Blue Sphere, also known as "Get Blue Spheres!", "No way! No way! No way! No way?", or "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic the Hedgehog" (not to be confused with Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog), is a "compilation" of 134217728 levels that look like the sphere minigame from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. You get it by locking the S&K cartridge onto Sonic 1.
(no please don't force me to TAS all 134217728 levels, I am not Blue Sphere Guy)
One goal that can be taken as a (sane) completion of this game is to get a "Perfect MAX". Each level has a "difficulty" from 1 to 13 (MAX), and if you get Perfect (get all rings) on a MAX level, you unlock a special completion scene which is the best scene you can get in this game. So the goal is simply to choose a MAX level, and complete it "Perfect" as fast as possible.
Note that, without passwords, this game is utterly boring. The first MAX level is 164, which requires playing at least 19 levels to get there (16 of which are perfect) and each of them alone takes far longer to complete than the level you see in this TAS. Whereas you can access all kinds of unique levels directly using passwords. Basically, I justify the use of passwords by: Just get to the point already.
Goals
- Aims for fastest "Perfect MAX" completion.
- Passwords are allowed.
The chosen level
Before I get to how I chose the level I want, you may have noticed that I put the word "compilation" in the first paragraph in quotes. That's because this game is not really a compilation of 134217728 levels, but rather, a level generator that puts one of 128 possible 16x16 tiles (numbered #0 to #127) in each quadrant of the map. This site and this online generator have some more details about how the level generation works, but basically, a bunch of math is used.
The fastest MAX level to choose for the "Perfect MAX" goal is the one with all quadrants #7 (level 108589448, stage 014795655). The one with all quadrants #6 is easier for "Perfect MAX" in casual play, but takes longer.
The password code
Based on the algorithm for the password-to-level function, each level has two possible passwords: a normal "Sonic 1 cart" code which auto-advances when you beat a level, and a "non-Sonic 1 cart" code which doesn't (associated with passwords you get from locking onto other carts). Note that I have a script with functions that can do this conversion: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638595168763566191
For the level with all quadrants #7, the two codes are 3782 6047 8577 ("Sonic 1 cart" code) and 1635 3098 8145 ("non-Sonic 1 cart" code). The second code is faster to enter, so I use that one.
Playing the level itself
The level is set up so all the rings and blue spheres are near each other. Just collect them all and there you go, Perfect MAX. (Note: The rings must be collected before you get the last blue sphere.)
It is possible to jump over two consecutive bumper spheres without bouncing off of either of them. It requires a frame-perfect jump, and may not work if Sonic/Knuckles is moving at a faster speed.