Ice Age GBA was the next 2D game I wanted to make a TAS for the Any% category. I wondered what was the best possible time for a TAS and if a 20-minute run would be doable RTA. Well, it seems that the limit for TAS is 19 minutes and sub 21 isn't free RTA even with new massive time saves.
In the Any% category, we have to go through the 10 basic levels as fast as possible. There are 3 auto-scrolling levels, and 7 levels made of 10 screens each. No warps could be used to skip an entire level, and no screen skips were discovered to this day.
The TAS was made using BizHawk 2.8 with the tool TAStudio. The chosen language of the ROM doesn't matter since there isn't any textboxes. The RTA timer would start at frame 1148 and end at frame 69660, or a time of 19:07.09
Many mechanics and tricks can be exploited to save frames:
- Jumps are always the same, whether we press A for 1 frame or many.
- Horizontal jumps save 1 to 6 frames over walking depending on the upcoming obstacles. So jumping as often as possible saves a lot of frames. Even on a slippery ground, jumping is faster. The main difference between a normal and a slippery ground is that on a normal ground, it is slower to jump immediately on the first frame after Manny has landed. Jumping on the 2nd frame is faster by less than a pixel per jump. Being ahead by a pixel is enough to save 1 frame at the end of a screen.
- Using Manny's trunk moves his hitbox forward and downward. Thus:
- Using the trunk before a screen transition saves 1 to 4 frames depending on Manny's speed.
- Manny can jump and reach an edge sooner instead of falling.
- Manny can avoid getting hit by some high obstacles after a jump.
- Manny can grab the nuts sooner.
- Using the trunk makes Manny invincible against some obstacles like specific spikes on the ground and the groups of 3 bats. Since those obstacles are indestructible, Manny gets through those without any damage as long as the trunk animation isn't over.
- Using the trunk makes Manny land on some obstacles during a few-frame window instead of taking damage. Within that few-frame window, Manny can jump on a single frame or start a falling animation resulting in taking damage.
- Using the trunk against a ceiling allows Manny to fall more slowly, so he can cover a longer distance in the air. That trick has resulted in massive shortcuts in Level 2 screen 8 and Level 5 screen 3.
- After getting hit, Manny is invincible for a short time and can get though obstacles on the ground like spikes and fires. That's useful for damage boosting.
- The obstacles are interacting only when they appear on screen. Otherwise, they are fixed. We can manipulate or at least predict them, especially the geysers in Level 5 screen 5.
- Bouncing on animals is slower than killing them while walking or jumping. So it is preferable to wait a few frames then kill them with the trunk.
- Sliding on a slope is faster than jumping over it if the slope is long enough.
- A stunk affects Manny only if he touches the ground first. However, there is always a frame perfect jump possible to avoid each stunk.
- The 3 or 4-block walls can be destroyed using the trunk only twice instead of 3 times. It is faster by 3 frames per wall.
- In the climbing segments, we want Manny to jump as early as possible. Getting hit interrupts the jump and allows Manny to land quicker on low stairs.
- It is faster to jump instead of walking before falling from 180-degree-turn cliffs, because Manny builds much higher vertical speed.
- It is faster to release the nuts while walking instead of in the air.
- It is possible to clip through the ground under a group of bats. That trick is used only in Level 5 screen 6 because the space between those bats and the ground is wide enough to reach the other side of the bats. It doesn't work on other groups of bats, especially from level 7 and 8.
- It is possible to keep the ability to jump in the air after falling from icy edges. That trick is used only in Level 7 screens 5, 8 and 9.
- In Level 8 screen 10, it is possible to skip the snail by stomping on it because Manny's hitbox become very thin during a short time, too short unfortunately to pass under the groups of bats by stomping.
- Some rhinos can be passed without throwing a nut at them. Unfortunately, it is always slower that way. All useful rhinos can't be passed without a nut.
- A nut will respawn always 180 frames after grabbing the previous one, and can be grabbed immediately when it respawns.
About the RNG:
There are very few RNG in this game. The only RNG I experienced have an impact on the cycle of 1 hedgehog in level 4, and falling obstacles in level 5 screen 1 and level 8 screen 2. Only the cycle of 1 ball in L5S1 could be annoying but I got a good cycle without trying any manipulation.
I hope you'll enjoy this TAS. Regards,
NinjaCocktail
Samsara: Judging as long as I don't have to ponder the deep uncanny valley that video thumbnail is hurling me into.
Samsara: Well, I did say "ponder" the deep uncanny valley, not "experience it in a completely immersive and all-encompassing way over the course of the entire run", so I'm still cool with judging this. Of course, it's very (n)icely done, even if the game makes some... Reeeeeeeal interesting decisions sometimes. A separate character with more interesting looking movement that's only ever used for the game's autoscrollers is maybe one of the more baffling things I've ever seen in a video game. Regardless of that, though, everything looks clean and optimized. Accepting!
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