Intro :

  • Rom name: Alien Storm (W) [!]
  • Number Of Frames : 50236

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 1.7.0
  • No damage
  • Aims for fastest overall time
  • Plays on hardest difficulty

Comments

This is another one of my favorite titles from the genesis era of gaming so i decided to TAS it and see what i could do, its been quite fun to see this develop from a test run, an improvement of 11761 frames was made overall from the testing phase.
I tried to use as much variation as i could for the entertainment value of this submission, hence the pong impression on those idle spots during the side scrolling sections.
I attempted to group the enemies together and defeat them as quickly as i could to save time, making use of how they follow you and attack in close proximity, this is useful against the slug enemies and many others, there is also use of the vault attack to dispatch enemies hanging onto houses and other objects.
Attack spamming on the bosses doesn't have any extra benefits, they become invulnerable after being hit for a second or so, so i tried to use this fact to conserve energy when possible and keep them in a flashing state as much as i could.
A very interesting programming error was found with the kangaroo enemies, a multiple hit glitch is triggered just with them by holding forward while executing the rolling attack, which saved a lot of time.

CREDITS N KUDOS

Many thanks to Adelikat, Scrimpy, FerretWarlord, and RGamma for help with locating RAM addresses, which helped tremendously, huge respect to you guys and much appreciation.
Credit goes to Highness for the support and solid advice right the way through production, the improvements have been constant thanks to finding glitches and shortcuts, making this submission possible.

feos: Accepting to Moons (unless the ratings are bad) and publishing...

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4401: martandelus's Genesis Alien Storm in 13:58.35
mklip2001
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Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
The submission accidentally lists the author's name as part of the game name. Also, this has only 61 rerecords? Beat-em-up's tend to be pretty complicated to optimize.
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.
Player (70)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
I'm going to give this a YES-vote. I've been following the progress pretty close on this one. In general I think this is very good for a 1p run, but there is little doubt that a 2p version will beat this time-wise and probably entertainment-wise too. I like the improvement at the final boss. Seems way faster to just go for the enemies.
mklip2001 wrote:
Also, this has only 61 rerecords? Beat-em-up's tend to be pretty complicated to optimize.
I think maybe he used the rewind button instead of load state? Improvements in a 2p run could have these benefits:
    * Not having to use special attacks, or at least not as often. * Vault attack with 2 players is probably faster than using specials * Better grouping of enemies could possibly be done in 2-player mode since one of the players can bounce an enemy into the other player's grenade attack for example. * At the boss fights you can take turns doing the vault attack. My guess is that it is faster, but I did not check this for real so don't jump to any conclusions yet. * Not sure how the score is measured but it would be cool to see it go higher if possible. * Better energy handling. No need to use a special attack on a lesser pack with creatures when there are bigger heaps to kill quicker.
Good job martandelus! Glad that you were patient enough to pull this off.
Dimon12321
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Location: Ukraine
Encode please! EDIT: Nice run! Another game of my childhood! Yes!
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Player (63)
Joined: 4/17/2014
Posts: 69
I've put the run on my youtube for everyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUw6uxfBdrQ
Nothing to fear but fear itself - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
A bit repetitive, but easily good enough for the site. Yes-vote.
Ford
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Not much variety, though I don't really think that's the author's fault.
Jungon
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Joined: 4/2/2009
Posts: 376
Location: Porto Alegre - Brazil
It kinda looks like you could be losing time getting health packs on.... all the scenes with health packs .... that's what I think, unless it's mandatory to get them to avoid lag or something .. o.o Also, the running scenes, maye they could look more like you're kidding around, since they are sidescrollers, .... right? Aside from that it looks good for a run with 6 rerecords, ..... does this game have multiple endings, multiple paths?
*Jungon*/*Johnnyz* smilie weirdo =P ^^ o.o @__@ +D
Player (70)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
The game does not have multiple endings, but multiple paths in the final stages. You have to pickup energy and health in order to advance the fastest if I remember correctly. Not sure what he could do more in the running stages. You can goof around by going up/down and left/right and jump. The enemies disappear quite fast after showing up on the screen so there's not much room for making something funny out of it I think. :)
Site Admin, Skilled player (1234)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11251
Location: RU
The rerecord count must be glitched in a way. Should I use "unknown" instead?
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.
Editor, Skilled player (1998)
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Alien Double Dragon. Which makes it about as interesting as Double Dragon. Meh vote.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
ars4326
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Posts: 706
Location: Missouri, USA
I was most entertained by the first-person 'vault attack' stages (reminded me of Area 51). 'Yes' vote.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
Site Admin, Skilled player (1234)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11251
Location: RU
Driven by some extra feedback this run got recently, I'm reconsidering it to Moons unless the rates are bad (again).
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: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2665] Genesis Alien Storm by martandelus in 13:58.35