Sabre Wulf is a platforming/puzzle game by Rare based on the
Sabreman series. The goal for almost every single stage is to utilize a number of creatures to grab treasure in front of a wolf, then run back to the entrance of the stage.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk-1.13.0
- Any%
- Aims for real time, followed by in game
- <And so on>
I started this run while looking for games with percentage counters. I thought this game was straightforward, so I tried playing it. I paused a bit after a while, but got re-motivated when I found out that Blazephlozard had made a
real time run of this game, so I decided to start TASing it. Thanks to him for making me realize the pheonix creature actually saves time in a TAS, and not just in real time, among other minor tricks.
There's 64 stages in this game, with 8 of them vertical platforming. Due to finding new tricks while TASing, I had to redo past stages numerous times. Despite only 4 stages requiring an obstacle that utilizes RNG, lag occasionally appears/disappears whenever I tried to splice stages back in. To aid in my efforts, I used the in game frame counter to make sure syncing back the lag frames were indeed lag frames and not actual delays. I also used the timer to compare each stage, so that improvements would be independent of the current movie's frame counter.
Here's the google sheets for the game stages. Column G (Fade Frame) is the only column that uses the movie's frame counter, while the rest are all in game time. Since I focused on real time first, the oranged-out boxes indicate the stages I wasted in game time to save real time. I'm not exactly sure how to denote how many frames the stage took, since right before the stage loads, it actually accepts input for 1 frame. This allows you to jump, move, and open the creatures interface before the stage even loads completely. So instead, I will use column E's frame counter (the last frame before the stage ends and starts lagging) as the time it took to beat the stage.
Blackwyche Village
The first set of stages takes place at 3 different areas: The Campsite, Blackwyche Village, & West Blackwyche. For simplicity, I'll just name this group as Blackwyche Village, due to the majority of the set based there.
The first cutscene in the game also appears to be the only one you can skip with Start. There's also no way to speed the text outside auto-firing "A".
Campsite Clearing
Time: 1600 frames
The frame counter unfortunately takes account into interrupts like those tutorial messages in account to the timer. So technically, this stage could be done "faster" if you disregard them, but there's no way to skip them nor does it make sense to redo this stage later to get a faster in game time in this run.
By the way, if I actually did redo the stage, the hat at the end would be replaced by a gold chalice, and the stage's flag (if completed again) would turn gold, but it does not affect the game's percent counter.
River Crossing
Time: 1401 frames
Very straight forward. This stage introduces armour, and shows Sabreman's super strength. By the way, if I could clip past the guards that I was talking to before this stage, I could've entered the village. Talking to the mayor there would then allowed me to skip this. I failed to do so however.
Blown Away
Time: 1335 frames
This stage introduces treasure and the green block enemies. Treasure initially starts out gold, then after a while it will become silver, then finally bronze. In a speedrun (TAS or real time), it never becomes anything else other than gold. The timer responsible for this is both the frame address (0x0190 IWRAM) and this 0x0230 in IWRAM. The latter almost always in sync with the former, so unless you use cheats, both timers should be identical.
The green blocks are NPCs (called Blocker), so I'm able to clip the corners to get a tiny boost. This cannot be done on stage ledges.
When I returned to the camp, I ran back instead of jumping all the way. This actually ends up being faster due to how transitioning works. It's a bit odd, and I'm not able to replicate the exact frame transitions in every stage, but I do know that being in the air while reaching the camp is faster, and if you landed, every 4 frames based on 0x0190, you would slide to the tent rather than slowly walk back. I'm not sure how far you slide exactly works, so it ends up being trail and error of jumping and delaying at different times. This applies to every stage that starts with the tent.
Blackwyche Swamp
Time: 1462 frames
This is one of those weird stages where not only does delaying save time, but also grabbing the treasure closer to the Wulf (and thus further away from the tent) is actually faster. I have no idea how that works, but if someone manages to figure out level transition mechanics they could save a handful of frames each stage.
Oh, and the Wulf's animation at the end is RNG based, but has no effect on the run.
Outlaw Inn
Time: 1661 frames
The building where the 3 bombs are needs Blubba to reach. I think it may be possible to somehow improve this a bit by using Blubba later so I won't need to walk towards the bombs before jumping, but I'm not sure.
Eastern Karnath
Time: 1785 frames
This is another of those "weird" stages where being closer to the Wulf seems to save time.
Wishing Well
Time: 1863 frames
Just like Blocker, the brown platforms are NPCs (called Crumble), so I can edge boost a bit. The first Crumble was too far away from me to reach the right edge, so I didn't boost using it.
Blackwyche Laboratory
Time: 929 frames
Every single laboratory is a vertical platforming stage. Thanks to Blubba, these are one of the quickest stages to beat in the game. The main goal here is to touch 3 buttons, which activates the elavator at the end to leave. Failing to do so within the time limit (indicated by the cicle at the bottom right corner) will cause the room to quickly flood.
The first button looks odd, but it's for skipping a dialogue relating to it. Due to the button's location being across the rooms, this ended up being the longest lab stage in the run.
Karnath Jungle
The 2nd set of stages all take place in 1 screen. To get any further, you have to grab the ladder in Lower Karnath Mines. Due to the game's linearity, this must be done regardless, so the dialogue will always assume you've done so.
Karnath Canopy
Time: 1569 frames
At the end, I walked to the gold statue since it appears to be faster (and avoids the falling birds called Needlenose). Here I also grab the statue away from the Wulf by jumping a frame before grabbing it.
There's a gold key treasure here for bonus stages, and it's one of the only treasures which persist after the Wulf starts chasing you; creatures and NPCs all get converted to coins once the Wulf howls.
Tangle Terror
Time: 1830 frames
I didn't hop at start since I would've grab the creature. Doing so for the first time for any creature displays a message, so I only do so for the ones I really need in the run. I get hurt here, since it's pointless avoiding damage when you get armour again later without losing time.
Lower Karnath Mines
Time: 2133 frames
Boomer takes a while before exploding, so I made him? under Needlenose to trigger it sooner. Because I needed to go higher, it's faster to "waste" a bunch of frames bringing Blubba higher than you, then jumping towards it.
Overgrown Outpost
Time: 1521 frames
Those things with skulls on them are called "Springy". Despite their appearance, they do not hurt you. They bounce you either left, up, or right depending on the value of the RNG. Due to the randomness, it's almsot always faster to avoid a route that requires them unless absolute necessary.
I get hurt to grab another Blubba, but it's completely worth it.
Knightlore Falls
Time: 1620 frames
In case anyone wonders, using that trick I did with Blubba at Lower Karnath Mines would not allow me to reach the falls, so I'm forced to lay Blubba on the ground instead. This stage is also the reason why I needed 2 Blubbas quickly.
If I landed right before the tent, I would've flinched due to high distance. So I'm forced to jump at the high platform, causing the slower than average transition.
Upper Karnath Mines
Time: 2934 frames
The movement looks odd when falling down because those were the spots which allowed me to land without flinching. If someone finds a better way to do so, this stage may be improved.
Sadly, I was unable to jump over the 2nd pair of Blockers. Because Boomer takes such a long time to explode, it's faster for me to deploy it from afar, even if that takes some scrolling.
I wasted a frame or so grabbing the armour here for later.
Tangle Terror Lookout
Time: 1918 frames
Moving Blubba slightly higher then jumping towards it is faster than using 2 Serpants or Serpant followed by Blubba. The landing got interupted by grabbing the lantern, so I didn't flinch. I cannot skip the cutscene after this.
Karnath Laboratory
Time: 506 frames
Here you can see how 2 Blubbas pretty much make this stage complete in less than 10 seconds. Using the Serpants is faster than going up using the stage platforms.
Oh, and on my 2nd version of the TAS, I messed up and forgot to open the creatures interface for the first Blubba while the stage loaded. Curiously, after splicing it in and maintaining the same RNG, every single stage afterwards synced exactly the same way, including lag. When I changed the RNG however, lag occasionally appears at different spots, and sometimes disappear as well. I tested this on other lab stages, and it holds.
Underwurlde Mines
This time, the stages are in different areas again. Despite grabbing the lantern, if you used cheats to change the map to here before the lantern, you can move around even without the lantern.
Torchlight Torment
Time: 1572 frames
The enemies with fans are called "Gusta". Depending on its placement, it may be faster to ignore it and jump over it rather than kill it.
I can't seem to find a way to get past the Crumbly right before the first Gusta, but I'm not sure if it would save time; beating it is slower, so the only method it seems is some clipping glitch, or taking a detour like in the run.
Deep Dark Dugout
Time: 1707 frames
The route I took is faster than running around to get up, but mostly due to superfast menu navigation. I wasn't able to avoid both Gusta and the turtle (Spike), so I had preserved the armour back from Upper Karnath Mines. Just like Knightlore Falls, due to the high jump point, the transition time is longer than most stages.
Stinky Cavern
Time: 1720 frames
Another of those "weird" stages. Quite straightforward otherwise.
Mining Mayhem
Time: 2385 frames
The first part with the falling looks really bad, but it appears avoiding it is slower (at least from what I checked), so that's some potential improvement. Also, I mysteriously saved 1 frame in this stage while resyncing the run, and I have no idea how.
Lookout Ledge
Time: 2056 frames
This is the first stage that requires Springy for the route. Using Serpant is slower, even taking account the reduced speed Springy gives. The major difficulty here is that there's not many places I can manipulate luck without slowing down. I used the delay before jumping to the gold bar to manipulate the RNG here. For some weird reason, despite the input being exactly the same when as v2 on the way back to the tent, it took 3 extra frames to recover from falling. I don't know what caused this, but it pretty much killed off any improvement I had.
Crumble Crevice
Time: 1344 frames
Taking the longer route to avoid enemies takes far too long, so I went the bottom path. Avoiding the pigs (Fatso) along with killing the Gusta with Boomer looked slow, but I couldn't figure out a faster method. I wasn't able to despawn the Gusta, so if someone can figure out how that glitch works, it would be an improvement.
Stranglehold Swamp
Time: 1661 frames
You can actually despawn the Gusta on the platform by waiting
here at x position of 834, but it turned out slower due to the Blocker forcing me to take longer to grab the treasure.
Underwurlde Laboratory
Time: 490 frames
This stage is even faster than the previous labs due to the buttons' placement. I used the slight delay before jumping at the very end to manipulate RNG for the next set of stages due to Springy.
Entombed Swamp
In order to get there, you actually need 25 coins, or the game won't let you proceed. Also taking the boat here is a one time trip; once you done so you can't go back to the mines to take another ride to the swamp.
Stinger Strangle
Time: 1905 frames
Some of the swamp stages are really similar, and you can tell here this seems to reuse certain elements from previous swamp stages. This is the first stage where the layout allows the Wulf to potentially catch up to you. To avoid this, if the next hop will cause the Wulf to hit you, don't hop and stay running. This causes the Wulf to slow down in an attempt to bite you. Even with slowing down due to landing, this is still faster than jumping back and then running ahead quickly.
Frantic Fissure
Time: 2625 frames
Waiting a bit before walking below the flying accorns (Boost A Conker) is faster than using a Serpant or Blubba to jump over due to the massive amounts of lag if you use them here. Curiously, you can jump over the 3 Blockers here. Thanks a lot for Blazephlozard for his run, for without I would've never knew of the despawning Gusta glitch. Sadly, this seems to be one of the 2 stages it works.
Hobbled Hamlet
Time: 2041 frames
I seriously tried to avoid the Springy here without loosing time, but I can't figure it out. Using Blubba to jump over the Boost A Conkers appear slower than using Springy, and using Serpant costs too much time. If someone can figure out a method to get past the 2 Boost A Conkers without using Springy AND be faster or break even that would be great. There's another stage 3 stages later that also needs Springy to behave correctly, so removing one of the reliances would make luck manipulation much easier. Also a way to despawn the Gusta's would be nice (or even better, the Boost A Conkers).
Also, I have no idea what does the genie do outside sit there and hurt you if you touch it. So don't ask. The game calls it "The Lure", and claims it has an effect on creatures, but nothing out of the norm has happened when making the run.
Stinkhorn Swamp
Time: 1921 frames
Not related to this stage, but it's possible to softlock the game at the alligator by talking to the person at the same time as triggering the cutscene.
This stage uses Blubba right at the start. In v2 of the run, I didn't realize that you could pressing B and right/left to open the menu for creatures, since pressing B alone did not work. While this was spliceable for the lab stages, for non-lab stages, this usually caused me to reach the end of the stage 1 frame earlier, messing up the frame rule for sliding. Fixing it by jumping differently would also change the RNG. After many attempts, I gave up, and just "wasted" that 1 frame saving to maintain the RNG value.
Rocky Mount
Time: 1933 frames
It seems faster to get hit by that red lion thing (Pleb) then avoid Fatso later than avoiding Pleb to take damage from Fatso.
Viper Vines
Time: 2105 frames
It appears faster to use Serpant to avoid the Boost A Conkers than to wait between jumps. This is the 3rd stage that requires Springy, and due to the previous one being 2 stages back, I ended up wasting 1 frame in Stinkhorn Swamp to make sure Springy doesn't push me off the wrong direction.
Terror Temple
Time: 2449 frames
The only thing that's tricky here were the Boost A Conkers. I had to delay a bit unfortunately before jumping over. In case anyone wonders what those fleas do (and yes, they're called "Fleas"), they make you flinch after a while. They can be killed by Gusta's wind.
Entombed Laboratory
Time: 644 frames
This lab is ~2.5 seconds slower than the previous one. I blame the terrible button placement. Also, the first Blubba doesn't use that "move Blubba above you then jump to it" trick because if I did that, I won't be able to land on the first button and deploy the 2nd Blubba. For the 2nd Blubba, I moved it a bit higher to land on the higher landing since if I landed on the first one right above me, it would cost more time to fall back and jump up.
Oh, and the cutscene involving placing the Wulf pieces together inexplicably took 2 frames longer than v2. I have no idea why.
Mount Knightlore
Technically, I visited this already at Lookout Ledge, but this is the rest of the area. There's no way to sequence break from the mine to here, since the stage entrances won't appear. Once again, just like the boat trip to the swamp, the path to the mountain is a one time event.
Snowy Knoll
Time: 2170 frames
If I can despawn the Gusta, it would save me time from using the 1st Serpant. The 2nd Serpant is needed since it's faster to use it than to wait for the Pleb to move away. I used Blubba to grab the Phoenix, since it's faster than to use Serpant.
Frosty's Grotto
Time: 3160 frames
The 1st Blubba looks odd, but it's there to avoid being bounced off the ledge by the Bouncers. It's also because of them I'm forced to use 2 Serpants rather than another Blubba. While resycning the run from v2, I lost 1 frame going down back to the tent for some reason I can't figure out yet.
By the way, the sled obtained here is for giving it to the kids I walked past in the overworld, not for travel. They then give you the key to open a door in the townhall.
Shivery Peaks
Time: 2317 frames
There's 4 places for me to use Blubbas, but I only have 2 Blubbas. The places I used ended up saving more time. I flinched and fell off the ledge at the same time to "reduce" the amount of time "wasted" recovering.
Wafty Shaft
Time: 2145 frames
I didn't utilize the 1 frame saving at the very beginning regarding pressing B + Right before the stage loads due to changing the RNG, which kills off the improvement. Maybe I will figure out a way to avoid that eventually, but not now. The Bouncer part looks terrible, but I wasn't able to improve it.
Icy Nook
Time: 2737 frames
I used the Phoenix here to avoid flinching from falling off the ledge. This saves time even when taking account into moving the Phoenix to you.
Gusty Gully
Time: 2105 frames
I used Blubba to jump over the Whirlwind because due to the way it was moving, there's no way for me to jump over it without landing on it, other than delaying before jumping.
Coalhouse Climb
Time: 2777 frames
I couldn've place the Blubba on ground, no placed it above me to hop over the enemies, but I needed the armour to get past the next part. I couldn't figure out how to despawn the Gusta here, so I used Boomer. Using the Serpant here seems to be faster than using the Phoenix. I also managed to depose of the Wulf.
Knightlore Laboratory
Time: 680 frames
The lab now has guns. This still doesn't make the stage slower than usual.
Nightshade Mining Company
It's faster to backtrack to the mountain and warp using Charlie Atlus to Blackwyche Village rather than walk past the train station. Of course, you talk to the captain to use a dingy raft instead of the ship.
Flames of Fury
Time: 2765 frames
The Serpant placement looks odd, but I blame the Bouncer for restricting my space. For the 3 fire barrels (Barrel O' Flames), it's possible to clip into the one on the middle or right by edge clipping. It's completely useless so far, but just noting it.
Ritval Ruins
Time: 2613 frames
The puddles (Oily) can actually accelerate you seemingly without bound every frame you touch it. However, your speed drops to 0 the moment you leave it unless you jumped. The easiest way to see this effect it to look at your X speed, then place a Serpant to the right of Oily. It's possible using this trick to make your speed go up to 32,000+ in fixed point format then loop to negative, but unfortunately, as soon as you leave Oily, the speed only gets preserved by 1 frame when you jump.
The top path when running away from the Wulf is initially slower, but somehow makes the transition at the end faster. No idea why.
Filthy Factory
Time: 2180 frames
Using the Phoenix seems faster than using the Serpant for the last npc (Mortar). I could've used it slightly earlier, but it would've caused lag.
Mortar Mountain
Time: 2241 frames
I can't seem to figure out a way to get past the 2 Mortars without getting hit, so I used Phoenix. For the 3 Blockers, it's faster to get the spiders (Leggy Bomb) to run into it. I landed close to the first one to trigger it as soon as possible, then waited. The next stage is the last stage to require Springy in the route, so I used this part to manipulate luck.
Industrial Carnage
Time: 2374 frames
I needed Springy to launch Blubba upwards so I can reach it and bounce over Gusta. I can't figure out a quicker way, due to the yellow urchin thing (Hoverconker) blocking the way. I "wasted" time grabbing the armour so I could jump over the later Hoverconker along with the Whirlwind. Due to the Barrel O' Flames placement, I can't seem to edge clip to boost myself without getting blocked by the walls.
House on the Hill
Time: 3584 frames
This is one of the longer stages in the game. In fact, the 3rd longest. For the first Fatso, it turned out faster to use Blubba to trigger it than to jump back like previous times. Most of the stage seems rather straightforward however. The only problem I encountered was the 2 Spikes (the turtles), where it seems faster to use Phoenix than Serpant, and there's no other way to get around quickly. There were also some lag when running back to the tent, but nothing too difficult to manage. Your run speed increases when escaping from the Wulf, allowing me to jump over the pits that I wasn't able to.
Oh, and that platform near the tent allowed me to reduce the transition time to an amazing 309 frames. In comparison, most of the other stages have times of 325-330 frames.
Time: 3084 frames
I "wasted" time to grab another Blubba, since I need it for later stages. I also use the armour almost immediately since I already used the pheonix previously. I'm not sure, but if there was a way to despawn the Gusta, it may save some time.
Nightshade Laboratory
Time: 536 frames
I used the Phoenix during the downtime, since I needed it anyways to avoid the steam near the exit.
Temple of Imhotep
After using the snake to arrive, the stages here are once again not all in the same area. One of them is in the temple, and another is in the town to the right. The gate to the town will not open until you used the train, so there's no way at the moment to skip the train section.
Tumbledown Temple
Time: 2484 frames
There's probably a better way to get past the Cactus (literally called "Cactus") along with the Mortar, but I haven't been able to figure out how.
Watch Out Below
Time: 2484 frames
The only trouble here were the Gusta, Mortars and that Bouncer at the end. I wasted some frames avoiding the Mortars to grab the armour, just to get hit soon after. Not sure how to improve it though; using the Phoenix is slower.
Magical Mayhem
Time: 2333 frames
Those tentacle monsters are called "Swell". They simply sit there, and grow over time as soon as they appear on screen. You can hurt them with Boomer, but the most reliable method is to use the Phoenix. I used the Phoenix however to avoid Spikes, since it's faster than to rely on Springy.
This Old House
Time: 2525 frames
If I can despawn the Gusta somehow, then I wouldn't need to use Blubba. I can't figure out a way yet though. Using Blubba to jump over is faster than Boomber btw.
Wings of Steel
Time: 2095 frames
I can't seem to figure out a way to get past Blockers without Boomer here, so I used this time to use the Phoenix, since I needed it to get past the 2 Mortars. The only other trick part here was placing Blubba such that I wouldn't land on the bomb on top of Crumbly.
Craggy Crack
Time: 2465 frames
It's slower to rely on Boomer to destroy Blockers here, so I waited for the Mortar to get rid of them and used the Phoenix to run past him. Unfortunately, the Phoenix along with the 2 Blubbas later cause a lot of lag. I could use Boomer to destroy the Mortar, but it'd also cause a ton of lag. I ran out of Blubbas, so I had to use 2 Serpants to get up the cliff. Technically, I could'be jumped there, but it was slower.
Climbing down was tricky, since the height causes me to flinch twice. Unfortunately, that is still faster than taking a detour, so I had to manipulate the Wulf to pause a bit so I could recover. That's done by changing the distance between me and the Wulf.
Town and Out
Time: 3605 frames
The 2nd longest stage in the game. The route looks odd, but that's because there's chimneys on the rooftops which prevent me from passing. I "wasted" a bit of time getting the 3rd Blubba since I need it for later.
Imhotep Laboratory
Time: 527 frames
The stage now introduces flying heads which follow you for the entire stage until they attack. Despite taking 14 frames to switch from Blubba to the Serpant and back, the method I used still ended up faster than using 3 Blubbas followed by 2 Serpants.
Not relevant to the run, but none of the enemies in the lab stages appear on the "Creatures" book in Blackwyche Village library. They also don't follow the same ID pattern as other creatures. No idea why.
Dragonskulle Town
Like I mentioned; the town gate from Imhotep only opens once you enter the town via train. Also, unlike Mount Knightlore, it ended up being faster to take the "intended" route to Knightlore Valley this time rather than use Charlie.
The last set of stages, barring the lab stage, are all 2,000+ frames in length.
Rooftop Rampage
Time: 2869 frames
This actually ended up being quite simple in an Any% since I didn't need to worry about grabbing the 2 creatures here.
Temple Plains
Time: 2133 frames
That weird purple flying octopus is called "Globule". They grab you, lift you up to the sky, then fall down. There's no purpose speedwise to get caught, so I try to avoid them. I wasted a frame to grab the armour for the next stage. I could've technically wasted the frame from the previous stage to save the armour, but in the end, it would've lead to the same result so why not.
Cluster Keep
Time: 3038 frames
This stage introduces the "Cluster". They're basically like Mortar, but they shoot bullets in a straight line instead. They shoot every time they turn around, so you can use that to your advantage to get away. I grabbed the armour here because I needed it for the end of the stage.
Factory Furnace
Time: 2517 frames
Unfortunately, I had to use the Phoenix at the beginning, so I wasn't able to use it later to avoid the Globule. The delay is almost unnoticeable, if it helps. The reason I get caught is because if I placed Blubba further away, I won't make it to the ledge. Using Serpant ended up too slow as well.
Bind Alley
Time: 2981 frames
It takes far too long to grab the armour, so I'm forced to avoid enemies. I also found out in this stage that both Mortar and Cluster will not bounce if they moved to a Blubba. So I'm forced to wait for the Clusters to turn before jumping. I used the Phoenix to prevent flinching from landing and to kill the red Swell.
Firing Squad
Time: 2105 frames
It turns out there's no way to reach the platform where the purple Swell is without either the Serpant or Blubba. Using 2 Serpants turned out to be faster than Blubba and Phoenix.
Cobbled Courtyard
Time: 3685 frames
This is the longest stage in the game. The route looks weird, and you get that sound effect from the Globule for half the stage, but I tried.
Dragonskulle Laboratory
Time: 684 frames
The last stage of the game. Curiously enough, it's not the longest lab. I used the armour for the saws, which caused me to be unable to avoid the steam and electricity at the end.I used the down time to place a Blubba to jump over the fence. It actually ended up being faster than using the Phoenix.
I skipped the credits, otherwise the game would ask you about saving in the end.
<Explain here things the audience would probably like to see>
<Explain also things that could be improved in your movie>
<You may also suggest screenshots.>
Fog: This is a well executed, well documented run. The entertainment factor is lacking for me here, through no fault of the author.
Accepting for Vault.
feos: Will do this right after Yume Nikki.
feos: Replaced the movie with the one that shows the full credits and ends before reaching them.