Objectives

  • Plays on hardest difficulty
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Uses warps (glitch warp in Act 1)
  • Genre: Platform
  • Bizhawk 2.9.1 (Gambatte core)

About the run

This run was started after some improvements became known over the past few months, most notably the fact that you could stand on the sides of the hot pot in Act 12 without taking damage, as I pointed out in December 2023.
The run is slower than the current published run by 00:03.50 seconds, losing 216 frames due to the added BIOS screen and slightly more transition lag but gaining 47 frames in gameplay. This run, like the previous run, is again slower than the run it obsoletes.
Even though I suggested in the previous run's submission text that optimizing for faster in-game time is an option (ignoring lag and additional time spent on the score tallying screen), I opted against it in this run, optimizing for fastest realtime instead.
The previous run which was created on Bizhawk 2.2 without BIOS, was resynced to Bizhawk 2.9.1 with BIOS (playing in GBC mode). That version can be downloaded here. Then, improvements have been added to that resynced run and a few stylistic choices changed. Acts 7, 8 and 10 are unchanged.
Monochrome palette was used because it is closest to the original Game Boy's color and I don't like most other palettes.

Improvements

Act 5

This map was a rollercoaster of time saves and losses.
I dodged a spider instead of taking damage which gained a 3 frames and 1 pixel. I then had to slow down because of water drops so I lost the 1 pixel and was still 3 frames ahead. The next hedgehog pattern turned out better so I was 5 frames and 1 pixel ahead. But then I had to slow down again because of spiders, only 2 frames ahead now. At the end, I managed to reduce lag so I ended up 5 frames ahead overall. 5 frames saved.

Act 6

1 lag frame was removed from the first room. In the second room, I actually managed to improve the ending, saving 27 frames there. 28 frames saved.

Act 8 and 9 title screens

Strangely, the previous run on Bizhawk 2.2 needed to input "Start, nothing, nothing, Start" for these title cards whereas any other level accepted "Start, nothing, Start". However, after resyncing the run to the newer Bizhawk 2.9.1, these two title cards now also accepted "Start, nothing, Start". This didn't save any time in practice though.

Act 9

Slightly changed the beginning in an attempt to remove the lag frame or otherwise optimize movement but it didn't lead to a time save.

Dragon

Slightly optimized movement after delivering the first hit, which saved one pixel but it didn't lead to a time save.

Act 12

23 frames were saved by abusing the fact we could touch the sides of the hot pot without taking damage. However, a star had to be collected which loses 10 frames on the score tallying screen. I tested a few alternative routes through the level as well as trying to dodge the star but it didn't lead to a better solution. 13 frames saved.

Gargamel

I found that you could save 1 frame by having the nut fall down at a more rightward x position, which allowed to hit Gargamel 1 frame sooner than previously. 1 frame saved.

Closing words

Thanks for watching.

MUGG: Please replace the submission with this file (27 frames improved).

DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.
DrD2k9: Updating movie file with above 27 frame improvement. Accepting as gameplay improvement over the current publication.

EZGames69: Processing...

DrD2k9: Updating movie file with one with the correct cycle count.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #9347: MUGG's GB The Smurfs in 08:40.33
Editor, Expert player (2328)
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I should probably have verified the time saves at some point... After directly comparing this bk2 to the "resynched without improvements bk2" it turns out: Act 5 actually saved 5 frames. Act 6-1 saved 1 frame instead of 3. Acts 8 and 9 accepted input 1 frame sooner each on the title card, but it didn't actually save 1 frame each... Everything else looks correct. Act 12 saved 13f (12 from the hot pot skip and 1 from a reduced lag frame), resulting in 19f time save total and the 20th frame was saved at Gargamel. Please wait until I do more checks, before you decide on publishing this.
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I corrected the submission text. The last jump in Act 6 room 1 didn't turn out to be improvable but I found an improvement in the 2nd room which saved 27 frames. Act 12 was changed slightly without gaining or losing time. The new file is linked in the submission text.
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I made a comparison video that includes the gameplay improvements. Link to video
EZGames69
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Cycle count for the movie file is incorrect, I fixed it here: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638654042558821447
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
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Why did the time change to 08:40.33?
EZGames69
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Because the cycle count was corrected.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Editor, Expert player (2328)
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I don't really understand how it makes a difference of more than a second. Shouldn't this have lead to a desync? I always assumed the Game Boy runs at 59.727(...) FPS. 31150 / 59,727 = 521.539672175 (8 minutes, 41 seconds, 539 milliseconds) Is there somewhere I can read about this topic?
Spikestuff
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Cycle Count is just a proper saving using the same input for a movie that's produced in BizHawk. It should not produce a desync since the input doesn't change. Watching back a bk2 without it will warn you about it, and all you have to do is resave the project when it reaches the end of the project.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
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For Gambatte, the cycle count has 2097152 cycles in a second, which usually has 35112 cycles per frame, which corresponds to when vblank occurs. Except not all ""frames"" have that since the game is able to "turn off" the LCD and PPU, which completely throws out any PPU timings (since the PPU goes to "sleep" and doesnt drive the LCD at all), and thus vblank never comes until the LCD & PPU is turned back on (once it's turned back on, it starts back from the beginning at line 0). Gambatte thus might have "short" frames when the LCD is turned back on, since it ends a frame whenever vblank occurs or 35112 2MiHz cycles have passed, whichever comes first. A cycle count is only actually known at the end of the movie, so it cannot actually be saved unless you're at the end of the movie (and due to some jank reason this has to be done outside of TAStudio with the exported bk2; this has been changed in 2.10 anyways where exporting a movie at the end will produce a valid cycle count). Without the cycle count saved, the site will just parse the movie assuming ~59.7275 FPS (which won't produce the right time, potentially being very off depending on the game).
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. ---- [6238] GB The Smurfs by MUGG in 08:40.33