Submission #2252: Nitrodon's NES EarthBound Beginnings in 47:56.08

Nintendo Entertainment System
(Submitted: Earthbound Zero)
baseline
(Submitted: Earthbound (U) (Prototype).nes USA)
FCEU 0.98.12
172565
60
4548
Unknown
Submitted by Nitrodon on 5/19/2009 6:58 PM
Submission Comments
Earthbound Zero is the first game in the Mother/Earthbound series. It was localized, but never released in the US. Technically, the game was localized as Earthbound, but the sequel was localized and released as Earthbound, so this game generally goes by the name Earthbound Zero.
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Manipulates luck
  • Does not abuse programming errors

Battles

Lamp

It has 6 HP, and I can deal up to 3 damage. I just kill it in 2 turns, while advancing the RNG as much as possible for the Doll battle.

Doll

It has 12 HP, and I can still deal up to 3 damage. I manage to get a SMAAAASH on the third turn, dealing 6 damage to finish the battle.

Starman Junior

The starmen.net walkthrough incorrectly states that he can be killed by a reflected PK Beam gamma. It turns out that he is immune to Beam gamma, so I don't need the Franklin Badge yet. However, he can be tied up with the Rope, leaving him defenseless and allowing me to SMAAAASH him into oblivion.

Stray Dog

This guy is a pushover in normal play, so it's easy to forget that there is a forced battle at the entrance to Duncan's factory. I could have killed him with a SMAAAASH, but using the bottle rocket was faster than the manipulation would have been.

39x LastStarman

Ninten needs to be at level 25 to wake the dragon, so I need to powerlevel. The 4x LastStarman encounter gives the most exp, and is very easy to defeat with EVE and the Franklin Badge (from Duncan's factory). EVE kills the ones that are too smart to commit suicide. Often, winning the battle in 2 turns is faster than the manipulation required for a 1-turn victory.

Star Miner

I needed a Super Bomb for later, and Star Miners drop them. EVE makes short work of this guy.

R7038XX

This battle ends when EVE is destroyed. She has 1000 HP, and R7308XX deals 425 +/- 24% damage, so it was barely possible to end this in 2 turns. EVE will only miss 1/256 of the time, so it wasn't worth manipulating.

Giga Borg

Beam alpha = dead Ninten.

Dragon

Super Bomb = dead dragon. The backlash kills Lloyd, so we don't sit through a bunch of levels.

Giegue

His inexplicable attack deals 28-46 damage with PSI Shield, and 14-23 damage with PSI Shield while defending. With some manipulation, Ninten's 181 HP allowed him to survive the first 9 turns (6 attacks while defending and 3 without defending). Giegue becomes vulnerable after his action on turn 8, so I start singing then, and heal with LifeupCream when necessary. I only need to survive 5 attacks from full HP after the first LifeupCream, so luck manipulation becomes practically unnecessary for the rest of the battle.

Thanks

  • Starmen.net, for their maps and other data about the game.
  • Floogal, for helping with the route and informing me about using LifeupCream to survive the Giegue battle.
  • Everyone who posted in the EB0 topic on TASvideos, for their support.
Last Edited by Nitrodon on 5/19/2009 7:04 PM
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