Super Mario RPG: Bowser Door Ball Puzzle

Hi all, I did a rather lengthy simulation of the SMRPG bowser door puzzle where you kick the cannonballs.

I came up with 3 solid solutions (coincidentally similar) that were estimated to be about 10-16 frames ahead of all the rest when evaluated by my algorithm.

Fun Fact: There are 210422 solutions.  They take up 14.3 MB in a text file.

The estimation of Mario's movement around the cannonballs is a bit hackish,  I basically assigned a point where you would stand on each side of the ball, which does not account for everything.  I do think the solution the code found is probably very good, if not possibly the best.

It's somewhat possible I did something stupid in my code, but I think it generated a very solid solution, so it's probably mostly correct.  I'll post the code eventually after I clean it up, so others can review and tweak the movement algorithm if they want.

- Kirkq

The grid, with labeled cannonballs (2 is destroyed to start with)  Kicks are based on the position a ball is currently in.

0  1  2* 3
4  5  6  7
8  9  10 11
12 13 14 15

1: Possibly Best  (515 frames of running as evaluated by the algorithm, ideally this translates to real time, but no idea)

10 UP
4 RIGHT
12 UP
13 UP
1 DOWN
3 LEFT
7 LEFT
15 LEFT
0 RIGHT
4 RIGHT
13 UP
5 RIGHT
11 UP
3 LEFT

2:  (519 frames of running as evaluated by the algorithm)

10 UP
4 RIGHT
12 UP
13 UP
15 LEFT
1 DOWN
3 LEFT
7 LEFT
0 RIGHT
4 RIGHT
13 UP
5 RIGHT
11 UP
3 LEFT

3: (521 frames of running as evaluated by the algorithm)

10 UP
4 RIGHT
12 UP
13 UP
15 LEFT
1 DOWN
7 LEFT
3 LEFT
0 RIGHT
4 RIGHT
13 UP
5 RIGHT
11 UP
3 LEFT

4: Worst Solution A (979)

0 RIGHT
8 UP
6 LEFT
13 UP
3 LEFT
4 RIGHT
15 LEFT
0 RIGHT
11 LEFT
12 RIGHT
2 DOWN
14 UP
7 LEFT
9 UP

5: Worst Solution B (979)

0 RIGHT
3 LEFT
8 UP
6 LEFT
13 UP
0 RIGHT
15 LEFT
4 RIGHT
11 LEFT
12 RIGHT
2 DOWN
14 UP
7 LEFT
9 UP