Mickey Mousecapade is a NES platforming game where you control Mickey and are assisted by Minnie in your quest to rescue Alice. The current run improves the existing run using a long known trick to warp past several rooms in level 1. Through an amazing stroke of luck, a fairy I can use to kill the last boss also spawns in a convenient place, so this time as well.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.2
  • Beats the game as fast as possible

Comments

Getting Minnie captured in level 1 and then using the Rescue Minnie mini game to warp to the bottom right corner of the current room was a trick first suggested by Tangent a few years ago. Only recently though did I manage to get enough working knowledge of the game to get a proper TAS done using it. The trick itself saves 5 seconds, but I lose about 50 frames to RNG and lag after that. Amazingly, a fairy to kill the last boss spawns in a perfect location in the pirate room. With this I finally am able to accomplish this long expected time saver.

Stage by stage comments

Level 1

Randil had originally used a restart sequence to get a better enemy spawn in level 1. However, this abused the fact that FCEU 0.98.15 loads its quicksave before the reset. This game does not clear RAM on reset, so really what is happening here is that Randil's run starts from 4 frames after power on. Factoring this in, it is not faster to reset.
Anyway, technicalities aside, Tangent's trick works exactly as predicted. Minnie is captured and after saving her in the mini game, you get warped into the lower part of the room and save several seconds. I believe minnie is captured in the optimal way. The capture enemy flies up and to the left, and it takes 8 shots to reveal him (after manipulating him to show up.) So I move in the correct direction to shoot and also lose minnie close to the edge of the screen. You can't do the trick of leaving a room early with Minnie afer this point, but I haven't gotten a better solution. For anyone interested, a capture enemy is in the room when ID 42 is in 073X.

Level 2-5

Nothing new, I try my best to get good RNG and lag reduction, this game is full of it. I lose time early on, but make up most of it with closer snake spawn and a quicker and less laggy pirate fight. A fairy spawns in the pirates room before the last boss. I don't know precisely how, but this stroke of luck allows the last boss to be killed with the fairy and save another second or so.

Other comments

I'm surprised how much I learned in the process of making this run. Despite being a fairly simple game, there a lot to consider. I'm sure someone with a better eye for optimization can save some more frames, my guess is maybe a second more can be saved. I originally missed the fairy in the pirates room and didn't think I could get one to spawn. I don't know how I missed it, but better to be lucky then good as the saying goes.
I hope you enjoy this long overdue update.

Samsara: Claiming this now while I wait for a potentially updated file.
Samsara: Updated submission file.
Previous Time: 07:18.68 (26364 frames)
Also added temp encode.
Samsara: I was a bit interested in taking on this run in the future, though I've lost a lot of TASing time recently so it's good to see the improvement still making its way to the workbench. Everything looks fairly solid and the new strats look well-researched. Audience feedback is also pretty good this time around, so I'm accepting this run as an improvement to the published run with an upgrade to Moons.
Spikestuff: Should I sacrifice an encode right now or not... hm...

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4898: Alyosha's NES Mickey Mousecapade in 07:16.58
mklip2001
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Nice going. At first, I was worried this was slower than an old run, because Randil does have a submission with a faster time. However, that submission doesn't clear the credits properly. When you take that into account, this is a faster run. In Stage 1, you go pretty close to the treasure box with Minnie's star weapon. The old route didn't go there. How much time does it lose to get that weapon? Are the missed shots for randomness / lag reduction? Also, it seems like we should be able to brute force something to figure out, finally, if it's possible to get a fairy in that final fight. If you already know what value to look for in memory, that should be most of what we need, right? The run is good now, but I'd love to see if, once and for all, we can settle whether this fairy strategy is possible. Finally, I'm amused that you only take damage twice, and they're both due to pirate Pete. Given how ridiculously hard it is to avoid damage in this game, a TAS that avoids damage is really impressive.
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.
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Oh thank god. Someone finally did it.
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The fairy on the final boss is possible. I have done it on console a LONG time ago. What happens is the fairy will attempt to leave as soon as the boss room is loaded but there is enough time to rush the boss and one shot her with the fairy power. I am curious about the Minnie star as well.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
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I'm also curious about Minnie's star, and since you didn't mention it, if you skipped killing the cat in stage 1 this time (waiting on an encode). From the notes on the previous run
We kill the cat in this run. This is to avoid getting hit by him on the way back. This saves about 30 frames.
You're not going back through the cat, so that's a nonissue. Edit: Irrelevant
Around frame 4000, you'll see that we go down instead of left, this skipping Minnie's weapon. This obviously saves a lot of time, about 18 seconds. Later on however, we will lose some time because bosses take a little longer to kill with only Mickey's weapon.
The weapon's not nearly as out of the way this time, and I'm 95% certain you can pick it up without her present.
mklip2001
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Tangent: the cat is kept alive this time.
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.
Joined: 3/9/2009
Posts: 530
mklip2001 wrote:
Tangent: the cat is kept alive this time.
Ah, well, ignore part one then. Danke.
Alyosha
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Oh yeah Minnie's star. I started out testing both getting and not getting the star. It costs an additional 200 frames to get it, mostly due to the animation on picking it up. I tested up through level 3, and recovered about 10 of those frames by having the star, so I concluded that there was no way I was going save time in the end, it mostly just generates lag. Yes it is possible to spawn a fairy to kill the last boss, but I susspect the setup will take longer then the time it saves, if anyone can do it though I'll be impressed!
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So, I hate to do this, but I only saw/noticed this looking at a video of the game checking something else, but dying has the same pseudo-warp property as playing the dumb "rescue Minnie" minigame. ie returns you to the room you were just in, but in the lower left corner. Apparently this is the tactic real time speedrunners use nowadays, the few that exist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzk_RNnoCXA&#t=2m I kind of suspect it actually won't save time since that takes a number of hits (and associated pauses) to die, but the death/respawn is a bit faster (I think?) than the minigame with its two item flashes and wouldn't require you to get Minnie kidnapped. I feel kind of dumb for never noticing it myself way back when I was a kid.
Alyosha
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Oh good idea, I never even tested it before. Well I just did now and nope it won't save time, it simply takes too long to take damage. In level 1, the only thing dealing 2 damage is getting directly hit by the cat and chandelier, but since you get invulnerability frames after that it doesn't save time to just stand next to the cat. This adds up to 2.5 lost seconds, or 150 frames. Dying takes about 450 frames. So about 600 are used in this method. In the save minnie method, it adds up 1.5 seconds to lose minnie (and the time you would save using the minnie quick exit trick) plus another 430 frames to rescue minnie (from frame 6570 to 7000), so about 520 frames total. So nope, not faster, but close and worth it to check
Alyosha
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D: D: D: wait a minute, I already have a fairy spawning in the room where the pirate is, how could I have missed that!! I just tested it and I successfully killed the last boss with this fairy. Well I do feel stupid now,but expect a replacement file in an hour or so.
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All right. Thanks for checking that.
Alyosha
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http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/26559500031674055 ok! please replace the movie file with this one. Finally killed the last boss with the fairy. Well that is some pretty amazing luck, it was already there staring me in the face. At least now another TAS mystery put to rest. : ) will update submission text accordingly.
Arc
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I tried fighting the boss of The Ocean and was 5 frames faster. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/26561776830838838
Alyosha
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Arc wrote:
I tried fighting the boss of The Ocean and was 5 frames faster. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/26561776830838838
Yes there are several areas, this being one of them, that can be done faster. I believe The Ocean can be beaten ~ 15 frames faster, the problem is RNG. Any improvement in level 2 has to spawn a fairy correctly in the first part of level 3, for anyone interested in trying this means 07F9 should be a 2 when you start playing level 3 (in your file Arc it is a 3.) Also, you will need to get 07F9 to be a 1 in the third part of level 3. So any improvement will need to consider at least these factors. Good luck! vvvvvvv @samsara: I'm done, only speaking for myself though.
Samsara
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Alyosha wrote:
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/26559500031674055 ok! please replace the movie file with this one.
Before I update with the new file, are you or anyone else (Arc?) planning on improving it further? If this is the final file, I'll replace it and judge it accordingly.
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Arc
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If you delay my final shot by one frame (10324 instead of 10323), then 07F9 changes to 2 at the start of The Woods. I don't know about RNG/syncing after that, though.
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How does this compare to Randil's 7:16 run that was cancelled due to known improvements?
mklip2001
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link_7777 wrote:
How does this compare to Randil's 7:16 run that was cancelled due to known improvements?
It's faster. That run is misleading, because it doesn't finish the credits completely. If you add in the time to close the credits, it adds on something like 10 seconds, so that run is actually more like a 7:26. This run should only be compared to the previous publication, which does finish the credits properly. Also, Alyosha, awesome job with that last fairy. It also looks pretty funny to see you shooting for the fairy in the midst of all of Pete's knives, like you're completely unfazed by the barrage of knives coming at you.
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.
Samsara
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Replaced the submission file. Is there another one in progress, or should I just go ahead and judge this one?
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Alyosha
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Sorry I am out of time to work on this . I'm not sure if arc's improvement can be preserved or if other improvements are possible. Perhaps judge this one and maybe there will be a version 2 at some point in the future . Thank you!
Samsara
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Alyosha wrote:
Sorry I am out of time to work on this . I'm not sure if arc's improvement can be preserved or if other improvements are possible. Perhaps judge this one and maybe there will be a version 2 at some point in the future . Thank you!
And thank you as well! Temp encode: Link to video Would love some more audience feedback on this. The current publication is in Vault, but it has a decent rating, so I'd like to see what people think about this run.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
jaysmad
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Thank you, for the encode! I personally love this game so I do not think it deserves to be vaulted but seeing the votes, i would guess it would end up there anyways. Thanks for the run and yes vote!
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I'd like to extend on what mklip2001 said. Is it possible to NOT take damage during the Pirate Ship boss? I would rather see a fight that is 90 frames longer with no damage - then you could add the tag "takes no damage" to make the video even better, IMHO. Still voted yes.
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. ---- [3000] NES Mickey Mousecapade by Alyosha in 07:16.58