Chuck Rock (SNES) (Run Up! Official Time: 11:55)

[AKA]

I remember now, the one with boulder. I was actually confused myself there by thinking of 2-2 and 2-3.

[Emptyeye]

Just did some practice runs on stream. Nothing that would've been remotely submission-worthy if I were going for the real thing--roughly 17 minutes, with 2 deaths--but progress is being made. If nothing else, the game lends itself well to multiple attempts in a short time period, meaning a failure doesn't leave me wanting to throw a controller through the window, cry, and not pick up the game again for a week or two (As I nearly felt with Willow a couple times).

[Emptyeye]

Update: After some DVD recorder difficulties (Apparently it doesn't like the fact that my TV isn't actually hooked up to cable), I made some attempts on console today. In order, 14:27, 15:55, 14:11, all with deaths, and the last with a rather comical sequence in 1-4 where a rock got stuck on a catapult dinosaur's tail and I couldn't pick it up for a good 30 seconds.

Stuff to figure out:
In 2-3, the platform that AKA climbs in his TAS sometimes just doesn't show up for me. I have no idea what the trigger is for it to appear (Or not). The 14:27 was the only one of the three attempts where it actually showed up.

Playing 5-1 better. It's just about impossible to avoid getting hit at least once at the start of 5-2 (It's not nearly as easy as AKA makes it look in the TAS...I'm pretty sure I've NEVER gotten past the start of the level without getting hit at least once, if not twice). As a result, I typically die right at the start of the level.

Overall, I'd like to get this to about 13 minutes if not a bit below before I send it in (Yeah, I know that's about 1.5 times the TAS time...this is still acceptable to me, partially due to version differences). No deaths will also be an obvious requirement--death just slows you down.

EDIT 9/29/08: 13:39 with one death that I really should have avoided. Still some room for improvement, but I managed to not die right at the start of 5-2 this time, so that's encouraging.

[AKA]

I would have thought somewhere around 12 mins would have been the goal.

[Emptyeye]

Yeah, particularly in 5-1, I'm still playing fairly conservatively (Probably too much so at this point). I need to really figure out what to hit that will make things easier and not cost me too much time (The pterodactyls are the obvious thing that come to mind--the angel/devil enemies can be skipped more than I'm doing, and other than that..).

[Emptyeye]

Okay, got down a 13:11 on one life, which is pretty solid. I'm still going to try and do better--with some luck/skill/whatever, I think the T-Rex can be beaten more quickly than I did it...I found a method of doing it quicker, but it's also riskier. I try it and fail rather badly in the 13:11 actually. But this is the first one that I can say "Yeah, if I don't improve it, I'll go ahead with submitting this one."

EDIT 10/4/08: Down to 12:50. It could probably go down a bit further if I decide to go for broke on the final boss (Or the 4th boss for that matter).

[Emptyeye]

Down to 12:16 now, and I think there's still a bit of room for improvement--my 5-1 is still more conservative than it could be, for instance. On the other hand, pretty much all the boss fights went great--in particular, a more aggressive approach on the last 2 was probably responsible for most of the improvement from the 12:50.

AKA, I really have to thank you, both for the TAS and for saying that sub-12 should be the goal. Maybe I'll get those last 16 seconds, maybe not (I'll keep trying a bit longer before sending something in), but either way, without that post, I almost definitely just settle for the 12:50 and the current version doesn't even exist.

[AKA]

Sub 12 would be great. I think the best time possible would be like 10:57

[Emptyeye]

Well, the good news is that I got what I think is an 11:59 via the timing method I was using. The bad news is that said timing method doesn't take into account the four and a half seconds or so that you retain control of Chuck between the final blow and fadeout, meaning the official SDA time is closer to 12:04 (Similarly, my 12:16 was actually in the 12:20-12:21 range). Still, the time is continuing to come down, and I actually think I can knock off those last few seconds with an even higher-quality run. I'll have to break down the timing and see where I can improve (5-1 is still not perfect, I know that much).

[Emptyeye]

I got it. I got the sub-12.

~11:55 by SDA standards. Not to brag too much, but this is without a doubt my finest speedrunning effort to date, and it should show. I'm submitting this and calling myself done with the game, as I've given it more attention than it arguably deserves. Now don't let me sit on my ass with this for months on end like I did with Astyanax.

If you're curious, hitting a hard jump on 5-1 and a basically perfect final boss battle was what made the difference in the end.

[ShinerCCC]

EmptyEye you should get a Groovestats page, then I can beat all your ITG scores. I'll feel like less of a n00b watching you put out all these awesome runs so fast =(

"33 greats, all are pad"

can't wait to see this one, I remember trying it out on emulator for about 15 seconds

[Emptyeye]

Just a quick note to say that the run is in the verification queue. If you know the game, you know what to do.

Also, knowing the Genesis version is perfectly acceptable for verification purposes.

[Emptyeye]

The run is up! The official time is 11:55. Go check it out! Decide for yourself which verifier's comments you most agree with (If you don't read the verification board, the summaries were "Enthusiastic accept", "Accept because the runner's assertion that he's given this game more attention than it deserves is absolutely correct" [My personal favorite], and "Accept but barely; I won't disagree if others vote reject"). For my part, it's probably my best run to date, though there are some pockets of gameplay where I look like I've never played the game before. Whoops!

EDIT: Aww, they took out my post-ending attempt to turn the site into COOL TITLE SCREEN THEMES Demos Archive. The revolution will not be televised, I guess.

[Rael96]

Even though I haven't played the game, I watched the run just because I like platform games.  Found it entertaining and thought it was a good watch.

[Mickey_Mage]

I agree, it was a good watch. I have to say though, Chuck is one ugly guy compared to Joe and Mac