(Link to video)
Captain Viridian disappears from his ship, to which he then teleports back (kinda) and everybody is very happy to see him even though he was only gone for a few seconds.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Hourglass r81
  • Game version: VVVVVV 2.0
  • Aims for fastest credits
  • Uses death to save time

Comments

So Scepheo made a run of VVVVVV and Masterjun saw it and he was like "bro, do you even optimize?" and Scepheo was like "optimize it urself" and Masterjun was like "k" and Scepheo was like "cool story bro" and then this happened.
We started this TAS when Masterjun pointed out that some of the movement in the previous TAS wasn't really optimal. While he was fixing that, he found the address for the game state (which you can (almost) all find here). Using that, we discovered that the game can be broken even more than we thought possible.

Text storage explained

The only glitch still used in the run, text storage is what makes it all possible. The game does many transitions and events (teleporting, saving crew members, going back to the menu etcetera) by setting the game state to a given number. However, the game state is set (to, say, 10), a transition is started and some time later, the game state is read, used and set back to 0.
And during this transition is when the magic happens. If you exit to the menu while in a dialog, this "dialog state" (which you can discern by the "Press ACTION to advance text" message at the top of the screen) doesn't go away. This allows us to alter the game state during transitions.
The first transition occurs together with getting storage. As soon as the game enters the dialog state, we suicide and exit to the menu. During this transition, the game state becomes 80. Normally this just continues into the menu, but we increment it to 94, which is used to start the Space Station 2 time trial. As such, we're warped to the start of Space Station 2.
From here, we go to the two closest teleporters and get text storage from the terminal. We then teleport, which uses a variety of game states between 4000 and 4058. Which we then manipulate up to 4080, which triggers the ending sequence. Game completed.

Scepheo's comments

So I guess this is why you make WIPs? Masterjun managed to get better movement and found the game state address, which made a lot of the manipulation possible. Breaking the game even further was great fun though, and we discovered quite a few amazing, broken and hilarious things that you, unfortunately, don't see in the TAS. Thank you Masterjun for doing this with me, it was a pleasure.

Masterjun's comments

Hello! When I first saw that new VVVVVV submission which was under 1 minute I couldn't really believe it. But I soon realized that games can get veery confused when multiple things are happening at the same time. Scepheo and I played around with the game even more and he found faster and faster routes. I had a lot of fun working with you Scepheo and thanks for the submission text I didn't want to write xD.

feos: Accepting as a new branch and publishing...

mklip2001
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Masterjun: does the dirty save make a big difference on the reliability of the RTA route? When I looked at that RTA, no comments were visible on the video... I'm concerned if yours was deleted.
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.
Masterjun
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The comments are still there. This is basically as if you had a game with 2 save files, the first one is cleared and the second one is a save with the game finished. Then you start the run: Start the first file, reset, continue the second file, beat the end boss, credits. Would that be legit? You started from a clear save file and got to the credits.
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
Spikestuff
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GigaWatt wrote:
Looks like there's already been a non-TAS RTA improvement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0CYsXUpKGA
To quote Masterjun: "If you had started from a clear save I would have accepted it, but you didn't." The WR is 0:49.20
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mklip2001 wrote:
no comments were visible on the video...
Click Reply and then "View all x replies". Blame Youtube's shit interface.
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fsvgm777
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Sorry if I have to put some vitriol to this submission, but I have one problem with it. VVVVVV has a mode that gets unlocked after you beat the game, namely Flip Mode. This is what you should see the first time you select "Start Game" right after you beat the game (restarting the game after the credits roll ("Thanks for playing!" message) shouldn't matter): (taken after watching [2368] Windows VVVVVV by Masterjun in 13:30.25) However, this message does not appear when you do the above after watching this submission (try for yourself, if you don't believe me). This also inevitably means that it isn't unlocked in the game modes. The same goes for the the cancelled submission, by the way. The trigger for Flip Mode to get unlocked is the "Game Complete" screen (where it shows the time taken, found trinkets, total deaths and where you died the most). The way I see it, it has pretty much the same issue as #3903: Masterjun & FractalFusion's GBC Pokémon: Red/Green/Blue/Yellow Version "glitched" in 01:10.47.
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fsvgm777 wrote:
Sorry if I have to put some vitriol to this submission, but I have one problem with it.
Don't worry, you bring up a good point. As I haven't discussed this with Masterjun, I'll just speak for myself now: I hadn't really considered any modes that may or may not be unlocked. I did check the dialog all the crew members have after restarting the game, and that did check out. As you say, this mode is not so much a byproduct of completing the game, but rather of completing the "final level". I don't think many people consider it a problem that the final level isn't completed, after all, neither are any of the other levels. The run could be adjusted, of course, but it'd just jump to the final level instead. In short, I don't consider the mode being locked a problem. After all, the game does consider the game to be completed (see crew dialog).
fsvgm777
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Well, according to the game and the VVVVVV wiki, you need to complete the game to unlock Flip Mode. Though, I did notice all the crew members are saved. So....I guess this is a case of "game complete", save for a locked mode? I guess it's better to see what the others (and Masterjun) have to say on this particular issue.
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Masterjun
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In my opinion, we have to meet these two types of ending:
  • perspective of the viewer: not just a black screen with no music
  • perspective of the game: not just forcing the game to display an ending picture but have some other game routine running
The first one is easily met by having the dialogue and the credits at the end. When you continue the game you can also see that the goal of the game was reached, as all the crew members were successfully rescued. (Don't tell me that the goal was to unlock flip mode...) The second one is also met, because we just changed the gamestate so that the game really thought that it has to end, then displayed all the text and the credits.
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
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It reminds me of Sonic '06. In Sonic '06, you can do a glitch that brings you to the credits of one of the three stories, and the save file after that shows 100% completion. Yet despite this, you can't use this 100% completion in all three stories to unlock the Last Story for some reason.
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I personally would check how the game itself proceeds after the 2 types of ending. It was reported that after this glitched ending, the game proceeds as the crew was saved, but the ending music keeps playing. And that flip mode isn't unlocked. After the normal ending the music is proper, and the mode is unlocked. If it's just that, I would call the ending pretty glitched, but overall legit. In the Pokemon glitched ending run, one couldn't proceed as usual from the ending screen, and game completion save wasn't created, so it wasn't legit. Here, some completion state is saved I guess, otherwise how would it know crew is saved? And it can proceed afterwards. Probably, the flip mode being unlocked isn't part of the ending routine at all.
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fsvgm777
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Masterjun wrote:
(Don't tell me that the goal was to unlock flip mode...)
I don't think the original intent was to unlock this mode, as all it does is flip the game vertically, so it's pretty cosmetic. The crew members being saved and saying post-completion dialogue proves that it did indeed reach a completion state, unlike the Pokémon glitched ending run. Now that this is clear for me, I can safely give my Yes vote, as it was well done. I was just a bit concerned about this issue.
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How should we call the other branch now?
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.
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feos wrote:
How should we call the other branch now?
What other branch? Both this run and the previous run are just any%. EDIT: nvm, just call it "No ESC" or something.
Masterjun
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I guess "no ESC" would fit quite good.
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
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wut
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.
Post subject: branch naming.
Spikestuff
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"no ESC" sounds silly and doesn't define it properly. Maybe: "no storage", "no wrong warp", "all crew" *shrugs* HEY IT'S BETTER THAN "NO ESC"! With the branch it's similar to SMW "11 Exits"? (Aka doesn't make sense, like me...) There is a better branch name for it (old one) but I cannot recall what it is...
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Guga
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bring back 'glitched' branch! ;D
Masterjun
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The fastest completion of the game without using the ESC button.
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
Spikestuff
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Masterjun wrote:
The fastest completion of the game without using the ESC button.
...
Spikestuff wrote:
"no ESC" sounds silly and doesn't define it properly.
Guga wrote:
bring back 'glitched' branch! ;D
This^
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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Masterjun
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What makes it not properly defined?
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)
Spikestuff
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Masterjun wrote:
What makes it not properly defined?
Basically it's saying a function which it's not doing and for another run it doesn't mean that it could be used next time to obsolete. It's easier using something that would make more sense by having a better meaning to the branch then going "No Esc". It's much harder to clarify a branch name nowadays because we removed "glitched" branch which made it much easier to place certain runs. An offender to this is Crash 2, we now have the any% run titled "no box glitch" you would only understand this if you play or have an understanding of Crash 2. To note: the original branch name to that was "no memory corruption" So in other words we need to cater the viewer (who has minimum knowledge on that game) a branch name that is sensible and understandable.
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Spikestuff wrote:
Basically it's saying a function which it's not doing and for another run it doesn't mean that it could be used next time to obsolete.
Error: not enough grammar. "No Storage" would work but is even less clear to the uninitiated and "No save & quit" is incorrect. "No ESC" is simple, concise and correct.
Spikestuff
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Scepheo wrote:
Spikestuff wrote:
Basically it's saying a function which it's not doing and for another run it doesn't mean that it could be used next time to obsolete.
Error: not enough grammar.
Yea that's the issue of trying to prove a point so late at night that the points don't appear as you want it. I'll try and paraphrase
    - Branch with "No Esc" - Next run to obsolete - Uses Esc to save all crew and skip stuff - Uh.....
Another way of looking at it is like how we have the 1 and 2player TASes. When one is faster than the other the slower one will mention how many players. *yawns* Lets see... Uh the point, the point, right... So calling something "No Esc" and then having a run obsolete it with Escape would put us back where we started trying to figure out a proper branch name. Note: This is all in theory.
Scepheo wrote:
"No ESC" is simple, concise and correct.
I beg to differ... feos' point on the branch name was quite clear. Heck I even agree with his 1 word response to the naming of the non-glitched TAS (Note: I'm writing non-glitched here because it's easier to mention what it was originally known to be on TASVideos).
feos wrote:
wut
If someone want to figure out what I wrote go nuts. Note: It's against "No ESC" as a branch.
(man I love my notes)
Anyways branching it as "No ESC" should be a 2nd last resort and "No Storage" is our last resort.
Anyways I'm going to sleep.
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Masterjun
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Why not?
Warning: Might glitch to credits I will finish this ACE soon as possible (or will I?)