Rambo First Blood Part II

The game takes place in approximately 1 million sq feet of jungle featuring the P.O.W. camp, a secret Template and many different types of terrain.
Colonel Trautman, your C.O., has given you a very precise orders....Find the P.O.W. camp, photograph the evidence using the automatic cameras which is part of your standard equipment and then make your way north to the extraction point where a helicopter awaits you. You will then be flown back to the safety of your base in Thailand. Your orders are specific:
"Do not engage the enemy." "Do not attempt to rescue."
However when you arrive at the P.O.W. camp and see your former comrade Banks tied to a Bamboo Cross in the compound, you know that another scenario will unfold, one in which you are the Hero! You must decide...Ignoring your C.O. and using the knife, you cut your buddy free - now there is no turning back as you have alerted the camp guards. Taking Banks with you, you battle your way north towards the helicopter in an attempt to get transport to free all the P.O.W.s.
You are JOHN J. RAMBO, a highly trained jungle fighter with instructions to gain entry to a P.O.W. camp and photograph evidence of American prisoners - but having found them will your conscience let you walk away?

Manual

Here is a link to support my use of a disk image. This was actually the same version that I had in my youth. https://ia803200.us.archive.org/11/items/Rambo_First_Blood_Part_II_1985_Ocean/Rambo_First_Blood_Part_II_1985_Ocean.pdf

Tools Used

  • Bizhawk 2.8
  • Ram Watch

Effort in TASing

This is one of my more exciting submissions, as I refused to submit this game over the past 22 months. I started back in March 2021, and found myself in a delima. Should I submit a movie that almost resembles a human run, or wait until I find something substantial? On the 6th of January, 2023...I found what I was looking for! The details below, describe the biggest items that I focused on...which includes a glitch that made all the difference. With all the techniques I discovered, I ended up beating the WR by about 7 seconds.

Routing

My first concern, was a choice in routing. I saw two speed-runs that were about 2 seconds apart. One entered the camp from the left side, and the other from the right. I ended up going to the right, because of a glitch (which is explained below) that made the left side completely obsolete. This choice of routing allowed me to pull off this glitch twice, before moving on to the second part of the mission.

The Glitch

I discovered, that the use of LEFT + RIGHT, causes Rambo to start cycling through different animations from enemies and objects. At first, I didn't see use for it, until it happened randomly (from changing inputs) at specific locations on the screen. At first, I didn't know what was causing it, but the result was something that I couldn't resist using. Basically, it was a "Zip"...where it could only be done when walking left and when the screen starts to scroll. At the first frame of screen movement, you can execute a LEFT + RIGHT and hold it until you travel a desired distance. Once I got this situated out, this made all the difference for finalizing my work and submitting. In this movie, it is executed 3 times.
  • Entering the compound from the right side, and zipping to the left side where the first prisoner is.
  • Zipping through the prisoner, that is tied up.
  • Zipping past the prisoner cage

P.O.W. Release

This was the biggest problem I faced, over the past 22 months. Basically, my run was slower than the WR...because the prisoners randomly exited the cage. This behavior couldn't be controlled directly, since it was determined at the start of the game. Because of the long walk to the right side of the screen, it was evident that this is not going to help in cutting time. When I discovered the "zip glitch", another idea came about...zip past the cage and push the screen to the left so that the walk is shortened. Well, this worked out amazingly and gave me the cuts that I was looking for over the human WR. Plus, I didn't have to worry about the predetermined RNG of their exit...since they would pop out faster as each prisoner dissappeared to the right.

Lag Reduction

I have come to love lag reduction. It is one of my favorite tasks in any game. Super Metroid was heavily laden with lag and gave me enough skill to carry on to other games. Most of my games don't have this level of lag intensity, but Rambo showed a fair amount of it. In fact, I made a final decision to run through the entire game one last time to remove 68 frames of unaddressed lag. As it stands, I don't see one frame of lag, until the helicopter fight scene...which seems to be unavoidable.

Human Comparison

This runner is extremely good and I doubt that this run will ever be beaten.

Special Thanks

  • DrD2k9 for the conversations that we continuously have...and his input on strategies that might work.
  • Aran;Jaeger and Worsel who provides feedback on what I've accomplished
  • Sniq who originally first got me interested in reducing lag, back in my early days of TASing Super Metroid.

arkiandruski: Claiming for judging.
nymx: Replaced movie file with a lag-less version (6 frames shorter)
arkiandruski: I'm having trouble finding the bios needed to check this movie, so I'm unclaiming.

feos: Claiming for judging.
feos: Looks great, accepting.

despoa: Processing...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7945: nymx's C64 Rambo: First Blood Part II in 05:24.35
nymx
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The helicopter fight was something that has bugged me for a while. I was able to eliminate all the lag, before this fight, but not able to figure out the reduction during the shootout. Today...I had a revelation, and it worked. All lag has been removed! This is the remaining 6 frames of lag that I was previously not able to eliminate. https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638092648063312354 Admin or Judge, can you please replace my submission movie file?
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
Post subject: End screen graphical glitch
Sand
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Do you know the cause of the graphical glitch on the victory screen, TO THE HOMEL■.? The RTA video has TO THE HOMELAND.. Is it a side effect of the zip?
nymx
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Joined: 11/14/2014
Posts: 927
Location: South Pole, True Land Down Under
Sand wrote:
Do you know the cause of the graphical glitch on the victory screen, TO THE HOMEL■.? The RTA video has TO THE HOMELAND.. Is it a side effect of the zip?
I wondered if that was it. I noticed before the use of it, certain things weren't happening. For instance, there is a helicopter blade flashing in the right bottom...after the first fight. Basically, because the zip shows Rambo changing through multiple graphics, I think the same could be true for the ending statement.
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
nymx
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Joined: 11/14/2014
Posts: 927
Location: South Pole, True Land Down Under
I am glad and irritated at the same time at a new finding. I was watching a run, posted by YouTuber "Lost 8-bit Caverns" and his newest Rambo Run. Well, I had an idea from it and I just tested it out. I can't believe this, but I found another way to use the "zip" that I discovered. I need to request a delay, while I fix my run to incorporate this new strategy. No need to delay. The fix was easier to implement than I hoped. It ended up cutting 42 seconds from my previous input file. File was replaced.
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
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. ---- [5146] C64 Rambo: First Blood Part II by nymx in 05:24.35