Submission Text Full Submission Page
Two words: airplane genocide.
  • Uses FCEU 0.98.12 (blip)
  • All enemies are killed
  • No shots missed
  • Takes no damage
  • Always uses the default weapon
  • Manipulates luck
  • Does "not" aim for fastest time.
  • Does "not" aim for 100% completion.
1943 is a classic shooter for the NES. You're the pilot of a red plane armed with some sort of a laser gun, and it's your job to single-handedly fly through 24 stages filled with thousands of enemy planes and destroy the battleship "Totaku".
Whose side are you on, and who are you fighting? Well, we don't really know. Consider something that tool32 said in the thread:
"Just from the strange English like 'Sink a ship!' it seems like it would have come out in Japan first and was translated later. I was wondering if the Japanese version of this game is framed as the enemy being the US, because it seems to me like it wouldn't be very popular in Japan if it were sold over there as the enemy being Japan."
Heh.
I don't want to write a novel, so I'll try to be brief...
At first, I was not planning to submit this. I just wanted to see what it would look like if someone destroyed every enemy without missing a shot or taking a hit. However, since I got some support from a few people in the thread, and since this has taken so much time and effort to make, I figure it's worth a shot (hopefully not a missed shot...)
Of the game's 24 levels, 19 are original and 5 are repeats. I've tried to destroy stuff in entertaining ways, making many shots that you'd "swear" would miss but don't, killing enemies at the last second, playing with all the different types of plane formations that the game throws at me, etc...
Technicalities:
  • There are 2 places in this movie where I take a hit. These are at the end of the stages where I have the sideplanes, and I get hit to get rid of them. Note that I still don't take damage.
  • On the aircraft carrier bosses, sometimes you (rarely) might see one of my shots sail off the top of the screen. This is because of a strange cheeze I only realized later: The hangars which spawn planes don't absorb the last shot that destroys them, instead, it just flies right on through. I don't consider these misses since they "did" destroy their target, but I made a point of using that extra shot for the rest of the movie.
  • The planes which fly out of those plane hangars and straight up can't be killed. However, some of them reappear as real planes a few seconds later, and some don't.
  • I did not collect 100% items. I decided not to aim for 100% items, not only because I could find no FAQ on where they all were, but because I knew that if I aimed to get them all, I'd miss one or two and someone would call me on it. So, I simply decided to not worry about it: I'd just collect those I happen to find. Pay close attention to the powerups that pause the game- Most of the time I tried to make very surprising freeze-frames when getting these.
  • I did not aim for fastest time. Although I destroyed most of the bosses as fast as possible, time was not my main priority. A few of the bosses could be killed at most two seconds faster. I also collected a bunch of game-pausing upgrades I never used, and didn't really care much about preventing lag.
Despite being so long, I hope I've made it exciting, nail-biting, and all around enjoyable.

Truncated: The masses have spoken and most of them weren't too thrilled about this submission. I have to agree, the movie is 75 minutes but offers very little variation after the two first levels. The movie is just too long and repetitive for it's kind of content.
Therefore, rejecting this movie. Better luck next time.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #973: CtrlAltDestroy's NES 1943: The Battle of Midway in 1:15:53.78
Former player
Joined: 2/2/2005
Posts: 198
So you don't miss, we get that from the first 5 stages or so. Now how about some variety for a change? NO'D!
adelikat
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Joined: 11/3/2004
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going to have to vote no on this one. To say its too long is an understatement. The real detriment is the fact that there is no change of pace for the whole hour+ Your decision to never miss a shot really constricts the potential of the run. Because of this rule you never get any cool upgrades which could add a little interest. when I watched this I felt that eventually the viewer gets the point, you don't miss shots. At the point where the viewer expects it to be a certain way is the pefect time to put in a suprise, like going pacifict all of a sudden and dodging through all the planes. This needs dynamic goals. While it wouldn't be good to meander and not stick to any particular goal, it is good to show clear "sections" where the goal changes but the new goal is very clear and stuck to. With an hour+ to kill why omit any weapon or feature of the game? Include them all so you at least demonstrate everything about the game. Also, why do you not do the bosses as fast as possible, to say you don't aim for speed is one thing but this run is already pushing the edge of the viewers patience with its unbelievable length. The least you could do is to shorten it when ever possible. Speed should be the primary goal whenever its possible (which I assume is only on the bosses). Even if you were to do the bosses as fast as possible and put in all kinds of variety I would still vote no though unless you could shorten it. These levels all look the same, Is it really necessary to play every level?
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
I'm voting yes on this one. It is not the best TAS on the site for entertainment value, but it follows all the criterias needed to be a TAS. Unfortunately a lot of people will watch this once, and then never watch it again (I know I will), but atleast I did watch it once (although with a good deal of fast forward in between). its a good TAS, but entertainment value doesn't score too high.
Player (84)
Joined: 3/8/2005
Posts: 973
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Pros: -;- Every shot hit was impressive -;- The music is awesome -;- Very nicely played -;- Very impressive score and time. Cons: -;-It was quite repetitive -;- I really wanted to fast forward through the whole thing early -;- You do not do any impressive stunts(like bullet dodgeing) -;- It is a really long game -;- You do not use all shot powerups, it would have been nice to use them all and different points and let every bullet hit something. All in all, I think there needs to be alot of changed in the entertaining department, instead of just score/speed. You want speed/entertainment. Sorry, but, hopefully you do this over with more entertainment(if possible). I have to vote NO on this. Nice try.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1300)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
Didn't this one got a lot of entirely positive feedback on the NES games forum? I guess it wasn't so long when it was still in progress...
Player (79)
Joined: 2/8/2005
Posts: 130
I agree that the critics showed up late on this one. The WIP has been up for months in the forums, and I'm sure CAD would have taken these suggestions into consideration had they been posted at a reasonable time. edit - now that i've watched it i'm voting yes for these reasons: 1, its a classic game. 2, i think most people will agree that any 10 minutes taken out of this at random is really fun to watch and has parts that will make you say 'woah', its just that the whole thing is a bit too long. thats good enough for me. 3, this movie has lots of good ideas of how to play a game like this well, and i watched it to get ideas for a TAS i just made, so i think it should be available because there arent many other of this type of game on the site to get ideas from. 4, who can honestly say theyve seen the ending on their NES?
Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332
It might have been slightly more interesting if no points were given to offensive power. Just so it wouldn't look too easy. I thought he played well, all in all. He could have dodged stuff more, but the plane is too slow for that to look good, not like Gradius, or... dare I say it? A 'zig'. Um... my only other criticism, aside from the lack of weapons, is that quotation marks are not for emphasis! *Asterisks* man, asterisks! :D
who can honestly say theyve seen the ending on their NES?
I certainly haven't. Voting yes.
Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 1821
Nothing wrong with the run, played very well. It's just that I would never finish watching the movie, since it's way too slow paced for me. I see no problem with the movie... it's just the game that might not be perfect for a tas. Therefor, voting meh.
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
I'm voting YES on this. I loved watching the WIPs he posted while he was making it and watching the whole thing was even better. I would've voted sooner if I'd known he submitted it lol. Great Job!
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