First of all, glad you want to take a look at my speed run of the horrible PAL-only game Taz Express! I will explain the ideas and strategies of this speed run in these comments to make you understand what is going on, due to the fact that you probably never played it.
Taz Express is a game released only in Europe back in 2000. The story features Taz, the Tasmanian devil, who got sent out to a journey as a delivery boy by his wife, referred to as "She-Devil" throughout the game. Taz then gets kidnapped and imprisoned, trying to deliver the package to where it is meant to go.
The controls for this game is extremely inconsistent. Picking object up and putting them down requires you to have a 100 percent open space around you and the momentum you store by running often wears off without any explanation. The hitbox for every object in the game, including Taz himself, makes no sense at all a lot of times since a pixel of his arm can stop you from proceeding.
I am using warp zones in this run. These warp zones aren't meant to be reachable before beating the game at least once. Although, by understanding the games mechanics and controls, I have found ways to go past this in a few places.
1-1 Taz Out Back
The biggest. and maybe only, reason why this game can be done by skipping levels in the New Game category comes from the fact that Taz momentum always increases as long as you run in a somewhat straight path. In the first level you can see me go to the very edge of the left part of the level and run towards the other side. This is necessary to jump over the bridge, and even by starting slightly away from the wall, I have yet not managed to get enough speed to cross the gap with the tight jump. While spinning, as I am destroying the hills, Taz's path can not be straight, which makes it necessary to destroy a huge potion of the landscape. Also, due to how a single pixel can destroy my momentum, I have to make sure that I can not hit any of the walls. Changing directions too much while running also causes you to lose all your speed, which means a straight, open path is required to keep my speed. Jumping over this gap to the warp zone means that I can skip a total of 3 levels and about three to four minutes of gameplay. By getting into the warp zone I also do not need to take the crate with me, which otherwise is necessary to complete the levels.
For the warping zone, I am trying to keep my momentum with the roller blades to cut through the level as much as possible. Hitting areas that aren't the intended path cuts all your speed and control of the character.
2-3 X Marks the Taz
Just as in the first level, I can ignore the crate and go straight to the warping zone in this level. The skip works the same way as the first one, except this one doesn't require me to store as much momentum to be completed. I am jumping in the swamp to maintain as much speed as possible and by running around for a short while before the path at the end and dodging the robots on top of the level I can reach the warp zone and skip another four levels of the game.
In this warp zone I found out that 3 jumps with the roller blades can take you straight form the beginning to the ending of the level. Doesn't this just scream bad testing from the developers?
3-3 Taz on a Roll
This level doesn't have much to it. I am holding right, making a few A-presses to jump and press B to spin when I get close to Wile E. at the end.
3-4 Taz in a Prickle
For this level I need to make sure that the catapults are set in places where the crate will land on top of them. Firing the crate, making it land on the ground, destroys it and I have to go back to the beginning and set everything up again. The catapults can recharge either by pressing the buttons you see in the video, or by waiting for about 2-3 minutes after being launched. I also need to place the crate in the safe box at the end to avoid it from being caught by a giant flying bird, circulating above it. At the end, the crate still holds by landing on top of the bush-object.
3-5 3, 2, 1 Taz
Just as in the previous chasing level, all that is required here is to hold left and jump a few times. The level then plays for itself.
3-6 Look Out Taz
By facing away from the wall at the cage, the game lets the crate fly in the air for a total of five seconds before coming down. This allows me to run away and get enough momentum to jump from the cage to the wall and grab the crate from up there. This trick allows me to skip a huge portion of the level, and combined with getting on top of another wall further up by doing the same thing but with the help of a fruit, I can cut several minutes of gameplay in one level. 3-6 is designed as a labyrinth with a bunch of puzzles. Once again, the lack of testing from the developers broke this stage down.
4-1 Wild Wild Taz
Wild Wild Taz consists of 4 different levels and a jail that I have to clear to proceed the game. At the bottom of the screen you can see the face of Sam. The idea of these levels are to go through the areas quietly to avoid waking him up. In general, creating a lot of explosions from the balloons or the bombs in one go wakes him up, as well as destroying at least three object in a short time period. Falling down gaps can also wake Sam up from his dreams due to Taz yelling.
In the hotel you can see a perfect example of why the picking up and putting down mechanics of the game are extremely inconsistent. Normally, standing in front of an object that can be picked up and pressing B will make Taz lift it from the ground. However, if you are surrounded by walls, even at your back, the game sometimes won't let you do this. Due to how short you are on space in this level, that fact often results in you being unable to move the object away.
The position of the key, springs and the lock in the jail can vary between a few setups depending completely on luck. However, bad luck in the jail shouldn't cost you more than half a minute.
5-1 Taz Gets Swamped
Being probably the most casual level in this speed run, Taz Gets Swamped requires me to press all the buttons and get all the items that the developers intended in a normal play through. This is also where we see the bees for the first time, which are some of the most annoying enemies in a game. The bees can not be dodged and getting hit or not is basically all depending on luck. Although, the bees can not hit you while you are spinning, so getting through the maze is no problem. Normally, getting hit by an enemy lowers your health and makes it more difficult to get enough strength to start a spin. After pressing the buttons and unlocking the gate, I can get the crate and proceed to the next to final level.
5-2 Taz Down under
This is where the bees really proves their brutality. Taz Down Under requires you to get 4 eggs to the end of the level, that are all placed out in different spots throughout the path there. Getting hit by a bee will cause you to drop the egg and most of th times it breaks. Although, sometimes when the egg lands on a slope or ground that is not smooth, it will hold. once again, the frustrating part of this level is the fact that you never know if the bees are attacking you, you can not dodge them if they are and sometimes you can not even see them before it is too late. The stage is extremely luck based but with knowledge of where the bees are you can put down the eggs and take the hits to avoid having to backtrack too much. After all four of the eggs has been place in their spots, the gate opens and Taz can get the crate and move on to the final level.
5-3 The Kiwi Arena
For the final level in this game you meet up against the final boss, the blue bird referred to as Mama. The time it takes for the boss to spawn seems random, and I honestly haven't figured out how to control it. Beating this boss requires you to hit her three times with a rock as well as charging her with a spin right after each hit. The game then freezes for a quick moment before you can grab the crate and end the level and the game.
This game really talks for itself when it comes to reasons why it is bad. Although I hope you enjoyed the run of it. Until some glitches are found or something big happens that can cut minutes of this speed run, it will be left for someone else to compete against. This run was the result of a few weeks of testing and running, and since no one else speedran this game before me, everything you see was routed and tested by myself. Thank you for taking your time! |