Here is the fastest userfile as of 10/2/2024 - https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638431797871606964
“This is probably the last Action 52 TAS you will ever see from me unless improvements to my already existing Action 52 TASes are found."
Well that didn't take very long, did it now?
About the Game(s)
Action 52 is an unlicensed game made for the NES and Sega Genesis, featuring - you guessed it - 52 different video games. The NES version was published in 1991, whereas the Genesis version was published in 1993. Both versions were published by Active Enterprises.
Manchester is game 44/52 in the NES version of Action 52. You play as a boy who can jump (B) and punch (A) while ploughing through projectiles and punks with mohawks. At the end of each level, there's a fiery man who you have to fight by punching him until you score 1000 points.
About the TAS
This is a 43 second improvement over the currently published TAS due to more optimised boss fights in Levels 1 and 3.
Level 1
This level was improved by 22.31 seconds thanks to a new strategy from HandsomeRudy. He discovered that by jumping on the note blocks before activating the boss fight cycle, you could land 550 damage per cycle instead of 200. The strategy for the boss fight is as follows:
- Stand on the leftmost note block on the leftmost tallest platform with your left foot on the left corner of the top of the note. Then wait until the frame where the boss is at the leftmost corner of the rightmost note block on said platform and press A. That way you get 200 points, which in the last TAS, was done on the ground. But with us being on top of the ground this time, we can get a further 350 points from punching the boss as he travels down the Y axis by being positioned as close as possible. On the 4th and final hit we jump and punch the boss as early as we can to end the level. This should be executed twice.
We do lose a bit of time from the jumping, as well as having to punch an enemy on our way to set up the new strategy, but this is more than made up for with said strategy.
Level 3
After Rudy posted his discovery, I sat down to investigate and finish this improvement. I didn't find anything new in Level 2, but I did discover that a similar strategy could be used in Level 3.
This strategy saves 20.69 seconds over the previous. The reason the time saved is a little bit less than Level 1 is because we could gain more ground to defeat the boss a couple seconds earlier in the old TAS.
- Stand on the rightmost block on the 2nd to left platform of sun blocks, just barely staying on to the right. Then wait until the frame where the boss is in the middle of the left part of the rightmost platform of sun blocks and press B to jump. When the boss's leg looks like it's kneeling on the left of the 2 blocks on the 2nd to right platform, press A. The rest of this strategy is the same as Level 1's new strategy, and is again executed twice.
Once again, we lose a fraction of a second from the jumping, but there are no enemies in Level 3, so we don't have to punch one of them on our way up.
Also 4 frames were saved just before the Level 3 boss fight due to a setup that doesn't require any jumping before the boss spawns.
That's all from us. Thanks for reading.
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: Ok...I knew that something was left to be found, but wow! I had no idea that it was going to be this big of a cut on Level 1 and 3. If I remember correctly, you had to wait for the boss to come around a full loop before striking, making one hit per cycle. This new strategy allows two hits each round, plus extra damage?????. Previously, I had tried to jump and make a hit...but I died each time, if I had been able to pull that off...I might have been able to cut a lot as well. The new tactic, by HandsomeRudy, is so much better...where the strike is near the head, as the boss passes through the floating floor avoiding any damage. Anyway...shocking to see 42.8 seconds cut. This is what I envisioned in the first submission, now I'm no longer concerned for anything left behind.
Accepting.
nymx: Delaying so that I can review the new improvements made.
nymx: Ok, the new improvements check out. This game has turned out to be quite the challenge to find anything.
despoa: Processing...