Desert Speedtrap Starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote is a platformer game released for the Master System in 1993. This TAS finishes the game as fast as possible without restrictions. The NTSC setting was used, as this game had an official NTSC release (Brazil).
Controls
Use 1 to jump and 2 to peck things. Road runner will stop when he comes across seed piles, which can be quite frustrating in casual play. Luckily you can avoid him stopping by just holding down the 2 button the whole time.
Level Goals
The goal of each level is to get to the exit sign. Wile E. Coyote will be chasing you with a contraption and you can not damage him. When you hit the exit sign he will crash his contraption and the level will finish. There seems to be a frame rule like system with him crashing. This will depend on his exact cycle through the level but is usually roughly 1-2 seconds.
Pickup Items
Enemies can drop: Extra time, speed up, invincibility, points multiplier. Out of these it seems that speed up would be useful, but it only increases acceleration, not top speed. Since you remain at top speed almost all the time, the speed up pickup is not worth it at any point in the run. It could be worth it in theory if you had a level with lots of turning around.
Movement
You cannot speed up past a velocity of “34” in the air, but you can get up to “56” on the ground. If you jump when you’re going at top speed (56), then you keep 56 through the jump unless you slow down. Slopes don’t seem to impact on speed too much apart from making your acceleration up to top speed slightly slower. Acceleration up to 34 is quicker when jumping, but it’s usually not worth starting your movement with a jump because you can’t exceed a speed of 34 until you hit the ground again. When chaining multiple jumps together at speeds under 56, you can usually increment your speed up by 7 every time you land. Then every 6 or so frames you’ll increment it by another 7. When chaining jumps it’s often best to squeeze out one or two speed increments where possible.
RAM Addresses
| Description | Address |
|---|
| X Position | 0x0B1C & 0x0B1B |
| X Speed | 0x0B18 |
| Y Position | 0x0B1E & 0x0B1D |
| Y Speed | 0x0B17 |
Memory: This TAS seems really clean. I got a satisfying answer for the one thing I had questions about as well. Accepting.
Meep Meep.
Memory: Updating file with 6 frame improvement by aiqiyou. Talked to 8bitbeast and they're cool with it.
