(Link to video)
This aims to beat Round Game mode and reach the ending cutscene in the SNES version of Wario's Woods as quickly as possible. It improves on my previous published movie by 10,646 frames (2m57s).
  • Emulator used: BizHawk 2.7
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Heavy luck manipulation
  • Contains speed/entertainment trade-offs
  • Genre: Puzzle

Comments

After finishing my Time Race mode TAS, I went back and rewatched my Round Game one, spotted a couple more optimizations, and tried to add them in but the RNG state kept desyncing. Next thing I knew, I was redoing the whole movie. It went a lot faster this time though, in part because I know the inner workings of the game better, but mostly because I could still work off of the strats I used in the previous version.
Rounds 1~9 are the same as the previous TAS.
The first new optimization starts at frame 5435 in Round 10, where I optimize when I hold Down. After this the RNG state completely desyncs.

Level-by-Level Comments

As before, I'll only fill in comments for levels with something particularly interesting or non-obvious.

Round 15

I can either move Toad to the right to catch the red diamond at the end, or let it fall. The former finishes the round faster, but leaves Toad further to the left of the screen so there's a longer transition to the next round. I tested both and it turns out they take exactly the same number of frames but leave the RNG in different states due to the latter rolling an extra diamond, so I pick the one that lets me save a couple frames on luck manipulation in R16.

Round 18

Normally, after Toad turns around, there's a cooldown of about 10 frames before any further left/right/A/B inputs can take effect. This appears to be the game's way of trying to tell whether you wanted to simply turn around or walk in the direction you pressed, but since Toad can't move while in midair, there's also no cooldown. I exploit this to make a whole bunch of placements from midair in a split-second. This is the first time it I do it in this run, but it'll happen quite a few more times throughout the run.

Round 27

This is the first of two speed/entertainment trade-offs in this movie. I lose about a second making a more complex setup purely because the resulting chain is a lot more impressive. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say I'm very happy with this one and leave it at that.
"If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing." --MythBusters

Round 35

First time in this version that I have to stall to get the better layout for the next round.

Round 36

Same setup as the previous version, but I get a much better RNG state coming into this round and it takes half as long to get the green and blue bombs I want.

Round 47

Another chain that I'm quite happy with. I think the start of the chain would be a great choice for a screenshot.

Round 53

I really liked the setup and the chain from my previous TAS, but unfortunately the RNG is in a state where it takes forever to get a gray bomb, so I work around it.

Round 59

This was one of my favorite rounds in my previous TAS, so I made sure to keep the chain mostly the same. Mostly. I improved on the beginning a little further. :D

Round 67

This was the most uncooperative RNG up to this point. I just need any green or red to be able to reuse most of my setup from the previous TAS, but I happen to enter the round on an RNG state that gives me 14 bombs in a row without a single red OR green.
I also ran into a rather annoying bug in the game, where a kicked monster transitioning from sliding to falling seems to become immune to gravity and diamonds for 1(?) frame. If a match occurs on that frame, the monster just hovers in midair until the chain resolves, and if the chain involves a diamond that would normally clear the monster, it remains there. This meant I couldn't kick out the blue monster between the pinks at the end, and instead I had to lose about a second to pick up the stack, walk left, and drop everything in place.

Round 69

Neat little trick: You can kick something while a chain is still resolving, and the kick takes effect after the chain resolves, even if you move away in the meantime.

Round 70

Argh, this round was a pain since there are exactly 5 of each color monster, meaning I have to either use multiple clears or a 6-in-a-row for whichever color I start with. The setup from the previous version relied on a yellow bomb, but with the RNG state here it takes forever for roll a yellow, so I opt for multiple clears on the white monsters instead.

Round 71

An interesting glitch towards the end: Kicking an object just as the object directly above it clears results in one Y input kicking both the object next to Toad and the object two tiles above it. Unfortunately it doesn't save any time in this instance, since I still have to stall to get the better pattern on R72.

Round 74

For once I actually got a similar enough bomb color sequence to let me reuse a decently sized chunk of input from the previous version. Although I optimized it a bit more to take advantage of the additional green bomb.

Round 77

Another chain I'm very happy with. The final explosion is also a good candidate for a screenshot.

Round 81

Reused another nice chunk of input from the previous version again, only this time I saved some more time since I didn't have to use up the extraneous white bomb to prevent it from screwing up subsequent diamond color rolls.

Round 84

This is in fact the first round that takes long enough that you get to hear the full loop of Birdo's theme.

Round 90

Another interesting interaction towards the end here, which I'll call "diamond surfing". I use the delayed kick (previously seen in R69) and then move Toad on top of the diamond before the kick takes effect. By timing it just right I can make Toad walk on top of the moving diamond.

Round 98

I wanted to keep the double diagonal diamond finish from the previous version, but couldn't figure out a way to set it up without losing a ton of time. This is about 6 seconds faster than the previous version anyway.

Round 99

As before, I wait a couple extra seconds for the special fanfare to play out before proceeding to the ending cutscene. This is the second speed/entertainment trade-off.
Suggested screenshot: Frame 40049, showing the triple diagonal explosion.

feos: Claiming for judging.

despoa: Processing...

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7590: PoochyEXE's SNES Wario's Woods "Round Game" in 31:20.84
Joined: 2/14/2007
Posts: 125
One of my favourite puzzle games (I guess it's technically a puzzle-platformer hybrid?), definitely enjoyed watching it. Initially, I was disappointed that you didn't choose Round Game Mode B, as the boss fights every 10 rounds add some nice variety. But, apparently, the SNES version removed this feature, and replaced it with a mode where you just play 2-player against a computer instead? As someone who never really liked the 2-player mode mechanics, this sounds like a worse trade-off.
PoochyEXE
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Posts: 29
Yeah, the SNES version doesn't have a Mode B in Round Game, and the Round Game cutscenes just show Toad making his way through the overworld map towards Wario's castle. VS COM became the mode with actual cutscenes with dialogue, which are also different cutscenes from the NES version. I picked the SNES version since I still think it has overall better entertainment value, mainly due to better QoL with things like being able to pick up diamonds, turn around and kick objects on the same frame using L/R, etc. which allow for a wider variety of setups and chains. I also like the SNES version of Birdo's theme way better -- I'm pretty sure hearing the NES version 99 times would've gotten old very fast.
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Why do you randomly pause?
WIP
Cephla
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Location: Southern England
https://tasvideos.org/7322S
Which column a bomb spawns in depends on the frame and some inputs, and it can be manipulated by pausing. The first bomb roll happens when the fairy's circling animation finishes. However, at the start of each subsequent level, the roll occurs either on the first frame after the monsters spawning animation finishes or roughly 1 second after the music starts to play. One row of monsters spawn every 9 frames, therefore if there are 4 or more rows, the first frame you can pause on is the frame after the roll happens. Thus later on in the run I start waiting extra frames for luck manipulation at the end of a level before hitting right to move to the next level.
TLDR luck manipulation
PoochyEXE
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Yup. In general the pauses are to manipulate either the column the next bomb spawns in or the position and/or color of the next diamond that spawns, because the RNG for both of those are influenced by the lower 4 bits of a frame counter.
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. ---- [4778] SNES Wario's Woods "Round Game" by PoochyEXE in 31:20.84