This is a 4min 5sec improvement over the published run of this NES platformer. You need to collect the royal medallions from the seven governors (read: bosses) and then climb mount Demonhead to face the final boss. All this is done on a complex map system. You can get money from enemies, with which you can buy speed upgrades and new equipment.
- Emulator used: FCEUX 2.1.4a
- Genre: Platformer
- Takes damage to save time.
- Manipulates luck (boss behaviour)
Notes
- As mentioned in the forum topic, this run can be improved, but I don't know how much. Probably between 5-10 seconds unless a new trick/strategy is found. Since I have no plans of redoing this any time soon, and since this run is a lot faster and cleaner, I chose to submit it anyway. I hope no one minds! :)
- This TAS uses pretty much the same route as the published run, with some minor tweaks. In particular, I don't make the detour to route 22 to change in my gold for money, as I don't need that money.
- A new trick was found that allows me to only use up half as much of the power boots as you usually do: when running you gain momentum, increasing by 1 per frame, up to a maximum of 16. When you release the D-pad, your momentum will decrease by 1 per frame and you will continue moving until you lose all your momentum. The power boots meter does not decrease when you don't press the D-pad. So what I do in the TAS is to run for 16 frames and then releases the D-pad for 16 frames - I will move at top speed by doing this, but only deplete the power boots meter for the 16 frames I hold down the D-pad. This trick basically makes the power boots item last twice as long. This makes them a very desirable as they now last around 40 seconds, compared to the normal 20.
- Due to the Power boots trick and some better planning, I don't have to shop as much. Bringing up the shop window and doing all your shopping takes a lot of time, so this was a nice bonus. The shopping is also done in better places.
- I don't make the detour to route 22 to change in my gold for money, as I don't need that money.
- I climb mount Demonhead without getting pulled down. This saved about 1 minute.
- Bosses are killed faster, in particular the first boss.
- Some notes on speed: Your normal speed is 1pixel/frame (p/f), power boots speed is 2 p/f (lasts for 40 sec with trick above, 20 sec normally) and rocket pack is 3 p/f (lasts for 16 sec). Because of the power boots trick, this item is overall the most desirable (in terms of gained speed / money cost). Also, you can't buy the rocket pack until your fourth shop call.
- Enemy drops in this game is quite simple. The game has a kill counter (RAM address 00E6). When you kill an enemy, this counter increases by 1. In order to find out what the enemy drops, take the value of 00E6 modulo 16, and find the drop from the following table:
| Value | Item |
|---|---|
| 0 | - |
| 1 | - |
| 2 | - |
| 3 | 950$ |
| 4 | - |
| 5 | Apple |
| 6 | - |
| 7 | - |
| 8 | 950$ |
| 9 | - |
| 10 | - |
| 11 | 950$ |
| 12 | - |
| 13 | Heart |
| 14 | - |
| 15 | - |
Thanks to Spoony_Bard for his run and knowledge (which he was kind enough to share in detail) and TheAxeMan for feedback.
I think this text will suffice for now, I might add more later. If you want to discuss new strategies unrelated to this submission, I refer you to the forum topic.
DarkKobold: Judging
DarkKobold: Easy Accept.
Brandon: Downloadable encodes and publication underway.