Summary
Asterix and the Great Rescue is a platformer. Asterix and his friend Obelix need to go to Rome to rescue some friends. This run shows of a bunch of new glitches, tricks, and routes. Additionally, it carefully plans where to tank damage and get health for optimal frame savings.
Mechanics
Attack
- Your attack has a very short range. It's nearly impossible to hit enemies that are walking away from you without hurting yourself. Attacking does not slow you down, but since your range is so short, if you don't stop moving when hitting an enemy with 2 HP, then you walk into them because they freeze in place when hit. I abuse this against a jumping enemy so I can crawl under them without stopping.
HP
- You get 6 HP per life. Healing is very hard to come by. We're going to be tanking a lot of hits, so it's important to spend it carefully. The route is planned meticulously to optimize damage tanking, health pickups, and death abuse.
Cloud zip
- You can create temporary platforms. This is great for abusing clipping. Asterix can jump repeatedly until he zips upward out of the wall.
Item Swap
- When you throw an item, your inventory locks. The game doesn't remember which item you threw, but instead just locks your inventory so you can't change your items until the thrown item hits the wall. I abuse this by throwing two bombs. When the first bomb hits the wall, it unlocks the inventory, allowing you to swap items again. I swap to clouds, resulting in the second bomb activating as if it had been a cloud that was thrown (it only checks your current active item, because it doesn't remember what you threw). This allows me to use clouds in levels that don't have them, and thus also use zips where I shouldn't be able to.
Out of Bounds
- You can go slightly out of bounds on one level (the sausage level). This lets you perform a zip without a cloud. Other levels do let you zip out of the top of the map, but this just freezes the game, or gets you trapped, so it isn't used.
Asterix
- He is smaller. This is a major advantage. His hisbox is smaller, he can jump farther than Obelix (because he doesn't bump his head), and many more benefits. Also, he has a powerup that Obelix can't even obtain (not used in the run, Disguise). He's the Main Character and it's obvious.
Obelix
- At first, it seems like he's probably awful. He's big, he has to crouch to go through some places that Asterix can just walk through (you can't attack while crouching), and when he tries to zip, he just gets stuck in the wall or pushed out. But he has a few advantages. Sometimes being bigger helps him touch something just out of reach, and his throw-arc starts higher than Asterix. The original run used him just once, but this run adds more levels where he actually shows some of his potential.
Frames by Level
| Level | Arcree Splits | Arcee Time | Meerkov splits | Meerkov time | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power On | 0 | 875 | 0 | 874 | -1 |
| 1-1 | 875 | 1314 | 874 | 1324 | 10 |
| 1-2 | 2189 | 1182 | 2198 | 1168 | -14 |
| 1-3 | 3371 | 3798 | 3366 | 3714 | -84 |
| 1-4 | 7169 | 1625 | 7080 | 1619 | -6 |
| 1-5 | 8794 | 2895 | 8699 | 2622 | -273 |
| 1-6 | 11689 | 1594 | 11321 | 1590 | -4 |
| 1-7 | 13283 | 3842 | 12911 | 3549 | -293 |
| 1-8 | 17125 | 3669 | 16460 | 2826 | -843 |
| 1-9 | 20794 | 2226 | 19286 | 1969 | -257 |
| 1-10 | 23020 | 3217 | 21255 | 3192 | -25 |
| 1-11 | 26237 | 2421 | 24447 | 1739 | -682 |
| 2-1 | 28658 | 2504 | 26186 | 2494 | -10 |
| 2-2 | 31162 | 1917 | 28680 | 1900 | -17 |
| 2-3 | 33079 | 2534 | 30580 | 2410 | -124 |
| 2-4 | 35613 | 988 | 32990 | 873 | -115 |
| 2-5 | 36601 | 2417 | 33863 | 1964 | -453 |
| 2-6 | 39018 | 2865 | 35827 | 2809 | -56 |
| 2-7 | 41883 | 2048 | 38636 | 1909 | -139 |
| 2-8 | 43931 | 1365 | 40545 | 1362 | -3 |
| 2-9 | 45296 | 2446 | 41907 | 2446 | 0 |
| 3-1 | 47742 | 2618 | 44353 | 2556 | -62 |
| 3-2 | 50360 | 1835 | 46909 | 1662 | -173 |
| 3-3 | 52195 | 1221 | 48571 | 1197 | -24 |
| 3-4 | 53416 | 1387 | 49768 | 1311 | -76 |
| 3-5 | 54803 | 915 | 51079 | 905 | -10 |
| 3-6 | 55718 | 1539 | 51984 | 1459 | -80 |
| 3-7 | 57257 | 1289 | 53443 | 1252 | -37 |
| 3-8 | 58546 | 2095 | 54695 | 1959 | -136 |
| 3-9 | 60641 | 579 | 56654 | 570 | -9 |
| 4-1 | 61220 | 2673 | 57224 | 2666 | -7 |
| 4-2 | 63893 | 2768 | 59890 | 2571 | -197 |
| 4-3 | 66661 | 1209 | 62461 | 680 | -529 |
| 4-4 | 67870 | 2147 | 63141 | 1978 | -169 |
| 4-5 | 70017 | 1439 | 65119 | 1324 | -115 |
| 5-1 | 71456 | 2530 | 66443 | 2519 | -11 |
| 5-2 | 73986 | 4000 | 68962 | 3845 | -155 |
| 5-3 | 77986 | 999 | 72807 | 999 | 0 |
| 5-4 | 78985 | 2155 | 73806 | 955 | -1200 |
| 5-5 | 81140 | 1251 | 74761 | 1249 | -2 |
| 5-6 | 82391 | 1543 | 76010 | 1543 | 0 |
| 6-1 | 83934 | 1708 | 77553 | 1623 | -85 |
| 6-2 | 85642 | 2142 | 79176 | 2076 | -66 |
| 6-3 | 87784 | 1248 | 81252 | 1241 | -7 |
| 6-4 | 89032 | 1354 | 82493 | 1367 | 13 |
| 6-5 | 90386 | 832 | 83860 | 788 | -44 |
| 6-6 | 91218 | 2945 | 84648 | 2498 | -447 |
| 6-7 | 94163 | 1663 | 87146 | 1411 | -252 |
| end | 95826 | 88557 | TOTAL: | -7269 |
Comments
Nearly every level has at least a few frames gained from better movement control. The major improvements are from rerouting and different strategies.
Power On
The 1 frame saved on power-on is due to emulator differences... I chose Normal mode. Why? Hard Mode changes are dumb.
- 6 seconds to enabled in menus (boring)
- 10 less seconds of clock per level (meaningless in TAS)
- 3 less frames of "countdown scoring" each level. (40 levels -> 2 seconds saved)
- No gameplay changes
- Net result: 4 additional seconds of non-gameplay for no benefit.
As such, I stick with Normal.
1-1
Level 1 is very simple. Just run right. But this costs 2 HP. Instead I wait 10 frames to manipulate the AI. This is one of the few enemies that can be manipulated. So right from the first level, and continuing through the entire route, I've changed where I tank damage. This extra HP allows me to take my death on 1-7 instead of 1-5, and has cascading changes through the run.
1-2
This level introduces powerups.
1-3
This level has a lot of jumping. Precise movement saves over a second.
1-4
Obelix has a bigger hitbox, so he can hit the goal from underneath.
1-5
The first clips of the route. The death here in the previous run is rerouted to later. I use a cloud zip to avoid waiting for the elevator. I can do this because I also use an item swap to turn bombs into clouds.
1-6
I purposely skip a health pickup so I can die next level.
1-7
I take a death here. This level shows the first major skip of the route. I solve part of the level backwards, allowing me to skip more than half the stage.
1-8
This level I use the item swap glitch to turn bombs into clouds. This lets me do a small skip, and then zip past half the level.
1-9
I take a death because I need full HP for the next level. I don't pick up the health or continue (saving ~8 seconds). So I still ended up ahead on time, despite the death.
1-10
It's crucial to come to this level with 6 HP, as the flames are unavoidable, and are very slow to disappear (2-3 seconds each).
1-11
Throwing an attack just before landing makes it start slightly higher. Obelix is also taller than Asterix. These together allows the attack to reach the boss *without* standing on your friend's shield. This lets us deal 21 damage more than twice as fast as is intended by the game designers.
2-1
I damage boost past some spikes to skip the level.
2-2
We skip the invincibility item in favor of taking a hit. The level ends with a cloud skip.
2-3
Using the itemswap glitch, I get 4 clouds and can climb the right side of the map. This saves slight backtracking to respawn the cloud item.
2-4
Reroute, abusing cloud zip to get directly to the exit.
2-5
Reroute, grabbing a hidden speed powerup.
2-6
Small zip at the end.
2-7
Carefully chosen which damage to tank.
2-8
Nothing Special
2-9
If you hit every rock, the boss can't be done any faster. No time saved.
3-1
I abuse a small fact of the AI: Enemies freeze in place when hit. I use this so I can crawl under the jumping tree enemies.
3-2
Obelix strikes again! His bigger body lets him cloud skip faster than Asterix.
3-3
Nothing new
3-4
I tank some extra damage.
3-5
Small route change.
3-6
I take a death, and carefully plan where to take damage. I use a tight jump to end the level with only 1 cloud, instead of 2 in the previous run.
3-7
Major cloud zip, skip the whole level.
3-8
Lots of damage boosts.
3-9
I mash buttons with frame perfect accuracy. I mash a R+A+B with a single L input (which for some reason, will grant a giant speed boost).
4-1
Pretty standard level.
4-2
New major damage boosts on the trees. I had to make sure to have 4 HP to get the maximum benefit.
4-3
Brand new zip, clipping outside of this map without the use of clouds, and climbing directly to the exit blazing fast.
4-4
New route, picking up a speed boost.
4-5
New route, abusing item swap to get a cloud, and reach the exit without levitating.
5-1
Damage tanking to optimize the next few stages (where we will be picking up a lot of free HP pickups). The frame gains aren't huge, but they are free because we'll max out HP later.
5-2
New zip using itemswap + cloud zip glitches. Unfortunately there is no way to skip waiting for the slow platform :)
5-3
Very simple level.
5-4
Giant zip skipping this level entirely again. This saves 20 full seconds!
5-5
Simple level.
5-6
Optimized this boss so we don't take damage. The previous TAS took a lot of unnecessary hits here.
6-1
Item swap to get a cloud, and skip the "puzzle" to find the clouds at the start of the level (hidden in the scenery below you). Who needs to solve puzzles, we can glitch!
6-2
Reroute from previous run, but ultimately pretty similar.
6-3
Run right. Not much to optimize, but still got a few frames.
6-4
Run right again. This is only the second level I lost frames on. This is because I save 1 HP by not taking a hit here, because I need to save it for 6-6 to tank damage through several obstacles.
6-5
Respawns the clouds so we have enough to reach the ceiling and zip to the exit.
6-6
The careful choices for where to take damage gives me enough health to skip picking up the first bomb powerup. Then I tank damage so I can keep 2 bombs to turn it into a cloud. I use it on the *backside* of the platform, bypassing the puzzle to hit the switches.
6-7
I run a perfect boss fight, taking no unnecessary damage unlike the previous run. I planned carefully where to tank hits on all the previous levels so I'd end the game having spent all my HP for the most frames as possible.
Thanks
Thanks to Moonberry2 from the speedbump.run competition. I had fun sharing strategies and glitches with the real time runners, and creating this run that I think is pretty entertaining.
slamo: This is indeed a significant gameplay improvement, it's quite a bit more optimized with better health management and some more skips. The entertainment is about on par with the previous submission, and its rating seems to indicate it was tiered correctly. Accepting to Moons as an improvement over the previous submission.
feos: Pub.
feos: Since the rerecord count is bugged, and the real one isn't known, I'm putting 0 to the movie header (which the site treats as "unknown"), so it doesn't mess up the statistics.