Ninja Crusaders TAS by Randil

This run is 2258 frames (37.63 sec) faster than Xipo's submitted run. Ninja Crusaders is a short and action packed platformer, that is quite similiar to Ninja Gaiden. You can transform into an animal, depending on what weapon you have. Besides that, this is a simple and short platformer, with decent graphics and sound.
  • Emulator used: FCEU 0.98.16
  • Aims for fastest possible time.

Tricks and techniques:

Pressing A on the stage intro: Before each level starts, there is an intro text, such as the one on frame 80. If you press A after a certain amount of frames, you skip most of this intro. By pressing A on the first frame possible, I save 162 frames at the start of each level, compared to Xipo. I do not include this saved time in the level-by-level improvements. In total, this trivial trick saved a whole 1620 frames, 27 seconds!
Keeping forward momentum while transforming into animal: You transform into animal form by holding down B button for 90 frames. While holding down the B button, you cannot run, but you can jump however. This is abused throughout the whole run, allowing me to keep moving with both ninjas while still waiting for the transformation to start.
Optimizing your vertical position before transforming: The last 30 frames before you transform, you will stop, even if you're in mid-air. After 30 frames, you will fly up, at at speed of 8 pixels per frame, until you've reached a certain Y-position. This means that I want to be as high up as I can in order to minimize the frames it takes to fly up.
Tiger riding technique: This trick is very basic, but needs some commenting. When one of your ninjas has transformed into a tiger, the other one can ride him. The good thing about doing this is that the tiger moves 2.0 pixels/frame while the ninjas move 1.5 p/f. When riding the tiger, the ninja can attack enemies without the risk of falling down. He can also run run around on the tiger's back, as long as he doesn't run over the edge. The bad things are that the tiger can't make jump that makes the ninja on top of him go off screen - if he does that, he will fall down. This is especially a pain on level two, where most of the level takes place on the upper part of the screen. This forces me to make small jumps with the tiger, so that player 2 doesn't fall off.
Reducing lag: Not really a trick, but I didn't know where else to put this. There is some lag in this game, but luckily, most of it can be avoided. There are, however, a few frames of lag that can't be avoided. I estimate about 40-50 frames in this run is lost due to lag. Attacking enemies on a different frame, or positioning your ninjas better before you attack, are easy ways to get rid of lag. I estimate I saved between 40 and 60 frames compared to Xipo's run due to lag reduction.

Level by level comparison sheet:

The 162 frames saved by using the "stage intro" trick is not included in these times.
  • Stage: What stage it's referring to.
  • Intro: Amount of frames that were saved on the intro text.
  • Level: Amount of frames that were saved on the level itself.
StageIntroLevel
1-116275
1-2162105
1-2 boss00
2-116223
2-216223
3-116269
3-216252
3-2 boss00
4-116259
4-216268
4-2 boss02
5-116273
5-216279
5-2 boss01
Total1620638
That should be all. Enjoy the run!

NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots of this movie and placed them here. Oh! I also corrected the ROM name.
  • You indicated Ninja Crusaders (U).nes
  • I updated it to Ninja Crusaders (U) [!p].nes

Bisqwit: Author replaced movie file. According to the author: This improved run is 81 frames faster due to abusing player 2's hitbox to reach the finish line sooner, as well as some more lag reduction.

adelikat: Accepting for publication and processing.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1770: Randil's NES Ninja Crusaders in 04:10.38
Experienced player (821)
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Tiger Surfing!!! Well that was seriously fast, and pretty entertaining to boot. I love to total boss destruction, especially the level where you don't even get to see what it is. Definite thumbs up. Guess we both had a couple side projects going on huh;)
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IT TOOK 4 MINUTES OF MY LIFE!!! ...and I enjoyed it.
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omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Skilled player (1633)
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Awesome movie. How did you kill bosses... so fast?
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Banned User, Skilled player (1163)
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Pressing A on the stage intro~~~~1620 frame~~~hehehe,I should go to hospital,so stupid. And then "Keeping forward momentum while transforming into animal".What a good idea. Reducing lag.In fact,I make my run depend on my experience and feeling.Randil~~~How can you know how much lag there is?And how can you know one's speed,X position,Y position,and other address?Can you teach me?
work hard
Skilled player (1882)
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Xipo wrote:
How can you know how much lag there is?And how can you know one's speed,X position,Y position,and other address?Can you teach me?
Sure. ;) I'm using FCEU 0.98.16. This version of FCEU has a "Memory watch" function (Tools->Memory watch..), that allows you to watch RAM addresses. The X position, X speed, when there is lag, and all other things you might want to know, are stored in these RAM addresses. So if you find the addresses for these things, just type them in into the memory watcher, and you can keep track of them! You can find addresses using the "Cheat" function (Tools->Cheats...). You first need to guess how the value will behave, and then start performing searches to find the value you want. Usually, you will end up with around 5-10 values, so just type them all in into memory watcher, and then check which one of them is the one you were looking for. Slightly off topic, but I hope it helped you out :) I can try to explain more into detail if you want to, in that case you can PM me. Good luck! :)
AnS
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Although I've found a couple of improvements (see PM!), I'll still vote Yes here, because the game appeared to be not that trivial to TAS.
Skilled player (1882)
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After reading through AnS' PM, I've decided to improve this run. I should be able to cut off another second or so, thanks to AnS' finds. I'll ask Bisqwit to update this submission when it's done, I don't think ~1 second warrants a new submission.
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Wait!Wait!There is still a couple of improvements????My God!AnS,you are so careful. But I think it's lucky that this run can be editted by "tas-movie-editor.exe"^_^Efficiency is more important.
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lol, I was thinking on looking for this game, but I didn't knew how it was called :P As for the movie, damn it was fast. Liked it :)
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IT TOOK 4 MINUTES OF MY LIFE!!! ...and I enjoyed it.
Yes. I was once wondering if I could afford this before I've watched this.
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37 second improvement to the run I already voted yes on, and no entertainment lost. Nothing left to do but click the 'yes' button.
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Skilled player (1882)
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I just finished improving this now. Thanks to these new time savers, it's now 81 frames faster! I'll PM Bisqwit with the improved run, and ask him to replace the .fcm-file for this submission. For those who can't wait to see the new run, I've uploaded it to Microstorage here.
AnS
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I don't get it, why didn't you use my strategy for level 3-1?
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1006] NES Ninja Crusaders "2 players" by Randil in 04:10.38
Skilled player (1882)
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Location: Norrköping, Sweden
AnS wrote:
I don't get it, why didn't you use my strategy for level 3-1?
I couldn't get player 2 to continue riding on the tiger, because of the narrow corridor right before the exit. The enemy who stands right after the corridor makes it impossible to do this, without getting hit. I'll take a better look at this when I get home from school today, but I believe that was why. EDIT: Uh, scratch all that... I missed reading your last PM before submitting the updated run. I'll take a look at your new .fcm files when I get home from school, and get back to you then. I won't make a new submission for this game until both you and me are 100% certain that it's frame perfect. ;) Again, sorry for the confusion. I'll PM you later today, AnS. I have a few ideas of my own for potential improvements, but they're only on the idea stage right now. :)