About the Game

Circus is a 1987 action game released by European home computer magazine brand Load 'n' Run. Set in the Roman Empire, you play as a soldier, who has to rescue his wife - who is chained to a post - after running past dangerous rolling objects and a raging bull. It is not to be confused with a text adventure of the same name released in 1983 by Digital Fantasia, which I've also made a submission for.

About the TAS

This TAS aims to complete the game as fast as possible.

Cassette Loading

The majority of this TAS (~93.37%) consists of loading the game and is not included in my temp encode. The actual gameplay segment is only about 20 seconds long.

Level 1: Running

For this level, we have to avoid all the objects that come rolling at us, otherwise we get knocked back. We have to press O to move left and P to move right. Too many knockbacks would push us off the screen and then it would be game over. When we manage to get to the top of the screen, we can advance to the raging bull level. Not really much else to say about this segment.

Level 2: Raging Bull

After a little bit of toying around, I managed to come up with my own strategy to complete it as fast as I assume is possible. First we travel diagonally by alternating between O (left) and Q (up) until we hit a certain point where the bull gets confused and runs the other way. From here, we mash O (left) and then start mashing A (down) just before the bull would've ran us over. Then we take the last few steps to get to the soldier's wife and the cutscene of them running free from the bull plays. Input ends on frame 15313.
That's all from me. Thanks for reading.

feos: Claiming for judging.
Samsara: Resetting to New, as the situation with the author has been cleared.

nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: Level 1...no mistakes. On Level 2, it would seem that a faster way is assumed...but the trick is to get the bull to ignore you for quick passage. Could find a way to improve.
Accepting.

despoa: Processing...


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #8952: LoganTheTASer's ZXS Circus (Load 'n' Run) in 05:05.79
GJTASer2018
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I feel like 90% of the effort for this game was put into the graphics for that chariot your soldier is running away from and the circular scrolling of the building in the top-left corner, with everything else being an afterthought. Vote "Meh" because of the short amount of actual gameplay time.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
LoganTheTASer
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GJTASer2018 wrote:
I feel like 90% of the effort for this game was put into the graphics for that chariot your soldier is running away from and the circular scrolling of the building in the top-left corner, with everything else being an afterthought. Vote "Meh" because of the short amount of actual gameplay time.
fair enough. i think the exact same with all the effort being blown on the first part of the game, just like in the NES version of Action 52 they blew like half the budget on the opening cutscene.
YouTube: @LoganL2008 Discord: sneakers_o_toole Watch my TASes here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmcAd4CTuEymf4qWKIE0Pv_NlA031cYR1&si=m1hP9qz9c8Ip35Ur
TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... want more!
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. ---- [6234] ZXS Circus (Load 'n' Run) by LoganTheTASer in 05:05.79