This submission is for the NES pool game Side Pocket. You are tasked with getting enough points per table to advance to the next rank, with a trick shot blocking your path as well. This is one of the better pool games on the console (though being better than Break Time is a low bar to clear)

Side Pocket has you climb through the ranks of City, State, US, and World. To rank up, you need to clear a set number of points. 3100, 4100, 5100, 7100 respectively. Cumulative score does not count towards this, the points must be earned in a single rack.

Potting a ball is worth 100, and getting streaks of pots without missing grants bonuses. Potting in numerical sequence also grants bonuses as well, and there are star pockets that can grant even more bonuses so there are plenty of points to be had. Even though it's overkill, we never miss a shot* (technically. More on that later) and some frames are sacrificed during the bonus point tallying because it's faster to not miss and get the max bonus than it is to miss and get the not-max bonus. Numerical sequence bonus we avoid in racks 1 and 2.

If you fail to earn enough points but finish the stage without running out of lives, you will not rank up and will instead go to the next "stage" to try again.

Aiming is generally a time sink since the cursor is slow so we try to avoid having to aim when we can. Power on the shots matters greatly, with outcomes being dramatically changed just by changing a few frames of power. There is also a "framerule" of sorts. When you hit A to start power, a "hand" appears on the table moving the tip back and forth while it waits for you to set your power. The shot will not go off until the hand reaches the closest point to the ball, as long as it is not already at that point. Some shots look slow from a power perspective but we save substantial time optimizing for this framerule when we can. This is most apparent in the USA rack.

I used a lua script for some shots in this run created by Avodroc42 to test out multiple shots in a "shotgun" type spread. There was still a ton of manual trial and error to figure out which shots were good enough to move forward with. This wasn't meant to be a brute force (and I don't have the hardware for something that would think deeper) but it did uncover some good and fast shots.

First stage is a rack of 6 balls. We use English on the break to get the ball into a good position for minimal aiming. After the break we have a straight shot on the 1 ball. Then we kick the 4 in off the 2, then the 3 in off the 2, straight shot on the 2 kissing the 5 slightly, then straight in on the 5. This path gives us 0 numerical sequence points, which saves a couple seconds.

The bonus shots with the light blue felt are not necessary for the run and only really serve to waste time. So we skip 'em. City does not have a "class up trick shot" so off to state we go.

Here we have a 9 ball rack and some shenanigans. On the third shot of this rack, the 9 (or highest remaining ball if you pocket the 9 early) becomes a super ball, which make the speed and physics get turbocharged until enough time passes (which is a lot, actually) or you scratch.

We jump into the rack because it looks cool and sets us up with a good Super Ball shot that lets us pocket 6 balls in relatively rapid fashion, while also avoiding number sequence during the duration. Even though the 4 goes in, it went in after we scratched (which doesn't count as a missed shot since we already pocketed something during the super ball.) The 4 is respotted and we finish out the rack.

The rank up trick shot is very simple. Aim left. Shoot. GG

Rack 3 is another 6 ball rack but it handles slightly differently from the first one, in that the same shots won't work. It isn't the same rack, it just looks the same. We set ourselves up with an easy table. Carom the 5 in off the 1, then 1, 2, 3 in rapid succession, finished with the 4. Note, even though we don't need the numerical sequence bonus points, getting all those shots done that quickly is a net time save in the end.

The rank up trick shot is a little harder, and not inherently obvious. You need to hit the bottom of the 2 ball with Draw to make it work. It's a neat looking shot once you hit it.

Rack 4 is a staggered and weird looking 6 ball rack. The physics are a little wonky on the break, which we take advantage of by draining the 6 and 4 on the break. We need extra points here to reach 7100 which we obtain by a two ball sequence (500) and a star pocket bonus (1k)

The final trick shot has multiple solutions. Normally, you're supposed to hit the 1 to send the cue ball diagonally between the sticks, which ramp upward, and the cue rides the stick back downward into the 2. It looks great, but I dug into it and found a solution that let me end input 13 frames sooner, while also still being kind of a cool shot to witness.

Bravo! Shot!

slamo: Claiming for judging.

slamo: Replaced movie to resolve cycle count error.

This is quite a difficult game to optimize. With the amount of complexity involved with the break and any subsequent series of shots, it's entirely possible that there are more optimal solutions, but this effort looks reasonable enough. The handling of the point system also looks sensible. Accepting!

despoa: Processing...