When I first realised how innovative the idea of running several games simultaneously is, I began to recommend first dualtas (MMX1+2) everyone I know. But after first excitement (by the fact itself) most of people said it's not that cool as it sounds. Yeah, the execution is great and technically perfect, but it's difficult to catch the feeling of synchronism between right and left part.
In MMX1+2 there are too many cases of playing one game while another shows something unimportant and doesn't react any input - of course it's fair trick (and unavoidable in MM games), but it somehow ruines the concept of controlling two characters by one joystick. In ideal there should be perfect synchronization between every significant action (actually - between actions that only LOOK significant). E.g. when in first game character jumps, another characters should jump as high and land at the same time.
I decided to make something that would aim on the art of synchro-actions. I hope, this Contra pack shows whole essence of dualTASing, giving people feeling that one gamepad is physically connected to two consoles.
That's definitely not a speedrun. Main goal is to show awesome synchronization of two characters, so that it becomes obvious they both are controlled by one input, even if viewer doesn't know about it from description (concept? hmm..)
You may notice cases of exchanging time for 'entertainment' or better to say for actions that visually coincide. Like in SynchronizedSwimming - it's not the time that matters.
These two games suit dualtasing very well, although SuperC levels are bigger and more intense.
It appears not to be that "impossible" to perform, it only takes impressive amount of time and patience. The hardest part is to sync boss battles so that both levels end almost simultaneously.
Following differences between Contra and SuperC make me think the run can be completed within 13 minutes (comparable to SuperC speedrun). Or within 14, if I'm gonna trade more time for art.
* Shooting direction. In SuperC the direction of shooting is defined by previous frame input, and in Contra it's defined by current input. This feature allows to release bullet in different directions by pressing B only once. But I try not to use it everywhere because of aiming on synchronization. Those wasted shots underline the link between two games, and I don't see a reason not to waste them for good.
* jumping frame. In Contra the frame when you start jumping (from the ground) will not count directional input (you should press directional button next frame after pressing A). But in SuperC it counts, so you can jump directly up in Contra and right/left in SuperC.
* Contra's jump is little higher. In SuperC character lands 2 frames earlier, so I can abuse this to make another jump. Meanwhile, these 2 frames don't make any visual difference for viewer, which is good for synchronization.
* L+R jump difference. When you press Left and Right simultaneously while jumping, you'll receive useable desync. In Contra the left direction has highest priority, while in SuperC the right direction has. I'm not going to use it frequently, you understand why.
Current result
To achieve the effect, FCEU windows should be placed side-by-side like in MMX1+2 run.
More I watch current result more I see it could be performed better, but right now I don't feel like starting all over.
First I planned to make the whole run (or at least post WIP with 4-5 levels completed), but today I found this L+R glitch and now I'm here to ask everyone - should I continue current recording (sounds like quick&dirty solution, but it's not-so-dirty in terms of entertainment), or it should be made from the beginning with more careful planning? (but this may postpone final release up to next year, cause I have other projects and stuff. And I'm even not sure I'd have so much motivation.)
Too bad, hexeditor won't help here - movies desync after FCM-FMV-FCM conversion (flaw of Nesmock?).
So, I want to have clear reason - if there's strong need to polish this to perfectness. Actually, my dream is to make 2-players DualTAS, but seems I'd gonna hate Contra series after losing all nerves into this 1-player DualTAS. :)
I'm open to any suggestions, and I'd especially appreciate ideas of synchronized actions to perform it later levels (yeah, I already know where I'll use synchro-death!)
Also I'd be glad if someone makes AVI for this WIP, because I'm not familiar with any video soft to merge 2 AVIs.