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Pin*Bot

Pin*Bot is a pinball game developed by Rare. It is based on the 1986 pinball machine made by Williams.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.2.1
  • Top the leaderboard (score more than 9,983,270 points)

About the run

The game has multiple avialable stages. Later stages feature fantastic things like a cloud that can chew up the ball and spit it out, or the ball becoming triangular in shape. The end credits are based on score only and this TAS foregoes later stages in the interest of obtaining the requisite score quickly.
Pin*Bot includes many features you'd expect to see when playing pinball, and many ways to score. The controls are what you'd expect from a pinball machine, but the big advantage the TAS can exploit is bumping the table. Note that as in real life too many bumps can result in a tilt.

Scoring Strategies

  • The 'vortex' - The biggest point value for our time. When you start the game and pull the plunger the ball is launched up to a spiral in the top right, the middle of the three holes in this spiral nets you a cool 100,000.
  • multi-ball - Triggering multi-ball not only gives us a second ball it also gives sets the multiplier to 2x and stacks on a separate 2x multiplier for multi-ball.
  • Solar ramp - Shooting the big ramp on the left deposits the ball on an upper layer on the right, from here the ball can end up back on the plunger. Falling into this chute increases your multiplier (separately from the 2x for multi-ball, and with a cap of 10x)

Controls

  • D-pad - left flipper
  • A - right flipper
  • B - plunger
  • select - bump right
  • start - bump left
  • p2 B - pause
  • p2 D-pad - move selection in pause mode
  • p2 A - turn options on/off (voice, music, or sound effects can be disabled)

Route

  • The first step is to pause and turn off the voice. The menu costs a handfull of frames, but if left enabled the synthesized voice will halt the game at the start of ball 1 and when triggering multi-ball. The savings here is hundreds of frames.
  • Next lose the first two balls as quickly as possible so we can pack the activity into the last ball and end the input early.
  • On the third ball we go for multi-ball first to get a second ball and the 2x multiplier.
  • Once we have the second ball we shoot the solar ramp with both balls a couple of times to work our multiplier up to 6x.
  • Last we shoot the vortex. At 1,200,000 each time (100,000 x 6 (multiplier) x 2 (multiball)) it only takes eight trips to get to 9.6 million. Hits against the pop bumpers as we manipulate our way back into the vortex (along with a few other incidental points) make up the balance of our high score.

Improvements

  • I imagine this could be improved, especially with some botting. The limited controls and risk of tilt limit the input set pretty significantly.
  • Manipulating the balls to go from the pop bumpers back up the right side with the right speed to get back to the vortex is particularly difficult to manipulate and therefore has the most potential.
  • This route came together pretty well, but depending on how the vortex maniuplating goes it may be faster to spend less time shooting the solar ramp for multipliers and more time manipulating your way into the vortex for an overall faster time. This would take a lot more checking, and would be easier with the aforementioned bot.

Thanks to:

  • Inzult for his help and previous (unsubmitted) run
  • Beerfullofbelly for his WR run
  • The TASMania team
  • my Twitch chat for the ideas and encouragement

Screenshots:

745, 4341, 5527, 10950
feos: This is a nice run. Having to compete with (presumably) Tim Stamper in score to see the credits is an amusing requirement. This run is even vault eligible, because we don't have to max out the score - we just need to beat the highest score programmed into the leaderboard, which is the only way to see the credits.
The run got good feedback, so I'm accepting it to the Moons.
It's also interesting what the title should be. Pin•Bot is the original title presented in the cover art and in the title screen of the game, Wikipedia calls it Pin Bot, MobyGames calls it Pin-Bot, GameFAQs calls is Pinbot, Nintendo Wikia call is Pin*Bot. Sounds like the matter of opinion really.
fsvgm777: Processing.

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Posted: 1/10/2018 7:27 AM
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TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5788: link_7777 & Inzult's NES Pin-Bot in 01:36.37
Posted: 1/10/2018 8:29 AM
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Habreno
Joined: 5/23/2014
Posts: 162
Interesting goal choice. Very nifty to manipulate re-vortexes from the bumpers, that is far faster than I expected it would be. I'm going to link the real-life pinball table this game is based on, for anyone who is interested in comparing. http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1796 I'm voting yes on this, but I'm also a pinball aficionado and think most pinball TASes are impressive.
Posted: 1/10/2018 11:43 AM
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Blazephlozard
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Joined: 2/27/2013
Posts: 175
Location: Ohio
Agree entirely with Habreno, very nice goal choice and the manipulation of the bumpers looks great. Reminds me of old TASes like Tetrisphere and Wetrix. It's insane to get 10 million points that quickly.
Posted: 1/11/2018 2:14 AM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
I'm the exact opposite. As a fan of both the pinball table and the NES game, I wanted to see super fast advancing through the Solar System and through the different stages. At least you got multiball, but just scoring a lot of points really fast was boring, and didn't even feel as skillful as completing the game's objectives.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 1/11/2018 3:17 AM
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link_7777
Experienced player (852)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I agree that the game deserves a run that plays through the stages, and I imagine that run would also be pretty fast. For some reason the developers decided to tie the credit roll to the score, and I still think that is the most obvious any% sort of goal.
Posted: 1/13/2018 6:12 AM
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Ford
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The game was adequately done, but I feel this game was a poor choice. Voting no.
Posted: 1/13/2018 3:01 PM
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Dwedit
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I don't think merely getting to the top of the high score list is enough of a goal.
Posted: 1/13/2018 4:29 PM
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ThunderAxe31
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Arcade TAS of 2023 Homebrew TAS of 2023 PSX TASer of 2022 Gameboy TASer of 2017
Dwedit wrote:
I don't think merely getting to the top of the high score list is enough of a goal.
From what I could understand, that was the only way to trigger the game credits. If I'm right, then it's a Vaultable run. By the way, Yes vote from me.
my personal page - my YouTube channel - my GitHub - my Discord: thunderaxe31 <Masterjun> if you look at the "NES" in a weird angle, it actually clearly says "GBA"
Posted: 1/13/2018 6:53 PM
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hopper
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
Vaultable perhaps. A run that completes the game would probably be Moonable.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Posted: 1/13/2018 10:35 PM
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hegyak
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I will try and point out the gameplay rules/mechanics so others can tell what is going on or could be done. To advance the table to the next environment/stage you need to get Multiball then put one ball into one of the two holes on Pin*Bot, then get a Solar before the timer expires. After repeating this process on the third area, the enviroment/stage reverts back to the first stage. To activate multiball, you need to light up all 25 lights on Pin*Bot's chest area. Shooting a light line, will complete the chest, if you haven't light any other lights yet. If you light up all of Pin*Bot's chest during Multiball, I don't know what happens. Never got it to happen. To get a Triangle Ball, you need to get to the Meteor or Comet. To accomplish this, you need to get the ball to go down the inner left, drain, then hit the blue/green target on the right side of the table advancing your position in the solar system. If I remember correctly, it's twice to the Sun. From Pluto, to the Sun, and then do it again. The game should flash "SPECIAL" when you have done this. Enviroment/stage 2 is a night/dark area. There's a blue creature/cloud thing that moves around the solar system, until it reaches the Sun. Once it reaches the Sun, it will be fully grown and will attempt to eat/destroy your ball(s). Environment/stage 3 is a desert like area. There's some kind of, flying thing that will occasionally drop a missile that will hit your flipper. One hit and it turns grey. Two hits and the flipper is destroyed until the next ball. Hitting the missile with your ball, destroys the missile. Energy value is raised by hitting the poppers. When you hit the upper left drop targets when the light is flashing for that target, the Solar Ramp will raise up. Shooting a ball into the raised ramp hole, causes the Energy value to be given. Getting a ball into the Right Inner Drain, you activate the Upper Left Hole next to the Solar Ramp. It goes 25K, 50K, 75K, Extra Ball, 75K Until End of Ball. Getting a top score in the high score table, causes the credits to be displayed after all balls have been drained. If I missed anything, or if you have questions, please feel free to ask. I love this game. Played it a lot when I was young. Still love this NES game.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
Posted: 1/14/2018 4:49 AM
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Evan0512
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It was unlike "Pinball" NES game, but it was similar. Pin*Bot was confused because it was a name. I will judge and reject the movie, for every pinball I made less than nine million points.
Planned runs: Marble Madness (Arcade, Genesis J, GG/SMS) Proposed: Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis, GG/SMS, CD: regular, camera freeze) Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis, GG/SMS, CD; normal mode) Mario Kart DS (all cups, all missions) In progress: Grand Poo World 3 (all exits hard mode)
Posted: 1/14/2018 9:45 AM
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Spikestuff
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Flash TASer of 2022 PSX TASer of 2016
Evan0512 wrote:
I will judge and reject the movie.
Only people who are part of the Judging Staff can Judge the movies. Someone like you who has a terrible understanding on anything as well as a terrible TASing track record (ontop of being a person who bumps dead threads for no reason, which I'd link a very recent one but those posts are deleted for reasons) would never become a judge. Or someone who doesn't have a sense of humor. Or someone who straight up posts for no reason. --- Since I forced myself to post here. I voted Meh on this. It's short, sweet but not entertaining enough from my point of view.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Posted: 1/17/2018 9:48 AM
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Habreno
Joined: 5/23/2014
Posts: 162
On Balls 1 and 2, would it not have been possible to tilt the table in order to cancel the bonus advance? I can think of a couple reasons why this wouldn't work (the bonus countdown takes just as long regardless; you can't tilt out the table while still draining the ball as quickly; tilting ends the game entirely) but I don't know the game (not the table, the game itself) so I don't know.
Posted: 1/19/2018 7:37 AM
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link_7777
Experienced player (852)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I didn't think to check before, but it tuns out you still get the 1k bonus just for playing even if you tilt and the time remains the same. It was a good suggestion though. On another topic I noticed in my RTA runs that you can get a very large bonus when you move to stage 2 (by getting a ball stuck and shooting the solar ramp). I was thinking this may save time in the TAS, but it turned out not to be useful. Each time you shoot the solar ramp it adds 50k (on top of an initial 100k) to a bonus that gets collected when you transition to the next stage. Apparently this value does not get cleared between games as you'd expect, so you can stash 5M, game over, multi-ball, advance stage, collect your 10M ftw. This cheese strat has been added as an RTA category, but doesn't affect the TAS since the TAS starts from power on and it takes a while to grind out the solar ramp bonus.
Posted: 1/19/2018 11:27 AM
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Habreno
Joined: 5/23/2014
Posts: 162
That it still gives you the 1k points on tilt I was not expecting.
Posted: 1/22/2018 6:46 PM
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link_7777
Experienced player (852)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I didn't think too much about the proper title. I've always thought of it at Pin*Bot, and I submitted it that way. Looking around a bit the official title is really unclear. The actual Logo has a pinball in the middle, and I seems like people use asterisk, dash, or space interchangeably to represent that. Perhaps a closer approximation would actually be Pin•Bot
Posted: 1/22/2018 6:48 PM
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feos
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NES TAS of 2011
That's what I said, but we don't use fancy chars in game names.
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.
Posted: 1/22/2018 6:56 PM
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link_7777
Experienced player (852)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
Fair enough. I like 'Pin*Bot' or 'Pin-Bot' well enough, and I like 'Pinbot' or 'Pin Bot' less, but as you said, seems to be a matter of opinion. Not really a big deal
Posted: 1/22/2018 8:40 PM
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Habreno
Joined: 5/23/2014
Posts: 162
If not using the official table name, Pin Bot
Posted: 1/28/2018 9:33 PM
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Nicos
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
hopper wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. As a fan of both the pinball table and the NES game, I wanted to see super fast advancing through the Solar System and through the different stages. At least you got multiball, but just scoring a lot of points really fast was boring, and didn't even feel as skillful as completing the game's objectives.
while technicaly impressive, i'm with hopper on this one, that nes game kinda hooked me back with my nes at the time i always wanted to see a all stage run ( because fuck that cloud i only did go past that stage once) still : yes vote and keeping my hopes highs for a full game run (with the syntethized voices on )
Posted: 2/5/2018 6:24 PM
Post subject: Movie published
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TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3624] NES Pin-Bot by link_7777 & Inzult in 01:36.37
Posted: 10/14/2023 12:15 AM
(Edited: 10/14/2023 12:20 AM)
Quote
zaphod77
Joined: 1/13/2007
Posts: 335
How the game actually works. The 100% goals are 1) beat all environments. 2) get the square pinballs 3) beat the default high score. 4) drain all balls The real truth. To get the ball changed, advance to sun. to do this, either go through the left inlane and hit the advance target on the right, OR complete the left 3 bank of drop targets. Once you've reached the sun and collected its special, the balls will turn to triangles. To beat all environments. collect the solar value. to do this, lock both balls, relock one ball, and shoot the other up the ramp. This takes you to the next one. If NO chest lights are lit (true at start of game(, the lights will light in rows and columns one at a time. if you hit the lit one, that instantly completes the chest, and opens the visor. provided you do NOT strike any targets after opening the visor, you will get the same opportunity after the visor closes again from scoring the solar value. First solar value takes you to green/blue board. second one gets you to orange board. third gets you to blue board, fourth gets you to white board, and fifth gets you to green board, and upgrades the ball from circle to triangle, or from triangle to square. Sixth solar value collected brings you to back to purple/blue board. Unlike real pin*bot, you CANNOT just keep shooting one back into the visor to collect the next solar value. you must complete the visor, and relock both balls to re-enable the solar eclipse from locking a single one in the visor. However, you CAN do the fast open, provided you avoid hitting *any* visor targets after you open it, because you will get another fast open skillshot, even if you still have both balls.
Posted: 2/24/2024 12:12 AM
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CloakTheLurker
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I fixed the movie file for BizHawk 2.2.1 (please replace the current movie file with this one): link_7777,inzult-pinbot-fix.bk2 I also made a minor resync for BizHawk 2.9.1: link_7777,inzult-pinbot-resync.bk2
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Posted: 2/24/2024 6:04 AM
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feos
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Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11267
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NES TAS of 2011
What did you fix, and why replace the file?
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.
Posted: 2/24/2024 2:46 PM
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CloakTheLurker
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feos wrote:
What did you fix, and why replace the file?
The original file doesn't have sync settings, you need to manually change the NES Right Port to ControllerNES in the core's controller settings, otherwise the run doesn't sync properly. My fixed file has the sync settings and plays automatically.
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