This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1346: mmbossman's SNES Joe & Mac in 31:17.92

I'm sorry, but this game just doesn't seem to have TAS potential. Especially the boss fights are extremely long and boring to watch (which is not your fault) and I was fast-forwarding a lot. Maybe you should pick another game. I won't vote because I don't know anything about this game.

If you read what I wrote before, ignore it. After it kicked in that you're on the hardest level a few of my comments were no longer valid. Actually, that's probably a problem right there. Does playing on hard do anything other than make the bosses take longer? It seems to me this would be more interesting on normal since you wouldn't be taking so long at the end of levels. The level four boss, for example, can be beaten in one pass on normal. I recall doing so on a real SNES. I have my doubts that you're hitting most of those bosses as soon as possible. With the plant boss of level two, you're firing boomerangs to hit the boss on the return flight, but it seems to take longer to connect that way. Either the boomerangs need to be launched sooner or simply forgo that tactic. The mammoth boss in the ice cave (level five I believe): you hit it pretty hard at the end of the fight, but you take forever to hit at the beginning. Do you mean to tell me it has a longer invincibility period at the start? Also in that level, in the area where you must fall between two spike walls, you take forever against the enemy at the bottom. Either you need to launch two wheels before falling or you need to push the enemy into the spikes. Regarding wheel use, doesn't the wheel does more damage than the club against bosses? If so, you should make sure that it's the wheel doing the damage and not the club. Particularly against the Ankylosaurus boss in the one later level, the one with the volcanos in the background. I'm going to withhold my vote for now. If I have time later on I'll see if I can't beat your boss times.

I used to play this game ALL the time when I was a kid good job I completely forgot about this game until you posted it. It looked pretty good should of been done on hard mode though..

The boss in level four, the waterfall level where you're flying down to the boss, I'm pretty sure that one can be beaten in one pass. In fact, I distinctly remember doing so on a real SNES.

me too :)

I've watched up to the boss right after the second pterodactyl (I forgot the name of the boss I'm referring to - you have to excuse me, I'm not completely knowledgeable about long-necked carnivorous dinosaurs), and I'm left with two impressions. Hard mode is making you take forever on bosses. I actually think this should be done on easy - I'm pretty sure bosses go into all of their non-manipulatable patterns eventually on ALL difficulties. Speaking of manipulation, that was done well against the two pterodactyl bosses. Now, the other thing. I feel you're not playing nearly aggressively enough. I'm pretty sure you can deal damage faster against bosses with simple mashing of the attack button than what you did in this run. Yes, I know damage won't seem to 'register' as far as boss sounds and such. Just keep going at it and you'll get a solid hit sooner or later. Although I can't vote here due to not enough posts, this is a rare situation where I'd actually vote "no" if I could. Edit: Okay, I saw the fight I mentioned above and the Anklyosaur fight. As for the first of those two bosses, you seem to be doing better, although you may want to wait in a few situations to minimize the boss recoil lag. As for the Anklyosaur.... AceOfShades said it. Stand back a little when firing the wheel, or fire it upwards quite a bit sooner, so that the wheel hits him the instant he's vulnerable. I do believe the game is thinking you're hitting him with the club. (This fight WAS played more aggressively than the ones when I made the first post, but maybe it was TOO aggressive. My point still stands on earlier stuff.) Edit 2: Saw the Dinosaur Skeleton boss fight. I think I saw maybe one hit that the game thought was a club hit instead of a wheel hit - otherwise, much better. Edit 3: Saw the last few fights. Seemed you regressed in the last dinosaur boss - need to increase the aggression IMO. As for the Red and Blue Imps? You do a fairly good job. Although I do seem to notice some hits that misregister.... In closing, I say apply the concepts from your Red and Blue Imp fights to all the rest of your boss fights and I think your time will drop pretty dramatically. And one last thing. I think the second game in the Joe and Mac series is much more suited to TASing than the first one is.

Thanks for all the input, I knew about the (poor) quality of this game for a TAS run about half way through it, but didn't know about the forum before I started, so I only read about the 'hard vs. easy' idea and other time saving theories post-run. However, as I said, this was my first try and I certainly enjoyed making it, if only to learn the ropes of TASing. I have no attachment to this game in particular, so picking another game to try is no biggie. I appreciate the critique on my aggressiveness, and I agree for the most part (although due to the lagging controls, it was tough to convey that in this game). In any case, thanks for the comments and I'll try to impress much more with my second run (although I have no idea what game to try yet, gonna wait until Christmas break to really jump in I think).

om, nom, nom... blech, stale!