Game objectives
- Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.8
- Primary objective: speed
Game mechanics
Background
I did real-time speedruns of the U-version a few years ago and now planned to start playing it again. As a first step, I decided to create a TAS to see if I could get a better understanding of the game mechanics and to see how low I could push the time with perfect RNG-manipulation (which is not even remotely close to being possible in real-time). And also simply because I wanted to see what a TAS looked like for this version.
Note about the regional differences for Dragon's Lair
The three regional versions of Dragon's Lair for the NES (NTSC-U, NTSC-J and PAL) are all quite different from each other. While there are also many obvious similarities between them, they are in my eyes more like ports for different platforms than regional adaptations for the same platform. For an interesting analysis of the code differences, the following video is recommended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoW6ydYMc8E& .
The U-version is arguably the worst version of the three. Many will probably even rank it as one of the worst officially released NES-games/versions ever. That's not to say it's not interesting in its own right though. I enjoyed learning about the game and got to discover some new TAS tools and techniques in the process.
Comments
Since the game is very slow-paced and mostly straight-forward, I think a viewer will easily grasp what's going on without detailed level comments. For those interested in what goes on "under the hood", details about relevant aspects of the game that were used in this TAS have been documented in the link in the Game mechanics section above.
Credits
Many thanks to SBDWolf for providing feedback to this TAS and for bringing up improvement suggestions that I otherwise might not have fully explored. Some of the route optimizations in level 4 that he found when working on a real-time speedrun last year can also be seen in this TAS.
Samsara: Claiming for judging. Also, bugfixed file replacement.
Samsara: The differences in speed, execution, and the need to fight the final boss are enough to warrant a separate publication for the US version, and the optimization is definitely up to par. Signing off on Darkman's review and accepting to exist alongside the Japan version run.
EZGames69: Processing...
Samsara: Setting to Delayed, pending a last minute improvement file.
Samsara: The file has been replaced with a 75 frame improvement. Re-accepting.
EZGames69: Processing...