Introduction
Ninja Gaiden for Game Gear is quite unlike that of the NES version or even its cousin on the Master System. It has a similar (but simpler) feel as the Master System version, but has the wall climbing element of the NES game. I chose this game because I wanted to TAS a Game Gear game, and ninjas are always cool. I thought it was a decent game for TASing though not as spectacular as the ones for SMS/NES.
Technical Mumbo Jumbo
I used Dega 1.16 with the Mame Core to make this movie. After figuring out that is requires python 2.4/2.5 and not 3.1 (shakes fist) in order to run python scripting I used its built in Ram Monitoring feature to find and monitor these addresses:
D600 - X on screen position
C423 - Boss Health
There weren't any noteworthy tricks/glitches to mention here. Special weapon maintenance is the key to this TAS. Bosses receive 2hp of damage instead of 1 with special weapons, so managing which weapons I have and conserving force are critical to optimizing.
Final Boss
The final boss has 3 forms. The first 2 forms can be exploited to conserve special weapon power. If you do a regular attack, there's a small frame window where you can do a special attack that causes the regular attack to do 2 damage AND hit the boss for 2 more.
Thanks
SonikKustar for suggesting this game. I assumed it was the same as the SMS one that I already TASed but it was an entirely new game. I would have never tried it if he hadn't mentioned it!
klmz: Delayed as the author implicitly requested due to discovery of minor improvements.
adelikat: Replaced submission file with one that contains a new final level. The submission is 708 frames faster, mainly due to a new trick I discovered on the final boss this time which is explained above.
klmz: As the first submission of this game, its quality is good enough, and the audience feedback is very positive. Accepted.