Nice to see progress on this game!
At around 0:35, you get a high jump off of the flower. Is that possible for other flowers? Does it save or lose time? I only noticed it because it seemed different from the other jumps.
Also, you're avoiding the gems because of an end-of-level tally, right? How much time is wasted there from getting a single gem, or group of gems?
Hi, I've decided to TAS this game. Here is my Patch Castle TAS, which is notably faster due to the use of 2-players, which allows 1 player to progress as normally, while the other stays back and clears the route for the other.
Link to video
Also, note how it's possible with a frame perfect jump to avoid the first bead of the level, which saves a frame.
Joined: 6/9/2005
Posts: 171
Location: Southern California
I love it! :D 2p for this game seems to have a lot of tricks in this vein. I know you can abuse the "one player picks up and throws the other" to beat a LOT of the Carrie mini-games really swiftly.
Looking forward to seeing more 2p action!
Very nice! Besides being faster, it looks like having 2 players creates more entertainment, since the characters and their thrown objects together cover the whole screen instead of being localized to the center.
Looking forward to more!
Hi again. I am halfway finished with Fountain Gardens, the first level of World 1 (Grass Land). Here is a video which displays what I have finished, and I would love feedback or opinions. The TAS so far has 1,067 rerecords.
Link to video
In the beginning, Fluff kills the waddle-dee so that Kirby can continue without taking any of the purple beads and without losing any time. At the first fountain, Fluff must turn around for a bit to avoid taking beads, which doesn't lose any time because Player 1 still continues. However, at the end of the video, Player 1 is forced to take some beads which add up to a sum of 10 beads, losing 10 frames. Any ideas on how to avoid this? RNG manipulation, though working on the first fountain, does not work on the 3 clumped fountains.
Anyways, a couple days ago a glitch in Whispy's Forest was found. A video here displays what occurred to the person.
Link to video
Re-creating this trick might allow us to, as shown in the video, scroll along, and potentially beat the level like this. I've tried to recreate this trick to no avail. If you are going to try and reproduce it, please refer to the author's description of the video.
After stressing myself over the 10 beads I collect for hours, I wonder, do the 10 frames really matter? Of course that's 0.16 seconds added to the time, which, though small, makes a difference. But, if there's no way to avoid it, is it non-TAS-like to just leave it like that and take the beads?
Please, I would like some opinions on these 10 frames.
If the beads can't be manipulated to appear any sooner or later and there are no alternate strategies, then you may have to lose the 10 frames and continue onward.
However, there might still be a way to change the timing of that fountain. What have you tried so far? Have you tried wasting a frame or two before the level starts, or just before Kirby gets to the 3 fountains area? Sometimes doing a small, slower action or entering on a different frame will cause a different number to run through the RNG formula, changing the outcome.
As for the glitch, it sounds like Kirby wasn't fully inside the cannon when the arrow hit, as otherwise he would be invincible. So the place to test would be on a precise frame around when he enters the cannon the second time, and the game attempted to process both events (damage and enter-cannon) at once.
Level: Fountain Gardens
Time: 1:45
Re-records: 1,456
Link to video
Comments: This was quite a fun level to do. However, I had to re-record the whole level 3 times. In the beginning, it is slower to save the frame because the farther away Fluff is, the slower the tank animation is, which loses 30 frames for the animation. At the 3 fountains, I kill Fluff because it's faster, as well as to avoid collecting beads. At the end as Tank Kirby, I only need to shoot the missiles, because if I shoot the waddle-dees, they will give beads, which loses some frames. At the end of Tank Kirby, I get shot at once to lose beads, and it gives me invincibility for a bit. Also, getting shot at does not waste any frames since I am not moving and can still shoot bullets.
Joined: 2/12/2015
Posts: 153
Location: Everett, WA
The progress you're making is going quite well. I can't wait to see this get finished, because I'm certain my sister--who's played this game more than I have, and I haven't even played this at all--would love the end result!
And speaking of my sister, she froze the game one time by hitting one of those snail enemies--I don't know what they're called--by throwing a yarn ball at it at the same time it hurt her.
:shrug:
I'm more active on Twitter nowadays: @HunterCoates5
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
The main concerns brought up in IRC were with the tank section:
* Could you shoot those walls that block your way earlier?
* There's a part where you jump for seemingly no reason and it looks like it slows you down. Can that be avoided?
* Seems like you can jump earlier to clear those walls, though looking back through the thread I can see there's a fairly long delay between shooting a missile and being able to jump, so it might be due to that.
* How often do the walls accept hits? Do they only need to be hit once before they drop or do they need to be hit multiple times? Rapid-firing might not be optimal there if they only take one hit per drop.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family.
Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
Joined: 6/9/2005
Posts: 171
Location: Southern California
You know that Fluff can punch with the Tank's boxing glove, right? I recall it being very useful for attacking things farther away/more rapidly. You can also waggle the remote to make the punch glove spin about the tank. Could either of these help break walls faster?
You know that Fluff can punch with the Tank's boxing glove, right? I recall it being very useful for attacking things farther away/more rapidly. You can also waggle the remote to make the punch glove spin about the tank. Could either of these help break walls faster?
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Sure, you could do this, but its generally slower because with the punch you have to be closer to hit the towers. This means a timeloss of 10 seconds-ish just for waiting for the tank to get in range. Also, the towers only accept one hit at a time, so hitting more times is useless.
Joined: 6/9/2005
Posts: 171
Location: Southern California
Sure, you could do this, but its generally slower because with the punch you have to be closer to hit the towers. This means a timeloss of 10 seconds-ish just for waiting for the tank to get in range. Also, the towers only accept one hit at a time, so hitting more times is useless.
Understood. :) That's why I phrased it as a question. I wasn't sure if the boxing glove's spinning in circles could trigger the one-hit-at-a-time more rapidly than the tank's spitting missiles, since the spitting missiles seems pretty slow.
Encode 2
Frames: 8,127 (2:15.45)
Level: Tank Kirby and Flower Fields
Re-records: 1,960
Link to video
Comments: Tank Kirby in Fountain Gardens has been redone. Due to the fact that the tower only takes hits one at a time, autofire is fairly unoptimal. Therefore, in this tank TAS, I shoot so that the missile hits the tower the first frame the tower can take a hit. Flower Fields WIP was very fun to make. Note that I kill Fluff because it doesn't waste any time, and he isn't used for the rest of the level.
Does the game goes from 0 to max speed instantly or it accelerate? If not, you might want to back a little bit, then jump on the platform.
Otherwise, it's a beauty.
Joined: 12/1/2012
Posts: 103
Location: New Donk City
Is it possible to hit the ending bell a little later to have the spinner stop a bit faster? It seems like it takes a while to stop on that last segment.
Is it possible to hit the ending bell a little later to have the spinner stop a bit faster? It seems like it takes a while to stop on that last segment.
The length of the spin is given by RNG. The "goal game" time I got was the fastest I could possibly get using RNG manipulation without losing any time.
Note that the Flower Fields TAS is finished at the RTA timing of 6:22, 30 seconds faster than the WR split of 6:52.
Encode 3
Frames: 5061 (1:25.26)
Level: Flower Fields
Re-records: 2,110
Link to video
Comments: Same comments as last encode, besides the fact that Saucer Kirby is extremely difficult and frustrating to TAS. Hope you enjoyed the encode!
Does the game goes from 0 to max speed instantly or it accelerate? If not, you might want to back a little bit, then jump on the platform.
Otherwise, it's a beauty.
Does the game goes from 0 to max speed instantly or it accelerate? If not, you might want to back a little bit, then jump on the platform.
Otherwise, it's a beauty.
Kirby only accelerates when he starts normal and turns into car mode, so there is no time to save. Unless I turn directions, which I don't do (I only turn back a bit to slow Kirby down, and when I let go of the opposite direction it goes instantly back to normal speed) in the TAS, I won't lose any time.
Wouldn't it be faster to keep the second player active during the saucer section? That way at the end when you use the electrical attack, you can have the second player near the blocks as they explode as opposed to having to move Kirby over after the attack's finished. Or you could have the second player use the attack and have Kirby positioned near the blocks.
Encode 4
Frames: 3480 (0:58)
Level: (WIP) Rainbow Falls
Re-records: 2,345
Link to video
Comments: Needed to re-do this level. Over-all, very fun level to do, besides the surf part, which I think is unoptimal. Please tell me how to improve the surf part!