About the Game

Prehistorik Man (not to be confused with the game of the same name on the SNES, which is the sequel) was a platform game for the Game Boy, made by Titus Interactive. This game is actually a port of Prehistorik 2, which was made for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC. Even with the major cuts out from the original PC game, Prehistorik Man seems to still be a rather faithful port, and pulled off some very interesting technical feats for the Game Boy.

Game objectives

Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.6

Categories

  • Aims for fastest completion of the game
  • Uses warps
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Heavy lag reduction
  • Heavy lag reduction
  • Heavy lag reduction
  • Did I mention this game lags?

Stage by stage comments

LEVEL 1 THE MOUNTAIN

This level is rather simple, not too much to comment on. There is quite a bit of lag reduction work going on, which is mostly stay away from enemies. There is also a nice warp that sends me a bit further in the level. Note that to progress past the big traffic (?) sign, I must collect a key item in the level. For this level, it is a giant lighter.

WELL DONE NOW FACE THE GUARDIAN

The boss is also rather simple. You need to hit its arms until they are both raised up. Afterwards, there is a waiting period, which I use to do some high jumps to position myself better for the next stage. Some more hits and the boss is done.

LEVEL 2 THE CAVES

Another fairly simple level. There is another warp used that sends me quite a way through the level. Note for moving platforms, once they hit the edge of the screen, they will go back. This is abused to send a platform back to me when I needed it. For this level, the key item is a giant fork.

NEW DANGER APPROACHING FROM ABOVE

This boss is rather boring. Hit it enough times, then you proceed onto the next stages where you ride the flying dino in the sky. Hit some more times, hit the other flying dino, jump around each dinos backs for a while, and eventually the fight is over.

LEVEL 3 THE FOREST FRINGE

BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ I HATE BEES.
Afterwards, there is a nice section with a hang glider. This operates somewhat like the cape in Super Mario World; go down then up to gain air. For this level, the key item is a giant spoon.

NICE FLIGHT RIGHT INTO MORE TROUBLE

monke

LEVEL 4 THE RAIN FOREST

Apparently Prehistorik Man isn't the only man on this earth. This has another hang glider section, although not much to note after that. For this level, the key item is a giant knife.
Also, there is no boss for this level, it just jumps to the next level.

GOOD WORK NOW ENTER LEVEL 5 THE HOLLOW TREE

I go right to collect the hammer before proceeding onto the next level. This item seems to just let me throw infinite hammers at enemies. Along with activating platforms from a distance, which is rather good for this key item, which requires some hidden platforms activated to reach. The key item for this level is another giant lighter.

FINALLY GET READY TO FACE PURE EVIL

Pure evil = a tree with a brain? Nothing a ton of throwing hammers can’t fix!
Note on the emu version: this movie was originally made starting with 2.5.1, but a regression introduced in 2.4.1 ended up making me use 2.5.3 dev (where the regression had been fixed). The movie syncs fine on 2.6, so I'm just going to call it a 2.6 movie.

Samsara: Judging.
Samsara: Setting to Delayed while improvements are being implemented. File replaced with a 249 frame improvement, resuming judgement.
Samsara: Overall, the movie looks and feels optimized. Well done on that, and well done on the entertainment improvements, however the complete lack of feedback since then (and since submission in general) has shown me that it's not enough to save this from the Vault.
fsvgm777: Processing. EZGames69 is handling the encodes for this one.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7005: CasualPokePlayer & WarHippy's GB Prehistorik Man in 12:44.57
Alyosha
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Cool i was hoping a TAS of this game would get done. I started looking into it but it seemed too complicated, but looks like you did a good job in it. Yes vote.
Post subject: Re: #7005: CasualPokePlayer's GB Prehistorik Man in 12:48.73
Player (26)
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Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
TASVideoAgent wrote:
This game is actually a port of Prehistorik 2, which was made for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC. Even with the major cuts out from the original PC game, Prehistorik Man seems to still be a rather faithful port,
I'm curious what your source is on this. I've played a lot of Prehistorik 2 on the PC, and this GBA game has wildly different level layouts, bosses, items, and so forth. I fail to see how this can be considered a port instead of a sequel. Anyway, it's a good run and I love this series, so yes vote.
Post subject: Re: #7005: CasualPokePlayer's GB Prehistorik Man in 12:48.73
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Radiant wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
This game is actually a port of Prehistorik 2, which was made for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC. Even with the major cuts out from the original PC game, Prehistorik Man seems to still be a rather faithful port,
I'm curious what your source is on this. I've played a lot of Prehistorik 2 on the PC, and this GBA game has wildly different level layouts, bosses, items, and so forth. I fail to see how this can be considered a port instead of a sequel. Anyway, it's a good run and I love this series, so yes vote.
That's what Wikipedia said, and after watching some videos on Prehistorik 2 I agreed. And looking at the link you sent, I still mostly agree. Most of levels 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 seem to adapted over, mostly intact (with some things cut). Although level 4, and 7+ are no where present (cut out). Although I guess only the big monkey and tree actually made it over to the GB, with the 2 first bosses just being new ones (probably just due to the lack of levels lol). The club/hammer/throwing hammer/hang glider are all present, so items are somewhat intact too. Also note this is the GB game, the GBA game is a port of the SNES version (of which is the sequel).
Post subject: Re: #7005: CasualPokePlayer's GB Prehistorik Man in 12:48.73
Player (26)
Joined: 8/29/2011
Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
CasualPokePlayer wrote:
Most of levels 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 seem to adapted over, mostly intact (with some things cut).
I've checked, and you are indeed correct on this one. I suppose the most memorable parts of Prehistorik2 are the later levels (because they're way harder, and accordingly I've spent much more time on them). Like, I was checking your run for that @&#$*( ice level and turns out it's (thankfully) not in the GB version.
Experienced player (991)
Joined: 1/9/2011
Posts: 227
Here's an 89 frame improvement in the section with the BUZZ BUZZ that we talked about earlier. Hopefully it's not too much work to resync.
Emulator Coder, Experienced player, Judge (593)
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WarHippy wrote:
Here's an 89 frame improvement in the section with the BUZZ BUZZ that we talked about earlier. Hopefully it's not too much work to resync.
Ah, didn't expect that to actually work. Here is the movie resynced to the end: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/68872463278858967 Could a judge replace the movie file in the submission?
Experienced player (991)
Joined: 1/9/2011
Posts: 227
Thanks for co-authorship. I figure I better carry my weight, though, so here's an additional 147 frame improvement.
Samsara
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Are either of you working on further improvements?
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced player (991)
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Posts: 227
Samsara wrote:
Are either of you working on further improvements?
Mmmm, yes. It'll be a few days.
Samsara
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Cool, let me know when you have the final file.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced player (991)
Joined: 1/9/2011
Posts: 227
Here's an additional (final) 15 frame improvement and a bunch of entertainment thrown in. Link to video
Samsara
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To anyone that's seen the previous movie (especially the Meh voters, should they wish to reveal themselves), can you watch the new encode and provide some feedback on the entertainment level and whether or not it's improved? Also, more entertainment feedback in general would be lovely, thanks in advance, you're great.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Alyosha
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Joined: 11/30/2014
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Location: US
Link to video Here is a console verification of the most recent file.
Experienced player (991)
Joined: 1/9/2011
Posts: 227
In my biased opinion I think it's firmly 'above average'. But here's a 9 minute 12 second improvement along with significantly more entertainment.
Samsara
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WarHippy wrote:
In my biased opinion I think it's firmly 'above average'. But here's a 9 minute 12 second improvement along with significantly more entertainment.
Well, that's certainly convinced me!
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
EZGames69
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I’ll be encoding this one
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
EZGames69
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Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2702
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[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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. ---- [4392] GB Prehistorik Man by CasualPokePlayer & WarHippy in 12:44.57