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An action platformer for the Sega Genesis with inspirations from the movies of the 80's. The second stage is the big piece, the half of the run, and where time can be saved. The D3DF address is the character frame, which is often necessary, especially when the character is hidden. It's my first TAS.
arkiandruski: Claiming for judging.
Samsara: File replaced, and picking up the claim.
Samsara: Once again, I apologize for the delay in processing this submission, especially with the conclusion I've reached.
Comparing this run directly with [2844] Genesis Flashback: The Quest for Identity by Alyosha in 22:29.99, I'm noticing a lot of time loss in directly comparable sections. Immediately, the opening menus can be improved by about half a second, as every input can be entered a few frames earlier. Three minutes into the run, there should be about 6-7 seconds of time saved through new glitches and per-screen routing, but they have been completely wiped out by poorer execution on nearly every other screen. Even if the final time is faster, an improvement run can still be rejected if the overall quality does not match the published run, and it seems clear to me that this is the case here.
I think the main reason why this happened is the simple mistake of not comparing to the published run. The overall execution definitely looks solid on its own, but the published run exists and is a lot tighter. I highly recommend redoing the run from the beginning, directly comparing to Alyosha's run as you go along, in order to ensure that you are not losing time anywhere. As long as you keep the improvements from this run and don't lose time to the published run anywhere, it's a surefire acceptance.
I'd also recommend not using that ROM: It's a pirated dump (p1), which are often modified in ways we do not allow. This run does sync fine on a non-pirated alternate (a1) dump (which is why it wasn't rejected for version), though it does not sync on the perfect (!) dump due to a change in loading early on. The published run uses the perfect dump, and using that one would help for a more accurate comparison.
I promise that your next submission will be handled much sooner than this one!

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Posted: 1/21/2022 9:05 PM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7303: Brice's Genesis Flashback: The Quest for Identity in 21:54.06
Posted: 1/26/2022 10:47 PM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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Brice
Joined: 9/7/2018
Posts: 7
Location: France
Small update at the end : https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/637788332401007929
Posted: 2/6/2022 7:24 AM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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eien86
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Judge, Skilled player (1870)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 258
Location: Switzerland
NES TASer of 2023 PC TASer of 2023 NES TAS of 2023 PC TASer of 2021
I would love to see a temporary encode of this, it definitely facilitates the task of judging without getting the entire movie playin' setup.
Posted: 2/6/2022 9:29 AM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
Link to video
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Posted: 2/17/2022 8:16 PM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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Brice
Joined: 9/7/2018
Posts: 7
Location: France
I had done a third TAS in 21'52'', and started a new with 4s saved after the fourth stage. But in the next a strange thing occur, i lose some frames inside each screen (-8, +1, +10, +19, +1, +54, +203, +142, +275, +163 etc), thus finally i lose at least 15s with exactly the same actions... There is a similar issue in the first stage, fall on the third platform is faster than roll on the second, but it's impossible to preserve this advance. Maybe a compensation linked to the character precomputed animation, or a Genesis's hardware bottleneck simulated by the emulator, i don't know, in any case in this game start as a turtle can be faster. ^^
Posted: 2/21/2022 8:24 PM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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Brice
Joined: 9/7/2018
Posts: 7
Location: France
I don' know why the publication is so long, thus i have added my best time at this day : https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/637810715119236750
Posted: 5/6/2022 2:12 PM
(Edited: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM)
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Samsara
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Homebrew TAS of 2023 Exotic platforms TAS of 2020 Sega TAS of 2016
I apologize for the delay in processing this submission. I've noticed a lot of inconsistent optimization compared to [2844] Genesis Flashback: The Quest for Identity by Alyosha in 22:29.99, particularly in menuing and comparable movement. Some comparable sections are noticeably slower than the published run, others are a fair bit quicker. Is there any reason for this? Frame rules, movement optimization between screens, RNG manipulation, emulation accuracy improvements, anything like that? The menuing at the very least seems like an oversight, something that would have been caught by referencing the published run, though I lack the familiarity with the game to tell if the overall movement is also an oversight or intentional. There's definitely some very solid improvements in here with new glitches and strategies, but I worry that a good amount of time is being lost in these comparable sections. EDIT: Some of these are pretty significant losses, too. You're only 2 seconds ahead of the published run at the start of the second area. Keeping pace with the published run in comparable sections (i.e, not the strictly improved rooms) would have put you at least 5-6 seconds ahead. EDIT2: I've gone deeper into comparing the two runs and I don't think the optimization is up to snuff. Outside of rooms with new glitches/routing, time is constantly being lost.
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Posted: 5/8/2022 7:29 AM
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TASVideosGrue
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