Ninja Crusaders TAS by Randil
This run is 2258 frames (37.63 sec) faster than
Xipo's submitted run. Ninja Crusaders is a short and action packed platformer, that is quite similiar to Ninja Gaiden. You can transform into an animal, depending on what weapon you have. Besides that, this is a simple and short platformer, with decent graphics and sound.
- Emulator used: FCEU 0.98.16
- Aims for fastest possible time.
Tricks and techniques:
Pressing A on the stage intro: Before each level starts, there is an intro text, such as the one on frame 80. If you press A after a certain amount of frames, you skip most of this intro. By pressing A on the first frame possible, I save 162 frames at the start of each level, compared to Xipo. I do not include this saved time in the level-by-level improvements. In total, this trivial trick saved a whole 1620 frames, 27 seconds!
Keeping forward momentum while transforming into animal: You transform into animal form by holding down B button for 90 frames. While holding down the B button, you cannot run, but you can jump however. This is abused throughout the whole run, allowing me to keep moving with both ninjas while still waiting for the transformation to start.
Optimizing your vertical position before transforming: The last 30 frames before you transform, you will stop, even if you're in mid-air. After 30 frames, you will fly up, at at speed of 8 pixels per frame, until you've reached a certain Y-position. This means that I want to be as high up as I can in order to minimize the frames it takes to fly up.
Tiger riding technique: This trick is very basic, but needs some commenting. When one of your ninjas has transformed into a tiger, the other one can ride him. The good thing about doing this is that the tiger moves 2.0 pixels/frame while the ninjas move 1.5 p/f. When riding the tiger, the ninja can attack enemies without the risk of falling down. He can also run run around on the tiger's back, as long as he doesn't run over the edge. The bad things are that the tiger can't make jump that makes the ninja on top of him go off screen - if he does that, he will fall down. This is especially a pain on level two, where most of the level takes place on the upper part of the screen. This forces me to make small jumps with the tiger, so that player 2 doesn't fall off.
Reducing lag: Not really a trick, but I didn't know where else to put this. There is some lag in this game, but luckily, most of it can be avoided. There are, however, a few frames of lag that can't be avoided. I estimate about 40-50 frames in this run is lost due to lag. Attacking enemies on a different frame, or positioning your ninjas better before you attack, are easy ways to get rid of lag. I estimate I saved between 40 and 60 frames compared to Xipo's run due to lag reduction.
Level by level comparison sheet:
The 162 frames saved by using the "stage intro" trick is not included in these times.
- Stage: What stage it's referring to.
- Intro: Amount of frames that were saved on the intro text.
- Level: Amount of frames that were saved on the level itself.
| Stage | Intro | Level |
|---|
| 1-1 | 162 | 75 |
| 1-2 | 162 | 105 |
| 1-2 boss | 0 | 0 |
| 2-1 | 162 | 23 |
| 2-2 | 162 | 23 |
| 3-1 | 162 | 69 |
| 3-2 | 162 | 52 |
| 3-2 boss | 0 | 0 |
| 4-1 | 162 | 59 |
| 4-2 | 162 | 68 |
| 4-2 boss | 0 | 2 |
| 5-1 | 162 | 73 |
| 5-2 | 162 | 79 |
| 5-2 boss | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 1620 | 638 |
That should be all. Enjoy the run!
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
Oh! I also corrected the ROM name.
- You indicated
Ninja Crusaders (U).nes
- I updated it to
Ninja Crusaders (U) [!p].nes
Bisqwit: Author replaced movie file. According to the author:
This improved run is 81 frames faster due to abusing player 2's hitbox to reach the finish line sooner, as well as some more lag reduction.
adelikat: Accepting for publication and processing.
