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The Terminator for the NES

Emulator Used

FCEUX 2.1.2-interim

Priorities

  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Manipulates luck

About the Game

This game was released in December of 1992 and it was based off The Terminator film. This is a side-scrolling platformer/shooter game where you play as Kyle Reese and you're trying to save Sarah Connor from the Terminator.

Glitches/Tricks Used in This Run

Whenever the character lands he pauses for about 9 frames (landing animation) then starts his walking acceleration over again. To prevent this I get the character to punch/kick at the right time before he lands to get rid of the landing animation.
Although running and jumping does get rid of the "jumping animation," the character can jump higher by standing still then jumping.
Taking damage on the left/right side of an enemy pushes him that direction.
When the character is jumping on the very edge of the platform he looks like he jumped on it but then he falls through, unless you make him jump while he's in that landing animation. In the level after the first two minibosses I was able to skip an entire section of that level by jumping on the far left platform (it's as close of a jump as you can make).
During the driving stages I luck manipulated the Terminator's vehicle (represented in blue) to move farther by firing at him but making my shot miss. If the shot actually does hit the Terminator he slows down. I also got a faster starting boost by ramming my vehicle into the Terminator's to get a greater velocity.
Another thing about this game is that lag plays a factor in whether or not the game will accept input in half the time than normal. That's why in the second driving stage I try to keep the Terminator off the screen when I'm making those sharp turns for optimized speed.

Manipulating Luck

There wasn't very much luck manipulation in this game other than turning the opposite direction for one frame so that a randomly spawning enemy doesn't appear.

Closing Remarks

This run was pretty easy to TAS. I enjoyed TASing this game and I like trying new games that haven't been TASed yet. I think this will be a great addition to the NES games list because of how much work has been put into this such as finding new shortcuts in this game and faster ways to physically progress through levels.

Flygon: Added YouTube module.
Flygon: Replaced YouTube module with HD encode.
Mukki: Judging...
Mukki: Rejecting due to bad game choice and lukewarm viewer response.Full opinion...

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2844: GlitchMan's NES The Terminator in 06:52.77
Skilled player (1307)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
This was nice. It showed some tricks that made it seem tool-assised which made it enjoyable. Yes Vote.
Joined: 4/29/2006
Posts: 70
Unofficial encode: http://undie.no-ip.org/theterminator-tas-glitchman.mkv The ending came so fast I barely had time to react and close the videodump so there's a short period of the restart and I was too arsed to redo it. Anyone have any tips to prevent this stuff from happening? i.e Knowing when to cancel the video dump, I was kinda expecting credits.
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 570
Location: 33°07'41"S, 160°42'04"W
A little bit redundant since Undie encoded this as well, but here is an unofficial youtube just in case: [video 256x224]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpgZfXBI6jo[/video] And yes vote.
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Thanks for the encodes, guys! I couldn't really get into this game much. The music sucks, and the action in most of the platforming stages seems pretty bland. It almost felt like a worse version of Commander Keen. The driving stages were pretty cool though. Meh.
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.
Warepire
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Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
mklip2001 wrote:
I couldn't really get into this game much. The music sucks, and the action in most of the platforming stages seems pretty bland. It almost felt like a worse version of Commander Keen. The driving stages were pretty cool though.
I thought the same thing. A Meh from me too.
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
I have to vote yes on this. This is an extremely difficult game to play. Not only that, but I am also voting yes because of the AVGN review. xD It was absolutely fun to watch this game torn apart so easily.
Moderator, Senior Ambassador, Experienced player (898)
Joined: 9/14/2008
Posts: 1007
This run is very good technically and I enjoyed some of the car chases. This game is ugly, it has mostly awful music and sound, it's slow feeling, and it generally strikes me as not much fun to play. While the run does rip the game apart it really didn't particularly entertain me all that much but I have no nostalgia for this game so perhaps I'm not the best audience. I voted Meh as I have no strong opinion on whether it gets published or not. Either way, congrats on destroying this game so thoroughly! :) 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: 11/4/2007
Posts: 1772
Location: Australia, Victoria
What a terrible game. The run wasn't particularly entertaining, but knowing how hard the game is to play, and the obvious optimization of the run... This gets a weak Yes vote, when I mute my speakers. Expect a HD encode of this soon, though, the 'music' 'doesn't deserve the extra allocated bitrate.
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: Minnesota
Why do you miss shots in the car scenes? Edit: Apparently glancing at the run comments is not as efficient as reading the run comments.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2010
Posts: 13
Location: Centralia, IL
Only voting yes because it's a TAS and I'm sure it took a lot of hard work. I would like to point out that the music is awful horrendous.
"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." -Isaiah 44:6 Jesus
Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 1772
Location: Australia, Victoria
Link to video Archive collection Archive download I've also created an experimental ZMBV based encode, due to incompatibilities with MKV (!), I've had to package it inside an AVI file. Good think I know how to make MP3 files. Anyway, this encode is not to be published, due to seeking errors, inability to set the aspect ratio inside the AVI file. Shame, because it's lossless, RGB based, and has an incredibly low bitrate. Click here to download it I'll be investigating 100% lossless RGB codecs, mainly to find one that is designed for 2D based imagery, and can be packaged into an MKV.
Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 1821
Some more opinions are needed. The votes might seem to tip in the TAS's favor, but the comments don't... if I read:
teh noj wrote:
Only voting yes because it's a TAS...
I wonder to what extent there really is support for this TAS. It's a short TAS, please watch it and vote/comment. Thx!
Joined: 2/19/2010
Posts: 248
You want opinions, here's mine: I only enjoyed this tas because I had recently seen the AVGN review (caution, gratuitous swearing). It's a terrible game, and the TAS is only noteworthy because it makes an incredibly difficult game look relatively average. The collision detection is awful, the boss fights are luck-based missions (and there are no continues). Overall, meh vote. Technical quality seems fine, but the game is really terrible and it's not clear what interesting challenges the game offers to a TASer. Some of the wall glitches are pretty cool, but for the most part, it's just walking along a long corridor.
Player (42)
Joined: 12/27/2008
Posts: 873
Location: Germany
On the entertainment side, this TAS is really bad. Level design is not very interesting, almost no enemies are killed (the reason is obvious, it takes a lot of time to do so) and the game is pretty slow. Technically, the points where luck is manipulated are pretty obvious to the viewer and look like sloppy play (particularly when the character turns back and shots are missed). Sure, this is not the author's fault, and the movie is well done. However, I feel it's because of the game's relative simplicity, when there isn't much to optimize. So, I vote No, because of game choice. However, it's a great effort from the TASer. I'm sure the author can apply his TASing skills to a much better game.
Skilled player (1090)
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
While this run has recieved a decent number of yes votes the yes voters have remained somewhat quiet in the thread. The rationale of those who did comment on this run positively I did not find compelling and I find myself sharing the sentiments of the more vocal meh and no voters. When Baxter asked for more opinions there was no enthusiasm for publication and instead there were further negative comments about the run. The good first and that is that this is a well played run by a great TASer. I can't fault this as far as technique is concerned. The run appears to be well researched and the use of luck manipulation is impressive as is the wall glitch in Skynet. Unfortunately, the choice of game really lets this one down. I have played through this game and, as many of you noted, it is notoriously difficult to play. This game presents the player with two main challenges; overly difficult enemies and overcoming the horrendous physics. The first of these challenges is mostly removed by luck manipulating the enemies away, an impressive feat in itself, but the result is that the viewer is left with empty, dull, linear levels. The latter of these challenges, the game physics, is trivial to a tool-assisted player and so does not add to the entertainment value in any meaningful way. Furthermore, the bad physics and enemy hitboxes give the run a clunky and laboured appearance, especially when descending down the fire escape. What little entertainment some of you experienced while watching this seems to have been derived from having watched AVGN's review, but this, of course, should not affect the entertainment value of this movie as a tool-assisted speedrun. A TAS should be published on its own merits and it is not an objective of tasvideos to supplement the content of cinemassacre.com. Rejecting this run due to bad game choice and lukewarm viewer response.
TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... blech, salty!