Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by Tompa

- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time
- Uses a game restart sequence
- Abuses programming errors in the game
- Genre: Action
- Genre: Adventure

About the run

Long ago I had the idea of TASing ALttP as my first TAS. But after I looked at Flagitious’ run several times, I realized that it would be pretty much impossible for me to do it, because I had no experience and I would never be able to handle the manipulation and movement so I gave up the idea.
But here it is anyway. This is 14,705 frames, or 4 minutes 4.68 seconds faster compared to the previous run.
An encode can be find here, http://shynee.ath.cx/~doofy/sneszelda-tas-tompa.mkv , thanks to ShinyDoofy for it.

Tricks used:


Wobbling

While going left or up you can wobble (Holding left/up and pressing right/down every second frame) to increase your movement by 33%. Can also be used while swimming after a certain speed has been reached.

Pixelporting

While being pressed between two walls while going up/down, face the wall to either left or right and press <^> or <v>, depending on if you are moving up or down. This will make Link move up to 6 pixels at once in a mysterious way...
This is used a lot when going through narrow passages such as doorways and stairs that will take you between different ground levels, not floors. This won't work with all doorways and stairs however; some stairs make you go out of bounds and some doors are Link walking through automatically.

Floating

By using Turbo A, once the Pegasus Boots are collected, you can float over holes. While floating you can also go through small walls, see Palace of Darkness…

Shooting stuff through moving blocks

No comments.

Frame Rules:


Items

Items such as small keys, rupees, heart etc. can only be obtained every 4th frame which will sometimes force you to lose a frame or two (or three) if you are unlucky.

Taking/dealing damage

Most enemies that damage Link can only do that every 4th frame. This is abused to walk/run through enemies without taking damage.

Enemies

There are a few enemies that will only react a specific way depending on what frame you enter the room, such as the Cyclops and the "desert enemy" Swamola.

Manipulation:


Enemies

Many of the enemies can be manipulated. This is abused a lot to be able to kill them faster and not having them blocking my path.

Items

The items received from enemies aren't random, just if I get an item or not. Enemies have different prize packs that follows a specific item drop order. Skeletons for example, are always dropping a small magic as their first item, the second one is a green rupee and then a heart etc. Other enemies, such as the cyclops, have different prize packs.
If I want to get a specific item I'll have to kill the right amount of enemies until that item appears.
Enemies will not drop any items if they are killed by a dash attack.

The run itself:


BLA BLA BLA faster to do BLA BLA because of BLA BLA.
No Super Bomb BLA BLA, can kill Ganon anyway BLA BLA, saves around 2 minutes BLA.
BLA, need to BLA BLA wait BLA BLA a few frames anyway BLA BLA BLA.

Thank you...

erokky: You helped me get started with this, teaching me Link's physics and how the item manipulation worked etc. I would probably not have started seriously with this run if it wasn't for you.
flagitious: Your awesome run was a very good guideline for me to use. I was often very impressed how you had solved the enemy manipulation in many cases, which I have had many problems. Also a good WIP watcher.
dezbeast: Helping out with different things in the earlier parts of the run and given me comments on my WIPs.
Desbreko: You made me hate Mothula, but thanks for explaining how to kill him quick enough :D.
ShinyDoofy: Thanks a lot for encoding my WIPs!
Comicalflop: For proofreading the submission text.
Thanks to all the WIP-watchers and those who kept me going with this run! I hope you know who you are.
Enjoy!

adelikat: Accepting for publication as an improvement to the published movie.
ShinyDoofy: Processed, will publish...

Tompa
Any
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Posts: 1934
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
It would indeed be faster, but as I'm on a different floor than I should be (I believe that's the reason) as I didn't use the stairs, this will happen. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/108873456/Floasting.smv
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Joined: 3/11/2007
Posts: 94
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I just found a way to avoid it. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/226693190/Floating.smv By using the Pegasus Boots as near as possible to the stairs, you can prevent Link from getting back to the previous floor. Would this be a real timesaver?
Tompa
Any
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Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1934
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Really nice! Didn't think about something like that. Yeah, it will be faster than what I now did. I'll include in the next run. I'll probably start planning the 100% run soon, I like TASing this game :).
Joined: 10/8/2012
Posts: 1
I know this is an old thread, but I just saw the TAS video and thought I would give my input. I don't know if everyone here has heard of the Zelda3 hack called quest for calatia, but anyway. I have been coming up with puzzles for that hack for around 3 years (went by the name erockbrox) and I know about several glitches/secrets in Zelda 3 as a result from this. So here they are as they might be useful to shorten even further the time of Tompa's TAS video. 1. You can hookshot though and pass over certain objects. The solid gray spike blocks and the blue bumper on the interiors and the cactus on the over-world are examples where this can happen. Of course you need something solid on the other side for this to work. 2. If you pull not push on a statue while using the cape your magic meter never depletes. This would only be showing off though as it doesn't reduce your time, but anyway its there. 3. Okay, this one is pretty tricky and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who knows about it. Normally if you have a high wall or a solid block you really can't shoot anything over it like arrows, boomerang ect. BUT there is one special case where this can happen. If you want to shoot something over a high wall grab your red cane out and lay a brick. Now pick up the brick and throw it in the air. If you destroy the brick at its highest point in the air the fire ball going north will cross over a high wall. It also works if you kick it in the air and destroy the brick in mid air. Please note, the only time this can happen is if the fireball is going northward. If you try to do it from any other direction it will not pass over. You could possibly use this to hit a pegswitch prematurely. 4. You can also squeeze inbetween two spike blocks while using the cape where the gap is only 8 pixels wide vertically. (although I don't believe this ever happens in the game its possible) 5. There is another secret, but I dare not say since it involves a puzzle I created and I guarantee you that its the craziest puzzle you ever saw in a Zelda 3 game and I know that no one knows about it. You will have to play quest for calatia to find out if Zack ever finishes it. Grrrrr. Here is an example of what I mean by shooting over a high wall. I was thinking that this place in the image you would be able to use this, but Tompa's original may still be faster. The big quest really is to look at the video again and see where this trick could be used to save time.
Tompa
Any
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Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1934
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
1. Yeah, I know about this. Hasn't really got any uses in an ALttP TAS however. In Parallel Worlds you have to use this to progress in the game. 2. That's very weird, didn't know that actually. Interesting by kinda pointless =). 3. I've known that for a long time. While it has potential in making a nice puzzle in a hack, there is only one place in ALttP where you can even hit a switch through a block like that, and that's the one you showed a pic of. Unless I have overlooked something. It will also be slower to use it there, the new TAS I'm working on will also use the boomerang instead of the cane. I tried to use it in the TAS at the end of Misery Mire to hit a switch, before going up the stairs to the boss, but it couldn't be done there. I haven't checked in any of the romhacks though, so it might have a use there. 4. This can be done without a cape as well, as long as you have taken a hit before. I used this in my Parallel Worlds TAS/speedrun, quite a lot of places where it can save time in PW. In ALttP it can be done at two places iirc, both very useless however. 5. Well, I kinda doubt that you are alone in knowing it to be honest :). Though if it is something possibly useful for a speedrun/TAS, I would love to hear about it. If you feel like sharing you can PM me.
MarbleousDave
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Somewhat ponified encode Link to video
Post subject: Post count +1
NitroGenesis
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White-noisifyed encode: Link to video
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
Spikestuff
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WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
fmp
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