Micro Maniacs (PSX)

Sush

Edit history:

Sush: 2013-03-25 02:45:15 pm

Sush: 2013-03-23 06:10:15 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 07:07:35 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 06:15:59 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 06:15:04 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 05:55:02 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 05:53:35 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 05:48:34 pm

Sush: 2013-03-20 05:43:36 pm

2013-03-20 05:37:40 pm

Turns out SDA doesn't have a single "Micro" game submitted or even under discussion, let's change that.

Micro Maniacs (Foxkids.com Micro Maniacs in the USA) is a racing game for the PSX. It's quite similar to the old school Micro Machines games but instead of racing cars you race tiny little dudes that have been shrunk down by an evil scientist or some such. The general idea is still the same as you'll be racing around kitchens, bathrooms, gardens and so forth against other tiny little guys/gals. Googling Micro Maniacs gives you mostly links to cheats/guides but thankfully there are two interesting finds:

Firstly a Twitch member by the name of Crashcycle appears to have the one and only run of this game online, thus making it the current WR as far as I can see. His PB of 15:49 can be found here: http://www.twitch.tv/crashcycle/c/1769501

Secondly there are a list of individual level "records" on Video Games Records. I understand that the validity of "records" on this site are highly disputable but as they are the only ones I can find I shall use them as a benchmark. Also I've attempted a few of them and they're actually pretty good so... yeah. http://tinyurl.com/cu5hhyl

Getting down to the mechanics of the game, I will be running Challenge Mode. In this mode there are 9 races to complete in order to get an ending. The first race is always the practice track, Mine N' Easy, but the following 8 races are a players choice of 4 different tracks meaning there are 32 tracks in all available to us but we'll be using only 8 of them. Obviously the main choice for each round will be the track which is fastest to complete. Here is a list of all available tracks (not including bonus tracks) and the fastest single lap time taken from the VGR link I posted earlier:

Mice 'N Easy - 0:10.68

Soap Dodgers - 0:16.56
Jet Set Go! - 0:18.08
Photo Finish - 0:21.92
Straight 'N Marrow - 0:23.08

Bedsit Blues - 0:31.00
Apiary Japery - 0:33.72
Handyman Hurdles - 0:27.36
Hoops-A-Daisy - 0:32.68

Blade Runners - 0:20.96
All Over The Shop - 0:27.60
Party Poopers - 0:27.24
Blueprint Sprint - 0:25.80

Retro Boost - 0:32.72
Half Pipe Dream - 0:44.92
Car 'N Edge - 0:25.76
Domestic blisters - 0:42.60

Heart Bypass - 0:27.16
Ice To See You - 0:18.00
Greasy Garage - 0:24.48
Rush 'N Flush - 0:26.12

With Snail And Pie - 0:18.32
Prism Riot - 0:30.68
Full Steam Ahead - 0:37.76
Totally Guttered - 0:38.28

Planks A Lot - 0:32.16
Problem Attic - 0:28.60
On The Warpath - 0:34.28
Spaghetti Junction - 0:27.16

Crèche Course - 0:41.52
Bunk Bed Burnout - 0:34.52
Construction Derby - 0:41.84
The Steaks Are High - 0:27.12

I've tested each track and indeed my fastest times correlate with the ones posted here, so they'll be my choices.

The only stupid thing about this run is that in Challenge mode once you finish first in 3 races in a row you're forced into a bonus round which can waste up to 1.5 minutes. The tactic Crashcycle took to avoid this was to come second in round 2 and 5, thus avoiding all bonus stages. Forcing yourself to come second on Handyman Hurdles sadly wastes 10-20 seconds depending on how fast you are and I haven’t been able to find a way to force the fastest computer controlled racer to go faster. Thankfully round 5 is much better as Ice to See You is a very short track and the lead computer will always scream around it quite quickly.

Finally there are 8 characters to choose from and I shall be using V4. This is my choice as he is the only character to have a special attack that makes him move faster, the attack in question is a charging punch that can go further the more you power it up. This is only really useful on the first few stages where you can lap people but I think it’s a better choice than the other characters who have no movement/speed changing abilities.

I don't want to estimate any final times but sub 15 should be quite easy.

Thread title:

Turns out SDA doesn't have a single "Micro" game submitted or even under discussion, let's change that.

Micro Maniacs (Foxkids.com Micro Maniacs in the USA) is a racing game for the PSX. It's quite similar to the old school Micro Machines games but instead of racing cars you race tiny little dudes that have been shrunk down by an evil scientist or some such. The general idea is still the same as you'll be racing around kitchens, bathrooms, gardens and so forth against other tiny little guys/gals. Googling Micro Maniacs gives you mostly links to cheats/guides but thankfully there are two interesting finds:

Firstly a Twitch member by the name of Crashcycle appears to have the one and only run of this game online, thus making it the current WR as far as I can see. His PB of 15:49 can be found here: http://www.twitch.tv/crashcycle/c/1769501

Secondly there are a list of individual level "records" on Video Games Records. I understand that the validity of "records" on this site are highly disputable but as they are the only ones I can find I shall use them as a benchmark. Also I've attempted a few of them and they're actually pretty good so... yeah. http://tinyurl.com/cu5hhyl

Getting down to the mechanics of the game, I will be running Challenge Mode. In this mode there are 9 races to complete in order to get an ending. The first race is always the practice track, Mine N' Easy, but the following 8 races are a players choice of 4 different tracks meaning there are 32 tracks in all available to us but we'll be using only 8 of them. Obviously the main choice for each round will be the track which is fastest to complete. Here is a list of all available tracks (not including bonus tracks) and the fastest single lap time taken from the VGR link I posted earlier:

Mice 'N Easy - 0:10.68

Soap Dodgers - 0:16.56
Jet Set Go! - 0:18.08 
Photo Finish - 0:21.92 
Straight 'N Marrow - 0:23.08

Bedsit Blues - 0:31.00
Apiary Japery - 0:33.72 
Handyman Hurdles - 0:27.36 
Hoops-A-Daisy - 0:32.68

Blade Runners - 0:20.96
All Over The Shop - 0:27.60
Party Poopers - 0:27.24 
Blueprint Sprint - 0:25.80

Retro Boost - 0:32.72 
Half Pipe Dream - 0:44.92 
Car 'N Edge - 0:25.76
Domestic blisters - 0:42.60

Heart Bypass - 0:27.16
Ice To See You - 0:18.00
Greasy Garage - 0:24.48 
Rush 'N Flush - 0:26.12

With Snail And Pie - 0:18.32
Prism Riot - 0:30.68 
Full Steam Ahead - 0:37.76 
Totally Guttered - 0:38.28

Planks A Lot - 0:32.16 
Problem Attic - 0:28.60 
On The Warpath - 0:34.28
Spaghetti Junction - 0:27.16

Crèche Course - 0:41.52 
Bunk Bed Burnout - 0:34.52
Construction Derby - 0:41.84 
The Steaks Are High - 0:27.12

I've tested each track and indeed my fastest times correlate with the ones posted here, so they'll be my choices.

The only stupid thing about this run is that in Challenge mode once you finish first in 3 races in a row you're forced into a bonus round which can waste up to 1.5 minutes. The tactic Crashcycle took to avoid this was to come second in round 2 and 5, thus avoiding all bonus stages. Forcing yourself to come second on Handyman Hurdles sadly wastes 10-20 seconds depending on how fast you are and I haven’t been able to find a way to force the fastest computer controlled racer to go faster. Thankfully round 5 is much better as Ice to See You is a very short track and the lead computer will always scream around it quite quickly.

Finally there are 8 characters to choose from and I shall be using V4. This is my choice as he is the only character to have a special attack that makes him move faster, the attack in question is a charging punch that can go further the more you power it up. This is only really useful on the first few stages where you can lap people but I think it’s a better choice than the other characters who have no movement/speed changing abilities.

I don't want to estimate any final times but sub 15 should be quite easy.

Patashu

2013-03-20 06:54:50 pm

Quote:

The only stupid thing about this run is that in Challenge mode once you finish first in 3 races in a row you're forced into a bonus round which can waste up to 1.5 minutes. The tactic Crashcycle took to avoid this was to come second in round 2 and 5, thus avoiding all bonus stages. Forcing yourself to come second on Handyman Hurdles sadly wastes 10-20 seconds depending on how fast you are and I haven’t been able to find a way to force the fastest computer controlled racer to go faster. Thankfully round 5 is much better as Ice to See You is a very short track and the lead computer will always scream around it quite quickly.

Isn't this like Sonic 1-3 where if you finish every level in 0:31 by waiting in front of the signpost you lose in game time but gain real time? e.g. shouldn't you go for in game time in such a scenario?

I have no name

2013-03-20 11:03:00 pm

Obscure games ftw

Would it waste less time to come in second on Practice and Round 3 as those seem to have shorter laps than Round 2?

Sush

2013-03-21 03:08:49 am

That would indeed be slightly faster compared to round 3 but then you'd have to come in 2nd in round 6 aswell. I'll practice each round and see the fastest times the computer can complete them to see if that would save time.

Sush

Edit history:

Sush: 2013-03-23 06:39:43 pm

2013-03-23 06:36:15 pm

I've got some (very) rough workings out on Bonus Round skipping.

This was done by taking my current best times on each track and comparing them to the best times I've seen the computer get. It seems the AI's finishing times can be as varied as 9 seconds in some cases, the most extreme cases are when the lead AI just runs clean off a table or jumps in a puddle. The good news is that they sometimes finish tracks with pretty reasonable times on some tracks and in a few occasions can finish a second or two behind a very fast run.

So far this is what I've got:

2nd in practice: 18 seconds lost
2nd in round 1: 13 seconds lost
2nd in round 2: 10 seconds lost (current tactic)

Coming second in round 2 means only having to come second one more time (Ice To See You) and this does appear to be the best way of going about it. The shitty news is that the AI has a few speeds in round 2 so I'd have to reset based on how fast they are on this track. Thankfully someone is always super fast on Ice to See You (save for jumping in ponds).

Edit: Found a bug for V4. It's super situation based and would only really work on Practice or Round 1. If you super punch (forward dash attack) Vortex while she's using one of her power-ups (that pushes enemys away) she fires it as you hit her and it fires you directly forwards at max speed and max speed is pretty fast. Although situational could be pretty cool if it does work out (highly unlikely).

I've got some (very) rough workings out on Bonus Round skipping.

This was done by taking my current best times on each track and comparing them to the best times I've seen the computer get. It seems the AI's finishing times can be as varied as 9 seconds in some cases, the most extreme cases are when the lead AI just runs clean off a table or jumps in a puddle. The good news is that they sometimes finish tracks with pretty reasonable times on some tracks and in a few occasions can finish a second or two behind a very fast run.

So far this is what I've got:

2nd in practice: 18 seconds lost
2nd in round 1: 13 seconds lost
2nd in round 2: 10 seconds lost (current tactic)

Coming second in round 2 means only having to come second one more time (Ice To See You) and this does appear to be the best way of going about it. The shitty news is that the AI has a few speeds in round 2 so I'd have to reset based on how fast they are on this track. Thankfully someone is always super fast on Ice to See You (save for jumping in ponds).

Edit: Found a bug for V4. It's super situation based and would only really work on Practice or Round 1. If you super punch (forward dash attack) Vortex while she's using one of her power-ups (that pushes enemys away) she fires it as you hit her and it fires you directly forwards at max speed and max speed is pretty fast. Although situational could be pretty cool if it does work out (highly unlikely).

Exilon11

2013-05-24 03:05:57 pm

Hi! So, I don't know how legit this is (I know that generally the use of emulators is disallowed for official submissions, but I find the FPS stable enough and I have no other way of playing the game cause my PS is broken Sad

), but I signed up specifically for this thread. That's because I thought it'd be lots of fun to speedrun this game, even if it couldn't be considered for official submissions. After some tries, I was able to produce this: http://www.twitch.tv/crashcycle/c/1769501 . I can probably get it to sub 15:40, which is quite nice.
Thoughts?

Exilon11

2013-06-04 09:33:33 am

Quote from Exilon11:

Hi! So, I don't know how legit this is (I know that generally the use of emulators is disallowed for official submissions, but I find the FPS stable enough and I have no other way of playing the game cause my PS is broken Sad

), but I signed up specifically for this thread. That's because I thought it'd be lots of fun to speedrun this game, even if it couldn't be considered for official submissions. After some tries, I was able to produce this: ~~http://www.twitch.tv/crashcycle/c/1769501~~ http://www.twitch.tv/exilon11/b/407736752. I can probably get it to sub 15:40, which is quite nice.
Thoughts?

EDIT: Only realized now I had posted the wrong link. Oops.