Mystic Defender improved by 35.13 seconds (2108 frames).
About half of the improvement comes from better precision and faster boss fight strategies, the other half is due to a glitch in the last level.
Thanks to Highness for the previous movie!
Any level can be hex-edited at any time, so if you want to try improving a single level, it is possible by all means. All levels are probably improvable, even though I tried a lot to make them optimal.
The movie synchs fine with both REV00 and REV01 versions. The only difference is a few pixels of more nudity in the end with REV00.

Explanations

Landing after a jump stops the screen scrolling for 1 frame, so usually jumping should be avoided. However, shooting/charging the weapon and moving forwards simultaneously is possible only in the air.
If I shoot seemingly for nothing, it is for changing the character's hit box dimensions for more precise jumps.
Most of the boss fights are not about killing the boss fast. Usually, it is more important to be in a good position after the fight. Also, the earliest frame you start charging the second shot is often more important than the frame the first shot hits the boss.
The glitch in the final level is interesting. Scrolling the screen in a peculiar way moves the elevators away from their places. I do this to access an elevator behind a wall. After that, I start floating upwards (this is the part with the long wait) to access another elevator that is located below (and also behind a wall). There is also some jumping inside the walls and other little details, which make this route possible. (You might get a better idea of what is happening, if you turn the graphics layer 3 off. [Make a savestate at 4:20:00, so you can watch that part again.]) I understand the glitch completely and know exactly what's happening at every moment. I could draw my route on a map easily (if someone provides a map), but it is hard to explain here. I suppose this glitch fits my style. :)
There are many ways to end the input. I finish the final boss with the dragon spell. This prolongs the actual ending a few seconds, but allows ending input early and is stylistically more interesting, because it shows the dragon spell.

RAM Addresses

I think 00FFE326 shows the character's horizontal sub-pixel position.
These are various boss HP addresses:
00FFE93F
00FFF2EF
00FFF1FF
00FFE66F
00FFE70F
00FFE61F
Weapon charge meter is at 00FFF631.

Movie attributes

The current publication has luck-manipulation mentioned, but there is no such thing as luck in this game. Every boss has a predictable logic and there seems to be nothing random in this game. So the luck-manipulation can be left out from the attributes:
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Genre: Platform
Enjoy the fast-paced action!

NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots of this movie and placed them here. I'm not sure I got the right ROM though. (I tried Mystic Defender (W) (REV00) [!].gen, which was the closest match to what you wrote.) Well, here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.

adelikat: Accepting + Encoding.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1862: Aqfaq's Genesis Mystic Defender in 05:38.32
JXQ
Experienced player (762)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
I liked this a lot! Pretty interesting glitch near the end, you are good at finding some obscure stuff :) The ending text is pretty rychest as well, especially this out-of-context line: Now, allow us to present our staff to you...
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
OMG! Yeah. This needed to have a face lift. :) I've thought alot about the improvements before. But as usual I never get around to make them my self. Of course this is a clear yes-vote. The published movie should be with Rev00. I really like the nudity in the end. Haha. Also like the dying part. Funny.
Player (149)
Joined: 7/12/2006
Posts: 264
Location: Brazil
A game from my chilhood with this speed and a insane glitch ? Of course a YES... Thumbs up !
emu
Active player (386)
Joined: 1/2/2007
Posts: 188
Location: Germany, Munich
Woa, I'm wondering how you found that glitch. Good job Aqfaq.
The only difference is a few pixels of more nudity in the end with REV00.
That was close. I nearly used the wrong ROM version ^^
Editor, Expert player (2481)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
emu wrote:
Woa, I'm wondering how you found that glitch.
I just happened to notice that the elevator moved 1 pixel off. Then I tried to repeat it and realised it had something to do with the screen scrolling. It took some effort, but eventually I found a way to do it consistently, so that the elevator moves 1 pixel every 7 frames: I press right-right-left-idle-left-idle-left to move the elevator 1 pixel. There might be other wobbling patterns that could achieve faster result, like 3 pixels per 20 frames, but I can't test every possible pattern.
Experienced player (829)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
Fun run, along with some funbags at the end. Yes, and it's good to see you're back to making obscure Genesis runs that are diverse:)
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1068] Genesis Mystic Defender by Aqfaq in 05:38.32
Editor, Expert player (2481)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Thank you for encoding and publishing it adelikat. One thing though: The movie does not manipulate luck. (Apparently I can't edit the movie tags myself...)