Joined: 11/20/2004
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Well... It is a Mega Man boss rush. Both of the games in the series are. To call them "fighting games" is kind of being generous. Really, the only thing these games have in common with traditional fighting games is the whole "one-on-one" thing. (Or two-on-one, in this case. Street Fighter Alpha 3, anyone?)
Joined: 11/20/2004
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I was about to ask the same question, but with slightly more rudeness.
You know, when I saw someone had done a movie of Super Pang, I got excited. I actually kind of like the series. And then I saw it was done in 33 seconds. I knew either some sort of colossal glitch was invoked, or it was another freaking cheat movie. I wish my suspicions hadn't been right...
So, this gets an obvious No vote from me. Not because of the disappointment, but because of these kinds of movies go against the spirit of tool-assisted superplaying. (Not to mention the site rules.)
Joined: 11/20/2004
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... can I get my vote switched to a Yes vote? I'm terribly sorry to ask, but after watching the second video, I really do think it's worth having on the site.
Pros:
- It gets the job done and in record time.
- Weapon damage is optimized for significant impact.
Cons:
- It's pretty damn boring to watch. The only time Marx makes the players do anything interesting is after each battle.
- It could use some optimization in a number of places for better enemy placement, no defense frames, and so forth.
- Would it be faster to use different weapons against certain bosses to avoid the "critical hit" animation, but still do tons of damage?
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Absolute Yes vote from me on this one! It's just too, too funny! Not to mention extremely well done. :D
Also:I'm glad I wasn't the only one disappointed by the lack of action stages in this game. Needed more action stages, definitely. The original Battletoads was half action, half vehicle stages, after all!
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Oh, trust me. I can notice the difference between the deflicker and non-deflicker versions of videos as well as the frame rate based on flicker. And yeah, I guess you're right. If you have the technical know-how on how to make something flicker 1-frame flicker smooth in a 30 FPS video, why not use it? Once you get the proper formula down, implementing it over and over should be pretty easy. Right?
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Well, yeah... What I mean is it's extremely rare I give anyone one 10 much less two 10s. Chances are, you totally deserved it, though. (Even though I can't remember what "it" was, exactly. Is there a "what you've rated" list hiding somewhere in the site? XD) Ah, there it is. Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team. You may only have four published movies, but they're all of very high quality, it seems. :3
(Amusingly enough. I also said in the related thread, "I don't give 10s." XD)
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Alright, I'll bite here...
This is a fantastic idea and it looks positively awesome. I absolutely cannot argue that the end results are anything but flawless. However... why not just encode videos at 20 FPS for games using 1-frame flicker? I use it for my personal game projects (where relevant) and they look just fine. Granted that some games use 1-frame and 2-frame flicker at the same time (Mega Man X3, Blast Hornet boss fight), but for the most part, it's less trouble all around.
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I don't give 10s.
I do not give 10s.
I never give 10s.
... so of course, this got 10s.
Congratulations, Aglar. You have most definitely made one of the best, most entertaining TAS runs of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 I have ever seen.
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See, this is why I ask. Because I figured by now, somebody did some degree of research into the matter. I'm glad I was right, too. It's nice to know that research was not only done, but there's a lot of good reasons not to switch versions.
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How funny! I was just about to post a brand new topic about this game in the NES Games sub-forum. Well, I'll go ahead and post this here, instead, then.
I have a suggestion for a revisited run of this game. Simply put, instead of using the (U) ROM, use the (E) or (J) ROM instead. I'm well aware of the rules for always using a (U) ROM when available, unless there's a good reason, but in this case, there's a good reason:
Both the (E) and (J) ROMs fix a number of bugs plaguing the original (U) release of the game. I'm not sure what all it fixes, so it might include fixing the Level 4: Arctic Cavern level problems (not sure if they're detrimental to superplays or not) as well as the recently-discovered Level 3 to Level 4 warp glitch (somewhat doubtful). I do know, however, that it fixes the problem with Level 8: Intruder Excluder's scrolling right before Robo-Manus (infinite death glitch, does not affect TAS), but more importantly... both (J) and (E) versions fix the unresponsive 2P Clinger-Winger vehicle in Level 11: Clinger-Winger!
Before I saw this superplay, I was going to say that this fix alone would most assuredly improve the overall time of a 2P run considerably, not to mention remove the need to progressively whittle Zitz's lives down to 0 over the course of the game (or all at once, at Level 11). But then again, it looks like with the redone way of killing off Zitz, only a few seconds were lost in the long-run of things, rather than almost a minute...
In addition, the Japanese version specifically does not allow jump-in continues like the US and Euro version (after the start of a 2-player game) do. Then again, Zitz won't need to die off before the Clinger-Winger in either Japan or Euro version, so that's kind of irrelevant.
I guess what it boils down to is this: Are those few seconds worth it to see two 'Toads completely demolishing the Hypno Orb and its track? I personally think so, but what do you folks think?
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I just want to say that this movie was fantastic to watch! I really enjoyed watching this game from my childhood be superplayed as it was. I really hope more MS-DOS games get played in the future. (Personally, I'd love to see Mega Man/Mega Man 3 get whomped. XD)
Joined: 11/20/2004
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I have to say, knowing what I know about those three Rockman X games, watching this multi-run was all the more enjoyable for me. A friend of mine noticed some quirks with instant-death spikes and a place in the first game where X seemed to outright ignore damage, but in watching, I recognized what was going on. (30 FPS video + 60 FPS encoding = invisible non-blinking player.)
That said, this gets a firm Yes vote from me. :D
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Man. This is a wild tool-assisted superplay. It knocked a 48-hour game down to 7 hours and did pretty much everything necessary to make it run smoothly and efficiently. The game itself is pretty entertaining for the first 2/3s, but it rapidly tapers off once the game takes on a more serious tone. Plus, it has Momo in it, and she's positively adorable. X3
Anyway, my point is this: This was a really well-run game that clearly had a buttload of planning and work involved. Not the most entertaining run, but there aren't many glitch-free RPGs out there that are. Either way, you should be darn proud, janus!
Sidenote: I wonder why Nina's adult sprite looks almost nothing like her official artwork, up until the very end of the game, when she inexplicably changes outfits...
Joined: 11/20/2004
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*claps hands together* ... what can be said that hasn't been already? As a huge Rockman fan myself, I found this run to be extremely entertaining and pretty funny at times. I also wasn't aware we were at that stage of emulation yet, where it were possible to TAS current-generation games. Interesting!
The biggest downside of this run? Now, I want to see someone decimate Mega Man 9, which I consider much, much harder. This one done on Hard Mode wouldn't be bad, either. X3
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Oooooh... I think I understand. It's like, for example, most versions of Pac-Man (the first one, not any of the remakes or ports) would probably get an average or above-average score, since there's not a whole lot you can do with the game except possibly manipulate how the ghosts scoot around, whereas a game like this, there's a crap ton of little things that require a very keen attention to detail, in order to manipulate effectively all at the same time. (Who has what enemy's attention, where one player goes while the other is smashing that Giblet or Linda in the face, etc. etc.)
I think I have a better idea as to what that Technical Quality score is for now. Admittedly, up until now, I've just been basing my vote for that category on how effectively the game was played more than how effectively the game was manipulated vs. how hard it is to do so. Thank you for explaining the difference!
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
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Alright. I feel compelled to defend my vote on this movie, since it's the first and only vote at this moment.
Simply put, I voted 10 on technical aspect because I just couldn't find anything wrong with any part of how this game was played. And believe me... I tried to find something to complain about, something to nitpick, something that just simply did not belong. I couldn't.
As for the entertainment value? Well... if you have to ask, you clearly haven't watched the video, now have you?
I don't give 10s. I never give 10s. Much less, do I give two 10s. But this movie? 10s across the board from me. feos, you have created, in my opinion, the NES TAS of the year, hands down. Thank you for putting so much work into this.
And that's all I have to say about tha-tuh.
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Ah. It's kind of nice that he's not throwing a hissy fit over the whole emulation matter. Even better than he's eventually going to release the game as a free download anyway! Probably around the time the next game comes out, eh? X3
Joined: 11/20/2004
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I can't help but wonder if Sivak Drac is going to be pissed over this or not. He specifically stated at some point that the game would never be (officially) released in ROM format, but like the thousands of games that came before it, here we are. :B
Sidenote: This game is really fun, and this run is pretty good!
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
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This run looks pretty darn good! But I have a question about the levels in which you failed to smash crates, but didn't die. Wouldn't it have been faster to suicide on those levels, since Check Points were near open pits and such, if you weren't going to collect all the crates on those levels? The levels "Road to Nowhere" and "Lights Out" could have benefited from jumping into an open hole. However, Jungle Rollers would not have. The Check Point is simply too far away.
Anyway, solid run otherwise! It does make me wonder how they calculate the percentage of completion in this game, though... 1% for each Perfect stage completion, minus The Great Hall and Cortex's boss stage, 35 exits in all. From 35% to 100% in one stage. ROFLMAO...
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Now that we've got a better (flawless?) encode, I can definitely vote Yes on this. Granted, I was going to before, but it's much, much nicer seeing the thing in full color and proper transparency. Not to mention watching the game end properly, too.
As I said earlier, this is an extremely entertaining and chaotic playthrough. Very well done, x2poet!
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
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Okay, I have to ask. What's wrong with the colors in this playthrough? I've never seen the colors do that in Metal Slug X before. Was an older...possibly much older version of FinalBurn Alpha used?
That aside, this movie is in stark contrast to AngerFist's own run. While his was a precision strike, this is sheer and total chaos with bullets flying ever which way and bodies piling up faster than you can count. Both runs are very, very entertaining in their own ways and I really look forward to a better encode (and possibly palette-fixed version) of this run!