Allrighty, Kid Icarus time.
Kid Icarus is a pretty good platformer. Not too hard, not too easy but just nice. And pretty complex, too.
There is already a published version of this on the site, so I'll just tell you what I did differently than Sleepz:
  • When I get the strength powerups, I don't enter any enemy chambers like Sleepz does. Instead, I collect the needed skill from enemies that are along the way. This saved a lot of time.
  • I use a different route in 1-4 than Sleepz. I found a nice shortcut which enabled me to save something like 40 seconds.
  • I did not buy a feather. Sleepz used a feather in 3-2. My way is about 2 seconds faster.
Another thing to note:
I had to manipulate luck a little in the beginning of 3-3. It did not look very nice, but this is the fastest I could make it. It's not really any slower than Sleepz, maybe a few frames.
Overall Sleepz was very precise in his movie and most of my movie is almost identical to Sleepz's.
I suggest that if my movie is published, it replaces BOTH of the currently published movies. Bob Whoops's 100% version should be removed from the site because it does not meet its goals i.e. it's not really a 100% run and it does not get the best ending. The quality of playing is also pretty poor from today's perspective. If the movie was submitted today, it would be rejected immediately. I am not planning on making a 100% run.
This movie was made using fceu-0.98.13-rerecording and it:
  • aims for fastest time
  • takes damage to save time
  • uses no passwords
  • abuses a programming error (goes inside a wall)
I'd like to thank the guys at #nesvideos for supporting me. A big thanks to Sleepz, the author of the previous run and also to tmont, the author of the Kid Icarus speed run (available at SDA). He helped me with his speedrun and also by contacting me and making me aware of a few things.
Please ask if you have any questions.
EDIT: Oh and Sleepz's run is 25:10 long, so my movie is 1:14 faster.

Bisqwit: Does what it promises, beats an existing movie, and introduces new techniques. Accepting.

Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
You're right. The damage taken in this movie is probably pretty unoptimized. That's because I really didn't know anything about this game when I started. If I were to remake this movie, I would take care not to get hit in places where it's not absolutely necessary.
Joined: 5/5/2007
Posts: 5
Hi there ! For my first post on this great site, I would like to submit a trick for Kid Icarus that I've never seen used on speedruns for this game, despite it being quite simple and effective, especially against bosses. Here I go : if you crouch just after firing, it eliminates the delay needed between 2 arrows. Consequently, when you rapidly alternate the fire and the crouch buttons, you can shoot arrows at a much greater rate, about 4 or 5 times I'd say. It is a bit hard to master this trick in real gaming, but since we are in a tool-assisted world here, I am convinced that it can help saving a good amount of frames :) Great video nonetheless !
Player (101)
Joined: 3/25/2004
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Location: Austin
Holy crap!
http://girlyyy.com/ The El Viento TAS is the only decent thing I submitted here.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Awesome find. Now all three of my published runs have a significant improvement. Maybe I should start with improving this one..
Joined: 5/5/2007
Posts: 5
Great, now I am waiting for some epic boss battles ! :) By the way, I must confess that I am quite surprised that no one there found this trick, when I see how insanely pervert some tricks are used in all these runs ! ;)
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
I did some testing.. How's this for a taste?
Editor, Expert player (2460)
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Celeri wrote:
By the way, I must confess that I am quite surprised that no one there found this trick, when I see how insanely pervert some tricks are used in all these runs ! ;)
It's very easy to miss even simple tricks, because you need to make general assumptions to avoid testing every possible button combination. After you find a new "fastest" method, you tend to use it exclusively and not test different ways. Your discovery was clever, because it's not obvious that the game works like that.
Player (147)
Joined: 11/27/2004
Posts: 688
Location: WA State, USA
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Doesn't work in Kid Icarus, if that's what you're implying.
Player (51)
Joined: 10/6/2005
Posts: 138
Location: Oregon
Celeri wrote:
Here I go : if you crouch just after firing, it eliminates the delay needed between 2 arrows. Consequently, when you rapidly alternate the fire and the crouch buttons, you can shoot arrows at a much greater rate, about 4 or 5 times I'd say.
Nice find! Very cool. Looking forward to the improved version, Kirysimisyis.
Experienced player (822)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
tmont wrote:
Looking forward to the improved version, Kirysimisyis.
Crap that's a lot of extra "i's" there
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Editor, Active player (296)
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mmbossman wrote:
tmont wrote:
Looking forward to the improved version, Kirysimisyis.
Crap that's a lot of extra "i's" there
Kyrsimys (IPA: /kyrsimys/) should post an audio file indicating how his name is pronounced, and watch all the yankees getting themselves carried to a doctor for solving a knotted tongue. ;) __________________________________ The word, "yankee" is considered derogatory in some countries, but in Finland, it as a loanword, "jenkki" (IPA: /jeŋkki/), it is the prevalent way to refer to USA citizens. According to Google, the word "jenkit" (yanks) is three times more popular than the word "yhdysvaltalaiset" (IPA: /ˈyhdysˌvɑltɑlaiset/) (persons from the US) and 50% more popular than the word "amerikkalaiset" (americans). USA is often called "jenkkilä" (the place of yanks) in speech. Regardless, the word "jenkki" with its variations are not used in official context such as news.
Player (51)
Joined: 10/6/2005
Posts: 138
Location: Oregon
I was just joking (I know how to spell his name), but it stemmed from a conversation on the first page of this thread, which began with me saying this:
tmont wrote:
By the way, your name is really hard to spell (for Americans, anyway); too many interchangeable i's and y's. I had to look it up every time I wrote it. :)
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
So.. I completed a new version. Because the situation has changed due to the new trick and the strength upgrades aren't so essential anymore, I calculated precisely how many frames I would gain and lose from collecting strength upgrades. I came to a conclusion that collecting only the first upgrade would be the best choice. So there I was, TASing away, when at the last boss I realize that the strength upgrades affect the last boss just like everything else. I had always just assumed that the weapon Pit uses in the last level isn't affected by the upgrades. So now that I know that the last boss should be taken into account as well, I know it would be faster to collect the second strength upgrade. Right now I'm thinking about whether I should submit the run I made and not give a crap about the lost time, or just suck it up and make a new run. I'm not entirely sure how much time getting the second upgrade would save, but it's not more than a couple of seconds. I'm really not looking forward to doing all the boss battles and luck manipulation over again, especially since some things just clicked so well in this movie. I'm still thinking, I'll probably make a decision after a few days. Just keeping you posted.
Joined: 5/5/2007
Posts: 5
Way to go Kyrsimys, just trust in the way you feel about it. Timing contingencies set apart, I tend to prefer videos where power-ups are kept to a minimum, it generally makes battling more entertaining, don't you think ? While we are (eagerly) waiting, could you at least tell us about how much this new trick allowed you to save time on the whole thing ?
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Ummmmmmmm I submitted the movie some time ago already, check the workbench. In the end I decided to do it all over again from 1-2 and I'm quite happy with the result.
Joined: 5/5/2007
Posts: 5
Woops, I should have indeed... but usually I don't check the workbench since I don't have a way to read replay files and I must wait for the AVI files ;) I sure hope some good coder will port those hacked emulator on Mac someday... If anyone could post a AVI of this run, it woud be really appreciated ! Anyway 1'14 seems to be a pretty good improvement... Glad I could help a little :)
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Yeah, 1:14 is a great improvement, and it's almost entirely thanks to your trick. So big thanks for that, as well as getting me interested in TASing again, I almost feel like I want to try my hand at something new now.
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Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.