This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1971: p0rtal_0f_rain's NES Total Recall in 06:53.58

A word of advice, for your own sake. Do these reviews and revisions before you submit for the first time. I know that WIP watchers are sparse, but the Workbench is for final renditions of movies, not for new WIP every few days. Plus, people are less likely to watch a video that undergoes the 4th revision in the workbench.

My third submission is still available on YouTube, but I will encode this movie soon while deleting the other. I might even post a short breakdown of this movie. Big thanx! As of now, we're completely under 7 minutes. Sorry, darkkobold. =( I'll be more careful with WIP's next time.

Excellent advice from DarkKobold. Remember, just because you make it through a game or segment in one attempt doesn't mean that attempt is anywhere near publish worthy. I would suggest for your next project you finish a movie, then start over and improve it, then repeat that process 2 or 3 more times. Then submit. At least until you learn how to test things to achieve the best result, instead of playing through the game, as I assume you've been doing, since your rerecord counts have been nearly identical.

I've been watching these runs quietly. The game itself isn't that great for tasing, but not terrible. I do find it entertaining in a staring-at-a-car-crash sort of way. You have certainly improved your movies a lot. I decided to try the game myself a bit and saved about 3.5 seconds in the first minute, up to when you enter that door with the hand over it, right before the first "boss" person who shoots out a tv. I have one less bar of health than you do, but you end the movie with 1 and a half bars of health so that theoretically shouldn't matter. And I'm positive my movie can be improved quite a bit actually, ending faster/with more health -- damage boosting seem quite helpful. So, not to belabor the point, but you should definitely post WIPs and stuff before going to the workbench... I certainly wouldn't mind seeing another improvement on this, especially now that I'm getting familiar with it ;)

I may have a flaw or two in this movie, but I won't tell! lol, I know there's always room for improvement, ideas, and such, so I ain't worried if I get beat here. In your movie, you started jumping, yet the speed stayed the same. Was that just entertainment perhaps?

Yeah, I was testing if jumping was faster than walking, or vice versa, but they're the same. Improvements in time come from: -Pushing start at the beginning better. You just mash start several times. I saved about 90 frames (!) here. This should be one of the easiest parts to optimize. -Luck manipulating the jumping enemies so that the last one lands near the exit. This was pretty tricky sometimes. I failed at doing this on the last set of enemies, mostly because I got bored. -Better jumping on the part at the end where you have to turn around and go up. You move too far to the right before turning around. Just a couple of frames here but again this was an easy optimization. Getting hit by that bullet like you do does in fact save frames: I think you could gain a lot more time by manipulating more health for damage boosts like this. I'm glad you're not worried about being "beaten" -- but as it stands I can't imagine this movie getting published. I do look forward to another WIP of this or some other weird game from you in the forums.

I tried to watch it, but I think I may have gotten a bad ROM... Everything glitched out when you jumped to the second floor and started moving left, and you died twice. I'll try to find a working ROM when you submit your more optimized run.

The version I used was 0.98.25 - what version was you using when that happening?

Oh, I was using 0.98.15. I didn't know a new version came out.

Okay, thanx for the heads-up! Any volunteers with a 16, 17, or 18 builds?

I just tested your movie with every version from .13 to .25, and they all sync ok. Probably Mechuyael has a bad ROM. About my vote, I agree with what others have already said. This seems to be a decent game, so I'd probably vote yes if/when you submit a well optimized run. I'm giving it a "Meh" for now.

Seeing as how much alden has saved through just menu optimization (which wasn't visible without trying it myself), I'll revert my yes to a no, since it's still pretty clearly unoptimized. And I hope to God that if you cancel this, you'll make about 3 or 4 more WIPs before submitting again.

Call this gruefood, period. Total Recall did get both good and bad results, but I personally can't see this as publication bound. Even if it can be beat in 6'40 - there is still no way this can make it to the archives. Thanx for support!