This topic is for the purpose of discussing #949: MikeRS's GBA Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 in 11:32.57

I don't know this particular game but if it's exactly like the SNES version of Super Mario World (and it sounds like it basically is), I strongly suggest checking out the avaliable speedruns of that game for hints on how to improve this further, apart from the things you accidentally forgot this time around. It sounds like you're aware of some huge flaws in this movie yourself, and I'm afraid that it will get rejected until they are fixed. Good luck if you decide to improve this!

Only 4 1/2 hours and 384 rerecords? Spend as long as you must to make the best movie possible. No one can make it in 4 1/2 hours. I must tell you that most of these movies take a month or more to make. Check out the guidelines as well.

There are quite obvious situations where you waste time, you noticed at least some of them yourself. The movie is far from perfection and doesn't stand up to the quality of the runs on the SNES version. second objection: IMHO it's a bad choice to run different versions of a previously TAS'ed game, unless you can show off new interesting routes or tricks, which you didn't. Your route changes made the run slower, and even if it's because a shortcut isn't available on GBA, slower routes aren't really interesting for the viewer. It's quite ok for a first attempt at a TAS, but nothing publishable yet. There's much to do in terms of route planning, and your run execution has to be more polished. Savestates are your friend, don't be afraid to use as many rerecords as you need to try different ways, then pick the fastest.

There's absolutely no point in submitting an obviously improvable run for publication. Not using objects to swim faster is a MAJOR omission. This should be in the forums for discussion, support and guidance. There is no possibility that this will be published. Edit: Okay, now that I've seen it, let's get specific about why it gets a No vote. Yoshi's Island 2: You do nothing interesting to the line of koopas at the beginning. Try spin jumping across them like in the SNES run. You just run through the whole level, jumping over every enemy instead of onto them, and do nothing interesting at all. I could reproduce that level without tool assistance. You have to do something that your viewers couldn't do. Yoshi's Island 3: Again, you jump over every enemy. Most of your jumps are to the middle of platforms. One of the cheap gimmicks that a good TAS uses for entertainment is pixel-perfect jumping. Jump only as far as you have to, catching the edge of every platform. Don't start your jumps until the last possible frame. Yoshi's Island 4: You lose some time picking up the koopa shell and only use it to kill a cheep cheep instead of jumping off it (or the cheep cheep). That just lost time with no entertainment value gained. You jump over the spiky guys instead of doing something interesting like spin jumping off of them. Castle #1: You pick up the P-block for no apparent reason and just chuck it into the lava. You lost time doing this and gained nothing for it. Watch the SNES run and see if you can jump off of the P-block to avoid having to grab onto the fence. That will save a few seconds. Why didn't you pick up the fire flower? Use Fiery Mario to shoot Iggy as you knock him off of the platform, which would look super cool. Donut Plains 1: You can collect that feather faster. After you start flying, you stop in the clouds for no apparent reason and have to turn around so that you can start running again. That cost you a few seconds. At the end of the level you run into a pipe before grabbing the key, losing more time. Donut Secret 1: Even beyond the fact that you don't pick something up to speed up your swimming, you lose time bumping into things. Several seconds can be saved here. Donut Secret House: You lose time after you stomp on the P-block, turn around, then start running to get yourself airborne again. You should grab the P-block from a running start and take it with you as you fly up to the secret door. The boss fight wasn't great. At one point you're just standing there, waiting for the Big Boo to rematerialize. See the SNES version for a terrific boss fight. Star World 1: Can you not fall through the blocks faster here? In the SNES version it's possible to launch yourself through them by getting enough of them spinning. Star World 2: You pick up the blue Yoshi and then throw him for no apparent reason. Obviously you should be carrying him to speed up your swimming, but if you weren't going to do that, why even bother picking him up? Many seconds can be saved here. Star World 3: It isn't necessary to steal Lakitu's cloud here; you can actually fly straight up. See the SNES version. Several seconds can be saved here. Star World 4: Flying across the bottom of the screen isn't very interesting. Try flying through the level and bouncing off of bad guys. Bowser's Castle: Why did you pick door #3? Door #3 is only the right choice on Let's Make a Deal. In Door #5, this is where you should be grabbing the feather that you should have in reserve. It will save several seconds in the final battle with Bowser and make for a much more entertaining fight. On your way to the final battle, you screw around with the mecha koopas a lot for no apparent reason. This costs you many frames. Even for a capeless fight, this boss fight isn't terribly interesting. In Bowser's final form, you just run back and forth under him. Again, see the SNES version. I wouldn't bother re-submitting this run until you take at least 30 seconds off of it. As far as whether or not it should be published, it isn't going to be terribly different from the SNES any% run. Why not show off the differences between the GBA version and the SNES version by doing a 100% run (Dragon Coins, etc.). That would be worth publishing a new run for. This is pretty good for the amount of time and re-records that went into it, but this run shouldn't be in the submission queue. Until it's done, it should be in the GBA discussion forum.

Don't start your jumps until the last possible frame.

Or the first possible frame!

Alright, thanks for all the feedback, but I have a few things to add (any bits I didn't quote I have nothing to comment on).

Castle #1: You pick up the P-block for no apparent reason and just chuck it into the lava. You lost time doing this and gained nothing for it. Watch the SNES run and see if you can jump off of the P-block to avoid having to grab onto the fence. That will save a few seconds. Why didn't you pick up the fire flower? Use Fiery Mario to shoot Iggy as you knock him off of the platform, which would look super cool.

The P-Block jump doesn't seem to work in SMA2... at least I couldn't get it to work. If you have success, then whoopie!

Donut Plains 1: You can collect that feather faster. After you start flying, you stop in the clouds for no apparent reason and have to turn around so that you can start running again. That cost you a few seconds. At the end of the level you run into a pipe before grabbing the key, losing more time.

Flying even while slowing down the emulation speed is one of my weak points in SMW. Next movie (which as you say later on, might be much more fun for 100% completion) will improve on it, when/if there's a next movie.

Donut Secret House: You lose time after you stomp on the P-block, turn around, then start running to get yourself airborne again. You should grab the P-block from a running start and take it with you as you fly up to the secret door. The boss fight wasn't great. At one point you're just standing there, waiting for the Big Boo to rematerialize. See the SNES version for a terrific boss fight.

Thanks I downloaded the SNES run and that's a terrific idea!

Star World 1: Can you not fall through the blocks faster here? In the SNES version it's possible to launch yourself through them by getting enough of them spinning.

Nope, can't fall fast in the yellow blocks in SMA2 either.

Star World 3: It isn't necessary to steal Lakitu's cloud here; you can actually fly straight up. See the SNES version. Several seconds can be saved here.

Aha, didn't know that, thanks. In the real game I take even longer to jump on top of the blue diagonal blocks and use Fire Mario to shoot Lakitu :P So I didn't have any experience in speeding through this stage either.

Bowser's Castle: Why did you pick door #3? Door #3 is only the right choice on Let's Make a Deal. In Door #5, this is where you should be grabbing the feather that you should have in reserve. It will save several seconds in the final battle with Bowser and make for a much more entertaining fight. On your way to the final battle, you screw around with the mecha koopas a lot for no apparent reason. This costs you many frames. Even for a capeless fight, this boss fight isn't terribly interesting. In Bowser's final form, you just run back and forth under him. Again, see the SNES version.

Well in the real game I'm just so used to Door #3, that's why I picked it. Next time I'll evaluate all the options. Also, in Door #5 I don't follow why I would have a cape in reserve. If I get the Fire Flower in Castle #1, I'll get the cape in DP1 and the Fire would be in reserve. Sorry I'm going by memory of the game, but do you care to elaborate?

If you pick up the fire flower, you'll have the fire flower in reserve when you get the cape. If there isn't another opportunity to pick up a feather before door #5, you can use the reserve fire flower to become Fiery Mario before getting thwomped, then grab the reserve feather as you leave. Use the cape to fly around in the final battle with Bowser. Besides being more interesting, it's way faster because you knock the mecha koopas down onto Bowser while in mid-air. Watch the SNES run and you'll see what I mean.

The SNES run actually grabs another feather in Star World 4, but the result is still the same.

om, nom, nom... blech, stale!