Okie doke. Zelda 2, improved by 2485 frames.

There are a few ‘major’ (few second) improvements over Rising Tempest’s run, but most time saved is through a different fighting techniques. Most enemies are killed withouht losing forward momentum rather than as quickly as possible, unless a pot or p bag I need drops, then I go for the kill as quickly as possible.

The timing of this game is almost dependant entirely on what frame you enter a room. Enemies behave differently, and on the overworld, (most) enemy groups are different on every different frame. Some monsters appear on the overworld based on how long you spend on it, rather than number of steps taken. These ones are harder to manipulate, as you must spend extra time inside a cave, town or palace to make them change.

Also, every 6 enemies killed drop a p bag or pot. This almost determines for me what I kill and what I skip.

On the way back from the hidden town, I kill a red lizalfos. It does not count for the 6 count, and it slows you down. However, it slows you down exactly the number of frames needed to get a favorable enemy group on the overworld. It actually saves time this way, and it’s not obvious why that enemy is killed, so I’m highlighting it.

Fighting tactics:

The techniques used in this movie were for the most part used by Rising Tempest. The ‘whirlwind’ (press left one frame, right the next, repeat, while your sword is out for 3 hits per attack) and the ‘jackhammer’ (press down every other frame during downstab for quick damage) are still present.

However, these both slow you down. In stead, I rely mostly on downstab, but hold down for 2 frames instead of one. This keeps you moving forward. Any time an enemy takes one hit, you move forward after the attack, no matter what it is.

Towards the end of the run, I discovered that holding down while your attack animation ends gives you 1 frame of downstab. The hit registers as a downstab, but is detected on your forward-pointing sword. This is primarily he attack used to keep moving forward inside the great palace. It is especially useful for the big blobs, and thunderbird. More on that later ;)

Major improvements:

I found a way to jump over the darias during the Hammer run, without using the jump spell. If you let go of forward while in the air, you keep your forward momentum, but the enemy reacts as if you are slowing down. They therefore run farther, and Link can make the jump without taking damage. Many daria are skipped, and I kill only enough to get 2 sword levels. I also avoid getting the ‘Life Level Up’ dialogue. Rising Tempest was very handy throughout this section, with ideas.

In palace 2, getting a p bag drop from a small enemy skips an out of the way bag.

In palace 6, an out of the way pot is not gotten, and ‘reflect’ is not cast.

All bosses are improved by either more precise fighting, or different strategies. The most notable boss improvements are:

Palace 2 boss: slightly different strategy.

Palace 5 boss: In stead of jumping over him, and coming at him from the back, I found a gap in between the mace to start attacking as soon as possible. Me second favorite fight ;)

Palace 6 boss: Though it is possible to stay on top of the dragon with downstab, as shown in the published run, jumping in between hits was faster, as all hits could be delivered in faster bunches.

Thunderbird (great palace): I can’t take credit for this strategy. After discovering the downstab trick, I was bouncing ideas off of Rising Tempest for Shadow Link. Somehow we got on the topic of Thunderbird, which I mentioned I did with 2 jumps in stead of 3. He tested the idea we came up with, and it worked. Don’t blink.

Shadow Link: All hits are delivered on the first frame his invincibility ends.

About Link’s name: It’s possible to skip the ‘enter your name’ screen. This is a glitch, so I did it. I don’t particularly care if Link has a name or not, since I don’t think it really adds or detracts from this game (it appears only after I do a soft reset). Since it is faster to not have the name, that’s what I decided to do.

That’s about it, I think. Enjoy the show. Any other questions, let me know.

adelikat: Nice improvement. Accepting for publication.