Submission Text Full Submission Page
Uses FCEU. Uses no warps or passwords. Doesn't abuse programming errors. Takes no damage; doesn't use death as a shortcut. Aims for fastest time. Played at hardest level.
The NES version of the popular book series, but with Waldo's position randomly generated to increase replay value. Most reviews are critical of this game, but it's actually a lot harder than you might think (especially The Subway). The concept of an infinitely replayable Where's Waldo book was a good one, though it would benefit from using more colours, or adding movement to some of the tilemaps. Level music also would have been a nice touch.
The auto-calculated length for this submission lists as 6 seconds faster than any previously accepted game completion run, which ought to be worth something.
Waldo's position is random, but since most levels are beaten in roughly a second, using up a second to produce a different position wouldn't make much sense.
The Subway is a very challenging level and, although the route doesn't seem very direct, I tried almost every reasonable way of changing the tracks (there are hundreds of ways to rearrange the maze) and this proved the shortest. Because the maze can be generated in a nearly infinite number of ways, this is the only stage that may be improvable by more than a few milliseconds. Replaying the previous level a number of different ways didn't produce a different maze, so a completely new time attack may be necessary to produce a different maze, but finding the optimal route would, again, be very time consuming, and there's no guarantee that it would be any faster.
This movie isn't very long, but what there is of it was created with emulation slowed to "frame by frame".

Phil: Nothing impressive in that video. Btw, I think I will go to bed.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #421: hopper's NES Where's Waldo? in 02:28.93
Former player
Joined: 9/26/2004
Posts: 217
If I may quote:
GUIDELINES wrote:
Select your game well. Not all games have potential for entertaining movies. Select the one that give you the best chance to do something absolutely stunning... The better you follow these guidelines, the better the chance that people will enjoy your movie.
Sorry - it looks played to perfection, but... Perhaps if the game were hacked to "Where's Porno" or "Where's the millionaire Nintendo just made for watching this movie" it might work...well, perhaps not. I honestly think you did a good job with it, but Where's Waldo can't possibly make an entertaining movie - not your fault.
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
It's true that making an interesting movie out of Where's Waldo isn't easy. As I mention in my submission, most reviewers aren't kind to this game, and I think most people automatically rejected the idea of ever playing it. I do find, though, that finding Waldo isn't as easy one might think, and The Subway is quite difficult until you learn that you can avoid Father Time by staying on the outside of the maze. What makes this movie interesting to me is that it is beaten very quickly despite being a reasonably difficult game. SNES Vegas Stakes was accepted, even though it's only two rounds of roulette and two rounds of craps. That doesn't sound like it would be very entertaining, but it's interesting to watch simply because the game is beaten so *@$#ing quickly. I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I do urge everyone to actually play the game before deciding whether or not the movie qualifies as being "well selected" or entertaining.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
hopper wrote:
I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I do urge everyone to actually play the game before deciding whether or not the movie qualifies as being "well selected" or entertaining.
From "Generic Tips": Remember that your movie will be judged on how entertaining it is to watch, not on how entertaining/hard it was to play Anyone who has made a movie for this site knows how hard it is to play these games optimally, but "hard to play" doesn't necessarily mean "fun to watch." This game is painful to watch, as most of the movie is Waldo walking around in an irritatingly slow manner on a meandering path. I know you're new here, and this is your first submission, so please don't take this personally. I'm judging the game, not you. Please, try again, just use a different game.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Former player
Joined: 9/26/2004
Posts: 217
hopper wrote:
I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I do urge everyone to actually play the game before deciding whether or not the movie qualifies as being "well selected" or entertaining.
Try to look at it as if nobody had ever played the game, would they find the video entertaining. For example, even if you're only vaguely familiar with SMB3, Gradius, or Rygar, the runs are fantastic to watch because they pull off some insane manuevers.
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
I was bored to death when watching this movie. Granted, I've never played Where's Waldo, but this isn't good material for a speedrun. It's just too slow, and there isn't much action going on. Sorry, but 'no'. This is entirely the games fault.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
This is perhaps one of the worst games there excisted. But sice Dark castle for genesis got accepted I will surley vote YES for this UGLY and BORING game. I have played this game so I know how hard and annoying it is. I actually never thought I would see the ending of this game. Haha. Just do me one small favor. NEVER EVER PICK ONE GAME LIKE THIS AGAIN TO MAKE A RUN OF!
Former player
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 706
Anyone want to see me speedrun tic-tac-toe? :)
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
NO, NO and NO. Unless it's played with paper and pen against a serious pro.
Former player
Joined: 3/30/2004
Posts: 1354
Location: Heather's imagination
Tic-Tac-Toe has a 100% effective not-losing strategy, though.
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster. I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Yeah? I haven't played Tic-tac-toe that much so I woulden't know. Care to explain it more in detail? Perhaps you should post that info in another thread since this seems to be off topic.
Editor, Reviewer, Experienced player (980)
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 3109
Location: Sweden
Only a tactic of never-losing though, there is no always-win strategy. If both players know it the game will be all draws... EDIT: Nevermind, I saw that Boco already posted a new thread.
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
The tic-tac-toe discussion aside (yes, every game is a draw), thank you, feitclub, for pointing out that this isn't personal and encouraging me to attempt another game. I have actually been working on a far more ambitious project for a few months, but I don't expect to be finished for several more months. It will be far more interesting than Where's Waldo, have no fear. I chose Where's Waldo after watching the incredibly brief SNES Vegas Stakes run and while looking at the times on the Goonies (2:35) and Atlantis No Nazo (2:36) run and asking myself the question, what game would produce the shortest possible run of any NES game ever made? Being the shortest game, it's the project that I happened to finish first. It's not a fabulous view, but neither is watching two rounds of roulette and two rounds of craps. I was hoping that being a 2:29 total game run would make subject matter like Where's Waldo noteworthy, but I accept the decision of the public. All in all, I still don't think it's a bad video, and the decision of whether or not a record run of which game is worth accepting and which is not is highly personal and somewhat arbitrary. It doesn't suck, but I admit that it's certainly not like the SMB3 or Gradius run. (No disrespect to the Gradius run, but I hate that video. A friend and I downloaded it but neither of us could stand to watch more than a few minutes. The hyper-fast circling through bad guys gets really old, really fast.) Thank you, everyone.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Post subject: Re: #421: hopper's NES Where's Waldo in 02:29
Former player
Joined: 3/19/2004
Posts: 710
Location: USA
hopper wrote:
The auto-calculated length for this submission lists as 6 seconds faster than any previously accepted game completion run
What do you mean by this?
Former player
Joined: 5/22/2004
Posts: 462
It means that if published, this movie would be the shortest one of the site. However, it appears that hopper overlooked the Umihara Kawase movie....
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Woops, so I did. Dang, that's fast! Okay, how about fastest NES video?
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Joined: 8/31/2004
Posts: 298
Location: Falun, Sweden
hopper wrote:
The auto-calculated length for this submission lists as 6 seconds faster than any previously accepted game completion run
In that case, Mart's Ring King should also be accepted since it would be that fastest movie on the Site ;)
Bein' away for like five years, and not a single new post in the ZSNES forum... :'-(
Active player (494)
Joined: 11/14/2004
Posts: 169
Location: Mirabel, Québec, Canada
What about Excitebike in 00:56? (but then it's only one track, not the entire game) I'm working on another that might end up just under 2 minutes (Quarth, 2 player tag mode, level 9, actually my second run), but I'm also thinking I should work on a bigger (or longer) game next ...
Former player
Joined: 9/26/2004
Posts: 217
mazzic wrote:
In that case, Mart's Ring King should also be accepted since it would be that fastest movie on the Site ;)
And remember, that's many many seconds longer than it could be to try to keep it interesting. He could have gotten 3 ring outs in a row and beaten the game in probably under a minute.