Submission #6288: DrD2k9's NES The Immortal in 09:25.37

The Immortal

Why revisit this game?

Significant improvements

• Room 3 - Better movement pattern was used prior to the goblin fight which allowed for a more optimal movement pattern afterwards which dodges the second goblin without having to cycle between rooms 2 & 3 to avoid a fight.

• Room 1 - Better movement pattern after getting gem which allows exiting the room without having to dodge the slime. (Reaching the door on the same frame the slime would have killed the wizard allows the wizard to exit instead of die).
• Room 3 - Slightly better movement and faster kill of the goblin by the wisps before entering the goblin king's room. Better avoidance of the 2nd goblin and kill by the wisps upon re-entering the room.
• Room 6 - Much more efficient movement pattern getting the slime to dissolve the rock into the gem. Better avoidance of the slime itself.

• Room 7 - Here is the BULK of the time save and the primary curiosity by MetroidMcFly that led to this run.
  • He was curious about the timing of the green/red flame. I calculated that the two flame colors cycle as follows: 96 frames of green flame then 672 frames of red flame. This cycle is on a global timer within the game that runs anytime you're in the main world. The timer is paused during inventory menuing and during battles. As such this acts as a type of frame rule. If a green flame cycle is missed, it's a forced wait of roughly 12 seconds before the next green flame will be available. If a battle with the troll occurs in that waiting period the wait will be even longer as the timer doesn't count during the battle.
  • This run JUST makes the very end of a green flame cycle. While it's possible to delay dropping the red gem another 5ish frames and still warp out of the room, not enough time on the green/red cycle remains to exit the flame column in the next room before the wizard is torched and forced to start over at the beginning of the level.
  • Making this cycle was only possible by saving the frames in the earlier levels as mentioned above. This cycle is essentially two green/red cycles earlier than the current publication and thus nearly 25 seconds of the improvement.

• Room 7 - This is the second major improvement (again credit to MetroidMcFly for the idea). It's possible to circle the floor emblem to open the ladder door while riding the carpet...This wasn't done in the current publication. Doing this also allows for faster circling of the emblem and much easier evasion of the troll. By avoiding a battle, we cut significant time here.

• Room 5 - I only have to kill one bird/lizard thing to get the key to the next door instead of killing both as in the current publication.

• Sewers - Slightly better movement. Interestingly, continuing to paddle downward after I stop does nothing to get the wizard to the whirlpool any faster.

• No major improvements.It's possible to end input much earlier by activating the MAGNET spell before Mordamir taunts you about not having any more defense. This eliminates the need to use input to speed through his monologue; shaving a ton of time off the end of the game.

Potential Improvements

• While it's possible to avoid the first goblin battle through some fancy movement and leave the room faster, doing so would allow the red/green flame cycle timer to count farther than it does in this run (battling pauses the timer); delaying a warp via the green flame until the next cycle. Thus battling ultimately results in the shortest run at least up through the end of stage 3.
  • Any improvements prior to the green flame would need to also preserve the green/red timer. Even so, due to the insane lag in this game, a minimum of 5 frames would likely need saved in getting to the green flame to improve over this submission.
  • In theory, there are roughly 80-90 frames available to make the same green flame cycle and still be faster than this submission. Any improvement faster than that would need the additional 672 frames to reach the next previous cycle of green flame.....I can't imagine that happening.
• Improvements after the flames would almost have to come from even more optimized movement or glitches. I feel this run is pretty tight. The room with the most likely space for movement optimization may be the sewer scene.

Final Thought