Edit: if you get here from Webnation's video, he stole it.
Hello there, welcome to submission comment.
Shantae is a rather obscure GBC game that was released almost a year after the GBA. It is notable for its high quality and general booty shakiness.
Originally started by LSK and cetaka, I decided to finish a TAS of this game so people would stop asking for it.
Tricks Used
Attack/Running
The B button both attacks and runs. This means if the B button is ever let go, Shantae must waste time doing an attack before being allowed to run again.
If one holds the B button during a cutscene, or during a loading screen, Shantae will automatically start running without needing to do an attack first.
In rare situations where Shantae needs to let go of B on the ground, jumping and using an attack prevents the attack from delaying Shantae's acceleration.
Additionally, using an attack while in the air out of a run will not slow Shantae down at all. Only if she touches the ground without holding B again will her speed be reset.
Aerial Crouch Jump
If the ground underneath Shantae collapses while she is crouching, she will still remain crouching as long as only down is held. If down is released without pressing any other buttons, she will do her transition animation between crouching and standing. If you then press A during this, she will jump in mid air.
This is used a few times to save some jumps.
Crouch Transition Extra Hit
A frame before Shantae's hair attack hits an enemy, letting go of down will put Shantae in her standing pose immediately, and also make any enemy take an extra hit. This can be chained with multiple crouch attacks.
Using this, I one round the first phase of the Tinker Ship fight, saving nearly 12 seconds.
Slippery Vine Skip
If Shantae continues moving before landing on a vine, there is a single frame where she's able to land on the vine and jump again without sliding. This is used in many locations to save some time.
Instant Stop
Pressing Down for a single frame will instantly stop Shantae. This is handy for transformations.
Button Manipulation
Unique to this game is being able to use every button for RNG manipulation. This is combined with frame manipulation, so one can just hold a button that will do nothing to change the RNG really easily. It's used for everything.
Things that might not be obvious
- The first boss fight uses CTH to one round it. This is the first time I've seen this happen anywhere, mind you.
- Once the intro level is done the day/night counter begins.
- I need to wait outside the loading zone to the caravan, since it was daytime. The only way to skip this would be to save 50 seconds, which would be impossible baring some glitches. This also means that any mistakes made in the first half of the game don't matter.
- Spider form sucks
- The Twinkle Stone Labyrinth's ice blocks have a special property that allow Shantae to go OoB. I use them after collecting the Harpy form to skip half the dungeon.
Suggested Screenshots
see, this is why we need a hide tag in this thing >_>
Thanks
- The RTA Shantae runners. Without them the route wouldn't exist.
- LSK and cetaka for being cool guys trying to TAS this
- Spikestuff, solarplex, ForgoneMoose, Exonym, Patashu, and many others, for showing interest in this project.
Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Good run of a nice game. Accepting for Moons.
Spikestuff: Publishing... this should take less time than Kingdom Hearts