Tool-assisted speedrun of Normy's Beach Babe-o-Rama, extremely fast-paced platformer developed by EA for the Sega Genesis, based on a comic strip titled "Making It." This game is very obscure but makes for an awesome TAS mostly because Normy can move very fast.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: gens_11b
- Takes damage to save time
- Genre: Platformer
Comments
This game is weird. The levels are strange, the enemies are bizzare, the weapons are abnormal, and the main character is unusual. But he has a dash! It's used nearly everywhere, and it makes him move like a bat out of hell. You also become virtually invincible, as any enemy you hit while dashing only makes Normy bump back a little - it doesn't do damage or anything, and if you hit "A" the first frame Normy collides with the enemy, the bump will be ignored and Normy will continue to dash forward, which costs no time.
It all seems rather puissant, no? The game designers must have realized this, so they added a "dash meter" (probably isn't the official name but who cares, that's what I'm going to refer it by) which can be seen in the bottom left corner, resembling a speedometer. Whenever Normy uses his dash, the meter will start fill up with red for every few frames Normy is on the ground dashing. I was able to watch the RAM value for the dash meter
00FFB0A9 so I could make sure that it didn't increase when I didn't want it to. The maximum it goes to is 8, at which Normy will be unable to dash until the meter decreases. But however, I found a way to avoid this. By jumping, Normy's speed will be kept, and the meter won't increase! This is the reason for all the constant jumping in this TAS.
It's important to plan health and when Normy takes damage. Like I said above, when dashing, Normy will only be bumped back a bit by minor enemies. But however, natural traps, like the lava in stage 1, will damage Normy no matter what, and since health never refills unless Normy dies (never happens). So it was very important to plan when it would be faster to take damage.
Ducking will stop Normy's movement if he is walking.
Normy loses his current weapon when he enters a new room.
Weapons
- Punch gun
- A basic punch gun. It's the first weapon Normy can obtain the game.
- Rocks
- First projectile Normy can obtain, which is also the weapon of New Jersey's boss.
- Chicken
- It's like the punch gun, except you are choking a chicken (eww). You can hold the attack button down to keep the chicken out.
- Pies
- Basically rocks, except larger and they don't bounce off the ground.
- Spears
- Projectile, not as big as the pies but longer, so they hit the target earlier.
- Hammer gun
- Basic gun with a hammer that pops out and makes a noise.
- Squirrel gun
- Chokes a squirrel who fires out a puff of air.
- Bananas
- Basic projectile. Weapon of Jungle boss.
- Goop (single)
- Fires a single blob of goo at the enemy.
- Goop (multiple)
- Fires many blobs of goo at the enemy.
That's all the weapons I can remember.
Level by Level Comments
New Jersey
- Fairly straightforward level. There is nothing really to say in the first part, other then you have to get the baby dinosaur to its mommy so it will duck and then you can pass.
- In the second part, I have to jump up so I can collect the keys that you need to ride on the green dino across the oil (I think that's what it is)
- The third part explains itself, just jump across floating platforms.
- I try to make the fourth part entertaining by throwing rocks to kill enemies.
- The boss battle went fine.
Moon-Unit, Goddess of Waves, is rescued!
England
- I don't really have anything to say about the first part.
- I skipped some parts of the second half of this level using pigs.
Persephone, Goddess of Sunshine, is rescued!
Jungle
- Went really well. The vines were jumped off of the first frame they could've.
- The rat boss here is not invincible when he is idling on the ground, so I chug some spears in his face.
- Shlomo is random, so I don't hit him as fast as I can or he would bounce all over the place, wasting time.
Daphne, Goddess of Surf Music, is rescued!
Transylvania
- The normal level can be a pain, so I manipulate the books out the way (they damage Normy no matter what)
- I manipulated the professer during the Pacman game so he wouldn't get in my way when I didn't want him to.
- The pong game is easy, just nip the ball with the edge of your paddle.
Thalia, Goddess of Warm Sand, is rescued!
Planet X-Y+Z
- Easy level to do fast, mostly because it's just "Hop on platforms and wait for them to carry you."
- I like the music in this level.
- The first part is done quick, mostly by manipulating luck so I wouldn't get attacked by acid whenever I passed those green wormie things.
- I grab some health in the second part.
- I have to get the keys to operate the car, like in New Jersey with the dinosaur.
- Inside the spacecraft basically explains itself. Elevator Action!
- It's faster to fight the boss with the multiple goop.
Valerie, Goddess of Clean Air, is rescued!
Heck
- This level has lots of enemies.
- The punching bags can't be dashed through, so I have to wave through them.
- I hit the computer nerd out of the way so I can grab the health.
- The lawyers are zipped past, nobody cares about them.
- Rampaging pickles make annoying noises damn it. So we go past them fast.
- Politicians? Snowmen? Elvis impersonators? None of them cause a threat.
- Lucifier is very pathetic for a last boss. His pattern is very easy to memorize.
Bambi, Goddess of Snow Cones, is rescued and the game is completed!
I hope you enjoy the TAS.
Thanks to these dudes for feedback and stuff.
- arukAdo
- Zeupar
- Highness
- Twisted Eye
- Sonikkustar
- Eye of the Beholder
- Zaphod65
- XyRauh
- tymime
- and SXL
Every one of your posts was motivation to complete this TAS. I hope you have fun watching it.
mmbossman: Accepted for being one rad Sonic inspired LSD trip. But, I'm setting the decision to 'delayed' so that the author can fix the end of the movie to reach the credits.
mmbossman: I guess sgrunt beat me to it. Formally accepted for publication.
Brandon: Publication underway.