NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU USE VBA-NEXT WITH THIS MOVIE! mGBA has an unresolved issue emulating this game which will prevent you from advancing past the title screen!
Roboteers, ready! Robot Wars - Extreme Destruction is the final game published under the Robot Wars license, and this GBA port is arguably the best game in the series. Robot combat on the go, this game is a must-play for any roboteer or fan of metal mayhem.
In this run, Firestorm 3 blatantly bullies the other contestants, finishing every one of it's fights in under 10 seconds to clock in a total run time of 5:20.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: VBA-Next
  • BIOS: Game Boy Advance (W).gba
  • Complete all tournaments
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Genre: Action
  • Intended for Vault

Comments

This one was much easier to complete than the Harry Potter TAS I did, lemme say that for nothing! I always liked this game growing up as a kid, and what with it being a game that isn't too RNG-heavy, it was also quite a fun run to do. Wish there was more to the strategy than what appeared in the end product, but ah well.

Generalities

In Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction, you get to play as or build your own robot, and go through several competitions in a variety of arenas in order to come out on top as the true master of mayhem. Featuring famous robots from the TV Show, like Hypno-Disc, Chaos 2 and Razer, claiming the crown as the champion of Robot Wars will be no easy feat - especially with the big bad House Robots on your tail!

Stage by stage comments

Bronze Tournament

Relatively easy, but should give you an idea of the overall strat used throughout the majority of this run.

(1) Vs. 101

So, the strategy immediately as the fight begins is to go for the pit release button. Seeing as you can't achieve OOTA (Out of The Arena) flips in this game, the quickest way to win a fight is to dump your opponent in the pit. In the time it takes for us to go for the pit button, 101 will have darted across the arena towards us, at which point we ram into them with our rear end, in an attempt to bounce them off of our rear and immediately into the pit. It took a few tries because 101's spike on the front instantaneously pushes you away, but it also pushes them back a bit, so after 3 attempts we were able to get them in.

(2) Vs. Bigger Brother

This time around, we started with a good power-up - Aerodynamics. It's the only powerup in the game worth using, and it basically gives your bot a 2X speed boost. Same strat as before, but with the 2X speed boost ending this fight in only 5 seconds!

(3) Vs. Thermidor II

Same as 2.

(4) Vs. Wheely Big Cheese

Same as 2.

Silver Tournament

Here the difficulty of the robots you're fighting steps up a little, but we didn't need to change our strategy.

(5) Vs. Thermidor II

Here you can see how much of a difference not having Aerodynamics makes! With the previous Thermidor fight it was over in seconds, this one required a bit more of a pushing match. Still the same overall strategy, though.

(6) Vs. Wheely Big Cheese

Same as 5.

(7) Vs. Hypno-Disc

Same as 5.

(8) Vs. Pussy-Cat

Same as 5.

Gold Tournament

Toughest tournament before you get to the house robots. Even with that in mind, for the majority of fights we didn't need to change our strategy.

(9) Vs. Pussycat

Same as 5.

(10) Vs. Chaos 2

Same as 2, although executed differently - we were able to get them flung into the pit off of our first bounce! With the time spare waiting for them to fall in the pit, we decided to have a pop at Dead Metal, flip him over too. ;)

(11) Vs. Panzer Mk4

Same as 2.

(12) Vs. Destructive Criticism

Same as 2.

House Robot Tournament

And here it is, the toughest tournament. The strategy is roughly the same, although it's a lot harder to push the house robots because of their increased weight, and so the strategy changes accordingly.

(13) Vs. Dead Metal

Same as 2, except here we used the flipper to get out of Dead Metal's jaws and give ourselves more leverage on the push. This game's physics calculations are... approximate, at best, and it generally calculates who's on top of who based on visible pixels, so popping the flipper as we went into his jaws made the game think we were above him.

(14) Vs. Matilda

Matilda was a very interesting fight because while she is the fastest House Robot in the game, she can't steer very well, and has a tendency to just charge into stuff! She'll try to turn, but her turns are generally very wide, and we abused this to make her drive herself into the pit.

(15) Vs. Sgt. Bash

Same as 5, except we didn't have the pushing power to push Sgt. Bash's weight into the pit, so we let the poorly designed AI handle that for us. ;)

(16) Vs. Sir Killalot

This and Dead Metal were the toughest fights. Sir K is by far the heaviest house robot, and the hardest to push - not to mention he has one of the most damaging killplanes on a bot right out in front of him, so getting around to his sides was quite important for winning this one. Again, like the Dead Metal fight, using the flipper to gain leverage, and just gradually, slowly pushing him back until he collapses into the pit.
And that's it! Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction in 5:20.

Other comments

This TAS could probably be improved by finding out what determines the power-ups you receive at the start of a match, and then abusing that so you get Aerodynamics at the start of every match. However, even if you get that, I don't think this TAS will come out of Vault, so it'll remain unoptimized unless someone wants to pick up the slack.

Screenshot Suggestions

  • 11916 - Chaos 2 Butt Bounce
  • 17613 - Sgt. Bash drives itself into the pit
Thanks for watching!

Memory: Judging
Memory: Updating with light spike
Memory: Updating with file that reaches the gold part screen which is one input away from returning to the menu.
Changing branch label to "Tournament mode" per Branch Name guidelines.
The optimization of this movie seems good.
The movie is fairly boring and repetitive and the audience agreed.
Accepting to Vault.
feos: Pub.


TASVideoAgent
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EZGames69
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removed 502 blank inputs at the end: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/50296547091096771 Edit: also should note that the Author didnt provide what emulator was used. the header file says BizHawk 2.3.
[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
Shima33
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EZGames69 wrote:
removed 502 blank inputs at the end: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/50296547091096771 Edit: also should note that the Author didnt provide what emulator was used. the header file says BizHawk 2.3.
Thanks for trimming the blank inputs! I assume it works okay? Whoops, haha, my bad on that one. I'm using one of the Dev versions of Bizhawk for this, that's why I didn't specify. Just tested it on default 2.3 and it seems to work fine also.
EZGames69
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yep, the trimmed file still makes it to the trophy screen for me. will just have to wait for a staff member to change the file.
[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
fmp
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Voted meh. The individual strats were somewhat interesting, but having so few of them made it repetitive.
Samtastic
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Voted meh also. It's nice to see a Robot Wars TAS. Maybe the Gameboy Color version will get TASed one day. That was the one I played as a kid. The 8-bit music in that version was awesome!
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing Oddworld games! Has TASed: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Adventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:15 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:!5.44.12 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 13:01.3 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 12:59.95 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:16.27 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:01.07 Currently working on: Waiting for Windows TAS Tools to work so I can TAS PC version of Exoddus.
KennyMan666
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No Jonathan Pearce, no vote :V Actually I'll just vote meh. And lol at those house robot models.
Det man inte har i begåvning får man ta ut i energi. "I think I need to get to Snoop Dogg's level of high to be able to research this post." -Samsara Read my fanfic, One Piece: Pure Corruption
Shima33
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Samtastic wrote:
Voted meh also. It's nice to see a Robot Wars TAS. Maybe the Gameboy Color version will get TASed one day. That was the one I played as a kid. The 8-bit music in that version was awesome!
Can that one be completed, and if so, in how much time? TBH, I'm just looking for more games to play until the Bizhawk devs update to the latest GlideN64 core. Then I'll be able to TAS the game I -really- wanna do... Might do Advanced Destruction while I'm at it, too! I agree with all the Meh votes, TBH - hence why I wrote in the submission "Intended for Vault" :P
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That may actually be the most boring TAS of all time, other than the inherently un-TASable Desert Bus. Drive backwards and push robots into the pit again and again and again. Towards the end, a few vehicles drove themselves into the pit, or put up a bit of a fight on the way into the pit. Good thing it was only 5 minutes. Definitely vaultable but, entertainment-wise, that was my easiest No vote ever. Love the Craig Charles version of the show, though!
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Shima33
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hopper wrote:
That may actually be the most boring TAS of all time, other than the inherently un-TASable Desert Bus. Drive backwards and push robots into the pit again and again and again. Towards the end, a few vehicles drove themselves into the pit, or put up a bit of a fight on the way into the pit. Good thing it was only 5 minutes. Definitely vaultable but, entertainment-wise, that was my easiest No vote ever. Love the Craig Charles version of the show, though!
Fair enough - really, I'm just getting this category of the TAS out of the way so I can do the other, more entertaining TAS category - the Gauntlet! Actual strategy there, I'm working on it right now, and I'm looking forward to showcasing that a lot more than I did this. Don't lose hope - this game has more to offer yet! :D
Post subject: Re: #6121: Shima33's GBA Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction "all tournaments" in 05:28.06
fsvgm777
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU USE VBA-NEXT WITH THIS MOVIE! mGBA has an unresolved issue emulating this game which will prevent you from advancing past the title screen!
Then why wasn't it reported in the bug tracker? That's literally step one when you encounter such an issue.
Steam Community page - Bluesky profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
Post subject: Re: #6121: Shima33's GBA Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction "all tournaments" in 05:28.06
Shima33
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fsvgm777 wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU USE VBA-NEXT WITH THIS MOVIE! mGBA has an unresolved issue emulating this game which will prevent you from advancing past the title screen!
Then why wasn't it reported in the bug tracker? That's literally step one when you encounter such an issue.
I reported it on the Bizhawk github issues, not this one. I'll report it here too.
Memory
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I'm confused about the "House Robot Tournament". Is it accessed by simply choosing gold again?
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Shima33
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Memory wrote:
I'm confused about the "House Robot Tournament". Is it accessed by simply choosing gold again?
Yeup - you just choose Gold again after completing Gold once. It's technically a separate tournament though, as there's different competitors.
Memory
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Do you have any plans on tackling the other modes? If so, you could combine them with this movie if you unlock all the gold parts.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Shima33
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Memory wrote:
Do you have any plans on tackling the other modes? If so, you could combine them with this movie if you unlock all the gold parts.
You can't unlock all the gold parts without challenging somebody else who has a copy of the game (and the other gold parts you haven't earned on this save) to a "Grudge Match" to win the gold parts off of them. It's impossible to earn all the gold parts otherwise. I've already finished a TAS of the Gauntlet mode, which is somewhat more interesting - definitely has more strategy - that I was planning on uploading after the fate of this was decided.
Memory
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Shima33 wrote:
Memory wrote:
Do you have any plans on tackling the other modes? If so, you could combine them with this movie if you unlock all the gold parts.
You can't unlock all the gold parts without challenging somebody else who has a copy of the game (and the other gold parts you haven't earned on this save) to a "Grudge Match" to win the gold parts off of them. It's impossible to earn all the gold parts otherwise. I've already finished a TAS of the Gauntlet mode, which is somewhat more interesting - definitely has more strategy - that I was planning on uploading after the fate of this was decided.
Is the following incorrect then?
GameFAQs wrote:
Repeated plays through the game have given some insight into obtaining these elusive parts, and I list my findings here. These should be treated as speculation, though they do seem reliable: (1) Win the Gold rank Tournament. (2) Win the Gold rank Tournament versus the House Robots. (3) Win _all_ of the Gold rank Bash 'n' Dash versus the House Robots. (4) Win _all_ of the Gold rank Mayhem versus the House Robots. I still can't figure out where the fifth one comes from, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I once found one after doing a Gauntlet challenge, suggesting replaying a random challenge is needed to get the last Gold Part for the game. Any further information for this would be incredibly valuable, so please do let me know if you can tell me anything!
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Shima33
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Memory wrote:
Shima33 wrote:
Memory wrote:
Do you have any plans on tackling the other modes? If so, you could combine them with this movie if you unlock all the gold parts.
You can't unlock all the gold parts without challenging somebody else who has a copy of the game (and the other gold parts you haven't earned on this save) to a "Grudge Match" to win the gold parts off of them. It's impossible to earn all the gold parts otherwise. I've already finished a TAS of the Gauntlet mode, which is somewhat more interesting - definitely has more strategy - that I was planning on uploading after the fate of this was decided.
Is the following incorrect then?
GameFAQs wrote:
Repeated plays through the game have given some insight into obtaining these elusive parts, and I list my findings here. These should be treated as speculation, though they do seem reliable: (1) Win the Gold rank Tournament. (2) Win the Gold rank Tournament versus the House Robots. (3) Win _all_ of the Gold rank Bash 'n' Dash versus the House Robots. (4) Win _all_ of the Gold rank Mayhem versus the House Robots. I still can't figure out where the fifth one comes from, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I once found one after doing a Gauntlet challenge, suggesting replaying a random challenge is needed to get the last Gold Part for the game. Any further information for this would be incredibly valuable, so please do let me know if you can tell me anything!
Yes. Completing Gauntlet does not warrant any gold part, and the only gold part earned reliably is Gold Traction for completing the House Robot Tournament. Also, as evidenced in the TAS, you don't earn a gold part for completing Gold Tournament, you only win a gold part for the House Robot Tournament. The gold parts you earn via Bash 'n' Dash & Mayhem are RNG-based, but some Gold part can at least be earned that way, even if you don't know what part it'll be. Regardless, there are 5 gold parts in total, and you can only earn 3 per save file.
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. ---- [3807] GBA Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction "Tournament mode" by Shima33 in 05:20.92