Emulator Details

  • Snes9x 1.51
  • Left+Right, Up+Down enabled

Objectives

  • Uses hardest difficulty setting
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Unlocks a secret message

Special Thanks

I want to put this section first to give recognition to someone really wonderful. laranja and I originally were coauthoring this run. I had more time to work on the run, and after several weeks of a busy schedule, Marco graciously bowed out. You will be hard pressed to find someone as friendly as Marco. He was the first to discover the quick way to the first exit, and how to beat the last level without damage boosting. Some of his input remains in level 1-2. He also was the one to notice you can beat the 2 red balls with just 1 swing, saving 10 frames over the first submission.
Other thanks to:
  • Tompa, for discovering an even better skip to the first exit
  • StarFighters76, whose maps on gamefaqs saved me the hassle of actually playing the game.
  • Nahoc, for very quickly starting to encode my first submission before I cruelly pulled it for this 10-frame improvement.

Useful memory addresses

I found an obscene number of memory addresses that were essential in optimizing.
AddressTypeNameDescription
7E054Bb sX-SpeedSpeed along the X-axis.
7E054Ab uX-SubspeedThe fractional value of the player's speed. Unlike other games that only use this for acceleration, different values affect your overall speed.
7E0522w uX-PositionPlayer's exact position on the X-axis
7E0BACw u"X"Player's approximate position. This is strange because this value has dead zones at the beginning and end of a level. Every time the least significant byte of X-position overflows, this increments*.
7E054Db sY-SpeedSpeed along the Y-Axis
7E054Cb uY-SubspeedThe fractional value of the player's speed.
7E0525w uY-PositionPlayer's exact position on the Y-Axis
7E0526w u"Y"Similar to "X," but there appear to be no dead zones.
7E0524b uX-RegionX-Position overflow counter.
7E0527b uY-RegionY-Position overflow counter.
  • In this sense it's similar to pixel and subpixel values, but you can be on different pixels for the same value of "X."
Enemies' HP works the opposite of most games. They start at 0 and go up. There usually will not be more than 4 enemies on the screen, but here are all of them.
EnemyAddress
17E0595
27E05D0
37E060B
47E0646
57E0681
67E06BC
77E06F7
87E0732
Some stages have a movable object that you have to push by running into it. To help with the last such stage, I found these addresses.
AddressTypeName
7E075Eb sObject Speed
7E075Db uObject Subspeed
7E074Bw uObject X-Position (right)
7E0755w uObject X-Position (center)
7E0763w uObject X-Position (left)
It is fun to enable cheats and give yourself infinite health, lives, and time.
AddressName
7E1036# Shields
7E1028# Lives
7E1030# Gold
7E1031Minutes
7E1032Tens
7E1033Seconds
7E0FCCFrames

Tricks Used

Damage Boost
Damage boosting appears in this game. It is best suited for giving the player a super high jump. This is used to skip large sections of levels. The Expert difficulty limits the player to one shield, meaning you can only take 1 hit before collecting another.
Speed Dampening
The player's speed gets butchered in the air. You lose 20 subspeed or more per frame until your total speed hovers around 3.6. However, during your throw or duck animations, you lose only 4 subspeed per frame. Any time you see me throw with no apparent reason, that's what's going on.
Fast Climbing
When climbing, you can start a new climb animation by repressing "up." Release as soon as you've stopped moving from one pull and your next pull will begin 5 frames faster. Over the course of the game, that's no small potatoes!
Level end abuse
There is some weird variation at the end of levels depending on whether you run through, duck, or come to an abrupt stop. These may all result in the same timer value, but some can cause the next level to start 1 or 2 frames faster. I optimized this as much as I could.

Comments

  • I get a shuriken in level 2-1. This is beneficial for a number of reasons.
    • The shuriken does the most damage of any projectile, and therefore most dps. Axe = 1, Dagger = 2, Shuriken = 3, Sword = 4.
    • The shuriken stays out longer than other projectiles.
    • The shuriken's trajectory allows you to damage boost yourself without an enemy.
  • When possible, using two projectiles is faster than using the sword once.
  • No matter how fast you reach the end of 2-1, you have to wait for the platform to go and come back. Events like this are triggered when the object enters the screen.
  • In water levels, keep in mind that bubbles hurt you. BUBBLES. You are protected by a bubble, which doesn't make a lot of sense to begin with. Yet another bubble, another pocket of air, hurts you. You got to love the logic to old school games.
  • The mage boss has 40 HP. That means for one swing only, the sword is better than 2 projectiles. All shuriken = 14*3 + 0 = 42. With sword = 12*3 + 1*4 = 40. 13 actions instead of 14.
  • In 4-1, the cloud usually follows you for 3 lightning strikes. I manage to outrun it after the first lightning strike. I liked this.
  • Near the end of 4-1 there is some lag, but it doesn't show up in the emulator's lag counter. I noticed at first because I could see it, then I noticed the timer was staying the same for consecutive frames. I minimized this. I believe 2 frames of lag made the end.
  • Singe the dragon has the same HP as the mage boss.
  • The secret message is "Dragon's Lair is modern."

Nahoc: Added YT module.
klmz: Accepted as this movie is made entertaining with a dull game.

Brandon: Publication underway.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14776
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3133: tall's SNES Dragon's Lair in 09:17.65
GabCM
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Joined: 5/5/2009
Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
You could have asked a judge, the senior publisher (sgrunt) or a site manager to replace your submission's movie file by an improved one.
Player (154)
Joined: 2/4/2011
Posts: 61
O, right. Sorry. I will do that next time.
Expert player (2578)
Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 1182
Location: Teresópolis - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
I never thought a run of this game could be so good, thank you for proving me wrong. Doubtless, a strong Yes vote.
I am old enough to know better, but not enough to do it.
Editor, Experienced player (851)
Joined: 8/12/2008
Posts: 845
Location: Québec, Canada
Will re-encode. Edit: Archive collection
Player (183)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
Dooty wrote:
I never thought a run of this game could be so good, thank you for proving me wrong. Doubtless, a strong Yes vote.
Even bad titles can be good for a TAS, IF tased corretly at all!
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
GabCM
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Joined: 5/5/2009
Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
Damn! And I was expecting a TAS from that interactive cartoon! NO VOTE! ... Just kidding. I knew the SNES's cartridge wasn't made for interactive videos, so I had to expect a sub-par platformer. I know that Data East is pro in making this kind of games. I think that one of their few good games was Burgertime (not that NES port). About the game, I lol'd at some sound effects, the background during a boss battle and the fact they put Dirk in a bubble instead of making him swim. Anyway, for that run, you made the game look easy, and it was fun to watch. You get my Yes vote.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2139)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
There are still some minor things to improve in the first level, from a different strategy at the start. Nothing serious though. At first I was wondering why no damage boosts were used in 1-4, but realized that you aren't able to have more than one shield on hard... So it's still faster to take damage at the boss. It was a nice run at least, a few tricks that I didn't think of when I worked on my run. Yes vote.
Player (154)
Joined: 2/4/2011
Posts: 61
Mister Epic wrote:
About the game, I lol'd at some sound effects, the background during a boss battle and the fact they put Dirk in a bubble instead of making him swim.
There is something else about the bubble that makes it even funnier. While you're in the bubble, touching another bubble hurts you. I need to add that to to the submission notes. XD @Tompa. I'd be interested to know these minor improvements. I spent some time optimizing this route. I don't doubt you, I just want to know what I overlooked. I won't run to submit a new file, but maybe down the road if I can get cumulatively another 30 frames or something.
Player (183)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
A good description for this movie could begin with something like... In this game *overstrike*Mario*overstrike*Dirk have to rescue princess *overstrike*Peach*overstrike*Daphne from the clutchs of *overstrike*Bowser*overstrike*Singe's... very creative plot line huh!?...
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
GabCM
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Joined: 5/5/2009
Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
laranja wrote:
A good description for this movie could begin with something like... In this game *overstrike*Mario*overstrike*Dirk have to rescue princess *overstrike*Peach*overstrike*Daphne from the clutchs of *overstrike*Bowser*overstrike*Singe's... very creative plot line huh!?...
I'm not sure about this description, since Dragon's Lair came first in 1983 as an arcade game, while Super Mario Bros. got released first in 1985. What made this arcade game a classic is the fact actual gameplay looked like this. Besides this game, you had games such as Pac-Man.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2139)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Here is the minor improvement to the first level, only three frames, but still :). http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1241545301/Dragon%27s%20Lair%20%28USA%29.smv
ALAKTORN
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Player (99)
Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
Location: Italy
this doesn't look like a good game choice to me… I'll abstein from voting
Player (183)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
Mister Epic wrote:
I'm not sure about this description, since Dragon's Lair came first in 1983 as an arcade game, while Super Mario Bros. got released first in 1985. What made this arcade game a classic is the fact actual gameplay looked like this. Besides this game, you had games such as Pac-Man.
Hmm, I didnt know the release date difference, so this one got his own title atributes, no plagiarism, good to know this.
ALAKTORN wrote:
this doesn't look like a good game choice to me… I'll abstein from voting
hmm, well this one is at the list of ideias, its sure not the best plataform but it was pretty optmazed, so I think it can overcome the bad game title.
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
Site Admin, Skilled player (1234)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11251
Location: RU
Wikipedia wrote:
Since the studio couldn't afford to hire any models, the animators used photos from Playboy magazines for inspiration for the character Princess Daphne.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
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This looks like the most unappealing SNES game in existence (in terms of gameplay and enjoyability), but the run is very well made. So yes.
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (2101)
Joined: 5/22/2007
Posts: 1134
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I have a question about this submission: Is it the first when a movie of this game ever submitted? If not so, I think one "No vote" can be omitted. EDIT: Fixed.
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days <adelikat> no doubt <adelikat> klmz, they still do
Warepire
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Editor
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Posts: 2174
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
This game is horrible, you made it look quite fun and short. Voted yes.
GabCM
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Posts: 901
Location: QC, Canada
feos wrote:
Wikipedia stuff.
Which is why she looks and behaves like this. (The video contains spoilers of the original arcade game, since it's the final boss fight and the ending.)
Joined: 3/18/2011
Posts: 35
Location: Ohio
Weird how sometimes crappy games make good TASes
Player (183)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 144
Location: Brazil
Veredict?
My main objective here is to TAS the most obscure games titles!
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5769
Location: Away
GeoCorn wrote:
Weird how sometimes crappy games make good TASes
It's not really weird. They just look as if they were normal, when you aren't the one playing them. :)
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Brandon
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Editor, Player (189)
Joined: 11/21/2010
Posts: 913
Location: Tennessee
Nahoc: I just realized you did both of the encodes. Do you want to publish this? You're welcome to take it over, but please let me know.
All the best, Brandon Evans
Editor, Experienced player (851)
Joined: 8/12/2008
Posts: 845
Location: Québec, Canada
Brandon wrote:
Nahoc: I just realized you did both of the encodes. Do you want to publish this? You're welcome to take it over, but please let me know.
No, I don't want to. I'm really busy so you can go ahead and do it for me. :)
Player (147)
Joined: 11/27/2004
Posts: 688
Location: WA State, USA
This game's world map is absolutely hilarious.
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.