Posted: 5/29/2008 3:08 AM
(Edited: 5/29/2008 10:45 PM)
Post subject: Adventures of MicroMan speedrun
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Most people think of DOSBox as being a DOS emulator, but it's actually a PC emulator that's geared towards playing DOS games. That means that it can also run a copy of Windows 3.1 so that you can run Win16 games. (I wrote a tutorial about how to run Windows 3.1 in DOSBox here. It also links to all of the drivers you'll need.) It seems that I'm not the only one who has fond memories of playing a game called The Adventures of MicroMan. I decided to do a single segment speedrun in DOSBox, and I recorded the AVI. It's not tool assisted because DOSBox doesn't support save states yet, though Qbix discussed his desire to add them in an interview for the site which you can read here. It's definitely possible to beat this time through better luck manipulation, but the randomness was quite favorable in this particular run. I wasn't able to completely avoid taking damage, but in some cases no time is lost when I do (like if I'm on a moving platform). There is one room where I pause for a second in order to avoid teleporting into an enemy. There are times when you see me enter a room, then immediately leave and re-enter. This is to make an enemy I call "the Leader" leave the room so that he doesn't shoot guided missiles at me. You can't tell from watching it, but this game is actually pretty hard. Most people played v1.0, which was very challenging. MicroMan is constantly running out of energy, and there are rooms that have bottomless pits that have some really difficult jumps. Many rooms require you to find invisible platforms, invisible springboards, and invisible moving platforms. I know where they are, so I making finding them look easy. If you don't know the game inside and out like I do, it's time consuming and really a matter of trial and error to figure out how a room is supposed to be completed. The hardest part was that if you died in v1.0, you had to start over. Version 1.5 added save points and made three of the rooms easier. The big jump off of the springboard onto a disappearing platform in the room before the final boss is frustratingly difficult and ended a lot of games in v1.0 because of the lack of save points. I elected to use v1.5 for this speedrun, even though it made one of my jumps easier, because v1.5 added background music, which hopefully improves the entertainment value. If you didn't play this game back in the day, you might not be very impressed by this video. If you did play the game and remember how freaking frustrating it was, you may find this enjoyable. In fact, no one has told me that they've ever beaten the game, so if you never did, you can finally see the ending. The AVI can be downloaded here. There's also a really bizarre glitch that I wasn't able to use in the speedrun, which you can watch here. I apologize for not linking directly to the AVIs, but these are large files and I'm a bit paranoid about spiders/crawlers/grabbers snatching them from the links in this forum. Edit: Now 27 seconds faster due to better Leader avoision, much better boss fights, and better play.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 5/29/2008 12:51 PM
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nesrocks
He/Him
Player (246)
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
So shouldn't this be on the speedruns forum? downloading the video.
aka Nesrocks http://www.youtube.com/user/UoBtExFODA https://nesrocks.com https://twitter.com/bitinkstudios
Posted: 5/29/2008 9:07 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Maybe. I figured it was DOSBox related. I've since beaten that time, but it didn't look as good. The luck in the first boss fight was just unbelievably good. Now I know what I'm doing, but I can't reproduce with skill what I achieved in the first attempt with luck!
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 5/30/2008 3:18 AM
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Sticky
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
Holy crap, thank you for this... goddamn this game was difficult, never beat it myself T_T
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Posted: 5/30/2008 5:37 AM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
I'm glad somebody likes it. :) As far as the speedrun, I've found a way to save 14 seconds but I keep losing all of it the second Boss tank fight or the Bubble Ship Boss fight (came within one volley of beating him without having to get a second energy recharge). Roughly 50 failed attempts later, ranging from 2 to 10 minutes per failure, and I've just about had enough for today. Well, maybe just a few more hours.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 5/30/2008 11:51 AM
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Wockes
Joined: 5/17/2007
Posts: 393
Location: Sweden
Yeah this is good, never played the game though
"No love for the game gear"
Posted: 5/30/2008 2:12 PM
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Sticky
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
hey hopper, he never made any more "episodes" of MM, did he? Also, for that big UFO fight, why not stand/duck on those two lone platforms? They are higher up than any of the other platforms, so every shot should hit him. The only problem I see would be getting away every time he comes near you, but that is easily solved by dropping down to the next level.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Posted: 5/30/2008 8:42 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
There have been three MicroMan games in total. The first one, called "MicroMan", was a playable demo to show off Brian Goble's Windows Animation Package, which he hoped to license. I made a speedrun of myself beating that game in 2:57 in the other MicroMan shrine. Then there was The Adventures of MicroMan, which had two episodes. Brian Goble no longer sells the registered version, so I can't show off Episode 2: Savage Stones. I'm talking to Brian Goble by email right now and asking him to declare The Adventures of MicroMan freeware. Brian Goble later co-founded a company called HipSoft, which now sells a game called MicroMan's Crazy Computers, which is a totally new game based on MicroMan, which contains many familiar enemies and gameplay elements. In the Bubble Ship Boss fight, if I stand on the two higher platforms (one of which disappears), he'll run into me, which hurts a lot. But yes, I could drop down when he comes over. Here's why I don't think it would be faster. First, I would have to get all the way over there, which would take several seconds. Then I would have stop shooting at him much sooner and wait for him to go away when he got to those platforms. I would get to shoot at him less times per pass, and there would already be the time I lost getting there. More of my shots would hit him from there, but in such a short fight, I doubt I could make up the time. Normally it takes two or three energy recharges to beat him, but somehow I managed to beat him with only one, so this fight is over pretty quickly. I just need to be more careful about not falling down after I get the energy recharge. Anyway, I'm determined to show off the two time savers that I came up with that save 14 seconds. Unfavorable randomness and slower boss fights ruined every attempt yesterday, but I'm not done trying.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 5/30/2008 10:49 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
[Edit] Okay, forget what I said about the 11:06 time. I've gotten it down to 10:05. Both Ins and Z are used for fire in this game, and I figured out that I could shoot twice as fast by mashing them both at the same time. Here's a breakdown of where I gained or lost time compared to the 11:11 run. Entering Boss 1 fight: No difference. I kneel so that all three of my shots hit the Boss tank each time (saved 7 seconds in my 11:06 run), and use Ins+Z to fire twice as fast, which might have saved all or part of a second, which I may have lost to unfavorable randomness when it took the Boss tank longer to come down to the lower level. After the Boss 1 fight: 7 seconds faster Looks like I lost a second from sub-optimal jumping before I got to the room with the two moving platforms and a wall gun. Before jump room: 6 seconds faster I realized that I still have Super Jump when I enter that room, so I skip the platforms and jump up to the ladder, saving 6 seconds. After jump room: 12 seconds faster Double firing saved some time in the room with the RoboDog and two caterpillars. After RoboDog room: 14 seconds faster Less waiting in the room with the Robot and taking less damage, plus faster room re-entry before the second Boss tank fight save 6 seconds. Entering Boss 2 fight: 20 seconds faster Double firing at the second Boss tank saves 10 seconds. After Boss fight 2: 30 seconds faster I skip the teleporter and energy in the room before the big jump, saving 5 seconds. Entering final battle: 35 seconds faster Double firing at the Bubble Ship Boss kills him so quickly that I don't even to go down and get an energy recharge! It used to take me three recharges to beat this guy! This saves 31 seconds. After final battle: 66 seconds faster Final time: 10:05. I think a sub-10 minute run might be possible with flawless play and optimal randomness. If anyone wants to take a shot at it, here are the rooms where you need good luck. Room 1: at least 50% of the time, the platform won't be there when you need it. Room 4: Drop from the ladder too soon and you teleport into the robot. Sometimes, despite flawless ladder climbing, I hit him anyway. Room 6: At least 1 out of 20 times the Flying Disc shoots me. Room 9: It's possible to get through this room without being hit by the Robot, but it partially depends on when it starts shooting and whether the wavy shots are high or low as they pass over you. Room 10: Very random. The block might not be there when you drop from above, and you might get hit in the face or the back by a missile. The direction and timing of the missile are random. Room 12: The Boss tank will always start on top, but he might not start shooting missiles right away. How soon he teleports down, how close he is to you, how many missiles he shoots, and whether or not he stays on the lower platform long enough to kill him in one round are all random. Room 13: The magnets are random. Sometimes they'll pull you a long way, sometimes they won't. Room 14: Sometimes the Wall Gun hits, you sometimes it doesn't. The timing and direction of the shots is random. Room 15: There are actually at least two invisible moving platforms here. You can tell which one you're on based on where MicroMan's feet are. The higher platform doesn't get as close to where you need to jump as the lower platform. If you jump too far right before hitting the invisible springboard, you'll hit the higher moving platform. Aim for the middle of the rectangles on the wall to hit the lower one. You're on the right one if MicroMan's feet are right on top of the rectangles in the middle of the rectangles in the background. Room 19: The timing and direction of the Wall Gun's shots determines how soon you can jump up there. If you jump too late, you'll lose time brushing up against the wall. Ideally, the disappearing platform should disappear when you get there to make the jump to the ladder easier. Room 25: It's possible to avoid being hit by the Robot's shots, but it takes some luck. Room 28: The boss fight is always random. For best odds of beating the Boss tank in only two rounds, you want him to spend as much time on the lower platform as possible. How long he stays there is random. Room 31: I'm not sure how important randomness is here, but a good fight is critical. It's extremely difficult -- but not impossible -- to beat the Bubble Ship Boss with only one energy recharge. Unfavorable randomness in rooms 1, 6, 10, 14, 19, 28 and 31 can ruin a speedrun. I soldiered on despite bad luck in room 10 because I was tired of starting over and I thought I could still beat my old time, which I did. To beat my new time will require me to start over any time anything goes wrong, which could take hundreds of attempts. I'm not sure if I'm still up to it. Feel free to record your own run. If you can beat me, I'll host the video.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 6/1/2008 8:30 AM
(Edited: 6/1/2008 1:28 PM)
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Apparently a sub-9 minute run is possible. I've gotten it down to 9:03. It turns out that you can Super Jump off of the springboard and directly onto a ladder in one of the rooms where I used to wait for about half a minute for the moving platform to get into position. Saving that much time, I still have Super Jump when I get to the magnet room, so I can jump directly to the next ladder, saving another half a minute. Having so much extra health from not going through the magnet allows me to walk through one of the enemies instead of stopping to kill it, saving another few seconds. The end result was a 62 second improvement. There's also apparently a weird glitch that causes the final boss to get stuck in the middle of the room and stop shooting. Since he's completely defenseless, you can just move to the uppermost block and shoot directly into him continuously. The strange thing is that the glitch seems to make him stronger! Despite a continuous barrage of fire, it took 10 seconds longer to beat him that way than with the old jump-up-and-down technique. I posted a video of the glitch anyway.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 6/1/2008 1:17 PM
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Sticky
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
holy hell! Good job hopper! EDIT: The url give a 403 - Forbidden D:
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Posted: 6/1/2008 1:28 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Sorry, I screwed up the URL. Try again. Also, I discovered a new glitch that lets me walk through a wall and kill a dead enemy!
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 6/1/2008 6:09 PM
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Sticky
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
Heh, I COULD have gone to the other URL... whoops. So, that glitch about killing a dead enemy, it warps you backwards? Could it warp you forwards, mayhaps?
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Posted: 6/1/2008 10:08 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
I did my best to explain what I think is going on in the glitch description. The collision detection in MicroMan is a lot like the collision detection in Super Mario Bros. or any other platform game. MicroMan can sometimes get partially inside a block that disappears and reappears, and the block pushes him out. Normally you could never get deep enough into a wall to skip a room. In this one case, the left side of 3-11 doesn't have a wall on the left side, but it leads into a room that used to have a wall on the right side. Loading a saved game resets all of the enemies, power-ups, and walls, which means that the wall in 3-10 is back, and so is the Boss tank. When I walk left in 3-11, I'm walking into a wall, and the game tries to push me out. For some reason, it can push me into the floor, and the game is presumably still trying to push me out of the floor. When I press right, that seems to help it push me out, and I get back into 3-10. The same glitch can be used in one other place in v2.0 by saving in 8-16 while MicroMan has Super Jump. Loading the saved game and try to get back into 8-15 and you can re-fight the second Boss tank. The only other place where there's a room that doesn't have a wall next to a room that sometimes has a wall is after the final boss fight, but there are no save points after the fight. If there was, you could walk left from 8-19 back into 8-18 and re-fight the last boss.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 6/4/2008 1:56 PM
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franpa
Joined: 2/25/2006
Posts: 407
Why are you not using the latest Windows version of Adventures of microman? I got the latest version of the first part on my site :) I found it way too hard to track down. You can speed the game up and make it that bit more enjoyable and les of a slideshow! shame he removed some traps and made the boss fights easier. I did at one point find a copy of the 2nd part but it disappeared mysteriously... and when i noticed it (it may have occurred in my hard drive crash a while back) i was very sad :( You can find it here http://home.exetel.com.au/franpa/Games/microman%201%20v2.0.exe EDIT: The biggest annoyance in the latest version is how everything is simplified and all the traps are removed... If your going to add a "save game" feature after each boss then why would you remove the traps!? it's not like anyone is going to be forced back to the start anymore.
Ryzen 3700X, ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard, 32GB 3600MHz RAM, MSI Geforce 1070Ti 8GB, Windows 10 Pro x64 http://tasvideos.org/Nach/FranpaAlert.html
Posted: 6/5/2008 4:04 AM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
I have v2.0, but I stuck with v1.5 for a couple of reasons. First, v1.5 is Win16, so I was able to record the video with DOSBox. Good old Ctrl+Alt+F5. I would have to use something else to record v2.0. I tried Snaggit but I could never get it to record sound for some reason. The other reason is that v2.0 is too freaking easy! I'll probably record a speedrun of v2.0 anyway, but I'm used to the tool-assisted videos around here where all games have to be played on their hardest difficulty level. Version 1.5 makes only one of my jumps easier compared to v1.0, but it can play multiple sound effects simultaneously, it has background music, and I don't have jump constantly from beginning to end! Version 2.0 adds a ladder to the room with the invisible moving platforms, allowing me to skip them completely, and it adds a sold platform to the room before the final boss, eliminating the need to time the jump from the springboard. Plus there's that second Super Jump in the second Boss tank fight, though I wouldn't need or use it in the run. Anyway, if I find a decent (hopefully free) way to record it, I'll do a v2.0 speedrun, but I don't like the fact that it's so much easier than v1.5. It feels like I'm not playing on the highest difficulty level. I couldn't agree with you more about the Save game thing. I just don't get it. It was a bummer getting trapped in v1.0 and having to start over, but v1.5 added Save points. Why make the game easier if you're adding Save points? If anything, he should have made the game harder!
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.