A Nightmare on Elm Street TAS by Randil

This is a 7143 frames (119.05 seconds) improvement over Ziplock's run of this fun and original platformer.

Technical Information:

  • Emulator used: FCE Ultra 0.98.16.
  • Aims for fastest time.
  • Manipulates luck.
  • Abuses programming errors in the game.
  • Takes damage to save time.
  • Genre: Platform.

Game description:

A Nightmare On Elm Street is a somewhat original platformer. There are 7 levels in this game, 5 houses, 1 cemetary and one conjunkyard. After each level there is a boss that you have to beat. Each house also consists of a few rooms. In order to complete a room, you need to collect all the bones in it. You can see how many bones I have left to collect in that room on the interface at the top of the screen. If you get to the end of the level without having collected all the bones, you can't proceed. This makes this game less straightforward, and not as trivial to TAS, since you have to plan how you should pick up all the bones.
You can also transform into a "Dream Warrior" on bosses, that you meet at the end of each level. There are three Dream Warriors in the game: The acrobat, the Ninja and the Magician. Only the Acrobat was used in this rn. Transforming into a Dream Warrioron bosses makes the fight a whole lot faster. In order to be able to transform to one of these "Dream Warriors", you first need to have picked up an "upgrade stone." These are gray and can be found here and there on the levels. For example, the grey stone with a wizard hat on allows you to transform into the magician.
Once you have killed the boss, you get a key that unlocks the next level.

Tricks, glitches and playing strategy:

Common tricks:
  • I jump down ledges instead of walking down them whenever I can. This is a common trick and will not be explained further.
  • If you've hit an enemy it will become ether for a few frames. During this time I can pass through them if I want. This doesn't save any time anywhere in the run, it's just a neat trick.
  • If you get hit, you will become invulnerable for a few frames, allowing you to pass through enemies. This was used a few times in the run.
  • As in so many other games, you can't atack and move forward at the same time on the ground. But if you're in mid-air, you keep your horizontal movement when you attack. That's why I avoid attacking enemies while on the ground.
  • It's faster to jump up or down a stair than walking on them. Your movementspeed is 1.5 pixels per frames normally, on stairs it's 1.2857... pixels per frame.
Glitches:
  • This is the only real glitch that I've found in this game: If you enter a new area through a hole in the ground, the game thinks you're still on ground during the first frames on this level. This allows me to jump while in air, and passing through the roof. This is used in the third room in house 3, for example. It will become obvious when you see it. This saves around 10 frames or so each time, so it's not a huge timesaver, but it's a nice trick none the less.
Boss strategies:
Beating bosses as fast as possible is really hard in this game. I used the acrobat on all bosses because he has the fastest firing rate. In mid-air, he can shoot spears every 3 frames or so. He attacks much, much slower on ground.
So, the general strategy is to be in air, as close to the boss as possible, and just throw spears as fast as you can on him.
Right after the boss has been hit, he becomes etheral and you can pass through him. This is done a lot in this run.

Improvement information:

  • Time saved on the outside parts (mostly by manipulating the placement of the first three houses): 2793 frames (46.55 seconds).
  • Time saved on the levels themselves, excluding the bosses: 2703 frames (45.05 seconds)
  • Time saved on boss fights: 1647 frames (27.45 seconds).

The making of this run:

Most of this run was done in frame advance. When on the outside, I played some parts on 100% speed, with right on autohold.
I also used the memory viewer a lot on this run. I used the memory viewer to watch bosses HP, which was very useful. I also used it to see my position on the screen sometimes, which was useful when finding a good spot to stand on before a boss spawns.
Suggested screenshot: Frame 5059:
Suggested description:
Everyone knows Freddy Krueger, who turns the peaceful dreams of people living on Elm street into lethal nightmares. This his time we'll see him get beaten in a new record time, much faster than in the movies. This run is 1:59 faster than Ziplock's precedent version.
Merry christmas everyone! Enjoy the run!

Truncated: Accepted as an improvement to the current run.

adelikat: Processing

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1398: Randil's NES A Nightmare on Elm Street in 14:32.88
Active player (432)
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3516
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Nice improvement and you kept your momentum throughout the whole run. Voted yes.
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: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Punchin' spiders in the name of justice! This was surprisingly much more entertaining than ziplock's run. The level routes looked perfect to me, and the general level of play was more than I could expect for this game. Voting Yes. As for a screen shot, I'd rather see one where you punched the two Frankenstein-esque guys at once while passing through them, or... well, anything with action would be good. The picture you selected is really tame.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Experienced player (611)
Joined: 4/24/2005
Posts: 612
That's some good optimizations and I like the fact that it's mostly fluid the whole way through, good luck manipulation. This game isn't that bad for being based on a movie so, in that case, it was entertaining. One question I have is: Would it be possible to manipulate the sequence of houses/areas even further so you could just enter them in the order of which they come along as you pass by? All else I can say is great job improving this game's run by such a nice margin, it really is a fine movie. Yes vote.
Skilled player (1882)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
VANDAL wrote:
Would it be possible to manipulate the sequence of houses/areas even further so you could just enter them in the order of which they come along as you pass by?
The only thing you can manipulate with the order of the levels is the placement of the first three houses. As you saw, these appear in the optimal places. The rest of the levels can't be manipulated in terms of where they appear. So, basically, the answer to you question is "no". :P
ventuz
He/Him
Player (122)
Joined: 10/4/2004
Posts: 940
Well done, that's a lot of time saved. I don't see any area that would be any further improvement. Yes vote.
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
I voted yes. You managed to save almost two minutes, while keeping the TAS entertaining. Bravo! ^^
Player (80)
Joined: 3/11/2005
Posts: 352
Location: Oregon
As you were backtracking through the area right before the last bosses, you fell into a hole onto a moving platform, when it looked like it would have been easy to jump across. Any reason for that?
ideamagnate| .seen aqfaq <nothing happens> DK64_MASTER| .seen nesvideoagent * DK64_MASTER slaps forehead
Skilled player (1882)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
IdeaMagnate wrote:
As you were backtracking through the area right before the last bosses, you fell into a hole onto a moving platform, when it looked like it would have been easy to jump across. Any reason for that?
Yes, because it is actually impossible to make that jump. Even though it is a short jump, if you try to jump across it, you will hit your head in the roof, and get knocked back down, before you can make it across. You'll see that the roof knocks me down on most of the other jumps I do on that particular level. So normally it would have been very possible to jump across, but it's that stupid roof that's making it impossible.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 563
Location: Toronto, Ontario
You've been busy lately Randil :P. Another quality run, and a good improvement to boot. Voted yes.
JXQ
Experienced player (749)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
Randil (probably) wrote:
Do you think I should do a 4-player run of this game next?
Why yes, Randil, I think a four player TAS of this game would be an excellent idea.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Skilled player (1882)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
JXQ wrote:
Randil (probably) wrote:
Do you think I should do a 4-player run of this game next?
Why yes, Randil, I think a four player TAS of this game would be an excellent idea.
Wow, I must have been drunk or something when I wrote that. :P But I really won't be doing a 4 player run of this game. Mainly for two reaons: 1. It probably won't be any faster than this run. The game will lag a lot with 4 players. Just look at chupapi's submission. I would need to improve that time by about 270 seconds to be faster than this submission. I don't really see that possible. The game lags terribly with 4 players running around. I don't see the points in making a 4 player movie when it will most likely be many, many seconds slower than this because of all the lag. 2. I really can't do a TAS controlling 4 characters. I'm having a really hard time controlling two, and I applaud those who have done 2-player TASes, because they're really hard to make. Although it would be cool if someone made a 4 player run that actually obsoleted this one, if nothing else just to prove me wrong. Anyone up for a serious try?
Editor, Experienced player, Reviewer (967)
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 3107
Location: Sweden
Yeah, Randil! Of course you should. Go first 4-player movie in TAS history!
Skilled player (1882)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
Haha, I appreciate the support, but I don't think I should. Let me point at the two reasons I stated before: First of all, a 4-player run will be much slower than this, so why bother? Second, how on earth does one even make a 4-player run? I would need to hold down up to 12 buttons at a time sometimes... I only have 10 fingers, and autohold is a bit troublesome to use for just 1 or 2 frames input. So the answer still stands at "no", sorry. :P If I touch this game again, it would be to improve this run I think.
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 275
I watched this alongside the current published run, and the improvements made are just ridiculous. The movements are smoother, and the boss fights are much better this time around. Yes vote.
JXQ
Experienced player (749)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
Around frame 39000, after going down the stairs the first time, could you have went to the right, gotten that bone, turned around, gotten the bone under the stairs, then jump on the moving platform to the left and continue above the stairs? The way you do it now, you go down those stairs twice and up them once. Also, boss re-fights are LAME. Stupid programmers.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Player (70)
Joined: 8/13/2004
Posts: 205
Yes vote, very good run.
Skilled player (1882)
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2160
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
JXQ wrote:
Around frame 39000, after going down the stairs the first time, could you have went to the right, gotten that bone, turned around, gotten the bone under the stairs, then jump on the moving platform to the left and continue above the stairs? The way you do it now, you go down those stairs twice and up them once.
If I understand you correctly, the thing you're suggesting isn't possible. Normally, you can pass through pillars, however, the pillar just left of the stairs is orange, and blocks your way. In short, you can't walk through that pillar. If I could, your strategy would have saved quite some time, though. Good eye there. :)
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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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. ---- [780] NES A Nightmare on Elm Street "1 player" by Randil in 14:32.88