Greetings!
The TAS plays on the USA version of the PSX game "The Flintstones - Bedrock Bowling".
Emulator used - Bizhawk 2.8.
Rerecord count: 8571.
Contrary to the game's name, this isn't just another bowling simulator. It plays more like a platformer game than anything.
This TAS aims to beat the game on Hard Mode with 100% completion rate (beating all 12 stages while collecting every pin, gem and bird).
The TAS completes the game in 39316 frames, which translates to 10:55.92. Movie ends on last input required to progress to "You win!" screen, to make it consistent with how RTA runners time this game.
To my knowledge, all characters in the game have identical stats. I used Fred as he's the default character and has the best voice lines.
The game doesn't have much tech going on. It's mostly about taking good racing lines and avoiding losing speed. For example, I try to gently tap the bowling pins from the side to avoiding losing speed. In some places it's just better to hit the pins head-on to maintain better racing line.
One notable tech used in this run is hitting the pins in such a way, that they collide with other pins or collect gems for me. You might notice this in some levels, where I seemingly "miss" some gems or pins, but they are collected by a pin I hit earlier.
In some levels, you might notice I intentionally slow down for a fraction of a second. This is necessary, because otherwise I would fly over the gems I need to collect.
In some levels, I intentionally hit the scenery to bounce my character into a favourable position. This allows me to save some time by not having to slow down as much.
In two levels, I focus on crossing the finish line first before collecting the last pins and gems. This is done to make the stage end quicker.
In one level, I intentionally get hit by a dinosaur to receive a speed boost.
The character's speed is inconsistent due to lag. There isn't any good way of manipulating lag, so I didn't bother with it.
My goal with this TAS was not to create a super-optimized movie. I didn't want to spend too much time on this game. With enough dedication, I'm sure a couple seconds could be saved throughout the whole game. This time save would mostly come from taking better racing lines (saving a couple frames on some turns), and finding ways to minimize air time in a couple spots where I have to release the acceleration button to collect a gem. I don't have plans of further optimizing this run, as I don't think it would improve the viewing experience in a noticable way. I wasn't planning on submitting this movie due to it being "low-effort", but members of tasvideos discord encouraged me to submit it anyway. So here it goes. I think it's entertaining enough, without it needing to be super optimized.
