![[TAS][Chart] Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes (Piano Roll) @Prog61](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xwCDrWV9fz4/hqdefault.jpg)
Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes with Piano Roll
The goal is to find out what is the best way to get the best score in 5 minutes.
This is known as Caravan mode in 'Arcade Archives TIME PILOT' on PS4 and Switch
The stopwatch starts as soon as the player can shoot.
I tested 5 different strategies:
1- Stay on wave 1 while getting as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points), shooting formations but not shooting 56 planes so as not to see the boss
2- Stay on wave 1 shooting as many planes as possible. (optimized for combo)
3- Stay on wave 2 capturing as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points) and shooting mid size Bombers for 1500 points each
4- Shoot anything as fast as possible
5- Stay on wave 3 shooting as many helicopters as possible, taking advantage of the missiles to score many combos (optimized for combo)
Notes:
-All bosses give you 1200 points for killing him by shooting or hitting him. This is given when he explodes, then you get another 3000 points.
-Scoring combo:
-When you shoot something (planes, bomb, missiles, boss) you get 100 points.
-But if you shoot a second thing before 1/2 second elapses you will get 200 points
-And so on, the score increases with each hits as long as the new hit is within 1/2 second from the previous one: 300,400,500,600,700,800
-The maximum points is 800, the next hit (9th) (always within 1/2 second), points will reset to 100
-If you shoot 8 planes in 4 seconds, you will get 3600 points not 800
-When you shoot a mid size bomber on wave 2 (1500 points) it take 4 shots, if each shots are within 1/2 second of the previous one, you will get 100+200+300+400 = 1000 points + 1500 points
-All bosses take 8 shots to kill, so you get 3600 points for the 8 hits, plus 1200 points for killing a boss, plus 3000 points more for a total of 7800 possible points for each boss.
-In video 2 and 5 I do not shoot as fast as possible, I wait for some enemies to appear before shooting them quickly to maximize the scoring
-In video 4, I did not optimize it. The TAS should be able to score higher if it did not shoot as fast as possible. I should do another TAS to test that.
-I should try a TAS that stays on wave 4 and shoot as many planes as possible, I think they spawn faster than the helicopters, if so maybe I could get a higher score .
Conclusion:
-Getting only the paratroopers in wave 1 is much slower than expected. I did not predict that the score would be so low.
-Only shooting planes in wave 1 is not fast enough, the planes are too slow to spawn.
-Shooting helicopters in wave 3 seem like a good strategy. Their patterns are relatively easy to predict and learn, unlike the fighters in wave 4 and the saucers in wave 5.
For a good introduction to TASing: youtube.com/watch?v=Ietk1-Wb7oY
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool-assisted_speedrun for more information or tasvideos.org for more video.
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes with Piano Roll
The goal is to find out what is the best way to get the best score in 5 minutes.
This is known as Caravan mode in 'Arcade Archives TIME PILOT' on PS4 and Switch
The stopwatch starts as soon as the player can shoot.
I tested 5 different strategies:
1- Stay on wave 1 while getting as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points), shooting formations but not shooting 56 planes so as not to see the boss
2- Stay on wave 1 shooting as many planes as possible. (optimized for combo)
3- Stay on wave 2 capturing as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points) and shooting mid size Bombers for 1500 points each
4- Shoot anything as fast as possible
5- Stay on wave 3 shooting as many helicopters as possible, taking advantage of the missiles to score many combos (optimized for combo)
Notes:
-All bosses give you 1200 points for killing him by shooting or hitting him. This is given when he explodes, then you get another 3000 points.
-Scoring combo:
-When you shoot something (planes, bomb, missiles, boss) you get 100 points.
-But if you shoot a second thing before 1/2 second elapses you will get 200 points
-And so on, the score increases with each hits as long as the new hit is within 1/2 second from the previous one: 300,400,500,600,700,800
-The maximum points is 800, the next hit (9th) (always within 1/2 second), points will reset to 100
-If you shoot 8 planes in 4 seconds, you will get 3600 points not 800
-When you shoot a mid size bomber on wave 2 (1500 points) it take 4 shots, if each shots are within 1/2 second of the previous one, you will get 100+200+300+400 = 1000 points + 1500 points
-All bosses take 8 shots to kill, so you get 3600 points for the 8 hits, plus 1200 points for killing a boss, plus 3000 points more for a total of 7800 possible points for each boss.
-In video 2 and 5 I do not shoot as fast as possible, I wait for some enemies to appear before shooting them quickly to maximize the scoring
-In video 4, I did not optimize it. The TAS should be able to score higher if it did not shoot as fast as possible. I should do another TAS to test that.
-I should try a TAS that stays on wave 4 and shoot as many planes as possible, I think they spawn faster than the helicopters, if so maybe I could get a higher score .
Conclusion:
-Getting only the paratroopers in wave 1 is much slower than expected. I did not predict that the score would be so low.
-Only shooting planes in wave 1 is not fast enough, the planes are too slow to spawn.
-Shooting helicopters in wave 3 seem like a good strategy. Their patterns are relatively easy to predict and learn, unlike the fighters in wave 4 and the saucers in wave 5.
For a good introduction to TASing: youtube.com/watch?v=Ietk1-Wb7oY
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool-assisted_speedrun for more information or tasvideos.org for more video.
![[TAS][Chart] Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes (Piano Roll)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xwCDrWV9fz4/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS][Chart] Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes (Piano Roll)
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Time Pilot Arcade (5 of 5) 319000 in 5 minutes with Piano Roll
The goal is to find out what is the best way to get the best score in 5 minutes.
This is known as Caravan mode in Arcade Archives TIME PILOT on PS4 and Switch
The stopwatch starts as soon as the player can shoot.
I tested 5 different strategies:
1- Stay on wave 1 while getting as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points), shooting formations but not shooting 56 planes so as not to see the boss
2- Stay on wave 1 shooting as many planes as possible. (optimized for combo)
3- Stay on wave 2 capturing as many paratroopers as possible (5000 points) and shooting mid size Bombers for 1500 points each
4- Shoot anything as fast as possible
5- Stay on wave 3 shooting as many helicopters as possible, taking advantage of the missiles to score many combos (optimized for combo)
Notes:
-All bosses give you 1200 points for killing him by shooting or hitting him. This is given when he explodes, then you get another 3000 points.
-Scoring combo:
-When you shoot something (planes, bomb, missiles, boss) you get 100 points.
-But if you shoot a second thing before 1/2 second elapses you will get 200 points
-And so on, the score increases with each hits as long as the new hit is within 1/2 second from the previous one: 300,400,500,600,700,800
-The maximum points is 800, the next hit (9th) (always within 1/2 second), points will reset to 100
-If you shoot 8 planes in 4 seconds, you will get 3600 points not 800
-When you shoot a mid size bomber on wave 2 (1500 points) it take 4 shots, if each shots are within 1/2 second of the previous one, you will get 100+200+300+400 = 1000 points + 1500 points
-All bosses take 8 shots to kill, so you get 3600 points for the 8 hits, plus 1200 points for killing a boss, plus 3000 points more for a total of 7800 possible points for each boss.
-In video 2 and 5 I do not shoot as fast as possible, I wait for some enemies to appear before shooting them quickly to maximize the scoring
-In video 4, I did not optimize it. The TAS should be able to score higher if it did not shoot as fast as possible. I should do another TAS to test that.
-I should try a TAS that stays on wave 4 and shoot as many planes as possible, I think they spawn faster than the helicopters, if so maybe I could get a higher score .
Conclusion:
-Getting only the paratroopers in wave 1 is much slower than expected. I did not predict that the score would be so low.
-Only shooting planes in wave 1 is not fast enough, the planes are too slow to spawn.
-Shooting helicopters in wave 3 seem like a good strategy. Their patterns are relatively easy to predict and learn, unlike the fighters in wave 4 and the saucers in wave 5.
For a good introduction to TASing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ietk1-Wb7oY
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool-assisted_speedrun for more information or http://tasvideos.org for more video.")
![[TAS] Nibbler Arcade 100 waves (5,859,130)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yEZ-6CHoGmI/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Nibbler Arcade 100 waves (5,859,130)
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Nibbler Arcade 100 waves (5,859,130) (rev 9)
-Goal:
-To try patterns very hard to do in real life
Notes
-The game consist of 32 mazes in a loop.
Scoring
-Each dot earn you: Wave * 10. Thus, for Wave 25, you earn 250 points per dot.
-At the end of a wave, you receive (Time Remaining * Wave) points.
-Since the Wave number is used to calculate the points awarded, this is why the wave counter reset to 80 when it reaches wave 100.
- 1 to 99, 80 to 99, 80 to 99 ...
Disappearing Dots
-From wave 16, you can see that the wave can end before the snake eats all the dots.
-When the snake turn, it starts a new snake segment. And when the tail turns, it removes a segment.
-The program supports up to 32 segments, Trying to make a 33rd segment will end the wave instead of probably crashing.
Length
-It is possible to control, to a certain extent, the length of the snake.
-When you eat a dot, the tail will stop moving for 8 frames.
-So, the added length depends of the speed of the snake.
-The snake reached its maximum speed at wave 20.
-Except for the nibblero version which is faster.
-But it is possible to make the tail move again before the 8 frames are elapsed.
-All you have to do is make the head stop at least one frame at an intersection or corner.
-At an intersection where you have two paths to choose from, the snake will stop and wait for the player to choose a direction. In this case, it is easy to wait a bit.
-In a corner where there is only one direction to go, the snake will itself choose the only possible direction after stopping at least one frame.
-The number of frames the snake will stop in a corner is:
Wave 1 = 13 frames, 2 = 9 frames, 3 = 9, 4 = 9, 5 = 5, 6 = 3 and 1 frame for all waves after that.
-Thus, if the player has not chosen the correct path in advance, the snake will stop at least one frame when he turns a corner itself.
-On the fastest waves the player has a great influence on the length of the snake.
-In my video, compare wave 78 or 96 (1 wait frame by corner) with wave 88 or 86 (0 frame by corner) nibbler is much longer on wave 88 and 86
-In conclusion, if you want the longest snake, you have to pre turn all the corners and intersections that are near an eaten dot.
-If you want the shortest snake, wait a few frames at the intersections and do not pre turn corners.
Versions
-There are 7 versions of Nibbler in MAME
nibbler: (rev 9)
nibbler6: (rev 6)
nibbler7: (rev 7)
nibbler8: (rev 8)
nibblera: (rev 9, alternate set)
nibblero: (Olympia - rev 8)
nibblerp: (Pioneer Balloon conversion - rev 6)
Timer
-If you do not eat dots, after 100 timer units, the timer will decrease very quickly.
-If you stop, the timer decrease slightly faster and after about 150 units the timer decrease very quickly.
-Total time when moving, without eating any dots, until the timer reaches 0 is about 13 seconds.
-Total time without moving until the timer reaches 0 is about 9 seconds.
-But on nibblera the timer never decrease very quickly.
-Total time when moving is about 47 seconds.
-Total time without moving is about 26 seconds.
Life
-You gain a life every 4 waves. Except for nibblero is every 8 waves.
-When you die, you lose a life, and if you have any life left, you can continue to eat the dots that you did not eat.
-But on Nibbler rev 9, starting at wave 32, when you die, all the eaten dots of the current level will reappear. This makes the game much more difficult because you dont have the choice to clear all the dots on each wave with one life if you want to progress in the game.
-I demonstrate that in the TAS by dying on wave 32 and 100.
-When the life counter reach 100 it starts showing strange numbers and letters. These are hexadecimal numbers coming from the program ROM.
-Here is the list of numbers displayed instead of the lives left beginning at 100.
-Be aware that the numbers are slightly different from one version to another. (not enough place to list here)
rev6: FF FF 08 D8 A5 BC 0A C9 63 90 02 A9 63 A8 B9 A6 41 F8 18 65 B2 85 B2 A5 B3 69 00 85 B3 A5
So: 100 lives display FF, 101 = FF, 102 = 8, ... 127 = 85, 128 = B3, 129 = A5
-If you go over 128 lives, the next time you lose a life, you will be game over because with a signed byte, 128 = -1 which is less than 0.
-So, if you see B3 (128), dont reach A5 (129).
-After A5, the only way not to be game over is to reach 257 lives. So, if you manage to not die once for the next 512 waves, the lives will wrap around at 1.
-In the 80s a friend (AGA) and I played a 48 hour game to reach the billion.
-We did it in Montreal at the Arcade/restaurant Chez Paulo which was one of the only arcade in Montreal that was open 24h.
-We did that just for fun, no one knew about it.
-We did that on a rev 9. To my knowledge no one has done that. All the billion scores I have seen on the internet are done on rev 6.")
![[TAS] Galaxian Arcade 100k in 27 waves](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zbEtps5HTD8/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Galaxian Arcade 100k in 27 waves
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Galaxian Arcade 100k in 27 waves
This is not really a speedrun. If it was, I would have had all the 800 that I can get.
I am just having fun with the game by testing the limits of the hit boxes.
This game was the game that introduced me to arcade games in 1980, so I have fond memories of playing it. I remember going over 100k a few times.
For a good introduction to TASing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ietk1-Wb7oY
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool-assisted_speedrun for more information or http://tasvideos.org for more video.")
![[TAS] Aztarac Arcade 7 waves (227,100) (2/3)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zhKZ-dfdOls/mqdefault.jpg "[TAS] Aztarac Arcade 7 waves (227,100) (2/3)
Tool-assisted superplay (TAS) of Aztarac arcade 7 waves (227,100) (2/3)
Goal of this TAS:
-Reach the end: 7 waves only (see below)
Settings:
Average Play Time: 2 Minutes see notes
Difficulty Level Tracking: Automatic
Free Game In Sagittarius: Yes
Notes:
-Because of the Average Play Time set at 2 minutes, the game only let you play 7 waves instead of the 12 available. (look for my video 3/3 to see the 12 waves coming soon )
Update: It seems that when you are able to keep all 4 bases at the end of a wave, you are rewarded by skipping a level. Average play time seems to have nothing to do with it.
-This video show (at last :)) the proper use of the radar. This is missing from many videos on YouTube.
-On my next video I will show you the 12 waves.
Waves shown in this video (as listed in the Owner Manual)
1-Capricorn (4 formations)
3-Pisces (5 formations)
5-Taurus (6 formations)
7-Cancer (6 formations)
9-Virgo (8 formations)
11-Scorpio (9 formations)
12-Sagittarius (6 formations)
For some interesting information on this game:
https://arcadeblogger.com/2017/01/20/centuri-aztarac-finding-the-holy-arcade-grail/
https://arcadeblogger.com/2017/12/08/tim-strykers-aztarac-the-final-chapter/
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool-assisted_speedrun for more information on Tool-Assisted Speed-runs
or http://tasvideos.org for more video.")
