(Link to video)
Zen - Intergalactic Ninja TAS in 41721 frame. The previous movie was improved in 00:11.28 seconds.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.1.6 (syncs on 2.1.5)
  • Take damage to save time

Comments

It's my favourite NES game and one of the most colorful games with fantastic music. I used Normal difficulty to make improvements countable, because Hard has more enbemies and more Boss HP and TASing it may appear slower.
After one guy's suggestion how to improve the Toxic Factory level I decided to start this run, while the wish to do it was born in me long ago, because I didn't like how the game was played entertainmentwise.
I used my own maps of the game and this script.

Stage by stage comments

The first level started 9 frames faster

Toxic Factory

Saved 148 frames.
Attack while jumping several times to prolong the jump length. Each jump costs 15 frames due to it's animation. Less jumps you do - less time you lose. Boss was manipulated to spawn second time sooner and where I want him to.

Oil Rig

Saved 111 frames.
Used max' trick to jump through the floor climbing on pipe holes. Boss was beaten faster due to last hit and jump that allowed to fly away faster.

Rescue Jeremy

Saved 8 frames.
The battle is the same timewise, but I made the last jump faster to start falling down sooner.

Railway

Lost 69 frames.
Lost some time due to ninja-style movements causing lag, the stage was improved stylistically instead.

Acidic Forest

Saved 16 frames.
Improved the Boss fight and jumped a bit to increase my height, like in Oil Rig.

Cave

Saved 32 frames.

The Cesspool

Saved 72 frames.
Jumped much higher near the end.

Scrap Heap's Heaven

Saved 80 frames.
Used more powerful attacks.

The Imposter's Hideout

Saved 120 frames.
Didn't throw the Imposter over, that caused a long invulnerability period in the previous movie.

Lord Contaminous 1

Saved 148 frames.
Improved the jump/hit timing to hit the Boss just after the invulnerability period stops each time.

Lord Contaminous 2

Saved 3 frames.
Lag reduction.

Special thanks

To AnS for almost finished TASEditor, that now has Markers, Branches, Auto-restoring playback position after input was changed and a bunch of other cool features.

Suggested screenshot

Eco-violence

Mukki: Judging...
Mukki: Accepting as an improvement to the currently published run.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3386: feos's NES Zen: Intergalactic Ninja in 11:34.21
Patryk1023
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HOW IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE FCEUX 2.1.6!? WHAT THE F*CK!?
<Nach> scrimpy is fretty with her sunglasses on I'm here. never visible.
Post subject: Syncs in FCEUX 2.1.3; Yes vote!
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This played back just fine using FCEUX 2.1.3 in Linux. Yes vote from me - this is a strong TAS of a very entertaining game (great graphics and music, although they do push the ECO-POWER message a bit :). I was especially entertained by the recycling sections. Great job! A.C. ******
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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Patryk1023 wrote:
HOW IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE FCEUX 2.1.6!? WHAT THE F*CK!?
Compile it. http://fceultra.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/fceultra/?view=tar
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Brandon
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Wow, did you start this when I suggested you do it, or did you previously? If the former, you finished this really fast! I'll watch later.
All the best, Brandon Evans
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Brandon wrote:
Wow, did you start this when I suggested you do it, or did you previously? If the former, you finished this really fast! I'll watch later.
Don't remember when you said that, but I started last weekend, just after the mentioned guy suggested the first level improvement.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Brandon
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feos wrote:
Brandon wrote:
Wow, did you start this when I suggested you do it, or did you previously? If the former, you finished this really fast! I'll watch later.
Don't remember when you said that, but I started last weekend, just after the mentioned guy suggested the first level improvement.
Wow, that's even crazier. I wish I could crank out TASes in days and not months...
All the best, Brandon Evans
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The case here is that this game has much places where you just hold a button for many frames or wait. Look at the rerecord counter. Also, this is 1 player. PS: This was such fast thanks to TASEdit!
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Patryk1023
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Posts: 288
Location: Inside out house.
feos wrote:
Patryk1023 wrote:
HOW IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE FCEUX 2.1.6!? WHAT THE F*CK!?
Compile it. http://fceultra.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/fceultra/?view=tar
Oh, Linux installer. What about Windows one?
<Nach> scrimpy is fretty with her sunglasses on I'm here. never visible.
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I'm on Windows. You just need something like Visual Studio to build the executional. Or wait the official release.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 2/6/2011
Posts: 130
I really like it and it's a nice improvement. But maybe it would be better if it was in the hardest difficulty available (I know it would be slower than the published run for the reasons you said but I still think it's better)... just a random thought.
Joined: 12/4/2011
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I enjoyed this TAS. Yes vote
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Joined: 11/27/2004
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Location: WA State, USA
feos wrote:
It's my favourite NES game and one of the most colorful games with fantastic music.
*fist-bump* I really how you ended the falling cave stage with the glitched animation frame.
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
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Zavalix wrote:
I really like it and it's a nice improvement. But maybe it would be better if it was in the hardest difficulty available (I know it would be slower than the published run for the reasons you said but I still think it's better)... just a random thought.
I couldn't cout real improvements if I tased Hard. And even knowing the strategy now, I don't wish to do the same tas just on Hard.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
mklip2001
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I'm not sure I liked the speed-entertainment tradeoffs in the Railway stage... you can only really do a bunch of dancing at the very beginning, and after that the stage is still fairly boring. However, you did a nice job on this run, and some boss battles look a lot better. It's good to see you finally got to do the run featuring your avatar :-) Yes vote. Any interest in the GB version of Zen?
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
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I never thought that even less movements on the Railway would be more interesting than now. As for GB, VBA can not into TASEdit.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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Good job,dear.
Do the work.
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 45
Location: Iowa
Very nice run. Did you do anything different than usual when you encoded the video for Youtube? I see sprite flicker, so I assume you must have used some method of TASblend. Yet it doesn't look like a blurry, smeary piece of crap like most other TASblend encodes. What's different about this one?
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Judge Ito wrote:
Very nice run. Did you do anything different than usual when you encoded the video for Youtube? I see sprite flicker, so I assume you must have used some method of TASblend. Yet it doesn't look like a blurry, smeary piece of crap like most other TASblend encodes. What's different about this one?
This is a divine method of flicker recognition worked out in this thread, though no one uses it but me. I use it for all 30 fps blinking/twitching. Even Alisia Dragoon looks awesome.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Player (145)
Joined: 11/14/2011
Posts: 68
Location: Brookline, MA
Voted Yes. I liked this TAS a lot more than the currently published one due to several places where you did interesting tricks that the other TAS didn't have. The railroad stage got more life as a result of pointing the Bō staff in different directions while jumping over a series of bottomless pits.
Joined: 2/11/2007
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feos wrote:
This is a divine method of flicker recognition worked out in this thread, though no one uses it but me. I use it for all 30 fps blinking/twitching. Even Alisia Dragoon looks awesome.
Wow, that all looks great. Keep up the good work! In my first reply, I meant no offense to anyone involved with creating TASblend. I definitely appreciate the goals you guys have in mind, but it's hard to watch when the resulting Youtube looks like someone recorded the movie to VHS by pointing a camcorder at a digital projection. Derail over. Good movie!
Post subject: Re: #3386: feos's NES Zen - Intergalactic Ninja in 11:34.21
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
Lost some time due to ninja-style movements causing lag, the stage was improved stylistically instead.
Would this be a speed/entertainment tradeoff? Good job on the run! Yes vote.
sack_bot
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i see some improvements but ill give you a "yes" like failing at the bonus levels to save time
Message me here for my discord. Current Project: Psycho Waluigi Project on wait list: None?
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sack_bot wrote:
i see some improvements but ill give you a "yes" like failing at the bonus levels to save time
and not saying how
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
mklip2001
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Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
sack_bot wrote:
i see some improvements but ill give you a "yes" like failing at the bonus levels to save time
sack_bot, if you notice carefully, feos collects 4 out of 5 canisters for every category except for the shield. Since you need all 5 canisters to win the powerup of that category, he does "fail" each category except shield. In effect, this is the same as what the published run did, since the shield power is a great help in the stages. Nice job with that stylistic choice, feos. I thought it was interesting to get so close to completing each category, as opposed to just completely missing all non-shield canisters.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.