Emulator: VisualBoyAdvance 1.7.2 re-recording v19.5

Essensials

  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses death as shortcut
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Uses warps
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Manipulates luck

About the game

Kaeru no tame ni kane wa naru is an adventure game, but it looks like a mixture of adventure, action, and RPG. It is a funny, cool, and unique game. The title of the game means "For the Frog the Bell Tolls". It was released only in Japan. The major characters are a pair of princes called Sabure and Richard. You will play with the prince Sabure in his quest to save the Mille-Feuille Kingdom from Delaling. Prince Richard is known as one of the characters who make an appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
If you touch an enemy, the game will shift to battle mode. The battle is almost automatic, but you can use items or run away by pressing B while in battle mode.
As the story advances, the Prince Sabure will become able to transform into a frog by entering water. As a frog, he can jump twice as high as his human form, as well as eat insects. He will also be able to transform into a snake by using an egg. In snake form, he can go through narrow passages, and if he is stronger than the enemy, he will be able to turn them into blocks.

Story

Once upon a time, there were two Princes named Sabure and Richard. There was friendly rivalry between them. One day a messenger informed the Princes that the Geronian army had captured the Mille-Feuille Kingdom. The Princes had heard tales of the beauty of Princess Tiramisu of the Mille-Feuille Kingdom and decided to act.

Tricks

Blank Prince Name

When you name the Prince you will use, selecting a blank allows to start the game without any letters in his name. This will save two frames at each sentence which includes the Prince's name.

Fast Moving

In the platformer-like areas, pressing → for four frames, then pressing ↑ or ↓ for a frame is the fastest way of moving to the right. Pressing ← for five frames, then pressing ↑ or ↓ for a frame is the fastest way of moving to the left.

Fast Climbing

When Prince Sabure holds on to the center of a ladder, the fastest way to climb it is to press ↑ for two frames, then press → or ← for three frames, and repeat. If he holds on to the right or left side of a ladder, pressing ↑ for two frames, then pressing →(←) is the fastest way to climb it.

Midair Jumping

In the middle of Jumping, the Prince Sabure can jump again in the air if he uses a fruit or an egg.

Conversation Glitch

If Prince Sabure uses a fruit just before going out of the well after he was pushed in by Prince Richard at A La Mode, he can talk with frogs even though he remains a human.

Jumping From A Ladder

Normally, going up a ladder is not allowed when the Prince Sabure holds on to the bottom of it. When he is in this situation, pressing → or ← for a frame, then releasing it and pressing A allows climbing it.

Warp Glitch

Midair Jumping allows to go up in the sky over the jungle. If Prince Sabure goes up there, the game will usually reset or freeze itself. However, he will occasionally warp somewhere instead of resetting or freezing the game.

Jumping With A Pick

Normally Prince Sabure cannot jump while he is equipped with the pick, but pressing A just before going up stairs allows jumping even with it equipped.

Falling Slower

If Prince Sabure opens his diary while he is falling, his falling speed will decrease.

Comment

The texts of the game are in Japanese only. However, you can enjoy the run even if you cannot understand Japanese, because Prince Sabure acts peculiarly in the platformer-like areas. I hope you will enjoy it!

Thanks to

  • Hogehoge61, for testing the warp glitch several times and finding out some of the conditions for it to happen.
  • Pirohiko, for giving me a tip on how to abuse the warp glitch.
  • A user of Nico Videos, for giving me a comment on my previous run I had uploaded there. Thanks to it I noticed that wasabi helps beat Heisuke even if the Prince Sabure is not strong enough. If it were not for the comment, I couldn't have completed the run using the warp glitch.

mmbossman: Accepting for publication.

alden: Encoding. I still can't encode this, sorry. Probably user error.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2306: Ryuto's GB Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru in 1:27:43.30
Editor, Expert player (2477)
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om, nom, nom... crazy! Easy yes-vote!
Joined: 5/31/2009
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Location: France
Funny game, nice tricks. I give you a (bit weak) yes vote.
mklip2001
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This is definitely funny at parts, like the picture Aqfaq put up. The prince's motion is really amusing to watch in the sidescrolling parts. I'm also amused to hear how many sound effects made it into Link's Awakening. One question: why do you move left a little bit when entering the dungeon near the end before proceeding to the right? Unfortunately, the game is really long, especially if you can't read the Japanese. I still vote yes, however, since the play level looks nice, especially health management. EDIT: Also, did the screen have to stay glitched for as long as it did after the warp glitch? You do end up fixing the screen near the end of the movie, but it would've been nice to have more of the game look less glitchy. After a few minutes, the glitched look got distracting for me.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Skilled player (1543)
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Location: Japan
mklip2001 wrote:
One question: why do you move left a little bit when entering the dungeon near the end before proceeding to the right?
At that time, the prince Subure goes left a little bit automatically. So I have no idea for avoiding that.
mklip2001 wrote:
EDIT: Also, did the screen have to stay glitched for as long as it did after the warp glitch?
Yes, it has to stay glitched unless I use a diary.
Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212
Any admins that see this, could you change my no vote to a yes vote?
Editor, Expert player (2328)
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I watched it halfway in and found it to be a good adventure RPG type of game. I'd say it's good enough, let it in.
gocha
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The run shows some of nice tricks. I voted a weak yes. In this run, I had a hard time watching extremely glitched screen for a long time. I personally hope you fixed the glitched screen earlier, even if it costs a few of seconds.
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Experienced player (828)
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Anyone else care to comment on this run? It's pretty long for a gameboy game, with several weak yes votes so far, so some additional feedback would be appreciated.
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
yes vote, too bad i don't understand japaness but as said in the submition text it's not too bothering (execpt if you want to know the story :/) also, is it just me or the hero constantly get ripped off / stole his money ? last question, if you get all hearts, can you beat richard ? does it give you an alternate ending? also richard is a real jerk why did he push you in the well ?
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Nicos wrote:
yes vote, too bad i don't understand japaness but as said in the submition text it's not too bothering (execpt if you want to know the story :/) also, is it just me or the hero constantly get ripped off / stole his money ? last question, if you get all hearts, can you beat richard ? does it give you an alternate ending? also richard is a real jerk why did he push you in the well ?
To show you a funny story, he occasionally pays his enormous sum of money himself. Not only getting ripped or having stolen his money. The story of the game is unchangeable unless there is a big glitch. So I cannot beat Richard even if I have all of the hearts. As for the scene when Richard pushes Sabure, Richard gets angry because he thinks that Sabure paid his enormous money for himself only. In fact, it is his misunderstanding.
Joined: 5/31/2009
Posts: 22
Location: France
I am going to try to explain my vote more in depth : This run seems very well planned and optimised (obsolet it will be hard unless someone finds new glitches or uses the warp glitch in a better place). The way the Prince moves is also pretty funny. The dialogues take a long part of the game, and many viewers here can't understand Japanese. Unfortunately, the story seems interesting. Does a fan-translation exist ? If it is the case, it would be cool if you could transcript it and put English subtitles in your videos on YouTube. But I really do not want to force you. The glitched screen after the warp glitch didn't really bother me, because the game was still legible. By using the diary, do you mean saving the game and re-loading it ? Or is it only some other feature in your diary ? As you've been able to un-glitch the screen before the end, apparently without re-loading the game, it's a shame that you couldn't have un-glitched the game before the last level... The relationship between the two Princes seems a bit complicated in the game. Could you also explain it ? In fact, I don't really understand why they are fighting at the end.
mmbossman wrote:
It's pretty long for a gameboy game
The fact that it is long for a GB game doesn't really affect me, but I see what you mean. I maintain my weak yes vote ; the movie is pretty long, but I still think this movie has to be published. I give it 5 for entertainment, and 8 for technical. BTW, your TAS playlist on your YouTube channel is quite impressive.
Skilled player (1543)
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The purpose of using the diary is to decrease his falling speed. Without doing so, I couldn’t go, at a time, to the place you saw my video. The fighting at the end is for getting married to the Princess Tiramisu. The winner of the battle will be allowed to do so. Richard wins the battle, but he feels Sabure is stronger than him when they are fighting. So Richard gives up to get married to her. Richard and Sabure sometimes fight each other, but they are definitely, very friendly.
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I'd heard some things about this game being different before watching the TAS. I saw a multitude of obvious tricks, and no doubt missed a multitude of them as well. The white out had me wondering how long it would last, but it didn't amount to much, really. The text boxes were the most obviously affected, but it didn't detract much once you destroyed the white-out effect. I think it should be published, because it fits all the rules for the site, and because if it does eventually get translated, that translation won't qualify for a speedrun on the site. It would surprise me if this gets obsoleted any time soon. It has a bit of Zelda: Link's Awakening in it's system, and all I could really say is bad is the white-out portion. All else seemed pretty acceptable for the benefits of speed. If it's noted as an Action/RPG like Zelda:LA's Action System + the game's own battle system, then people should know pretty much what they're getting into before watching a long movie.
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I apologize for the delay in judgement of this video, it will be done within the next 72 hours. Thanks for being patient Ryuto!
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I understand that everyone has busy lifestyles, so I don't mind having a submission be decided in 3 or more months. As long as it doesn't take forever. 0_o
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Thanks for the permission pixelgoround, I really appreciate you giving me your blessing in this matter, considering it's not your submission.
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
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[rage] [redflag] Sir, did I ever say this was my submission? NO. As far as I know, this isn't your submission either. Furthermore, I would strongly encourage you (and anyone else involved) to refrain from insulting me with my old usernames - for good - and I don't think asking nicely will help. Surprisingly, that one name-change incident from a while back is still stuck in your head, like a criminal record or something when it's not supposed to be. For once in your life, get over it! Thank you for playing, good night. -_- [/redflag] [/rage]
mmbossman wrote:
Thanks for the permission pixelgoround, I really appreciate you giving me your blessing in this matter, considering it's not your submission.
Now I can move on peacefully. ^_^
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p0rtal_0f_rain wrote:
[rage] Sir, did I ever say this was my submission? NO. As far as I know, this isn't your submission either. Furthermore, I would strongly encourage you (and anyone else involved) to refrain from insulting me with my old usernames - for good - and I don't think asking nicely will help. Surprisingly, that one incident from a while back is still in your head, like a criminal record or something when it's not supposed to be. GET OVER IT! [/rage]
mmbossman wrote:
Thanks for the permission pixelgoround, I really appreciate you giving me your blessing in this matter, considering it's not your submission.
Your earlier semi-indirect response to mmbossman in this thread suggested that you are the one who gives permission for him to take longer to judge a submission. Your reply was unnecessary, was unwarranted, and had an air of arrogance to it. mmbossman's sarcastic reply was an attempt to get you to realize that your post had these qualities. Obviously, you did not understand this fact, and therefore I am spelling it out in plain English. Once again, your newest post suggests that you have some form of control over how others perform or behave. You strongly encourage, instead of asking nicely. I'd suggest you look closer at why you got these responses, and adjust your own behavior.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
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Okay, knowing that I been highly insulted by a user or two for the past day or so, all I can do from this point is apologize (sorry for now). But there are times when I take things like this seriously, and that is when I sometimes lose it. I'm leaving both mmbossman and this thread/submission alone so I can move on. -_-
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Around frame 90000 I think you could have slightly saved some time by killing the two remaining bees (worth 50 coins) as opposed to some of the other insects worth 20. But that's pretty minor. All in all, it's a movie that would have been much better had an English counterpart been available (at least for those of us that speak English). Because of this, the length seems a bit excessive, but other viewers seem to find it entertaining, and I managed to find it quirky and mildly fun to watch.
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mmbossman wrote:
Around frame 90000 I think you could have slightly saved some time by killing the two remaining bees (worth 50 coins) as opposed to some of the other insects worth 20. But that's pretty minor.
No. If I did so, I had to recover his lifes and needed more frames.
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Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
upthorn
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I haven't watched this yet, but I see a lot of people saying they wish it was in English. Is there enough text that subtitles would be useful? (as in Youkai Douchuuki)
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
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I'm abstaining from voting. I just really have no idea what's even going on in this game.