This Legacy of the Wizard route is quite different from Walker Boh's because it was founded on the idea that because running back to the house to change characters takes about 30s, a lot of time could be saved by using the same character to get multiple crowns. The game is designed to make this impossible (or at least very difficult/time consuming) in console play, however, it turns out that using some new glitches I found, Lyll can get three crowns (Pochi's, Lyll's and Xemn's) without needing the high jump boots or any previous item collection. This is important because it allows the game to be completed with only two character changes instead of four, and allows the time consuming trip to get the glove to be skipped. In the end, I cut 3:41 off Walker Boh's time.
-as fast as possible
-uses glitches to save time
-takes damage to save time
This is my first ever TAS; hopefully I didn't make too many rookie mistakes.
First of all, thanks to Walker Boh and everyone who helped with his amazing run. In particular, the discovery of the stationary missile glitch was very helpful. Also, the fantastic map and other information posted on the shrine site at http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/nes/lotw/index.shtml were very helpful. As has oft been noted, this is a tough game to speed run or TAS because of all the items you need, especially keys, money and scrolls. In real-time, the bosses are quite difficult; I never beat this game as a kid because I couldn't get past the fourth boss, Rockgaea.
The characters (in order of appearance):
Lyll -- the daughter; jumps high and can break blocks; her area is the top right dungeon
Mayna -- the mother; can fly and use crossbow to shoot blocks and magic key to open many doors; her area is the bottom left dungeon
Roas -- the son; needed to obtain and use dragon slayer after getting all 4 crowns
Xemn -- the father; can move blocks with glove, his area is the top left, but he spends this run drinking beer at home with...
Pochi -- the pet; not hurt by monsters, its area is the bottom right, but he likes beer too, since he sits this one out
This route is quite different from Walker Boh's because it was founded on the idea that because running back to the house to change characters takes about 30s, a lot of time could be saved by using the same character to get multiple crowns. The game is designed to make this impossible (or at least very difficult/time consuming) in console play, however, it turns out that Lyll can get three crowns (Pochi's, Lyll's and Xemn's) without needing the high jump boots or any previous item collection. This is important because it allows the game to be completed with only two character changes instead of four, and allows the time consuming trip to get the glove to be skipped.
The other major time saver is simply to get even more scrolls, and be a maniac about not letting scrolls time out, even during boss fights. My technique for this improved greatly as I progressed with the run; a future run could save even more time by eliminating the scroll lapses that appear in Lyll's, Pochi's and Xemn's areas.
Pochi's Crown:
I use Lyll here and get this crown first because there is a money bag and the knuckles on the way. It is important to get as much money as possible (I max out) now to make things easier in the next area. On the blue screen where the crown is, all of those chests will kill any player but Pochi with one hit. I survive by running back to the previous screen, manipulating one of the meteor showers to hit me so I can safely dislodge and kill the chest. A faster run might blast right by without killing the chest, but I need the key it gives me to get the crown. The Taratunes fight makes use of a glitch whereby bullets don't move if you hold opposing directionals at the same time. This kills monsters much faster because of the way this game detects collisions.
Lyll's Crown:
Still using Lyll, now I need to collect some items. I fill up magic to avoid the gold/time hit associated with an Inn, then grab the crystal. I scroll up and head downward in Lyll's area, using a jumping glitch (walk off a ledge and press start to pause; hold jump when you unpause and you can jump from mid-air) I found to take the shortest route. I need to get a key chest, the wings, and buy the mattock (at a store not appearing on the rpgclassics map); I take a weird route here to maintain my speed scrolls. On the way back up, I pull a nifty trick to walk over a chest containing an elixir without opening it (which uses 2 seconds). I head back up and use the sphinx trick like Walker Boh's run, but use the right side for variety and to show off another air-jumping glitch which works if you're in the air lined up vertically with a block. Unfortunately, this glitch must be used sparingly as it eats a lot of time. I fall onto the invisible block before grabbing the crown so I don't "crash", which uses about half a second each time. Grabbing scrolls before the crown lets me kill Erebone faster, but I wasn't able to maintain the speed into the next section.
Xemn's Crown:
I grab lots of items at the start of this area; the magic bottle and spike boots could possibly have been skipped, though magic is at a premium throughout this level, so maybe not. There are several block puzzles here that Lyll solves much faster than Xemn can because she can jump higher and break, rather than move blocks. I grab the magic bottle for use later in the "boring" section with 13 sets of 9 moveable blocks. I grab the bread below it so monsters give me scrolls instead of bread later. I take some longish waits to get scrolls in this area because they are very hard to come by. Both jumping glitches are used to pass the very high pillar with the breakable blocks at top. This requires pressing start 4 times; the first 2 to allow breaking the block, the third to air jump, and the fourth to slow my descent so I can enter where the block used to be without falling. This pillar would be impassable for Lyll without the highjump boots without using the glitches. The "boring" part is actually negotiated somewhat faster than Walker's run despite needing magic to use the mattock (the glove doesn't use magic). This, I think, is due to having the scroll from the treasure chest, which provides 60s of even faster speed than the normal max of 3 scrolls from monsters. I waste some magic in this section, but was so glad to have it done that I left it. I grab the scroll with the crown chest open to save 2s against my 30s scroll timer, enabling me to get home at full speed. Archwinger goes down pretty quickly with the same trick used for previous bosses.
Mayna's Crown:
Okay, it's finally time to dismiss Lyll. Having Meyna start with the wings already in her possession is a big time saver and makes the first half of her area look pretty cool, IMHO. I got three scrolls very quickly and maintain them for the whole level and the boss, despite 2 inn stays, which I was pleased with. The detour to get the magic key is actually faster than going off to get another money bag and buying it. The inn where I equip the key is way out of the way, but there is no choice because I will need to go through lots of doors soon. I stay at an inn near the end because I need the magic to use the magic key and get scrolls just before the crown. My goal is to finish with 10 gold, which I meet, so I don't need any non-scroll items for the next stage. Rockgaea is killed in about 2 seconds without the knuckles, which makes it faster than using the knuckles (because of the need to equip them at an inn).
Roas' Quest:
The dragon slayer quest is pretty straightforward. Roas takes the same route Lyll took (Sphinx trick on the right side with an air jump) to get up to the painting that goes directly to the dragon slayer instead of warping all around like the game designers intended. Keela, the dragon, dies in just over 3 seconds; I have to run away at the end of the battle or I will get killed by the fire when the dragon dies.
I used FCEU 98.16 to make the run.
Truncated: Accepted as an improvement. Congrats on your first accepted movie.