Breakthru TAS by Dave Brown (dave_dfwm)
  • Goal: Fastest time
  • Secondary goal – get highest score while getting fastest time
  • ROM: Breakthru.nes
  • Emulator: FCEU 0.98.15
This is a very short and fast-paced game with 5 levels. You are the driver of a blue car that has 3 speeds and can jump. Your car can even run into other enemy vehicles (with the exception of tanks and large trucks) and cause them to explode without doing any harm to you. Unfortunately, ramming other vehicles with your car causes you to slow down, so I avoid this situation. However, your car will explode if it gets hit by just one bullet or if it touches water.
Jumping prevents your vehicle from getting hit by bullets, but it slows your vehicle down upon landing. As seen in the video, jumping is only used when absolutely necessary. The first jump in level 1 is necessary to avoid the falling rocks with minimum slow down time.
Your goal in the game is to recover a single stolen aircraft 800 miles away that is guarded by legions of enemy infantry, vehicles, landmines, and helicopters. The game is constantly reminding you to “stay alert” of these hazards.

I try to show a few oddities in the game by
  • making a leap of faith and landing on the bridge guard rail in level 2
  • driving through and on fences in level 3
  • driving through trees in level 3
  • jumping through the helicopter in level 5
Level 4 has a spot where you can drive on the roof of some houses for a while, but a jump and slowdown are required to get out without dying, so it is not shown.
The parachute capsules require a jump to grab. I grab two of them in the game which cause my bullet to split in three. Even though it is split in 3, it can only hit one enemy per shot, and all the bullets disappear if there is a hit.
As a final note, the controller input is ended approximately 11 seconds before the game is actually won. I position the car at the right vertical level on the screen, and used frame advance to jump over the final wall as soon as possible. The input ends immediately after the jump button is pressed, and the car will cruise a little slower than normal until the end of the level.
I’m not sure how familiar people are with this game.

adelikat: The votes for this have been quite chilly. The general consensus seems to be that this is a quality TAS but the game itself is not a good contribution to the site. Rejecting.

adelikat: Accepting for publication to the Vault

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1144: dave_dfwm's NES Breakthru in 06:37.13
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Ack, a horrible horrible game for TASing... It's boring to watch a vechile going right all the time with very little of variety. I'm sorry but I have to vote no, run seemed improvable too.
adelikat
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Guybrush wrote:
Ack, a horrible horrible game for TASing... It's boring to watch a vechile going right all the time with very little of variety. I'm sorry but I have to vote no, run seemed improvable too.
I'm afraid I agree with Guybrush. In addition to not being very interesting, you slow down often. Often it seemed avoidable.
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>>It's boring to watch a vechile going right all the time with very little of variety. How is this different from the SMB1 timeattacks? The only difference would appear to be the popularity of the games. In SMB1, Mario goes right all the time, as fast as he can, and avoids enemies along the way. >>you slow down often The only slowdowns occur after jumps. The only jumps occur when absolutely necessary. There are no other slowdowns. The levels all start with the car going the slowest speed.
nesrocks
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guybrush and adelikat... you can't say it's sloppy if you don't know the game. this run IS well done. this kind of criticizing has been happenning over and over at the workbench forum... play the game a little before judging if it's sloppy! in my opinion, this doesn't sound like a good contribution to the site, because the game is unknown and doesn't look very good. perhaps someone who actually likes the game might have a different opinion.
adelikat
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FODA wrote:
guybrush and adelikat... you can't say it's sloppy if you don't know the game.
I am quite familiar with the game. I didn't say it IS sloppy, but looks it due to moments where he must slow down. This game is simplistic and mostly just moving to the right. In this type of game, such moments are very detrimental whether they can be avoided are not.
this kind of criticizing has been happenning over and over at the workbench forum... play the game a little before judging if it's sloppy!
What other incidents are you referring to?
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I was entertained by certain aspects of this game. Some of the graphics were very detailed (levels 1 and 4), while some the rest were pretty bland. The speed was interesting and the play was good, although it seemed a couple parts could have slightly reduced lag. Overall though, this got repetitive to me by the third level.
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I hadn't played this game (I actually thought that Breakthru was a ripoff of Breakout) and I can only think of one way to make this run more interesting: Destroy every target. a 100% accuracy run. I have no idea if it's possible, but that's all I got.
adelikat
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dave_dfwm wrote:
How is this different from the SMB1 timeattacks? The only difference would appear to be the popularity of the games. In SMB1, Mario goes right all the time, as fast as he can, and avoids enemies along the way.
In smb1, mario glitches through walls, does mid air jumps, jumps through enemies, goes through pipes and ends up in places he shouldn't, etc. In other words, he does the unexpected/incredible/impossible. A TAS should suprise and entertain the audience. A TAS should go beyond what a console run could do. Smb1 does all of this. This run does not. And yes, popularily is a factor in the entertainment value of runs, though it is not the end all. There are many unkown games that have been TASed in which the result is very entertaining even for someone who doesn't know the game. I don't think that is the issue here though. I am familiar with the game, and I know how limited the game can be.
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I do find TASs of games I'v played to be more entertaining than those I haven't
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a good TAS shouldn't count on the popularity of the game ; in fact, it should be interesting, spectacular, to anybody, knowing the game or not. if it's just made because the game is famous, it misses its target (broad audience) and merely done for the ego of the player(s). this is clearly against the rules : don't run games for your ego, don't create artificial difficulties, use your creativity to show even to non-experts what can be done, in a spectacular way. on a side note, I didn't watch the movie, and the posts I read don't make me want to either...
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I've played this game on the console many times, and I know for a fact that this run would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, on a console. The reaction speed required to kill some of the things he kills is amazing. This gets a yes vote from me.
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OmegaWarrior wrote:
I do find TASs of games I'v played to be more entertaining than those I haven't
Mainly because you understand what is and what isn't possible in the games you know. And that probably is also the key of SMB movies' popularity: everyone is familiar with Mario and his abilities. I myself don't find NES Mario movies entertaining, although I've played the games themselves. As for the run, it is done well, but the game… well… sucks. No offense, Dave, but this wasn't entertaining. Not really your fault, though (well, apart from the game choice).
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As I must say that this run is indeed well done...the game itself isn't the most exciding thing on the planet thought...;-; Sad to say it always feels that that your highly limited on what you can..and canNOT do...and I know your trying your best to make it as intertaining as possable ( getting as close to bullets/mines before they smite you ) but theres alot of times that you don't do that ( when its obiouvs that you can ) so for all that...you get a "Meh" from me...if you were to say abuse that hit box of yours and say do more last second dodging it WOULD be a more funner film =3
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Thanks for the comments, guys. As for the movie itself, I would challenge anyone to improve this movie (timewise) even if it doesn't get published. The only way (I think) to do that would be in level 1. As always with unknown games, I would suggest everyone play the game a little before or after watching the TAS. It may make the movie a little more exciting.
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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. ---- [2203] NES BreakThru by dave_dfwm in 06:37.13