This is a TAS of Super Monkey Ball 2 Expert mode, playing all the way through the Expert, Expert Extra, Master and Master Extra levels.
This TAS uses the NTSC version of the game. PAL version actually has slightly different physics allowing for faster times, but this version was chosen due to its preference in the speedrunning scene and the common demand.
For comparison, the best known non-TAS time for this category is 16:54 (RTA timing) by Jcool114 (as of 03/14).
- Emulator used: Dolphin 4.0.2 64-bit
- Aims for fastest completion time
- Warp goals are used to skip levels
- Death is used to complete bonus stages faster
Author comments:
byrz:
I decided to start this project after TASing individual levels for a couple months. At first I started this project solo but it didn't take long before I started getting some nice help from other Monkey Ballers capable of TASing. Without the other authors, it would have taken me much longer, if not forever, to finish this, and obviously some stages would have been less optimal. TASing Monkey Ball games has been a really close hobby to me, taking up to 50 hours per week. Now it's time to take a breath and see what's up next.
keylie:
I came to this project when it was halfway done, and worked on a few stages. The level design of this game is more complex than the first episode, leading to some really interesting routes.
Individual Levels
| Level | Time left | Non-TAS IL WR | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 Wormhole | 53.48 | 53.25 | Looks pretty nice :) |
| E2 Free Fall | 55.30 | 55.30 | Making as little adjustments as possible while falling saves time |
| E4 Mad Shuffle | 54.23 | 54.21 | Yay, saved a frame in a luck based level |
| E5 Partition | 57.65 | 57.65 | Falling out in bonus levels is faster than getting into the goal |
| E6 Jump Machine | 48.56 | 46.75 | Found a new extremely hard and cool strat :) |
| E9 Toggle | 55.30 | 55.28 | Yay, saved a frame in another luck based level |
| E10 Pachinko | 58.05 | 58.05 | Just another bonus level |
| E11 Combination | 56.01 | 56.01 | The Non-TAS WR used to be 56.00 when this level was done |
| E12 Punched Seesaws | 54.10 | 54.03 | Requires some lucky collisions |
| E14 Brandished | 56.15 | 56.15 | This is the easiest record to achieve in the game |
| E15 Tiers | 53.76 | 53.20 | It took a week to reach an old IL TAS of 53.75 |
| E18 Detour | 52.81 | 52.78 | Nothing special |
| E20 Earthquake | 57.46 | 57.46 | Just another bonus level |
| E21 Spiral Bridge | 48.53 | 47.88 | This ended up looking really cool :) |
| E22 Wavy Options | 54.20 | 54.13 | Abusing really weird collision detection in this level |
| E23 Obstacle | 55.55 | 55.50 | Nice looking time :) |
| E24 Domino | 55.36 | 55.06 | Damn, never expected improving this stage by that much :o |
| E25 Sieve | 48.73 | 48.53 | Hitting the last thing while going back is faster, even if it looks weird |
| E26 Flock | 53.06 | 52.95 | Surprisingly hard strat |
| E27 Double Spiral | 51.38 | 51.25 | Fun stage and a nice time :) |
| E28 Hierarchy | 54.86 | 54.83 | Annoying stage |
| E29 8 Bracelets | 52.11 | 52.08 | Surprisingly hard to beat the Non-TAS |
| E32 Soft Cream | 55.01 | 54.88 | Wow, got a 55 with a new strat :o |
| E33 Momentum | 53.51 | 53.46 | Surprisingly hard |
| E34 Entangled Path | 54.83 | 54.78 | Cool |
| E36 Vortex | 54.16 | 52.96 | A really hard strat that requires a really specific collision |
| E38 Trampolines | 55.11 | 54.91 | Totally the intended way |
| E39 Swing Shaft | 53.30 | 53.16 | Neat |
| E40 Fighters | 57.65 | 57.65 | Yay, the last bonus stage |
| E41 Serial Jump | 55.85 | 55.85 | Almost looks like .86 would be possible... |
| E44 Chipped Pipes | 55.28 | 55.16 | Pretty cool |
| E46 Guillotine | 54.36 | 54.35 | Wow, actually cut a frame here |
| E47 Corkscrew | 48.26 | 47.66 | A TAS strat discovered a while ago |
| E48 Orbiters | 56.03 | 56.00 | Glitch goal!!!! |
| E49 Twin Basin | 54.61 | 54.48 | Really smooth and low clips |
| E50 Air Hockey | 56.53 | 56.53 | Last stage of Expert, really simple time to achieve |
| EX1 Charge | 52.35 | 52.23 | Pretty hard to optimize |
| EX2 Strata | 54.06 | 53.80 | Dat grind |
| EX4 Giant Swing | 54.06 | 53.68 | Surprisingly big improvement |
| EX5 5 Drums | 51.81 | 51.65 | Pretty hard |
| EX6 Free Throw | 53.00 | 52.80 | Very beautiful time |
| EX9 Construction | 54.65 | 54.56 | Who cares about the huge maze |
| EX10 Train Worm | 54.53 | 54.50 | Cool |
| M1 Centrifugal | 55.03 | 55.03 | Wasn’t easy |
| M2 Swing Bridges | 51.10 | 50.98 | Fun |
| M4 Passage | 53.70 | 53.68 | Easy |
| M6 Intermittent | 54.45 | 54.43 | The Non-TAS WR is really good :o |
| M7 Long Torus | 51.23 | 50.60 | Wow |
| M8 Spasmodic | 56.18 | 56.18 | Nothing special |
| M9 Double Twin | 51.73 | 51.15 | Had to slow down for 3 frames to make the strat possible but it ended up insane |
| M10 Clock Face | 55.46 | 55.45 | Bumper abuse |
| MX1 Variable Width | 52.76 | 52.68 | Basic |
| MX2 Striker | 55.30 | 55.30 | We go to green goal in order to get to a red goal in the next level |
| MX4 Planets | 53.16 | 53.15 | Slowly alternating diagonals in midair helps you reach further |
| MX7 Synchronized | 56.65 | 56.63 | Actually saved a frame in this simple level |
| MX9 Dizzy System | 56.41 | 56.41 | Requires a really lucky clip |
| MX10 Nintendo | 30.41 | 30.41 | The waiting level… Perfect time to play around! |
Known improvements:
EX9 Construction: byrz has done 54.76 (7 frames better) TAS of this stage after the movie was finished.
Note:
The amount of rerecords in the .dtm file is 30-50% smaller than the real amount of rerecords done during the project.
Ilari: Changed time from 14:08.217 to 14:23.017.
Nahoc: Claimed for judging...
Nahoc: Accepting for publication.
RGamma Publishing...