The main question here is exactly how bad is Dash Galaxy? The combination of Australia’s Beam Software and Data East USA does not inspire much initial confidence. There doesn’t seem to be much of a backstory to the game. Data East had been publishing bad NES games for years, and Dash Galaxy was one of the many forgettable games quickly pumped out by Beam between 1989 and 1991.
The movie input ends early. Using real-time speedrun timing, I recorded the time as 6:07.53, which is faster than the real-time speedrun record of 6:15, but not by much.
The gameplay has two different styles. The first style is best described as a weak ripoff of Bomberman, but there are not many bombs exploding. The second style is a platformer with a lanky character somewhat resembling Albatross from Rolling Thunder. The gameplay appears unimpressive mainly because of the awful controls that allow Dash to do either a long jump (while running) or a high jump (while walking) but not both at the same time.
Although Dash moves faster left-right while doing long jumps, there is also a significant delay every time he lands. I sample-tested the input from the first platformer screen, and I beat it by
3 frames on my first attempt. (The screen turns black on frame 1545 v 1548.) Since Dash immediately does the exact same screen, that’s another 3 frames that could be saved, in theory. The author
says the game has no RNG, and so I assume that these improvements are genuine and could be incorporated easily into the TAS. I can’t say whether there are other sub-optimal parts since I haven’t examined the input anywhere else.
The currently published movie has quite low entertainment ratings, although I should disclose that my own rating of it is the lowest one publicly available. Regardless, the movie clearly belongs in the Vault, as
Nach judged.
