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After the success of Nintendo's 1981 Donkey Kong, the Japanese developer launched two sequels a spinoff called Donkey Kong Junior which ended up having its own spinoff: Donkey Kong Junior Math. In the 'Calculate' mode (there's an A and a B with the latter being harder), Donkey Kong stands at the top of the tower holding a number which the two Juniors (I and II) must race each other to make using the numbers hanging on vines and operations on platforms. This TAS aims to beat Calculate B in record time by uniting the Juniors and maybe by manipulating the luck a bit.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: BizHawk 2.8
  • Aims for fastest completion
  • Uses hardest difficulty
  • 2 Players
  • Manipulates luck
  • Uses death for major timesaves

RNG Manipulation

Like many NES games, the layout of Donkey Kong Jr. Math's levels are determined by what frame they are loaded on. We can take advantage of this by only advancing to the next round once the layout of it will be ideal.

Killing Junior II

Usually, the round will end and the loser will play out the death animation (see round 5). The game will then move on once it has ended. However, it doesn't actually check the reason behind why it played and so Junior II can be killed just before Junior I wins the round to end it sooner than expected. This saves a bunch of time in an already short TAS.

Moving Operations

The operations on the platforms will move when they are used to an unoccupied platform and a lot of the time, they aren't in satisfactory places. So, in rounds 2, 4 and 5, Junior II runs over to an operation Junior I needs and sends it over to him. This works because Junior I isn't on the starting platform when the operation is used so it spawns right underneath him. Junior II is used to move operations into better places throughout the TAS.

Possible Improvements

The main potential improvement is better RNG since there might be better boards that I didn't come across while experimenting. However, it did seem like there were only a set amount of possibilities for each round as the difficulty gets harder.
Possible screenshot: any frame after 1:14 (when Junior I is celebrating)


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7476: Cephla's NES Donkey Kong Jr. Math "Calculate B" in 01:09.85
MESHUGGAH
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Yes vote! Two stupid questions I have: 1. 2 players because you pressed buttons on the 2nd player pad? 2. Did you really meant to write rota? First time I've saw this word and realized it's not an acrynom. acronym
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Skilled player (1114)
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Location: Southern England
1.I classed it as 2 players because the second player is used, whether it be a hypothetical second person or not. The calculate game modes are also designed to be 1v1 matches so either way, it's still a 2 player TAS. 2. Yes, it might not be the best choice of words but the boards to seem to repeat after a while
MESHUGGAH
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Skilled player (1918)
Joined: 11/14/2009
Posts: 1353
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For your information, rota is an order of names and jobs to do. Sometimes the tasks or the persons rotates. I don't have a suggestion for another word in your sentence apart from removing it (not required, I was just interested in the word choice). You might want to use the word permutation. The numbers for each stage in this game permutates over time (and due to maybe other unknown factors).
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Skilled player (1114)
Joined: 8/7/2021
Posts: 92
Location: Southern England
Unfortunately, I've managed to find another TAS that happens to be around 3 seconds faster due to a fast first stage and my third stage being comparitively slow. This faster TAS does, however, not feature early Junior II deaths so I can imagine this won't be all too hard to beat. I am going to withdraw this submission but return with an improved version that will stay largely the same, just with better boards.
TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... blech, salty!
adelikat
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Good luck. Looking forward to the improved version :)
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects