[TAS] Beneath the Twisted Hills max score (128,350) - Kid Chameleon
33This requires two-player mode to be active in order to pull off. It is an improvement to the optimal TAS-only full-game highscore method I found for Beneath the Twisted Hills (and for the wrong warp in general) almost 6 years ago now: https://youtu.be/kenvCLT4TTg?t=265
The difference: the "helping player" collects both clocks in Alien Isle as Skycutter instead of Micromax, saving a couple of seconds before transforming into Maniaxe to gain the extra life needed to increment from -1 to 0 lives and execute the wrong warp, which warps the "scoring player" to a location in Beneath the Twisted Hills where, despite being placed out-of-bounds, can very quickly get back in-bounds and touch the flag. So how does the "helping player" get Skycutter in Alien Isle to begin with!? Well funny thing is, in a swapping of roles, it is actually the "scoring player" who must perform helmet storage and give a Skycutter helmet to the "helping player". If nothing that I just said makes any sense at all, I have voice-commentary videos which explain the relevant glitches in more detail:
Wrong Warp Glitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLPWR2nFnuQ
Highscoring Applications of the Wrong Warp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kenvCLT4TTg
Helmet Storage Glitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hslEmRkfmow
Here's the workflow for getting Skycutter to the "helping player" in Alien Isle:
1. The "scoring player" performs the "death version" of the helmet storage glitch on the Skycutter helmet in Monster Island for transfer to the "helping player". This helmet storage is different from all others we've seen so far because there are no enemies around to assist us in the death part. So is it impossible? Well no, because running out of time when collecting the helmet will also get the job done! While extremely slow, it must be done for the highest score. Since we will have plenty of down-time, and since Monster Island has 112 diamonds, we have plenty of time to get our diamond count to 99, something not normally seen in a full-game TAS.
2. The "helping player", who would currently need to be in Beneath the Twisted Hills, receives the Skycutter helmet, and would get to the flag as fast as possible.
3. The "scoring player" now beats Monster Island, Ice God's Vengeance, busts open the eight 10K blocks in Beneath the Twisted Hills, and finally takes a death.
4. The "helping player" starts Alien Isle as Skycutter and the above video plays out.
Q&A:
Q: Alien Isle has a physical extra life near the beginning of the level. Wouldn't it be faster to just collect that since getting 50 diamonds for the Maniaxe diamond power requires a much bigger time investment overall?
A: Remember, the wrong warp is initiated if we take a telepad with 0 lives. Also recall that right after collecting the second clock, we take a telepad. So, had we collected that ankh, that telepad would instead take us to Beneath the Twisted Hills at sub-optimal coordinates! So collecting the extra life at the beginning of the level is too early!
Q: Could it be faster to take the first telepad near the bottom-left of the level to spawn on the other side of the first ghost block wall, not having to wait for the first cycle?
A: It is SO CLOSE to being faster and better for score; I tried everything.
Q: What the heck is going on when Beneath the Twisted Hills starts!?
A: You see, the wrong warp takes the coordinates that telepad would normally take us to in Alien Isle (0x00780010) and applies them to whatever map the OTHER PLAYER is stationed in. However, those coordinates are out of bounds in Beneath the Twisted Hills! It is a very glitchy place, so if we don't get back in bounds quickly, the game will crash.
Q: Why does the timer not reset when you warp to Beneath the Twisted Hills, which is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT level?
A: That's because under normal circumstances, the telepad we take leads to different coordinates in Alien Isle (i.e., the same level). Therefore, when the wrong warp happens, the game is not anticipating a level change and thus does not reset the timer nor any of the bonus flags, hence why the lack of the "No Prize" bonus from collecting the two clocks also carries over.
Q: Why is this considered "TAS-only"?
A: In order to eject yourself from out-of-bounds, you must duck and unduck on very particular frames, which start at a rate of 12 times per second for the first three duck and unducks, then changes to about 8.6 times per second for the rest. If you miss even a few of these, the game will crash. It's "TAS only" because no one has come close to pulling it off in real time yet, let alone during a full-game run. However, I wouldn't say it's *impossible* for a human per-se, just very hard.
Input file (note: you may have to test starting the level on different frames to get it to sync as UFO movements are random): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ILAQQ20EwJ4xWMv-hDRPY6xAmNNWFGUw/view?usp=sharing
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