Dear friends, I'm more than proud and excited to present you with my latest work of art - an 101 frame (1.68 second) improvement over the published SMB2J TASv2 of mine. This run is finished in a month, which is pretty short to me as the time in needed to make a TAS is increasing, while my spare time is decreasing. Thanks to the week missing school caused by my foot accident that has saved my TAS projects. It is my passion of TAS that conquers the pain, and without other mishaps, SMB warpless TASv4 will be finished by the end of the year.

Surprising improvements

This run is more than just an 101 frame improvement, it's also an attempt to challenge the speed limit of this game. This version of the run (TASv3) did not copy any inputs from TASv2, so there would be plenty of improvements too small to be mentioned here. A comparison video is needed, I think.
  • 1-1: Shell glitch, 84 frames saved. It was all started a year ago, when andrewg told me about his fresh idea of getting the mushroom and going through the ground in 1-1Bouncing on a shell and going through the ground. It wasn't easy, but with the help of memory watching, I somehow achieved it. Including the 21 frames saved from 1-2 due to the advantage of big Mario, it could save 63 frames tops. With the improvement founded by andrewg, everything went well until 8-4, because the fireball (Podoboo) block the way so hard, that I couldn't decide what to do. So I started to find new improvements from the beginning, and there I found one just right, which makes very good use of the red Koopa Troopa in front of the hole. Stamp on the Koopa Troopa, kick its shell, bounce into applicable height, and there we go. At first this new trick that I've found could just save 63 frames. It needed 2 frames to beat the 21 frame rule, but no matter how I tried, no matter how further I tested, there were no chances to gain that 2 frames. Coincidently, one day when I felt bored testing the right Cheep-cheep for my SMB warpless TASv4, I did a casual test for the shell in 1-1, and then I came up with the idea that I could cut the shell from its left side instead of stamping on its head. Problem solved.
  • 1-2: Different route, 21 frames saved. We used to go through the wall until Mario's deep enough to catch up with the final lift, but I was puzzled that few one had tried the more normal route that requires a wall jump at the high pipe. Due to higher bouncing in SMB2J, to skip the narrow wall without going through it, you have to loose speed after stamping on the Goomba and hitting the wall. What seems strange to me is that loosing speed 2 times is still about 10 minutes faster than loosing speed just once in the wall, so I guess the lesson is, don't always follow the usual path. It beats the 21 frame rule far enough, and adds a lot of entertainment to this run.
  • 8-4: Bad luck on the Podoboo, 5 frames lost; better job in the water stage, 1 frame saved. Still because of bad luck, 5 frames have to go to avoid the annoying fireball on the way. But I did a good job calculating the perfect position to dodge the last firebar, and saved 1 frame.
In total, 84 + 21 - 5 + 1 = 101 frames.

Tricks used for entertainment

Entertainment is also of importance in this run, so I not only did the following tricks, but also manipulated luck several times to change the conditions.
  • 1x2-powered fireball for browser It was used in order to kill the browser faster in 4-4. It took only 4 fireballs to end up the battle (the one aiming at the wall is just to show Mario's anger, which doesn't count), actually, it can also be done with 3 fireballs. Please visit my personal page for more information about this trick.
  • Stamping on 2 enemies at the same moment; killing 2 enemies using 1 fireball A nice way to improve the entertainment. There are lots of enemies in SMB2J, so I often did it in this run.
  • Rolling shell clearing the way I found the beginning of 5-1 a good place for performing this trick, so I slowed the speed a little and used a beetle's shell to clear the way. Nice effect, by the way.
  • Mario, the music playing musician I managed to play the music using the sound effects of Mario 2 times. One at the beginning of 8-2 and one in the 4th stage in 8-4. The one in 8-2 was copied from 4-1 of my SMB warpless TASv4, I was unable to do the first notes more accurate due to the delay of level start.
I tried really hard to improve the entertainment this time, and I hope you love this run. Thanks for andrewg for giving me the first idea of the improvement in 1-1, and Mars and GAP for supporting me all the time.

Suggested Screenshot

[dead link removed]

Nach: Judging.
feos: Added YouTube HD module.

Nach: Very nice run, I loved the shenanigans. The killing two enemies with one fireball, or in other surprising manners was very entertaining. Accepting as improvement to existing run.
sgrunt: Publication coming right up.

Active player (417)
Joined: 8/22/2008
Posts: 301
Location: Brazil
So technical and entertaining. Beautiful run!
Skilled player (1470)
Joined: 12/30/2007
Posts: 485
Location: Hubei,China
Love you HappyMaLeeos
Do the work.
Joined: 2/25/2006
Posts: 407
Easy Yes vote, very good and entertaining :)
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
Joined: 5/12/2009
Posts: 748
Location: Brazil
Very good TAS. Yes vote, of course! I really like when you guys use shots or jumps or whatever to play the music, it's very entertaining for me. This TAS is not only that, of course, but this is what made me laugh, and that pipe glitch, probably an old trick of yours, but i don't remember seeing it. Very cool!
Joined: 2/20/2010
Posts: 209
Location: I'm in space
Peh, I could have done that in real-time. I guess I'll vote yes anyway, just to be nice.
mklip2001 wrote:
you mean to say you "stomp" the enemies instead of "stamp" them.
Actually, I prefer "stamp". I think he meant that he stamps them with an expiration date. I do this to my enemies in real life.
Oh, play it cool. Play it cool. Here come the space cops.
Experienced player (699)
Joined: 2/19/2006
Posts: 742
Location: Quincy, MA
Very happy to see this published. I'm glad one of my smb ideas could help. :)
Super Mario Bros. console speedrunner - Andrew Gardikis
GabCM
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Joined: 5/5/2009
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Location: QC, Canada
This TAS is full of win. Yes vote!
Joined: 9/10/2011
Posts: 8
Very good TAS!
J.Y
Skilled player (1155)
Joined: 5/24/2008
Posts: 81
Oh~~Great ! A yes vote from me :)
Editor, Expert player (2315)
Joined: 5/15/2007
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Location: Germany
Joined: 5/17/2007
Posts: 393
Location: Sweden
This run made me happy, yes vote
"No love for the game gear"
Player (136)
Joined: 9/18/2007
Posts: 389
This run was a good one... but HappyLee When will you try a non-Mario game?
Joined: 5/2/2010
Posts: 41
Location: the Netherlands
Easy yes vote, very entertaining run!
YoungJ1997lol
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Player (53)
Joined: 7/4/2011
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too easy of a yes vote. loved that trick in 1-1
So yea, how's it going? Currently TASing: Nothing
Post subject: Experimental 10-bit YUV444 encode
sgrunt
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Emulator Coder, Former player
Joined: 10/28/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
Hi all: I have produced an additional experimental downloadable encode. This encode was created with 10-bit x264 in the YUV444 colour space - only very recent builds of media players or codecs are going to be able to play such an encode back, but the resulting visual quality should be significantly higher for a very similar file size. I would appreciate feedback on who is able to play back this encode successfully and what people think of it relative to the encode I previously posted.
Post subject: Re: Experimental 10-bit YUV444 encode
Editor, Player (44)
Joined: 7/11/2010
Posts: 1022
sgrunt wrote:
Hi all: I have produced an additional experimental downloadable encode. This encode was created with 10-bit x264 in the YUV444 colour space - only very recent builds of media players or codecs are going to be able to play such an encode back, but the resulting visual quality should be significantly higher for a very similar file size. I would appreciate feedback on who is able to play back this encode successfully and what people think of it relative to the encode I previously posted.
I tried playing it back in Totem, with the default set of codecs. It thought it could play it back, but it made a complete mess of it, so I guess it was lying.
Post subject: Re: Experimental 10-bit YUV444 encode
Joined: 2/25/2006
Posts: 407
sgrunt wrote:
Hi all: I have produced an additional experimental downloadable encode. This encode was created with 10-bit x264 in the YUV444 colour space - only very recent builds of media players or codecs are going to be able to play such an encode back, but the resulting visual quality should be significantly higher for a very similar file size. I would appreciate feedback on who is able to play back this encode successfully and what people think of it relative to the encode I previously posted.
Tried it in Windows Media Player, DivX Plus Player, Winamp, Quicktime and Windows Media player Classic - Home Cinema (With recent FFDSHOW revision), all of these failed to play back with Winamp failing the hardest via outright crashing.
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
Site Admin, Skilled player (1236)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11274
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http://www.cccp-project.net/ and latest VLC (1.1.11) didn't help me.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Active player (433)
Joined: 4/21/2004
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grunt, I managed to get sound but got only a green picture all the way.
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498
I installed the latest CCCP, and used the version of Media Player Classic Home Cinema it came with, and the encode played just fine. No errors, glitches, or anything. (I was actually quite surprised to get such a result after reading all the failed playback attempt accounts in this thread. <_<') The experimental encode didn't seem all that much improved over the original encode, though. After going back and forth between the two encodes in fullscreen, I noticed that the experimental encode had very slightly less color bleeding than the original encode, making it look a bit cleaner, but that was all the difference I could tell between the two. :/
Joined: 7/7/2011
Posts: 140
Location: Germany
AngerFist wrote:
grunt, I managed to get sound but got only a green picture all the way.
same here. so i thought "if there is just a little bit of video in there, maybe super (C) could encode the s*** out of it" this is what i get
How should I know what I think before I read what I post?
sgrunt
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Joined: 10/28/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
4matsy wrote:
The experimental encode didn't seem all that much improved over the original encode, though. After going back and forth between the two encodes in fullscreen, I noticed that the experimental encode had very slightly less color bleeding than the original encode, making it look a bit cleaner, but that was all the difference I could tell between the two. :/
That's pretty much exactly what you should be looking for in terms of improved visual quality (for YUV 4:4:4 vs. 4:2:0, at least). I suspect that the difference will be more noticeable for more advanced platforms.
Site Admin, Skilled player (1236)
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4matsy wrote:
I installed the latest CCCP, and used the version of Media Player Classic Home Cinema it came with, and the encode played just fine.
By doing that I got NOTHING. New VLC has a green screen with sound. VirtualDub has no picture and just sound.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Soig
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Posts: 252
In my opinion, this is HappyLee's most entertaining run! Nice improvements!!! ^_^
Joined: 2/25/2006
Posts: 407
sgrunt, can you recommend a configuration that will successfully play the video file?
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