the top surface, however objects below the platform treat the bottom of the platform as real. The best application of this is in the last level where I use it to pass between the platform and the barricade to skip most of the level.
Levels
- Level 1
- I get the rocket straight away here and I use the glitch to go directly to the platform with Jerry's friend on it. This cuts out an entire minigame and collect em up segment.
- Level 2
- Lots of nasty lag here and I was unable to break this level too much. I don't use the umbrellas to get to the platform above immediately after getting them because it would require all three and I need one to get into the oven.
- Level 3
- Probably my favourite level, but annoying to TAS. I wish that I could have found a few breaks to shorten it a little more.
- Level 4
- I use the rocket glitch once to get onto the platform below Jerry's friend and then use a rocket plus a well timed jump to get onto the platform. This skips collecting a lot of stuff and a minigame.
- Level 5
- I only needed the rocket here and I was able to use the rocket + jump to get to the umbrella door, then again to skip the umbrella requirement, and then again to pass between the barrier and the platform to end the game quickly. This skips two minigames and a huge amount of collecting. Job done!
mmarks: Added Playlist module
mmarks: Replace Playlist module. corrected again
DarkKobold: Good dancing to music, sort of a slow platformer, but good audience response. Accepting.
Jess: Publishing now Published and seeding torrent!