Namely, is the checkpoint skip seen at 1:41 in the 2 player warps TAS usable in the warpless TAS? Or does this skip prevent the level end from loading?
The Resource page says that you can't spawn level end checkpoint unless you activate all the previous ones. I dared to disbelieve that and so I started testing. I skipped the last checkpoint, then I found out there was an invisible wall right before the next platform that I couldn't pass. I thought it's because the snowman hasn't destroyed the wall, so I did the left+right thing to show the wall on the screen. He crashed it and I was going to try passing the invisible wall once again, and it didn't disappear, and I occasionally started falling down while my sprite remained shifted way to the right. The screen went from high to low in a certain way, and suddenly EVERYTHING SPAWNED! But when I went down to activate the end checkpoint, it couldn't spawn because the screen was too high, and I couldn't move it lower since my sprite was shifted up. When I manipulated my position to make checkpoint spawn, I finally found out it indeed fails to end the level, it just increases the checkpoint value to tell the game where to respawn you if you die. So yeah, you must activate them all.
Additionally, going back to 1:41 in the encode above again, how exactly does the clip into the floor work? I get that it's based on pressing L+R simultaneously to alter your toad's walk plane position or whatever it's called, but what position are you aiming for, and where does this put you on the map?
But can't you still utilize two players while avoiding lags? Yes, sucide can be abused to have only one jeep on the screento avoid lags, and the game-over player can "borrow" a life from the other to join boss fight, and then commit sucide again. This can be a faster way than this movie uses, but I deprecated it for the sake of entertainment.
both TAS can't be accepted at the same time, and the "maximum score" TAS will obsolete this TAS because the "fastest completion" TAS is included in the "maximum score" TAS.
When comparing against a prior movie for faster time, the faster time must come from improved play in the actual game-play segments. For example, gaining time by switching to another version which loads faster, has shorter cut-scenes, or by more optimized usage of the title screen menus is not counted as an actual time improvement. A movie which doesn't have any actual in-game game-play improvements over its published predecessor will not be accepted. If time is gained from using a more accurate emulator, but game-play hasn't been improved, such a movie will be rejected. However, if improved emulation introduces more lag, extends the cut-scenes, or slows down game-play in some way, yet the actual game-play has improved, such a movie will be considered a valid improvement.
Rule is stupid