Jazz Jackrabbit 2 run (Recording Complete)

Edit history:

henkie: 2005-09-30 09:34:54 am

2005-09-30 09:34:21 am

I'll have to go along with Apathy here and say that Jazz looks snazziest on the two lower resolutions. That way he looks like I remember him too Wink

AquaTiger

2005-10-01 12:16:50 am

Never give up!

Hmmm....

I'm seeing an overwhelming call for lower resolution. Nevertheless, I'll keep this resolution poll open until I get back and am ready for the real thing - hopefully I'll have enough replies to decide the exact one.

Although I noticed that the sad thing about these runs is, if I were to submit them today they would still probably be verified sooner than my other run... oh well. (Please refrain from jokes about that other run in here unless you've already voted or the post with the joke has your recommendation for resolution.)

Apathy

2005-10-01 05:10:19 am

King n00b!

I never even knew catwoman was even a game.. I couldn't sit through the movie, so I doubt I'll be able to sit through the game. Grin

AquaTiger

2005-10-02 12:08:23 am

Never give up!

I didn't see that movie, and I probably am thankful.

ANYWAY.

I have officially decided. The resolution I will use for this run is 400 x 300 x 16.

However, actually doing the run may be delayed to tomorrow, I don't know. I first need to find out if I have to switch rooms this weekend, and that may be a while.

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2005-10-03 03:12:33 am

2005-10-02 05:53:39 pm

Never give up!

Just started my recording attempts.

The first one made it to the fourth level before I died. The second one made it to the second level before I realized I forgot to turn on my stopwatch before beginning play, prompting a restart. (Yes, I'm using a stopwatch so that I can give a time without having to rely on the VCR.)

The third try? Made it halfway through the first level of the second episode before another death ruined the run (approximate time to that point is 10 minutes 19 seconds). Playing in 400 x 300 resolution is like a whole new game. Nevertheless, I shall persist with this new resolution, such that my final result shall be viewable.

(Why the sudden difficulty? I have to rely more on what I memorized than on actually seeing what's happening, and though the game rarely throws massive curveballs, I didn't effectively memorize enemy locations, just the route through the level.)

Update: A few more attempts made. One ended at level seven again, another had a very sloppy level 3, and the last made it to level 12 before I got beat by - you guessed it - the crab boss. Again.

Update 2: Two more attempts today. One of them sloppily ended at level seven once again, and the other, which had a significant time improvement (at one point I wondered whether my stopwatch was accurate) got cut short near the end of the second Wonderland level thanks to those dragonflies.

Update 3: My latest attempt did much better. I managed to make it all the way to the Spark Boss on level 18, but I could not maneuver him into position for the quick kill strategy I used in my prelim run and wound up dying. Nevertheless, I've improved greatly - at my current speed, 33 minutes might not be too difficult.

Update 4: Because it's only 8:30 PM at the time of this post, I refuse to give up just yet. My last few attempts have ended in failure, none of which even reached level 12 (although the last one came close), but I've been able to decrease my time considerably (at about the 6th level, I wound up 30 seconds ahead of my early attempts today). I'll keep going for sure.

Update 5: Once again, I'm doing a bit better than the last series. I've once again made it to level 18, and I even managed to manipulate the Spark Boss into the right position to unload on him fast. However, I could not finish the job. So, another series on the way in a few minutes.

By the way, I managed to find a glitch that may make the swimming level (level 12) much, much faster. If you jump right away, and then hit the jump button again in midair, the water drains right out of the level (this even works for Jazz, and in fact that's who I discovered it with). Problem is, I don't know if Radix will accept this glitch, so I'm going to make it a point not to use it from this point.

Update 6: Final update of the night. I have yet to beat level 18 in these speedruns - I now struggle against the Spark Boss. If I can just enter with full health more often, I might have a chance. By the way, my time to this point with Jazz is about 23 minutes and 30 seconds once arriving at the Spark Boss - this puts me on pace to beat 32 minutes if I'm very careful.

If no one else comments, I'll be making one post a day and updating it as events happen.

Just started my recording attempts.

The first one made it to the fourth level before I died.  The second one made it to the second level before I realized I forgot to turn on my stopwatch before beginning play, prompting a restart.  (Yes, I'm using a stopwatch so that I can give a time without having to rely on the VCR.)

The third try?  Made it halfway through the first level of the second episode before another death ruined the run (approximate time to that point is 10 minutes 19 seconds).  Playing in 400 x 300 resolution is like a whole new game.  Nevertheless, I shall persist with this new resolution, such that my final result shall be viewable.

(Why the sudden difficulty?  I have to rely more on what I memorized than on actually seeing what's happening, and though the game rarely throws massive curveballs, I didn't effectively memorize enemy locations, just the route through the level.)

Update: A few more attempts made.  One ended at level seven again, another had a very sloppy level 3, and the last made it to level 12 before I got beat by - you guessed it - the crab boss.  Again.

Update 2: Two more attempts today.  One of them sloppily ended at level seven once again, and the other, which had a significant time improvement (at one point I wondered whether my stopwatch was accurate) got cut short near the end of the second Wonderland level thanks to those dragonflies.

Update 3: My latest attempt did much better.  I managed to make it all the way to the Spark Boss on level 18, but I could not maneuver him into position for the quick kill strategy I used in my prelim run and wound up dying.  Nevertheless, I've improved greatly - at my current speed, 33 minutes might not be too difficult.

Update 4: Because it's only 8:30 PM at the time of this post, I refuse to give up just yet.  My last few attempts have ended in failure, none of which even reached level 12 (although the last one came close), but I've been able to decrease my time considerably (at about the 6th level, I wound up 30 seconds ahead of my early attempts today).  I'll keep going for sure.

Update 5: Once again, I'm doing a bit better than the last series.  I've once again made it to level 18, and I even managed to manipulate the Spark Boss into the right position to unload on him fast.  However, I could not finish the job.  So, another series on the way in a few minutes.

By the way, I managed to find a glitch that may make the swimming level (level 12) much, much faster.  If you jump right away, and then hit the jump button again in midair, the water drains right out of the level (this even works for Jazz, and in fact that's who I discovered it with).  Problem is, I don't know if Radix will accept this glitch, so I'm going to make it a point not to use it from this point.

Update 6: Final update of the night.  I have yet to beat level 18 in these speedruns - I now struggle against the Spark Boss.  If I can just enter with full health more often, I might have a chance.  By the way, my time to this point with Jazz is about 23 minutes and 30 seconds once arriving at the Spark Boss - this puts me on pace to beat 32 minutes if I'm very careful.

If no one else comments, I'll be making one post a day and updating it as events happen.

Nikuvilin

2005-10-03 03:51:59 pm

DMC3,ZOE2 and Xenosaga 2.  Am I crazy?

Good job!

julien

Edit history:

julien: 2005-10-03 03:54:08 pm

2005-10-03 03:52:51 pm

I'm eager to see the finished run.

After reading this thread I had to dig out Jazz1 and 2 and played through these games once again...so thanks that you reminded me of these great games Smiley

henkie

2005-10-03 03:54:43 pm

Very nice progress you're making, Aquatiger.

I don't see why you shouldn't use the bug you discovered in the water level, I mean, isn't the whole point of speed running to find glitches and exploit them to arrive at a faster time? Imagine what a Quake or Halflife run would look like if they didn't exploit any glitches. Unless Radix plans on making different categories for JJR 2 runs with and without the glitch, I'd exploit every single glitch I came across.

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2005-10-04 01:54:19 am

2005-10-03 04:39:36 pm

Never give up!

Quote:

Very nice progress you're making, Aquatiger.

I don't see why you shouldn't use the bug you discovered in the water level, I mean, isn't the whole point of speed running to find glitches and exploit them to arrive at a faster time? Imagine what a Quake or Halflife run would look like if they didn't exploit any glitches. Unless Radix plans on making different categories for JJR 2 runs with and without the glitch, I'd exploit every single glitch I came across.

Well, I'm only concerned because in other games, Radix has ruled some glitches unacceptable. (I think Perfect Dark had a glitch of that sort, and the first two old NES Mega Man games had something similar.)

Then again, those glitches cause fast movement, while this simply removes a barrier to fast movement. Actually, it's harder to complete the level itself with this glitch UNLESS you know how to run it.

Thanks for the support in any event. My goal here is to get both runs finished by Thursday, so I can mail them over the weekend.

Update: Three more tries made. One ended at level 17, the next at level 18, and the last one is the first time today I managed to get that no-water glitch working. Too bad I died at the crab boss.

I do have a couple of new strategy notes:

-If you hold jump at the start of a level, it will be as if you're jumping off a platform right below where you start. I doubt it works for levels where you 'teleport in' (a few stages spread across the last three episodes), but it allows for shortcuts in some levels (such as level 4) and, as stated before, drains the water in level 12.

-Fighting the crab boss is a matter of having enough toaster and seeking missile ammo, as well as plenty of health (those orbs can be dispatched with two, maybe three missiles, and the boss seems to take more damage from the toaster).

-I think the Spark Boss is the true holdup in this game; once I can beat him I should be fine for the rest of the game.

-I've made huge strides in improvement since I started with this.

Update 2: Almost all of my latest attempts are still dying on the Spark Boss - any that don't have died before then. I've resorted to using seeking missile ammo, which I'll have stockpiled before the boss (before the crab boss, actually), since that's easier to line up than the Blaster, and I'm a good enough button masher to reduce the time lost.

[quote]Very nice progress you're making, Aquatiger.

I don't see why you shouldn't use the bug you discovered in the water level, I mean, isn't the whole point of speed running to find glitches and exploit them to arrive at a faster time? Imagine what a Quake or Halflife run would look like if they didn't exploit any glitches. Unless Radix plans on making different categories for JJR 2 runs with and without the glitch, I'd exploit every single glitch I came across.[/quote]

Well, I'm only concerned because in other games, Radix has ruled some glitches unacceptable.  (I think Perfect Dark had a glitch of that sort, and the first two old NES Mega Man games had something similar.)

Then again, those glitches cause fast movement, while this simply removes a barrier to fast movement.  Actually, it's harder to complete the level itself with this glitch UNLESS you know how to run it.

Thanks for the support in any event.  My goal here is to get both runs finished by Thursday, so I can mail them over the weekend.

Update: Three more tries made.  One ended at level 17, the next at level 18, and the last one is the first time today I managed to get that no-water glitch working.  Too bad I died at the crab boss.

I do have a couple of new strategy notes:

-If you hold jump at the start of a level, it will be as if you're jumping off a platform right below where you start.  I doubt it works for levels where you 'teleport in' (a few stages spread across the last three episodes), but it allows for shortcuts in some levels (such as level 4) and, as stated before, drains the water in level 12.

-Fighting the crab boss is a matter of having enough toaster and seeking missile ammo, as well as plenty of health (those orbs can be dispatched with two, maybe three missiles, and the boss seems to take more damage from the toaster).

-I think the Spark Boss is the true holdup in this game; once I can beat him I should be fine for the rest of the game.

-I've made huge strides in improvement since I started with this.

Update 2: Almost all of my latest attempts are still dying on the Spark Boss - any that don't have died before then.  I've resorted to using seeking missile ammo, which I'll have stockpiled before the boss (before the crab boss, actually), since that's easier to line up than the Blaster, and I'm a good enough button masher to reduce the time lost.

Enhasa

2005-10-04 02:36:23 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

I love Radix's comment.

Not to look too much ahead, but after you've done this, AquaTiger, would you consider doing the original JJ? I never played the full version of JJ2 and I heard the GBA one sucked terribly so I stayed far away. Tongue

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2005-10-05 04:16:14 am

2005-10-04 02:49:50 am

Never give up!

....there was a GBA Jazz Jackrabbit? That's news to me. But looking at some screenshots of the GBA version just now, I must claim that that IS NOT a recognizable Jazz Jackrabbit.

The main thing barring me from doing a run of the original JJ is that my computer, right now, is incapable of properly running the game without a DOS emulator (DOSBox, precisely), and Radix has strictly forbidden emulators even under those conditions. That, and I still have to run Metal Slug 5 once these runs are done.

Speaking of which, I have finally beaten the Spark Boss and subsequently finished the Jazz run. I have an interesting story to tell about this run as well, but I'm saving that for the run's comments unless people really prompt me for it. As my stopwatch tells me, my time is 32 minutes and 26 seconds - not exactly what I had in mind, but that's the time I'm keeping. (It beats my prelim run by 5 minutes and 15 seconds, for crying out loud! That is a lot of improvements to a decent-sized game like this!)

The challenge now is to go 2 minutes and 26 seconds faster than that with Spaz - meaning I have to improve from the practice run by 3 minutes and 19 seconds with him. Those recordings will start late Tuesday, however, so that my adrenaline can return to normal levels.

If you people expect a vid of this new run, it's not going to come from me. I'm putting the Spaz run on the same tape (that's right, as I said before I'm recording this via VCR, not Fraps - I don't trust that Fraps or Camtasia will avoid causing mega-lag) and mailing it to Nate, likely during this weekend.

Update: My first serious Spaz run today failed, but it still went very well. I reached Devan at 30 minutes and about 36 seconds, meaning there has to be at least a minute of mistakes I can find and fix. Gonna do the next attempt in a few minutes.

Update: Final update tonight. My Spaz runs are still failing, either due to stupid mistakes or too many hits on the last four levels. I've also hit a plateau as far as times go. You guys will accept a simple sub-31, right? I may not be able to hit sub-30 unless a miracle happens (for instance, if I somehow get that Devan killglitch to work, and completely ace all other levels).

....there was a GBA Jazz Jackrabbit?  That's news to me.  But looking at some screenshots of the GBA version just now, I must claim that that IS NOT a recognizable Jazz Jackrabbit.

The main thing barring me from doing a run of the original JJ is that my computer, right now, is incapable of properly running the game without a DOS emulator (DOSBox, precisely), and Radix has strictly forbidden emulators even under those conditions.  That, and I still have to run Metal Slug 5 once these runs are done.

Speaking of which, I have finally beaten the Spark Boss and subsequently finished the Jazz run.  I have an interesting story to tell about this run as well, but I'm saving that for the run's comments unless people really prompt me for it.  As my stopwatch tells me, my time is 32 minutes and 26 seconds - not exactly what I had in mind, but that's the time I'm keeping.  (It beats my prelim run by 5 minutes and 15 seconds, for crying out loud!  That is a lot of improvements to a decent-sized game like this!)

The challenge now is to go 2 minutes and 26 seconds faster than that with Spaz - meaning I have to improve from the practice run by 3 minutes and 19 seconds with him.  Those recordings will start late Tuesday, however, so that my adrenaline can return to normal levels.

If you people expect a vid of this new run, it's not going to come from me.  I'm putting the Spaz run on the same tape (that's right, as I said before I'm recording this via VCR, not Fraps - I don't trust that Fraps or Camtasia will avoid causing mega-lag) and mailing it to Nate, likely during this weekend.

Update: My first serious Spaz run today failed, but it still went very well.  I reached Devan at 30 minutes and about 36 seconds, meaning there has to be at least a minute of mistakes I can find and fix.  Gonna do the next attempt in a few minutes.

Update: Final update tonight.  My Spaz runs are still failing, either due to stupid mistakes or too many hits on the last four levels.  I've also hit a plateau as far as times go.  You guys will accept a simple sub-31, right?  I may not be able to hit sub-30 unless a miracle happens (for instance, if I somehow get that Devan killglitch to work, and completely ace all other levels).

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2005-10-07 05:03:23 am

2005-10-05 06:31:31 pm

Never give up!

Okay, good news.

I have finally finished the Spaz run. My stopwatch tells me that I barely missed beating 30 minutes (we're talking by less than 10 seconds), but this is the one I'm keeping, since I did so well this time. I think people will appreciate both runs.

Steps remaining:
~~-Review the tape to find the start and stop markers~~
-Label the tape with the correct start and stop markers
~~-Capture a copy of the tape so that I may write my comments proper (this step is actually optional)~~
~~-Write protect the tape (it's the lower left tab facing out when the tape goes right side up into most VCRs that I need to break off, right?)~~
-Find a proper-size envelope
-Contact Radix (but not before the above steps)
-Figure out postage (this assumes Radix does NOT tell me it when I contact him)
-Mail the tape
-Wait for processing and verification
-Continue with life as normal while waiting for verification
-If the run is approved and I didn't capture my own copy, request a copy of the run so I can write comments
-Once I have them, send the comments for both runs

Okay, good news.

I have finally finished the Spaz run.  My stopwatch tells me that I barely missed beating 30 minutes (we're talking by less than 10 seconds), but this is the one I'm keeping, since I did so well this time.  I think people will appreciate both runs.

Steps remaining:
[s]-Review the tape to find the start and stop markers[/s]
-Label the tape with the correct start and stop markers
[s]-Capture a copy of the tape so that I may write my comments proper (this step is actually optional)[/s]
[s]-Write protect the tape (it's the lower left tab facing out when the tape goes right side up into most VCRs that I need to break off, right?)[/s]
-Find a proper-size envelope
-Contact Radix (but not before the above steps)
-Figure out postage (this assumes Radix does NOT tell me it when I contact him)
-Mail the tape
-Wait for processing and verification
-Continue with life as normal while waiting for verification
-If the run is approved and I didn't capture my own copy, request a copy of the run so I can write comments
-Once I have them, send the comments for both runs