(Link to video)
Also known as "Cat Mario", Syobon Action is an extremely difficult mario-clone platformer that usually takes many tries to complete. In this run, we try to beat the secret "world 0", which adds crazy effects to the normal world 1 stages.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Hourglass r81
  • Trying to beat the game as quickly as possible (while trying to be as entertaining as possible)
  • No swords (which allows player to reach credits sometimes)
  • Forbid “x2 speed” (spacebar)
  • Do not use select-state key (number keys 1-4)
  • Reaches the credits and get warped to the title screen

Comments

TAS environment system info:
  • OS name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • OS version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 build 2600
  • BIOS version: MATBIO - 6040000
  • System locale: ja
  • System language: ja
If you want to watch the run in Hourglass, please set FPS to 60, System Time to 6000 (which is default for hourglass), App Locale to Force Japanese locale.
I have the System Time set to 6000, because I think with the default settings I could be more concerned with the run itself, not finding the optimal levels. The route I used here was the most optimized way, including the deaths.

Glitches/Tricks

Hitbox glitch

If an enemy that is 1-2 block(s) high is sandwiched between blocks above and below it, the hitbox will disappear. I abused this glitch in stage 0-3 after spawning at the first checkpoint.

Player block collision

If you are lucky and have maximum speed, you can skip the gap of 2 blocks without jumping. It is also possible to land on around 6 pixels before the block after jumping.

Stage by stage comments

0-1

First stage of world 0. It is impossible to complete this stage in this state because after you hit the flagpole and start walking, you fall down and die, but by changing the direction of the enemy at the end by hitting the "?" block with P-Switch inside, it is possible to bump into the enemy and avoid falling down. This saves a death.

0-2

I intentionally killed the player twice in the beginning of the level:
  • The first death was forced by the enemy being inside the player, so I had killed the player in the first frame by pressing "O", which was 11 frames faster then waiting until the enemy kills the plyer.
  • The second death was forced by the block blocking the pipe. Again, by pressing "O" I had killed the player which was 76 frames faster than normally falling to the void.
Shortly before the checkpoint, I bumped into the enemy that teleported to the left to add some entertaiment to my movie, however, this sadly lost about 3 frames.

0-3

Again, I intentionally killed the player after reaching the checkpoint because otherwise completing this stage was not possible due to poisonous mushrooms appearing under the flagpole.

0-4

Final stage of world 0. I bumped into the enemy at the end of the stage to make it a bit interesting at the end.

Other comments

Possible improvements

I could probably save more time on staircase of 0-2 by finding a way to decelerate faster.

Other stuff

This is the first TAS I'm publishing, so I'd appreciate it if you could take it with a grain of salt.
Movie playback directly filmed from iPhone:
You can play world 0 by pressing 0 in the title screen.
Huge thanks to Randomno with helping me out for encoding AVI!

feos: Claiming for judging.
feos: Changed the branch to match RTA category naming.
feos: There was an argument that random mode is a cheat code, and it's debatable when you can manipulate the sword to spawn right away to end the game. But if you choose to forgo sword usage, the movie becomes warpless essentially, and manipulating quicker layout while also running through them is a perfectly legitimate task, since it's a separate level set.
I completed this move in real-time with and without a sword, and it's not true that the layouts are completely random and barely beatable. Level length seems fixed, as well as a most of the traps (with slight variations). The sword is really hard to use, because you get moved forward once you grab it, and most of the floor is just a bunch of gaps, so you die, or you get scrolled of-screen and also die.
Accepting, even though I'm not sure if we should put the sword into branch labels, or use warps/warpless in branch and tags.
I wanted to revisit #3288: jlun2's Windows Syobon Action "x2 Speed" in 00:56.87 and #3525: jlun2's Windows Syobon Action "Random Mode" in 00:08.28 but I was unable to sync them on WinXP or to even run in Hourglass on Win7.

despoa: Processing...

TASVideoAgent
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Post subject: I can see all those hours of manipulating luck have really paid off! Oh wait...
Αsumeh
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I thought I remembered it being possible to manipulate luck to have favorable object spawns... Do they not work here (or, if they do, is it slower to manipulate luck by waiting)? I'm voting Meh on entertainment because I feel like it could be better (maybe without deaths as well).
I'm Asumeh, semi-expert SMB1 TASer. :) Check out some of the TASes I don't submit/upload to TASVideos on my YouTube channel, if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDD727I6LYNJTPEKCzauCw In progress: - Record my older TASes (excluding any obsolete TASes) and upload to YouTube; other than that, nothing at the moment.
Dimon12321
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This world is a mess. Voted Meh.
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Player (56)
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Posts: 6
I don't know what is meant by favorable objects, but as far as I can tell, there are no objects that manipulate player velocity in the positive, faster way (except spring), warp the player faster forward or allow the level to be manipulated. Maybe I needed to figure that out more. I would try in my next TAS to make some luck manipulation and the gameplay itself more intressive.
Αsumeh
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Snoworange wrote:
I don't know what is meant by favorable objects
What I mean by "favorable objects" is that the enemies, blocks, etc. are not in the way very often (if not at all); a common method of manipulating such as far as I know is simply waiting before dying or moving. Try to experiment with the different patterns and see which is faster.
I'm Asumeh, semi-expert SMB1 TASer. :) Check out some of the TASes I don't submit/upload to TASVideos on my YouTube channel, if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDD727I6LYNJTPEKCzauCw In progress: - Record my older TASes (excluding any obsolete TASes) and upload to YouTube; other than that, nothing at the moment.
Darkman425
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Another method of potentially adjusting the RNG for some games is simply changing the system clock. It might be worth checking out if that would affect anything for this game since Hourglass has that functionality.
Switch friend code: SW-2632-3851-3712
CoolHandMike
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What a bizarre trolly game. I enjoyed it I guess? Meh ...but knowing this was done in Hourglass made me slightly more entertained for some reason. Why did you not use the 2x speed (spacebar) option though?
discord: CoolHandMike#0352
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Αsumeh wrote:
Try to experiment with the different patterns and see which is faster.
This game has fixed enemy and world generation patterns (for world 0) that depends on the initialized system time. As far as I tested, waiting in the title screen, before death or moving doesn't affect the enemy and level generation patterns at all.
Player (56)
Joined: 8/23/2023
Posts: 6
CoolHandMike wrote:
Why did you not use the 2x speed (spacebar) option though?
The only reason I haven't used it is because it just speeds up the game, which adds nothing, and because I can make less precise inputs (I think).
Player (56)
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This was probably not the best choice for the submission I made for the first time...
Αsumeh
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CoolHandMike wrote:
Why did you not use the 2x speed (spacebar) option?
It was considered a cheat code more than ten years ago. I think it's fair anyway to accept as is.
I'm Asumeh, semi-expert SMB1 TASer. :) Check out some of the TASes I don't submit/upload to TASVideos on my YouTube channel, if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDD727I6LYNJTPEKCzauCw In progress: - Record my older TASes (excluding any obsolete TASes) and upload to YouTube; other than that, nothing at the moment.
CoolHandMike
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Αsumeh wrote:
CoolHandMike wrote:
Why did you not use the 2x speed (spacebar) option?
It was considered a cheat code more than ten years ago. I think it's fair anyway to accept as is.
That judgement looks really arbitrary, if anything such simple usage would have been intended part of gameplay since it is not hidden in any way and is by default mapped to spacebar, a very standard button with no special configuration needed to use it. Also, an already trolly and spastic game being played at 2x is more suited for tases imo. For this game why not have two branches?
discord: CoolHandMike#0352
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I can't get the game to run on my new winxp vm. Installing vc2005 redist made it start but it shows a black window. directx9 didn't help. According to the log it's dying at GetGlyphOutline function failed.
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.
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feos wrote:
I can't get the game to run on my new winxp vm. Installing vc2005 redist made it start but it shows a black window. directx9 didn't help. According to the log it's dying at GetGlyphOutline function failed.
Weird... I didn't have to install anything to run this game. Randomno actually managed to run this game in his vm without any setup (I think). What should I do now?
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I did figure it out eventually. It requires Japanese language to be installed on the OS.
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.
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. ---- [5573] Windows Syobon Action "Random Mode, no sword" by Snoworange in 02:09.75