Submission #9382: Chamale's N64 Pokémon Stadium 2 "Mini-Game Champion" in 02:28.17

This TAS completes the Mini-Game Champion game mode as fast as possible on Hard difficulty on the default 7-coin length. The difficulty makes little difference to the length, as the AIs are beaten as quickly as possible.

There are twelve mini-games in Pokémon Stadium 2. Seven of them are timed and require at least a minute to complete. Tumbling Togepi and Rampage Rollout are races, but they are not complete until the 4th-place AI has finished the race, so they would take about 25 and 50 seconds respectively. The three fastest mini-games are Pichu's Power Plant, Topsy-Turvy, and Barrier Ball, which can be played in any order. This run plays them in order from shortest to longest.

The die will always be rolled by the player in last place, or any player with the lowest number of coins. For the first round, the player rolls the die. It is luck-manipulated to quickly land on 4 (sometimes the die bounces around before settling). For the first game, it's ideal to win just 2 coins, then 3 in the second game, then 2 to become the champion. If a player leads by at least 3 coins, the game enters a "catchup" mode where there is only a 1 in 6 chance of getting a game worth 2 coins, making it harder to luck-manipulate. The cursor starts by default on Pichu's Power Plant, so it's fastest to choose that for the first game.

Whenever the AI has a choice of mini-game, or the random function selects a mini-game, it will choose a game that hasn't been played yet. After Pichu's Power Plant, luck is manipulated so that the next game will be Topsy-Turvy. Then, the next game is Barrier Ball.

This game is trivial in a TAS. I press A or B 15 times per second while holding the appropriate direction button.

This game has a 60-second timer, but ends immediately if a player has eliminated five opponents. As there are three opponents, I eliminate two of them as quickly as possible, then eliminate the third, then eliminate the original two opponents again as soon as they have respawned.

This is the most complicated of the mini-games. The objective is to score five goals as quickly as possible. Balls spawn at random intervals. Multiple balls can be in play. If no balls are in play because they've all been scored, a new ball spawns immediately. The location and timing of the first two balls are predetermined before the die roll and can't be easily manipulated - the second ball in this run spawns faster than average, making it possible to score two goals in the first seven seconds. The next three balls are luck-manipulated to move towards the player, and the player immediately scores. Final input is an "A" press required to exit the "1P Wins" screen. The game displays a congratulatory animation with the three Pokémon used during this championship: Pichu, Hitmontop, and Mr. Mime.

Because the mini-games are conquered so quickly, this run spends more time rolling dice than actually playing. Actual gameplay in the temporary encode is 0:38-0:45, 1:23-1:36, and 2:06-2:26.