tasvideos.org

A TASVideos publication title packs the essentials into one line: a publication number, the platform, the game, the goal or category, the author(s), and the completion time. Once you know the pattern, you can judge what a movie covers before opening it. The format below is drawn from the site's own publication listings, such as [7288] N64 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards "all shards" by 0xwas in 1:02:45.383.

The standard title pattern

Most entries follow this order:

[number] Platform Game "category" by Author in H:MM:SS.mmm

Not every field appears every time. A movie with no special goal may omit the quoted category, and a title with multiple authors lists them together (for example, by LukeSaward & hyasynthesized).

Publication number

The bracketed number, like [7288] or [7302], is the publication ID. It is the site's permanent handle for that movie, so it is the most reliable thing to search or cite. Higher numbers are generally more recent publications, which makes the number useful for judging whether you are looking at an older or newer run.

Platform

The platform tag tells you what the game actually runs on, not the game's original console generation in every case. Examples from the site's listings:

Platform matters because it sets expectations for the kind of tricks you will see. A GBC run and a PC run of the same franchise can look nothing alike.

Game name

This is the plain title, sometimes with a subtitle after a colon, as in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Hack or modified versions are marked in the name itself, for example Rockman 2 MIN, which signals a ROM hack rather than the retail game.

Category or goal in quotes

A quoted phrase describes the route or ending the run aims for. It is the field newcomers most often misread, because it changes what "finished" means:

• "all shards" — a completionist goal, collecting every required item rather than reaching the credits by the shortest path.
• "Neutral ending" — a specific story ending, not necessarily the optimal or true one.
• "newgame+" — the run starts from a cleared or carried-over save state.

If the quotes are absent, assume the run targets the standard ending or the site's default goal for that game.

Author(s)

Names after by are the people who made the movie. Some authors publish repeatedly in one series, so a familiar name is a hint about style and reliability. Author notes, linked from the movie page, often explain the techniques, glitches, or optimizations used — the monthly recap on the site points readers to these notes for insight into how a run was built.

Completion time

The time after in is the movie's length, formatted as hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds, such as 1:02:45.383 or 01:11.142. This is the run duration, not real-world recording time. Comparing times across two publications of the same game and category is how improvements are measured; the recap notes one run improving on a previous publication by 43 seconds.

Reading a full example

Take [7295] NES Rockman 2 MIN by longbao in 27:17.320:

• [7295] — publication ID
• NES — runs on NES
• Rockman 2 MIN — a hack of Rockman 2
• no quoted category — standard goal
• longbao — author
• 27:17.320 — about 27 minutes

And [7302] PC Undertale "Neutral ending, newgame+" by LukeSaward & hyasynthesized in 34:46.483 adds a two-part category and two authors, showing how the same pattern stretches to cover more detail.

Where to go next

The site's welcome page and Newcomer Corner offer hand-picked recommended videos if you would rather watch before decoding titles. For browsing, the Latest Publications, Newest Submissions, and Newest User Files/WIPs sections each use this same labeling, so the reading skill transfers directly. Submissions and WIPs are not yet accepted publications, so treat their numbers and status differently from published movies.

TASVideos (tasvideos.org) is a site that hosts tool-assisted game movies — videos of games played back through emulators with frame-by-frame precision, producing results a human playing live generally can't match. It's the place to go if you want to watch games beaten in ways that look superhuman, and to read the technical notes behind those runs. It is not a general gameplay-clip site: the content is built around tool-assisted speedruns (TASes), not live human play.

What "tool-assisted" actually means

A TAS is made by running a game in an emulator, where the author can pause, rewind, advance one frame at a time, and redo any input until it's optimal. The finished input sequence is then played back and recorded as a movie. The result is a run that shows what the game allows rather than what a person can execute in real time — perfect jumps, frame-perfect hits, and tricks that depend on exact timing.

That's the core difference from ordinary speedrun footage: a live run is a demonstration of human skill under real-time pressure, while a TAS is a demonstration of the game's mechanics under controlled, repeatable conditions.

What's on the site

The homepage is organized into a few clear areas:

• New around here? — a pointer to the welcome page and the "Newcomer Corner," which collects hand-picked recommended videos if you don't know where to start.
• Latest Publications — finished, accepted movies. These are the polished, verified runs.
• Newest Submissions — runs submitted for review but not yet published.
• Newest User Files/WIPs — works in progress and user-uploaded files, i.e. runs still being developed.
• Contribute — the entry point for people who want to submit their own work.

The catalog spans major franchises and many genres. The site's own description names Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon, and Final Fantasy, and notes coverage across adventure, platformer, puzzle, shooter, and sports games.

What a published movie looks like

Each publication is listed with its platform, game, category, author, and completion time. Recent examples from the site's monthly recap give a sense of the range:

Two things stand out. First, "category" matters — "all shards" and "Neutral ending, newgame+" describe what counts as finished, so two movies of the same game aren't directly comparable unless the goal matches. Second, authors often publish notes explaining their techniques; the recap specifically points readers to Walgrey's notes for the Ghosts 'n Goblins run. Those notes are usually where the interesting mechanical detail lives.

Why people watch

The appeal is usually one of these:

• Seeing the game's limits. Runs like the Rockman 2 MIN improvement (43 seconds faster than the previous publication, via several optimizations) show how much headroom remains in a game years after release.
• Learning the tech. Zips, clips, and movement tricks are documented in author notes and forum discussion, which is useful if you're into the game yourself.
• Completionist and oddball goals. A pinball game finished in 1:11 by finding one exploit in the table design is a different kind of satisfaction than a straight speedrun.

Getting started

If you're new, the fastest path is the welcome page and Newcomer Corner rather than browsing Latest Publications cold — the recommended list is curated for people with no TAS background. From there, pick a game you already know; the tricks read as far more impressive when you understand what the normal playthrough looks like. If you want to go deeper, the WIP and submission sections show runs before they're finished, and Contribute is where you'd start if you want to make one yourself.

TASVideos accepts contributions from regular players in two main forms: finished tool-assisted movies submitted for publication, and work-in-progress (WIP) files shared with the community. The site's homepage has a dedicated Contribute section, and submitted content surfaces in the Newest Submissions and Newest User Files/WIPs areas. Before submitting anything, spend time watching published movies and reading their author notes — the community's standards for quality and documentation are visible in those examples.

What you can contribute

The homepage's Contribute section is the entry point for these. The distinction matters: a submission is a formal claim that your movie meets publication standards, while a WIP is a work in progress that invites comment rather than judgment.

Before you submit: learn the house style

The published movies on the site double as a reference standard. Reading them tells you what reviewers expect.

• Read author notes. The monthly recap on the homepage points readers to author notes for insight into technique — for example, the recap notes that Walgrey's Ghosts 'n Goblins run "shows a lot of nice tech in this movie, so read the author notes to get some of her insights." That is the level of explanation expected alongside a submission.
• Look at how improvements are framed. The recap describes longbao's Rockman 2 MIN as "a significant improvement of 43 seconds over the previous publication thanks to several optimizations." If your run improves on an existing publication, say so and quantify it.
• Note the range of accepted platforms and genres. Recent publications in the recap span PC (Unity and Undertale), N64, GBC, NES, and Genesis, across platformers, pinball, and RPGs. The welcome page states the site covers "adventure, platformer, puzzle, shooter or sports" — so genre is not a barrier.

Steps to contribute

1. Start with the welcome page and Newcomer Corner. The homepage explicitly directs newcomers there: "visit our welcome page for an introduction, or check out our Newcomer Corner for some hand-picked recommended videos to watch." This gives you the community's own framing before you post anything.
2. Pick a game and produce a run. The site's premise is stated plainly: "If you've ever wanted to see how a superhuman would beat your favorite video games, you've come to the right place." Your job is to produce that kind of run — playing slowly and precisely, then playing it back, as the recap's author puts it.
3. Decide between WIP and submission. If the run is incomplete or you want feedback first, share it as a user file/WIP. If it is finished and you believe it meets publication standards, submit it.
4. Write author notes. Explain the route, the glitches or exploits used, and any optimizations. The recap's examples show this is where reviewers and viewers learn what makes the run interesting — Twisted_Eye's Dino Land run is described as "an interesting case of finding just the right exploit in the design of a pinball table," which is exactly the kind of thing author notes should make explicit.
5. Watch where it lands. Submissions appear under Newest Submissions; WIPs under Newest User Files/WIPs. From there the community reviews and discusses.

Common sticking points

• Skipping the reading phase. The site's own onboarding path (welcome page → Newcomer Corner → published movies with author notes) exists because the standards are learned by example, not from a rulebook.
• Submitting without notes. Every example in the site's own recap pairs a movie with an explanation of its technique. A run with no notes gives reviewers nothing to evaluate beyond the video itself.
• Confusing WIP with submission. If your run is not finished, the WIP area is the right place. Submitting an incomplete run as a formal submission misuses the queue.
• Assuming a niche game won't be accepted. The published catalog covers everything from Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog to Pokémon and Final Fantasy, plus pinball and Unity indie titles. Obscurity is not disqualifying.

A realistic first contribution

A practical path: pick a game you know well, produce a short run, post it as a WIP, and ask for feedback in the community. Use the response to refine your technique and your author notes, then submit the finished version. This mirrors how the site presents its own content — a debut movie like IntangibleMatter's Psycholonials run is celebrated as a first TAS, with the recap noting that "diving into an Unity game as your first TAS" is not easy. First contributions are expected to be learning experiences, not flawless ones.

Start with the welcome page for an introduction to what the site is, then go to the Newcomer Corner for hand-picked recommended videos. If you already know you want to watch something current, the Latest Publications section shows recently published tool-assisted movies. The site's own framing is simple: "If you've ever wanted to see how a superhuman would beat your favorite video games, you've come to the right place."

The four entry points, in the order that works

1. Welcome page — what this place actually is

TASVideos hosts tool-assisted game movies: videos where a game is played frame-by-frame with emulator tools, then played back as a movie file. The result is not a human speedrun — it is a demonstration of what the game allows when input precision, save states, and slow-motion planning remove human limits.

Read this first if you have never encountered a TAS before, because the vocabulary on the rest of the site (publications, submissions, WIPs, obsoletions) assumes you know the difference between a finished, verified movie and a work in progress.

2. Newcomer Corner — curated recommendations

This is the section built specifically for your situation. Instead of guessing which of thousands of movies is worth your first hour, you get a hand-picked list. The site describes it as "some hand-picked recommended videos to watch."

Use it when: you want one good video, not a browsing session.

3. Latest Publications — what just got finished

Publications are movies that passed review and are now part of the site's official library. The homepage lists them with game, platform, author, and runtime. Examples from the site's own news roundup give a sense of the range:

Two things worth noticing in that table. First, runtimes vary enormously — a pinball table can be finished in about a minute, a completionist Kirby run takes over an hour. Second, the descriptions tell you why a movie is interesting, not just what game it is: Ghosts 'n Goblins is notable for "levitation and strategic hits to clip upwards," Dino Land for "finding just the right exploit in the design of a pinball table," Rockman 2 MIN for a 43-second improvement over the previous publication.

If you want to understand what makes a TAS impressive rather than just watch one, read the author notes attached to a publication. The site explicitly points to them — for the Ghosts 'n Goblins movie, "read the author notes to get some of her insights."

4. Newest Submissions and Newest User Files/WIPs — what is being made right now

These are the working edges of the site:

• Newest Submissions — finished movies submitted for review, not yet accepted into the library.
• Newest User Files/WIPs — works in progress, often rough, sometimes abandoned.

Browse these if you want to see the process rather than the polished result, or if you are considering making a TAS yourself and want to know what people are currently attempting.

A practical first-visit path

1. Read the welcome page — five minutes, gives you the vocabulary.
2. Open Newcomer Corner and pick one video. Watch it with the author notes visible.
3. Check Latest Publications for anything from a game you already know. Familiar games are the fastest way to see what tool assistance actually changes.
4. Only then look at Submissions and WIPs — they make more sense once you have a baseline for what a finished movie looks like.

Common sticking points

"This looks like a speedrun." It is not. A speedrun is a human playing in real time; a TAS is a movie file produced with emulator tools and replayed. The site's own tagline makes the distinction bluntly: "When human skills are just not enough."

"Which video should I watch first?" Do not start with the longest or most technically complex publication. Start with Newcomer Corner, which exists precisely to remove that decision.

"Why are there two sections for unfinished work?" Submissions are complete and awaiting judgment; WIPs are not necessarily complete at all. Treat them differently — a submission is a candidate for the library, a WIP is someone's current experiment.

"Where do I go if I want to contribute?" The site has a Contribute section, but it is worth watching several publications and reading their author notes before deciding what kind of contribution you want to make.