I've made an "imperfect" run of Pitfall. The goal is to end the game by collecting all 32 treasures, allowing for deaths and point loss (<_<).
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/2154325866925250
Input file is 18m18s long, and 1:46 remaining on the clock. I intentionally aim for a nice-looking score at the end, though not the perfect 114000 score; if you think about it for a moment, you should know which score I aimed for. :)
Some observations (please see
http://pitfallharry.tripod.com/MapRoom/PitfallMap.html for a Pitfall map):
- Taking the tunnel from screen 38 to 26 in the map above and going right for the last treasure is faster than staying above ground. It is about 8 seconds faster. I assume this accounts for the difference between 1:34 (Randil's run) and the 1:42 mentioned in marzojr's post. Dying twice accounts for the 4-second difference between 1:42 and 1:46, since the clock is stopped during death.
- Even though, after getting the first treasure at screen 7, it takes fewer rooms to go left and take the tunnels at 1 and 251 instead of the tunnel at 12, for some reason it is slower. I've checked this. I have not tested the forward route from 1 to 239 or the backward route from 1/255 to 7 (though I believe this is slower) so who knows what will happen.
- Unfortunately, swinging vines, crocodiles, and shapeshifting holes seem to be all on a global timer (the game clock, I guess). This makes it very hard for small improvements to matter.
- I intentionally die twice. However, because the global timer is now shifted from Randil's run (with respect to input time), it introduces a huge variance in apparent time difference (anywhere from near-equal to almost 10 seconds faster) throughout the run. Near the end at screen 38, input times are nearly equal.
- Rolling logs do not run on a global timer (only a local one, when you enter the screen) so it is possible to change their position relative to, say, the swinging vine, if necessary.
- When bypassing a ladder, it is slightly faster to ladderboost by pressing down to mount the ladder, then dismounting at the top, instead of jumping over it. Mounting the ladder shifts x-position a bit.
- Vineboosting may be used in some cases. I have not totally figured it out. Sometimes the shift in x-position is to the left, and sometimes it is to the right.
- Address 0x61 is x-position. Important x-positions are 82 (when to ladderboost when going right to left), 108 (standing on right edge of hole without falling in), 44 (standing on left edge of hole without falling in), 62 (standing on left edge of left crocodile's head without falling in when its mouth is open), 51 (when to release vine to clear hole going right to left), and 99 (when to release vine to clear hole going left to right; may depend on even/odd frames).
