Objectives
- Takes damage to save time
- Uses pencil to smack bosses
- Genre: Platform
- Emulator: Bizhawk 1.11.6 Gambatte core
About the run
I don't know this Gremlins franchise but I got interested in this game after watching JonathanXSpidewebia's stream so I decided to run it.
For console players, this game is difficult to say the least. A lot of the jumps and the boss fights are unforgiving. Some boss patterns are downright undodgeable and some jumps require frame precision.
There are some frame and pixel squeezing tricks I found while I was already in stage 3 and beyond. Luckily, the game happens to be sync-friendly (except for the Stage 3 boss) so I didn't lose much of my progress. I'm glad how my TAS turned out and I hope you like it.
- Stage 1
- I didn't get the suitcase (the item that basicly makes you invincible for 5 hits) to make the run more impressive. Nothing much else to say.
- Bonus game
- You can press A and B, but the game doesn't accept input every other frame so I just autofired both buttons which clears the game as fast as possible.
- Stage 2
- I didn't get the pencil because the detour takes too long (I tested it). At the staircase, I jumped straight up briefly in order for the bat to move left more so I could bypass it. I also needed to wait at the skater guys briefly. The boss pattern looks to be consistent and the best strat I came up with was to make the dude move right repeatedly. He won't attack until the little bat thingies go offscreen so I optimized for that.
- Stage 3
- This stage has the best music. I didn't get the pencil here either. The tight passages turned out tricky but I managed to jump partially in the wall to bypass the enemy fire. Using the musical note item on either the enemy in the top or the middle passage was equally fast.
The boss is luck-based - depending on timing, he might take some extra turns zapping around but by adding some delay frames before each hit, I could manipulate him to get on the ground as fast as possible each time. After each hit, he would move towards you before starting to zap around, but since he will move offscreen to the right upon death, it was important to make sure he would end up close to the right side of the screen after the fight. Each possibility was tested and the best way I came up with was to make him attack you leftwards, leftwards, leftwards, rightwards. (There was another attack pattern that was equally fast but I forgot it.)
- Bonus game
- Same deal as before.
- Stage 4
- There are some annoying sections in this stage, some of which are very difficult on console but are made look (too) easy in the TAS. I managed to pull off a fast boss fight. You can shoot again after your last shot has disappeared, so I tried to get as close as possible to the head when shooting. Movie end is at the last B button press.
Tricks
Look here.
Possible improvements
None that I know.
Links
Thanks to
- JonathanXSpidewebia for showing me this game
- NitroGenesis for his WIP
- the makers of Bizhawk and Gambatte
Fog: Judging.
Noxxa: Replaced submission file with a 2-frame improvement.
Fog: This is a nice, seemingly optimal run. However, it is one of those runs where my opinions contradict the audience's opinion on an entertainment point of view.
I personally found the run, while technically sound, quite boring. It seems that the audience disagrees with me and found it quite entertaining. With that in mind, I'm accepting for Moons.
feos: Pub.