Slick with his gangs of students and evil bosses holds River City captive and Ryan's girlfriend hostage. Only our hero can stop him now!... But first, he's got some shopping to do!

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.3
  • Takes damage and uses death to save time
  • Acquires Boat Shoes
  • Uses easiest difficulty
  • Genre: Fighting

About goal choice

River City Ransom was originally released for Famicom/NES in Japan 1989 as Downtown Nekketsu Story, one of the first titles in the Kunio-kun series, and was ported to multiple consoles, including: X68000, and PC Engine. This TAS was performed on the original US port for NES to remain consistent with earlier publications and to make it easier to understand for the general audience, despite the NES games being functionally identical and also saving approximately two seconds from quicker Japanese text. The game difficulty has been set to Novice rather than Advanced in accordance with previous publications, as the harder difficulty results in longer and repetitive encounters, which is neither interesting nor entertaining.
Previous publications have taken advantage of L+R inputs, especially to quickly perform a death warp and commence the required back-tracking to defeat Blade in Sherman Park. However, the route in this TAS requires a later death warp (after purchasing Boat Shoes) which can be achieved fastest by reducing Ryan's Stamina to 0 and running into a wall. I was unable to find any other opportunity where L+R would save time, so I opted to exclude all L+R inputs. Note that the damage required for a death warp without L+R is the only time that Ryan receives damage, including the events that take place after the final input.
Finally, it must be noted that this route is likely sub-optimal and that the route used in the predecessor publication combined with time saves from improved fights and lag reduction will yield an even faster completion.

Techniques and glitches

  • Damage is a function of the relevant attack stat (Punch, Kick, Weapon, Throw), speed (stationary/walking, Dash/running), state (Grounded, Floating, aerial), attack type (standard, finisher, weapon strike, weapon throw), and the defender's Strength stat. There are 12 Damage tiers from walking grounded standard attack (lowest) to Run-jump weapon throw (highest). Some tiers are associated with multiple combinations, e.g. stationary floating uppercut (finisher) = Small-jump standard attack. Each weapon type belongs to one of three separate strike and throw tiers.
  • Will power (WP) is a stat that rejuvenates a downed character once their Stamina (HP) stat reaches 0. If HP == 0 and WP > 31 then HP = WP / 4 , WP -= HP else rip e.g. Otis (WP42) → 32WP10HP → 24WP8HP. On Advanced Difficulty some gangs have WP > 31; on Novice only Simon (WP63) has WP > 54. Ryan has WP15 without powerups, maximum for all characters is WP63.
  • Step counter at $04DA increments while Ryan continues to walk or run. If Ryan is jumping while running and Step counter > 15 then Ryan will perform a High-jump. Step counter is only reset shortly (but not immediately) after the beginning of walk/run animations and is not reset by small adjustments, jumping, or loading zones.
  • Grounded state is the weakest of the three states and uses the intended damage formula for ground attacks.
  • Floating state is activated after landing from a High-jump and remains through loading zones until Ryan next leaves the ground by hopping, jumping, or falling. Each subsequent attack deals one Damage tier above Grounded. This is an extremely useful technique in RTA as each of the three punches in a Stone Hands attack deals this extra 1-2 Damage, saving numerous boss cycles over the duration of the run.
  • Small-jump occurs when A+B is pressed while Ryan is stationary or walking; attacks belong to at least the 3rd lowest Damage tier. Ryan travels faster while running than any possible jump, however a Small-jump will cause minimal cooldown upon landing.
  • Run-jump is performed when Step counter < 16 and Ryan jumps while running; attacks belong to at least the 7th lowest Damage tier. The trajectory can be changed slightly by pressing and holding A or B before jumping (cancelling an attack) and movement/attacks performed mid-air. The cooldown upon landing will depend on Ryan's Agility stat, and how many frames A or B was held. Ryan can also enter the Run-jump state by running off a ledge.
  • High-jump is a Run-jump while Step counter > 15.
  • Long-jump will slightly lose height but gain distance, and the initial lunge forward may also spawn bosses a few frames earlier. Long-jump requires increased Agility, and is performed by pressing either A or B for a single frame before Run-jump or High-jump, immediately followed by a held punch, kick, or weapon strike.
  • Dash makes Ryan run by pressing L or R twice in quick succession; Dash (and running) attacks belong to at least the 5th lowest Damage tier. Step counter will not be reset if a Dash is quickly followed by an input that stops running.
  • Re-dash is a variant of Dash that only requires one L or R input, saving 4 frames. Re-dash can only be performed after a Dash that doesn't reset the Step counter, and can be chained together to perform further Re-dash attacks.
  • Global timer at $052B determines which of the 8 configurations is selected for initial spawn points of gang members. In most cases where a boss needs to be defeated, it is faster to wait in the previous Room to manipulate a desirable pattern.
  • Crate/Trashcan (all best tier except thrown Trashcan) will damage one character when thrown or pushed, and then again on the frame that it comes to rest. It will deal the same Damage as the last time it was thrown. Once at rest, it can be pushed along the floor with a kick, uppercut, or Chain strike. Note that the pushed speed is dependent on the Damage of the pushing attack, which is often different to the stored value.
  • Duplicated damage occurs when a defender takes damage from two sources on consecutive frames, resulting in unintended duplication of either or both attacks. This doesn't seem to be possible with all attacks, but is used when Crate/Trashcan comes to rest in boss fights, as best demostrated by the Otis fight (Room 29).
  • Boat Shoes boosts Ryan's Kick and Agility stats which increases walking and running speed by 25% and allows Ryan to jump farther, but cooldown is slightly extended.
  • Death warp sends Ryan to the previous mall in order to reduce the time spent back-tracking to defeat Blade.

Room by room comments

Rooms
$0042
Room NamesFrames
(Rooms)
Frames
(Total)
Comments
0-3,
5-7,
9-10
Cross Town High
Sticksville I,II&III
Grotto Mall
Waterfront Mall
Capitol Ave. Bridge
Downtown I
W.S.L. Co. Warehouse I
7070The first nine rooms have been grouped together as they are repetitive. The first mandatory encounter is Rocko in Room 11,
and Ryan must bring a Crate/Trashcan to quickly defeat him. All time saves are due to lag reduction from RNG manipulation.
11W.S.L. Co. Warehouse II145215Most boss rooms require 4 gang members to be defeated before the boss appears. Only two enemies may appear on screen at
any given time, and will not spawn until the coin disappears or is collected. The Step counter stored from the previous room
allows for an immediate High-jump to quickly dispatch of the first two Home Boys. Collecting the $0.75 coin spawns a Home
Boy upstairs where he attempts to approach Ryan by hopping down but lands on the ledge of a stationary tyre, allowing him to
to vanquished with a single hit. The final two coins are collected and Rocko WP31 is defeated. The routes diverge here as Ryan
collects Rocko's coin for a total of $25.25 and continues to Flatirons Mall to acquire Boat Shoes.
12-15W.S.L. Co. Warehouse III
Armstrong Thru-way I,II&III
-24191Note that this segment is compared with the equivalent segment from the predecessor publication, beginning at Frame 8896.
Floating state is enabled by performing a High-jump on the final frame of Room 14 and maintained for the remainder of the
segment. The lost frames are due to the slower weapon (Chain strikes) and waiting to collect Turk's $2.50 for a total of $31.75.
16Downtown II75266Note that this segment is compared with the equivalent segment from the predecessor publication, beginning at Frame 10003.
Floating state is still active from the previous segment, and is maintained for the remainder of the Room. Despite collecting
Mojo's coin, 75 frames were saved from improving fights.
It isn't particularly insightful to compare the remainder of the TAS with the most recent publication due to gameplay differences caused by Boat Shoes.
Rooms
$0042
Room NamesRoom
Entry
Comments
17-18,
18-16
Flatirons Mall I&II
Downtown II
7484Boat Shoes are equipped for $36.95 with $0.30 to spare. Incidentally, exiting the Belongings menu can only be buffered on the (USA) port, saving one frame
which is the only known occasion where (J) is disadvantaged. Death warp to Waterfront Mall is not faster with L+R shenanigans.
6,5,
3,4
Waterfront Mall
Sticksville II&I
Sherman Park
9385Blade only appears after Rocko has been defeated, so the back-tracking to defeat him is required in order to spawn Thor. Money is no longer required but the event
flag is not raised until frames before his coin appears.
3,
5-7,
9-19
Sticksville I&II
Waterfront Mall
Capitol Ave. Bridge
Downtown I,II&III
W.S.L. Co. Warehouse I,II&III
Armstrong Thru-way I,II&III
Flatirons Mall I&II
10390There is no need to engage any enemies until Thor, so lag reduction was the primary focus. We continue avoiding all lag frames (since Death warp) until Room 10
with 20 lag frames. An empty Room is always followed by a Room with the native gang, but Room 11 is the laggiest Room in this segment. Only 4 more lag frames
are conceded for the remainder of the segment, all in Room 16.
20-22Vacant 3rd Wheel Factory I,II&III13422Ryan is reunited with his Crate in empty Room 20; future Rooms that can spawn gangs will never be empty. Room 21 is occupied by native gang Squids,
causing 11 lag frames. Long-jump in Room 21 demonstrates the extra distance reached. The companion cube is a tool to be used and discarded; Boat Shoes might
be required to perform this precise High-jump and Long-jump in Room 22.
23-28Downtown IV
OAK Hill Mall I&II
Burb Village I&II
River City High I
14682Trashcan is conveniently available in Room 23. Ivan WP48 has a high Throw stat so his running Trashcan throw deals 41 Damage and will knock him down
whether or not he is in the stun animation.
29River City High II16369Otis WP42 spawns too close to the wall to significantly benefit from manipulating him to throw Trashcan, but Duplicated damage deals a whopping 95 Damage in
the first two volleys. Long-jump is used to quickly conquer the gym equipment. 8 lag frames.
30-32River City High III,IV&V17571After ascending the stairs and clearing the gangs, Andy WP49 is lured into a running Trashcan throw at Randy WP50, dealing 35 Damage which is enough to
knock either Dragon Twin down without being in the stun animation. 16 lag frames.
34River City High VII18891By far the biggest time save in this run is the final Room with 736 frames saved by exploiting Simon's AI. Basically, enemies at close range will reposition if
their Z-coordinate is > 5 difference to Ryan, otherwise they will attack, however, attacks will only connect if Z-difference < 5. Ryan enters the Room at Z=68 and
simultaneously moves up to 70 while beginning his final Dash. Select is pressed as an audio cue to indicate final input. When Simon finishes his monologue, he
runs towards Ryan from Z=80 to Z=75. With a Z-difference of 5, Simon is now stuck in a continuous but unsuccessful endeavour to hit Ryan, eventually throwing
weapons and embarrassing himself. This series of events seems to be relatively easy to replicate for any future TAS, as long as Simon doesn't inadvertently change
his Z-coordinate by jumping on the Crate/Trashcan, or getting stuck walking backwards between Ryan and the wall. Apart from finding a way to Re-dash upon
entry, I feel confident claiming that this room is solved at 7 frames - the final input at 18897 occurs before the fade-in begins.

Other comments

One minor timesave has since been brought to my attention where the Death warp can be achieved faster by entering the Belongings menu once Ryan's corpse disappears, saving about one second. As the optimal route does not involve any shopping (or pause menu), it is unlikely that this timesave will be demonstrated in any future TAS unless it is required to perform a sequence break. The optimal route should be able to achieve a final time of 4:5X or perhaps slightly lower.

Credits

  • Shoutouts to Chamale for producing a high-quality TAS that gave me competitive segments with which I could assess my progress
  • Thank you xxEzraBxxx and Spikestuff for higher quality temporary encodes!
  • Special thanks to yelsraek for inspiring me to optimise this bizarre route

ThunderAxe31: Judging.
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 65 frames improvement.
feos: Pub.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6932: willbobsled's NES River City Ransom "1 player" in 05:14.45
Dimon12321
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I think it's the best post-TAS sequence on the NES. This ending is just fascinating! Yes vote
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
xxezrabxxx
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Joined: 7/15/2017
Posts: 199
Location: Kentucky
Link to video Here's a encode in higher quality, hopefully you can edit the submission to add the high quality one instead
I like to comment on submissions and look around the site. You have probably seen me before (if you have been around for a while) either on the site, Discord, or any other social media. I recently took up making temporary encodes for new submissions. Also, I never forget to greet Tompa wherever I find him! "when resyncing stuff sucks it's called Resuccing" - EZGames69 “If an emulator stops being accepted to the site it should be called an emuLAMEr” - EZGames69 "oh no discord, everything I say will now be logged forever, sdfsdf, time to hide" - Masterjun "just had to give therapy to a taxi with daddy issues" - psx Current Projects: Mother 3 (75% complete)
Pepper-Color
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Accepted
Joined: 1/13/2007
Posts: 334
That is a truly hilarious use of ends input early. :)
Samsara
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Mihoru wrote:
Accepted
Don't speak for the Judges.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
mklip2001
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I like the route change, though it's a shame if it ends up being suboptimal. The fights look really clean, especially Ivan and Thor. I wondered a bit if it would help to manipulate easier gangs to kill before you get bosses, but then I saw you needed pretty much all the money you got for the Boat Shoes. Funniest moment: in the post-input ending sequence, when Simon is having a good time with his own trash can, he still says "That guy's a freak!"... yes you are, Simon.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Editor, Expert player (2310)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3854
Location: Germany
With this game I always found the left+right bug interesting and that it needs more research. It could possibly be used for passing through walls and maybe it is even possible to pass into closed-off loading zones (I don't know if a loading zone will work when the door is closed). It might also be useful for fights. If I find anything, I will post it here or in the game's topic.
Player (204)
Joined: 7/23/2019
Posts: 5
Location: Melbourne, Australia
@Judges My excitement with finishing the TAS may have got the better of me, as I have since found a cleaner Twins fight which saves 65 frames, see User movie #67425670568261337. Is it possible to substitute this for my previous submission? @xxezrabxxx Thank you, submission notes were edited to include your encode. @mklip2001 Only Squids, Internationals, or Cowboys after Rocko would yield enough money to get the $36.95 for Boat Shoes without a costly detour. Fighting the harder gangs isn't horrible as long as they don't cause unnecessary lag by using/dropping weapons. @MUGG Ivan skip would be a huge achievement is possible, I would love to hear if you make any progress - it might be worth checking out Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (J) as one of the very few differences in mechanics is that you can't hop off a crate/trashcan by pressing up or down. I have tried briefly in both but it seems the door won't open unless the Event Flag at 0x0044 is raised @everyone else Thank you for your kind words!
xxezrabxxx
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Joined: 7/15/2017
Posts: 199
Location: Kentucky
Your welcome! If you replace the current file with the new improvement, I will create a new encode tomorrow since I probably will not be at my house for the whole day
I like to comment on submissions and look around the site. You have probably seen me before (if you have been around for a while) either on the site, Discord, or any other social media. I recently took up making temporary encodes for new submissions. Also, I never forget to greet Tompa wherever I find him! "when resyncing stuff sucks it's called Resuccing" - EZGames69 “If an emulator stops being accepted to the site it should be called an emuLAMEr” - EZGames69 "oh no discord, everything I say will now be logged forever, sdfsdf, time to hide" - Masterjun "just had to give therapy to a taxi with daddy issues" - psx Current Projects: Mother 3 (75% complete)
xxezrabxxx
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Joined: 7/15/2017
Posts: 199
Location: Kentucky
Never mind, I will be home today so I can make you a updated encode with the improvement
I like to comment on submissions and look around the site. You have probably seen me before (if you have been around for a while) either on the site, Discord, or any other social media. I recently took up making temporary encodes for new submissions. Also, I never forget to greet Tompa wherever I find him! "when resyncing stuff sucks it's called Resuccing" - EZGames69 “If an emulator stops being accepted to the site it should be called an emuLAMEr” - EZGames69 "oh no discord, everything I say will now be logged forever, sdfsdf, time to hide" - Masterjun "just had to give therapy to a taxi with daddy issues" - psx Current Projects: Mother 3 (75% complete)
xxezrabxxx
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Joined: 7/15/2017
Posts: 199
Location: Kentucky
Spikestuff beat me to it! xd!
I like to comment on submissions and look around the site. You have probably seen me before (if you have been around for a while) either on the site, Discord, or any other social media. I recently took up making temporary encodes for new submissions. Also, I never forget to greet Tompa wherever I find him! "when resyncing stuff sucks it's called Resuccing" - EZGames69 “If an emulator stops being accepted to the site it should be called an emuLAMEr” - EZGames69 "oh no discord, everything I say will now be logged forever, sdfsdf, time to hide" - Masterjun "just had to give therapy to a taxi with daddy issues" - psx Current Projects: Mother 3 (75% complete)
Chamale
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Brilliant improvement. Yes vote. I tested some shoe routes in the past, but I hadn't considered the route you used with buying Boat Shoes and backtracking; that's a big improvement to Ryan's stats. I appreciate how buying shoes means relatively more time in boss fights and less time running from place to place. Your Thor fight was two seconds faster than mine, and you improved the Simon fight by over ten seconds. The no-shoe route might be able to beat those times if the fights can be repeated without Boat Shoes. With luck manipulation, did you find any methods of manipulating enemy spawns other than changing the frame at which an area is loaded? Spawning no enemies in non-boss areas would be a huge lag reduction improvement.
Player (204)
Joined: 7/23/2019
Posts: 5
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Hey Chamale, love your work! I didn't solve the RNG but 0x0018-0019 controls gang type, weapons, and enemy behaviour. There are only 8 initial spawn configurations for each room, which is determined by a global timer at 0x052B that increments every time game polls for input. As a full cycle is only about 0.27 seconds, it was often better to wait for a desirable future pattern, which gave ample time to find the appropriate gang with fewer weapons. Most of my re-records came from doing this manually. High school appearance probability by map The last possible empty room is outside Vacant 3rd Factory so some lag in the Factory and Burb Village is unavoidable. Also, despite the thrown Chain in Capitol Ave. Bridge, there were no lag frames from death warp until Home Boys outside Warehouse. I tried briefly to replicate Simon in your TAS to no avail, would be interesting if it's exclusive to Boat Shoes, but I think I just haven't found it yet :)
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 804
Location: Canada
I don't usually like when a TAS ends input early at the expense of extending the time to Game Over, but watching Simon kick his own ass with a garbage can was hilarious.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Editor, Expert player (2310)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3854
Location: Germany
it might be worth checking out Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (J) as one of the very few differences in mechanics is that you can't hop off a crate/trashcan by pressing up or down.
This is interesting. I do know there are quite a few gameplay-related differences between Nintendo World Cup and Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu: Soccer-hen, so it might be good to look for differences here too. Do you know more differences? It looks like prices for items are different between the versions (US and JP), it might also be worth checking EU. Japanese has three difficulties Easy, normal and Hard, while the US version has two difficulties that correspond to the Japanese's "normal" and "hard" versions. Perhaps Japanese's easy difficulty would allow you to kill bosses even quicker? In that first warehouse, you could L+R glitch through the wall, but I haven't tested much. I have only gotten it to work using crate/trashcan. You can enter shop and despawn by L+R glitch. This causes you to first enter the shop and after leaving it, you are placed at the start of the map. It is possible to slightly kick a crate from afar by L+R glitch. If you hold a crate, and an enemy attacks with a crate, while you start running, you will be running backwards.
Player (204)
Joined: 7/23/2019
Posts: 5
Location: Melbourne, Australia
MUGG wrote:
Do you know more differences?
Generally most bosses drop more cash and the small fish drop less. Shop prices are significantly changed. JP rounds down to nearest ¥50 after death warp, whereas US rounds down to nearest $0.05. Also US can buffer input B to exit the Belongings menu, saving a frame. The reason I specifically mentioned the 'hopping off items with up/down' mechanic is because, apart from these changes, it's literally the only difference that I'm aware of. US is identical to PAL afaik.
MUGG wrote:
Perhaps Japanese's easy difficulty would allow you to kill bosses even quicker?
Undoubtedly. Easy lowers stamina and will power, and JP has an estimated 2-3 seconds of text-related RTA time saves, but US was a goal choice.
MUGG wrote:
In that first warehouse, you could L+R glitch through the wall, but I haven't tested much. I have only gotten it to work using crate/trashcan.
I'm only aware of that being possible in 2P, but would probably save up to 5s if implemented in 1P route.
MUGG wrote:
You can enter shop and despawn by L+R glitch. This causes you to first enter the shop and after leaving it, you are placed at the start of the map.
I had briefly tried using L+R for the shopping segment but I couln't find any significant improvements as Happy Feet Shoes is really close to loading zone so it's fairly quick to run after exiting shop.
MUGG wrote:
It is possible to slightly kick a crate from afar by L+R glitch.
This would certainly add entertainment value, but I'm struggling to think of a situation where it wouldn't lose time.
MUGG wrote:
If you hold a crate, and an enemy attacks with a crate, while you start running, you will be running backwards.
Also amusing, but unfortunately Ryan runs a lot slower in reverse and the setup would be too costly.
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. ---- [4344] NES River City Ransom "1 player" by willbobsled in 05:14.45