Solstice TAS any% v5 by Randil
- Emulator used: FCEU 0.98.28 (the submitted movie-file is a .fm2 that synchs with FCEUX 2.0.2)
- Aims for fastest possible time.
- Genre: Puzzle
This run is 75 frames (1.25 sec) faster than the currently published run of this game. The improvements come from new strategies in some rooms, as well as some optimized movements. The most obvious change in this run, however, is a new left+right trick that allows me to walk backwards! More information about this below.
Information about the game
This game needs some introduction to those who haven't played it: You play as the blue wizard "Shadax". Your goal is to rescue the princess from the evil wizard Morbius. You can walk up, down, left and right. You can also jump. You get killed if you touch an enemy or land on spikes.
There are also blocks in this game. Blocks either fall down from above when you enter a room, and in some they just lay around. If you press the B button when standing on a block, you will pick it up. When you press B again you will release it. This allows you to carry them with you and use them to reach places that aren't possible to reach if you don't do this.
There are also potions in this game. In this run I only use 2 different kinds of potions:
- Purple potion: This will turn you invincible. The effect will vanish if you leave the room or die. When invincible, you can jump on enemies to get to higher places.
- Pink potion: This potion will remove all objects in the room, that means enemies, blocks and items. This is only used once in the run, to get rid of a spike ball that's in my way.
There are keys in the game too. Keys make new blocks appear in a certain room. I pick up two keys in this run, both create blocks that are necessary to advance in the game.
I pick up a pair of Magic shoes around frame 2700. These allow me to jump higher, and they're necessary to beat the game.
Terminology
I will refer to directions like SW (southwest), NE (northeast) and so on.
I will refer to rooms by their room number, stored in RAM address $0015.
Improvements:
Rooms with new strategies are:
- I jump on some spikes in room 198, saving 8f.
- Slightly changed strategy in room 199, saving 8f.
- Room 83, saving 24f.
- I select a pink potion in room 235, because this will save time later on:
- In room 240, I make all enemies disappear using the pink potion. In total, this trick saved 12f.
Then there are some minor improvements (optimized movements) here and there that add up to about 20f. There are also quite a few stylistic changes that didn't save any time, but hopefully made the run a bit more interesting to watch.
The Moon walking trick:
By pressing left+right when not facing SE, Shadax will start moon walking SE.
By pressing up+down when not facing SW, Shadax will start moon walking SW.
Moon walking neither saves or wastes time in any way, it's just a stylistic choise. It does look kinda funny though, it gives you the impression that Shadax has done this so many times that he can do it walking backwards. :)
mmbossman: Accepting as an improvement to the published movie.
ShinyDoofy: Processing...