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Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk-2.3
  • Aims for fastest see ending.
  • Manipulates Luck
  • Uses a Reset Sequence
  • Uses Left+Right
  • Uses Player 2's controller
  • Abuses Programming Errors
  • Records submitted on TASvideos : #2250: CtrlAltDestroy's NES Dr. Mario in 01:12.83

This movie

For those who do not know about this game

Dr. Mario is a simple puzzle game.
Dr. Mario periodically throws Megavitamins into the bottle.
Afterwards, the player can move and land them on Viruses, which spawn throughout the bottle.
By connecting a line of three or more halves of Megavitamins to a virus of the corresponding color, the Virus disappears.
Removing all viruses on the screen advances the player to the next level.
Completing level 20 is the ending.

Latest post

In the latest post(#6052: poco_cpp's NES Dr. Mario in 00:22.96), It was rejected because there was a record faster.
I posted this record because there is no update for over a month.

About Ending

There are 9 kinds of endings depending on the combination of LEVEL and SPEED.
- Level 20 LOW: Black screen, minimalist music
- Level 5 MED : Flying book
- Level 10 MED: Flying rooster
- Level 15 MED: Flying spray can
- Level 20 MED: Flying dinosaur in egg
- Level 5 HI : Flying turtle
- Level 10 HI : Flying pig
- Level 15 HI : Flying witch
- Level 20 HI : Day to night transition, UFO abducting viruses, falling stars
All endings can be seen with the following movie.
- Dr. Mario NES Flying Scenes : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJnxhUh5GYI
- 【TAS】ドクターマリオ(FC) 全ED 7:2.10 : https://youtu.be/qD1_7j01L2Y
Since it is said that there is no difference by ED in the latest post,this time posting adopts the fastest record from all EDs.
The fastest record of LV 20 HI and LV 20 MED is here.
- NES Dr.Mario 1043f(LV20 MED)
- NES Dr.Mario 1045f(LV20 HI)

Basic technique

  • There is no time difference by SPEED(MED/HI). LOW is slow because Mario's throwing action is long.
  • The Down key reacts only even frames.
  • The Left / Right key reacts in both even and odd frames.
  • If you press A, B and Left key at the same time, you will move to left two times.(However, it is limited to timing when it can rotate)

Layout and pill sequence

Layout and pill sequence is determined when level is selected.
It does not change after it is decided once.
This is determined by the number of frames since the start of the game.
This record resets the frame by soft reset on the way and selects the optimum placement.
(Soft reset maintains level information,but do not maintain number of frames. In this way, you can select an arrangement that can not be selected normally.)

Remove glitch

"Remove glitch" occurs when many viruses are deleted in one chain.
After "Remove glitch", it sometimes freeze.
Freeze may be canceled by pressing the controller button of player 2.
Regarding the necessary buttons, the internal numerical value of the cross key and the column number are likely to be related, but details are unknown.
When "Remove glitch" occurs, the behavior changes according to the direction in which the last virus removed.
If it removes vertically, all that one column will remove.
If it removes laterally, all removes from lower than that line.
After the laterally, it is now possible to delete all viruses by operating the 2p controller!
The root cause of "Remove glitch" is the occurrence of NMI due to high load.
The processing with the highest load is score addition.
The following is the score table.
virusScore
01+100
02+200
03+400
04+800
05+1600
06+3200
07+3200
08+3200
09+3200
10+3200
11+3200
12+1000
13+300
14+25600
15+100
16+200
17+400
18+25600
The score has increased at the 14th virus.
This is the reason why "Remove glitch" occurs in the 14th virus.
Besides erasing the 14th virus, even if you erase the 3rd ~ 10th virus simultaneously, "Remove glitch" will occur.
Please see below for details.(However, it is Japanese.)
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/poco/blomaga/ar1670831

Update battle

This record will be the update result of Dr.Mario done in Nico Nico. 
 Updated date     Time  URL
 2018/07/02-05:58 55.77 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33457281
 2018/07/02-21:26 46.94 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33460051
 2018/07/07-13:42 39.19 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33485482
 2018/07/07-19:14 30.83 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33487351
 2018/07/07-22:40 28.65 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33488875
 2018/07/09-00:39 28.62 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33495763
 2018/07/09-20:32 28.35 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33499113
 2018/07/09-22:18 27.02 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33499986
 2018/07/09-23:46 26.76 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33500583
 2018/07/10-03:20 26.69 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33501321
 2018/07/10-23:48 24.96 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33505413
 2018/07/11-01:57 24.83 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33505980
 2018/07/19-18:56 23.26 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33551704
 2018/07/19-23:19 22.96 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33553348 <- My latest post
 2018/07/30-23:05 21.76 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33611072
 2018/07/31-23:04 21.70 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33615958
 2018/08/02-20:54 21.66 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33625423
 2018/08/08-23:49 18.84 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33658782
 2018/08/09-03:20 17.89 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33659541
 2018/08/09-20:57 17.39 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33663056
 2018/08/10-21:55 17.35 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33668882
 2018/08/17-19:03 16.32 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33705550
 2018/08/31-19:41 16.16 http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm33780737 <- This movie
ThunderAxe31: Judging.
ThunderAxe31: A movie needs to beat the last level in order to be considered as beating the game, which doesn't happen here.
Another problem is given by the fact that the fastest-completion branch has been superseded by the full-completion (see this judgement), so even a movie that starts from level 20 would be rejected, unless it introduces tricks that can't be used in a full-completion run.
Rejecting for not beating the game and for unacceptable goal.

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Posted: 10/7/2018 6:01 AM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6122: poco_cpp's NES Dr. Mario in 00:16.16
Posted: 10/7/2018 7:14 AM
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ViGadeomes
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Joined: 10/16/2017
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What an improvement ! yes vote.
Posted: 10/7/2018 7:33 AM
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poco_cpp
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Joined: 6/26/2017
Posts: 30
Location: Japan
ViGadeomes wrote:
What an improvement ! yes vote.
Thank you yes vote! Technical innovation is to remove all viruses when "Laterally remove glitch". Other updates are the below. · Choice of layoput · Pill sequence procedure optimize(This update was the most)
Posted: 10/7/2018 11:36 AM
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Challenger
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Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1065
Sega TASer of 2017 TASer of 2017 NES TAS of 2017
After a lot of frame wars, the final product appears. This is still an big improvement for a TAS with fewer duration. Yes vote.
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Posted: 10/7/2018 1:32 PM
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GJTASer2018
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Posts: 309
Location: Stafford, NY
Adding a Yes vote as well as a link to Google Translate's English rendering of the remove glitch details page.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Posted: 10/7/2018 1:58 PM
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Spikestuff
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Flash TASer of 2022 PSX TASer of 2016
Deliberately using the QuickNES core cause it's "faster" than accurate (NESHawk)? So the purpose of using a core that is worse (which seriously needs the bucket kicked off the multicore by now) was just cause it loaded up a frame (well two, since restart) faster. Well you want to know the good news, those crying out for "accuracy dammit!"? The movie syncs with the more accurate core. I'd argue for the sake of emulation to use the more accurate core at all times. This is one of those times. Overall this is still a Yes in my books, short sweet. Wished I had a translation on that YouTube video... and that I won't have to rely on Google Translate. And actually hoped you used the better core instead of using something worse for gain.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Posted: 10/7/2018 6:20 PM
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SmashManiac
Player (13)
Joined: 6/17/2006
Posts: 510
I had an issue with the previous submission because it selected Level 20 MED instead of Level 20 HI. I felt (and still feel) that it is an arbitrary goal considering: - It's not the hardest difficulty setting. - The congratulations screen does not reflect a proper ending, unlike Level 20 HI where the viruses are being removed from Earth by a UFO. When judging it, ThunderAxe31 concluded after verification that using MED instead of HI was not relevant in that specific case, and that the congratulations screen could be viewed as an ending, just not the best one. While I disagree with the ending interpretation, this is a valid point. Now this time, we have a submission that only beats Level 15 MED, an even easier difficulty setting because there's less viruses and more empty room to work with. Somehow, our arguments have been twisted to "any congratulations cutscene that plays after beating a level counts as beating the game". Here's an important fact about Dr. Mario: after level 15, the game automatically progresses to further levels after the congratulations cutscene, which have more viruses to clear and that spawn closer to the top edge of the level. This is different from the level 20 case, which also progresses up to level 24, but since levels 20 to 24 have the same difficulty, that progression is irrelevant. And for those that are still unconvinced, let's consider Tetris 2 SNES, another Nintendo game with similar gameplay made around the same era. It too has congratulations cutscenes after beating levels periodically, but only level 80 in Normal mode and level 100 in Puzzle mode would say "The End" at the end of said cutscene. (Note that I'm not sure whether not selecting HI speed in Normal mode for that game still triggers this message or not.) So I'm sorry, but as cool as the strat used is, I simply cannot accept this submission as completing the game, and I have to vote No for entertainment value because it is such a disappointment to see. It's a cool individual level completion, but nothing more.
The BIG List of Video Game Randomizers
Posted: 10/8/2018 12:23 AM
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poco_cpp
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Joined: 6/26/2017
Posts: 30
Location: Japan
Spikestuff wrote:
Deliberately using the QuickNES core cause it's "faster" than accurate (NESHawk)? So the purpose of using a core that is worse (which seriously needs the bucket kicked off the multicore by now) was just cause it loaded up a frame (well two, since restart) faster. Well you want to know the good news, those crying out for "accuracy dammit!"? The movie syncs with the more accurate core. I'd argue for the sake of emulation to use the more accurate core at all times. This is one of those times. Overall this is still a Yes in my books, short sweet. Wished I had a translation on that YouTube video... and that I won't have to rely on Google Translate. And actually hoped you used the better core instead of using something worse for gain.
I knew the reason for the difference between QuickNES and NESHawk for the first time. I was creating it with default settings without being conscious of core. In the update battle there was a person who created with FCEUX, and I learned that Bizhawk is faster than that record. So I compared the FCEUX, BizHawk (QuickNes), BizHawk (NESHawk), and adopted the fastest one. It was QuickNes by default, so I thought it was an accurate core.
Posted: 10/8/2018 12:30 AM
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jlun2
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Joined: 9/17/2009
Posts: 4986
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GBA TASer of 2010
That was quite amazing. Great work!
LLCoolDave wrote:
This seems to be competing for the "Worst looking TAS of 2011" Award.
Posted: 10/8/2018 12:56 AM
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poco_cpp
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Player (188)
Joined: 6/26/2017
Posts: 30
Location: Japan
SmashManiac wrote:
I had an issue with the previous submission because it selected Level 20 MED instead of Level 20 HI. I felt (and still feel) that it is an arbitrary goal considering: - It's not the hardest difficulty setting. - The congratulations screen does not reflect a proper ending, unlike Level 20 HI where the viruses are being removed from Earth by a UFO. When judging it, ThunderAxe31 concluded after verification that using MED instead of HI was not relevant in that specific case, and that the congratulations screen could be viewed as an ending, just not the best one. While I disagree with the ending interpretation, this is a valid point. Now this time, we have a submission that only beats Level 15 MED, an even easier difficulty setting because there's less viruses and more empty room to work with. Somehow, our arguments have been twisted to "any congratulations cutscene that plays after beating a level counts as beating the game". Here's an important fact about Dr. Mario: after level 15, the game automatically progresses to further levels after the congratulations cutscene, which have more viruses to clear and that spawn closer to the top edge of the level. This is different from the level 20 case, which also progresses up to level 24, but since levels 20 to 24 have the same difficulty, that progression is irrelevant. And for those that are still unconvinced, let's consider Tetris 2 SNES, another Nintendo game with similar gameplay made around the same era. It too has congratulations cutscenes after beating levels periodically, but only level 80 in Normal mode and level 100 in Puzzle mode would say "The End" at the end of said cutscene. (Note that I'm not sure whether not selecting HI speed in Normal mode for that game still triggers this message or not.) So I'm sorry, but as cool as the strat used is, I simply cannot accept this submission as completing the game, and I have to vote No for entertainment value because it is such a disappointment to see. It's a cool individual level completion, but nothing more.
I can understand as well. I think this is a very difficult problem. I think that there is no problem if the UFO ED after the LV 20 HI is cleared is a condition. (However, it is late) However, if LV 20 is cleared, problems will come up. (Including LV 20 MED) If you just clear LV20, 2 PLAYER GAME mode is faster.(Of course there is no ED) So, I did not want to have complicated conditions, I simply decided it as "see ending". If this aim is not accepted, I would like to post a record of LV 20 HI.
Posted: 10/8/2018 5:00 AM
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Shima33
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I had to watch it at half-speed just to fully digest what was going on. My god, that was incredible. It's a yes from me.
Posted: 10/8/2018 5:05 AM
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Fortranm
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poco_cpp wrote:
If you just clear LV20, 2 PLAYER GAME mode is faster.(Of course there is no ED)
Does the game still go up to Lv.24 under 2 players mode then? Maybe beating Lv.24 would be a better goal in that case.
Posted: 10/8/2018 5:30 AM
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poco_cpp
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Fortranm wrote:
poco_cpp wrote:
If you just clear LV20, 2 PLAYER GAME mode is faster.(Of course there is no ED)
Does the game still go up to Lv.24 under 2 players mode then? Maybe beating Lv.24 would be a better goal in that case.
I do not know the TAS movie of LV 24. LV 24 does not exist on the initial selection screen. It is necessary to clear LV 20 → LV 21 → LV 22 → LV 23 → LV 24. From LV 24 onwards, it loops forever from LV 24 to LV 24. (There is no ending.) Even if "2 players mode" is cleared, the level does not rise, so LV 24 can not challenge.
Posted: 10/8/2018 6:22 AM
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thommy3
Joined: 12/10/2006
Posts: 118
How many frames is 20 HI slower than 15 MED? It's unlclear to me from the submission text.
Posted: 10/8/2018 6:32 AM
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poco_cpp
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Posts: 30
Location: Japan
thommy3 wrote:
How many frames is 20 HI slower than 15 MED? It's unlclear to me from the submission text.
It is as follows. LV15 MED 971 frame LV20 MED 1043 frame LV20 HI 1045 frame As pointed out by Spikestuff, these are records of the QuickNES core. Using NESHawk core should all be delayed by 2 frames. LV15 MED 973 frame LV20 MED 1045 frame LV20 HI 1047 frame
Posted: 10/8/2018 7:19 AM
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ThunderAxe31
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Hi, poco_cpp. I have followed your YouTube channel during the last months (even though I don't understand Japanese language), and I've really appreciated your hard work with Dr. Mario. Great job and Yes vote! However, this submission is not acceptable, because it's only beating Level 15. In order to be acceptable, a movie must beat the highest Level. A TAS of Lv00~20 is also acceptable, and is preferred. By the way, I didn't know that the game has more Levels beyond 20. Are these harder? From what I can see, Level 20 and Level 21 are the same, because they both have 84 viruses. Is there any difference?
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
Posted: 10/8/2018 8:29 AM
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poco_cpp
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ThunderAxe31 wrote:
Hi, poco_cpp. I have followed your YouTube channel during the last months (even though I don't understand Japanese language), and I've really appreciated your hard work with Dr. Mario. Great job and Yes vote! However, this submission is not acceptable, because it's only beating Level 15. In order to be acceptable, a movie must beat the highest Level. A TAS of Lv00~20 is also acceptable, and is preferred. By the way, I didn't know that the game has more Levels beyond 20. Are these harder? From what I can see, Level 20 and Level 21 are the same, because they both have 84 viruses. Is there any difference?
Hi Thunder Axe 31.Thank you for following me. > A TAS of Lv 00 ~ 20 is also acceptable, and is preferred. Really? A TAS of LV00～20 is the culmination of my Dr. mario. So I am happy if it is accept. I would like to post it. Levels are up to 24, but levels 20 to 24 have a virus count of 84. There is no difference. Next to LV 24 becomes LV 24, and there is no ending, so I feel that I do not know the end of the place.
Posted: 10/8/2018 8:35 AM
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ThunderAxe31
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Arcade TAS of 2023 Homebrew TAS of 2023 PSX TASer of 2022 Gameboy TASer of 2017
poco_cpp wrote:
> A TAS of Lv 00 ~ 20 is also acceptable, and is preferred. Really? A TAS of LV00～20 is the culmination of my Dr. mario. So I am happy if it is accept. I would like to post it.
Yes, it is acceptable, I'm sure of it. I will judge it personally. So please, submit the movie.
poco_cpp wrote:
Levels are up to 24, but levels 20 to 24 have a virus count of 84. There is no difference. Next to LV 24 becomes LV 24, and there is no ending, so I feel that I do not know the end of the place.
Then, there is no need to play beyond. A TAS of LV00～20 is already doing everything.
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
Posted: 10/8/2018 5:20 PM
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SmashManiac
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Joined: 6/17/2006
Posts: 510
Fortranm wrote:
Does the game still go up to Lv.24 under 2 players mode then? Maybe beating Lv.24 would be a better goal in that case.
2-player mode is a best of 3 out of 5 versus match. Difficulty is selected per player and never changes throughout the match, and the maximum level selection in that mode is 20.
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Posted: 10/14/2018 1:15 AM
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CtrlAltDestroy
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Posts: 786
If this site is going to keep a 1-level record, I'd much rather prefer it to be L20-HI, to obsolete the current movie. Then again, perhaps the community will vote to replace the 1-level record with the full run. Either way, while this is a cool run, I'm going to vote no.
Posted: 10/14/2018 6:20 PM
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link_7777
Experienced player (878)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I've changed my mind on this over time. If you pick this game up and plan a 1-stage goal I think the most obvious goal would be lvl 20 HI, but now I think that instinct is incorrect. The way the levels and cutscenes are set up they sort of feel progressive, but since the stages keep going after the last one I think that means you could consider any one of them an "ending" of sorts. I think if you just have the 1-stage movie by itself and you're arguing categories I think there are a lot of valid arguments, but I think the 0-20 movie makes things a little easier. The 0-20 is excellent and shows the full game completion. I'd argue that if you're going to publish a 1-stage movie beside the 0-20 movie it should be the shortest one, the fastest way to get to any "ending" Definitely use the NESHawk version not the QuickNES one though.
Posted: 11/10/2018 7:44 PM
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TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... want more!