Well, its finally here. I present to you the first Nintendo DS Tool Assisted Speedrun. The emulator used is DeSmuME 9.2rr which can be found here.
You can watch the movie via youtube part1, part 2, part3. Thanks to paul_t!

Notes

  • Getting the flag at the bottom is faster than the top.
  • 1-1 - I slowdown at the end in order to manipulate the flying ? on the map screen. This is necessary in order to get the blue shell
right away.
  • 8-4 - I take damage in order to avoid fireworks. Also I wanted to take damage to lose the blue shell so that I have some levels
without an overpowered item. The blue shell is less impressive in the basic "run to the right" levels.
  • 8-6 - More slowdown to avoid fireworks.

Time comparisons to the 23:55 console speedrun (by SDA timing).

Since I wasn't able to compare frames to a speedrun, I used the game clock. For reference, the speedrun can be found
Time remaining in each level. Speedrun vs TAS.
  • 1-1 370 370
  • 1-2 353 356
  • 1-C 450 463
  • 5-1 362 363
  • 5-2 362 363
  • 5-G 321 328
  • 8-1 268 268
  • 8-2 243 247
  • 8-F 440 447
  • 8-3 302 306
  • 8-4 264 265
  • 8-F 472 476
  • 8-5 265 268
  • 8-6 353 366
  • 8-7 354 359
  • 8-8 371 374
  • 8-F2 325 325

Special Thanks

  • The rest of the desmume rerecording branch team: Paul_t and Zeromus
  • choronorox for his very impressive speed run
  • The rest of the desmume team who have really turned around this emulator and turned it into something nice.


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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2241: adelikat's DS New Super Mario Bros. in 26:27.50
Post subject: Re: #2241: adelikat's DS New Super Mario Bros. in 26:27.5
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (2156)
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adelikat wrote:
Well, its finally here. I present to you the first Nintendo DS Tool Assisted Speedrun. The emulator used is DeSmuME 9.2rr which can be found here.
Hey that's unfair!
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days <adelikat> no doubt <adelikat> klmz, they still do
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Awesome! DS TASes are possible! Or at least NSMB is. How's compatibility for other games? What's up with the world map being so slow? In the underwater level in world 8 (8-3), do the bubble pipes give you any speed boost? The game's just not the same without Mario's voice acting. In other words, it got a lot more interesting once you ditched the blue shell. Any particular reasaon to use the question-block fireflower instead of your stored one? (In 8-F2) Edit: on the whole, while I'm very glad to see this run, it wasn't hugely entertaining. A lot of the levels amounted to little more than pressing right and jumping at appropriate moments. I suspect that an all-coins run would probably be more entertaining. That said, this is in no way a bad TAS, and it certainly had its moments. The last fortress in particular was quite enjoyable.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Skilled player (1108)
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I'm wondering about the pipe thing too. Also, why did you save at every chance? A good choice for a first DS game, although I'm wondering how stable DeSmuME is development wise...
Patashu
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Wow, the blue shell suit is -really- powerful. Maybe a no blue shell run would be more interesting?
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
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Why would you want to limit Mario's power?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Former player
Joined: 3/23/2004
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I voted meh. I can't really see how this is much different than a normal speed run (even viewing the comparisons, not much time was saved).
Former player
Joined: 10/6/2007
Posts: 86
I liked it. So yes. Though I'm wondering why you saved each time, I figured that would actually add time.
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
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Location: United Kingdom
I got excited after seeing this on the front page, saw the first part on Youtube and I got dissapointed after the first level why? During the jump to the flag pole if you tap left before he grabs the pole, it skips "Mario turning around to the castle" after reaching to the bottom of the pole saving around 30 frames per course. EDIT: Just read the submission text and explains about the 1-1 delays. Clever idea for ? box manipulation So I skipped a few minutes and see how you used the shell, The problem is that shell spinning has slower speed than Mario running without the shell. The only way to get the highest speed with the shell is constant triple jumping (it's like Super Mario World where you keep on jumping during the highest 6/5 speed). There's possible improvement by nearly 10 seconds.
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Already a DS TAS? cool Yes vote from me, felt quite optimised and having played the game a lot i enjoyed watching some of the more difficult sections of the game passed with such ease
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GreenaLink wrote:
There's possible improvement by nearly 10 seconds.
If this is indeed true and verifiable, I think it's grounds for immediate rejection (as it sounds like sloppy play rather than entertainment/speed tradeoffs). Cool to have the first DS TAS, but it shouldn't have sloppy play regardless.
Editor, Expert player (2329)
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Ummm... what? DS TASing? I thought that was still far away
Player (62)
Joined: 9/2/2008
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I love to help and improve this TAS run but the re-recording Emulator keeps on giving me the error message. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk0u94bf21M About the flagpole trick: Look at 1:24 of the video, see how much faster it is to start the celebration sequence. Now that I've watched the rest of the video, I can say that: Bowser Junior in 8-Tower1 can be possibly improved by: *Ground pounding Junior after the first hit. If this proves to be impossible then the other method is to: *Hit Bowser with the normal jump like the TAS shows then, go away from Bowser and wall jump back to perform a Shell Spin, this should knock down Bowser JNR as soon as he recovers from the first hit, then you can finish off with a Ground pound possibly saving a few frames. When you enter doors it's faster (in Real TAS time) to enter close to the centre as possible I think mainly because: If you start to open the door as soon as possible, Mario/Luigi walks to the centre and then goes through the door. However if you run to the centre of the door and open it, Mario/Luigi would go straight through the door, without needing to walk to the centre first, possibly saving a few more frames.
greenalink.blogspot.com
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A DS TAS coming!? I can't believe it... By the way, i'll watch it later~~
I'm coming to here to learn English~
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Wow, DS TASing already? N+ and the Castlevanias must be done!
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Sweetness! I can't wait to rip apart some poor DS games now. Kirby Squeak Squad 100% anyone? Yes from me. Congrats on the first TurboGrafx and DS TASes in the past month or whatever.
See Youtube page (GIRfanaticTAS) for all runs and stuff.
adelikat
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This is the first ever TAS run or wip of any kind for the game or platform. There's no way I'm making an unimprovable movie on the first try. Especially given that the TAS tools are a work in progress right now. My main concerns were ingame time for the levels and trying to be entertaining with level antics. To GreenaLink: Are you sure the shell is slower? It seems all the same to me. We installed the ram search and ram watch from GENS now so we can confirm this for real, rather than subjectively debate it. I intend to look at various movements and plan them out for v2. The flag trick sounds neat, thanks for the tip. As for saving instead of canceling...Yeah, that might not be my brightest moment there. I kind of didn't even think about the cancel option <_<
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Player (62)
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Thanks for the replying back :)
There's no way I'm making an unimprovable movie on the first try.
I do understand what you mean about this since most of the popular TASes were not flawless on the first version (like SMB 3). I am also aware that this is the first DS emu with re-recording features and it's in beta form too.
Are you sure the shell is slower? It seems all the same to me.
I just did a test on 1-1 running to the pipe (and entering it that leads to the star coin). As Shell Luigi (with the running start -> Shell Spin) I land on the pipe with 381 remaining. As Fire Luigi, (with the running start -> Max speed when Luigi sticks his arms out) I land on the pipe with 383 remaining. It shows that Shell spinning is slower than running. I'll try and see if constant triple jumping can solve this speed difference (although it's not easy doing it unassisted). Sorry if my previous post sounds a bit harsh but I was quite impressed overall how my favourite system can be TASed.
greenalink.blogspot.com
adelikat
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Also, I must point out, NSMB is quite a hog compared to other games. It will almost certaintly run slow when playing it from desmume (unless you have some high powered quadcore or something). However, it is the exception rather than the norm. Most (compatible) games run at full 60fps.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
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It's great that the DS is now available for TASing, though whether it has any good games to TAS is yet to be seen. :p This run was just too boring for me to keep watching after about 10 minutes. I'll try out desmume, up until now I've been using iDeaS and it gives me fairly low framerates for anything 3d.
Voted NO for NO reason
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I enjoyed it, a bit boring at times though. Gave it a yes. Cool waking up to NDS tasing :D
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Player (121)
Joined: 2/11/2007
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Well, eventually adelikat will run out of systems to surprise us with... voted no as author admits it's improvable ;)
I make a comic with no image files and you should read it. While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -Eugene Debs
Mitjitsu
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Woot! Since when was DS TASing possible "files a lawsuit". I've given it a "meh" since I noticed the flagpole trick wasn't used and the way doors are entered looks unoptimized. It seems clear cut that entering via the center of them is faster. I think this should be redone before publishing.
Post subject: Re: #2241: adelikat's DS New Super Mario Bros. in 26:27.5
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Joined: 12/5/2007
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NesVideoAgent wrote:
The emulator used is DeSmuME 9.2rr which can be found here
$ unzip -l desmume_0.9.2-rr.zip 
Archive:  desmume_0.9.2-rr.zip
  Length     Date   Time    Name
 --------    ----   ----    ----
  2020864  04-30-09 04:00   desmume_0.9.2-rr.exe
 --------                   -------
  2020864                   1 file
<adelikat> the latest svn won't get you the rerecording version <adelikat> the src for that is not yet available <adelikat> it is a separate branch on a private svn <adelikat> but within a few days it should be in the main branch
So I guess there's still hope other than YouTube :)
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