Table of contents
General notes
- Syncs on Bizhawk 2.10
- Documented Rerecord count - 14055
- Uses glitches and exploits to save time
- Takes intentional damage and deaths to save time.
Introduction
Rayman is a 2000 Game Boy Color game in the Rayman franchise. The game is a 2D platformer similar to the original Rayman from 1995 although this game is its own thing. It's a good game with strong visuals and enjoyable gameplay once you get past the game's really... questionable renditions of Rayman 2 music. It's a game I have fond memories playing on my 3DS in my youth.
This game has a pre-existing published TAS from 2009 made by CtrlAltDestroy, which clocked in at just over 28 minutes (https://tasvideos.org/1436M). This is a TAS I remember watching before I even played the game itself so it is a bit nostalgic for me but the thing is that while that TAS was impressive for a TAS originally made in 2005, it became very outdated and it has been for a really long time. Not only were new exploits found only a few years after the TAS was published but we are now even at a point where the RTA run has surpassed the old TAS. For years and years, I had hoped that this game would receive a new TAS but now that I have some TASing experience, I thought I'd take the task to TAS this game again and all I can say is wow... I was not expecting to save this much time...
General notes
- This TAS was made completely from scratch. I referenced the original TAS and the RTA WR for strats but the movie file is completely my own.
- I used the Japanese version which was purely for style. The Japanese version is identical to the international versions outside of the language difference.
- I will be using visual representations of the levels to show route changes (courtesy of Ray1map). It has crudely drawn lines to show the route differences so I do apologise in advance if it is hard to read at times. Red represents the old TAS. Blue represents the RTA route whenever applicable and green represents this new TAS.
Exploits
Here, I will explain some of the exploits in this run which were either not used in the old TAS or were not used as heavily. All of these exploits were either discovered by the RTA community or other TASers and have been known for quite some time.
Damage boost jumps
This is something I figured out as a kid funnily enough. Whenever you take damage and your knockback animation ends in the air, there is a one frame window where you can jump. This can be used in a handful of areas, not necessarily for big skips but mainly for optimisations.
Glitched Double Jumps
This has been known about since at least 2013, being used in Got4n's Rayman 2 GBC TAS (https://tasvideos.org/2429M). If you cancel a glide and then immediately press jump, you will jump in mid-air which is normally not possible. This exploit is a bit weird as you have to set up the double jump, you can't just use it whenever. The main way to gain the ability to double jump is to jump while running off an edge. Double jumps are useful for both optimisation and skips, minor and major.
Buffered jumps/floaty jumps
If you hold A without any jumps or a glide, you can buffer a jump input when you land on flat ground (it does not work on platforms). If you let go of A the frame after it registers the jump, you can do a higher/floatier jump (you can tap A for one frame or hold it and then let go on the right frame to get a floaty jump). This is not only useful for optimisation but buffered jumps are useful for the next exploit.
Momentum storage
This might be the most wild exploit and it was discovered by RTA runners. If you land on a moving platform on the last possible frame and then immediately run off the platform, you retain the momentum of the moving platform, even though you are not on the platform. This means that you can move faster horizontally or have significantly altered gravity vertically, depending on which direction the platform is moving. That sounds fun and all but where this gets really broken is when you grab a ledge, you keep the momentum and Rayman will move in the air in his ledge grab animation (known as a hang glide). When Rayman is in his ledge grab animation, he does not have a collision box so he can just pass through walls and floors (although he still has a hurtbox and getting hit cancels the glitch). This can naturally be used to perform some big skips in some levels.
There are some intricacies of this exploit. It only works on what are referred to internally as "Trigger" platforms. These are basically platforms that stay still when you find them but they move when you land on them (so you can't do this exploit on constantly moving platforms). The direction you move depends on the direction the platform initially moves although there is more to it. If the platform is close enough to the camera and it changes direction, Rayman's momentum will change with the platform (so if he has upwards momentum and the platform switches to moving down, Rayman will gain downwards momentum). If the platform is far enough off camera, one of two things will happen: either the platform will keep moving but Rayman will keep the momentum from the platform initial direction or the platform will despawn and reset its position which resets Rayman's momentum. Whichever platforms do what depends on the exact platform and while the former are more powerful, the latter can still be exploited in certain areas.
The glitch can be cancelled in various ways, mainly by jumping or getting hit. While the former sounds detrimental, we can work around it. If you perform buffered jumps, you will keep the momentum so whenever we need to jump with momentum storage, we use buffered jumps. We can also use quick jumps and glide cancels to intentional get rid of the glitch which we do need to do in some areas as you cannot hit end triggers with upwards momentum storage.
Level comments
Here, I will go over the main improvements throughout the run. There are plenty of smaller optimisations to but I will focus on the more notable improvements.
Spellbound Forest
Spellbound was one of the less eventful worlds in the run although there are a few notable things. I managed to save 12 seconds overall.
- 1-1 is pretty much the same, being a straight line. I think this is the only level where I was unable to save time over the original TAS
- In 1-2, I damage boost jump off a fish to get over a lake a tiny bit quicker.
- 1-3 is an auto-scroller although I still managed to save around 2 and a half seconds by using momentum storage to reach the top of the level earlier than intended.
1-4
- There are parts of the water you can actually jump on so I used that to my advantage to get over the lake quicker. Unfortunately, I was not able to skip getting the plum here.
- At the end of the level, you are supposed to go al the way to the left to activate a platform. However, I used a fish to give myself a damage boost to reach the end of the level without having to go out of my way to activate a platform.
Airy Tunes
Airy Tunes is a wild world which has slippery platforms which allow for faster movement. By using an exploit where I charge a punch facing away and release around the time Rayman would typically start his surfing animation, I can move even faster than intended (found by Got4n). I managed to save over 50 seconds in this world, using new skips and more optimised movement
2-1
- As well as doing the same first L+R clip as the old TAS (the skip requires L+R), I also use a different second clip found by the RTA community to reach the bottom faster.
- I use the punch speed glitch on a couple of occasions in this level. For the last punch glitch, I had to be extremely careful not to go too fast or else I would cause a screen wrap, which makes the level impossible to finish.
2-2
- I use a clip found by the RTA community to skip a bunch of the level. Other than that, I use more punch boosts to go faster.
2-3
- I perform a damage boost so I can get momentum storage on a moving platform. This allows me to move faster to the right and take a more direct line to the finish. I did have to go out of my way to collect health but I still saved time overall.
2-4
- The original TAS takes the intended route but instead of doing that, I do a damage boost to hit a trigger for a cloud that takes you further along the level. You are not supposed to hit this trigger until way later but you can easily hit it early with a damage boost.
- The RTA hits this trigger and uses the cloud to go to a later part of the level. This is already significantly faster than the old TAS but I do something even better. I get momentum storage off the cloud and then I take a more direct route to the third trumpet platform section. This is overall a few seconds faster than just taking the cloud normally.
- With the trumpet platforms, you are supposed to jump onto them to make them jump. However, we can walk off the trumpet and immediately get back onto it to make it jump which is a lot faster than jumping normally.
- At the end of the level, I take a more direct route to the goal which allows me to keep the speed from the slippery platform.
Rainy Forest
Rainy Forest is by far the least changed level in this TAS. The first two levels are basically straight lines while the third is an auto-scroller. I was only able to save around 2-3 seconds in this world with better optimisation and a couple of small skips. This is the first world where you have access to the glide (and subsequently, the double jump) and while it is helpful, it doesn't save that much in this level. In later worlds however, the double jump becomes much more powerful.
Rocky Peaks
Rocky Peaks is the biggest timesave in this run with over 2 minutes and 40 seconds being saved compared to the old TAS. This is due to big, new skips, a couple of which were found by the RTA community while I figured out one of them. This level went from being around 4 minutes 40 seconds in the old TAS, being the third longest world to less than 2 minutes, making it the shortest world in this TAS.
4-1
- Early on, I am able to use double jumps to cut out some platforming.
4-2
- This level has the biggest individual skip compared to the old TAS. You are supposed to go well out of your way to spawn 3 platforms so you can reach the end of the level (which the old TAS did). However, you can get momentum storage from a cloud right at the beginning of the level and hang glide all the way to the end of the level. This was found by the RTA community although this TAS does a faster setup and takes a more direct route. This is the biggest time save in the TAS, saving over a minute and a half in this level alone compared to the old TAS.
4-3
- This level has a skip (found by the RTA community) where you can grab onto a ledge on the spikes, grab onto another ledge and then fall through the floor to skip a chunk of the level.
4-4
- To beat this level, you are supposed to go all the way to the right and then all the way back to the left so you can trigger a platform which can take you to the end of the level. However, it turns out you can simply double jump up to the platform trigger and finish the level in less than 20 seconds. I also used a double jump to make an earlier cycle on the first platform, with 41 seconds being saved in this level overall.
Ancient Forest
Ancient Forest gives you the ability to grapple onto hooks which is faster if you need to move horizontally. You want to grab them from a distance while you are falling to get the most speed. I managed to save almost a minute here with a variety of new skips.
5-1
- I use double jumps on two separate occasions to skip platforming sections with the plum.
5-2
- I use double jumps in a couple of sections to skip some platforming (or waiting for a platform cycle at the beginning of the level)
- After reaching the right side of the level, I take damage so I can crawl under some spikes and then I damage boost again to clip through the floor.
- I deliberately avoid picking up the heart for a strat later in the run.
5-3
- I use a double jump to skip waiting for some moving platforms.
- Before the section where you are at the bottom of the level, I perform a large skip. I get momentum storage and then I set Rayman up so that he goes through a pillar, allowing me to zip up a pillar and skip half the level. I make sure a setup a double jump while doing the skip so I can double jump up the pillar, avoiding me having to backtrack to get the plum.
Fiery Peaks
Fiery Peaks is the world with the second biggest time save, with over 2 and a half minutes being saved compared to the old TAS. This world has multiple, massive skips, some found by the RTA community, some found for this TAS.
6-1
- At the beginning, I do a death warp in order to hit a checkpoint earlier. This was found by the RTA community although this TAS takes a more direct route.
- After the hook section, instead of continuing the level as normal, I go down to where the cage is, activate a platform and then get momentum storage so I can hang glide to the end of the level.
6-2
- At the beginning of the level, I use a damage boost and then I use a damage boost jump to skip half the level. This is a very tight skip which saved 27 seconds compared to the old TAS.
- After picking up some health, I take a more direct route to climb to where you need to go using double jumps. I do a very precise ledge grab on some spikes where you can avoid taking damage.
- After this climb, instead of continuing as normal, I do a damage boost so I can go through a gap in the floor, allowing me to take a more direct route to the finish.
6-3
- This is an auto-scroller although I do manage to clip above the camera (there is an invisible ceiling which is supposed to prevent this from happening) to finish the level 2 seconds faster. The goal and many other objects only load at a certain point so you can't just get above the camera and do the whole level blind. I believe I hit the goal as early as possible.
6-4
- I do a clip where you clip straight to the end of the level. This was found by the RTA community and saves nearly a minute compared to the old TAS.
Arcane Forest
Arcane Forest is the last world in the main story and I managed to save around 1 minute and 37 seconds in this world. Double jumps heavily come in clutch in this world.
7-1
- I use punch boosts and more strategically placed glides to keep speed on the slippery platforms for longer, as well as using double jumps to get where I need to go.
- I do go out of my way to collect health as I do need the health.
- I use a few more double jumps to take more direct lines. The biggest example of this is at the end of the level where instead of going all the way to the left and circling back to the goal, I can simply double jump onto a platform and then jump straight to the goal.
7-2
- Instead of going all the way around the level, I can get take damage, get momentum storage and then hang glide through the floor to skip 80-90% of the level.
- I use double jumps to breeze through the end of the level much faster. 52 seconds were saved in this level overall.
7-3
- Instead of going out of the way to spawn a cloud at the beginning of the level, I use a double jump to get where I need to. I then use another double jump to skip a whole bunch of platforming.
- More maintained speed from slippery platforms and double jumps to take more direct lines and keep more speed.
- near the end of the level, instead of going out of the way to spawn a cloud, I use double jumps to take a more direct line to the end of the level.
7-4
- At the beginning of the level, the old TAS goes out of its way to spawn a platform and IDK why. You can activate the platforms without going out of the way and you don't need double jumps either so I corrected this odd route choice.
- After the checkpoint, I do a double to get to the vine immediately rather than going down and then platforming upwards.
- At the end of the level, I use double jumps to take a more direct route to the end.
Mr. Dark
- Mr. Dark is the only major source of RNG in the run. There is basically no RNG anywhere else but Mr. Dark is a huge exception. I was able to save 3 seconds here compared to the old TAS
- In phase 1, I found that it was faster to make the fire hit the top platform.
- In phase 2, I found it was faster to make the fireballs hit the middle platform.
- I used double jumps to help me hit Mr. Dark.
- I was able to manipulate Mr. Dark's RNG better so I could hit him faster, especially in phase 3.
- I don't pick up the health because health is for scrubs.
- I end the run in the same way as the old TAS. I skip most of the ending but I watch the 3D Rayman animation. You do need to press a button to skip the last password screen.
Conclusion
And there we have it, Rayman on GBC done in 19 minutes and 16 seconds (18:51 RTA). When removing factors such as emulation differences (added boot screen, more lag due to being a more console accurate emulator), this is almost 9 minutes faster than the old TAS. When I started this, I assumed this would be a sub 25 run but I never in a million years thought it would be a sub 20 run. I am very satisfied with the final time to say the least and it makes my inner child happy to see that this game has a new TAS far beyond what I could have imagined and that I was capable of creating it. I don't think my child self could have ever imagined this happening.
I think there is room for more improvement. There might be more time to squeeze out of the auto-scrollers, I don't doubt that more lag reduction can be implemented and better Mr. Dark RNG should be possible but I am satisfied with the run for the time being. Mr. Dark's RNG seed changes whenever you make adjustments to the rest of the run and even the tiniest movement changes alter Mr. Dark's RNG during the fight and those two things are definitely a deterrent for me to improve this run but it is hopefully still a good enough improvement to become the new publication for this game. There are also levels like Ancient Forest 1 and 2 which have potential for huge skips but I wasn't able to find anything. If more big skips could be found, that would naturally be obvious room for improvement but for the time being, I incorporated every strat I could find/was already known.
Also, shoutouts to the Rayman speedrunning community for all the things they've figured out in this game as well as the creators of Ray1Map for creating easily useable visuals for these levels. Ray1Map helped a lot with routing and creating the visuals for this submission so special thanks to its creators.
Darkman425: Claiming for judging.
Darkman425: It's nice seeing an update to a 15 year old publication. It's also incredibly nuts how this submission improves on the old one by over 8 minutes, which is quite insane but understandable since that's the culmination of 15 years of new discoveries and refined techniques found by the Rayman RTA and TAS community. Nice work!
Accepting to Standard as an improvement to [1436] GBC Rayman by CtrlAltDestroy in 28:01.67.
feos: Publishing (with r3gamerz's encodes)...
feos: Restored cycle count in movie header (for some reason bizhawk doesn't show the warning that it's missing).