Massachusetts, USAWe still need to finish the one from 3 years ago :D
I won't be able to participate. Well, there's a slim chance.
I think track 2 would be the only track where we could realistically get "perfect" times in a sense. However, if you could find a way to consistently save frames, that would of course be useful knowledge. I would look into the optimal time to press "B," because I'm pretty sure that is a time savings we could use.
I think as far as the RNG, we're probably out of luck trying to make it consistent. However, I'd love you to prove me wrong.
Depending on when you press start can affect the initial acceleration which causes slight differences in finishing times. As far as I know, you can gain 2-3 frames with a lucky start. I also think there is a way to accelerate in a more efficient manner than just holding "B" the whole time (which gains a few frames). I don't think there's any real way to control the starting difference to always have good RNG, and I never tried better acceleration by pressing "B" at a very specific point because it messed up the "TEMP" gauge in certain tracks. However, I think tracks 1, 2, and 5 could use this for a slight time save... I don't know what the exact start method is that gains time, but it's minor.
I essentially ignored both of these factors since the times have never been like other games with individual levels in the fact that huge time gains can be made even on pretty optimal times with better bouncing and whatnot. Potentially, the times will reach a point where two runners have times milliseconds apart ( ;) ) that require good RNG, but I'm not sure that will realistically happen because of how much the speed varies and how much it affects the overall times.
I think the reason for this is because the game only registers inputs every 3 frames (if I remember right) and so depending on when you press start, the first "B" press that actually moves the bike might fall .04 seconds into the race. I think there might be a little more to it as to how it affects the outcomes in the races. There are some Excitebike TASers who could explain it more, because I don't fully. However, I've always felt the savings was too minimal to bother finding out. And if I ever got to a point where I wasn't improving my times, I would look into it :D
Glad you're researching it though, I would be interested in knowing exactly what's up. I haven't tested things for this game in years and years.
It's supposed to be done in one segment. I would imagine you didn't actually qualify each race and so it sent you back to the track selection menu. The way the game is setup is a little funky, so if you don't qualify a track, you can't continue to the next track by selecting it. You need to select track 1 and then qualify each race in order to submit a time (for a total of 6 races) for the "Selection A" category. :)
Sorry for the late response, and hope this helps.
- andrewg
4-2 is tricky to get to the vine fast enough to save the FR.
I lost the 8-1 judges FR in my glitchless run and didn't notice it... I think. Beyond that, the run is pretty good.. It took me a week to do it, and I got the time when I had a 4:58.
Would this FR be humanly possible? I would think not. This seems about as likely as saving a FR in 8-2. Both require fast acceleration and essentially above-human capabilities from my perspective.
A little late to the party on this discussion, but I thought I'd chime in. While helping TAS Mario 2, Aglar and I came across the Mouser skip and I personally did some testing to see whether it would save time in the end (it did not). There was some discussion among other SMB2 TASers on this topic and the consensus was that it shouldn't count as "all levels" if the Mouser skip was going to be used. It didn't matter in the end because it was very slightly slower, but this was a thought given how close the routes were time-wise.
Ultimately, I think it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to track something as "all levels" when you're warping from one stage to another (seamlessly, but still). In the case of the other "wrong warps," it's in-stage and I think should be viable. The problem I see if simply that with the Mouser skip, all levels aren't actually being completed, although 1-2 is visited, 1-2 is bypassed.
interesting. i thought that wiuld result in grabbing the flag. i'l have to test that out.
