Submission #9510: eien86's NES Lunar Pool "no friction, minimum strikes" in 1:33:39.68

Nintendo Entertainment System
(Submitted: Lunar Ball)
no friction, minimum strikes
(Submitted: no friction, minimum strikes)
(Submitted: Lunar Ball (J) [!].nes J)
Bizhawk 2.10 (Core: QuickerNES)
337736
60.0988138974405
3978
PowerOn
aa5c574a4743991a3523dfd78a39d782bede262a
Submitted by eien86 on 2/1/2025 7:22 PM
Submission Comments

Introduction

See #9499: eien86's NES Lunar Pool in 22:53.62 for a detailed explanation of the TASing process for this game.
See #9501: eien86's NES Lunar Pool "no friction" in 31:58.29 for an explanation on the "no friction" category.
Although I had found Lunar Balls movies impressive in their attempt to reach the end as fast as possible, something didn't feel quite right. That is because, in order to reduce frames, they had to dump the cue ball into the pockets (or otherwise play suboptimally) to reduce the score multiplier 'rate". This made sense then, since it reduced score tallying time. After all, TASVideos was all about reducing frames back then and there was little place for alternative categories that pushed in-game goals instead. Things have changed (for the better) now, so I know there is a place for goals like this one.
In this movie, I play each stage trying to find a way to it with the minimum number of strikes possible. In cases where there were many equivalent solutions, I chose the one with the least number of frames. I hope viewers will find this enjoyable due to the bot's ability to find the right move every time, even when interrupted by unending score tallying.
This is actually the first movie I finished for this game. The reason is this is the simplest of all possible goals to bot. Just let the bot evaluate strikes based on how many balls it scored and nothing else. Adding frames to the equation only complicates the reward function and one needs to calibrate it to let the bot know more or less how many frames are worth one ball pocketed. After finishing it, I mustered the courage to go one further step and challenge Bisqwit's original movies.
Notable moments:
  • When the palette changes due to a glitch
  • Never-ending stage 40

Software + Hardware

Rom Information

  • Name: Lunar Ball
  • ROM: Lunar Ball (J) [!].nes
  • SHA1: AA5C574A4743991A3523DFD78A39D782BEDE262A
  • MD5: 26F1B77980A216767EA63C41397476E5

Emulator

  • EmuHawk 2.10 (Core: QuickerNES)

Routing Bot

  • Bot: LunarBot
  • Routing Core: QuickerNES
  • Platform:
    • 2 x AMD Epyc 7763 (128 cores, 256 threads) + 512Gb RAM
    • Exploration Rate: ~8k shots/s

CoolHandMike: Claiming for judging.
Last Edited by CoolHandMike 2 hours ago
Page History Latest diff List referrers