Emulator: Snes9X v1.43+ for Windows
I originally got the idea to TAS this game a long time ago, after watching the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of it. I forgot for a long time because I was busy with other projects, but I'm glad that I finally got around to doing it. The game isn't one of the best, but it's certainly not one of the worst either. It's decently fun, decently fun to watch in my opinion, and pretty funny when Lester reacts to enemies and other trivial things like grabbing ledges.
Common Techniques
Damageless Fall
To avoid taking damage from long falls, simply crouch as Lester falls. This will mean that he's unable to turn in the air (which sometimes makes it faster not to do, but not often), but can survive any long fall as long as Lester walks off the edge (if you run, you won't be able to do it). The crouch also has to be started shortly after walking off, before he begins is falling animation (once that starts, you can't get out of it til you land and take damage).
Reaching Loading Zones Quicker
Sometimes, at the end of a level, if you're on a high platform right before the loading zone, you can jump straight into it, even though if Lester were to land from this jump, he'd take damage.
Damage Invulnerability
Like in many games, you are invincible for a short time after being damaged. This lets Lester run through some enemies at certain places.
Beach Part 1
As this is the first level, there are a lot of places where Lester will stop because he's scared. I jump over all of these, which unfortunately means taking damage sometimes. It of course is faster overall, especially with the canteens along the way. A large jump is done straight into the loading zone at the end of this area, but unfortunately, the zone is just a little too far away to avoid taking damage from it.
Beach Part 2
At the beginning of this area, Lester automatically goes into his slow "scared mode", which means the crab has to be killed as he can't jump straight onto the ledge.
Labyrinth Part 1
Turning in the air while falling saves time after the fall is over. Lester will run away in the opposite direction from bats, so jumping over them avoids running backwards.
Labyrinth Part 2
There are various rocks along the way, and one is needed to open the chest for the ruby. The closest rock possible is taken to do this. It's important to note that although there is a rock in a better place in the first part of the level, it disappears after you hit the loading zone for the second part. Taking damage at the end from the bats was necessary.
Tiki Island
When Lester approaches the first set of totem poles, he begins a really long "scared mode" walk. Therefore, it's faster to jump through the entire section. Kicking the blue totems down is required, as the last one in the chain will kill you no matter what.
Burial Grounds
The first two skulls of the three need to be tossed into the fire in order to proceed. A timed jump into the loading zone at the end is done, which looks cool because Lester almost hits the flames.
Village Part 1
Entering the fifth house and jumping out of the window lets us proceed to the next area.
Village Part 2
Often, here, the player will fall through a house or fall onto the ground, which results in Lester being captured. When this happens, you have to retrieve a key from a guard and get out of jail. It puts you in the river level, but is slower than doing well-timed jumps across all of the houses to achieve the same result, so that's what's done.
River
This is an autoscroller, so the only parts that had to be optimised were the vine jumps. At the second one, I jump straight onto the next raft.
Jungle
Nothing but vine swinging here. On the last vine, I jump straight into the loading zone.
Hut
It's impossible to avoid ducking to avoid getting hit by the weight. We get the boomerang here, which is Lester's first "permanent" weapon.
Ape
This boss is pretty easy. The maximum amount of hits you can do to him per cycle is 3, which means one of the two boomerang throws will always miss one hit. It takes 13 hits to kill him. After that, I stand right where the woman appears, which makes the distance Lester has to run afterwards minimal.
Running from the Cheetah
Nothing to say here, just a bunch of well-timed jumps. The cheetah falls in the last pit, and after that, Lester has to climb up to avoid the falling rocks (climbing all the way up is required - they will still hit him if you don't do it).
Underworld Part 1
The blue torch at the start is required. If you don't take it, the screen gradually gets darker and Lester dies before you can get very far. A bunch of switches need to be pressed in order to open the pathway on the bottom floor, but not every switch has to be hit. The room is optimised so that the required switches are hit in the fastest order.
Underworld Part 2
Very simple area. The damageless fall trick is used here to survive a long fall near the end.
Underworld Part 3
In this area, we have to destroy the boulder blocking the way with the boomerang. It takes 8 hits to do this. The second and third platforms rise when you stand on the first one, so I stand on that long enough so that 5 hits can be done from the second one, and 3 from the third, which allows Lester to reach the final ledge without having to grab onto it first, which is by far the quickest way to clear this room.
Underworld Part 4
There are spiders and spikes everywhere here, and although with damage invulnerability we can run through a few of them, it's faster to save that extra health for the pirates later on. The giant spider isn't a required boss; you only have to break the web. The web can only be damaged after a certain amount of time after the previous hit, which is why I wait a few times here.
Underworld Part 5
Some well-timed jumps let this area be cleared quickly. At the end, Lester can pull himself through the wall before climbing the vertical section.
Pirate Ship 1
Well-timed jumps over the barrels are performed, and the sword is obtained here. This lets us kill the pirates, which is required a lot in this section.
Pirate Ship 2
Not a lot going on here other than pirate slaying. Pretty dull.
Pirate Ship 3
A few pirates are skipped using damage invulnerability. Other than that, there isn't a lot to say til we get to the end. The candle is placed closer to the door to avoid having to climb over the cannon. The cannon has to blow open the door before we get the ladel/water, as if you try to put it on the ground, Lester empties the water out, meaning you can simply drop it, pick up the candle, light the cannon, then pick up the ladel again. Extinguishing the spark on the TNT to save Hector finishes the game.
DarkKobold: Updated submission with a 125 frame improvement by the author.
Nach: This run while well played is really really boring. Watching it doesn't look all that impressive. As a TAS goes, I don't think we'll be missing much if this is not part of our site. Rejecting for bad game choice.
Nach: Accepting for vault.
