Sonic Advance is the first in the GBA series of Sonic games. Apparently it received a lot of criticism for being too slow. I didn't think it was too slow, but what do I know?
Emulator used: VBA re-recording v19.2. You might want to set the frame skip to 0 (choose "Options->Speed->Frame Skip->skip 0"), otherwise the scrolling will be choppier than it should be.
This run beats Sonic Advance with Sonic+Tails, aiming for the fastest in-game time on each level, then fastest real-time. (No emeralds.) Sonic+Tails isn't a normal character option, they are selected by pressing Up,Down,L,R on the other characters, so technically this uses a cheat code. It makes it more interesting to have a second character, I think, with manipulating a second character on boss fights being good for a TAS. Besides boss fights, Tails has no effect at all (he just gets left in the dust immediately).
This was quite difficult to make because so many precise actions have to be made while the character is far offscreen in order to beat the levels as fast as possible. I worked around that by watching Sonic's position in VBA's memory viewer, and eventually by [/Forum/Topics/3938&start=13|hacking a "sonic cam" option into VBA] to keep Sonic always onscreen (this was pretty complicated to do without desync because the camera position drastically affects the gameplay). It's possible to make an AVI with this of what it looks like when you can actually see Sonic all the time, for example, this AVI of the first act (but I didn't encode it very well...) . There are a lot of opportunities for glitching this game in a TAS. Most of the glitches involve doing an ultra spin-dash (hold down and press the A button 11 times as fast as possible) and are mainly good for horizontal movement, making vertical stages relatively slower. You might be surprised at how well Egg Rocket 1 turned out, though (if you've ever played it before, you'll know how ridiculous a sub-1-minute time on it is), and I was definitely surprised by how that level ended...
Depending on the path, it's possible to skip the loading of the collision boundaries for the rest of the level. Usually that's bad because it means you fall through the level to the bottom and die, but I manage to take advantage of this in Egg Rocket 1. That glitch required extremely precise positioning, by the way (it needed to be literally subpixel-precise, and was very unlikely that I found it).
Interactive objects in the level, such as springboards, enemies, item boxes, or the goal, don't have any effect offscreen. Thus, I can't bounce off of springs, be harmed by enemies, get items, or complete the level until I allow the camera to catch up. Loops and other places where Sonic is supposed to pass behind part of the level also don't work offscreen (they count as walls then, completely halting Sonic although they can be glitched through like other walls). When an interactive object is onscreen, it makes it impossible to glitch through it into a wall (the game teleports Sonic back to where he started a little while after going through). Somewhat surprisingly, rings can be collected offscreen like normal.
In Angel Island 1 and (more noticeably) Cosmic Angel 2, I'm able to move up or down a small amount by spin dashing or attacking while inside a wall. Normally this doesn't work, but it worked there because I had entered the wall directly from a sloped surface (which is rarely possible).
Different wall tiles have different properties for glitching. The Angel Island ones were especially bad for having lots of the tiles that cause you to get stuck. The hardest levels to do were: Egg Rocket 1, Casino Paradise 2, Cosmic Angel 2, Angel Island 1. Besides exploiting programming errors in the game, this run also manipulates randomness on most of the bosses. The final boss in particular was a pain to manipulate.
Here are the in-game times achieved:
Level/BossTimeTSC record
Neo Green Hill 10:12:85 [1]0:24:45
Neo Green Hill 20:30:050:45:55
Secret Base 10:26:370:39:98
Secret Base 20:37:101:12:05
Casino Paradise 10:15:520:36:82
Casino Paradise 20:38:520:53:42
Ice Mountain 10:12:320:47:63
Ice Mountain 20:44:621:04:03
Angel Island 10:14:721:11:67
Angel Island 20:37:871:06:93
Egg Rocket 10:53:25 [2]2:26:17
Cosmic Angel 20:42:781:14:53
X-Zone0:43:200:49:78
Total in-game time: 6:49:17
The TSC record times are going by different rules (fastest time using any individual character), should be current as of this submission, and are only listed to give a better sense of how long these levels are "supposed" to take.

[1]: I cross the goal of Neo Green Hill 1 in 9.57 seconds, but get a level time of 0:12:85 because I have to wait for the camera to catch up for the goal sprite to load. Since I outran the camera at the earliest possible moment, and stayed offscreen until the level ended, I believe 0:12:85 is the fastest time possible on that level. Note that time bonus on this and several other levels actually takes longer to count down than the entire level took to complete (too bad the countdown is unskippable).
[2]: The game doesn't display this time because it replaces the timer with a 5-minute countdown at the first rocket transition. To see that the time was 0:53:25, I hex-edited the completed level into the "time attack" mode of the game on that level. I did find a way to skip the first transition and beat the level before the rocket even takes off, but it was slower overall.

adelikat: excellent run, excellent response, accepting

Post subject: Re: dual AVI
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moozooh wrote:
How about lowering the quantizer value a little bit? There seem to be way much blocking.
This wasn't a final encoding. It was just a quick sampling of the raw AVI I prepared.
moozooh wrote:
Bisqwit wrote:
When watching the dual avi, I notice I'm only watching the camhack movie... to me it's far more entertaining.
Please be more careful in your quotes. I did not write that statement.
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Oops, a copypaste error. :D EDIT: fixed.
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Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
JXQ
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I think the dual video doesn't look very good, but not just because of the boringness of the non-cam-hack. I think the lack of a clear division between the two is distracting (although, a clear division may also be distracting). No need to restate everything else I already stated.
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And this computer I'm using doesn't even have whatever you need to see the video installed, so that's even worse! I got stuck watching a Windows Media Player visualization. But at least it was a visualization of good ol' Sonic D. Hedgehog sound!
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Try VLC Media Player. Works on everything used here I think.
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I felt that it was a lot clearer with both of them played side to side (or top to bottom). I watched just that hacked cam version before, and it was nice, but it somehow feels hollow not seeing the actual run of how it really looks. On the other hand, I couldn't see myself watching the actual run all by itself. It's nice to be able to see what Sonic's actually doing, and refer upwards to what the game actually looks like. Personally, I had no problem with a lack of division, though it may cause problems in future levels. I think that actually, the best option may be doing a duel release, but instead of having the movies for option 3, it should be both 2 and 4. That way people who like the duel screen view and those who only care about the actual view (which I think is a lot less than people who only care about the hacked cam) can download option 4, and the people who don't want the extra distraction and who wish to have a smaller download can have their version as well. But for me, I'd just download option 4 if there were movies of 1 2 and 4 all available. If there were just 1 and 2, I'd download 2 and not bother with 1, but it would feel kind of empty to me. Edit: Oh yeah, and to help people have less confusion, I think there should be a note in the movie file at the beginning that tells you that the top screen is the actual view of the game, and the bottom is a modified version that's used to see what's actually happening. That way it'll be clear to people who didn't go to this site to view the movie. Though I'm sure you've thought of that already.
Post subject: Re: dual AVI
upthorn
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Bisqwit wrote:
Here's an example how a dual AVI would look like... (except that it still needs the proper onscreen text): http://bisqwit.iki.fi/kala/test1d.avi (4.7 MB) Comments? Edit: Fixed URL
I find that a left-right configuration makes it much easier to watch both screens at once than a top-bottom one. Aside from that, maybe put a 2-pixel black bar in between the screens. (assuming proper onscreen text includes an explanation of one being camhack vs not.
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I just read this thread and almost changed my opinion a couple of times, but I landed on #3. Since there seems to be quite a bit of disagreement, I think this will offer each viewer freedom to watch whatever they want. I'm not a fan of dual encoded movies, but I suppose that could be published too since a few people seem to perfer it, if an encoder feels motivated enough.
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AzHP wrote:
Try VLC Media Player. Works on everything used here I think.
But I don't want to install too much junk on my roommate's computer!
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
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(Po o cara não sabe brincar, aí...) Sorry for the portuguese comment, I couldn't help making it. Is there any reason why this was still not published AND starred?
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It's not published because there's still debate over what form it should be published in. I'd take choice 3.
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Not a big deal to make a movie for both views and link them both in the publication text along with an explanation ...
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The debate now seems to be whether one of the AVIs should be dual-encoded to show both views at once. I think that would be the most interesting one to watch, although I don't think it would clear things up very much for the average viewer any more than an explanatory note in the AVI would already.
Sir_VG
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I liked the dual encoded AVI. Definately go that route. And nitsuja, YOU SUX0R WHY YOU BREAK GAME. ;_; Though seeing a couple old Sonic bosses in X Zone was cool. (Hurrah for Sonic 1 and 2!)
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
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Were is sonic?? did he pass for here?? OMG...really faster... The Flash³ + Sonic² = Nitsuja
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In other news... Yeah is anyone working on encoding this in any of the flavors?
What's a man like me supposed to do with all this extra savoir-faire?
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When I viewed the dual-screen avi, the camhack one was much more interesting. The regular one was just really boring right off the bat. I mean... the level just zooms from one end to other, and you don't even see Sonic 'till the very end. With the camhack one, you can clearly see what exactly Sonic is doing, and you can see all the nifty tricks used. I vote for #2, but #3 is good too.
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. ---- [568] GBA Sonic Advance by nitsuja in 11:17.47
P.JBoy
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Finaly good job
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Note the video I just published is without "Sonic Cam". Bisqwit said he'll publish a "Sonic Cam" AVI later.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
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Meaning this is just solely the unhacked cam? Ah well, thanks for getting it published but no point in downloading yet. For me at least.
What's a man like me supposed to do with all this extra savoir-faire?
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Very nice run. Looking forward to the hacked camera. The two largely glitched egg rocket levels were very nice and the early ending frame with the 'bouncing on eggman until he dies' ending was great. I would be very interested in seeing a run which includes getting all the chaos emeralds.
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I just watched this run and read through all the comments, and I can't wait for the hacked SonicCam video. I saw the prelim. avis and It reminded me of the Zelda II run, and I think that runs like this are the best part of this site. Given the option, I'd definately vote yes if I could.
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I am just wondering...what is the status on the Sonic cam avi...I been wanting to watch them since the movie was published - and I can't wait. (the test vids are still cool as hell.)
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If someone passes me a working Linux x86-32 or Linux x86-64 binary of VBA with Sonic Cam, I'll encode the AVI and publish that too.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.