This TAS is an optimization on Darkman425's TAS, which can be found here.
The patch for this hack can be found here. Alternatively here is a direct download link. The patch is the one made by MM102 & Faro.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.9.1
- The objective of this TAS is to get to the final level and die. The final level is impossible to beat and as such death is the only escape.
Stage by stage comments
Lv. 1
Unfortunately the ability to run is allocated to specific stages, namely all of them except Lv. 1, 2, 24, & 26. As such there isn't much we can do to save time. Start moving as soon as you can, which appears to be 16 frames after the level loads, and enter the pipe as soon as you can. This will be the main course of action for much of the game's "map" terrain.
Lv. 2
This stage is similar to the first in the sense we can't run and it's all map tiles, but near the end we encounter non auto walk tiles. You need to press right as soon as you can on each tile to keep moving.
Lv. 3
In this level we are finally able to run. So do that.
Lv. 4
At first glance this maze looks intimidating, but luckily there is only one path that leads to the goal, so we don't need to route anything.
Lv. 5
You must wait until the Piranha Plants have started going back down to run across.
Lv. 6
If you start running as soon as you can you are able to get to the Piranha Plant as it's rising without needing to slow down.
Lv. 7
Simply run across while moving up to dodge the Bullet Bills as needed. Make sure to dodge up along the path moving to the right so you don't backtrack. After you hit the switch run back and you shouldn't need to worry about getting hit.
Lv. 8
You have to wait a little before running across to not get hit. Sub Pixel manipulation might be able to be used to get a better entrance to the path to the pipe but I'm not for sure on that. The only other way I could see to save time would be to somehow skip the second cycle. Maybe by running through the Thwimps as they come back, but idk how feasible that would be.
Lv. 9
When you get to the first Rex if you run full speed you will die, instead slow down some but keep moving forward, this will allow you to survive. When you get to the Jumping Piranha Plant you have to wait for it to come back down. Only way I could see time being saved here is somehow squeezing around it if the hit-boxes allow for that or maybe skipping a cycle somehow.
Lv. 10
When you spawn in press left to cause the Big Boo to start moving towards you. Then as soon as you can move down and around to the star. You can jump out of these stars with a spin or regular jump. Jump over and hit the other star. The pipes to the next levels can only be entered while in Map Mario Mode. The hit-boxes of the star appear to be a square so it doesn't matter where you hit it as long as it's the side closest to you. Thanks to Tuffcracker for this level, he found a solution that was faster than mine by 100 frames.
Lv. 11
Make sure to hit the stars on the proper sides and holding jump for a few more frames than just 1 causes the initial acceleration to be greater. This can save a few frames.
Lv. 12
You need to get the Fire Flower to kill the Spinies blocking the path to the pipe. Spin jump out of the star to bounce low on the set of spinies. Bounce over them and hold left when you are able to grab the Flower and the left most position. High bounce off the lower Spiny and shoot fireballs into the spinies above you. Then land back in the star and proceed. Make sure to grab all the coins for Swag Points^TM.
Lv. 13
It's almost possible to jump from the starting star to the second to last star but it's just barely out of reach from my tests. If this could be done it would save ~2.15 seconds. But until that day simply do good jumps and proper timing to get through.
Lv. 14
Fall down and jump over to the Plant. Spin jump into the block and bounce of the left edge of the Plant. Bounce up and over to hit the star. You can't do a full bounce though, otherwise you will hit the Muncher.
Thanks to Tuffcracker for this level as well. I had the idea to bounce off the Plant but he actually figured out how to get it to work, which I then further optimized.
Lv. 15
Go right to the Star and as the Rainbow Mole is about to kill you jump to the right and land back on the star. You cannot spin jump on the Rainbow Mole, it will kill you. As the Rainbow Mole comes back around go left to grab the Shell that falls out of the sky. When you get back to the Star press up and release run to throw the shell up into the block, then do a small jump to cross the gap with low enough speed to get to the blocks right after they swap state so you don't bonk and lose your speed. Then run around to the pipe. You might have to slow down slightly so you don't run into the other Rainbow Mole.
Lv. 16
Run back and forth between the stars (Sadly having to wait a cycle at one point), doing jumps to hit the On Off buttons, then jump down to the P-Switch. Grab it and run and jump to the left. Throw it to the left so it bounces off the Munchers. Then land and do a jump off the P-Switch to land on the Star.
Lv. 17
Spin jump out of the star to land low on the far left of the Thwomp. Bounce over the Thwomp and hold left with proper timing to pull back and land in the lower Star. Then proceed.
Lv. 18
Wait until you can do a full run without hitting the Fire-Bar.
Lv. 19
Run left and duck/spin jump with proper timing, then run into the star. You will have to stop holding left for some frames to avoid hitting the Podobo that's coming down.
Lv. 20
Run to the right and jump to land in the Star. Have Yoshi grab the shell right before you enter so he will have it in his mouth as you exit. Jump out to the left and shoot the shell to hit the On/Off Block. Jump and dismount with proper timing to enter the upper Star and exit the level.
Lv. 21
Simply full send this level. The Chargin-Chucks take way too long to attack to be a threat.
Lv. 22
I don't actually know fully how this level works. I stole it from Darkman425's TAS https://tasvideos.org/8167S. The short version is throw the P-Switch to the right, dodge through the Keese, and jump off the P-Switch to the Star. But I believe there is more nuance that I am unaware of.
Lv. 23
Once again this level comes from Darkman425, I believe moving left and right adjusted subpixel position somehow, because I couldn't get the same results without that movement. But idk for sure.
Lv. 24
This isn't really a "level", more a cutscene really. But I'm breaking these up by sets of loading lag frames. Simply press right on the first possible frame, you can't run so that's all there is.
Lv. 25
This level is an Autoscroller. So simply run around in circles and panic as the would be boss falls to their death.
Lv. 26
This is like Lv. 24, simply start moving and wait to arrive at the Level. Enter it as soon as you can to end.
Level 1
There is no Goal Tape in this level, so the only way to progress is to die. If you care about movie length more than real time then the final input is on entering the level as a poorly textured Spiny will walk over and kill you, otherwise you can either jump into the Munchers or do some play around.
Screenshot suggestions
- 07720
- 07801
- 09293 - 09324 (Any frame containing `Unholy amounts of screaming`)
- 09876
- 10276
- 12293
- 12311
- 13505 (Any frame with the funny haha reference)
- 14081 (Any frame from this would work, but in this one Mario is looking directly at the Clown Copter)
ThunderAxe31: Claiming for judging.
ThunderAxe31: I personally prefer the ending point used for this movie, as it both aims for real time while showing at least half of the ending level. So this submission doesn't include any speed/entertainment tradeoff, differently from the current publication. However, I want to note that it's still up to an author to decide if ending the movie right after entering the last level, or performing a playaround before finally losing, as it's the only way to end the game.
Accepting as improvement of the current publication.
despoa: Processing...