Well, is it physically possible to use the extended range on the controller without modifying it? Because you can do U+D / L+R on an unmodified NES controller if you have sufficient manual dexterity.
Regarding the video, I found it amusing. It looks weird, sure, but it entertained (if for no other reason than the hilariously fast rowing animation), so what else would we care about?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
You're welcome to make a TAS of it yourself. But judging from the video it's a pretty uninspired scrolling shmup, and those tend to make fairly poor TASes -- as you observed, there's very little that can be done to speed things up, so the entertainment options are limited.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The Power Grip is required; there's a barrier in Norfair that only goes away once you have it. No, there's no justification for this; if it weren't for that barrier then you wouldn't need the Grip.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The Chozodia and Space Pirate portions were more boring
There's very little to make them interesting once you've finished the stealth portion; they're just a long linear path with no interesting side-routes, variety in terrain or enemies, or hidden items. The entire "epilogue" (all the stuff after the MB escape) is vastly weaker than the rest of the game.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
It's all in how you code the game...but ultimately, the answer is "yes, PC games can have lag."
The simplest type of game loop has a defined time per frame that it tries to maintain. Each frame, it polls for input, processes input, updates game state, and then draws to the screen. Then it sleeps until it's time to draw the next frame. You'll get "lag" (in the sense that the game will visually stutter) if it takes longer than the target time per frame to process a single frame.
You can be sneakier about this by disconnecting the drawing code from the physics update code. In this scenario you have a target drawing rate of, say, 60 FPS, and a target physics update rate that's much lower, e.g. 15 FPS. Then you modify the above loop to have multiple draw actions while waiting for the next "physics frame" to occur. These draw actions interpolate positions and animations between the last two physics frames to give smooth motion, so they aren't redundant. If physics start taking a long time, then you don't draw as often (creating less-smooth motion), but the game still "happens" at the same speed (i.e. objects don't start suddenly moving more slowly). However, if the physics take long enough that the 15FPS rate of physics updates can't be maintained then you're back to getting lag again.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
If you're going to change the site for April Fool's Day, then you should at least be funny. Pretending that the site has been Ruined Forever (in whatever sense) is about the most predictable "joke" you could make.
All too often April 1st is Useless Internet Day, not Funny Prank Day. Which is really rather sad.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Of Zeupar's suggested screenshots, I like the best because Sonic looks like he's going "Wait WTF am I doing".
I look forward to watching the video once an encode is made.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
To my knowledge alpha on the Genesis is strictly a binary affair; there's no alpha blending (it's faked using flicker or old-style TV's line blurring instead).
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I'm guessing picking up a Masamune from the Black Panther wouldn't have been faster than using...Werebane, was it? on Dracula.
Amusing concept. A pity the text drags on so slowly.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I like the idea of actually having access to TAS tools natively on OSX. Not that, y'know, I've ever completed a TAS...anyway, thanks for making the build! Dunno when I'll get a chance to check it out though.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
And so the mighty Thew vanquished the demon Chaos! He would have been named "Thews", but he's a White Mage, so he only got the one.
I kinda knew what was coming as soon as I saw the final boss mentioned in the speed/entertainment tradeoff, but it's still amusing. Not voting as I didn't even try to watch the entire thing; I can only take so much slowly walking through dungeons and running away from fights.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I do think that a no-damage run would be an interesting and valid goal. An awful lot of stuff is just skipped by getting hit and then walking through it, and I suspect it would be interesting to have the player find more creative ways to deal with those obstacles. That said, this is clearly a well-made run in its own right and I don't feel that it should be rejected just because it didn't choose a specific goal.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Depending on how you consider it, anytime someone makes a speedrun using hardware that's not quite up to the task of running the game and responds by slowing down, they could arguably be making a tool-assisted speedrun. That would probably push the date back to, oh, maybe the mainframe days and games like Colossal Cave and Rogue.
They'd probably be unable to record and distribute the run though, so if you consider that a prerequisite then I suspect that Doom is your answer.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The Ridley fight is probably the best boss fight I've ever seen in a TAS. Everything else was solid, but Ridley was definitely the highlight of the run.
Great work, cpadolf! Thanks for making the run!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
And of course, there's a massive number of games out there where TASes of them would not be received favorably by this community, though that number is shrinking over time. But in e.g. any puzzle game where TASing doesn't provide you with a material advantage, a TAS would basically amount to a walkthrough for the puzzles, which isn't very interesting.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
So what I propose instead is adding a checkbox to the movie recording dialog, "block tool-assistance" (or just "block tools")...
All it takes is one guy who knows enough about programming to download the source code, comment out the "turn off tool-assistance" statement, and recompile and your extra legitimacy for non-assisted runs is damaged. Or a more tech-savvy person to figure out the change to the file format and convert an actual TAS to the "this file wasn't cheated I swear" format. I think it might actually be worse to pretend that such BizHawk runs are "legitimate" than it would be to recognize that there's no such thing as verifiable legitimacy in this area -- you'd build up an expectation that people aren't cheating, which would surely be subverted by some asshole at some point. Result: massive drama.
I think that the idea of being able to turn off tool-assistance isn't bad; I know I've reflexively used savestates while playing games and thereby sucked the fun out of them, so being able to block them is a valid feature. But I wouldn't try to combine that with some kind of "non-cheated" file format.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I find the concept of Nach being a doctor to be profoundly disturbing. I feel certain that he would prescribe cyborg limb replacements regardless of what you were complaining about.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Congrats on the publication, goofydylan!
I kinda wish the movie description could allude to the ghoul realm inhabitants' UV allergy (the invading force is consistently referred to as the "black light"), but oh well.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Presumably there's an RNG somewhere in the ROM that changes the random variable. Assuming you can read the assembler, you should be able to figure out the different possible progressions of that variable without having to rerun the entire game. That would make testing the possible memory values much more straightforward. You could determine which values for the random variable give the best results in each case, then try to find a wait time that maximizes your results.
It's still a tricky optimization problem though.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
@Pr. Pwnage - Are you certain of this? Have you seen a "Perfect" bonus in a special stage? either way I think it'd be entertaining for the viewer to see both characters with exactly the same rings, but knowing that there is additional time for the "perfect" to countdown is helpful.
I'm pretty sure Pwnage is right, though I admit it's been a long time since I messed with the S2 bonus stages.
In any event, it's not possible to get perfects on all bonus stages, even with control of two characters, as one of the last two emeralds has a segment where rings and bombs show up in basically random positions at high speed.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Also, unrelated to this run, but fuck whoever decided that you need the Power Ring to kill the Dragon boss. Not only that, but if you miss the Power Ring, it's a game stopper (unless you saved before) because you have no way to reattain the Bow of Truth to show the guy's true form. I played through this game twice before I learned that fact.
Don't save during the bossfight with Draygon? Or if you're on an emulator, maintain more than one savestate.
I do agree that the minimum power requirements to be able to damage enemies are annoying, but the game as played on its original hardware shouldn't be able to be rendered unwinnable unless you save after using that item (which I'm not even certain you can do).
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The lost time isn't really "lost" because it's a prerequisite of the route. You could as well say that e.g. Super Metroid 100% loses a lot of time compared to the any% because it goes out of its way to collect all those items. The time spent on those detours is still showing optimized play.
That said, I don't care much either way which run is published as far as goal choice is concerned. If this run is more optimal than the last one, all else being equal, then publish it.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
the best because Sonic looks like he's going "Wait WTF am I doing".
I look forward to watching the video once an encode is made.