Blender Bros TAS in

[@FabbrizioPlays]

Update: A new TAS is currently in progress. Much of the tech in this video was outdated or sub optimal shortly after it came out, and I wasn't particularly motivated at the time to redo it all after just barely reaching the finish line. First of all, the current preferred strat is to skip Nuckle and take No Bro for Oasis/Diva. This is because if no bro is equipped, newly acquired bros equip automatically. So we can skip menuing to Neon within the level, and we can skip menuing to Nuckle at the start (no bro is significantly faster than scrolling). Nuckle provides no benefit in TAS, as his effects just make it easier to hit things and don't deal more damage. Since the TAS is frame perfect and can take scarier risks, it can do everything Nuckle does simply by being more bold. Second, Jump Rope movement was not known until very late in this TAS. You see, when Blender dismounts from a vertical rope or pole, whether he jumps or falls depends on whether a direction is being held. No direction equals fall, but left or right equals jump. The height he gains from this jump is greater than his climbing speed. If blender strafes far enough away from the rope while jumping, he can strafe back and regrab the rope. Jumping up ropes and poles with this method is significantly faster than climbing normally, though the actual factor per distance of rope/pole is yet to be timed. These two time saves, as well as various smaller optimizations that they cascade into, are estimated to put the new TAS at either a low 22 or a high 21. In the farther future, sub-20 may be possible, but this would require optimizing the driving stages, the quick kills, and Fog 1 (a nightmare). You might be wondering why Fog is done after First Heaven, rather than getting an extra planet's use out of Spish. There are two (and a half) reasons. First is that Spish only has potential use in one episode of FH, and is more than likely a time loss if we tried to use him. Spish can't be canceled (with our current game knowledge) so for a vertical stage like FH1 where you're moving through a lot of doorways, deploying spish causes delays. The only spot where he doesn't, already has a boost power up in it. Spish also isn't useful for FH4, as we're already able to hit the boss the moment his invuln runs out consistently. Second reason is, driving stages unequip bros (read: reset your position in the bros menu), so doing First Heaven after Fog requires us to navigate back to Spish two additional times just to get our one stage of use. The third reason is, with everything else considered and the time save actually being a time loss, it's also slower on the stage menu to navigate Shelltarl -> Fog -> First Heaven -> Millitar than to go Shelltarl -> First Heaven -> Fog -> Millitar. If ever out understanding of spish behavior, FH2 routing or general game mechanics undergoes a change, it's not unreasonable to consider early Fog. But right now all signs point to a decently harsh time loss for little if any gain. Hope this was informative, look forward to the new TAS soon!

[@zuligansvidious]

nice! you mastered the game!