Game objectives

According to the game itself, the objective is to "Bring the android to life!". My specific goals were:
  • Aims to max out every game counter (Power Up value, bumper value, Android Millions, bonus multiplier, AI, Physical Systems, and Physical Systems tests) and bring the android to life
  • Manipulates luck
  • Makes entertainment and speed tradeoffs
  • Uses default angle settings
  • Emulator used: JPC-RR r10

Game description

Epic Pinball Shareware was widely distributed in the mid 1990's and consisted of a single table named Android (although the playfield art reads Super Android in versions after 1.1). The Android table was arguably the most complete and entertaining table in the Epic Pinball series. As was often the case at the time, the authors released the best they had as shareware and heavily promoted the full game. The shareware version contained many well-known cheat codes and several mostly unhelpful glitches. The general difficulty of the game and the excellent graphics and sound gave the game a very high replayability factor for being a free-as-in-lunch game. The game still holds a lot of nostalgia for many PC users of the time.
Because this is a shareware game it can be freely downloaded from a number of sources. This run was created with shareware version 2.1 found at the excellent http://www.classicdosgames.com site on the Epic Pinball page (and also mirrored here) with an MD5 sum of 5ff1e90b8225c330c010ea76427008d6 (the primary executable PINBALL.EXE has an MD5 sum of caf0205c1f92dc7275227ffbdedd98ad). I have confirmed that this run syncs with both the 2.1 and the 2.0 version of the game but it will not sync with version 1.1 as that version lacks the left ramp sinkhole and accompanying diverter. The actual disk image I created for JPC-RR can be found at http://sonic.net/~ac/tas/EpicPinball.

Run information

Emulator notes: This run was created with JPC-RR version r.10. JPC-RR cannot be played in real-time with any currently available computer hardware and version r.10 does not have a quick way to output the video to watch it in real-time. This means that the only way to truly see the result of a run is to dump the video which also happens at a fraction of real-time and thus is very time consuming (it was at a minimum a three hour process using my fastest system). Also of note is that DOS samples the keyboard up to 250 times a "frame" making sub-frame manipulation possible and in some cases necessary. To say that differently, attempting a TAS in a DOS environment with JPC-RR has unique challenges and advantages in comparison to console runs.
Game physics: The physics simulation used in the Epic Pinball series has some unusual characteristics.
  • The balls themselves seem to have an internal energy - if you trap and hold a ball with the flipper the ball will continue to move on its own, slowly rolling up the inlane and then back onto the flipper before repeating ad nauseum.
  • Momentum is not properly calculated when the ball collides with objects at high speeds which is primarily visible when the ball is bouncing back and forth between the slingshots as the ball's speed can suddenly drop significantly.
  • The ball sometimes comes to a dead stop when nearing the apex of a ramp, typically when another ball is at or above the same level on the playfield. This is demonstrated once or twice during the run.
  • When the ball is on or near the flipper and the flipper is triggered the ball's resulting velocity (literally speed and direction) is artificially limited to a small subset of possibilities. This above all else is the most limiting restriction as a shot that seems like it would be possible, well, isn't. The net result is that the run contains a lot of points where the ball is fired in a haphazard-looking direction in order to set up a subsequent shot. This is especially true when aiming for the far left Testing sinkhole, the left lane, and the far right Physical Systems sinkhole.
Glitches:
  • The drop target collision detection is very poor. If the ball is at all traveling quickly the shot will not register making it very hard to hit them successfully leading to some very creative methods of backhanding the ball to the left side of the playfield.
  • Balls frequently get stuck and copied in various different sinkholes meaning the next shot to that sinkhole doesn't take, although it does clear the copied ball out of the hole.
  • If an exit sinkhole (such as the Power sinkhole which is the exit for the testing sinkhole) has a copied ball in it the next shot to the entrance sinkhole will not register.
  • Occasionally shots fired at a sinkhole are immediately fired back out without registering even when there's no ball stuck in the sinkhole. This annoying behavior along with the stuck ball characteristic is very noticeable when playing normally outside of a TAS and can be very frustrating as there really isn't a great way to avoid it (these glitches nearly drove me to insanity when I was playing this game in the 90's).
  • If a ball is transitioning from one sinkhole to another and another ball on the playfield is at the same height or higher the first ball may drop out of the sinkhole and fall completely off of the table. This is demonstrated a couple of times in the run although it isn't generally detrimental to the run.
  • If multiball is in progress when a second multiball is started all balls in play may be instantly transported to the plunger lane and auto-fired; this may be a feature but it looks very unnatural.
  • When starting multiball the view may get stuck at the bottom of the playfield; this can be cleared by showing the score and then re-hiding it. This is demonstrated during the second multiball in the run.
Game setup and configuration: The first time PINBALL.EXE is executed it runs through a series of several screens to set up the sound card IRQ, DMA, and fidelity settings. Luckily, this only takes a few frames to complete thanks to sub-frame keyboard entry. I opted to start the game without making any customizations to the angle (tilt level) controls meaning this run uses the default Normal angle setting. As soon as the game starts I removed the score display so more of the playfield was visible. Also of note is that about a third of the way into the run I adjusted the "tracking" setting to Slow; this has no impact on gameplay outside of altering the RNG but it does make it so the view doesn't jerk around as much which looks a little better when multiball starts.

Section by section notes

Completing AI: There are two major tasks to complete. The first is bringing up the Artificial Intelligence system and the second is bringing up the Physical System. The AI system is started by shooting the right ramp to link the computer to the android and then shooting the left ramp which prints text on the screen telling the player what action to perform to install the next AI. In some cases in this run the text is skipped to save time but the instructions usually boil down to "hit all ramps" or "hit all sinkholes". Installing the final AI scores the super jackpot and brings the android to life. This happens about halfway through the run and scores 100M points.
Completing Physical Systems: The Physical Systems sinkhole is on the far lower right side of the playfield and is enabled by dropping all three of the targets on the left side of the playfield. A two ball multiball is started when some of the physical systems are completed such as the right arm. Most of these multiballs are ended through creative displays of the various glitches in the game. A three ball multiball starts when the final Physical System, the Torso, is completed. (By the way, I can't possibly see how you could activate an arm before activating the torso unless you're dyslexic and watching the Black Knight from Monty Python but I digress... :)
Maxing all game counters:
  • Power Up value: This is the center sinkhole. 10M is awarded when the power is Maxed out.
  • Bumper value: This is accomplished by hitting the left lane which activates the center ramp which subsequently raises the value of the pop bumpers. I kept going until it stopped printing new bumper values on the screen.
  • Android millions: This is accomplished by lighting up the red and white circle placed above the left slingshot by rolling over it and then shooting the left ramp. This maxes out at 9 million per shot. This is the shot that usually has balls drop out of it although it isn't the only place it can happen.
  • Bonus multiplier: This is accomplished by completing the four rollovers above the pop bumpers and maxes out at 5x.
  • Physical Systems tests: This can be done for each physical system up to level 5. I tested each physical system to at least level 1 and I tested the Torso, the final Physical System, to level 5 which awards 249M, the highest single award in the game. I show the score counter right before the final shot so the awarded value can be seen more easily.
Bonus count and ending: Take note that this run ends very abruptly. After completing the final Physical Systems test which is the final award needed I allow all of the balls to drain (OK, I actually force one of them to drain faster :) which allows the bonus count to complete although it's only on the screen for one frame. As soon as the bonus count is added up I quit the game, enter my initials, and exit the game completely to roll the credits (and advertisements). The time it takes to exit the game properly is minimal given the game length and I feel it is a much more natural way to complete the game but the run could just as easily be considered complete the frame the bonus is counted.

Potential improvements

This run makes entertainment and speed tradeoffs as overly "optimal" play wouldn't have as much character, wouldn't show off as many glitches, and would require extensive luck manipulation which is non-trivial given the current state and speed of JPC-RR. Many segments in this run contain sub-optimal looking shots which are necessary to set up a subsequent shot based on the various physics restrictions (although some of these transitions could probably be improved in a future run). At some point in the distant future when a DOS emulator can run at full speed this run should probably be revisited as I'm positive being able to view the sequence of events in realtime would aid in reducing the number of transition shots without sacrificing entertainment. Also, despite the fact that it's not the highest scoring award in the game it may make sense in a future run to bring the android to life as the last task instead of halfway through the middle of the run.

Suggested screenshots

Any point where a ball is glitching off of the table would be a good choice. The final bonus screen in the game or the final high score screen would both make good screenshots and would help to show the final score which is only visible for a couple of frames (Ilari's encode does have a hardcoded subtitle to show the final score, however).

Thanks

More than anyone else Ilari made this run possible, both by creating JPC-RR as well as by supporting my initial efforts by fixing bugs I discovered in the development version of JPC-RR. I look forward to his future improvements in JPC-RR. Additional thanks go to Grunt and Undie who both stepped up post-submission to offer additional hosting for the encode.

sgrunt: Updated the game name, version, and branch. I've also uploaded dwangoAC's encode to Mediafire so that we don't abuse his bandwidth.
sgrunt: Ilari's done a new version of his encode with a different logo

Nach: Since there aren't vocal opponents regarding how this movie ends, I'll accept it as is. Thanks everyone who provided feedback, and of course to dwangoAC for making this movie.
sgrunt: I am about to publish Ilari's encode. Stay tuned.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2830: dwangoAC's DOS Epic Pinball "Super Android" in 05:07.53
sgrunt
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Ah yes, I remember this table. I'd bet everyone of a certain age or above remembers playing this at some point or another. The run got progressively more interesting to watch as more and more pinballs began flying around the field. My only complaint is that it ends sort of abruptly, but it does give well-defined criteria for ending at that point. I say Yes.
Joined: 4/29/2006
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Here is a 100/100 Mbit mirror of your encode to help spread the load on your limit =) http://undie.no-ip.org/dwangoAC-WIP-Epic-Pinball-05.mkv
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Would it have helped for the game to end after receiving the maximum jackpot value (*e.g. "You Have Beaten The System")?
Joined: 5/13/2009
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Serious nostalgia here. Watching this was really fun, actually. I have no qualms with your end point, as any more would probably become stale quickly. Yes!
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GuidMorrow wrote:
Would it have helped for the game to end after receiving the maximum jackpot value (*e.g. "You Have Beaten The System")?
I grappled with the best way to end the run. Per the submission text: "Also, despite the fact that it's not the highest scoring award in the game it may make sense in a future run to bring the android to life as the last task instead of halfway through the middle of the run." With that said I've had some.. er.. difficulties in the past ascertaining when I've "Beaten the System". It's funny that you should use those words. :) I'm curious if there's something I'm not aware of in this table that specifically says "Maximum jackpot" - if there is, please let me know. I accomplished all of my stated goals and I'm happy with the result but if there's another objective that should be aimed for in a future run I'd be interested in hearing about it. Thanks, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Joined: 4/29/2006
Posts: 70
How rude of me, totally forgot to comment to run. Well this brings me back to one of my first PC games ever which was Pinball Fantasies. My dad brought it home on a floppy the IT-guy at his office gave him, lol warez? :D The run looks great, a bit difficult to grasp what "route" to take in a game like this. What planning did you do? Overall the game itself wasn't too great of a pinball game. I strongly recommend you have a look at Pinball Fantasies and its 4 levels if you consider doing one of these runs again =)
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Undie wrote:
The run looks great, a bit difficult to grasp what "route" to take in a game like this. What planning did you do?
Well, I started by planning on getting the android alive as quickly as possible hence the early emphasis on completing the AI but then I realized it didn't really finish the game enough so I kept going to finish off the physical systems while placing strategic shots to max out the various game elements as quickly as possible. With that said, "route" planning in a pinball game is a bit of a fallacy. :)
Undie wrote:
I strongly recommend you have a look at Pinball Fantasies and its 4 levels if you consider doing one of these runs again =)
I'm starting to be known as the guy who likes to TAS pinball games but I suppose I may potentially be up for taking on Pinball Fantasies - I played those as well when I was younger and there are some interesting tables in that series. It'll probably be a month or two before I try to take on another TAS project however as I need to make sure I spend some quality time with my family. Anyway, thanks for the feedback and for mirroring the encode, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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I barely remember this... bad times in my life, but I played the crap out of this and the other tables as well. Played all sorts of games from back then, those that I just don't remember what they were... This was one of the higher quality gems, though. Thank you.
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
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Nice nostalgia kick, and a very well done TAS to boot! Yes voting here.
Onyx3173
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Never played this pinball game but it was an entertaining TAS so I'm voting yes.
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Dwedit
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Could you let the final score remain on the screen for at least 5 seconds or so? Kind of anti-climax to see you get so many bonuses, then the high score goes away in several frames.
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Here is the YES vote I promised a few days ago. Epic run is... Epic
Joined: 11/15/2004
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That was insane! I played this game for hundreds of hours on my 486 DX 33. Definitely a Yes vote, but I agree that you should have left the high score on the screen longer. I see that you used DOS Games Archive as the source for your copy of the game. DOS Games Archive is a good site, but I recommend using my own site as the source for DOS games for TAS runs, for the following reasons.
    Every other DOS games site that I'm aware of hosts only one version of each game, whereas my site attempts to archive the entire version history of each game. As with console games, earlier versions may be buggier, creating more opportunities to exploit glitches. Despite attempting to host (only) the latest version of each game, other DOS game sites don't always have the latest version, which may be desirable for various reasons (fixes to game-stopping glitches, better graphics/sound, extra levels, etc.). Other sites usually aren't too picky about where they get their files from, whereas I only use a small number of highly reputable sites to locate original, unaltered archives for each download. Zip files from less reputable sources are sometimes missing files (usually license and legal info files, but sometimes actual game files), or have added files (usually just high scores, settings, or advertisements for the BBS that it came from, which can be annoying for various reasons, including increasing the file size). And while you're all perfectly capable of scanning your own files for viruses, I can guarantee that every download on my site is free from viruses and other malware.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Warepire
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I loved pinball games when I was a kid, this was totally awesome. Yes vote.
Patashu
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Out of curiosity, are any of the non-shareware tables good? I seem to have memories of playing the crash and burn table, though I'm not sure how.
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classic game, i used to play this a lot back in the 90s. this bring me good memories good playing. vote yes
Run..Run...Run.....
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Dwedit wrote:
Could you let the final score remain on the screen for at least 5 seconds or so? Kind of anti-climax to see you get so many bonuses, then the high score goes away in several frames.
Wouldn't extending the movie for 5 seconds contradict with the site's goal of ending input ASAP? Or did I misunderstood something? ........................ Anyway, Nice run! Glad to see a run of something other than platform/adventure/action/etc games for once.
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hopper wrote:
I see that you used DOS Games Archive as the source for your copy of the game. DOS Games Archive is a good site, but I recommend using my own site as the source for DOS games for TAS runs
Thank you very much for pointing out your site! I've been there before but I didn't even think to check to see if you had Epic Pinball on there when I started the run. As you mentioned there are some significant benefits to your site as you list the various different versions of the game which answered the burning question I've had of which version I was using. I compared the MD5 hash and it looks like I luckily used the most recent 2.1 shareware version. I've updated the submission to point to your site as the primary reference and I've updated the ROM name to use your naming mechanism as it's far more descriptive. Thanks again and I'm glad you enjoyed the run! A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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jlun2 wrote:
Dwedit wrote:
Could you let the final score remain on the screen for at least 5 seconds or so? Kind of anti-climax to see you get so many bonuses, then the high score goes away in several frames.
Wouldn't extending the movie for 5 seconds contradict with the site's goal of ending input ASAP? Or did I misunderstood something?
I agree that it's unfortunate the score can't really be seen but at the same time I'm already pushing my luck by entering my initials for the high score as it is. :) I think a good compromise would be to take some screenshots of the final bonus screen and/or the high score screen. Unfortunately I won't have time to do this this week so if someone else wants to take that on please feel free to do so. Thanks for the feedback! A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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Patashu wrote:
Out of curiosity, are any of the non-shareware tables good? I seem to have memories of playing the crash and burn table, though I'm not sure how.
Most of the other tables were far more shallow and none of them have the depth of rules that the Android table does. A few of them do stand out - I always had a soft spot for Enigma because it experimented with the concept of dynamically disappearing and reappearing targets which would be impossible (or at the very least highly infeasible cost-wise) on a real machine. I don't think I'll try taking on any other tables in this series so you're welcome to take a stab at one of them if you feel so inclined but take note that the nostalgia factor of the paid tables is far lower as a lot fewer people have seen them. Thanks for the feedback, A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
creaothceann
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Yes vote. :) (also good were Pinball Fantasies, Pinball Dreams, Pinball Illusions, Psycho Pinball)
mklip2001
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dwangoAC wrote:
I'm starting to be known as the guy who likes to TAS pinball games
Well, given that you also TASed Otocky, you might just be the guy who likes to play games where you shoot balls ;-) Seriously, though, this was pretty spiffy. I was most a fan of the parts where you barely got things to go your way: * Once, you looked like you had a ball that was going to fall straight down the center, but then another ball hit it safely out of the way onto a flipper. * You had a ball shot up the center ramp which was a bit short of power, but then it made it over the ramp by using a table shake. The length was also appropriate for this type of game. Nice job!
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
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You know, watching this, I just have to ask myself, why don't we ever get games with such a solid sound scheme as this? I don't think I've heard a game sound so awesome as this in the longest time. Thank you for taking me back to my childhood! Oh, and the run was nice, too. I have played it a lot, but I'm not sure I followed entirely, but still.
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Dwedit
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Pinball Fantasies also had an amazing sound system, it could play mod files on a PC SPEAKER!