I haven't had any comments because my primary computer broke down in January and the backup wasn't really suitable for N64 emulation. But now I've built myself a new computer with a GeForce 8500GT OC, and I've cranked up the AF to 16 and the AA to 8, grabbed a snack and watched the WIP.
The good is obvious, so I hope you'll forgive me for focusing on the bad. Some of it is due to route changes in order to reduce time, and the rest is artistic style.
Whomp's Fortress: I was really disappointed that the 100 coin run didn't generate both stars at the same time. FODA's 100 coin run was classic: during the star animation for the first star, one of the sliding block guys pushed Mario off of the ledge! The camera stayed with the star, so Mario got a head start on the other one. That was truly cool.
Cool, Cool Mountain: The end of the penguin race is way less entertaining. FODA's original WIP had Mario facing the penguin, which could be seen from a distance - barreling down on him, which I thought was brilliant. The final version had the penguin approach from the side, so it lost the cool factor from seeing him coming, but it was still pretty funny that it nailed him from out of the blue. This time Mario just kind of gets nudged out of the way. There's no suspense or flair. It's a small thing to nitpick, but TASing is about perfectionism, so it's easy to get hung up on artistic "perfection" as well as technical perfection.
Bowser fights: The rapid camera switching at the end of the Bowser fights is my biggest complaint. It was mildly irritating in Bowser 1, but in Bowser 2 it was unbearable. You can't see a thing while that's happening. The end of B2 is so distracting that it causes me to have evil thoughts. I've wished Mario harm...
Bowser 2: I guess the 1-up mushroom didn't appear at the top of the first pole because you jumped off the pole at a lower point. Watching the mushroom chase Mario through the level, and finally sneak up and catch him during his star animation, was one of the funniest things in FODA's run. I miss that.
Rainbow Ride: Taking unnecessary damage is a big no-no with me. Getting zapped and taking falling damage during the carpet ride looks really unprofessional. I don't like seeing avoidable damage in a TAS.
In general, I'm a fan of secondary goals. It looked like you avoided one of the 1-up mushrooms when you were Koopa shell surfing over an arch in Lethal Lava Land, but it didn't look like it saved any time. I could be wrong: maybe Mario needed to jump to gain speed. You definitely had time to collect a 1-up mushroom during the carpet ride in Rainbow Ride. If it doesn't cost any time, I'd like to see Mario finish with as many lives as possible. In addition to beating Morimoto's time, one of the selling points for the run that obsoleted his famous SM3 run was that Mario collected more coins and scored more points. Those are irrelevant in SM64, but the lives are still a measure of how much ass you're kicking. To beat the game really fast, and collect a lot of lives along the way, rubs it in even harder and makes the run even more impressive. Is one extra mushroom a big deal? No, but it shows off your mastery of the game.
Some have voiced support, but I don't really like the fact that the stars are collected in order. I liked trying to guess - and often being wrong - which star FODA was going for.
It looks bad to have all of the criticism in one post like this, but I'm late to the party. I don't have a lot to add to the kudos, though I would like to say that the 100 coin star in Hazy Maze Cave is absolutely incredible. Awesome job, man. Also, the camera work and style choices in the last few levels have been anywhere from good to excellent, so I'm certainly not knocking the camera work in the whole run. There were just a few things that jumped out, so I wrote them down.
Good luck in the final stars, and lay off the rapid camera switching when you beat Bowser 3.
