Emulator Used: Snes9x v1.43+ for windows with option WIP1 Timing.
This run is a no-damage run.
My goals for this run were to complete the game in a really fast time, take no damage and entertain the viewers.
Illusion of Gaia is an Action RPG. You play young Will, who will be asked to go to Edward’s Castle. This is where the adventure begins.
First of all, I'd like to thank Mike Leatherwood (aka StarFighters76) for all the maps he made and Jeff Chan (aka Atom Edge) for the walkthrough he made for the game. These works are all on GameFaqs.
And now, personal comments:
There are a few things that really surprised me about this game.
- Whenever you defeat a boss, Will automatically receives all the upgrades he was supposed to get on his way to that boss. That allowed me to simply run through all the rooms without having to kill enemies.
- You can use telekinesis while running. This means you can use it for 1 frame without losing any speed. I used this twice in the run.
- You can also hit an enemy while running and then “cancel” your shot by pressing any other direction than the one you’re hitting. I used this in a LOT of places, but you’ll notice a decrease of that technique when I receive Psycho Slider. This is because I couldn’t do it anymore.
- Will is invincible when doing a jump attack, using Psycho Dash, Psycho Slide or Psycho Spin.
Larai Cliff
I think I abuse a programming error in this dungeon. There is a statue head on a pedestal which is trapped in walls. Normally, Will can’t reach it, so I’d have to get Freedan and come back to kill it. However, I discovered that when you run, you can attack at a greater distance because your character goes “through” the wall and then comes back behind it. This is, I think, something the programmers didn’t expect. Killing the head that way saved a couple of minutes.
Also, you don’t need the Wind Melody at all if you know on which tile to stand. This saved me a bunch of minutes too.
Castoth Battle: I managed to kill Castoth before he went on his “laser frenzy”, but it was a really close call. A few frames longer and I would’ve had to wait around 30 seconds before I could hit him again.
Drifting Raft
I remembered that part of the game to be really long and really boring. However, when I did the time attack, I realised that it wasn’t that long after all. You just have to know what to do to trigger the events and it’s soon over.
Sky Garden
You can clearly see the “use telekinesis while running” trick in the third “room” of Sky Garden. If I hadn’t discovered this trick, I would’ve been forced to go back to Will’s form to continue my route.
For the fourth crystal ball I picked, the path I took, walking below the statue was really tiny. I strongly suggest you don’t try this when playing on the console, because you will jump down the small fence.
I succeeded in not being hit by the three fireballs that force me to backtrack, but this trick had a 1 frame window. This means that if I started running 1 frame faster or slower, I would’ve been hit. Do not try this on a real console.
Viper Battle: This boss is by far the easiest one I had to fight in this speed run. You’ll see what I mean when you watch the fight.
Mu
I hate the Rock Guardians. The time windows to hit them are really weird, and I had to re-record many times for each one I had to fight. I hate them.
About that “wizard” I slid through near the end of Mu, I had no choice to. Whatever path I took, it always appeared right in front of me.
Vampires Battle: Being the hardest fight in the whole game, I expected it to be quite tough. However, I quickly found out that abusing the short invincibility times Will has when doing some attacks, that fight was really a piece of cake. I totally abused these invincibility times.
China’s Great Wall
When I killed that second snake, right before picking up part 2 of Lilly’s necklace, I did it because I had no choice. If I didn’t kill it, it would have moved right below the staircase and hit me the very frame I went downstairs.
Sandworm Battle: I had a lot of trouble to optimize this battle. It just wouldn’t cooperate with me. This battle caused me a lot of frustration. I took a long break (around a month) before fighting this one and continuing my speed run. However, after I was done with this one, I had a boost of energy and finished the whole speed run in less than a week.
Watermia (second visit)
As I expected, I couldn’t manipulate the lily pad to come or go any faster. There will be some waiting here. Sorry guys. It’s not that bad, though.
Ankor Wat
I found out a pretty nice bug, if you could call it that. When I defeated the enemy on the wall, near the beginning, it releases a blue energy ball which is supposed to create a sliding path for Will. However, as soon as the enemy is killed, the path exists; it’s just invisible.
I took the Black Crystal Glasses for entertainment purposes only. I preferred the watchers to see the path instead of always seeing a very bright white light. I could’ve done it without the glasses, though, but I thought you wouldn’t have liked it.
Pyramid
When I stop running, seemingly for no reason, it’s because I had to. If I continued my way, the enemy nearest to me would’ve changed direction and hit me. I stopped to manipulate the enemies.
Mummy Queen Battle: This battle is probably the longest once since every hit she takes, there’s a long time where she transforms into spirits that float around the screen. I did it the fastest I could, though.
Babel Tower
Fighting every boss for a second time was a really cool thing to do. The fights are a lot faster and most of the time more impressive to watch… Viper and the Vampires both had a bad time.
The Comet
The first part of the fight is not that entertaining to watch, but the second part really copes for that lack of entertainment. I won’t give it all out though.
Final comment: Ending with 69 dark gems (DP, at the top of the screen) was not intentional. However, I find it pretty amusing.
