(Link to video)
  • Emulator used: FCE Ultra 0.98.12 (nitsuja).
  • Length of movie: 20919 frames (5m 48,65s).
  • Rerecord Count: 5520.
  • Aims for the fastest possible time.
  • Manipulates luck.
  • Dies to save time.
To those who haven't played this game before I recommend that you read this before watching the movie:
The goal in Spelunker is really simple. You start off at point A and complete the level by reaching point B, just like in Super Mario. To get to the end of the level you will have to unlock a few doors, red and green ones. To unlock the doors, you have to get the keys to them, and they are hidden around the level.
So the goal in this game is basically to collect all keys, unlock the last doors and then go to the next level. Sometimes there are a door placed in the middle of the level, forcing you to collect a certain key before another.
Another huge part of this game is the fact that you die extremely easily! You have to keep this in mind while watching the movie, often it will look like I could have fallen a greater distance to save some time, but you die if you fall more than 2 inches. This makes this game very hard to beat on console.
Other than that, there are just a few things to point out. There is a ghost that makes your life misserable on the first two levels, in level 1 I "luck-manipulate" away the ghost, in level 2 it's faster to kill him once he appears than to "luck-"manipulate" him away. Bats are really easy to avoid as you can see in the movie, so they're not a problem at all.
There are often piles of rocks in your way too, these are taken care of by blowing them up with bombs. You cannot stand close to a bomb as it goes off, that's why I move away from it as it blows. I also start running again as soon as possible, even if it might not always look like it.
That's about it. This movie didn't take many days to make, since this is a very short, and in terms of tool-assisted speedrunning, easy game. The route I use is pretty much the same as in Ginger's submission. For those who are interested, this movie is 1712 frames faster than his submission, but my submission ends sooner, which makes it 3742 frames faster. I hope you enjoy this movie!
EDIT: I almost forgot one thing that should be commented. When you die, you are respawned to the location of the last item you picked up, or, if you haven't picked up any item after getting off the elevator, respawned next to the elevator. This is abused quite heavily in this movie.
NOTE: After this movie ends, the game will actually continue with a new quest, but the only differences between the normal game and that quest is that you can't see the enemies and the levels are much darker. That's why I chose not to play them.

adelikat: Accepting for publication.

Bisqwit: Processing...
Flygon: I was spelunking around and decided to encode this movie. Added a YouTube module.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14859
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #918: Randil's NES Spelunker in 05:48.65
Former player
Joined: 11/13/2005
Posts: 1587
Great job on this! Very entertaining movie. Voting YES!
Joined: 11/24/2005
Posts: 7
Nice work making a difficult game look really easy! I had fun watching this and think it definitely deserves to be published, if not just so that people who actually own the game can see what it's like past the first level :)
Joined: 12/7/2005
Posts: 11
Location: Quebec (Germany for now)
Good job on a very hard game (Fall and inch and you die o.O).
Player (80)
Joined: 3/11/2005
Posts: 352
Location: Oregon
I especially liked how you'd fall a short distance to die, then seem to fall a longer distance and survive. It seems like there are parts that could be a little faster, but it's probably just that I don't know the game very well. You have my "yes".
ideamagnate| .seen aqfaq <nothing happens> DK64_MASTER| .seen nesvideoagent * DK64_MASTER slaps forehead
Skilled player (1885)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
Thanks for all the complements, everyone! :) IdeaMagnate wrote
It seems like there are parts that could be a little faster
Actually, some parts in level 1 and 2 could perhaps be done faster. On some ladders there I don't go out to the edge of the ladder before falling down, since I found this trick later on in the movie. This saves about 4-5 frames per ladder. The reason why I didn't redo level 1 and 2 with this trick was that even if I save 5 frames on a ladder, I would just have to wait 5 more frames in front of a volcano, since the volcanoes timings cannot be manipulted. So even though some minor stuff could be done faster, this would not affect the length of the movie, and only a very trained eye would notice these small flaws in level 1 and 2 :). If there was a specific part that you found, IdeaMagnate, tell me which and I'll look into it, there is a chance that I've missed something.
Former player
Joined: 7/2/2005
Posts: 309
Location: Baltimore, MD
Great job Randil! I really liked it, very entertaining. Voting YES.
Guybrush: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets." Wally: "Really?" Guybrush: "No. I 'm lying." Wally: "In that case, I don't want one!" Currently working on: Nothing at the moment.
Former player
Joined: 6/25/2004
Posts: 607
Location: Maine
Just this game being completed, much less as fast as possible, insta-earns you a yes.
Player (20)
Joined: 10/14/2005
Posts: 317
Got around to watching this on the plane last night. Yes vote for play precision and improving 28 seconds over Ginger's submission.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Very nicely played. Yes vote.
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JXQ
Experienced player (750)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
This game gets my vote for both "lamest death animation" and "worst sound effects". It also gets my vote for "yes", mostly because of the rampant death abuse.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
adelikat
He/Him
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Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4738
Location: Tennessee
Easy yes vote. The movie was well planned and well executed. The death as a shortcut makes this movie far more interesting and makes the route planning all the more impressive. Good job.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Active player (308)
Joined: 2/28/2006
Posts: 2275
Location: Milky Way -> Earth -> Brazil
This is one of my favourite NES games! It's extremely hard and I could never go beyond the 3rd stage. I was waiting for a TAS and here it is! YES! EDIT: heh, there was one already! But this one is better anyway.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
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. ---- [553] NES Spelunker by Randil in 05:48.65
Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 1772
Location: Australia, Victoria