Kwirk is a puzzle game (called Puzzle Boy in Japan) which involves pushing blocks which fill in holes in the ground allowing you to reach the exit. It has 30 progressively more challenging levels which are played in the 'Going Up' Mode.
This is an improvement of 100 steps over the existing run thanks to many new strategies.
| Level | Steps | Saved |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | 23 | 0 |
| 1-2 | 19 | 0 |
| 1-3 | 22 | 0 |
| 1-4 | 23 | 0 |
| 1-5 | 29 | 0 |
| 1-6 | 34 | 0 |
| 1-7 | 47 | 0 |
| 1-8 | 48 | 0 |
| 1-9 | 26 | 0 |
| 1-10 | 47 | 0 |
| 2-1 | 41 | 2 |
| 2-2 | 197 | 34 |
| 2-3 | 98 | 6 |
| 2-4 | 241 | 2 |
| 2-5 | 106 | 0 |
| 2-6 | 105 | 2 |
| 2-7 | 236 | 3 |
| 2-8 | 251 | 0 |
| 2-9 | 118 | 12 |
| 2-10 | 33 | 0 |
| 3-1 | 102 | 0 |
| 3-2 | 180 | 5 |
| 3-3 | 125 | 0 |
| 3-4 | 322 | 16 |
| 3-5 | 47 | 0 |
| 3-6 | 300 | 0 |
| 3-7 | 355 | 5 |
| 3-8 | 217 | 0 |
| 3-9 | 395 | 1 |
| 3-10 | 414 | 20 |
ZenicReverie is responsible for the big improvements in 2-2 and 2-9, nice work!
CyberShadow mentioned several of the step savings but not the strategies to get them. This helped me know where to look for some of these, otherwise I certainly would never have found them. 2-3 and 3-2 in particular each took me several hours to find.
I think some of the later levels might still be improvable but I couldn't find any more savings. I'd be interested to see what an automated approach could come up with, the computing power requirements would be pretty high but should be doable.
A proper time for this run is 3980064467 cycles /(4194304 cycles/sec) = 948.92 sec = 15:48.92
ThunderAxe31: Judging.
ThunderAxe31: Setting to delayed, pending a possible improvement found by one of the authors.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 77-frame improvement.
I have to note that level 3-1 is 56 frames slower compared to the published movie, even though it features the same solution. This is probably caused by emulation differences alone, since I've observed the same thing happening with both GBHawk and Gambatte. Also, clearing level 3-1 before all the other levels doesn't change the outcome.
Well done with the improvements. Accepting for obsoleting the published movie.
feos: Pub, somewhen.