itsPersonal | FusionVaria | TAS: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Cheat% in 0:01:25.567 (GC) / 0:55.8xx (Xbox) @itsPersonnal | Uploaded 2 years ago | Updated 8 hours ago
This is a tool assisted speedrun of Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom’s ‘Cheat%’ (Any% with use of in-game codes) completed in: 0:01:25.567 (Standard non-TAS timing from File Select).
This TAS was created using Dolphin Emulator. While Xbox is the fastest console to play Battle for Bikini Bottom, it has limited TAS tools. Compared to Xbox, approximately ~29.8 seconds were lost due to GameCube’s slower load screens throughout this run. A perfect conversion of these inputs to Xbox would yield an end-time of around 0:55.8.
0:39 Pineapple
0:53 HUB
1:06 Chum Bucket
1:21 Robo Spongebob
1:35 Brain
1:50 Ending Cutscene
Author: FusionVaria
Rerecords: 27,929
Platform: Gamecube
Dolphin: [cav-disc-drive] 4.0-3964-dirty
Want to learn more about how all the hectic nonsense in this TAS works? Check out the "TAS Explained" here youtu.be/6IZGESVIt1c
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This is the most optimized TAS of Battle for Bikini Bottom by a fairly wide margin, and for that reason, it was extremely exhausting to create. When pushed to its limits, Battle for Bikini Bottom TASing is kind of a nightmare of finicky micro-precision exploits. Generally in this game, if you can imagine it, it is possible -this is a double edged sword, because the rabbit hole of “if I could just chain these 7 extremely precise and unreliable things back-to-back, I could save 30 frames” is seemingly bottomless.
TASing to me has always been foremost about puzzle solving and creativity. It’s extremely fun to learn the ins and outs of a game engine, and apply that knowledge to the puzzle of getting from point A, to B, to C as optimally as possible. The answer is never straightforward …especially in this crazy game. But at some point along the way, ‘solving the puzzle’ and ‘putting that solution into action’ became flipped in terms of difficulty. (Maybe we just need better tools..?). As a result, this project took too long to create, and at times felt simply tortuous to uphold my standard of optimization. I’m so relieved to finally be finished with it. And with its completion, I think it’s time I move on to other ventures in life.
It’s truly incredible, to contrast what is possible in Battle for Bikini Bottom now to the silly little skips I remember working on in my bedroom, for example, back in 2012 when I was 14 years old, mapping out jumps across jank collision to skip a cutscene or 2. -BfBB now has become its own genre of speedgame, there’s nothing else in the world that plays like it, and it was only able to manifest it’s potential because of the creativity and effort applied by all those who’ve dreamed and desired for more. None of this was simply handed to us, we had to carve it out ourselves.
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I in no way regret my time with this game up to now, but I can’t see a world where I continue playing it. Just as this game has transformed radically in the past 10 years, I myself have transformed as well, and these days I would rather be outside in the sun, or spending time with loved ones, than cooped up in my room working on video game projects in my finite time.
Thank you all for the love, and for the memories we’ve made, sharing this journey to create something truly of our own within the medium of this game. It’s been a wild ride.
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Previous TAS Record - Cheat% in 1:42.350 by FusionVaria (2018):
youtube.com/watch?v=YTSza2ygMJY
Current Any% TAS Record - Any% in 39:20.10 by FusionVaria (2020):
youtube.com/watch?v=67JANjM_nDc
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Don't forget, you can watch the video playing at 0.25x speed if you want to appreciate the fine details better!
This is a tool assisted speedrun of Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom’s ‘Cheat%’ (Any% with use of in-game codes) completed in: 0:01:25.567 (Standard non-TAS timing from File Select).
This TAS was created using Dolphin Emulator. While Xbox is the fastest console to play Battle for Bikini Bottom, it has limited TAS tools. Compared to Xbox, approximately ~29.8 seconds were lost due to GameCube’s slower load screens throughout this run. A perfect conversion of these inputs to Xbox would yield an end-time of around 0:55.8.
0:39 Pineapple
0:53 HUB
1:06 Chum Bucket
1:21 Robo Spongebob
1:35 Brain
1:50 Ending Cutscene
Author: FusionVaria
Rerecords: 27,929
Platform: Gamecube
Dolphin: [cav-disc-drive] 4.0-3964-dirty
Want to learn more about how all the hectic nonsense in this TAS works? Check out the "TAS Explained" here youtu.be/6IZGESVIt1c
-
This is the most optimized TAS of Battle for Bikini Bottom by a fairly wide margin, and for that reason, it was extremely exhausting to create. When pushed to its limits, Battle for Bikini Bottom TASing is kind of a nightmare of finicky micro-precision exploits. Generally in this game, if you can imagine it, it is possible -this is a double edged sword, because the rabbit hole of “if I could just chain these 7 extremely precise and unreliable things back-to-back, I could save 30 frames” is seemingly bottomless.
TASing to me has always been foremost about puzzle solving and creativity. It’s extremely fun to learn the ins and outs of a game engine, and apply that knowledge to the puzzle of getting from point A, to B, to C as optimally as possible. The answer is never straightforward …especially in this crazy game. But at some point along the way, ‘solving the puzzle’ and ‘putting that solution into action’ became flipped in terms of difficulty. (Maybe we just need better tools..?). As a result, this project took too long to create, and at times felt simply tortuous to uphold my standard of optimization. I’m so relieved to finally be finished with it. And with its completion, I think it’s time I move on to other ventures in life.
It’s truly incredible, to contrast what is possible in Battle for Bikini Bottom now to the silly little skips I remember working on in my bedroom, for example, back in 2012 when I was 14 years old, mapping out jumps across jank collision to skip a cutscene or 2. -BfBB now has become its own genre of speedgame, there’s nothing else in the world that plays like it, and it was only able to manifest it’s potential because of the creativity and effort applied by all those who’ve dreamed and desired for more. None of this was simply handed to us, we had to carve it out ourselves.
-
I in no way regret my time with this game up to now, but I can’t see a world where I continue playing it. Just as this game has transformed radically in the past 10 years, I myself have transformed as well, and these days I would rather be outside in the sun, or spending time with loved ones, than cooped up in my room working on video game projects in my finite time.
Thank you all for the love, and for the memories we’ve made, sharing this journey to create something truly of our own within the medium of this game. It’s been a wild ride.
-
Previous TAS Record - Cheat% in 1:42.350 by FusionVaria (2018):
youtube.com/watch?v=YTSza2ygMJY
Current Any% TAS Record - Any% in 39:20.10 by FusionVaria (2020):
youtube.com/watch?v=67JANjM_nDc
-
Don't forget, you can watch the video playing at 0.25x speed if you want to appreciate the fine details better!
![[TAS] Metroid Prime - 21% Geothermal Core Inbounds](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqtFWoiPGBQ/hqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Metroid Prime - 21% Geothermal Core Inbounds
Geothermal Core was the final room preventing a 21% (Low%) completion without the use of any out of bounds. This room is extremely TAS-only, and therefore non-TAS players still can not complete 21% inbounds. ...Actually, this room might be the most precise series of exploits in Metroid Primes history.
There are 3 main barriers when climbing Geothermal Core under low% restrictions:
Reaching spinner #1
Getting to spinner #3
Accessing the bomb slot at the top spinner #2
Thankfully reaching spinner #1 was solved in May 2017 (by me) through use of an RGBJ (Really Good Bomb Jump): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP4vaMaV8eM
Getting to spinner #3 was the final trick to be solved (in February 2021).
By doing a 4-bomb BSJ, with bombs laid every other frame, it is possible to gain 2.655 height units within 8 frames, the following 14 frames are used to pull out scan visor while still being able to jump, allowing a first frame scanpoint target on the final frame of jumpstate 4. (In other words: unmorphing on or before frame 8 allows a scan dash BSJ).
The BSJ is setup by using the camera angle provided by the spinner, you just have to enter it and leave by laying a bomb. The camera gives horrible IU facing angles, and therefore requires you to be on the right-hand side of the camera obstruction when the objective is to dash left. It is incredibly precise to snag the scan point lock-on from the position needed to be close enough to complete this skip.
The position required to land on the final spinner is 59.99, this height is impossible to achieve from the BSJ starting point without Space Jump. In order to clear this jump, a morph ball wall stall is required, and, in addition, a BSJ window reset is also required. This is because jumpstate 2 can not snap up ledges during an unmorph animation, however jumpstates 0 and 4 can.
Stalling on the side of the spinner is extremely precise and unreliable. It can effectively only be done through brute force. Stalling on this particular object is quite common, though because a BSJ window reset is required, stalling at any point will not be sufficient. In order for the BSJ window to reset, a position of 58.99 or higher is required. Stalling at this height (from the starting position of the BSJ) requires stalling *On The First Possible Frame* of making contact with the spinner, after achieving the absolute maximum height.
This is the most precise trick in Metroid Prime that I know of.
The final obstacle is to use the Bomb Slot to complete the puzzle. This has been possible using Space Jump for most of the games lifespan. It is possible to Morph Ball stall on the Bomb Slots collision if you approach it in a very particular way. Stalling allows Samus to complete the Morph animation without falling, and then snap to the Bomb Slot upon its completion.
It is not anywhere close to possible NSJ to reach the Bomb Slot and Morph Ball stall without using a dash, and at first look, there doesnt appear to be a target with proper orientation to use. Thankfully, there is a hidden scan point tucked away behind collision which can be snagged by strafing off the Lava Hamburger, and then double strafing back to the spinner with a carefully timed target swap along the course. This scan point is within scanning range, so Samus must get into position and dash extremely quickly, else the scan will complete and render itself inaccessible. The timing on this ended up being either frame perfect, or with a 1 frame margin of error.
Following the scan dash, which to reiterate can only be attempted once because the point must be un-scanned, it is just barely possible to achieve a Morph Ball stall with perfect positioning and facing angle. The stall on this Bomb Slot is not understood on a technical level, and again, like so much in this room, in essence simply requires brute forcing.
Following the Bomb slot activation is a bomb jump similar to the one used in the Any% TAS, and then a fairly standard climb to skip the spider puzzle and reach the top door.
This TAS was made as a segment within the 21% Damageless LOTAD being created by Metroid0925 (http://www.youtube.com/user/metroid0925) which will hopefully be released sometime soon(?).")
![Sonic Adventure 2 (WR) - Wild Canyon M5 0:11.95 [TAS]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IdUG8rAlLMY/hqdefault.jpg "Sonic Adventure 2 (WR) - Wild Canyon M5 0:11.95 [TAS]
This is a tool assisted speedrun of Wild Canyon mission 5 with a completion time of 0:11.95 (in-game time).
Inputs by THC98, Flossy, and myself.
THC98s channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/THC98
Flossys channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJFdMO4i66vNg9k51L7u_yw
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/fusionvaria
Rerecords: 7465
Previous record: 0:13.49 by Flossy
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vft0sX-KG5U)
This TAS showcases a lot of interesting tech. The Speed storage through restart that THC98 and Brianpso figured out recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Nm77b2smQ) is abused to displace Knuckles forwards at the start of the stage.
Following that, theres 1 frame when touching the bottom of the wind tunnel where its possible to spiral upper (or jump), giving you considerably more initial upward momentum through the tunnel.
After, we abuse glide zips to displace Knuckles forwards on the lips of the stone boxes. I do not understand how or why glide zips work, and this is the first IL to take advantage of them. More research into those is needed.
Lastly, similar to the spiral upper possible in the wind tunnel, theres 1 frame upon touching a killplane where you may also sprial upper. Doing this stops the in-game timer, and leaves you with control over your character before the screen fades to black.
I believe aiming for in-game time for ILs is the most interesting approach which one can take. Story Mode TASes will always aim for RTA in each stage, and a theoretical all A ranks or 180 emblem TAS would also aim for RTA (in addition to getting A ranks). Therefore, ILs, which dont aim for A ranks, but rather the best possible time, may as well show off the lowest possible IGT, using IL specific strats, such as the wind tunnel displacement, and death plane spiral upper to stop the timer. (Of course, this is within reason, and tricks that allow you to complete a stage with a time of 0:00.02 are not interesting, or something I ever plan on uploading a video of).")
