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Emulator used: Snes9x 1.43WIP-dehacked-improvement7
  • Uses WIP1 timing
Animaniacs is about three creatures of undetermined species who hang out in a water tower over Warner Studios, only coming out when they want to cause trouble, much to the irritation of Ralph the security guard. Pinky and the Brain are two mice, the latter super-intelligent and bent on conquering the world, the former just dumb. In this game they're carrying out one of their plots, and the animaniacs have to stop them for some reason by heading through four studios of varying genres, collecting pages of scripts, and then going to the editing room for the final showdown. How any of these events correlate story-wise, I haven't the foggiest, but it really doesn't matter.
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes no damage
  • Ignores semi-important goals
  • Genre: Platform
In this run I collect only the script required to end the game and take nothing that could be construed as damage, as this game is a one-hit kill thing, and whatever I do hit just stuns me. I dash most of the time, which can't be done consecutively without any interstitial frames. Out of the three dash cancellation methods I tested (waiting, braking and jumping out of it), waiting took the least amount of time before the next opportunity to dash was available.
An odd thing about this game is that vertical movement is rather restricted and is split into three "lanes". They can't be switched while dashing, so (sometimes particularly ugly) pauses in movement occur occasionally as various unjumpable obstacles rely on this lane structure.
This is my first TAS, so this movie probably isn't as optimized as it should be (the rerecord count is frighteningly low), but I used frame advance for the whole thing and I think I know the game pretty well, so I did the best I could do.

Opening

I pause momentarily at the very end so my dash would affect Ralph, otherwise I would've had to jump to avoid him.

Sci-Fi Studio

Part 1 - A couple of pauses because the hatchlings aren't possible to avoid full-speed.
Part 2 - Nothing too exciting to report here.
Part 3 - Just avoiding Ralph and spazzing out all over the place, waiting for the UFO to arrive.
Part 4 - There are a lot of autoscrollers in this game, as you'll see later.
Part 5 - The freeze-frame when the truck hits the barrels looks particularly cool.
Boss - I was able to nail the first two levers before the boss got a bit too close for comfort. He's slow, but he takes big steps, so some running around to lure him out of the way was required.
Part 6 - A couple of really ugly-looking jumps to avoid Ralph occur here. The ladder can only be grabbed on the ground, so that's why I didn't jump.
Part 7 - See Part 4.

Fantasy Studio

Part 1 - One...
Part 2 - Two...
Part 3 - Three! Three autoscrolling levels in a row! At least they're marginally entertaining.
Part 4 - The running-into-an-anvil thing was for comedic effect, as I only needed to be dashing for a short period of time. A couple of lane-change pauses occur.
Boss - I just have to lead him into the anvil's path and then head through the exit door. Nothing unusual occurs here.

Aquatic Studio

Part 1 - Nothing special to report.
Part 2 - Part-autoscroller, part-manual, part-boss. The squid can't be hit until it turns pink, after which it re-emerges and turns red again unless you're precise enough to hit it before it fully rises (which is, of course, what I do). The developers didn't give me much help in the way of "creating art while waiting."
Boss - Just another squid with more hitpoints.

Adventure Studio

Part 1 - Blah blah blah.
Boss - The coconuts can't be picked up until they stop bouncing, which is why I wait. I also get to show off the ridiculously flawed pattern used for the gorilla hands by sitting in one position for a period of time without dying. This game features the most random boss placements I've ever seen.
Part 2 - In normal play, the water below the platforms equals instant death because the alligator is practically unavoidable due to its speed. Fortunately, normal play isn't the case here. I can't dash in either situation and the platforms require some Warner-stacking (see opening stage for an example of that), so this is faster by default.
Part 3 - Gotta wait for the vultures to pass so I can swing successfully.
Part 4 - The crushing ceiling that follows the first door is impossible to pass, as no matter how slowly it's lowering, it always pauses for a moment and then slams down at the moment I'm seemingly able to jump out. So I take the door instead. Nothing to report beyond that.

Editing Room

I fight all previous bosses. How original. See previous boss sections, these are nearly exactly the same.
Boss boss - No, the screen-wrapping isn't a glitch. Essentially I have to hit the Brain eight times in total, then collect the last script to end the game. It's the worst ending, but it's still funny. And abrupt.
And that's it. Enjoy.

adelikat: I am rejecting this submission. Reasons are posted in the discussion thread.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Posts: 14881
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1606: mushroom's SNES Animaniacs in 23:17.28
Joined: 12/28/2004
Posts: 210
The Warner siblings don't look like they took this adventure too seriously lol. Even in the most extreme danger they're just smiling and dancing while you effortlessly avoid every obstacle and destroy every boss. The final boss fight was particularly entertaining. Yes vote. The only problem was that the game had quite a few autoscrolling levels and there wasn't much you could do for entertainment but you handled it alright. I have one question/suggestion though. Is that Hello Nurse shield an invulnerability shield? If so, could it be used to speed up the boss fight with the robot and the 3 switches?
Player (105)
Joined: 12/22/2006
Posts: 193
Location: Flowood, MS
I hadn't thought of that. I honestly didn't take the slots into account much...I guess I probably should've :( I'm not sure if this game can be easily hex-edited, but I'll give it a shot later. It's not like any judges will be scrambling to accept this, anyway. edit: I tried it out, and no matter when I hit L (the slot-stop button) I always get Pinky. The slots are definitely luck-manipulable beyond that, but that's a whole can of worms I don't have the ability nor patience to open.
<adelikat> tony hawk is porn for me <Comicalflop>my mom is hot
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 432
i wasnt really entertained, so i'm voting no.
Experienced player (612)
Joined: 4/24/2005
Posts: 612
Hey, not too bad for your first TAS. This is actually a pretty damn hard/annoying game so it's interesting to see a TAS make it look easy and simple. Besides there being nothing more than what the game offers in this TAS, I found it to be a good start for your first TAS (I don't believe every TAS has to be the ultimate run). Regardless of the low rerecord count and the stated probable unoptimized movement, I vote yes for it's your first TAS which I understand how that is. Congrats.
Joined: 12/28/2004
Posts: 210
Might be able to use the shield to go through birds on the vine level too.
Joined: 4/12/2007
Posts: 78
Location: Atlanta, GA
I thought the run was pretty well done, and I can't see much to be improved outside of luck manipulation. Is it random where the coconuts, nuts, etc. fall in the boss fights? If so, maybe you could make them fall in a better place to avoid the walking after the first throw. But you could have done more to entertain in the run, especially with the slots. I'd be interested to see how many continues you could rack up by the end of the game. I'd also like to see you running/jumping circles around bosses and autoscrollers in the down time, such as in the giant-gear-chasing-you stage. I did like how you mocked the gorilla hand boss by standing in one place for a while. Not sure what I'm voting yet, but I don't think it will be yes. Sorry, but more could be done to entertain than had been.
Player (105)
Joined: 12/22/2006
Posts: 193
Location: Flowood, MS
But you could have done more to entertain in the run, especially with the slots. I'd be interested to see how many continues you could rack up by the end of the game.
As far as I can tell, the randomness of the slots is totally unrelated to when and if I stop it on my own, so they're most likely controlled by my movements somehow.
such as in the giant-gear-chasing-you stage.
I really didn't have anything to work with there other than just bumping into the giant gear over and over again. Aside from one missed opportunity involving an autoscrolling section in the Aquatic Studio where there's stacked boxes with gold coins on top, I think I did well with what I had. Thanks for watching, though.
<adelikat> tony hawk is porn for me <Comicalflop>my mom is hot
Player (198)
Joined: 12/3/2006
Posts: 151
While a low re-record count doesn't have to be a bad thing, I'm afraid in this case it is. For instance, the flaming-robot-boss-thingy could have been done at least half a second faster by hitting those three switches earlier. Also I noticed that the boss refight was significantly slower than the original boss with no apparant reason (I haven't actually checked this, so it could be wrong), which isn't acceptable in my opinion. Anyways, from a casual viewer's point of view I was moderately entertained by this run despite the numerous auto-scrollers, which leads to an average of 'meh'. Although I'm not sure if this should be published since it fails to achieve one of it's goals...
Player (105)
Joined: 12/22/2006
Posts: 193
Location: Flowood, MS
the flaming-robot-boss-thingy could have been done at least half a second faster by hitting those three switches earlier.
probably. :/
Also I noticed that the boss refight was significantly slower than the original boss with no apparant reason (I haven't actually checked this, so it could be wrong), which isn't acceptable in my opinion.
As far as I can tell, they're both the same in terms of speed, give or take a few frames.
Although I'm not sure if this should be published since it fails to achieve one of it's goals...
does any obsoleted movie acheive the "as fast as possible" goal, then? I'd say this is a fairly entertaining 23 minutes, and probably much better than any unassisted speedrun that could be done. Not to try to define this site's goals or anything, but in my opinion, that's good enough criteria for the publication of a TAS. thanks for watching
<adelikat> tony hawk is porn for me <Comicalflop>my mom is hot
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Well I think that the reason while it does not achived is goal, it's because you can pin point a couple of place where the movie could be better, thus, it's not as fast as possible for the moment.
Player (105)
Joined: 12/22/2006
Posts: 193
Location: Flowood, MS
true. I actually meant to delete that particular line.
<adelikat> tony hawk is porn for me <Comicalflop>my mom is hot
Player (198)
Joined: 12/3/2006
Posts: 151
mushroom wrote:
I'd say this is a fairly entertaining 23 minutes, and probably much better than any unassisted speedrun that could be done. Not to try to define this site's goals or anything, but in my opinion, that's good enough criteria for the publication of a TAS.
I agree it was entertaining when casually watching it, but, to me, part of the entertainment comes from knowing/thinking the the game is played perferctly. Also, I didn't mean to sound so negative about your run; for your first run it was actually quite good. Just don't be afraid to use that rerecord button next time.
mushroom wrote:
thanks for watching
My pleasure ;)
Player (105)
Joined: 12/22/2006
Posts: 193
Location: Flowood, MS
Also, I didn't mean to sound so negative about your run; for your first run it was actually quite good.
thanks
Just don't be afraid to use that rerecord button next time.
I do have a severe lack of patience. I'm workin' on that, though.
<adelikat> tony hawk is porn for me <Comicalflop>my mom is hot
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
I do have a severe lack of patience. I'm workin' on that, though.
That's why I don't TAS ;)
adelikat
He/Him
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player (3598)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4738
Location: Tennessee
I'm afraid the lack of rerecords shows in this movie. It could certainly be improved time-wise but also entertainment-wise. In one auto-scroller, you collected a set of 4 bouncing coins. Then, shortly after, you tried to get another set but only got 2 before they scrolled off the screen. This shows a general lack of planning ahead. Get all 4 or none. Otherwise, it just looks sloppy. Half of this game is auto-scrolling, you need to try to maximize that time in order to keep the audience engaged in the run. I had never played this game but I was excited about the possibility of an animaniacs game published on TASvideos (I love the cartoon <3). But I was disappointed. The non-scrolling levels are nice and the characters has a nifty dashing move which is always good for a nice TAS. But it has too many auto-scrolling levels, and these levels have a limited amount of possbilities for something interesting/novel. Also, it is sad that the slot machine only has 1 thing that is useful for TASing: the "hello nurse". This game would have a lot of potential if there were several types weapons/powerups available. Then the game would be a constant zipping through levels as fast as possible while simultaneously luck manipulating the slots to give you the right item at the right time. That would be very entertaining. However, the "hello nurse" is invulnerability, I would think that is useful SOMEWHERE in this movie. Also, you can still use the slots for entertainment purposes, especially in the auto-scrolling levels which need it. You should maximize getting coins and getting only "good" outcomes on the slots such as continues,lives etc. You should have at least manipulated away bad outcomes such as pinky,brain, etc. I think this submission is in need of improvement before it can be published. I think this game could be a TAS worthy game if a high quality TAS were made of it. (However, I am not 100% convinced of that). Sorry, but I am rejecting this submission. The movie does show potential though. I hope you continue on with future TAS endeavours.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Active player (353)
Joined: 1/16/2008
Posts: 358
Location: The Netherlands
TASsing this game is on the top of my list atm (after finishing my current one, dont like to have parallel projects) i have a few ideas and first thing would be figuring out the slot machine so i can have it come up with useful combinations... already did some very short tests to confirm that its at least possible to manipulate it, now some deeper digging has to be done (i have a pretty decent plan how to do that) unless mushroom has any objections (like.. working on this run again or planning to) I'll open up a thread for it and hit it soon edit: oh I was stupid and overlooked the already-existing topic because of it unexpectedly long title :P [Request for Time Attack: Animaniacs]
TASes: [URL=http://tasvideos.org/Movies-298up-Obs.html]Mr. Nutz (SNES), Young Merlin 100% (SNES), Animaniacs 100% (SNES)[/URL]