Probably everyone knows about Tom and Jerry regardless of age. It was one of not many games I used to play on my friend's hardware when his mother allowed me to borrow it for a day before I bought my own Mega Drive. Despite the fact that I have never passed the second level and have never opened the settings to decrease the difficulty, I had only good felling about it!
Of course, the only possible genre of this game is a platformer. Lots of enemies try to kill you and you have the timer on each level. You run through levels, keep away from enemies and collect fish/cheese to restore your health (it's not score). Collecting food doesn't affect the time, so AndyD was wrong about keeping away from it.
I have done a WIP of first 2 levels. User movie #19021574039808974
Everything is OK with starting input and with 2nd level? Any improves or known glitches?
Thanks!
AndyD's submission; desyncs on the 1st level, so I can't compare it to my TAS!
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
AndyD's submission; desyncs on the 1st level, so I can't compare it to my TAS!
I'm just going to assume you're using 1993 version because he used 1994.
Heck that is the case, I just got it to sync.
Wow! I didn't guess there are different versions of this game. It isn't a patch, is it?
Wait! This game was released in 1994 for Gen. Looks like I'm playing beta.
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
(Sorry for a late feedback! I was too busy with other work!)
Thanks for a test run, but I've found better improve for the 2nd stage. Now I'm using the 1994 version, so there are also improves with start menu and massages.
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Joined: 9/27/2017
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow, Russia
Necroposting!
But hey, I guess I overtake this TAS as I'm currently making one. Been making it for a year (or so) with really low pace, then I found a few cool glitches and had to start over. Stage 1 is currently finished, saved up around 100 frames over Dimon12321's run.
UPD: I'm saving frames on level 2 as well; currently saved up 25 frames on first tenth of the level.
Nice to know that someone decided to take this game. Good luck GrimMaple!
By the way what cool glitches did you found?
I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Current projects: NES: Tetris "fastest 999999" (improvement, with r57shell)
Genesis: Adventures of Batman & Robin (with Truncated); Pocahontas; Comix Zone (improvement); Mickey Mania (improvement); RoboCop versus The Terminator (improvement); Gargoyles (with feos)
Joined: 9/27/2017
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow, Russia
Archanfel wrote:
Nice to know that someone decided to take this game. Good luck GrimMaple!
By the way what cool glitches did you found?
Thanks for the good luck wish! :)
Basically, 1 major glitch: for some reason, on the frame you land on the ground your horizontal speed is increased, but for 1 single frame. If you jump on that very exact frame, you can keep that increased speed. This allows you to travel slightly faster. Here's a demonstration of that effect: https://youtu.be/YrwBnNSPc7c
It is also possible to clip into some walls, but only with Jerry, as Tom's sprite is too huge to fit small holes in level design. It is funny, but I accidentally discovered that during one of my RTA attempts. I found 2 places when you can clip through a wall, but it is only usable in Attic, saving around 10 seconds.
One stage 2 I lose some frames by jumping over Jerry in the end of the level and heading back at full speed. By doing that you can spawn giant ball right next to Jerry. It just looks funny IMO.
On the last boss fight it is possible to softlock the game, because ladders are treated as a ground and whenever you leave a ladder the game still thinks you are on the ground, so you can double jump (first jump comes from pressing UP on top of the ladder, second from pressing B) and clip yourself through a wall on the left. Then you get stuck there and there is no way back.
Joined: 9/27/2017
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow, Russia
Necroposting again, but it's time to put some update on the game.
Since last time I managed to cover 4 out of 8 levels of the game, and compared to #2382: Pikachu's Genesis Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics! in 09:55.77 saved more than 1000 frames up to that point. More than 15 seconds gone already, considered I haven't really started optimizing the run to the core.
Discovered a few new things in the game, like damage boosting in water: if you hold down after getting damage while in water, you will get boosted down pretty hard. Saves around 2 seconds in level 3.
Ladder jumping doesn't seem to do much at all, will have to be timed to be sure.
The jump glitch actually helps a lot, even though it renders movement in this game really damn annoying :/
Throwing projectiles slows you down btw, so you want to ignore that until it's 100% necessary.
Level 5 is gonna be a huge pain to do. Level 6 will introduce around 8 seconds timesave. Level 7 is just straight-forward and then Level 8, after which I will try optimizing what was already done.
Joined: 9/27/2017
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow, Russia
After I played this game with a friend in co-op mode, I figured it might be actually faster to use 2 players and dump Tom in the nearest hole, maybe I'll find another way of clipping into walls with Jerry and thus making the run faster. Have to test it now :)
Joined: 7/3/2022
Posts: 463
Location: Berkshire, UK
Hello everyone,
As you probably know, I’ve made a TAS of this game. It’s come to my attention that an American speedrunner under the alias JeffSpeed has made some new innovations.
The Alley
Jeff used a new route which doesn’t have as much time being airborne.
The Library
Jeff managed to clip through the staircase and get to the telegram piece faster.
The Basement
Instead of climbing up the 2nd set of platforms, Jeff used 2 pipes to throw himself up to the ledge much quicker.
The Attic
Instead of jumping onto the hat rack, Jeff used 2 item throws to get to the ledge slightly faster. He also used a bounce and an item throw to get to the top of a stack of crates faster instead of climbing the window and platforms.
The Cabin
Jeff innovated a slightly new route involving different item throws.
Here are the 2 videos showcasing these new strategies:
Link to videoLink to video
With these strategies in place, I predict I can get a TAS time under 5:30, and will be starting work on the improvements later today.
EDIT: I managed up until the 2nd half of The Cabin. Induviel agreed to do the last part of the TAS and will be checking to see if his work is optimised enough later on.
EDIT #2: Our work is pretty much done! This was a fun collaboration and I’m very proud of it. The final TAS time is 5:29.59.
