Recorded using Snes9x 1.43+ improvment7
Emulator sync settings:
    * Use wip1 timing
    * Allow left/right up/down
    * Volume envelope height reading
    * Fake mute desync workaround
    * Sync samples with sound cpu
Movie details:
    * Aims for fastest time
    * Manipulates luck
    * Takes Damage to save time
    * No programming errors used
    * No warps or passwords

Thanks & acknowledgements

First off I would like to thank marshmallow from the SDA for his awesome console run of this game. It was his movie which motivated me to start mine. His run was very useful for showing me just how many enemy encounters can be avoided by following certain routes. His run also showed me how many battles you can run from after they have been initiated. His strategies for Yakra and the Guardian fights turned out to be quite useful. I would like to thank tilus for his TAS of the Japanese version of the game. I found the strategies he used in the Mud Imp and Golem Twin fights to be very helpful. Thanks to Saturn for his 100% Chrono Trigger ZSNES movies. I learned several things from his run, mainly the effectiveness of the berserker which is the most valuable accessory in my opinion. Thanks to everyone on the forum for your constructive criticism of my test run. This run is over 20 minutes faster than my test run.

About luck manipulation

In most tool assisted RPGs, the player has the ability to control the attacks of their enemies and their characters own critical hit rate. Chrono Trigger is different than most RPGs in this aspect. In almost every battle, waiting a certain amount of frames or pressing different buttons will not change an enemy’s attack or create a critical hit (view the Magus battle for an exception of this rule). You can change how an enemy’s behavior by using items and specific techs at certain times. Critical hits will only happen after a fixed amount of attacks have occurred and this cannot be changed no matter what once a battle has commenced. Increasing of decreasing critical hits can be done by equipping certain armor/accessories and will vary depending on your character’s current level.

Active leveling

In any RPG speed run you want to decrease the amount of time spent leveling up. In this run there are only a few times when I actively level up. Before I enter the cathedral I fight two voluntary battles to learn firewhirl which saves a bunch of time against the nagettes. Right before the Nizbell II battle I level up to learn volt bite which is the fastest way to kill him. When I get to mount Woe I fight two rubbles which give 100 tech points each, to learn falcon hit. I use falcon hit on the next three bosses to save a whole lot of time. At the tail end of the game I bring Magus to the Giants Claw to level him up for the Lavos fight. This is very time consuming but it necessary to be able to survive Lavos’ initial attacks. Every single other non-mandatory battle I run from or avoid altogether.

Important items

In a speed run, it is important to only pick up items which will save you time later down the road. If an item doesn’t save you time then there is no reason to waste time obtaining it. The following items/weapons/accessories/armors were crucial for saving time in my run.
Items Shelters: I pick up 3 of these before I can buy them in the middle ages. The shelter maxes out all your character’s HP/MP. The three that I pick up were carefully planned to minimize the amount of time spent collecting them. Speed Tab: I collect two of these to use on Magus to increase his speed for the Lavos battle. When I am leveling up in the giant’s claw, the speed tabs allow Magus to attack before the enemy can get an attack in. Power Tab: 1 is obtained in guardia forest to increase Chrono’s attack power high enough to kill the enemies in the forest with one cyclone hit instead of two. The second tab is acquired automatically from the chef which I later use on Chrono to make the falcon hit powerful enough to kill Giga Gaia’s hands in one hit.
Weapons
Steel Saber: Obtained to speed up the Yakra/Dragon tank battles. Iron Sword: Obtained to speed up the Yakra battle. Lode Sword: Chrono’s main sword for every battle up until the Slasher is obtained Lode Bow: Only good for the Guardian battle. Mirage Hand: Make Robo’s attacks more powerful for every fight he is in for the rest of the game, this one weapon saves a considerable amount of time. Slasher: Increases Chrono’s speed and attack power. The speed increase saves a huge amount of time in later battles. Swallow: This is by far the most controversial weapon obtained, because it takes close to 2 full minutes to get. The time spent collecting this item is acceptable however because it makes every battle after the Mud Imp fight considerably shorter. This item increases Chronos attack power, and provides and even larger increase in speed over the slasher. Doomsickle: Without this single weapon, the run could have easily been 30 minute longer. To beat the lavos core, you need to have a physical attack to take out the left bit, and without this weapon Magus would not be able to do it alone. As a result I would have needed to level up my entire party and this would have taken ages to do. The doomsickle triples in power when both members of your party are dead and provides a shorter animation sequence over any magical attack.
Armor
Dark Mail: Allows Frog to survive Magus’ dark matter attack. Meso Mail: Very strong defensive armor, and takes no extra time to obtain. Gloom Cape: Magus’ strongest armor, easy to obtain.
Accessories
Powerglove: This allows Crono to take out the R series with four cyclones instead of six. Beserker (2 obtained): One of the most powerful items in the game. When equipped the character’s speed and power increase tremendously. Not only that, but this item makes the character attack at the very first possible frame. This item helps in the owning of Zombor, Nizbel, Slash, and Flea. Silver Stud: Cuts magic usage, which is good for Crono in the Giga Gaia fight. Also allows Magus to only spend 4mp with his lightning 2 attack when leveling up in the giant’s claw. Silver Earring: Frog needs this to survive Magus’ dark matter attack. It is also useful for other characters later on. Speed Belt: Speed +2, puts Ayla’s speed on par with Crono’s for very fast and effective falcon hits. Wall Ring: Ups Magus’ magic defense by close to 200%. Without this Magus could not survive Lavos’ heavy magic attacks. Dash Ring: Automatically obtained after getting the wall ring, it is somewhat useless at this point in the game.

Boss Strategies

The strategies I used in all boss fights were the fastest ones possible for my low level characters. I tested literally every single attack/tech/double tech on the boss and calculated the animation time verses the damage inflicted. I played some boss over 40 times and picked the string of attacks which ended the battle quickest. Here is the logic behind my strategies:
Yakra: I deemed using Firewhirl, while it does good damage is too time consuming and causes Yakra to initiate his “droooo” attack which is long and does much damage. I attack only when my characters are close enough to him that he cannot counterattack. I use Lucca only a couple times before she gets taken out. Once Lucca is dead Yakra enters his second attack form, which does not counter attack no matter what. From here on out I have frog and Crono relentlessly attack him until he dies. I do not heal at all during the battle which saves quite a few seconds.
Dragon Tank: This boss can be a pain because he will kill my characters if I do not heal at least 3 times. Anyways this is a simple strategy, simply take out the head to prevent him from healing and then take out the wheel to stop him from running us over. Firewhirl is used because I cannot get a critical hit at that point in the fight.
Guardian + Bits: This is another battle without needing to heal. You saw me get the lode bow and lode sword in the ruins and this is where they shine. I take out the side bits using regular attacks and measure their damage so that I do not attack with Crono on a bit with little HP left. So if one bit is about to die I switch sides and attack the healthy bit then have Lucca take out the damaged bit. I just turbo the crap out of the A button to kill the guardian.
R Series: Most people would think I am crazy not to take out one full row of robots by using cyclone twice in a row on them. But I figured killing one row will result in a series of attack which are very time consuming and damaging. So I decide to damage each row one time and then take them all out within two turns. I heal one time during this battle.
Heckran: The only thing that works on this guy is magic, with slash being the only other exception. I use slash at the beginning of the battle to alter who he attacks. As you can tell I managed to get him to attack all my characters evenly instead of teaming up on any one person. I switch to lighting after a couple rounds. Antipode does the most damage and is a shorter animation than casting fire or ice separately. I can use aura whirl during his defensive mode, because I if attack during that time he will counter it.
Zombor: This strategy works insanely well, all thanks to the berserker. Using antipode on the top eliminates it before he can attack with his “doom doom doom” attack. Crono goes berserk on the bottom half to take it out very fast.
Masa/Mune: Hyno sleep prevents any counter attacks at all from the brothers. Oddly enough antipode is the fastest way to kill Mune by about 2 seconds, but as you will see I need Robo for the Masamune fight.
Masamune: Truly this fight is the strangest battle in the game. Usually this battle requires a lot of healing, but I didn’t even heal a single time. He stood there like a rock and let me pummel him with critical hits from Crono and Robo, and fire from Lucca. Using the slash attack eliminates his tornado energy, which is a one hit kill for all characters if it is not dispersed by the slash attack.
Nizbel: The power of the berserker sees no bounds. I absolutely love this battle because I only have to control one character. Ayla and Robo do some much damage with the berserker equipped that the battle only lasts a couple minutes.
Flea: Good old Frog does all the work for me. For some reason Frog’s critical hit rate is around 70% with the berserker equipped. I had to manipulate luck a little to get Flea to only attack three times at the end of the battle.
Slash: I just turbo the A button and it is as fast as possible to kill his first form. His second form requires some healing but I attack the same way as I did in the first round.
Magus: This is probably my favorite battle in the game (love the music). By waiting a certain amount of time I can manipulate magus to attack using shadow. This is great because shadow only hurt one character and I can counter with rocket roll which does some hefty damage to magus. I use lighting a few times towards the end because the wait for another shadow attack was too long. Magus’ second form is very hard, without the dark mail and silver earring on frog he would perish. But since frog can survive dark matter I can spank magus with regular hits from both Robo and Frog. At this low level, Crono cannot survive dark matter.
Nizbell II: I choose to level up before this battle to earn volt bite. Without volt bit the battle would take over ten minutes because Nizbel’s defense rises with every attack which is not lighting.
Azala/Tyrano: I use hyno sleep to bypass the first portion of the fight, huge timesaver. I use voltbite and napalm only after he removes his defense, because when his defense is up you cannot do more than 50 points of damage to him. I calculated the amount of attacks I would use after he does his fire attack to me. For some reason his defense goes up but not all the way up. Voltbite does only half as much as it used to. I attack him just enough times to take him out after he removes his defense for a second time.
Mud Imp/beasts: Well this can be the most difficult battle in the game were it not for tilus’ strategy. I used hyno sleep to remove the blue beast from the battle. The mud imp has ~1,000 hp and once he dies so do the beasts. I use antipode/lighting on him which inflicts close to 250 damage.
Giga Gaia: He is a pushover with the swallow/falcon hit combo. I use napalm just enough time to avoid him bringing back his hands again.
Dalton: Four falcon hits and he is toast
Golem Twins: Another very difficult battle was it not for hyno sleep. I start off with lighting to change their attacks from physical to lightning, it gets me enough time to cast hyno wave. Once asleep I can falconhit them and use hyno wave right after to make them completely harmless. You see me cast hyno wave twice in a row, this is not a mistake. If I don’t do it twice in a row, after the next falcon hit only one golem will be put to sleep.
Lavos: As you can clearly see, characters at these levels cannot survive lavos. There is no way to manipulate lavos’ attacks. Marle and Ayla die because they are so low leveled but Magus can survive because he has the wall ring and his best armor. This is proof that fighting lavos during the ocean palace disaster is impossible. Magus’ doomsickle triples in power once both of your teammates are dead. I use the doomsickle on the right arm to do 4,000 damage because it has 4,000 more HP than the left. I use dark mist to take out both arms at the same time. I turbo attack the head until he is dead.
Lavos Core: The only way to win this battle is to kill the right bit, but the bit is protected during the fight. To remove its protection you must kill either of the other two bits. Once his defense is gone the right bit gets owned with the doomsickle. This is why I put magus in the third player position, so the animation sequence is shorter to attack the right bit.


Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
I think it's stupid to play the japanese version just because of faster/shorter text. Slower texts have nothing to do with the quality of the playing, and it really ruins the run for me if I can't see what the player gets from chests, equip and what commands he uses using in battles. I really hope that future RPG runs use English versions even if they are slower.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
pilif wrote:
Hi,
Omega wrote:
I think you might be confused with the rule that says no hacked games are allowed. This effectively reduces the submissions to ones that haven't been fan translated. There's not a rule that says English runs can't be published, however.
the first mention of the japanese text renderer being faster is here: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16142#16142 read on for more discussion about that ;-) Philip
Yes, and it proves my point. There isn't any rule saying that English runs can't be published. Furthermore, it shows that there are reasons for using a Japanese version. It's up to the author to decide whether they're more important than being able to see what's going on.
Joined: 6/15/2004
Posts: 104
Location: Zürich / Switzerland
Hi,
Omega wrote:
Furthermore, it shows that there are reasons for using a Japanese version. It's up to the author to decide whether they're more important than being able to see what's going on.
I completely agree with you and I'm glad to have an english CT-run on the site. I just remember being pissed back then because the run was made in the japanese version for seemingly moot points (remember: I DO agree with you). But I accepted those arguments back then and now I'm just voicing my concerns that publishing this english run would be against the outcome of a discussion held last year. Call me pedantic ;-) Philip
Joined: 8/13/2005
Posts: 356
Location: Canada
It was pretty good, and picked up a lot towards the end. Your levelling was really good, it was so quick and had great results. My only real concern is the time loss from using turbo on the A button during text. Isn't holding A the fastest during text? There's so much text that it could make a really big difference. Specific observations: -Black Tyrano: I hadn't carefully read your comments about this fight when I watched, and I was skeptical about using Napalm... a weak, time-consuming attack. I eventually realized that you were trying to kill him before he could use his fire a second time. Nice one. -First Golem (with intentional death): Would it possibly have been faster to use lightning once? Instead of using Iron Orb (1/2 HP), he'd use a strong, all-target lightning attack. I'm guessing you already considered this.
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
Holding the A button does not advance the text. I wish it did, because turboing the A button misses the first frame for advancing about 50% of the time. The time loss is not more than a couple seconds, which for a 4+ hour movie isn't much. If I cast lighting on the first golem the counter attack is not strong enough to kill all my party members in one hit. It would require two attacks, and the time spent casting lightning with chrono wouldn't be worth it.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Joined: 8/13/2005
Posts: 356
Location: Canada
Okay then, good answers. Prompt and concise. It's like TASing a message board. :P I'll give this one a yes.
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Would it really have been so hard to just find the first frames on which you could advance text?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
The thing is that when I turbo the A button I can press the fast foward key. It would have taken many hours to go through each line of text and press A at the exact frame. I don't think this is an issue for such a long movie. And about using the Japanese version of the game. I believe tilus mentioned in the Chrono Trigger thread that the Japanese version had several different programming changes which actually cost a bit of time.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Fihlvein
He/Him
Joined: 7/28/2004
Posts: 135
Location: Finland Realms
Great work, hero of the day! Four hours isn't much for a quality rpg like Chrono Trigger. Only part that was boring to watch was the leveling up before Lavos but I'm suprised that it was pretty much the only part where you had to do it this intensively. Yes vote naturally.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15571
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [450] SNES Chrono Trigger by hero_of_the_day in 4:21:11.83
Joined: 9/7/2005
Posts: 144
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Question for hero of the day: How did you get the Mud Imp to not cure all for 150 when you struck him? Every time I've ever fought that battle and hit the Mud Imp he always immediately cast a cure-all for 150 points.
This guy are sick.
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
Actually there was alot of trial and error in this particular battle. sometimes after an attack he would cure himself and if he did I would rerecord and do a different attack, or I would have chrono heal a party member which would alter the imps actions as well. It would be interesting to see if this can be replicated on a console, if someone was to copy all my actions identically.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Joined: 6/4/2005
Posts: 130
Location: Ontario, Canada
Grr... if only I had the HD space to hold the movie. Guess I'll d/l the smv when I get back from work.
Former player
Joined: 11/13/2005
Posts: 1587
Really liked this run. Good job on such huge game!
Joined: 5/4/2004
Posts: 90
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
For anyone looking to skip the long bout of Magus levelling, it runs from about 3:37 to 3:55 :)
Former player
Joined: 2/2/2005
Posts: 198
Neat run, but how exactly did you get Lavos to spam Laser Beams and lose his defense before the arms are killed, due to allies being dead or what? Also I haven't seen that white-triangles-with-red-explosions attack before, when does he do that? I thought his attack order was mostly scripted...
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
actually I am not 100% sure why he lowered he defense but I too think having both allies dead plays a part in it. the Lavos core's attacks are determined by what time period he warps to. you can tell what time period it is by looking at the background image. I do not think the time warps occur in any particular order, and I do not think they can be manipulated either. I believe the attack you described is called dreamless and it is the strongest magic attack in the game. I forget which time period it occurs in. Without the wall ring equiped on magus this attack would do 2x the damage you see in the video.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Skilled player (1651)
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy
I'm trying to figure out... Are you insane, or just extremely dedicated? ;) Anyway, amazing run.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
hero of the day wrote:
I do not think the time warps occur in any particular order, and I do not think they can be manipulated either.
...Wait, how can it be neither?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Player (206)
Joined: 2/18/2005
Posts: 1451
I guess the warp-order is set at the beginning of the battle, not sure though.
hero of the day wrote:
I believe the attack you described is called dreamless and it is the strongest magic attack in the game.
Wrong. The strongest magic attack of the game is "Crying Heavens" which is 2x stronger than Dreamless but it's only a single attack. Luckily Lavos didn't used it on you if I remember right.
See my perfect 100% movie-walkthroughs of the best RPG games on http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/index.htm Current TAS project (with new videos): Super Metroid Redesign, any% speedrun
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 79
AnotherGamer wrote:
Neat run, but how exactly did you get Lavos to spam Laser Beams and lose his defense before the arms are killed, due to allies being dead or what? Also I haven't seen that white-triangles-with-red-explosions attack before, when does he do that? I thought his attack order was mostly scripted...
Are you talking about the last battle or the second to last? While I do not know the answer either way, but I think that you might mean the second to last, and the replies were talking about the final battle. Just a hunch, I might be very wrong. One is the battle with Lavos with two big hands. Here the laser attack occurs, and something that fits the description of the triangles-and-explosions attack. The other is the battle with Lavos in three parts: One body and two bits, which are not connected to the body. Time warping and dreamless (which happens in the future period, I think.) occurs here.
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
to magic bag of food: I would compare lavos' time shifts to critical hits, they cannot be changed and Like Saturn says they are predetermiend before the battled begins. Yet every battle with lavos will have a different order, depending on other factors. to Saturn: I forget all about crying heavens, it is indeed the strongest magic attack :) and your right he doesnt attack me with that or the lavos pimp slap, both of which do some heavy damage.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Active player (437)
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3517
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
So whats your next project hero of the day? Are you through with RPG games or as you have proven quite strongly that RPG games is indeed your specialty and will run more of "those" games?
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
JXQ
Experienced player (761)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
hero of the day wrote:
lavos pimp slap
If it said this in the game when the attack happened, it would be the greatest moment in attack naming history. (unless I've forgotten something cooler, which I probably have)
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Player (89)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1058
Location: United States
AngerFist wrote:
So whats your next project hero of the day? Are you through with RPG games or as you have proven quite strongly that RPG games is indeed your specialty and will run more of "those" games?
Well I would like to eventually improve my Mystic Quest speed run, but there are a few games I might do before that. Two games which I think really should be on this site are Metroid II and Link's Awakening DX. I have already started to work on Link's Awakening, and using the quit restart sequence it should make for a good speed run. I am going away for a week, but after I get back I will try to post some progress.
They're off to find the hero of the day...