CANCELLED due to me improving it after all, and by quite a lot.
Emulator used: Snes9X WIPI 1.4.3
Special viewing instructions:
Before viewing the SMV in Snes9X, go to Sound->Settings... and make sure "Volume envelope height reading" is OFF because it causes lots of desyncs in both recording and playback (in this and probably some other SNES games). If you have the right ROM (CRC32 = 9C1F11E4) and this setting is off and it desyncs anyway, you probably did something else that typically causes sync problems such as starting to play the movie file too early, in which case just try again and it'll probably work.
Info:
Bomberman was one of my favorite games as a kid, so when I noticed the lack of any Bomberman time attacks, I decided to make a time attack of it myself to show that they can in fact be entertaining. I chose Super Bomberman 2 as the best game in the series for time attack purposes, mainly because its single-player levels are hand-crafted and diverse (and not too numerous) as opposed to the boring randomly-generated square rooms of most other Bomberman games.
I think this movie is interesting because it demonstrates a variety of feats that would clearly require superhuman reflexes and/or precision to perform, and the game provides so many opportunities for multitasking in non-obvious ways. It starts out a little bit slow, but as Bomberman collects more and more powerups, the action keeps getting faster (eventually fast enough that the game did not feel slow even while I was recording it entirely with frame advance). Unfortunately, you'll just have to get used to hearing the "kaboom" noise over and over, because blowing stuff up is Bomberman's primary action and there's not much I can do about that. Note that Bomberman is NOT immune to his own explosions, so even when the enemies don't pose a threat, he must constantly place himself in danger in order to beat the levels as fast as possible.
I play through the entire "Normal Game" which consists of 5 worlds that each have 7 levels, the 7th of which is always a miniboss and boss level. The goal in each non-boss level is to use explosives to kill all of the enemies in the level and flip all of the switches on; when both of these are done, the level's exit door will open. These don't have to be done in any order within the level, so I accomplish as many goals as I can simultaneously.
In addition to having a unique set of enemies, each world gives its levels a quirk of some sort (for instance, the fire world has furnaces and regenerating blocks) which I take advantage of and/or avoid their negative effects. The minibosses and bosses are all unique and pretty fun to fight normally, but you won't see much of that in a time attack since they can all be destroyed with superhuman reflexes basically before they get a chance to move. (Sorry about how I defeat the first main boss but it is the fastest way and he's just that stupid.)
I didn't manipulate luck at any point when recording this time attack, since everything is randomized so far in advance that it would be quite annoying to manipulate it, and as far as I can tell the only things affected are the locations of powerups, not which powerups appear in each level. I did manipulate the movements of some enemies, but their movements simply depend on Bomberman's position and the level's layout in a non-random way.
No passwords/cheats/warps of any kind are used.
As far as I know, no programming errors were abused in the making of this time attack.
While taking a hit is normally lethal, I do get hit once or twice for a change of pace -- see the invincible explosions trick below.
I get 100% kills, but that's required to beat the game -- there weren't any particular goals besides the fast and entertaining completion of the story mode game.
Tricks used:
Level wrap-around:
With the glove powerup, Bomberman can throw bombs into the air over a few blocks. If it doesn't land on an empty space, it starts bouncing one tile at a time in the direction it was thrown until it finds an empty place to stay. But if it hits the edge of the level and keeps going, and the level isn't in World 4, the bomb will actually wrap around to the other side of the level, no matter how big the level is. I take advantage of this a few times to clear the end of a level before I get there by throwing things offscreen from the start of the level. When it looks like I'm wasting bombs by throwing them out of bounds, I'm probably actually clearing an intricate setup of switches and enemies on the other side of the level to avoid the delay of waiting for them to activate later. Note that Bomberman himself can also bounce on blocks in some circumstances, but (unlike in the "Battle Game" or any other Bomberman game) he slides back away from the edge instead of wrapping around, otherwise I would've used this to save a lot of time in World 5.
Early placement chain reactions:
Until I get the remote control detonator, each bomb has a timed delay before it goes off. Bombs can set each other off, however, so to minimize waiting I set up chain reactions of bombs by placing one within reach as soon as I can, then placing other bombs in the most effective places that connect with other already-placed bombs, and retreating to safety before they all explode at once when the first one does.
Invincible continuous explosions:
One hit from an explosion or touch from an enemy normally kills Bomberman, but the heart powerup lets you survive an extra hit. Cut scenes (i.e. boss dying) also give this effect permanently while they're happening, and being in a vehicle gives 1 extra hit of this type also. Surviving a hit in any of these ways causes Bomberman to blink white for a good number of seconds and become invincible while blinking. While invincible, you can lay a bomb and let it explode through you, then mash the bomb-laying button to cause instant explosions each fueled by the previous one's flame, then walk around while doing so to demolish anything and everything in the level until the invincibility wears off. This is pretty cheap though, is easy to do even on a console, and can get pretty annoying if it's done too often, so I only abuse it twice and do so quickly each time (not counting using it for fun during cut scenes). I realize that it can be abused much more to decrease the length of this time attack, but I decided it would be a lot more fun to watch if this trick's use was kept to a minimum. (Note: This is not a glitch; it's simply a side effect of invincibility which the developers were almost certainly aware of but chose to leave in.)
Standing on exploding blocks:
When a destructable block is hit by an explosion, it melts away. With the walk-through-destructable-blocks powerup, Bomberman can safely stand on these blocks even while they're still melting away, which can be used in conjunction with the remote control denotator to clear blocks extremely fast: All at the same time, you can place a bomb next to a block, detonate the bomb, and walk on top of that block to safety.
Trampoline evasion:
When on a trampoline in World 3, Bomberman won't take any hits until he lands, so even if you just barely stepped on the trampoline a frame ago and an explosion hits you, the game doesn't count it as a hit since you're technically in the air even if it doesn't look like it yet graphically. This is also not really a glitch, just minor hit detection clumsiness.
I must admit that this is the first time attack I've ever attempted, so on the grounds of that alone it's likely to be improveable. Whether or not this is accepted, if I get any feedback I may make an improved version (if nobody beats me to it) but I don't plan on doing so for a while. In any case, I hope you find this one enjoyable.