Stork tries to deliver Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents, but Kamek kidnaps the babies. As it turns out later, he only kidnapped Baby Luigi, while Baby Mario lands on Green Yoshi’s head. Baby Mario shows Yoshi where to go, but unfortunately, the journey isn’t easy because Kamek has sent his army after Yoshi.
Version
The Japanese version is chosen for this TAS because it has less dialog boxes, which saves a bit of time, there is also a Chinese version that supposedly has one less text box than the Japanese version throughout the entire game.
Game Objectives
- Emulator: BizHawk 2.11.1
- Core: mGBA
- Complete the game using warp glitch
- Heavy luck manipulation
Warp Glitch
ACE glitch in this game is different from the SNES version, instead of using the game’s address to skip to the end credits like on the SNES, you have to trigger an overload on a level to unlock any level you want, this also depends on the number of enemies and eggs on the screen. Use the Winged Cloud Maker near the circle while jumping to perform an warp, but only when you’re triggering an overload if there are a lot of enemies on the screen. You can obtain the Winged Cloud Maker from the last hidden minigame or in the Bonus stage, which is what we’re doing in this TAS.
Unfortunately, warp glitch also has downsides. It’s not just that we have to get the level we want, but we also have to hope we don’t end up with a glitched configuration screen. While we can wait on a glitched screen to use the D-pad, it’s very slow, so we hope it doesn’t happen. The configuration screen for eggs controls is needed to avoid Yoshi’s side effects, he might jump on his own while moving and aim—and it also prevents us from going through doors.
Speed
- In this game, Yoshi's X speed changes in a cycle lasting 3 frames, for example, if you simply hold the right direction, the value changes from 732 to 752, then to 768, and so on. However, pressing the left direction at different frames can affect this cycle. Here's a list of some speed cycles:
- 732, 752, 768 (average speed: 750.667)
- 739, 755, 771 (average speed: 755)
- 742, 758, 774 (average speed: 758)
- 744, 760, 776 (average speed: 760)
- 745, 761, 777 (average speed: 761)
- 746, 762, 778 (average speed: 762)
- 751, 767, 783 (average speed: 767)
Normally you can only get the 752 and 760 cycles. With slopes however, Yoshi's can reach a higher speed cycle. Yoshi can also accelerate faster by pressing opposite directions on specific frames.
Jumping on slopes can slow Yoshi down sometimes, and running up and down them lose time. You need to minimize the time Yoshi spends on a slope by jumping as soon as possible and as high as possible.
Levels
Tutorial
On the SNES, you can skip this by pressing Select and Start, but not in this version, you have to play this part, unfortunately.
1-1
Instead of standing still to spit out the Shy Guy, I careful control Yoshi's speed to have the Shy Guy land on the ground without rolling down the slope. The speed an enemy is launched out of Yoshi's mouth is affected by the speed Yoshi is moving at. If Yoshi is moving too fast, the Shy Guy rolls down the slope. If Yoshi is moving too slowly, the Shy Guy doesn't make it to the other side. Doing this instead of stopping saves about a second. - Walgrey
1-2
Unlike the SNES TAS, Yoshi cannot wall-jump, nor can he spit an enemy into a wall and immediately bounce on it. The RTA WR places an enemy on the post to get enough height, but this takes too long. Instead, we land on a nearby Shy Guy, and frame-perfectly jump on the post afterwards, letting us keep our boost while fluttering. - Walgrey
1-3
Nothing to say other than the fact that this level has a lot of slopes. There are also some areas where we have to purposefully move speed and turn around. I think a few frames can be saved in this stage. You can use Yoshi's tongue on a wall to deaccelerate quickly, allowing you to turn around faster. - Walgrey
1-4
I went back to improve earlier parts of the run and found out that the TAS desynced here because of the Lava Drops before the mid-goal ring. Turns out that these are affected by RNG. You can manipulate RNG by starting the level on a different frame. However, I eventually found out that you can also manipulate RNG by just jumping. This is why I jump so much in the upper corridor on my way to the mid-goal ring.
After reaching the second pipe, I perform a 1-1 Warp. Baby Mario's bubble movement can also be manipulated by RNG, but unfortunately, despite my best efforts, he ended up being in my way, so I have to wait for him to move. - Walgrey
1-5
It's an autoscroller, so we'll skip that part. - Tegron
1-6
Precise movement, I use the ghost with the lantern to get to the top faster. - Tegron
1-7
Since it's not possible to skip a flower, we use that to enter the Bonus level for an item for warp.
I use the ball to get rid of two enemies in my way and avoid the red coin. - Tegron
1-8
I jump and hit the fish to move on to the next locations faster
Just like in the SNES TAS, I use Flutter to land on the spikes on the right, grab the key, and spin the red platforms
The first Boss in the TAS. We use the egg at the start and finish him off with his own weapon in 5 seconds. - Tegron
2-1
You can bounce off a shell and grab it at the same time, allowing you to carry it up with you. I spit this shell out to the wall so I can bounce off it again. After scaling the wall, I perform a 1-1 Warp. - Walgrey
2-2
This level was pretty difficult to do. Since Yoshi can't wall-jump, we're unable to replicate the route used in the SNES TAS. Outside of that, not much to note. - Walgrey
2-3
I grab and spit out Gusties to use them as makeshift platforms should I need them. There's lots of slopes on the ground, so I want to avoid touching for as long as possible.
While playing as Baby Mario, you can jump down slopes to gain a lot of speed. I experimented with many jump patterns to see which would carry me the furthest. Interestingly, I think the timer for the Superstar is shorter than on SNES? But I could be mistaken.
After regaining control as Yoshi, I destroy a bit of the ground with an egg to reach a slope, allowing me to get to the 767 cycle as soon as possible. - Walgrey
2-4
As far as I'm aware, the 1-1 Warp isn't possible in this version, so we have to beat the entire level. Luckily, we can still clip through the one-way gate by shooting an egg at the right spot.
That flutter jump over the lava pit before the next pipe is very precise. Even with perfect acceleration and flutter timing, you can only barely make it to the other side.
The spinning platforms slow Yoshi down if he is walking on them, so I minimize this by jumping. - Walgrey
2-5
I don't have much to say because this level is simply precise movement, the only thing I do is spit out the shell and jump on it to get to the door. - Tegron
2-6
When I use the ground pound in front of a door, I press the D-pad up because it cancels the animation and lets me move early.
I make precise moves and jumps to beat this level faster without losing speed. - Tegron
2-7
This isn't the SNES version, so I can't use the big egg to turn enemies into stars to prevent bullets from loading on the screen. I'm playing through the level normally, the bullets always fire once they're loaded, so I had to hit them after the first ground pound.
At the next location, Walgrey and I couldn't get past the second falling rock even at max speed, so we had to wait before using Flutter to get to the very top
We're going for an warp glitch. To do this, we need 2 large eggs, 4 regular eggs, and 10 enemies on the screen. If the enemies are almost close and we have 2 large eggs, and we jump and using the camera to look up and then using the item, we can pull off an warp glitch. We want 6-8, which is why we're doing this. - Tegron
6-8
We choose Door 4 because it's faster, if you're wondering about the collectibles, the game also gives you lists after this level.
I couldn't jump on Bowser's head a second time because I'd take damage right away no matter what, so I used the egg, if you were waiting for me to use the tongue on Bowser's ass before Kamek, I'm sorry to say this, but it doesn't work on GBA version.
I manipulate Yoshi's movement to get the big eggs fast. I couldn't get him all at once because I wouldn't have been able to hit him, because Bowser is too far away. - Tegron
Special Thanks
I want to thank Walgrey for helping me with TASing this game and for finding a few things and optimizations that helped with making this TAS.
Challenger: The submission was recently cancelled by the authors, but they later decided that this run should deserve to be reviewed properly this time. So, time for the gold opportunity!
Challenger: First of all, I'm glad to see a GBA version of Yoshi's Island submitted here for the first time. Saw this project, the general optimization is fine, some new stage skips that were discovered over the years made into this project for the first time, and they both work here and the original SNES version.
Once reaching 2-7, the game changes the objective with some amusing and creative way, warping directly to the last stage with some glitched graphics but the gameplay does still work, keeping stable enough to rescue Luigi under an hour. Great job!
Although the feedback was positive, some people pointed out about potential improvements missed in this version, including the possiblity of the walljump trick which actually still exists even if it looks "somewhat invisible to find". Also another important point: About the preference of TASing prioritizing speed over entertainment value, actually I don't see it as an actual concern because it can be an option/decision from the author and not an actual rule or something like that.
So, how about the question of adding the improvements to this project? According to the authors, they answered that unfortunately the work would require more time and might cause more problems than simply returning back-and-forth.
In other words, while this game can be improved, pushing hard would screw up the efforts done in the project rather than being friendly, for the other side this submitted run does achieve a good result for a first TAS of the GBA port after all. This is the nature of TASing and I understand how it feels.
Meanwhile, I'm approving/accepting this run for publication to Standard :)
