Lua scripts used

Position and speed
Cam hack (don't use it before approaching an exit)

Movie objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 1.13.2
  • Beat the game as fast as possible
  • Leave your family imprisoned
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Genre: Platform

Items

  • Pac-Dot: Can be thrown at enemies.
  • Power Pellet: Once picked, it temporarily give the ability to eat Ghosts.
  • Fruit: Gives points and can be used for opening Fruit Doors.
  • Chrome Power Up: Makes Pac-Man invicible and allows to walk under water.
  • Pac-Man symbol: Gives one life.

Objects

  • Green Switch: Can be activated once.
  • Yellow Switch: Can be actived again after some time.
  • Blue Switch: Each one has a special effect.
  • B-Doing: Launches Pac-Man in air when Butt-Bounced.
  • Steep slopes: Can't walk on it, only Rev Roll or Butt-Bounce works.
  • Rev Pad: Keep B in order to activate.
  • Helivator: Keep B in order to move.
  • Fruit Door: You need the relative fruit in order to open.

Abilities

  • Butt-Bounce: Press A button while in air.
  • Rev Roll: Keep B button, then release.
  • throwing a Pac-Dot: Press R button, keep for Super Pac-Dot explosion.

Tricks

  • Leave screen faster: The trigger for reaching the next area is vertical, instead of following the isometric 3D. This means that you can save some frames when you have some spare time for walking up before reaching it (eg: while you jump over steps).
  • Quick Butt-Bounce: Instead of jumping, walk off a ledge and go back while pressing A on the next frame. This allows to trigger switches without having to jump, as well as being able to reach higher places faster.
  • Moving platforms boost: Helivators and moving platforms have they own speed which gets stacked to Pac-Man's when he jumps.
  • Landing boost: When you land while doing a Rev Roll, if you jump on the same frame you touch the ground and you don't press any directional button, you will keep the speed. The speed will gradually decrement while in air, so you need to resume using the directional buttons after some frames. This trick can be used when falling from any kind of edges, even from Switch buttons.
  • Reverse ledge jump boost: If you're on the ledge of a moving platform, if you do a Rev Roll towards the inner of the edge, Pac-Man's will instantly stop; jumping on the same frame will have the same effect of the landing boost trick, which enables to make longer jumps.
  • Reverse wall jump boost: Same as above, if you Rev Roll against a wall at point blank distance and jump on the same frame you stop, Pac-Man will perform a long jump backwards.
  • Corner pit jump boost: When you touch the corner of a pit while Rev Rolling Pac-Man will instantly stop, and if you press jump on the same frame you will make a long jump, just like in the two tricks above.
  • Invincibility glitch: While you have no hit points left, throw a Pac-Dot while you're being hit. Needs frame precision. You'll remain unvulnerable until you leave the screen.
  • Damage abuse: You keep your current X and Y speeds for some moments. Also, if you reach the exit of the current room while you're being hit, the screen transition will be instantaneous.
  • Super discounted Pac-Dot explosion glitch: Keep R button fo exactly the minimum amount of frame necessary for Super Pac-Dot explosion, 90 frames. This will make it cost just 1 Pac-Dot, instead of 10. Very useful during the final fight.

Zips

  • Second beach level, frame 5660 (1:34): That jump is very tight and requires very precise movements in order to turn around the wall and reach the platform on the right; it's very hard to perform in real time. In a normal playthrough, you're supposed to proceed by swimming underwater, which is soooo slow.
  • Second beach level, frame 6520 (1:49): With pixel precise movement, it's possible to get warped on an invisible floor above. I then jump on another invisible floor, and then directly reach the exit from behind.
  • Second beach level, frame 8800: (2:27)I clip through the door by jumping on its upper edge with pixel precision. It's possible to exit normally, but instead I approached the door with subpixel precision in order to get instantly warped upside.
  • First cave level, frame 14540 (4:03): There is a spider that descends from above, and I Butt-Bounce on it as soon as possible in order to climb directly towards the exit.
  • First cave level, frame 16700 (4:39): The Helivator makes that platform rise, opening a shortcut; it quickly closes itself again though. Need to be quick.
  • First cave level, frame 19490 (5:26): I Butt-Bounce on an enemy in order to zip towards a high place, but the real zip goes right after that: I used the landing boost in order to perform a long jump. You're normally supposed to take a huge detour and travel them by a Helivator found on the far right. Screw the rules, we're just going to swim our way through the air.
  • First cave level, frame 20470 (5:42): On the same frame you regain control it's possible to jump, effectively bringing Pac-Man inside the wall. Until you get enough below the water level, you can jump again and again. Moving by jumping is much faster than swimming.
  • Second space level, frame 39870 (11:07): Glitch found by chance and only applicable in this specific spot. It's easier to do it yourself than explaining, but I'll try... In order to perform it you need to: 1) be in air, 2) enter the corridor on right, second floor, 3) touch the invisible wall by pressing Down button, 4) go out of the corridor by going Left, 5) approach the invisible wall of the corridor from the outside, 6) move for at least two frames in Up+Right direction, 7) touch the invisible wall from outside of the corridor. In this order, while still in air. If done correctly, you will instantly warp to the fifth floor. Don't ask why. Don't.

Useful addresses (.wch format)

SystemID GBA
000B40	d	s	0	EWRAM	Pac-Man X
000B44	d	s	0	EWRAM	Pac-Man Y
000B48	d	s	0	EWRAM	Pac-Man Z
000D08	d	s	0	EWRAM	Cam X
000D0C	d	s	0	EWRAM	Cam Y
000AEE	b	u	0	EWRAM	Dash charge
000AF2	b	u	0	EWRAM	Explosion charge
001C38	b	u	0	EWRAM	Pac-Dots
001C3B	b	s	0	EWRAM	Pac-Man HP
002126	w	s	0	EWRAM	Toc-Man damage
003DCC	d	s	0	EWRAM	Toc-Man X
003DD0	d	s	0	EWRAM	Toc-Man Y

Memory: Looks interesting, claiming
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 824 frames improvement.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 2 frames improvement.
Memory: Movie seems well-executed.
There's plenty to enjoy with this movie with the zips, various movement options and other techniques. I do wish that the movement was a tad bit more fluid but it's still enjoyable regardless. The audience also appeared to like the movie so the choice of tier seems obvious.
Accepting to Moons.
Memory: Setting to delayed in light of a new glitch.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 179 frames improvement.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 340 frames improvement.
Memory: ...OK is it over? OK good. Anyways the new glitches are cool but the rest of the TAS is mostly unchanged so still accepting to Moons.
feos: Pub.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6076: ThunderAxe31's GBA Pac-Man World in 21:09.52
Skilled player (1672)
Joined: 7/1/2013
Posts: 448
Delightful! Yes vote.
Editor, Player (175)
Joined: 4/7/2015
Posts: 331
Location: Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Oh so this game have a GBA version, nice! Another nice thing is the TAS itself: congrats, it's really amazing, loved the tricks and the shortcuts used. Do you intend to make a "100%" TAS of it someday? And did you make any documentation or Lua script of this game? Note: It's weird that some enemies look more 3D than others, by having more frames of pre-rendered animation/graphics or something like that. Note 2: why, just WHY not making a music theme exclusively for the final boss?
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
brunovalads wrote:
Do you intend to make a "100%" TAS of it someday?
Yes.
brunovalads wrote:
And did you make any documentation or Lua script of this game?
Not sure what you mean by documentation... Subtitles would be a bad idea, since you can't really watch this movie and read at the same time. But I guess I should list the zips in the submission text. Edit: added. Regarding Lua, do you have any ideas in particular? The only thing that comes to mind would be to make a map display, but that would require much reverse-engeneering probably not be that useful in the end... In any case, you can get the script I used for TASing: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/49345614448199520
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"
Lil_Gecko
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Posts: 520
That was nice and entertaining. Yes vote from me.
Editor, Player (175)
Joined: 4/7/2015
Posts: 331
Location: Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
Not sure what you mean by documentation
I meant more documentation about the game itself, like physics, enemy behavior, levels, RAM addresses (now I see you have a few on your lua script), etc.
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
Regarding Lua, do you have any ideas in particular?
Not quite, I'm not familiar with all the particularities of this game. When I play a platformer I usually think on player info (position, speed, timers), sprite/enemy info (position, speed, hitboxes, timers) and some general info (RNG, timers, level info), but it seems that your script does the job for this TAS. And yea, a map feature would be nice, after some deep research.
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
Experienced player (705)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1800
Location: Brasil
they made him a yellow sonic wow
I want all good TAS inside TASvideos, it's my motto. TAS i'm interested: Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS? i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
brunovalads wrote:
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
Regarding Lua, do you have any ideas in particular?
Not quite, I'm not familiar with all the particularities of this game. When I play a platformer I usually think on player info (position, speed, timers), sprite/enemy info (position, speed, hitboxes, timers) and some general info (RNG, timers, level info), but it seems that your script does the job for this TAS. And yea, a map feature would be nice, after some deep research.
Sorry, I don't feel like adding much details right now, and the fact that I'm busy with other stuff doesn't help either. I've added my address list to the submission text, though.
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"
Post subject: New glitch discovered
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
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I've just found a way to pass through closed doors. This is going to save some seconds of gameplay at least, in the best case scenario it could save even a minute overall. So please, set this submission to delayed until I include the new improvements.
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"
Post subject: Re: New glitch discovered
Editor, Player (175)
Joined: 4/7/2015
Posts: 331
Location: Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
I've just found a way to pass through closed doors.
Oh nice, so that will make the run "fruit-less"?
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math. My things: YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
Post subject: Re: Re: New glitch discovered
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
brunovalads wrote:
ThunderAxe31 wrote:
I've just found a way to pass through closed doors.
Oh nice, so that will make the run "fruit-less"?
Yep. Edit: No, there are two doors that I couldn't glitch through. Also, in the first level I get a banana just because it's on the way. Edit 2: The second door clip turned out to be 2 frames slower....... I was hoping that this glitch could have saved a lot of time, but instead is gonna save few seconds... But on the other hand, I've found another glitch. I'm now looking for useful applications... Edit: Great, the new glitch as well saved some time... 1 frame. You can see it at frame 24670. Edit 2: Now I'm done with the improvements, I apologize for the inconvenient. By the way, have here a cam hack script. Note that it causes desync if used before approaching room exits.
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"
Post subject: updated temp encode
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
Joined: 9/12/2016
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I've replaced the temp encode in the submission, in order to show the little new glitches for anyone who could be interested.
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"
Post subject: Movie published
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. ---- [3778] GBA Pac-Man World by ThunderAxe31 in 21:09.52
Post subject: Requesting encode replacement
Editor, Reviewer, Skilled player (1359)
Joined: 9/12/2016
Posts: 1646
Location: Italy
Two years later, mGBA in BizHawk has finally introduced a fix for audio emulation of this game! For this reason, I officially request that the encode for this movie gets replaced with a resync on BizHawk 2.6.0 (and maybe also add the new movie file). I already resynced it myself. You can download the new file from there: User movie #68854598426206624
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"
EZGames69
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Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2762
I can provide the encodes for this
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing