Submission #8260: 3x3supercuber's SNES Super Metroid Impossible in 1:09:12.10

(Link to video)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
baseline
Bizhawk 2.8
249536
60.0988138974405
87832
PowerOn
Super Metroid (Japan, USA) (EN,Ja).sfc patched with Super Metroid Impossible v1.5 - Headerless.ips
Submitted by 3x3supercuber on 5/3/2023 9:33:03 PM
Submission Comments

Game information

Created with Bizhawk 2.8
No emulator settings were modified. The emulation core used was BSNES but also syncs on BSNESv115+
Rom checksum: 6382873F943C0CD1F4FA301139DFB29978E8B934
Super Metroid Impossible is a romhack made by Saturn in 2006 that makes the game, especially bosses much more difficult. Bosses have more aggressive AIs and more health. Enemies and hazards do more damage and the world and items have been moved to withhold useful upgrades from the player.

Strategies used

The TAS aims to complete the game by beating all four major bosses and then mother brain as quickly as possible by taking damage and abusing minor glitches that RTA runners use such as moonfall and grapple jumps.
The route is mostly identical to the optimal RTA route, I based this off Zoast's record. The major differences are skipping the energy tanks in the X-Ray Scope room and Watering hole, as well as the reserve tank in Norfair Reserve Tank room. Skipping the second reserve tank made the double damage boost off the crab to grab plasma and skip spring ball more difficult. Since each hit deals 120 damage, one tank isn't enough to survive another hit so bomb spread is used to kill the crab and get a health drop after the second hit using pause buffering to stay alive at 0 health. Thanks to Sniq for helping me with that trick. Skipping the energy tanks really only affects the hell runs. TAS movement is enough to make it through with significantly less health than a human could.
This run obsoletes a TAS by Cpadolf from 2008. Its time was 1:21:40. A lot of the improvement comes from the moonfall in Green Brinstar Main Shaft to collect power bombs early. This skips a long trip through the Wrecked Ship and Maridia, allows for getting super missiles before Kraid and allows delaying Phantoon until Samus has more upgrades.

Tools used

Special thanks

  • Zoast and those who devised the RTA route
  • Sniq for help with collecting the plasma beam

nymx: Claiming for judging.

nymx: First off, well to TASVideos! Your submission really got my heart pumping, since this is the game that I started my TASing carreer with, back in 2014. SMI was also on my list to work with. In fact, I had TASed this hack, until Moon Fall was discovered. At that point, I stopped altogether.
So...let's get started.
Wow!...I have been through the works with this entry. On one hand, my past life with the Super Metroid community has shown me the deepest TASing techniques possible. My time with sniq and EternisedDragon was very fruitful and helped me see tons of optimization over the years. Because I TASed this game constantly for about 4 years, I do see major issues from not using commonly known strategies that were developed "Pre Moon Fall" days. On the hand, I needed to take a step back so that I don't look too deeply into this movie and allow it to be showcased for what it is. Yes...I and my trusted SM advisers all agree that this run could be faster; however, it is the first run since CPAdolf's version. CP's movie was never published, but we'll use it as a gauge here. Your movie is faster, but places are not as optimal as they could be.
I am disappointed though in the response that this hack received. It is my favorite among them all. Now that I'm finally getting to see this...I am happy to see how much Moon Fall changed the routing for this run. It certainly made for an interesting watch!
I am accepting this run for publication to "Standard".

Spikestuff: Processing...
Last Edited by Spikestuff on 5/13/2023 4:59 AM
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