I tried to do something different for this year's other than the "fastest game over" crap (it was old three years ago, guys). Hope it was something unique, though I wish the encode went to the end.
I would've done a longer encode, but I don't know anything about encoding efficiently, so what you are viewing is actually 7 seconds of uncompressed video. It uses a whopping 240 MB on my hard drive.
Given that most levels are skippable, I think a straight-out TAS would be far more entertaining than a 100% that just uses silly jumps to pass most levels anyways.
I play through the "hidden" "multiplayer" "racing" "minigame" in Sonic 3.
Terribly unoptimized, so consider this a proof of concept. Or a work-in-progress. Whatever.
Times:
Course A - 26"23
Course B - 27"12
Course C - 38"35
Course D - 29"24
Course E - 46"32
Total - 2'47"25
* Aims for fastest in-game time
* Races on five tracks in Grand Prix mode
* Makes mistakes
* Doesn't even bother to manipulate luck
* Basically just consists of holding right, but looks impressive
* Could pass for Sonic Spinball on a slow day
* Colors a dinosaur
Microstorage seems to be down, and I can't get an AVI below 1.3 GB to put on Youtube, but here's the video file:
http://sites.google.com/site/asherstuhlman/SONICTHREETHEHEDGHONKRACING.gmv?attredirects=0&d=1
I haven't watched the run, but I'm guessing:
a) not particularly entertaining
b) trivial
c) probably doesn't manipulate luck
I'm not going to vote without watching, but I'm guessing this doesn't make it.
The published version doesn't seem to have a final boss - one's mentioned in the submission text, but this one goes straight from the folder-arrangement for the final boss to the credits.
Yo, want to announce I've tried TASing the game, so far, I have a 20 minute WIP.
I'm likely gonna redo the whole run due to sloppiness, but this run gave me some nice finds and timesavers in a few levls. The game mostly has very accurate collision detection, but in some places, I managed to touch the red prickly fruit without getting hurt in someplaces.
Also, in the Allegro Presto level (second one of Band Land), it is possible to save time by jumping through some sloped slippery note lines. I have only been able to get this to work on some surfaces, so I presume it only works on Slopes you're intended to go through from below, too.
Aside from that, I'm unsure about the route. You get the running power last, which is an obvious timesaver, so I don't know wether I should get any cages before I can run.
If anyone is interested in the WIP, I'll upload it and post it here.
I'm interested in the WIP.
About getting cages before or after running - you'd need to test it both ways to be sure, but I think as a general rule, if you can get all the cages in an area the first time through without running, you should; otherwise, you should backtrack as soon as you get the ability to run and go back to do them. You need the swinging power to get to the running power, so your route probably looks like:
Pink Plant Woods -> Anguish Lagoon -> Swamps of Forgetfulness -> Moskito's Nest -> Bongo Hills -> Allegro Presto -> Twilight Gulch -> The Hard Rocks -> Mr. Stone's Peaks.
Alternatively, you could go and get the helicopter power before going to the Swamps of Forgetfulness if you find that it'll save you time. The time lost would just be a bit of overworld movement.
Either of these would make great screenshots. These exemplify everything tool-assisted speedruns are about.