FractalFusion: To sync the movie, you will need to set the firmware (Config -> Firmware Settings) as follows:
Nickname: mtvf1
Message: DeSmuME makes TAS!
Favourite Color [sic]: Dark Green
Birth Month: May
Birthday: 10
Language: English
The information is stored in the movie file, but the emulator will not do it for you.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: desmume-0.9.7 with Advanced Bus Timing ON
  • Manipulate luck
  • Hard mode
  • No death
Encode is here, I hope someone can help me upload it to youtube.

Power Data

GUN POWER AMMO (AMMO: Ralf×0.5, Fio×1.5, Fio not include grenades; Eri grenades×2)
Handgun 10 ∞ (Marco 20)
Knife 30 ∞ (Ralf’s knife can hit machine)
Kick 30 ∞ (only damage the enemies which can be used knife, e.g. soldier and mission7's robot)
Spring punch 30 ∞ (Ralf’s punch 30, superpunch 45)
H 10 200
Big H 15 200
2H 10 300 (every 4frames 2shot)
L 2×8 200 (every 2frames 8dmg, 4frames 1shot)
R 30 30
C 30 30
D 30 30
I 30 30
G 100 20
F (20+1×n)/2frames 30 (Flame shot include main flame and range flame. Main flame 20, range flame base on pixel)
S 200 30
Big S 300 30
T 10×n/2frames 20 (n is thunder's effective length)
Z 100×3 10
Bomb 100 10
G D Bomb's smoke 1/2frames (only damage the enemies which can be used knife)
C I R’s smoke 10/2frames (only damage the enemies which can be used knife)
Fire 80 10
Fire's smoke 15/2frames (Fire and its smoke can’t damage the same machine.)
Fire’s flame 15 (throw on the ground, every flame 15)
Prisoner’s energy blast 10 ∞
Vulcan 10 ∞ (Tarma 15)
Thrown machine 400
Mission1 Metalslug's cannon 200 10
Mission1 danger detonator ∞
Mission2 artillery's cannon 200 ∞
Mission2 bossbattle's missile 100
Mission3 small robot’s hand 30
Mission3&4 armor's cannon 200 10
Mission4 cannon’s flame 15(throw on the ground, every flame 15)
Mission4 falling tank 1000/2frames
Mission4 blast machine 10 (after be thrown, range: all screen, only damage the enemies which can be used knife)
Mission6 robot's cannon 10/2frames 10
robot's hands 250/2frames
robot's legs 3000/2frames ( jump and trample, but can’t damage boss)
Mission1&7 falling stone 16/2frames (use it to beat mission7's robots)
Mission7 plane's missile 200 10
Falling helicopter and plane 10/2frames (only damage the enemies which can be used knife)
I'm sure BigR BigF BigL don’t appear in this game, but using cheat can see their picture. Maybe they have 1.5 times power like BigH and BigS. (In metalslugXX, BigR and BigL can be found, but it still hasn’t BigF.)

The Used Characters

There are 6 characters in this game. Every chars own the different skills.
Marco Rossi
A balanced soldier who is the best at handling the handgun.
(handgun's power 20. good skill)
Eri Kasamoto
Excellent with explosives, particularly hand grenades. She provides support to comrades, surrounding the enemies with explosions and smoke.
(Doubles supply of grenades. Can throw 8 directions and bombs’ speed is faster than others. good skill)
Ralf Jones
Incredibly fast with close equators combat. He carries little ammo, but can take down enemies with a single punch.
(Half ammo... but punch and knife can damage the enemies' machine, and one life can revive once. bad skill)
Clark Still The mastery of throwing skills. He is a specialist capable of tossing aside legions of foes one after the other.
(when throwing the soldier, he can be invisible for a while. bad skill)
Tarma Roving
The most skilled with tanks and fighter planes. He can take down the enemies with devastating firepower.
(Vulcan's power 15. Holding Y can lock the direction of Vulcan and auto-fire. good skill)
Fio Germi
Carries a large amount of ammo and has a very heavy fire barrage. Can pierce any armor regardless of thickness.
(1.5 times of ammo. good skill, but not very useful in tasing...)
I used Marco in this run. Because when standing, Marco's handgun has the same effect of others H (20 damage every 8 frames). When squatting (20/4), it's faster than only using H. Sometimes H and other gun maybe delay frames, but handgun not. The most important reason of using Marco is Super Change.
(After completed the tas, If no death, I think Eri is the best choice, Marco 2nd, Fio 3rd, Tarma 4th, Clark 5th, Ralf 6th. You can see About Use Death.)

About Super Change

Every Character can equip 2 different guns, and pass R to change guns. It is different to MetalSlug1~5. I named it super change. Super change is only used in handgun (2H) ↔ other gun.

When stand or in the air:

Using super change can make power up and get other effect. For example, Marco gets H: If only use H, every 8frames 2shot, 10+10=20 power in all. If use super change, pass YYRRYYRRYYRR..., every 8frames 2shot, 10+20=30 power in all. So when use H, only Marco has power up, others only save ammo. If Marco gets R, (30+20)/8 → 250/40, it has the same effect of others S+handgun's super change(S 200dmg every 40frames a shot).
Different guns have the different effect under the super change.
R C I D G need to wait a few frames to shoot. If pass YY--YY, 2 bullets will be shoot, but if use super change, pass YYRR--RRYYRR or YYRRYY(handgun)RRYYRR, the 2nd one will appear early(e.g. mission2 use G). It only applies to get one gun or turn to handgun, e.g.: RtoHANDtoR, or RtoHANDtoC, can’t apply to RtoC or ItoD. RtoC has the same effect of R passing YY--YY.
(If Marco is beside the foe's machine and got R, every 8frames a shot 30/8. Super change: every 8frames 2shot 50/8. )
S and F need to wait lots of frames to shoot 2nd one, but use superchange, it don't need to wait large time. e.g.: S every 40frames 1shot, use superchange 38frames 1shot (maybe less than 38).
L is special. With super change, the power is equal to use L continually add other gun's power. So if use L and handgun, the real power is (2×8+2×8+20)/8=52/8. It's used in mission7.
Bomb likes R C D G. If get a gun, pass AARRAARR, the 2nd bomb appear early. And you can pass AARRYYRRYYRRAA, use guns and bombs freedom.

When squatting:

Couldn't use YYRRYYRR to super change. Because when othergun to handgun, characters can’t shoot for a while, but can use bomb. You should use (VY)(VY)(<VR)(<VR)(V>Y)(V>Y)(<VR)(<VR), it's same effect to stand.
If you have R C D I G, you can use (VY)(VY)(<V)(<V)(V>Y)(V>Y)(<V)(<V). Every 4frames 1shot, is faster than super change.
L shouldn’t be used it, because reduce power.

Gun change

All guns turn to handgun and 2H, or handgun 2H H L turn to all guns can’t cost frames. (Superchange)
F S T to othergun will cost some frames. So it should be changed to handgun or 2H first.
R C D I G to F S T will cost few frames. It’s equal to RtoC or DtoG.
StoF or FtoT or Sto(otherguns)toS need to wait lots of frames. TtoS or Tto_toT need to wait some frames.
Because handgun and 2H have the different pictures (superchange), and other guns used the same picture (not superchange). But H and L autofire, is superchange.
Z is not gun. It has the same effect as knife.

Glitch

Cannon glitch. When a soldier and a machine are superposing, cannon can make double 400dmg to the machine. 2soldier and one machine can make treble 600dmg to the machine. I call it "cannon glitch". Because cannon can through the soldier and not through the machine, soldier's damage is added to the machine. Then you can see the soldier with blood and hear a short scream. It is widely used in mission1's boss battle. But I don't know why a cannon damage 1_6 400 and 1_7 600.

Walkthrough

Mission1

Use cannon glitch to battle enemies' artilleries (500HP).
Boss Battle
Boss1HP 12000, 1_1 HP1200, 1_2 to 1_7 HP600.
This centipede makes up of 7 parts and has more than 5 different types. Only need to destroy 7 parts, and boss die. Control boss appear these 2 types which are the best choice. First type, battle 1_2 to 1_7. It needs to wait the soldiers jumping from body, and then use cannon glitch. 1st cannon damage 1_2 200HP and 1_3 400HP, 2nd cannon dmg 1_4 400HP, 3rd dmg 1_5 400HP, 4th dmg 1_6 400HP and 1_7 600HP (I don't know why). Second type, beat 1_1. Throwing metalslug can damage it at first time.

Mission2

This game is very odd. With the ball on the board, GO↓ will appear early.
Then get 5 machines. It's hardest control in this tas. Throwing every artillery can damage boss 400HP, and every cannon can damage 200HP, so I can’t lose any one.
Boss Battle
Boss2HP 8000
Vulcan can only hit boss's hands, but cannon can hit boss's body. Vulcan and cannon can damage 1000+ after one shot (cannon dmg 800).
Step:
Fire cannon, and make sure 4 cannons all hit boss.
Control boss fire the death-ray, and use cannon hit boss's body when it fires the death-ray.
Then boss's hands are together. Now it’s a chance to make double damage.
So it's the best chance to throw the machine. 3 of 5 machine dmg 800(3 is the max), another 2 dmg 400. Total 3200.

Mission3

This armor can’t jump high not like mission4's armor, so it needn't be used. In 3rd scene, Leave off the Ernie early can make it auto wheel. It's very useful to get F and get down quickly.
Boss Battle
Boss3top 4000, boss3body 4000, 3_top_lefthand 700, 3_top_righthand 700(hands are belong to top)
I have to give up Z, because Z is very short and only hit boss3body (Unless you can beat hands first, let boss3top fall), and Marco's bomb, throwing slug only hit boss3body, too. (Only metalslugx and XX's smoke can make 100 damage. At 7, only Eri's bomb can hit boss3top.)
When boss3body's HP is less than 3000, boss's head is appearing. Hit the neck with bomb, there is a very little chance to make double damage. Head and body are used the same HP address.

Mission4

In 3rd scene, I got Z and F to fight boss, because F is faster than S.
Boss Battle
Boss4HP 8000
At first, when boss is fixed, I should make Z empty as fast as I can (It seemed not very fast, slower than Eri’s run). Only when boss rise, F can make damage. This luck is very hard to control.

Mission5

This mission is very easy. I can get bigS which power is 300. It's enough to hit enemies until meet boss. At the scene 4's beginning, I don't know how to break the planes, not shoot it down. I never succeed no mater what Marco or Eri; otherwise it can save a lot of frames.
Boss Battle
Boss5tank HP2000, Boss5head HP2000, Boss5air HP1600
This is the easiest boss. It is no need to beat tank and head quickly, because air will appear at changeless time. As the boss3top, only Eri's bomb can damage the boss5air at first time.

Mission6

I really want to use Tarma, but...
In the robot, I can’t use any guns but Vulcan.
Boss Battle
Boss6HP 5000
Don't try to use robot's hands to hit Mr. "See you in hell". It can make him be invisible for a long time. I have no choice, use hands as the last hit.

Mission7

Don’t try to take plane, another two 1200HP helicopters will appear.
Some falling rock's locality is random. Control luck to hit robots with falling rock.
Boss Battle
Boss7mirror HP3500
Using Z to destroy the green balls can save some time.
Boss7final HP10000, every tentacle HP2000, 6 tentacles in all
Every tentacle is made up of some parts, so use S or Z can make double or treble dmg, and bomb can make double dmg. The 2nd 4th and 6th tentacles can randomize bomb, H, R, 2H. I have not enough ammo, so I have to choose 2H as the last one, and use superchange to save ammo.
20×200(S) + 300×10(2H)×2(superchange use handgun) = 10000 finalbossHP.
The octopus head has many attack species. Keep it in the sky, not dive, for hitting continually.

About Use Death

Compare other MetalSlug's tas, I didn't use death in this run. I think no death is a bad idea like MetalSlugX. In MS7, if make death, I can use 3 different Characters. (3 credits can use 3 characters, 1 credit has 3 lives)
Mission1: After my test, I’m sure Eri is best, but she is only a little faster than Marco. What about Tarma? In fact, his Vulcan is not very useful, because it still need to wait soldiers jump out.
Mission2: Tarma or Eri , but Tarma is only little faster than Marco(Maybe slower than Marco, I haven’t tested), because it still needs to wait boss2’s hands together.
Mission3: Eri is best, because she can die easily at 2nd scene to get 20 bombs. It’s enough to beat boss, and only Eri’s bomb can damage boss3top, therefore she can use Z and F. Z hit boss3body (when head appear, Z can make double damage. But in my run, 500 is max), bombs and F hit boss3top.
Mission4: I’m not sure, maybe Eri or maybe Fio. Marco need save bomb to hit boss, but Eri has enough bombs, no need to save, and she can jump and throw bombs down. Fio has 15 Z, 4500 dmg in all.
Mission5: Eri is best. Only Eri’s bomb can hit boss3air at first time.
Mission6: Tarma is best. Tarma drive robot VS Mr. |See you in hell”.
Mission7: Eri is best. Eri can get 5 bomb boxes (2 from prisoners, 3 from tentacles), so she can get 60 bombs more than others (if use death, will get more). Eri’s bombs can hit finalboss’s head easily.
So I think the best choice is: mission1 to mission5 use Eri. Mission1 die once for getting bombs to beat boss, and mission3 die once again. Mission6 die to change to Tarma. Mission6 Tarma searches the chance to die twice. Mission7 die to change back to Eri before get first bomb box.

DarkKobold: Judging, and removing branch, since it is more 'no death' than a specific character.

DarkKobold: Restoring branch name, and accepting. It will be up to a future judge to determine if having different branches is worthwhile.

Velitha: Processing... nabbing a screenie first


TASVideoAgent
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15544
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3309: mtvf1's DS Metal Slug 7 "Marco" in 23:10.70
Editor, Expert player (2072)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
Hello, mtvf1, and welcome to the forum. I'm trying to play back your movie, but I'm getting a desync. Could you tell me which version of DeSmuME you are using, the filename, and the title? The one I used had the filename "DeSmuME", title "DeSmuME 0.9.7 x86". The "About" also says "msvc 1500" and "compiled" "Nov 8 2010 00:57:58". Edit: The run desyncs at around 9:30 (~frame 34000).
Skilled player (1176)
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 427
Location: China
FractalFusion wrote:
Hello, mtvf1, and welcome to the forum. I'm trying to play back your movie, but I'm getting a desync. Could you tell me which version of DeSmuME you are using, the filename, and the title? The one I used had the filename "DeSmuME", title "DeSmuME 0.9.7 x86". The "About" also says "msvc 1500" and "compiled" "Nov 8 2010 00:57:58". Edit: The run desyncs at around 9:30 (~frame 34000).
The DeSmuME is same. Sorry, I can't uplode it to the youtube, and can't touch the archive, too. Now I'm trying to use mediafire, but low-speed-link to mediafire make me all fail. Edit: Success upload to the mediafire, and there is a little comparison about eri vs marco. This comparison is only 1min, and I have improved 369frames after get slug in marco's run.
Editor, Expert player (2072)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
Don't worry about it, mtvf1. I managed to sync it by changing the firmware to what you had in the movie file. I'm making an encode now. Edit: Not anymore. Or, at least, not right now. I only noticed after posting that mtvf1 made an encode.
Editor, Expert player (2072)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
Youtube here. Thanks to mtvf1 for the encode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu1Hy7wqL1Q Note: I had to re-encode the audio as MP3 to get Youtube to accept the run properly. You may also wish to get mtvf1's encode. http://www.mediafire.com/file/4bg85gtspwaxwpf/ms7marco-muxed.mp4 To encoders: As far as I know, the run is essentially 30fps gameplay in 60fps video. So don't bother with TASBlend.
Skilled player (1176)
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 427
Location: China
FractalFusion wrote:
Youtube here. Thanks to mtvf1 for the encode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu1Hy7wqL1Q Note: I had to re-encode the audio as MP3 to get Youtube to accept the run properly.
FractalFusion, thank you very much. Maybe if I use acc-lc, is better for youtube.
Joined: 8/7/2006
Posts: 344
I enjoyed watching this run. The announcer constantly telling you what weapon you were selecting when you were switching between your weapons was irritating but the rest of the run was entertaining. Yes vote.
Editor, Expert player (2072)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
mtvf1 wrote:
FractalFusion wrote:
Youtube here. Thanks to mtvf1 for the encode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu1Hy7wqL1Q Note: I had to re-encode the audio as MP3 to get Youtube to accept the run properly.
FractalFusion, thank you very much. Maybe if I use acc-lc, is better for youtube.
Generally, encoders here use FLAC for youtube, since it is lossless, and because youtube always re-encodes movies. But it is larger, so it is only used for that purpose.
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4035
I found this version more entertaining than the other submission. I agree with X2poet that death doesn't look good in a Metal Slug TAS. Yes vote.
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
I watched this and the Eri run. I like the Eri one a little more, but this one is really nice too! Some boss fights drag on a bit, but the dodging is entertaining. I'd say this deserves a Yes vote. I suggest we publish both this and the Eri run since the strategy changes between the two characters are very obvious and are both interesting.
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.
Editor, Expert player (2072)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3282
I forgot to comment earlier, having dumped an AVI, but I'll do so now. I've watched the run twice, and it looks extremely well done. I like this one better than the "deaths" version, even though the other version is clearly more optimized, and not just because of the different goals. Unfortunately, I cannot see both this movie and the "deaths" version being published at the same time. They seem way too similar to me. Edit: I'm voting yes.
Active player (378)
Joined: 9/25/2011
Posts: 652
Very nice. Voted 'yes'. I agree with the others, this looks better than the 'deaths' run.
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (2154)
Joined: 5/22/2007
Posts: 1134
Location: Glitchvania
DarkKobold: Judging, and removing branch, since it is more 'no death' than a specific character.
This run shouldn't be used to represent the "main branch" (or "trunk") since it uses a suboptimal character.
<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
Post subject: Encode is up, need suggestions for screenshot
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 84
Location: Middle of Nowhere
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE24wgCgXuM Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?q2em6210pp9u910 By the way, do you happen to know of a good screenshot for this movie? If not, I'll dig one out, but if you've got suggestions for it than I'm all ears :) Edit: I totally didn't see the encodes that were already up. Oh well, this is my first DS encode, so I wanted to try and see how I'd fare on encoding a new platform. My encode is slightly smaller (118.37 MB vs 130.61 MB of Fractal's). My youtube uses acc audio with qp = 1.0 (so as lossless as I can get it since flac doesn't work in mp4 files) as well as TASBlend. It also has a double-sized top screen on the left side, making it a bit easier to watch.
Post subject: Re: Encode is up, need suggestions for screenshot
Skilled player (1176)
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 427
Location: China
Velitha wrote:
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE24wgCgXuM Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?q2em6210pp9u910 By the way, do you happen to know of a good screenshot for this movie? If not, I'll dig one out, but if you've got suggestions for it than I'm all ears :) Edit: I totally didn't see the encodes that were already up. Oh well, this is my first DS encode, so I wanted to try and see how I'd fare on encoding a new platform. My encode is slightly smaller (118.37 MB vs 130.61 MB of Fractal's). My youtube uses acc audio with qp = 1.0 (so as lossless as I can get it since flac doesn't work in mp4 files) as well as TASBlend. It also has a double-sized top screen on the left side, making it a bit easier to watch.
Alright, you can dig any screenshot what you like. I can't use tesa or esa for my encode, because I havn't a powerful computer. I was worry about youtube's desync with sound, so I didn't use dedup or another VFR. And I didn't add the logo, so this tas should be reencoded. Good job, Velitha.
Joined: 10/11/2011
Posts: 9
i'll post my vote when i watch it later
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15544
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1922] DS Metal Slug 7 "Marco" by mtvf1 in 23:10.70