Someone wants to see this game done. He says it's a really really fun platformer that no one knows about.
(press select while paused to change your color, as if you'd want to waste time doing that)
Run Saber is a fairly blantant rip-off of Strider by Atlus, but still pretty good for that. It's a pretty stylistic game.
I'm working on a TAS of it now, and here's what I've got. (This goes to the end of Stage 1, on normal difficulty, using the male character.)
http://fast.filespace.org/Keita-chan/RunSaberWhiteStage1.rar
or
http://www.filespace.org/Keita-chan/RunSaberWhiteStage1.rar
Recorded using ZSNES 1.51.
I'll probably end up redoing Stage 1 at some point due to my discovery that higher jumps result in a momentary pause upon landing, but I think what I've got is pretty good, that notwithstandanding.
Nice to see someone take this game up. I've often thought it would make a good TAS... albeit on 2-player, since you can control them simultaneously for great justice. Otherwise it's kinda mediocre.
A few notes.
Am I going completely senile, or are you are you not dashing?
I'm pretty sure you should jump to avoid climbing, like so:
...And use two players. :)
Does Hard make the movie less interesting in some way?
1. There's a dash?
2. Two players wouldn't speed the game up significantly (if at all) due to considerable inuvlnerability time on the bosses so far, plus coordinating two sets of controls would be a nightmare.
3. I tried bunnyhopping up the wall in your screenshot, and it didn't seem as fast as regular climbing. I'll check it again later.
4. It just didn't occur to me to change the difficulty.
I'll have a redone Stage 1 tommorrow.
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
Like Dromiceius, I too think this game has some potential for TASing. I had even thought of doing it myself a while back.
If I may ask, why don't you use Snes9x? ZSNES lacks the customization and some of the features found in Snes9x.
When I started emulating the SNES about eight or nine years ago, I used SNES9X for a while, and (in my opinion) it was not good. ZSNES was, so I switched to that, and I've never had a reason to consider switching back.
And if I may ask back, what features and customizations are you talking about? ZSNES seems as full-featured as any emulator I've ever used.
2. Two players wouldn't speed the game up significantly (if at all) due to considerable inuvlnerability time on the bosses so far, plus coordinating two sets of controls would be a nightmare.
I'm not sure about that. The X-attack does 3 points of damage, compared to the regular attacks' 1 point. Two players means more of those attacks... I assume that the attack animation doesn't exceed the invulnerability time.
3. I tried bunnyhopping up the wall in your screenshot, and it didn't seem as fast as regular climbing. I'll check it again later.
I probably should have mentioned, you have to be standing a pixel or two to the left before jumping.
Looking into these things, I made an exceedingly half-assed smv of the first level.
If the game lags badly, 2 players might not be worth the better boss fights. However, if it's possible to kill off 1 of the 2 players quickly and without penalty, that could reduce lag.
If the game lags badly, 2 players might not be worth the better boss fights.
I don't think it's nearly that bad, though I should whip up a more optimized comparison to be sure.
That said, I don't want to be a negative nancy and ruin Solon's fun by harping on this point. TASer's prerogative uber alles.
I've redone Stage 1 and gotten through Stage 2; knowing I could dash made a massive difference. Still using the male character (found out from GameFAQs that his name is Alow.)
http://fast.filespace.org/Keita-chan/RunSaber-Alow-Stage2.rar
or
http://www.filespace.org/Keita-chan/RunSaber-Alow-Stage2.rar
And since I figure someone's gonna ask, the reason for the high jumps right after minibosses is to avoid doing the pose thing you see at the end of the stages.
Last for now, I'm just about convinced that bombs are not worth using; even if they hit hard, they take a LONG time (didn't think to do a framecount; on my to-do list for tonight,) and you can't move until the animation finishes.
Pretty good run up to date... some parts could be a bit more optimized it looks like though such as in stage 3 the wall plants, they stop flashing and you're still in the air... overall since I don't know the game I can't say much about improvements except that some parts look like you could hit the enemies faster or that you could probably save time by taking damage (unless damage sends you flying backwards far or stuns you).
There is this one part as well in the 1st stage where you are killing enemies that spawn from the wall, the last one takes a few hits and you let her leave and come back to deal the last hit... could it be possible to kill her before letting her go back in the wall? It seemed like you could of had another hit in there if you didn't play it safe and took damage.
When I started emulating the SNES about eight or nine years ago, I used SNES9X for a while, and (in my opinion) it was not good. ZSNES was, so I switched to that, and I've never had a reason to consider switching back.
ZSNES movies aren't accepted by the site, tend to desync for the viewer and even the player, and I think have a few other bugs I can't recall at the moment.
But most importantly, ZMV files aren't currently accepted by this site.
Try the TAS modified SNES9x, it's come a long way in the past nine years.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Pretty good run up to date... some parts could be a bit more optimized it looks like though such as in stage 3 the wall plants, they stop flashing and you're still in the air... overall since I don't know the game I can't say much about improvements except that some parts look like you could hit the enemies faster or that you could probably save time by taking damage (unless damage sends you flying backwards far or stuns you).
The wall-plants are first on my to-do list if I decide to start over again (or if someone comes up with a suggestion for the Stage 3 boss, I'll just start over from them.) And yes, damage causes some pretty nasty hit-stun (haven't checked on length) and causes you to fall if you're hanging from something.
There is this one part as well in the 1st stage where you are killing enemies that spawn from the wall, the last one takes a few hits and you let her leave and come back to deal the last hit... could it be possible to kill her before letting her go back in the wall? It seemed like you could of had another hit in there if you didn't play it safe and took damage.
The last one takes five hits, and I could only manage to get two each time she popped out. Might be fewer if I could get a sword power-up to spawn before her; I'll look into it.
upthorn wrote:
ZSNES movies aren't accepted by the site, tend to desync for the viewer and even the player, and I think have a few other bugs I can't recall at the moment.
Where does it say the site doesn't accept ZMVs? I looked pretty hard and saw nothing saying so.
As for desyncing, it's much less common in v1.51, but it seems to be on a game-by-game basis. Run Saber has given me minimal trouble (I check it after every stage,) while Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers has been a nightmare, mostly during boss fights. ZSNES also has the advantage of not having five or ten different custom versions in addition to the official ones.
Also, because I forgot to mention, the bomb attack (X) takes a full five seconds (or 300 frames) to finish going off, and since you can't do anything during, it's just about worthless for TAS purposes.
...And use two players. :)
Does Hard make the movie less interesting in some way?
