Joined: 9/21/2006
Posts: 4
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
I'm new the the forums, but I've watched a ton of the tool-assisted time attacks, and have become fascinated.
I did a search for "Rock N Roll Racing" on the whole forum and came up with nothing! Has nobody even considered doing a TAS of any of these games? So far, I believe there have been three releases: SNES, Genesis and recently GBA. I've played and beat them all many times, and I'd have to say the best version is the Genesis version, mostly because it has twice as many tracks as the other two. All the division B races are on different tracks than those of division A.
I've never tried making my own TAS video, and this game might be a really ambitious first. I'm interested in at least discussing it. I know another concern is making an interesting video, and I think it could be interesting. Veterans of TAS creation, please speak up!
I attempted a Rock and Roll Racing TAS a while ago.
It was a 2 player run, on Warrior Mode, using Tarquinn and Olaf. I played it on the SNES. I wasn't aware a Genesis version of the game was available, and had more tracks. If I were ever to do it, I'd definitely play it on the Genesis.
I stopped for 2 reasons:
1. It was extremely difficult. The physics are very complicated.
2. Although the game has potential for a lot of action, it was a racing game, and racing games are generally boring.
In my opinion, this is a bad choice of a game to do, many racing games are. If you feel you can whip up a storm with this though, please go ahead. I'm very interested in seeing one.
There was a thread back in January in the SNES forum...
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3238&start=0
In any event, the runner did a good job through the first 75% of the game, then his bag of tricks ran dry and he quit. You should watch his run(s) and try to cook up some new devilry. It'll be good.
(And maybe switch to the SNES version unless you can think of a reason not to, since everybody hates Genesis. ;))
Ah... I agree and disagree.
He could have done those things, but that would have meant upgrading from that dinky little Maurader. He could have upgraded if finishing quickly was the priority... but finishing quickly in a racing game shows a decided lack of imagination, I think.
That is to say, TASes of racing games will either be entertainment runs with ridiculous limitations to make things interesting, or gruefood, like Rad Racer.
Joined: 9/21/2006
Posts: 4
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
I can't view any of the old files that that guy posted on Putfile. It sounds like it was pretty interesting at least. If it were to be done on anything but the Genesis, viewers would probably get bored pretty quick when they see the same tracks over and over. This is especially true on the later planets where you have to complete more races before you can proceed, and they still only have like 6 tracks, but 28 races.
It might be more interesting to choose the Air Blade as the vehicle choice, because it's nearly as crappy, but you'd be able to utilize it's dropper weapon throughout the whole game. The BF Slipsauce that the Marauder and Dirt Devil equip is useless against Battle Traks and Havaks. It's possible to get the Air Blade after the 6th race if you take first, and pick up 10 kills and / or money bonuses along the way. Oh, also I've found that the Lightning Nitro can produce some way more interesting stunts and shortcuts than the Locust Jumpjets.
What's a good Genesis emulator to use for a TAS video? I have Genesis Fusion v3.4 right now, but have only used it for casual play. The only emulator tools I've used were the cheat search functions in SNES9x. I made some pretty cool codes though. Maybe when I've got some free time, I'll try it out. Abusing the AI is always fun, right?
It might be more interesting to choose the Air Blade as the vehicle choice, because it's nearly as crappy, but you'd be able to utilize it's dropper weapon throughout the whole game. The BF Slipsauce that the Marauder and Dirt Devil equip is useless against Battle Traks and Havaks. It's possible to get the Air Blade after the 6th race if you take first, and pick up 10 kills and / or money bonuses along the way. Oh, also I've found that the Lightning Nitro can produce some way more interesting stunts and shortcuts than the Locust Jumpjets.
I'd definitely like to see that... though just to be clear, you're probably not going to get anything published TASing this game.
What's a good Genesis emulator to use for a TAS video? I have Genesis Fusion v3.4 right now, but have only used it for casual play. The only emulator tools I've used were the cheat search functions in SNES9x. I made some pretty cool codes though. Maybe when I've got some free time, I'll try it out. Abusing the AI is always fun, right?
Joined: 9/21/2006
Posts: 4
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Twice the number of tracks doesn't do it for you? Yes, the sound effects and music of the Genesis are ass compared to the SNES, but that's probably not the primary reason for watching a TAS video, is it? What would be great would be to hack the genesis version, and replace all the sounds with the SNES counterparts. You could also do the same with the graphics, if I may pipe dream a bit more. . . The Genesis version's weapons are all red when fired, whereas in SNES, the VK Plasma Rifles shoot green bullets, and the Bear Claw mines are blue. Also, the money powerups are gold in the SNES instead of silver. Much more interesting IMO.
