General
- Emulator used: JPC-RR r11.2 (should sync on r11 and r11.1)
- No special settings
- Complete all 10 levels (no four secondary areas)
- Abuses programming errors in game
- Abuses level design
- Uses death to save time
- Aims for fastest time
- Does not visit warp zones
About game:
Dangerous Dave is platformer game made by John Romeiro (of the DOOM fame). On each level, grab the treasure and get the heck out. Collecting additional valuables
is optional (increases score).
Unfortunately, this game does not support Adlib nor Soundblaster, so no music and sound effects are pretty infernal.
BIOS/OS/game versions used:
The BIOS/OS versions as well as game version is identical to 2651S.
The game is downloadable from ftp://download.dosgamesarchive.com/dave.zip
diskinfo report about game image used:
General data:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | HDD |
| Tracks | 16 |
| Sides | 16 |
| Sectors | 63 |
| Claimed Disk ID | 97d385fcbb3fac3662107c9b75f4d87e |
File table:
| Timestamp | MD5 | Size | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | 1 | / |
| 19900101000000 | 10ac35dd6bc6314cd5caf08a4ffb4275 | 76586 | /DAVE.EXE |
Level comments:
Level 1:
Very simple and straightforward level.
Level 2:
Jumping straight from beam instead of walking a bit is slower.
Level 3:
There's no way to jump over two of whatever those (deadly) things are in one go. Jumping one extra time at the end is slower.
Level 4:
This level is way more complex than anything before. After picking up a jetpack, I kill Dave as a shortcut (I respawn at beginning of the level, but now with jetpack). There's also some nontrivial fuel management. I run out of fuel just on the frame that allows reaching the platform.
Level 5:
I abuse the climbabilty of the block with moon. I also jump early for jetpack even if I fall a bit since I have to walk less (I have to hop twice in the end but it is worth it).
Level 6:
There is long jetpack flight at the end, I need lots of fuel for that... This level has the possibility of glitched route: Grab the jetpack but no treasure and fly through the door. Then go right to one of the secondary areas. Then grab the treasure there and use the exit. Unfortunately, this is slower and exits to next level (thus it would be slower to use this glitch).
Level 7:
Hopping once after falling down is faster even if I hit a block. Also, there is certain place the hop through the tree has to start from for optimal speed.
Level 8:
Seemingly no way to reach the last monster in time before it blocks the path. And if it blocks the path, the current way of solving the level is the fastest possible.
Level 9:
Lots of hopping and bit of walking to avoid holes (bane of speedrunners).
The reason why I don't jump off that leftmost middle platform in jumping sequence in the end is that it is not possible. That platform is not solid (it is a trap, if you jump on it, you'll fall to bottom that has the enemy there; if you look carefully, you'll see I pass through it in way not possible for solid platforms)! Also, those non-solid platforms look almost exactly the same as normal platforms (fake difficulty anyone?).
Level 10:
Long level. All three items are needed. I can abuse collision detection with fire and reach the exit door just as I run out of fuel.
About warp zones
This game has four warp zones (levels 5, 8, 9 and 10; plus one glitched one on level 6). They aren't warps in classical sense. Instead, they take you into secondary area of some other level (acting as four secret levels). After completing the secondary area, you are retuned into level you left from. Thus one could do all-warps run, which would play 18 levels in total (10 normal levels, 4 normal level exits into warp zone and the 4 warp zones).
Using the glitched warp zone places you into glitched level that is apparently impossible to complete without cheating. Also, entering this level causes the game to freeze for about 15 minutes(!). To access it, grab the jetpack but not the treasure in level 6 and fly through the exit door. Then walk/fly to left edge (this also lets one access one of the secondary areas, for that, go right).
This would obviously be longer run (and would contain the no-warps run as subset), so I don't do it now.
Screenshot suggestions:
- Passing through fire in level 10
Final stats:
Final input cutoff: 632.798s
Final rerecord count: 2757
Total number of in-level frames: 23444.
Thanks to:
IsraeliRD for idea of shooting the enemy in level 10 early.
Level starting and ending timecodes:
These are the timecodes (ns) for the first complete frame of level and the first frame in level transition:
| Level | Start | End | Frames |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2492160715 | 8927084250 | 451 |
| 2 | 15133717815 | 42114738848 | 1891 |
| 3 | 48321372413 | 70736593863 | 1571 |
| 4 | 76943227428 | 141149781549 | 4500 |
| 5 | 147356415114 | 173481348580 | 1831 |
| 6 | 179687982145 | 210307374429 | 2146 |
| 7 | 216514007995 | 247318885937 | 2159 |
| 8 | 253525519502 | 281120069651 | 1934 |
| 9 | 287326703216 | 313223346944 | 1815 |
| 10 | 319415712386 | 392839474054 | 5146 |
| Total | - | - | 23444 |
Making this TAS:
This is actually third revision. I began doing this TAS on the morning of 24th and finished on the evening of 26th...
The improvement
The improvement is in level 6. By momentarily cutting off the final flight and hopping off the blocks I can conserve bit of fuel allowing to use bit more earlier in the level (which I use to cut down on walking as walking is slow). This gains 13 frames. Unfortunately, this causes 1 frame of more lag in next level, so the final improvement is only 12 frames.
Cutting it for every platform allows essentially using flight or jumping for the entire level saving 124 more frames.
sgrunt: Replaced submission file with a 12 frame faster version at the request of the author.
Nach: Replaced submission file with a 124 frame faster version at the request of the author. Also, judging.
GabCm: Added YouTube HD module based on the latest improvement.
Nach: Great run and abuse of a classic game. Accepting.
GabCM: Publishing...