Hi, I wanted to make a first TAS of a game i used to play that was never done before (as far as i can tell). I looked for information on the game but it is too obscure and no glitches or tricks have yet been published.
My goal was to kill the first boss in minimum time at the hardest difficulty level and losing health or killing enemies only when necessary. I did not pick any power-ups either. I tried to make it with as little frames as possible although I know it's most certainly not perfect.
Here is the link of the movie:
[URL=http://www.smallfiles.org/download/4863/GBA-0685_-_Lego_Bionicle_Matoran_Adventures_U_.vbm.html]http://www.smallfiles.org/download/4863/GBA-0685_-_Lego_Bionicle_Matoran_Adventures_U_.vbm.html[/URL]
The name of the rom i used is : GBA-0685 - Lego Bionicle Matoran Adventures (U)
Feel free to try any other legit looking roms and please tell me if the movie dont work on some versions.
Any tips/feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
----
Edit by FractalFusion: Changed topic title.
It looks pretty good so far. Anyway, if you think you can improve the first level, then by all means try again and see how much better it can be done.
How long do you think the run would be when completed?
By the way, there is a "Mode 7" intro version of the ROM somewhere. Obviously the movie does not work on that version.
This is a good start! Looks pretty tight so far.
You might want to try playing around with the movement mechanics and find out exactly how certain mechanics affect your movement, especially the character switch. From a quick test, it looks like switching characters in mid-air after a double-jump causes your companion to launch forward much faster, which could be used to gain speed.
I think that I can't really improve my run because I already spent alot of time trying different ways to do most parts of the first level to find the most efficient way to do them.
What I meant is that an experienced TASer could probably beat my run by using RAM tools and lua, as I didn't use any of these tools (I never learnt how to code lua and no RAM addresses have been published for this game).
The mode 7 version is not the original one(I think it's a mod) so yea, it's quite normal that my movie doesn't work using it.
Yes, that feature is what made me want to TAS this game in particular, as I though it could create some interesting exploits/glitch. Sadly, the "one character moving backward while the other launches forward" visual is really just an animation, as I observed that an invisible "third character" stays between them during the switch, and this third character is the one interacting with the walls, floor, items etc.. I found no difference in frames between walking a straight line and constantly jumping switching characters. Of course, I could be wrong because my measuring tools are subpar (like I said earlier, I don't use RAM addresses yet).
Thanks again for your comments, keep them coming!
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2178
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I was bored, so here is a RAM Watch file for you:
Copy the contents into a text document, and save it as [something].wch
3
00000 030018E4 w s 0 Character action
00001 03000CEF b s 0 X Speed
00002 03002DC0 b s 0 Y Speed
To use the file, open RAM Watch from the emulator Cheats menu, then open the file.
The X and Y speed work rather interestingly, they depend on character action to actually have an effect. That means X speed will only have an effect when you are moving left or right for example.