Ryu Hayabusa is a member of the Dragon Ninja clan, who have protected Japan for generations. One day he is away from home, he receives a message that the Dragon Village, home of the Dragon clan, has been brutally massacred. He rushes home finding that all but one of the village members have been killed. The last survivor of the village tells Ryu with his dying breath that the sacred Bushido scroll has been stolen. The Bushido is a scroll of power so strong that its owner can control the world As the last Ninja of the Dragon clan, the fate of the world is in its hands. He embarks on a trip to regain the Sacred Scroll of Bushido from the hands of the evil Shogun of Darkness and his minions.
This TAS is 2878 frames (46.87 seconds) faster than the published run, thanks to better optimization, and new tricks, including a infinite ammo bug, to save time.
This game was released on European countries and Brazil on 1992. So, this game was recorded using NTSC.
Game Objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 1.12.2
- Takes damage to save time
- Abuses programing errors
Table of Improvements:
| Stage | Gameplay Stage | Boss | Total | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 35 | 5 | 40 | 40 |
| Chapter 2 | 291 | 0 | 291 | 331 |
| Chapter 3 | 146 | 4 | 150 | 481 |
| Chapter 4 | 353 | 16 | 369 | 850 |
| Chapter 5 | 101 | 156 | 257 | 1107 |
| Chapter 6 | 18 | 1248 | 1266 | 2373 |
| Chapter 7 | 294 | 44 | 338 | 2711 |
| Chapter 8 | | 8/114 | 122 | 2833 |
2833 frames saved + 45 frames saved skipping a cutscene earlier (after Chapter 1 Boss), so 2878 frames saved totally.
Stage-by-stage comments:
Chapter 1 - Escape in a Forest
- 1+2 trick is used twice. It's actually faster than dodging/taking damage, respectively.
- Picks 100 more nippo. Increasing nippo is required to save time later.
- Optimized 1 frame throwing a shuriken on boss, while the other frames is 'undetectable' lag reduction.
- When you finishes each chapter, you gain 200 nippo.
Chapter 2 - Pursuit in Tokyo
- Instead to take damage after the first ladder, getting a lower position is actually faster, and also skips a enemy.
- First shortcut of this TAS saves almost 2 seconds. Requires cancel climbing trick (1 frame before you exit the wall, press Up+1) + a good manipulation of 2 enemies, in order to perform this shortcut.
- Better optimization on the rest of the stage, including an another shortcut.
- No improvements on the boss.
Chapter 3 - Samurai in Kendo
- Better optimization.
- This is the only stage that shows the large shuriken, which was used only once, since costs 10 nippo.
- I saved 4 frames on the first hit at the boss by using sword while on air.
Chapter 4 - Rescue Geisha
- Finally get 999 nippo! That's because game not deduct nippo after exceding 999. So, with this bug, I skip the spread shuriken and use homing fireballs (since homing fireballs costs 40 nippo, unlike the spread shuriken, that costs 20 nippo), saving some time.
- 3 new shortcuts. It's much faster than walljumping.
- Avoiding the use of 1+2 during the third part of this stage.
- Better optimization on the boss.
Chapter 5 - Enemy Turf
- With homing fireballs, I don't need to press 1+2 to defeat that fish before getting the firewheel.
- When you turnaround during the fallings, normally you lose speed on the ice floors, but if you press the subweapon or attack animation before you reaches, you recover normal speed.
- On the boss, it's possible to hit when he's hidden. Also, on the start of the battle, I used 1+2 twice, in order to defeat without losing time.
Chapter 6 - Raid
- Only better optimization during the stage.
- With the heavy use of firewhell and cancel climbing, I could hit the boss 4 times on each cycle instead of 2 times, saving energy to abuse of button 1+2 trick. So, I reduced 2.5 cycles, that results on a biggest improvement of this run.
Chapter 7 - Overcome
- More better optimization, including 3 new shortcuts.
- While waiting for platform spawns, I picks homing missle again, saving time on the first hit. Also, I improved the boss without losing time.
Chapter 8 - A Decisive Battle
- With homing fireballs, I hit both bosses much earlier.
- Input ends earlier loading the homing fireballs instead of sword directly on the second boss.
Special Thanks
adelikat, for the published run.
KrazyRasmus, for new tricks, as well as his RTA run which includes some new shortcuts that I never expected before, and for watching my progress.
A player of this run [dead link removed]. I reproduced most of that improvements.
Other comments
I'm glad that this run is finally done. I worked hard on this game on a month (the rerecord count proves it), with 2-3 redos on some stages.
The published run is one of oldest SMS/GG movies of the site. Another Dega movie is going to obsolete.
feos: Cool improvements to this top notch game. Accepting over [1057] SMS Ninja Gaiden by adelikat in 15:04.25.
Fog: Processing.