(Link to video)
Emulator: Snes9X v1.43+ for Windows
I originally got the idea to TAS this game a long time ago, after watching the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of it. I forgot for a long time because I was busy with other projects, but I'm glad that I finally got around to doing it. The game isn't one of the best, but it's certainly not one of the worst either. It's decently fun, decently fun to watch in my opinion, and pretty funny when Lester reacts to enemies and other trivial things like grabbing ledges.

Common Techniques

Damageless Fall

To avoid taking damage from long falls, simply crouch as Lester falls. This will mean that he's unable to turn in the air (which sometimes makes it faster not to do, but not often), but can survive any long fall as long as Lester walks off the edge (if you run, you won't be able to do it). The crouch also has to be started shortly after walking off, before he begins is falling animation (once that starts, you can't get out of it til you land and take damage).

Reaching Loading Zones Quicker

Sometimes, at the end of a level, if you're on a high platform right before the loading zone, you can jump straight into it, even though if Lester were to land from this jump, he'd take damage.

Damage Invulnerability

Like in many games, you are invincible for a short time after being damaged. This lets Lester run through some enemies at certain places.

Area-by-Area Information

Beach Part 1

As this is the first level, there are a lot of places where Lester will stop because he's scared. I jump over all of these, which unfortunately means taking damage sometimes. It of course is faster overall, especially with the canteens along the way. A large jump is done straight into the loading zone at the end of this area, but unfortunately, the zone is just a little too far away to avoid taking damage from it.

Beach Part 2

At the beginning of this area, Lester automatically goes into his slow "scared mode", which means the crab has to be killed as he can't jump straight onto the ledge.

Labyrinth Part 1

Turning in the air while falling saves time after the fall is over. Lester will run away in the opposite direction from bats, so jumping over them avoids running backwards.

Labyrinth Part 2

There are various rocks along the way, and one is needed to open the chest for the ruby. The closest rock possible is taken to do this. It's important to note that although there is a rock in a better place in the first part of the level, it disappears after you hit the loading zone for the second part. Taking damage at the end from the bats was necessary.

Tiki Island

When Lester approaches the first set of totem poles, he begins a really long "scared mode" walk. Therefore, it's faster to jump through the entire section. Kicking the blue totems down is required, as the last one in the chain will kill you no matter what.

Burial Grounds

The first two skulls of the three need to be tossed into the fire in order to proceed. A timed jump into the loading zone at the end is done, which looks cool because Lester almost hits the flames.

Village Part 1

Entering the fifth house and jumping out of the window lets us proceed to the next area.

Village Part 2

Often, here, the player will fall through a house or fall onto the ground, which results in Lester being captured. When this happens, you have to retrieve a key from a guard and get out of jail. It puts you in the river level, but is slower than doing well-timed jumps across all of the houses to achieve the same result, so that's what's done.

River

This is an autoscroller, so the only parts that had to be optimised were the vine jumps. At the second one, I jump straight onto the next raft.

Jungle

Nothing but vine swinging here. On the last vine, I jump straight into the loading zone.

Hut

It's impossible to avoid ducking to avoid getting hit by the weight. We get the boomerang here, which is Lester's first "permanent" weapon.

Ape

This boss is pretty easy. The maximum amount of hits you can do to him per cycle is 3, which means one of the two boomerang throws will always miss one hit. It takes 13 hits to kill him. After that, I stand right where the woman appears, which makes the distance Lester has to run afterwards minimal.

Running from the Cheetah

Nothing to say here, just a bunch of well-timed jumps. The cheetah falls in the last pit, and after that, Lester has to climb up to avoid the falling rocks (climbing all the way up is required - they will still hit him if you don't do it).

Underworld Part 1

The blue torch at the start is required. If you don't take it, the screen gradually gets darker and Lester dies before you can get very far. A bunch of switches need to be pressed in order to open the pathway on the bottom floor, but not every switch has to be hit. The room is optimised so that the required switches are hit in the fastest order.

Underworld Part 2

Very simple area. The damageless fall trick is used here to survive a long fall near the end.

Underworld Part 3

In this area, we have to destroy the boulder blocking the way with the boomerang. It takes 8 hits to do this. The second and third platforms rise when you stand on the first one, so I stand on that long enough so that 5 hits can be done from the second one, and 3 from the third, which allows Lester to reach the final ledge without having to grab onto it first, which is by far the quickest way to clear this room.

Underworld Part 4

There are spiders and spikes everywhere here, and although with damage invulnerability we can run through a few of them, it's faster to save that extra health for the pirates later on. The giant spider isn't a required boss; you only have to break the web. The web can only be damaged after a certain amount of time after the previous hit, which is why I wait a few times here.

Underworld Part 5

Some well-timed jumps let this area be cleared quickly. At the end, Lester can pull himself through the wall before climbing the vertical section.

Pirate Ship 1

Well-timed jumps over the barrels are performed, and the sword is obtained here. This lets us kill the pirates, which is required a lot in this section.

Pirate Ship 2

Not a lot going on here other than pirate slaying. Pretty dull.

Pirate Ship 3

A few pirates are skipped using damage invulnerability. Other than that, there isn't a lot to say til we get to the end. The candle is placed closer to the door to avoid having to climb over the cannon. The cannon has to blow open the door before we get the ladel/water, as if you try to put it on the ground, Lester empties the water out, meaning you can simply drop it, pick up the candle, light the cannon, then pick up the ladel again. Extinguishing the spark on the TNT to save Hector finishes the game.

DarkKobold: Updated submission with a 125 frame improvement by the author.

Nach: This run while well played is really really boring. Watching it doesn't look all that impressive. As a TAS goes, I don't think we'll be missing much if this is not part of our site. Rejecting for bad game choice.

Nach: Accepting for vault.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14773
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3691: SwordlessLink's SNES Lester the Unlikely in 15:57.88
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
0_0 That ending... The TAS actually made this game look good, now I must watch the AVGN for it to remind myself that it's a horrible game. Yes vote for making a bad game look alright.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Editor, Experienced player (607)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
I've wanted to see a TAS of this game since I saw that review. I've noticed that TASes of bad NES games are more interesting after I've seen AVGN's reviews; they get past the parts he couldn't get past and make them decently entertaining. I'll watch this later.
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 757
You can polish a turd all you want, but it will remain a turd. I could barely watch this abominable game... I mean I can quite clearly see the effort and work put into it, but... no. IMHO, this is an abysmal game and was not terribly entertaining at all. The work put into it made it a weak No... but unfortunately I feel this was a bad game choice. And this is coming from someone who enjoys Cheetahmen II. x.x; Mr. Kelly R. Flewin
Mr. Kelly R. Flewin Just another random gamer ---- <OmnipotentEntity> How do you people get bored in the span of 10 seconds? Worst ADD ever.
Invariel
He/Him
Editor, Player, Site Developer (168)
Joined: 8/11/2011
Posts: 538
Location: Toronto, Ontario
After having tried to play Lester the Unlikely, I applaud SwordlessLink's decision to do so. What amuses me most about this run is not the game's decision to be a 2D sidescroller in the style of point-and-click adventure game, but that Lester slowly becomes confident enough to strut-run instead of swimming frantically across the ground. I "yes" this, for being a solid run, for looking good through and through, and because that raft portion would have had me throwing things through windows.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is Samsara last edited by Invariel on 2015-07-26 02:08:14
Cooljay
He/Him
Active player (391)
Joined: 5/1/2012
Posts: 468
Location: Canada
Sadly I have to agree with Mr Kelly R. Flewin. The level design in this game is repetitive and boring, also the fast pace of Lester's running comes to a halt very quickly to do slow mundane tasks. No vote.
Joined: 2/14/2012
Posts: 73
Always thought this would be a fun one to see TAS'd, is an encode forthcoming?
Editor, Experienced player (893)
Joined: 1/23/2008
Posts: 529
Location: Finland
I know this is a pretty difficult (not to mention awkward) game to play, so for that I'm voting yes. I'm reminded of an unfinished TAS I saw of this game earlier. It uses many slower strategies, but I was just wondering... the player uses a strat that involves dying at the end of the first level, did you consider it?
Active player (489)
Joined: 1/12/2007
Posts: 682
I'm aware of dying after entering a level, but it's slower in every single case, than just picking up a canteen.
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
Encoding...
Player (12)
Joined: 6/17/2006
Posts: 498
I liked how this horrible game resulted in interesting counter-intuitive strategies. Not the best run ever, but it appears very well optimized and I remained entertained throughout the entire run with the exception of the pirate slaying part. Yes vote overall.
Editor, Experienced player (607)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
Not one of the worst games ever made, but still pretty bad. Good TAS though. Looks optimized and it's nice to see a full playthrough of the game (including the nonsensical ending). Yes vote.
Skilled player (1669)
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
I'm not a hundred percent on the hit you suffered in the spider cave. How much faster was it to take damage there as opposed to save the hit point for the pirate ship?
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2174
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
CoolKirby wrote:
Not one of the worst games ever made, but still pretty bad. Good TAS though. Looks optimized and it's nice to see a full playthrough of the game (including the nonsensical ending). Yes vote.
My thoughts exactly. Yes vote from me too.
Editor, Skilled player (1936)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3239
Sorry, I accidentally deleted the poll. I have set a new one up again. Feel free to vote whatever you voted before. By the way, there is a run of this game on nicovideo. However, it is both slower and suffers from A/V problems: Account: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7919203 No account: http://www.nicozon.net/watch/sm7919203
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-pAiYh534Q Official HD encode (''Original'' definition)
RachelB
She/Her
Player (127)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
Definitely your best tas yet! Voting yes.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Expert player, Publisher (2254)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6324
Location: The land down under.
I NEED AVGN QUOTES! Yes vote!
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. These colours are pretty neato, and also these.
Editor, Skilled player (1502)
Joined: 7/9/2010
Posts: 1317
Lesters movement is just funny. :D Yes from me!
Favorite animal: STOCK Gt(ROSA)26Sortm1.1(rtTA,EGFP)Nagy Grm7Tg(SMN2)89Ahmb Smn1tm1Msd Tg(SMN2*delta7)4299Ahmb Tg(tetO-SMN2,-luc)#aAhmb/J YouTube Twitch
Active player (266)
Joined: 9/14/2011
Posts: 349
The game looks familiar to 'Another World' or 'Prince of Persia', even though this is even more terrible. Lucky that TAS made it somewhat entertaining.
Active player (303)
Joined: 8/21/2012
Posts: 429
Location: France
A yes for Lester's quest Lester the unlikely. The game looks bad, so it's satisfying to see it being abused, like in the end of the volcano, the vertical climbing. And for all the reasons cited before: it looks optimized, it beats another run (on Nicovideo), etc...
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
I'm giving this run my yes vote. haha. So funny to see such a miserable piece of crap like this game beaten si quickly.
Active player (406)
Joined: 2/29/2012
Posts: 192
Cooljay wrote:
Sadly I have to agree with Mr Kelly R. Flewin. The level design in this game is repetitive and boring, also the fast pace of Lester's running comes to a halt very quickly to do slow mundane tasks. No vote.
People down-vote TAS's of (officially licensed) games just because they're bad games lol <_<? The more official games TASed the better IMO, as long as the TAS itself was done well. No need to limit the game library because you think the game is bad, somebody that grew up with it may think it's fun, it does have a unique theme.
Experienced player (508)
Joined: 11/2/2010
Posts: 359
alec kermit wrote:
People down-vote TAS's of (officially licensed) games just because they're bad games lol <_<? The more official games TASed the better IMO, as long as the TAS itself was done well. No need to limit the game library because you think the game is bad, somebody that grew up with it may think it's fun, it does have a unique theme.
That isn't how this site works though. The official Judge Rules say that "Quantity is not quality." You may not like it but the site has set a very strong precedent that rejecting for bad game choice is a perfectly legitimate reason. If every TAS was accepted regardless of quality of the game then I would have twice the number of published TASes and on average the quality of NES TASes would be worse because of it. If this is rejected for bad game choice those who grew up with it will still be able to find it either through TASVideos search feature or, thanks to encodes, through a simple search on Google. The site has declared that it prefers quality over quantity and is willing to sacrifice the few who are nostalgic for bad games so that the overall quality remains high. On this movie I do not have an opinion as I haven't been as involved in TASing lately and have only been watching movies I was pretty sure I would like but I just figured I should put forth a response.
Editor, Experienced player (851)
Joined: 8/12/2008
Posts: 845
Location: Québec, Canada
Voting NO for bad game choice.