haha ACE go brr
Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.5.1
- SubGBHawk was used due to the need of a precise subframe reset.
Categories
- Aims for fastest completion of the game
- Heavy glitch abuse
- Corrupts save data
Objectives
Save corruption
For whatever reason, this game doesn't actually checksum its save data. All it does is write some sentinel values to the beginning of save data to mark the save data as not corrupted. And for whatever reason, if the game detects the save data as corrupted (which will happen on boot as the save is filled with FF by the emulator), the game will proceed to write the sentinel values then it will write 00s to the rest of the save data. The issue with this is simply the order... the order I laid out is the actual order the game does these actions. So once the game writes these sentinel values then the save will not be seen as corrupted (even though nearly all of it is essentially corrupted). This happened to be fixed in LADX, where data is cleared before the sentinel values are written.
For the actual application of the save corruption, it allows me to start at a different location, in this case the top left corner of the map. This let's me easily get to the Sword (which is required for ACE). As a note, the lack of the shield means I can't get the Sword the same way the old TAS does, so I have to get it the RTA way.
Also, you can blame the decision for Devil Island allowing this sort of save corruption.
Doghouse/ACE
The Doghouse glitch is a fairly well known glitch, involving entering the doghouse on the wrong side. Where you go is dependent on the kill counter, and 3 kills are required to get to the ACE chest. Interesting, the lack of the shield seems to also screw me over here, as with it I could kill 3 things with one swing otherwise. I then just go to the ACE chest, open it, then credits!
To note, ACE is specifically why the JPN version was used. Besides the issue of making a payload with the reduced characters on the English version, the ACE chest just doesn't open at all on the English version, making ACE JPN exclusive entirely. Another note, the ACE payload is mostly identical to the RTA payload, but I changed the jr to a jr nc, as it was faster to input.
Select Glitches
The game glitches with Select. Wait this isn't Green...
But seriously, this is very well known and was heavily abused in the previous TASes, I don't think much explanation is needed here.
Really well done little movie, here. The usage of save corruption for a faster start was a very smart move, as it also adds just that extra touch of TAS-iness to really push this run over the top, over the RTA runs and the
previous (unsubmitted) ACE TAS. With extremely positive audience feedback and that ol' classic ACE, I'm accepting this to Moons as a new branch.
