Even though my WIP of this sunk like a rock in the forums, I did it anyway. one reason was revenge. i got my butt kicked by this game all the time when i played it on game boy and never finished it. another reason i did it is because i think it can make a good TAS, and i want to hear other peoples opinions about it. please let me know if you think this is a good game to TAS too.
Used VBA-rerecording-17.1
  • Takes no damage
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Manipulates stuff
Heres how the game works: Youre in a slow-moving tank that has to stop to turn, and have to avoid/kill enemies that hone in on you and are sometimes faster than you. You have two weapons - a laser which you can level up by killing enemies (max level 6), and bombs (can hold max 10). You have to kill the 'life cores' of each of 5 planets and get crappy power-ups along the way, then go to the alien base and kill the bad guy Gregor. There are other mini-bosses in each level, and if you kill them the main boss' life goes down. Sometimes you have to kill a mini-boss to open a gate later in the level. I figured out its quicker to skip them and go straight for the boss. Some screens are on an overworld, some are first-person mazes, and some are scrolling shooters. To make it difficult (fun?) whenever you die your lazer goes back to level 1.
During the last scrolling scene I shoot 2 shots that don't hit anyone. This is to trigger the enemies to appear in a sequence that i want so I can get more bombs. Otherwise I don't think i missed a shot (i might have on the last boss, because I wasn't sure if every hit counted). Item drops are in a sequence, but the enemies appear in a random way. If you shoot a shot where an enemy will appear in a few frames (which i knew from using a savestate), then the enemy won't appear there and get killed right away, but will appear somewhere else instead.
The planets can be done in a different order, which might save time and might not.
The first fight in a maze i didn't end on the leftmost possible frame (loss of a few frames), but the ones after that I did. I used two different strategies against the maze fights with two flying thingies, and I'm not sure which one is faster. In those fights it looks like i pause for a second after i kill one of them, and thats because the game doesn't let you move then. Also, on the 3rd planet I didn't cut one corner that i should have (a few frames). on the last scroller screen i should have used 2 more bombs on the spaceship guy (a few frames).
I killed every enemy on the scrolling screens until my gun was max power. then i choose who i killed.
Playing this game i got good at counting by 17, because thats the fastest your cannon shoots in first-person mode (theres that number again...)
Edit: I could have taken damage to save time, but I thought in this kind of game people prefer a no-damage run. let me know what you think.

Truncated: Not a lot of feedback on this one. Probably people haven't heard of it (I hadn't) and weren't interested enough to check.
This submission will be rejected because:
  • General uninterest from the target audience
  • The autoscrollers are long and boring
  • The first-person sequences are long and boring
  • The bosses are long and boring, and on top of that rehashed several times
I don't see how these stages could possibly be made interesting. It's not your fault, it's the game.

adelikat: Accepting for publication to the Vault

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #975: tool23's GB Cosmo Tank in 24:22.63
Post subject: Re: #975: tool23's GB Cosmo Tank in 24:23
Active player (277)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
tool23 wrote:
The planets can be done in a different order, which might save time and might not.
Don't you think you should have found the fastest order first?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 1/31/2005
Posts: 121
Some music in this nice game sounds like that of Friday 13th...
Player (78)
Joined: 2/8/2005
Posts: 130
The level restrictions are - the first level Desu must be played first. Then Monoa (which i played second) must be played before Aquel (fifth), and Gadam (third) must be played before DN-1 (fourth). Yea, youre right Bag, but honestly i just wanted to get some feedback on this one, because other techniques may be found to save time, or people might not like the game.
JXQ
Experienced player (749)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
I really like the music on this game. Unfortunately, I don't think it's well suited for a published TAS. It looked like it was played pretty well, but the game just seems very slow. For example, the first-person bosses last (17 * life) frames with no way to speed them up, and it just looks uninspired to shoot slowly at them, especially because they take so many shots to kill. I fast-forwarded through the final boss and it still seemed too long. Also, the comment Bag quoted caught my attention too, but after watching the game, it seems to me that it would save a very minimal amount of time if any at all.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... blech, stale!
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. ---- [2254] GB Cosmo Tank by tool23 in 24:22.63