• Recorded with Mupen64 0.5
  • Time Trial mode
The Tetris and Tetris Attack runner did it again, this time on the Nintendo 64.
Tetrisphere isn't exactly like Tetris, but it's still a puzzle game involving a sphere. The main objective is to dig through several block layers (on the sphere) to reach the core, by dropping blocks to align 3 of the same type so they disappear.
I decided to do Time Trial mode, for a few reasons:
  • Other modes like Rescue, Puzzle and Hide&Seek have many levels and could get long and repetitive
  • Time Trial is the only mode where scoring matters, since you only get 5 minutes to score as much as possible, so I can show off instead of repeatedly rushing to the core
  • It's the shortest mode, yet still long enough to show off
I found 2 glitches while doing the run:
  • Input is accepted every frame but is only handled (by sum) about every 5 frames (varies), when the game status updates. I can abuse this when sliding a block to cut around corners, by moving it through another between two updates, the same way a character in another game could go through a wall by moving too fast.
  • If I move a block where it can fall, but hold another to slide right after, the block will stay up in air. This was useful a few times to setup gravity combos faster.
There's no luck manipulation in this run. The block randomization can be manipulated, but only 3 blocks in advance and I haven't checked exactly how. It wouldn't be too useful here anyway, as it's hard to plan 3 blocks in advance, and a large part of the scoring was done using the wildcard block to slide everything.
The hard part about making this run was that I had to plan every single move (what to do next, where can I do another gravity combo, how to do it, etc.), which was hard sometimes when I couldn't get a good view of the level.
I also had to do everything with perfect timing, which again had to be tested on every action (move, hold/release, drop) because there was a varying delay (sometimes 10-15 frames) caused by update lag.

Summary

Level 1

I max out the bonus multiplier early (20x, there's 2 ways to boost it and each must be done 10 times), then go all out to destroy blocks for the rest of the level.
Only one core piece (out of 100) needs to be cleared to finish the level, but since it waits for the combo to finish and I go too fast for that to ever happen, I clear the entire level. Well, almost ... a few blocks were left, all of the same type while I was stuck with the opposing type with nowhere to drop it at.
1001 combo, 93% cleared
  • Score: 45 639 900
  • Time: 0:03:27

Level 2

Again, I concentrate on clearing the entire level fast, and this time succeeded, leaving no block at all.
1038 combo, 100% cleared
  • Score: 125 483 900
  • Time: 0:02:13

Level 3

Unlike the first 2 levels with 3 layers, this one has 4, so it took longer. About halfway through, I started going for gravity combos (causing chain reactions when blocks fall) for bonus points instead of pure destructive speed, as each one gives a bonus equal to the current combo score. From there, the score takes a sudden jump ...
1158 combo, 100% cleared
  • Score: 276 804 300
  • Time: 0:00:27

Level 4

I start this one with a fast combo score, then time runs out ... or does it?
Since the game doesn't cut me off until there's no blocks disappearing or falling, I did about 1:17 of overtime to clear the entire level again with a high combo score and a lot of gravity combos, almost doubling the score in the process!
965 combo, 100% cleared
  • Score: 569 319 300
  • Time: 0:00:00

Final stats

  • Total score: 569 319 300
  • Highest combo score: 50 804 000
  • Biggest combo: 1158
  • X count: 227 (total gravity/fuse combos)
  • Total pieces taken: 4162
  • Total drops: 927
  • Cores uncovered: 393
  • Levels passed: 3
This could be improved with a better scoring strategy, as shown by the much faster scoring at the end, but I did a few different tricks and still scored a whole lot more than anyone could ever dream to get ... for reference, my realtime best is just a little over 15 million.

Bisqwit: Accepting, because it looks impressive, it's entertaining, and we want more N64 movies. :)
(Unfortunately, I can't encode this movie because of bad mupen64 plugins and/or bad opengl settings.)
Phil: Encoding...

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1065: Acmlm's N64 Tetrisphere in 07:00.00
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Excellent watch. Hope you do the other modes for single player at some point.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
JXQ
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Um.. wow. Well, I've never played this game, nor do I understand how to play. So as you can imagine, my level of confusion is quite high. But whatever the hell you were doing, it sure was fast. (Except for when my emulator skipped, which was often.)
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Joined: 12/12/2004
Posts: 158
I've played this game a decent amount many years ago, and I can say that I more or less have no idea what's going on. =) Well, I do, but when watching it at 100% speed, everything kind of just goes over your head. And I don't think I ever tried the time trial before. Or if I did it was only once or something like that. Anyway, I voted yes.
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What the hell... :-O I really have no idea what's happening, except that the orb is becoming thinner in a ridiculous amount of time. And I like movies, in which I don't know what's going on :) This is a clear yes and I hope there will finally be a second movie in the N64 section.
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Too bad I have to wait for an .AVI for this, I hear tetrisdoughnut has a very, very good soundtrack. (and the USF homepage is down, doh!) (summary: Not Voting)
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spockybiemmichab wrote:
What the hell... :-O I really have no idea what's happening, except that the orb is becoming thinner in a ridiculous amount of time. And I like movies, in which I don't know what's going on :) This is a clear yes and I hope there will finally be a second movie in the N64 section.
Agreed. Well done, I have no idea what you did. ^^' YES vote.
我々を待ち受けなさい。
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 141
Wow. I am really impressed with this run. A YES from me. And I was wondering if you were thinking about doing the VS COM run? It would be so fun to watch you deciminate the COM in seconds with your blazing fast speed and never-ending combos. Heh, heh. ;)
Post subject: AVI (low quality)
Active player, Editor (296)
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Here's an AVI of this movie to help in voting for those who don't have the ROM or have other problems watching the movie. It's a very low-quality AVI when compared to our usual Nesvideos encodings, which is why I am not making this an official publication yet. The thing is that I'm horribly underequipped for handling N64 movies, and I had several problems in recording this one too. So you may observe a few recording glitches in this AVI, starting from the logo that is upsidedown :) http://tracker.tasvideos.org/tetrisphere-tas-acmlm-lq.avi.torrent (3 kB torrent, 9.1 MB download) Of course, I can fix the upsidedown logo, but I can't fix texture problems, and for other problems I can only try to compensate somehow. I don't think I'll encode the publication AVI of this movie.
Joined: 12/2/2005
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Location: New York, United States
I used to play this game and I still can barely follow what's going on. Great job and thanks for the avi bisqwit.
What's a man like me supposed to do with all this extra savoir-faire?
nesrocks
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amazing movie. yes vote of course hey bisqwit, nice avi, impressive compression. did you notice there's a box appearing at 5:34 ? it says something about wikipedia hehe.
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Ha yeah. Something-man.png.
What's a man like me supposed to do with all this extra savoir-faire?
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D: That was insane.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
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What's going on in this movie? I was laughing all along the movie.
Spacecow
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Hahaha, that's ridiculous. I was always pretty bad at this game (always distracted by the amazing music), so watching you beat this game about 80 times faster than the programmers ever anticipated is pretty funny :)
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The movie hardcore desunk on me when I used the Adaptoid input plug-in, so I had to switch to NRage. You know how people are always looking for WTF moments in TAS runs? This entire movie is a WTF moment. I used to play this game, and I have no idea what's going on. Good job doing whatever it was that you did.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
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Insane. Great work.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
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FODA wrote:
hey bisqwit, nice avi, impressive compression. did you notice there's a box appearing at 5:34 ? it says something about wikipedia hehe.
Yeah. Mozilla URL history appears even on top of on-top windows. Annoying.
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. ---- [530] N64 Tetrisphere "Time Trial" by Acmlm in 07:00.00
Active player (432)
Joined: 4/21/2004
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Ok this one is definitely the most bizarre and odd run I've ever seen. It feels like when "Big Bang" occured...
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
Joined: 4/16/2004
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This was like a weird music video on drugs. I have not played this game so I have no idea what was happening there. This unfortunately greatly reduced the awesomeness for me. It was fast for sure, but.. but what's going on!? Good job anyway I suppose.
/Walker Boh
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Joined: 3/11/2004
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*whoosh* That was the sound of this video going over my head. I have played the game before, but it was a long time ago, and watching this video felt like an acid trip of some kind. Great job, I suppose! And congratulations for having the first Non-Mario N64 movie published. :D
Player (147)
Joined: 11/27/2004
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If you do not think this is the most acid trippy tas ever, 'tis mad quackery I say. Obvious yes vote.
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
Sir_VG
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This movie was so crazy, I was laughing. Seriously.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
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Dude, that was sick! :D
Current Projects: ???