Tool-assisted movies

We recommend reading the author's comments for explanations on the actions taken in the movie.

However, the author uses a nice glitch to skip directly to the final area; skipping 4/5ths of the game and completing it in less than 4 minutes.

This movie is 3 seconds faster than the previous movie from an improved final boss fight.

Played on the PAL (Europe) version of the game.

No damage is taken except due to a bug in the game where health is lost after the clock runs out due to time being converted into points.

A password is used to skip to the final round at Super Hard difficulty with fully upgraded Engine and Shot parts.

At first glance it may seem odd that, although the game is two player, only one player is used, and that's Player 2. Player 2 was chosen because her aerial attack gives an enormous speed boost. It is also one of the few attacks in video games that operates on frame precision, so smashing out a 30Hz rapid-fire on the controller will lay the beatdown pretty quickly.

That, combined with the fact that half the enemies in this game are of the standard "walk around and shoot" variety, allow the heroine to zip through the game with total reckless abandon. Few games allow a TASer to do that, so this is a rare opportunity indeed.

The game is eerily similar to Megaman 7 and Megaman X. It even has pick-throwing miners.

This is a 24 second improvement over the previous movie by the use of some new tricks. These are explained in the author's comments.

Bubsy can run very fast, but unfortunately he almost never gets a chance to, because there are obstacles everywhere. Unlike most bobcats, Bubsy can die by touching anything remotely dangerous, like eggs or water. Also unlike regular bobcats, he can glide through the air, has a t-shirt with an exclamation mark, and a smile you'll just be dying to wipe off his face.

Unfortunately, in this SNES port Richter isn't too much of a fast walker, unlike his father and the later Belmont clan descendants, so his fastest way of moving is constant backflipping (so don't get surprised with the author's choice of traveling method).

This movie is a 165 second improvement to the previous version by Dan and Nightcom; such a large gain is achieved thanks to greatly increased precision and other new tricks explained in the author's comments.

The criterion for finishing the game is to defeat Lavos. The option to do this becomes available to the player very quickly and remains available almost entirely through the game. The ending seen after winning depends on decisions made in the game and the current point in the plot.

In-game completion time at the start of the final battle is 3:48 and it shows 4:01 when the final blow is delivered. (This was checked by viewing the contents of a save-state.)

Note: This movie goes twice into the same battles again and again for the purpose of building the characters’ levels. These sections reside in the movie at 2:20:02 – 2:23:47 and at 3:37:34 – 3:55:16 (nearly 18 minutes). When watching the movie, you may wish to fast-forward over these parts.

A very colourful movie, with the author playing both characters at the same time (which is far from trivial to do).

This version improves the previous run by approximately 12 seconds.

The author initiates a glitch involving the character dying and gaining a 1-up during the fadeout to a Game Over screen. This allows him to skip many levels and complete the game in just 3 and half minutes!

For fast completion that does not use this glitch there is the 2-player version.

Using this game's interesting recoil and jet pack physics, Gunty flies through each of the stages at a very fast pace.

Many new tricks have been found to make this movie faster, some of which are only subtle adjustments that may not be easy to notice. Read the author's comments at the submission page for more information.

The author of this run discovered several new time-saving techniques. Some of them are small enough to go unnoticed, and others are jawdroppingly huge. The total improvement over the previous run is 54 seconds.

The in-game time of this run is about 38 minutes 56 seconds. (This was manually checked using a hex editor)

For a detailed analysis of new techniques as well as comments about individual levels, read the author's comments at the submission page.

This is a huge improvement over the previous movie (5 minutes and 6.33 seconds to be exact) thanks to greatly increased precision and a multitude of new tricks, all of which are explained in detail in the author's lengthy comments. The author claims this movie took him a year to produce.

This run abuses a lot of bugs with regard to motion and collision detection. Read the author's submission to learn more.

Note: this movie was recorded with a slightly modified snes9x. A soft reset feature was added to the movie file. A copy of this snes9x can be found in the author's submission, with source code patch.

Because this game deserves a good quality video, the AVI was recently replaced with a higher quality one. The download counter (was 616) was reset in the process.

It is best described as "random", in a good way. The game has a great emphasis on a humor, and indeed many things in the game are almost caricatured, from subplots to characters. It also has a versatile soundtrack.

Although this being a speedrun (tool-assisted at that), most of the plot of the game is intact, making this movie very entertaining to watch even as a TAS.
Details about each scene and decision in this movie can be read in the authors' comments.

This movie does not use a death as a shortcut. Although that was a conscious decision by the authors, what it actually means was bent to the extreme.

• The main protagonist, Ness, suffers a mortal blow once. Due to how the game works, he did not die.
• A teddy bear was disintegrated in a battle. Although a party member, it was an inanimate object, and cannot be counted as "death".
• Near the end of the movie, a death-like event is part of the game plot.

This is the third TAS movie of this game, now 8 minutes faster than the previous run by the same author.

We recommend reading the author's comments for information about this run.

This movie plays through the game in three and a half hours -- TODO: explain how.

The boss battles, including the last boss, might be somewhat anticlimactic in this movie due to the use of a one-hit-kill spell (L5 Doom) which was made to work by varying means in each battle.

We recommend reading the author’s comments regarding this movie.

Note: Because this game was never released in the USA and our rules regarding fan translations are a bit strict, all text in this movie is in Japanese. However, we may release English subtitles for this movie soon.

This movie plays through the game in little over 4 hours by the means of advanced analysis of the game engine, and the abuse of certain game errors/features that give the ability to one-hit-knock-out even the strongest enemies ― most prominently (but not only) the Joker Doom lore from Setzer’s slot machine.

A glitch involving Relm’s sketch ability was not used in this run. It is highly questionable whether or not this glitch can actually be used to save time. Also the glitch cannot be performed on this version of the ROM.

The boss battles, including the last boss, might be somewhat anticlimactic in this movie due to the unusual attack technique, but besides being a very nice timeattack/TAS record, the movie is a nice trip down the memory lane for those who have played this game, and a graphically and especially musically pleasing experience for even those who haven't. This movie was made with the English-language version.

We recommend reading the author’s comments regarding this movie.

Paraphrased from the author's submission:

This run uses tools - Sledgehammers, which I get from the barrels. THAT'S a real tool-assisted run!

(I know it's a bad joke but I couldn't resist it :P)

In this movie the authors control two characters (Goofy and Max) simultaneously. This allows for a good deal of team work as one character can go get an item while the other heads for the exit. When there is no multi-tasking to do, the authors do a good job performing antics with one or both of the characters.

This is a nearly 4 minute improvement over Frenom's previous movie. Improvements come from new tricks, better teamwork, luck manipulation and optimized movements.

That being said, the author aims to please in his attempt to surpass both preceding movies. He manages to kill almost every enemy through more efficient use of the options and faster boss fights, as well as the much needed lag reduction.

The game is completed in Arcade mode (still a far cry from the actual arcade game), which is accessed by tapping A on the main menu screen. It is strongly recommended to read the congratulatory text appearing after the end credits. ;)

The movie has just enough action to make it entertaining. Thankfully, there are many parts in the game where the player is forced to fly using fairy dust. The flying breaks up the normal pace of the game nicely.

This is a 45 second improvement over the previous movie. The author left detailed comments on the various improvements.

Note: This movie is three minutes longer than the previous one, because this plays the secret "Gem Mansion" which the previous version did not. Nevertheless, it is much more optimized than the previous version.

This is an anime style platformer game.

In this movie, Spinal takes down his enemies by slicing them up, hitting them with their own abilities, and (gasp!) making them dance to music!

The author's aims for this game were:

• Complete the game as fast as possible on its highest difficulty.
• To entertain the viewer with the combos, instead of just making them.
• To attain the highest score possible without losing time.

This is actually the third submission for this game that we have received.

This run aims for best score, then fastest time. A lot of hole-in-ones are scored, even at great time expense.

Note that there is a second series of courses which are similar to the original set. These are played as well for sport, before attacking the final boss and winning.

The author controls both players when applicable rather than letting the CPU operate the helper.

For those interested, the obsoleted movie uses only one controller. This accounts for the large time difference between the two movies.

It is up to Nasir, Hero of Light, to save Lakeland from Zerah. Zerah is attempting to release the Evil Sprit and pollute all the water. This game is difficult due to the length of Nasir's sword.

We recommend reading the author's comments.

This run improves on the previous run using new tricks and glitches such as the scroll abuse glitch, which saves a large amount of time.

The game sports a large amount of puzzles, yet a shockingly low amount of battles. Using RNG manipulation, this movie illustrates how to avoid many unimportant skirmishes so as to cut down on wasted time. This manipulation is also used to get more favorable item drops throughout the whole run.

Note that the (U) version of this ROM contains some graphical glitches. You can read more about these in the submission text.

This movie is nearly a 24 second improvement of the previous movie by nitsuja.

The constant jumping is necessary to preserve the speed gained from running downhill. Other specifics on the improvement can be found in the submission comments.

This game is about a man named Stanley Ippkiss, who finds a powerful mask known as The Mask. However evil has also become aware of this and kidnaps his girlfriend in order to obtain it.

One of the traits The Mask seems to give Stanley is extreme speed, so naturally, aside from a couple boss fights, the game play is extremely fast throughout the movie.

This is a 3 minute 30 second improvement over the previous movie by the use of a new shortcut in level 1, improved boss fights, and many other optimizations. The author left detailed comments about them.

In addition to that, it stars Donald Duck in the role of Maui Mallard, a detective with an alter ego of a blindfolded ninja called Cold Shadow, on the task of retrieving the lost Shabum Shabum idol on a remote tropical island. And no, the plot doesn't get more sensible from that point on.

FractalFusion takes the game apart with a new route, new strategies, nasty bugs and more optimal movements.

For extra curiosity, there is a page "Mega Man X Tricks" that explains some of the tricks that are and/or can be used in the X series games.

This run improves the previous version by about 23 seconds of game-time. The previous run used the Japanese ROM, and the shorter cutscenes in that version make the improvement less apparent.

This movie aims for the fastest time possible. However, because the shōryūken (flame uppercut) used towards the end of the movie saves so much time, and because to get it the authors must first collect 100% of items such as Heart Tanks, Sub Tanks, and Item Capsules, this movie could be seen as a 100% run. Zero Parts are not required for the shōryūken, and thus they are not collected.

The page Mega Man X Tricks explains some of the tricks that can be used in the X series games.

This run is a whopping 1:36 faster than the last version, both by using some new tricks and playing with more precision.

The page Mega Man X Tricks explains some of the tricks that can be used in the X series games.

This movie aims to demonstrate as many quirks and fatalities of the game as possible. Examples include two Shang Tsungs with a Raiden child, a headless Reptile eating Kitana's head and a bloody clone of Jax. The AI is also humiliated.

The author's comments page is a definitely recommended reading for this movie.

Note: The movie contains semi-realistic violence to be expected with the Mortal Kombat series.

DaTel237 skillfully controls Mr. Nutz by making him hop like a jack rabbit on speed, throwing acorns all over the place and avoiding pesky coins whenever possible. A number of tricks and glitches are used, including floor zipping.

TODO: Add screenshot

This is a 3 minute 22 second improvement over the previous movie by Zurreco. Some of the time comes from taking damage. Other improvements include route changes and improved fighting.

You really have to play the game to know just how hard it is. As an example, if you don't hold up at that very first water scene, a tentacle drags you down to your death. Those leeches are fatal, the beast takes alot of practice to get past, you have to rattle your cage free, the first gun fight is very tough, the steam in the pipes is fatal, you can drown, spikes, teeth, tentacles, leaps of faith, and tons of gunfights. The colleseum scene is a puzzle in itself– you better hit the buttons in the right order, or you'll get caught. And you better make it to that control panel at the end, or the guard will kill you. Just like the Sierra games of old, there were a million ways you could die, and only one way to survive. It was truley a great adventure game like no other. And the best part is, there weren't any box puzzles! How many adventure games can you say that about?

The gymnastic master, the future prince of Persia, defies the odds and beats this game in record time. :)

Interestingly, this game only animates at around 12-20 fps (15 fps by average), contrary to most SNES games, which animate at 60 fps.

The author uses a trick known as the wall-jump to climb vertical walls. This allows for many creative shortcuts.

This time around, Wily has his own creation turned against him, allowing you to play as Megaman or a bad guy!

This beautiful run by Gigafrost uses Forte/Bass to totally obliterate the game. Despite this being a tough game to master, Gigafrost slashes through as if there were almost no obstacles at all.

Over a year was spent making this run, resulting in a highly entertaining video using the weapons and special abilities to great effect (and when it looks just plain cool).

This time around, Wily has his own creation turned against him, allowing you to play as Megaman or a bad guy!

This run uses only Rockman, however, and collects all 100 CDs, which is not intended to be possible using only one character. Then again, many things happen that were not intended to be possible.

There is also another run by Gigafrost, which uses Forte and does not collect all the CDs.

The AVI was replaced on January 1st, 2008 to correct for some errors in the subtitles. There were 606 downloads at that time.

This is an improvement of approximately 71 seconds of in-game time, some of which comes from bug exploitation.

This version plays on the Japanese version of Rockman 7 whereas the previous version played on the North American version. This change affects times outside of the player's control, but still gets counted towards the movie's length.

The author has aimed for fastest time with 100% completion.

A note about the ending: normally the full ending would take almost 40 minutes to watch, but 29 minutes worth of waiting have been edited out of the AVI. There is no sound during this segment and the image does not change. A message will appear briefly to indicate when this happens.

These bizarre situations are handled with tool-assisted precision, and finished 73 seconds faster than the author's previous attempt.

The movie doesn't lack speed or complexity but it might only be fun to watch by someone who has played the game before.

In this series, every action in the monster lairs directly affects the non-combat areas, and vice-versa. That being said, much planning was needed for this run.

The ending is very long and requires user input, so the movie's length is about 13 minutes longer than what might be considered "winning the game."

Emulation of this game is not correct. Lag present on the SNES is not represented in this run. Expect the speed to be higher than actually seen on a real console. For this reason, the audio track lags severely behind the rest of the run. As a result, some of the bosses can be defeated before the boss music begins.

Because it was only released in Japan, and the first almost-complete fan translation of the game was finished only a few years ago, this game isn't well known in western countries. Moreover, it has only been supported by SNES emulators for a short time, due to a graphics compression chip used in the game to fit the huge amount of beautiful graphics into the 6 MB ROM chip.

This is a tool-assisted speedrun of the Japanese version (the rules of the Nesvideos site forbid the use of fan-translations when making speedruns).

We are sorry for the broken speech in the game intro. This is an emulation glitch. (Yes, the game actually includes English dialogue, which coincidentally has an identical twin in Star Trek.)

For a guide of the strategy used in this run, please read the author's comments.

As usual with RPG runs, we recommend everyone to first play through this game before watching the movie. It will normally take a few days of time to complete the game once ― a few months to uncover all the features: secret characters and abilities and items. Beware, it's fun, and addictive.