Description
Orb-3D is a puzzle game in the style of Pong where you must complete 30 levels of varying challenges. While the gameplay is very simple, determining the most efficient course to take can be time consuming. There's a few levels where I can see easy improvements but splicing inputs together from different runs is very time consuming due to de-synchs. It will take many hours just to save a few seconds in my opinion. This is also one of the few NES games that works with 3D glasses.
Objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 1.9.1
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time
Clone Ships
Proper use of a clone ship can save a ton of time by being able to juggle two ships simultaneously. Since more than one clone can be uncovered on the same level, it's good to keep it alive as you can't hit targets for a few frames when one does appear. You just can't have more than one clone active at a time.
Speed Boost
When the ship misses a paddle, it loses some fuel and immediately enters full speed from the right at the same vertical position. Exploiting this behavior becomes a time-saving technique.
Speed Loss
I believe paddle movement and/or the presence of a clone ship slightly may affect ship speed every few frames. This can help when you need to make a tighter depth transition than normal.
Exit Stage Left
You can save well over 100 frames by setting up your ship to exit the left side of the screen right as you complete the level.
Bowling
I manipulate a strike by first hitting two specific pins to set up what I assume is an ideal RNG. I'm guessing it may be possible to set up this shot in one go by changing how earlier levels are played, but I have yet to figure out how.
Chess
I manipulate the opponent's final placement of the Queen to my advantage by bumping the piece with my ship before their turn.
Bonus Points
During the later levels, the count down of remaining bonus points really starts to drag on. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to reduce these points any quicker than running out the time which is slower either way.
Vern's Gas Station
You can refuel gas by pressing B to go to Vern's. There's no reason to waste time going here in a speed run.
Level Summary
- Level 01 "Bubbles" Pop all of the bubbles
- Level 02 "Bowlling" Knock down all pins within 2 moves
- Level 03 "Shields" Destroy all shields
- Level 04 "Metamorphosis" Help caterpillars change into butterflies
- Level 05 "Cheshire Cat" Hit the Chesire Cat before he disappears
- Level 06 "Dice" Get 24 points
- Level 07 "Tic-Tac-Toe" Beat the CPU at Tic-Tac-Toe
- Level 08 "Connect 5" Connect 5 dots in any direction
- Level 09 "Billiards" Sink all balls in the order specified
- Level 10 "Skulls" Destroy the skulls in the order specified
- Level 11 "Fireworks" Destroy all of the fireworks
- Level 12 "8-puzzle" Simple slider puzzle
- Level 13 "Mask Flip" Destroy all masks
- Level 14 "Animals" Choose the active animal's adversary
- Level 15 "Ducks" Align the ducks in a row
- Level 16 "Magnets" Destroy all magnets
- Level 17 "Bombs" Defuse all bombs
- Level 18 "Eyeballs" Poke out all of the eyeballs
- Level 19 "Spelling" Spell the word shown
- Level 20 "Arrows" Destroy all arrows
- Level 21 "Bingo" Collect a Bingo
- Level 22 "Balloons" Burst all balloons
- Level 23 "Targets" Destroy all targets
- Level 24 "Bunnies" Fill the screen with bunnies
- Level 25 "Ring Toss" Get each ring around the pole
- Level 26 "Chess" Defeat the CPU at Chess
- Level 27 "Race" Have the blue car win
- Level 28 "Slot Machine" Match 3 of a kind
- Level 29 "Ball Maze" Get the ball out of the maze
- Level 30 "Match Game" Match up all sets of cards
- End Boss "Krohn" Defeat the boss
RAM Addresses
- 03FA: Flipper Y Position
- 03EB: Ship X Position
- 03E0: Ship Y Position
- 03F3: Ship Depth
- 03EF: Ship Speed
- 03EC: Clone X Position
- 03EE: Clone Y Position
- 03F4: Clone Depth
- 03F0: Clone Speed
- 03D6: Gas Counter
- 03FD: Gas Level
- 046C: Gas Level (Duplicate?)
- 04A0: Speed again? (It's slightly off sometimes)
I chose to work on this game since I played it for quite awhile as a child and I have many fond memories trying to beat it. I'm also surprised at how little this game appears across the internet so I guess I'm trying to bring attention to it in case others may find it enjoyable.
Suggested Screenshots:
Scepheo: Judging.
Scepheo: Although hard to tell due to the movement mechanics, this movie is pretty fast. Accepting this for the vault.
feos: Pubbing...