Game objectives
- Emulator used: fceux 2.2.0 with TAS Editor
- Aims for fastest time
- Warpless
- Glitchless
- Takes damage to save time
As stated in FractalFusion's published run this is a quite unconventional game created with the box cover even warning that it should not be approached with traditional gaming skills. In this run the traditional route is followed displaying some of those odd game characteristics.
On my rejected warped run someone requested a traditional playthrough of the game and since I had just spent time learning the mechanics I figured why not. As it turns out a traditional any% TAS of this game is not the most entertaining thing on earth because when played at super-human speed and in a different language you do not pick up on the outrageous story-line or what some of the text displays. Regardless I persevered and this is the result.
As a side note without having played the game prior or reading through this submission text prior to watching the video I can almost promise you that you will have no idea what is happening so while some people don’t like spoilers I think even more people don’t like watching almost 20 minutes without having any idea of what is going on.
If you do not feel like reading any further just know that it is the main character going through an intense midlife crisis.
Relevant RAM Addresses
00E1 : X-Position
00E3 : Y-Position
00E9 : HP
Tricks and general statements about the run
- While most people do not damage you immediately upon contacting them everyone does force you to come to a stop so I spend most of the run hopping over enemies
- If hopping over enemies is not feasible you can use a trick of going to the menu screen and then leaving it which causes all of the enemies to respawn in their original location. This allows you to avoid fighting them and saves a bit of time on the last couple rooms.
Title Screen
Unlike in my previous run I spend far less time on the title screen, instead just running off screen to the left immediately. In fact the entirety of this run is 15 minutes less than the amount of time spent on the title screen in the previous run.
Plot
The majority of the run is just moving from location to location learning skills, acquiring money, and speaking to people. This could take up a lot of room in the submission text so I will leave those features at that. Some interesting aspects to the story that I won’t go into detail on is that you quit your job, get divorced, get into multiple brawls, and get black out drunk.
A different aspect of gameplay is the Pachinko machine in a chance to win the guitar that we just learned to play. Playing the game without prior knowledge would lead you to believe that you are supposed to win the game over and over until you have enough tokens which would take a long time, but in this run we use the Famicom Microphone add-on for the first time by screaming while playing the game angering a group of thugs who try to attack us. We easily defeat them and use the 5,000 tokens they already had to win purchase our guitar.
We again use the Microphone to play a few rounds of karaoke. As the microphone is not actually emulated you can get the same affect by hitting “A” on the second controller technically making this a 2-Player run but not really. You are supposed to sing along with the tune of the song but if you simply alternate every frame you will be considered good enough each round. I specifically choose the song as it is the shortest possible in the game. After singing 3 times a separate group of thugs gets angry that they want their own turn and try to attack the player. You must defeat them and then an old man will appear with a map that will lead you to buried treasure.
This is where the most exciting segment ever featured in a TAS comes into play where you stare at a blue screen without hitting any buttons for 5 minutes which is just enough time to finally reveal the map. You must then kill the old man and move on to Africa.
Additionally you must handglide which in realtime would be one of the harder parts of the game. You can fly left right or down but you can only move up if you fly through a gust. In addition you have to avoid ducks and flying saucers which would be quite complex as your movement is not quick and your weapon can only fire straight forward with one bullet on screen at a time.
Troll Aspects of the game
There are a lot of aspects of the game that are simply unfair and thus have helped it acquire its cult status. First every time you learn a skill or make a purchase there are normally between 3 and 5 options. You do not know which items are important so if you pick the wrong items you will then die without warning at some later point in the game.
Additionally there are many buildings that if you enter you will get a game over. These buildings look just like any other building in the game but will cause an instant gameover if entered.
Finally there are specific ways you must interact with people or else you will lose the game at a point in the future without explanation. A perfect example of this is the fight with the old man. You would assume since he gave you a map and isn’t immediately attacking you that you should probably leave him alone and go on your way. But as it turns out, if you leave him alone you will be able to continue the remainder of the game, a solid amount of time, and then at the very last second as you pick up the treasure he will appear and give you a game over.
After input ends you go to a screen of a disembodied head with the word End on the screen. Then after waiting around 4 minutes a message pops up on screen asking "Why take this game so seriously?"
I hope you enjoy.
goofydylan8: Obsolete already as stated by FractalFusion
