Hetfield90 and StarvinStruther's GB Kid Dracula TAS in 18:43.6. It is 2981 frames(~49.9s) faster than the published run in terms of comparable gameplay improvements, and 1942 frames(~27.3s) faster outright due to version and emulation differences. Emulator used was BizHawk 1.11.0.
Goals
Aims for fastest time
Takes damage to save time
US vs JP Gameplay Differences
Most enemies and bosses have double HP in US version
Some enemies have different patterns(namely the fish in stage 2: area 3)
Ceiling speed in Stage 7-Area 2 increased in US version
Stage Info
Table of time saved per stage
Here is a simplified version of the stage by stage comparison table which omits areas that have gameplay differences between the US and JP versions. The detailed version can be found here.
Current Run Frames
Published Frames
Frames Saved
Time Saved(approx.)
Stage 1
4997
5218
221
3.5s
Stage 2
1984
2892
908
15.0s
Stage 3
9774
10097
323
5.5s
Stage 4
6566
6658
92
1.5s
Stage 5
0
0
0
0s
Stage 6
2985
3557
572
9.5s
Stage 7
4593
4922
329
5.5s
Stage 8
11285
11821
536
9.0s
Total
42184
45165
2981
50.0s
Stage 1(221 frames saved)
(Room 1)Lag was reduced by jumping/shooting at different times
Jumping has slower horizontal speed than walking, so it is best to minimize the number and height of jumps as much as possible
(Room 2)Killing enemies at different times is better if it allows you to grab ladders higher up
Bat transformation takes a long time, so most of the time it was avoided unless absolutely necessary
The KKK ghosts, like most bosses in this game, have double hp in the US version, so their room was omitted from comparable gameplay differences
Damage done to bosses never carries over across phases, and bosses that jump tend to not transition into subsequent phases until they are on the ground
Stage 2(908 frames saved)
(Room 1) Again, avoid bat transformations like the plague
Jumping for each shot in the sunflower room allowed Kid Dracula to keep moving forward at all times instead of stopping for each shot
The fish at the end of the long waterfall room behave differently in the US version than the JP version; the JP version can ignore them completely and go underneath them whereas the US version has to kill them, causing a lot of lag in the process
Jason's second phase does not start until he picks up the axe
Stage 3(323 frames saved)
(Room 1) Avoiding using homing missiles reduced lag
Being airborne reduces lag at most points during the roller coaster ride
The Batarangs can hit the chicken twice per use because of his short i-frames
The chicken's egg was barely able to be one cycled by using a combination of 3 different attacks
Stage 4(92 frames saved)
Minimizing airborne time during upside down transitions and cleaner boss fights were the only real improvements in this stage
Stage 5(0 frames saved)
This stage was only one room that had tremendous amounts of lag not emulated properly by VBA in the published run, so it couldn't really be compared
Crouching during the autoscroller helped to reduce lag
Standing in a specific position allows Kid Dracula to fire at the boss while standing inside his blade beam, but this does not save time since it does not reduce the number of jump cycles
Damage boosting into the boss after phase 1 gets him to jump and pop his head out sooner than letting him walk across the room first
The alien cannot take damage for a while after coming out of the armor
Stage 6(572 frames saved)
Again, bat form should be avoided at all costs
A certain damage boost helped to navigate through the lava geysers more quickly
Stage 7(329 frames saved)
It is faster to not wake up the miner sleeping next to the double block barrier in room 1
Since some blocks have to be broken from inside a narrow passage way, horizontal movement can be initiated sooner afterwards by jumping repeatedly
(Room 2) The ceiling moves at a rate of 3px/f in the JP version and 4px/f in the US version, making it so you have to wait in 2 different safe areas for the ceiling to go back up where you would be able to keep moving to the next part in the JP version
You are not able to fire another bomb until the explosion from the previous has completely dissipated, so it is faster to hit the blocks from point blank range on phase 1 of the boss fight(so that you don't have to wait for travel time+explosion time)
Stage 8(536 frames saved)
(Room 1)The vertical descent is an autoscroller that continues indefinitely until you reach a certain horizontal position, so it is best to move right as quickly as possible. Bat was able to pass underneath the spikes, and downward movement was able to be retained during the transformations because of the camera scrolling
(Room 2)Same as the camera scrolling in room 1, you always want to be in front of a gravity strip during a bat transformation to retain vertical movement
(Room 3)Not taking damage on the spikes in room 1 allowed for 2 time-saving damage boosts against the drills
The final boss is one of the only bosses in this game which does not have increased health in the US version. He can only take damage when his mouth is open. It was just barely impossible to 1cycle him in phase 1, and damage boosting in phase 2 allowed for 3hit and 2hit cycles respectively. In phase 2, he will not open his mouth unless he jumps from the edge of the screen, so manipulating him to jump twice in the same direction allows for the fastest pattern(2 closed mouth jumps in between each open mouth jump).
Possible Improvements
This game has so much lag everywhere, even in places where nothing is going on, so I don't doubt that lag can be further reduced as a whole with even more trial and error.
The bat transformation in Stage 1-Room 2 that Weegeechan15 suggested in the submission thread; at least 20 frames can be saved from it
Killing the Frankenstein in the mandatory bat room of Stage 1 with a jumping charged shot before morphing to bat; 36 frames can be saved
ars4326: Hello, Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. Nice job on improving this 2007 run! Lag reduction was especially noticeable in parts (e.g. Stages 1 and 3) when comparing side-by-side. There were smart gameplay refinements featured, as well; including the use of jump shots in Stage 2, the vertical descent in Stage 8, and the final boss strategy on Garamoth. All in all, this was a very solid improvement.
Accepting as an improvement to the published run and, due to positive feedback/voter count, upgrading a tier to Moons!
Sorry if you have covered this topic in your submission comment and I completely skipped it but why didn't you use the japanese version when like you stated enemies/bosses have less hp than in the US/EU version?
From Movie Rules: The US ((U)) versions are generally preferred over the Japanese ((J)) version due to the use of English language, which is easier to understand for the general audience. Keep in mind that time gained solely through basic ROM differences will be discounted for the purpose of comparison.
I also figured using the US Version in Kid Dracula, where bosses/enemies have extra hp, was comparable to "selecting the hardest difficulty", which is preferred by TASvideos as well. However, rereading it, it says, "unless the only difference between difficulty levels is enemy/boss hit points, in which case the easiest difficulty levels are preferred in the interest of speed," so I suppose this doesn't necessarily apply.
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
I don't have a chance to view this yet, but let me just say right away that I am thrilled to see this run on the Workbench. As my signature has said, this is one of the few games that I actually was interested in TASing myself (though I never got off my ass about learning TAS skills). Sorry I wasn't on the forum thread to discuss improvements, but I will check this over in detail later today.
Just from the submission comments, though, I'm wondering why bat was used in Stage 8 by the gravity strips. Is it not possible to rely solely on the upside-down magic? That would save you transformation time if you could just use upside-down.
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:
The game actually restricts you from using specific mobility upgrades in rooms the developers thought would be trivialized by them, like bat/upside-down in the floating platform room of stage 5, or upside-down in the gravity strip room of stage 8.
The transformation time of the bat is almost completely negated when used in front of the gravity strips though(aside from a few lag frames).
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Alright, I'm going to need a separate post for stage-by-stage comments.
STAGE 1
At 1:30ish in the encode, is it possible to jump, shoot the baddie with a charged Normal shot, then switch and charge to Bat, and start flying to the platform? I think you'd have enough time to change to a bat before you fall too far, but I don't know if the lag from the Normal shot and coin makes it slower.
STAGE 2
Badass job with the sunflower room. The jumping makes that room a lot smoother.
The damage when fighting Jason looked unnecessary, since you beat his first phase easily before he reaches the axe. But if that damage reduces lag, then awesome.
STAGE 3
Amazing job with the boss. The batarangs looked great, and I never would've suspected you could keep the chicken egg from bouncing.
STAGE 4
Nothing to say here, really. Nice job jumping in the robot fight to get his arm to misdirect.
STAGE 5
I always used to kill the astronaut dudes in the vertical shaft. Nice job realizing that it saves lag to keep them alive.
Nice use of the damage boost for the boss. It looks ugly, but the explanation helps.
STAGE 6
Nice use of the damage boost in the geyser area. I'd forgotten that the geysers were not insta-kill.
Great job with the damage boost after the boss fight to minimize the lag from the little lions.
STAGE 7
I never would've thought of that first use of upside-down you used. That was smart.
It's a shame that you have to wait out the ceiling in the US version.
Good trick with the boss to fire at point-blank range. He seems to have a very weird delay before he starts his second phase. Is there any way you can manipulate him to stay low on the ladder so that you stay point-blank and fight the second phase like the first?
STAGE 8
The use of the bat in the first autoscroller is great. I never figured that out as a kid, and I'm kicking myself for it. It works perfectly with the smaller hitbox to avoid the spikes! (I died way too often in that section by hitting too many spikes on a badly-chosen route.)
I see now that by transforming into a bat in the vertical strips, you lost less time than I thought. But I still think some uses of upside-down would've been better there. At least it would look cooler, and I think you may rise up quicker using upside-down instead of bat.Answered already.
Nice strategies with Garamoth second phase.
SUMMARY
This run kicks ass. Very nice improvements! It seems like Stage 1 only has one idea left in my list, concerning that one platform with the enemy requiring bat form.[/s]
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:
Oh I forgot to mention this room in the submission text, but I will add it now because it is rather strange. The trigger that ends that room behaves a bit oddly: you have to reach a certain point(which is somewhere in the middle of the Frankenstein) and then Kid Dracula will pull his cape some number of frames later(close to a second I think) regardless of what you do afterwards. If you do anything to get rid of the Frankenstein or reverse damage boost off of him or something, you are just wasting time because it delays reaching the trigger(at which point you would still have to wait that second or so afterwards), so it was fastest to just fly past the trigger and then take damage to remove bat form while waiting for the transition to actually activate.
Not while still being able to damage him. If you aren't on the ladder he will immediately climb all the way to the top and wait there indefinitely for you to follow him. I tried a lot of ways to get the first couple of shots a little bit closer then climb the ladder but nothing seemed to work out. You can't change directions mid-air while in shooting animation, so any attempts to fire more shots from a closer range just made me land too low on the ladder to have any kind of timely follow up shots.
Thanks for all the questions and comments. Now that you mention it I remember reading your signature sometime ago but did not realize this was the same game in it; I only actually heard of this game for the first time a few weeks ago when StarvinStruthers mentioned to me he wanted to make a TAS of it. I am glad to hear there are people with nostalgia for it who enjoyed the run.
Wow, it's really nice to see an older TAS get destroyed! :D
This was actually a game I was interested in months ago. Back when I was testing the game, I found what I think is a timesaver. I forgot to post it in the game thread.
You can turn into the bat and fly through the hole as long as you wait until the knight gets some distance away. Keep in mind that I did this in real-time and is by no means optimized. I also don't know 100% if it saves time but I definitely feel like it should. I hope it can improve your submission, even a little bit!
Nice strat. I was able to save at least 20 frames with it. I just tried hex editing it into the run, but as I feared, the game's massive amounts of lag cause desyncs at every turn, so I don't think it would be worth pursuing a change this early on in the run.
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Thanks for the responses!
With that Stage 1 room, I was hoping that you could shoot Frank while still jumping towards the platform... it would save you the time for the damage animation if it worked. Not a big savings in any case.
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:
So apparently the transition at the end of the room works properly if you do not take damage from the Frankenstein; I was able to save 36 frames with the strat you mentioned.
My initial idea for the room was to reverse damage boost off the Frankenstein so that I wouldn't have to waste time doing two jumps in order to kill him, but I guess the i-frames from the damage may have been what was delaying the transition(which is strange because i-frames last way longer than the amount of time that the transition was being delayed).
Thank you for pointing this out. I will include this in possible improvements as well.
In some levels there are references to Bucky o'Hare, or so I thought)
Arcs of lava, volcanoes with the falling stones and the destruction of the walls, as in the levels of ice in this game.
Yes vote.
This is a really charming, if also a bit slow-paced game. But even at almost 19 minutes it stays surprisingly varied and fun for a GB game, so it gets a yes vote from me. Nice improvement as well.