This is the third version of my Metroid Fusion 100% TAS. My testing was much more rigorous and I looked for creative solutions. The in-game completion time is 55 minutes and 28 seconds. This beats the previous version's in-game time by 3030 frames or 47 seconds (an in-game second is 64 frames). Because I aimed for in-game time, I opted to pause the game in order to manipulate luck, as the in-game timer does not run on the pause screen. I placed most of the pauses right before door transitions, so as not to detract from the flow of the run. One thing I've learned: shinesparks are slow. This run features several less shinesparks than the previous. The reason for this is that shinesparks have a delay both while Samus is "charging" it and once she has hit something.
Notes by Section
Main Deck/Arachnus
Not much is different here. Before Arachnus, I pause in order to get a faster eye door, which hopefully isn't too distracting.
Sector 1
After fixing each atmospheric stabilizer, the doors are on a timer until they open. Apparently, the lag from opening and closing the pause screen reduces this timer.
There is a slight route change. In the third atmospheric stabilizer room, it is faster to skip the missile tank and grab it (much) later in the game.
Sector 2/Zazabi
Not much different here aside from general optimization.
Sector 4/Serris
There are a few new room strategies, but otherwise just general optimization.
Sector 3/BOX
Faster BOX fight, other small improvements.
Sector 6/Mega-X
There are two less shinesparks here. Both were slower before.
I would have had bad luck on Mega-X, so I had to briefly pause.
Sector 5
For the missile tank right after getting ice missiles, I used a clever strategy to climb the room faster.
Sector 3/Meltdown
General optimization, along with a creative new way to get to the eye door.
Main Deck
I collect an early powerbomb tank, just like last time.
Sector 5
I collect another early powerbomb tank along with a missile tank as part of a faster route change.
There are a few new room strategies after getting powerbombs.
Yes, I pass through the ripper. Frozen enemies have strange properties.
I grab a missile tank on the way out instead of later. This allows me to run straight through the room with the speedbooster twice later in the run.
Main Deck/Yakuza
I had Yakuza grab me as high as possible, so I don't think the fight can be improved.
Sector 2/Nettori
Several improvements here and there.
Sector 5/Nightmare
Thanks to P.JBoy for telling me how Nightmare behaves. This time, I was able to kill Nightmare exactly where it needed to be.
Sector 4
General optimization, and a new strategy to grab the powerbomb expansion before leaving Sector 4 (one less powerbomb is used).
Sector 6/BOX II
The BOX II fight is faster, thanks to taking damage and standing inside of it.
Sector 1/Ridley
A few new room strategies, and more efficient use of the charge beam on Ridley.
Cleanup
In Sector 1, I collect the missile tank that I skipped from the beginning of the run. I don't use a shinespark to go up the vertical shaft next to the save room, because I would have to go far out of my way to charge it up.
I somehow didn't realize that there's a faster route to get back to the first room of Sector 2. It ended up saving four seconds.
Once again, I use one less shinespark in the beginning of Sector 6.
I found a new strategy for the tanks when I first enter Sector 3.
Final Bosses
All three forms of the SA-X are faster. The first two forms are faster due to a new strategy, while the core-x is faster due to better positioning.
The Omega Metroid is killed with vertical shots instead of diagonal shots, which prevents it from making any swipes and saves about a second.
I hope you all enjoy the run. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll improve the 0% run ... eventually.
This was a great improvement. I love how you managed to 100% such a big game in such a short amount of time. I did like how you used bombs to assist your one-sided wall-jumping, and the space-jump in conjunction with the speed booster was awesome to watch - far better than chaining a million shinesparks. For me, the boss fights were an especial treat to watch, with the glitchy Yakuza battle and the Omega Metroid battle standing out.
However, I strongly, strongly, disagree with the choice to go for ingame time over real time. Any other run is judged by real time as well, and while not as bad as, say, Mega Man 9 weapon switching, I found the pauses to be rather awkward. As you said yourself, the ingame-timer is inaccurate, as the difference adds up over time, and the completion time in the credits doesn't even show your seconds.
It isn't enough to be a deal-breaker for me, but I do think future runs should orient themselves on real time. Same goes for Saturn's RBO run, by the way. Yes vote overall.
As someone who had never watched a TAS of this series before, I'm pretty damn impressed. Amazing run!
AzumaK wrote: I swear my 1 year old daughter's favorite TASVideo is your R4MI run :3
xxNKxx wrote: ok thanks handsome feos :D
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I understand your opinion and respect it. However, I would like to explain my point of view.
People are more familiar with the in-game timer of Metroid Fusion. No one bothers timing their runs, because the in-game timer is consistent, even if it's 64 frames a second instead of 60. 0:55 is always faster than 0:56. But that's not my main point.
When I TAS Fusion, I take it room by room. That means each room must have the best enemy layout, or each eyedoor must open right away, or each boss must behave correctly. It's consistent with my goal, and I believe it makes the run entertaining.
Nearly all of the real-time "wasted" in this run was for luck manipulation. Most of the luck manipulation was done during the computer conversations, which hardly wastes any time. I believe it is safe to say that this saves both in-game time and real-time. The only problem then is the pauses. I agree that they might be distracting. However, I'd estimate that several of the pauses, if not half or more, actually saved enough time to make up for the time wasted. I could have wasted the same amount of frames before each room without pausing, but I figured why waste in-game and real-time when I could just waste real-time?
Furthermore, there are many places in the run where jumping through the door saves time, because it scrolls the camera to the right place for the door transition. In the example gif below, 10 real-time frames are saved, but 22 in-game frames are lost. If people agreed that this should not be used in the run, then the run would be considered to contain speed/entertainment tradeoffs. Aiming for in-game time avoids this problem all together.
I would also like to add that previous Fusion 100%s also aimed for in-game time, and this run is faster than the previous in both in-game and realtime.
I can not decide if I love or hate your updates on this run come out of nowhere.
Is the average time on 'seeing your next mission' for this one 24 months or so? Regardless I imagine I'll get to double figures or rewatches for this one too before your inevitable encore.
Glad to see this project finally taken down! It made for an amazing watch and showed a lot about your knowledge of the game. Can't wait to see the 0%! :D
Joined: 6/5/2006
Posts: 188
Location: Malmö, Sweden
This run is goddamn excellent. I especially liked the new strategy for the single wall wall jumping, and the perfect core-x fights. The pausing was kind of annoying but not too distracting overall, we really need to figure out how the RNG works properly someday.
Oh, and:
Grr, I tried so hard to find something like this when I got to end of my 0% run. This would have allowed me to break 40 minutes :'(.
I was sort of getting worried about your supposed 0% run, but after seeing this I'm confident you'll handle it way better than I would have been able to. This is really really well done.
Even the best player is limited by the speed of his fingers, or his mind's ability to control them. But what happens when speed is not a factor, when theory becomes reality?
Easy Yes vote.
re ingame vs. realtime:
Because the time might have been used to do something more interesting than hitting the pause button. Killing an extra enemy, picking a route that's slightly slower but contains this neat walljump etc.
IIRC the guidelines advised to hide longer delays by spreading tiny delays in unnoticeable spots instead, but I can't find it in the guidelines right now.
So why shouldn't it be used? What's wrong with it?
It looks slightly off, but so does armpumping, backdash-canceling, backwalking and all the other tricks that don't make sense until you read the submission text. Or, for that matter, frequently pausing before a door.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11473
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Who is publishing that? Brandon? turska?
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.
Here is a cutsceneless encode:
Link to video
To be precise, this encode shows only in-game frames which are the ones BioSpark aimed to minimize. This leaves out all the dialogue, pause screens and door transitions (though they are relatively fast in this game), but leaves in the item fanfares.
Edit: Apparently the html5 version of this video is broken, showing a length of 0 seconds. The flash version works, though.
Edit2: Replaced the video with a better version. This one should have the correct scaling and non-horrible sound.
I think my favorite part is seeing what all you do while waiting for a bomb to go off. I still love some well-placed speed boosts, though. 100% TAS is funny because you pull off the impossible missile tank skip, but then go right back down and grab the missile tank anyway.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11473
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Isn't the one in submission post of high enough quality?
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.
Joined: 3/25/2006
Posts: 850
Location: stuck in Pandora's box HELLPP!!!
Haven't watched all of it yet, but so far
Best Zazabi and Mega-X fights yet, all the Core-X sweet-spotting was perfect; that bomb wall-jumping was something rather elequent, lots of intelligent room strategies, your manipulation of frozen enemies was marvellous; loved the early ARC power bomb.
I saw a certain new trick in the dark part of the Main Deck, take a look, you might be able to hex-edit it in yet