I have seen Upthorn's and JXQ's runs of Sonic 1 and JXQ's Knuckles in Sonic 1 run, I just had to see a run of Tails in Sonic 1. After looking around, I
found out one wasn't likely to be forthcoming. So, in what may be my first and only TAS, I decided to do it myself. The hack is
here (I used version 2), while the movie is
here.
This TAS was based on the aforementioned runs with Sonic and Knuckles, even though I didn't use any of the input. For this reason, the number of re-records (9548) may seem low; but I didn't have to figure everything out and could simply look at how things were done in the existing runs. Credit goes to Upthorn, JXQ and all others which did the figuring out of routes and techniques.
I recorded this with Gens 10a (from the downloads page).
I probably won't be submitting the movie as the ROM is not in the list of "approved" hacks.
The level break-down:
Level Time Notes
Green Hill 1 0:17:47
Green Hill 2 0:15:54 [1]
Green Hill 3 0:29:23 [2], [3]
Marble 1 0:14:49 [4]
Marble 2 0:15:34 [5]
Marble 3 0:27:54 [6]
Spring Yard 1 0:19:46 [7]
Spring Yard 2 0:22:05 [8]
Spring Yard 3 0:47:50 [9]
Labyrinth 1 0:26:52 [10]
Labyrinth 2 0:26:05 [10], [11]
Labyrinth 3 0:30:41
Star Light 1 0:18:07 [12]
Star Light 2 0:12:36 [13]
Star Light 3 0:30:44 [14]
Scrap Brain 1 0:24:44 [16]
Scrap Brain 2 0:21:33 [17]
Scrap Brain 3 0:17:06 [18]
Final 1:14:33
[1] I couldn't get the wall trick to work: Tails can't glide, hence can't do it like Knuckles, and he can fly, hence he can't do it like Sonic...
[2] Knuckles' glide allows him to quickly stop after the initial spring. Tails has to do it otherwise, and loses time; the few frames cost a second at the end.
[3] Robotnik wasn't expecting Tails, hence the beatdown...
[4] Tails can fly up that wall faster than Knucles can climb it. Also, the higher jumping strength makes tails reach a faster speed right up to the wall.
[5] Tails has a lower maximum flying speed than Knuckles' gliding, and Knuckles can reach the walls slightly faster. It is probably possible to knock off 3 more frames with cascading desynchs on all subsequent levels.
[6] Knuckles' glide lets him reach the boss faster, but Tails' flight lets him slaughter Robotnik much faster.
[7] Going top-side avoids some dodging of obstacles that lose speed and some vertical movement that lose time.
[8] I failed to go the Sonic way, and Tails' flight can't take it the Knuckles way. I also had to detour for that invincibility because the moving spike was in the way of the faster path.
[9] Tail's flight prevent him from doing it like Knuckles, hence he takes longer to climb the wall. Tails slaughters Robotinik, but that isn't enough to make up for all the lost time.
[10] Knuckles loses less time dodging the enemy at the begining due to his gliding.
[11] Using the shortcut from the newest Sonic run.
[12] Knuckles's glide lets him get quicker stops. Tails flight lets him get some places slightly faster.
[13] Tails' higher jumping strength and flight forced me to take a slightly different route. They also allowed him to reach insane speeds and zip through this level faster than anyone ever did.
[14] The shortcut Knuckles takes can't be used by Tails. I failed to get Tails from going through that loop like Sonic does. However, faster speeds and a faster route (less vertival motion) and a slightly faster boss battle allowed Tails to draw.
[15] Probably the least optimized levels. There is probably lots of room for improvement, but I got bored with the run. I might redo these in the future, but I am not doing it now.
[16] This stage has a ceiling which prevents Tails from going through the top. This could have circumvented a part of the stage in which Knuckles gains an edge due to his gliding stop.
[17] Using shortcut from Sonic run.
[18] Knuckles' glide stop lets him go about much faster, particularly around the second switch.
Edit: new times and new comments for newest run.
Edit 2: Updated table, comments and movie file. Table now includes in-game frame counter values as the last number.
Enjoy!
