Twinkle Tale is what you get when you combine top down Contra stages with Kingdom Hearts. It was only ever released in Japan. If requested I can provide translations.
Aims for fastest time
Takes Damage to save time
Manipulates luck
Abuses a programming error
In Twinkle Tale you play as a lady magician known as Saria, she can cast various magic spells and can fire varying projectiles. There is the stars which is the weapon of choice because as soon as one set of stars has disolved or disappeared off screen you can fire another one, this is useful at close range because you can defeat even the mightiest of enemies very quickly with turbo fire. There is also the lasers which can cover a wide range and does not disapear on contact with anything on screen and can be used to take down multiple enemys in tight corridors.Then there is the blue balls which semi lock onto enemies and and anything else which can be destroyed. They're not very powerful but still useful in certain situation. Finally there is the two spells one is 3 giant electric balls which randomly move about on screen and eventually move off. With TASing I can make then act more purposefully. Finally there is the Lava Dragon which is preferable as it covers the whole screen very quickly and will promptly take out most enemies.
The game takes Saria through 9 varied levels. The last level purely consists of a boss battle with Kaiser Demon. Some of the movements won't look optimal, this is because of the games horribly buggy scrolling. Also at some parts I seem to take damage for no reason, this because I want to downgrade the stars because its more favourable weapon for the boss I'm fighting.
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
I'm not sure I got the right ROM though. (I tried Twinkle Tale (J) [!].gen, which was the closest match to what you wrote.) Well, here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.
Joined: 4/8/2005
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Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
I would have never thought all the bosses and minibosses could be defeated that fast. Downgrading the weapons by taking damage on bosses was clever. It might look strange for those who don't know how the weapons work in this game.
Voting "yes".
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
I really think two things could improve this movie:
kill more enemies just for fun. All the enemies buzzing around that could have been slain made me sad as you passed them. This run was good, but could have been better if you spent more time focusing on killing enemies without wasting time. Especially because you have 3 types of magic shots that you can switch very fast between to deal with killing monsters without stopping; the homing type especially useful.
I think you could have done lag reduction better. For one, I noticed that more enemies/sprites/projectiles on screen could cause the game to lag (if you killed more enemies for fun, you could have saved lag frames), and second the dragon super shot thingie really lagged things up. The red frame counter in gens 9.5a is immensely helpful in detecting lag, and I watched carefully and noticed many laggy segments (not fadeouts when the counter increases from not having input control) where you could have prevented it.
I vote yes, but I would like a less laggy, more carefully planned, and more "random killing of enemies as much as possible" run.
kill more enemies just for fun. All the enemies buzzing around that could have been slain made me sad as you passed them. This run was good, but could have been better if you spent more time focusing on killing enemies without wasting time. Especially because you have 3 types of magic shots that you can switch very fast between to deal with killing monsters without stopping; the homing type especially useful.
Killing enemies for fun tends to cause lag, I tried to put a balance between doing it and not doing it. Its pretty evident when enemies have been killed. You shoud also be aware that you're still limited by how many projectiles you can have on screen, so you can't just do rapid switching between weapons. The blue homing balls are not particularly effective since in certain situations they take ages to land on there intended target and aren't very powerful.
I think you could have done lag reduction better. For one, I noticed that more enemies/sprites/projectiles on screen could cause the game to lag (if you killed more enemies for fun, you could have saved lag frames), and second the dragon super shot thingie really lagged things up. The red frame counter in gens 9.5a is immensely helpful in detecting lag, and I watched carefully and noticed many laggy segments (not fadeouts when the counter increases from not having input control) where you could have prevented it.
Most likely true, I've already touched on the point on killing enemies for fun. The Lava dragon does cause the game to effectivly goto 30 FPS but its super effective in a lot of situations, often when its needed to elimate every enemy on screen. Lag reduction will most likely be the main focus in terms of improvements, but its not as simple as killing everything as quickly as possible before the screen fills up with sprites.
Thanks so much for this. This is the most pleasant surprise submission (meaning, I personally didn't expect it) I can remember in quite some time. I'll watch it later. ;)
Its quite hard to choose a screenshot in this game because anything with a lot of explosions will generally have a variety of good screenshots, but I wanted to avoid choosing one where the Lava Dragon is used, because it's too confusing too to look at. So I came up with this one instead.
Joined: 11/18/2006
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Location: Back where I belong
I think I noticed a couple small spots where you may have unintentionally missed a couple shots (the second set of 4 dragon statues, first statue comes to mind), but I think the balance of killing/lag management was well done. Very entertaining, and a definite yes vote.
First reaction: Wow, Genesis music that actually goes up to Excellent, and gameplay that looks like a good combination of (insert shoot'm'up here) and Gauntlet.
Second reaction: Ugh, the scrolling doesn't center you well.
Why did you take damagealready answered-stars spread too much to keep maximum fire rate.
I keep hearing what must be a 1-up sound, but no life counter? Do you go back to the beginning of a level if you die?
More when I finish watching: below!
(Dang, this game looks fun.)
That huge 3-ball spell isn't homing? Very good manipulation then.
Those enemies that pop out of the water make it look like Fred Edison's machine got turned back on after Day of the Tentacle.
Level...uh...after dragon
After the four statues, it just won't let you go downstairs until it scrolls enough, right?
What decides when you get extra maximum health? Which level you're on?
Cool, a flying level!
Glass-floor level: Ah, lag starts rearing its ugly head. Though, when it does, you play whack-a-mole with it(metaphorically) and keep it down.
And then the sages you saved earlier come up and zap the statues, talk to you, and pop the door for you.
Cool fires behind the throne. More dialog, which I don't understand except for the occasional "yes" "no" and "Saria". Beat boss. More dialog.
Ending credits where she's standing on cliffpoint. Whee. I think I'll watch it again for fun. Immediately. Maybe at half speed.
Translations of the stage levels and the dialog would be appreciated, though.
Translations of the stage levels and the dialog would be appreciated, though.
Stage 1 = Talon Plain
Stage 2 = Olof Castle
Stage 3 = Vine Revine
Stage 4 = Dohla Castle
Stage 5 = Rield's Cave
Stage 6 = Elan Castle
Stage 7 = Zard Mountain Range
Stage 8 = Diamond Palace
"Saria"
"Master!
Sir Dohla,,, and Sir Elan to!
You're all safe"
"It seems you managed to survive as well, Saria.
I'm glad you made it"
"Is Kaiser Demon in there?"
"Yes.
He is creating a portal between this room and Hell.
The moment you enter, you won't be able to return
unless you defeat him."
"Saria... without the magic gems, we don't have enough strength to face Kaiser Demon...
But you can't go alone!"
"We're going with you, Saria"
"No Sir Elan
Sir Dohla to, please don't worry about me.
Well then; Master, I am going to put an end
to the king of demons."
"Hmm, well said!
Saria, your stength alone probably can't tear apart this
door.
Let work together to destroy it."
"We're counting on you Saria."
_______
"So, you finally came... I've been waiting.
Are you really so foolish as to defy me?"
"Enough talking!
Kaiser... prepare to die!!"
"Hmph, stubborn fool!
Go ahead and try. If you can!"
_______
"Oh, Saria, you survived!"
"The Demon King has finally been defeated!"
"Well done Saria!
I'm very proud of you!"
"Sir Dohla...
Sir Elan...
Master..."
"You made it back!
Well done Saria. That was magnificent!"
Your name will be long remembered as the one
who saved Alpherion from Gadou's evil plan.
There is no words to express gratidude.
Come, you may ask whatever you wish of me."
"...
Perhaps... perhaps his intentions weren't truly evil.
That man died trying to stop the Demon King.
Your highness, please forgive Sir Gadou.
I... I want to bury him in the Zard Mountains.
... That is my request."
"Saria!
Are you asking the King to apologize?"
"Wait. Olof I will concede that perhaps I was a bit
harsh on Gadou..."
"Still, he did betray the kingdom by defying the ban.
But if that is truly what you wish, then so be it."
"I thank you for your kindness.
Master, I will be taking leave of you for a while..."
"Well then... please excuse me."
"Saria..."
Awesome looking shump--for whatever reason it reminded me of Cave's ESp Ra.De.
Amusing that the entire game's dialog is in Japanese except for the credits. I know this isn't exactly uncommon, but it seems less prevalent in dialog heavy games.
