Tool-assisted movies (50)

Arm Wrestling is a 1985 arcade game developed by Nintendo and released only in North America, and is a spin-off of the Punch-Out!! series. The goal of the game is to become the World Arm Wrestling Champion by defeating as many opponents in arm wrestling as possible. In order to achieve this title the player must compete against five different computer opponents and pin them in a timed match.

£e Nécroyeur causes the host to go bankrupt in record time. Please read the author's comments for more details.

Bay Route is a sidescrolling run 'n' gun game that is very similar to Contra. It was developed by Sega and Sunsoft and released to arcades in 1989. You control a commando named Tom as he runs across enemy territory to find and rescue some hostages.

The author, NitroGenesis, controls Tom as well as a second soldier to tear through more enemies in less time on his way to rescue the hostages.

Before reminiscing about a man I knew when I was young, before rescuing a hero named Joe, there were games where you played as Joe himself! The Bionic Commando arcade game, sequel to Commando, introduces the first hero in a platform game who couldn't even jump, which spawned many sequels.

Thanks to collecting an item that increases the speed of the bionic arm quite a bit, abusing death to skip the elevator in Mission 4 and better overall optimisation, Jules improves the previous publication by 38.85 seconds.

Bowl-O-Rama is a bowling simulator created by P&P Marketing for the arcades. It uses trackball rolling to throw bowling balls at pins. It features 3 different game modes: "Bowl-O-Rama" which is just regular bowling, "Flash-O-Matic" which scores you based on timing and performance, and "Blackjack" which gives you cards in blackjack that correspond to the amount of pins you throw in a single frame.

Spikestuff scores 21 points in each frame to win the pot in record time.

Donkey Kong is an arcade platform game released by Nintendo in 1981. It presented an early (if not the first) example of the platform genre, and was the first to incorporate multiple playfields, as well as the ability to jump. It is also the first game designed for Nintendo by Shigeru Miyamoto, and his influence was immediately apparent, as he introduced both the eponymous Donkey Kong and Mario (originally named Mr. Video and then Jumpman) in his debut game. Donkey Kong would become one of the most influential and commercially successful arcade games of all time, and some 35 years hence, competition for the highest score remains fierce.

Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns is a ROM hack of the original Donkey Kong. It was made by Jeff Kulczycki, and features 4 brand new levels as well as variations of the original 4 stages. The goal remains to rescue Pauline from the clutches of Donkey Kong,

EZGames69 rescues Pauline in record time.

Donkey Kong Jr. is the sequel to Donkey Kong, where the forgotten titular character has to rescue his father Donkey Kong from Jumpman/Mario. It was released on several home consoles, including the ColecoVision and the NES.

This run, however, plays the original Arcade version, more specifically, the Japanese version, as one single loop has all 4 individual stages of the game. EZGames69 goes through all four stages in record time.

In Dottori Kun, you control a race car on a five lane track, and your goal is to collect all of the dots in order to advance to the next level, very similar to the Atari 2600 game Dodge 'Em, with the major difference being the ability to change directions.

This run by xy2_ plays all 11 levels, after which no new content is presented.

Set in a post-apocalyptic New York, Double Dragon is the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, twin brothers trained in the fighting style of Sou-Setsu-Ken. Together, they manage a small martial arts training school, teaching their students in self-defense. One day, Billy's girlfriend, Marian, is kidnapped off the street by the "Black Warriors", a savage street gang led by a man named Willy. The Black Warriors demand the Lee brothers disclose their martial arts secrets in exchange for Marian's freedom. The Lee brothers set out on a rescue mission to crush the Black Warriors and save Marian.

Released on many systems, this game was so popular that they even released it for cellular phones and made a board game. Even a Hollywood movie has been made.

sugarfoot improves his previous TAS by 33.78 seconds, mainly thanks to improved combo sequences. Please read the author's comments for more details.

We also have TASes of the NES port and the unlicensed Genesis port.

Drag Race is an arcade game released in 1977 by Kee Games (a subsidiary of Atari). Drag Race was designed by David Crane before the Great Exodus from Atari that would lead to the formation of Activision. At Activision, David Crane would redesign Drag Race for the Atari 2600, released in 1980 as the more widely-known Dragster. This unauthorized adaptation, among other litigation between Atari and Activision, would not be resolved until years later. The cabinet for Drag Race features controls for 2 players, including a steering wheel, a 4-way gear shifter, and a gas pedal. The cabinet even has functional analog tachometers to indicate when to shift! The display is black and white with overlays for color and text. Interestingly, the sound is in stereo, with each player hearing only the sound of their respective dragster in their speaker. The game's mechanics are inventive and gameplay is fun and exciting--as it would later be for Dragster.

£e Nécroyeur races through three heats in record time.

Dragon Unit (also known as Castle of Dragon) is an obscure arcade game about a castle with a dragon in it. Perhaps it's not the most original sounding game; but it does have nudity, gratuitous violence, and Engrish to make up for it. The action is very fast paced, and with the help of TAS skills, the dragon master is dispatched quicker than a hard boiled egg.

We also have a movie of the NES version and a 2 player run.

The streets of Metro City are filled with criminals who are part of a gang called Mad Gear. Former wrestler and newly elected mayor Mike Haggar tries to do something about it, much to the displeasure of the Mad Gear Gang who kidnap his daughter Jessica. Only three people are brave enough to venture into the crime-infested streets and try to bring Jessica back.

Final Fight is a 2D side-scrolling fighting game. Taking on the role of either Cody, Guy, or the mayor Mike Haggar himself, you must advance through six areas of the city clearing out the gang infestation. You will have to cope with a variety of thugs, ranging from firebomb-throwing maniacs to behemoth wrestlers. To defeat these thugs, you have an arsenal of punches, kicks, throws, and jump kicks at your disposal.

£e Nécroyeur improves the previous publication by 1 minute and 11.35 seconds. Please read the author's extensive comments on the tricks and glitches used. As a bonus, this was played on maximum difficulty settings.

Front Line is a vertically scrolling action game, where you play as a solider on a mission to infiltrate enemy territory and destroy their fortress.

In this run, the author notably abuses a glitch that allows the hero to travel over 40 times faster than was intended by the developers, leading to stages being completed in mere seconds.

Musashi Ganryuki, known outside of Japan as Ganryu is a simple platform Hack and Slash game on the Neo Geo. In this game, you play the warrior Musashi on a quest to fight your old enemy Kojiro who has risen from the dead. Watch as Musashi slides past most dangers and chops up bosses in record time.

Ghosts 'n Goblins (1986) (known in Japanese as 魔界村 Makaimura, "Demon World Village") begins with a normal scene: a half-naked knight is on a date in a graveyard with a princess. Suddenly, a demon appears and abducts the princess! The knight quickly suits up and makes rapid progres (sic) through the demon world in an attempt to rescue his royal girlfriend.

This run of the original arcade game completes the first cycle in 6 minutes and 27.17 seconds. We also have a run of the NES port, but the game engines are so different that a comparison between the two times doesn't make any sense. Reaching the end credits requires a second run-through of the game which would be identical to the first run-through; this is omitted in this run.

Ghouls 'n Ghosts is the sequel to the brutally hard Ghosts 'n Goblins, and is brutally hard in its own right. This run is of the original coin-op version, which is most similar to the Genesis one. One of the major differences is less armor from chests.

Creative use of damage and picture perfect boss fights combine with some glitchy looking jumps as xipo takes on Lucifer's many demons. The game is completed twice (which is necessary to get the ending) and along the way we are treated to some fabulous Engrish and more information than necessary about the damsel in distress.

Golden Axe is an arcade beat em up from the late 80s. Along with its charming Conan the Barbarian style and hack and slash gameplay, it pioneered the beat em up "super" attack in the form of collectable magic. The game consists of 5 full size stages with 4 bonus stages in between for replenishing magic and HP. Gameplay consists of slicing bad guys up with weapons, riding mounts that breath fire, and casting magic spells.

Galedog slays the enemies throughout the game in record time.

For more hack-and-slaying action, please watch the movie done on the Genesis version.

J. J. Squawkers is a platformer by Athena. The game's description has some awkward English, but it seems to say "the world fell into spells and went crazy". Your heroes are the Karasukun brothers, a pair of ravens, who go fight back after their house is attacked. The game is notable for its beautiful and trippy graphics.

xy2_ completes the game in record time with one player.

Warning for people with sensitivity to light flashes: be careful about the stage background from 7:09 to 7:41 of the video encodes.

Jail Break is an arcade game produced and released by Konami in 1986. The game's story is loosely based on the 1981 film Escape from New York, wherein Manhattan has become an island prison from which the hero must rescue the President of the United States, who is being held hostage. In Jail Break, the game's hero, Aki, must fight through 5 stages to rescue the warden of a prison following a mass escape.

This game is quite advanced for it's time. It offers good multi-sprite movement and decent frustrating artificial intelligence. It also has a host of semi-understandable speech phrases such as "Help me!", "Save the hostages.", "The warden has been taken hostage."

But whatever, none of that matters after what £e Nécroyeur has done to the game with some intense glitching. Bizarre sprite mess just blazes around and terminates the poor prisoners who happened to meet what was left from the hero. Climbing sheer walls, moonwalk shooting, killing aligned groups of enemies with a single bullet - no hostage shall be afraid anymore!

Jungle Hunt is an arcade game produced and released by Taito in 1982. The original version of the game, Jungle King, was the subject of a lawsuit levied against Taito by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs for copyright infringement for using a likeness of the Tarzan character. Jungle King featured a long-haired feral man in a fur loincloth swinging from vine to vine in the jungle, and most damning of all, an unauthorized reproduction of actor Johnny Weissmuller's famous Tarzan yell. As a result, the hero of the game was replaced with a stereotypical Victorian era "gentleman explorer", the vines were changed to ropes, and the Tarzan yell was replaced with a short tune. On a technical note, Jungle Hunt is one of the first games to feature parallax scrolling. And the music has a rousing jungle beat! Jungle Hunt was later adapted for the various home gaming platforms of the day, including the Commodore 64 (of which we have a TAS of) and the Atari 2600.

£e Nécroyeur completes one loop of all four difficulty levels in record time.

Karate Champ is an arcade game released by Data East in 1984. The game was developed for Data East by Technōs Japan. Even in this early example, Technōs Japan's penchant and talent for designing "fighting" games is readily apparent. While it was not the first fighting game (not even for Technōs Japan), it was the first to offer such a high degree of realism and sophistication, so much so that it has been identified as the defining game of the one-on-one fighting genre. The game also features an early example of digitized speech. The control scheme is atypical, featuring 2 4-way joysticks and no buttons.

£e Nécroyeur obtains the champion rank in record time.

Karate Champ: Player Vs Player is an arcade game developed by Technōs Japan and published by Data East in 1984. This is the groundbreaking sequel to Karate Champ. As Karate Champ was the defining game of the one-on-one fighting genre, Karate Champ: Player Vs Player was surely the defining game of the one-on-one player vs. player fighting genre, which would become the preeminent genre for competitive video gaming in the early to mid-1990s. Even now, players continue to compete in older games of this genre, and new games continue to be developed. Karate Champ: Player Vs Player was released less than two months after the release of Karate Champ, but gameplay aside, the game received a fairly thorough overhaul. The game features a new story, new and varied backgrounds, new and enhanced Bonus Intervals, much improved sound samples and opponent AI, and even an ending!

£e Nécroyeur achieves said ending in record time.

Klax is an arcade puzzle video game developed by Atari. It is essentially a Tic-Tac-Toe game with tiles, where the player must match up similar colored tiles either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each wave requires the player to make a certain amount of "Klaxes" to proceed to the next wave, and sometime specify if it needs only horizontal, vertical, or diagonal ones.

PearlASE aims to achieve a maximum score on 100 waves of the game.

Kung-Fu Master is an arcade game produced and released by Irem in 1984. It is perhaps more widely known by its NES title, Kung Fu. Kung-Fu Master is the seminal game of the "beat 'em up" genre, and it would influence the arcade game industry for years to come. It was a great success for Irem, not just for the arcade market, but also later for the home video game market, as it (as well as Irem's 10-Yard Fight) was chosen as one of the launch titles for the NES. Kung-Fu Master is based on Bruce Lee's final film, Game of Death, wherein the hero must ascend a pagoda at his increasing peril, with each floor guarded by a master of a different martial art.

£e Nécroyeur clears the five floors in record time.

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters is the direct sequel to Mega Man: The Power Battle. Like its predecessor, this arcade-only game does away with the levels of the classic Mega Man games and instead pits you against Robot Master after Robot Master. The game features four characters and three game modes to choose from, with different Robot Masters to fight in each mode.

For this run, Marx runs the "Search for Wily!" mode with 2 players at once, using both Mega Man and Proto Man to defeat each robot faster than just 1 player could. Though the battles are speedy, the brief waiting periods after each match allow some time for entertainment.

In Mercs, an arcade game that is also available for the Genesis, each player takes control of a member of the Wolf Force, to rescue the former President in Africa.

DarkKobold uses all three guys to save him as fast as possible.

To play the FBM file without any problems, it is important to disable the Use M68000 assembly core option in the emulator.

This is a run of the fourth game in SNK's big franchise, Metal Slug.

Author x2poet dual-wields Trevor Spacey and Nadia Cassel and conquers General Morden's army like an army of two controlled by a single person!

This run beats the author's previous one by 00:52.82 seconds and features a much more entertaining final battle.

You can also watch the other Metal Slug runs for more intense military action.

This entry in the Metal Slug series features the theft of information on the next generation of Metal Slug by the "Ptolemaic Army", wherein our heroes are tasked with recovering that data and putting an end to the evil group.

The author improves his previous version by using a new strategy on the last boss. You can find out the details in the submission text.

You can also see more of x2poet's Metal Slug work by looking at his runs from Metal Slug, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4, and Metal Slug Advance.

Metal Slug X (1999) is an updated version of Metal Slug 2, the second installment of an immensely popular run'n'gun series released on the Neo Geo MVS. The games are notable for incredibly detailed pixel graphics, fluid animation, and good humor; but the real key to their longevity is, of course, their high difficulty as far as survival goes.

This is AngerFist's debut performance on FinalBurn Alpha. Please read the discussion thread if you experience desyncs.

Metal Slug X (2001) is a remixed version of Metal Slug 2, the second installment of an immensely popular run'n'gun series released on the Neo Geo MVS. The games are notable for incredibly detailed pixel graphics, fluid animation, and good humor; but the real key to their longevity is, of course, their high difficulty as far as survival goes.

This is x2poet's 00:16.20 seconds improvement over the previous movie, despite now using the hardest difficulty setting. One notable improvement is the use of both players, compared to one in the obsoleted run.

You can also see more of x2poet's Metal Slug work by looking at his runs from Metal Slug, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4 and Metal Slug Advance.

Released in 1996, Metal Slug is a widely popular game about two soldiers named Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving, enrolled in the Peregrine Falcon Squad, fighting against General Morden and a bunch of other Nazi impersonators in giant mechs & machines in order to stop his New World Order under his power.

Watch x2poet destroy anything that stands in his path through wide use of bombs and guns, and about half a minute faster than the previous run!

If you enjoyed this movie, check out the other Metal Slug runs for more explosive military action.

Not only does Michael Jackson have a Genesis video game, he also has an Arcade game! This game is loosely based on the movie of the same name, featuring Michael Jackson saving children from Mr. Big. When Michael meets his pet monkey Bubbles, he turns into a killer robot!

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is a 3 player arcade game, where you play either a white-, red-, or black-suited Michael Jackson. The author uses all three players to complete this game as fast as possible.

This movie uses a bootleg version because the proper version did not work on the emulator used.

In Neo Turf Masters, you can pick one of six available golfers and compete on a number of golf courses around the world, including Japan (Fujiyama Oriental Golf Club), America (Grand Canyon Golf Course), Australia (Blue Lagoon Golf Course), and Germany (Baden Golf Course). The game features two modes of play: Stroke Play, in which the player attempts to get the best score by playing all 18 holes, and Match Play, in which two players compete to see who can win more of the 18 holes.

This run by mamuuuut plays the toughest course (Australia) and aims to get the lowest (best) final score while showing off unusual or unexpected paths.

Osman is a arcade game in the spirit of Strider. It's a very obscure and underrated arcade game, which didn't see much of the light of day, thanks to various issues with the hardware... and the fact that the game is unforgivingly hard. The game never once lets you breathe, and in unassisted play, there are a lot of things to manage at the same time. This, along with the 3 health you start out with, can make clearing with just a single credit a nightmare.

The game mostly revolves along Osman and his power: he has the power to make clones of himself when he attacks that stay for a varying amount of time and reproduce the attack he just did.

This run is an improvement of 21.95 seconds over the previous one by the same author. Note that the real time of this run is 5:25.2 - The extra 1:11.57 is because the author puts his initials in the high score table after the credits roll.

VS Pinball is the arcade release of the NES game of the same name. The game is a standard example of a pinball machine, just played virtually.

There is a special bonus room in which the game turns into a Breakout clone of sorts, where the player controls Mario to save Pauline and earn bonus points. The NES game's manual considers rescuing her as winning the game.

DrD2k9 and ShesChardcore both save 3.26 seconds of input time over the previous run through better manipulation of the ball in the bonus room.

Punch-Out!! is an arcade game by Nintendo, released in 1983. Back in those carefree days, while Mike Tyson was still a promising amateur, Nintendo was developing a most particular sort of boxing video game. Punch-Out!! features two monitors, digitized speech, and an early (if not the first) example of hardware-scaled sprites.

£e Nécroyeur defeats the six opponents in record time.

This is the first Arcade publication using MAME-RR, and is published right on the 20th anniversary of the original MAME.

One year after the defeat of Amakusa from within the first Samurai Shodown, a new threat soon emerges in the form of Mizuki Rashojin: a vengeful spirit who possess a local shrine priestess named Bizuki and seeks to bring forth chaos and destruction to the world in the name of the dark god Ambrosia's will. Those who had fought before in the past during Amakusa's reign of terror now find themselves, along with a few new faces, battling against Mizuki and her loyal forces in order to determine the fate of the entire world itself.

Samurai Shodown II is a 1994 fighting game released as a second entry in SNK's Samurai Shodown series.

You control a shinobi, Joe Musashi, who must battle his way through each level in search of hostages which must be rescued. You have shurikens, kicks and punches to defend yourself with, as well as powerful ninja magic which can clear the screen of enemies in one go.

Each level is broken down into smaller scenes, and hostages are guarded by big blokes who throw swords. Watch out for gun-toting enemy henchmen and ninjas. Reaching the end of each level will find you battling it out with a boss. These range from 8ft tall giants to helicopter gunships.

EZGames69 throws shurikens at the horde of enemies and clears the game in record time.

Yippie-ki-yay!

In Spinmaster, known in Japan as Miracle Adventure (ミラクルアドベンチャー), you play as Johnny and Tom, two treasure seekers. They have to save Johnny's girlfriend and gather map pieces in order to find the biggest treasure in the world! Along the way, they must fight past lots of quirky henchmen, large bosses, and more, all accompanied by cartoony graphics and stereotypical cowboy voice clips.

In this game, Johnny and Tom can use several different types of weapons, such as the elements of ice, fire, and thunder. They can collect a limited number of super attacks, denoted by the letter "B" under their health bars, to hurt everything on the screen and damage bosses heavily. Also, health does not refill between levels.

If you want to see another Arcade game involving two treasure hunters fighting lots of enemies, be sure to check out x2poet's run of Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy.

Super Contra is the sequel to the original Contra (also known as Gryzor in Europe). It has different level layouts than the NES version, itself known as Super C in North America and Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces (and with modified sprites to feature robotic characters) in Europe. The Arcade version allows the player to control their jump height by holding Up (for a higher jump) or Down (for a lower jump).

Clicher completes the game on the hardest difficulty setting with 1 player in record time.

Super Punch-Out!! is an arcade game by Nintendo, released in 1984. This is the exciting sequel to Nintendo's 1983 arcade hit, Punch-Out!!. The Hero must defeat five new opponents from around the world, each a champion in his respective country, to become a "global" Champion of the World. The Hero has not been idle since winning the WVBA championship.

£e Nécroyeur defeats the 5 opponents in record time.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a puzzle spin-off of Super Street Fighter II Turbo first released on the arcades in 1996, then ported to several home consoles. The game works on a mechanic of normal blocks (which can group together into power gems), crash gems (which destroy gems of the same color), and counter gems sent over from opponents that count down until they turn into normal blocks. Blocks fall in pairs and after the 25th pair a diamond gem appears which destroys all gems of the same color on the playfield.

dwangoAC chooses Ryu and plays through the hardest difficulty in a mere 7 minutes and 8.15 seconds.

Tapper is a 1983 arcade game released by Bally Midway. Tapper puts the player in the shoes of a bartender. The player must serve eager, thirsty patrons before their patience expires while collecting empty mugs and tips.

£e Nécroyeur completes one loop of the game in record time.

We also have runs of the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 versions.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an arcade game based on the TMNT cartoon released in December of 1987. Konami released this mega-hit in 1989, as one of the first arcade games to offer 4-player beat-'em-up action.

In this run, DarkKobold uses all 4 ninja turtles to freak the foot soldiers, mangle the mousers, total the Technodrome, and kick Krang and The Shredder back to Dimension-X in a little over 12 minutes.

Tetris the Absolute: The Grand Master 2 is the second arcade game in Arika's Tetris: The Grand Master series. The Grand Master 2 introduced the less-intimidating Normal Mode to attract more casual gamers, as well as an all-new grading system in Master Mode, the continuation of TGM's original gameplay.

Tetris the Absolute: The Grand Master 2 Plus is a free upgrade of TGM2, which added TGM+ Mode and the famous T.A. Death Mode that is played in this movie. This mode is notable for starting at maximum gravity (pieces drop from the top to the bottom in 1 frame) and increasing in speed from there; as the level increases, animations play faster and the delay before a piece locks in place becomes shorter.

Masterjun completes the T.A. Death Mode in record time while using wall kicks to speed up horizontal piece movement, collecting all 6 Gold Medals, and also achieving the Secret Grand Master grade. The in-game time is 02:40.40.

Top Hunter stars the galaxy's best bounty hunters, Samus Aran Boba Fett Spike Spiegel Roddy and Cathy, as they take down the Space Pirates Rebel Alliance Red Dragon Galactic Pirates.

This game features an initial choice of four levels, with the added quirk that the level layouts will depend on previous stage choices, and some boss machines that would make Dr Wily envious.

Track & Field is an arcade sports game that allows the player to perform events based on the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Events include the 100 meter dash, the hammer throw, the javelin throw, the long jump, the high jump and the 110 meter hurdles.

In this run, the author's tool-assisted advantage helps him finish first and break a few "world records" while he's at it!

Tron is an arcade video game based on the Disney movie Tron. It consists of 4 minigames loosely based on the movie. One where you get enemy cars to run into your line, one where you shoot each other with tanks, one where you shoot a moving wall, and one where you must reach the exit.

Clicher plays through 12 loops of this game to max difficulty in record time.

Violent Storm is a 1993 side-scrolling beat-'em-up for the arcades produced by Konami. Up to three players can choose between Wade, Boris and Kyle, who have different fighting styles, speed and moves, some of which are hidden. Players must guide them through 7 different stages, along the way clashing hordes of enemies who wallop, sock, pommel, whip and slug against the players, sometimes with knives, lead pipes, bombs, bolts of electricity, spiked balls on chains, garbage cans, vise grips, molten metal and a myriad of other deadly armament. Lots of fun.

Mihoru uses Boris and Wade to blaze through the game as fast as possible.

Warriors of Fate is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em-up and sequel to Dynasty Wars taking place in ancient China. Akkila-orkhan, the dark lord of Shang-Lo, has decided to conquer the neighbouring countries. The wise Kuan-Ti has summoned the five greatest warriors of the lands to stop this from happening.

xipo completes the game in record time.