This run beats the current published run by 966 frames, ~16.08 seconds.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FCEUX 2.2.1
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Uses death to save time (no life is lost however)
  • Manipulates luck
  • Genre: Platform

Techniques and Tricks

Mid-air jump

After he get the winged boots, he becomes possible to mid-air jump.

3 hits attack

When only one heart remains in his life, a jumping slash hits three times against bosses.

Jumping before landing

When he has a enough Y velocity, he can jump one frame earlier than it lands and higher.

Cancel a climbing

he can move to the next action faster by cancel a climbing.

Lag reduction

Many of lags are reduce by jump or jumping slash.

Early fade out

The fade-out starts immediately, if death occurs and start is pushed after a boss is finished exploding.

Falling through the stairs

It is possible to fall through the stairs by turning around at exact position between the stairs and the ceiling.

Frame rules

In this game, there're many frame rules. those are not due to a global frame count but a local frame count. The followings are main.
2 frames : Attack
4 frames : Taking damage and shock, Opening the box, Turning around on the ground
8 frames : Fading out the screen when beat the boss with death or reach the bosses at stage 6
16 frames : Fading out the screen when beat the boss without death

Some useful memory addresses

$38D : Screen X position
$207 : Boy's front side X position in current screen
$203 : Boy's back side X position in current screen
$200 : Boy's head Y position (The same value exists in some addresses)
$31 : Frame count from that scene
$607 : Boss's energy

Improvements

LevelFrames savedTotal frames saved
18787
246133
3161294
479373
5320693
6-128721
6-2220941
725966

General

Reduced lag.
Don't pick up any sword power-up. It is unnecessary and occasionally causes the fault.

Stage 1 - Evil Forest

Optimized how to climb a cliff in first screen.
Chose the better direction for pick up a pair of boots.

Stage 2 - Waylaid Street

Most of improvements in this level are because of optimized movements.

Stage 3 - Count's Castle

Took a shortcut outside the castle.
Optimized how to fall through the stairs.

Stage 4 - Pirate Ship

Here he often stops because of landing poor footholds. So I avoid it by adjust the height when landing.

Stage 5 - Maclonna Mine

Chose better place to take damage.
Died after boss fight ended using the spikes with jump trick.

Stage 6-1 - Laboratory Part 1

In laboratory levels, the spike traps operate according as 4-frames rule. Therefore, considerations for timing in which scene is changed are needed. However, it isn't attached to importance in lab part 1. Most of improvements of here are because of lag reduction.

Stage 6-2 - Laboratory Part 2

Adjusted the cycle of spike traps to cut down the useless time.
Took a shortcut at small room where needles were spread.
Optimized boss fight.

Stage 7 - Laboratory Escape

Took damage in better place.
Adjusted the cycle of spike traps to cut down the useless time.
Suggested screenshot frame:26302

Thanks to

  • JXQ, Samsara : This run might not have existed without their runs.
  • Some Japanese speedrunners : I caught a lot of knowledge about this game from them.
Enjoy :)

feos: Accepting for Moons and processing the publication...


TASVideoAgent
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Posts: 15628
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3974: Hotarubi's NES Moon Crystal in 08:19.04
Joined: 5/2/2006
Posts: 1020
Location: Boulder, CO
Looked good, and was enjoyable. Not the most enthralling game, but the length was just about right to hold my interest.
Has never colored a dinosaur.
Post subject: My TAS card = revoked
JXQ
Experienced player (761)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
Wow, you can still do the three-damage hits without the sword power-up?! How did I never test that? :[ The two-and-a-half jumping opened up some nice new shortcuts, and I'm happy that dying on the level 5 boss is now possible! Nice job! This game is always a fun little run to watch.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Very nice! I don't like the look of all the jumping, but it's very much worth when the lag is reduced by this much. Skipping the sword powerups was quite surprising. Yes vote.
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.
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2241)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2822
Location: Northern California
Absolutely excellent. Yes vote.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Joined: 5/14/2007
Posts: 525
Location: Pisces-Cetus filament
Zeupar wrote:
This is the best NES TAS I have watched in a while. Seeing a perfect game for TASing like this optimized even further was great. [edit]I agree that t[/edit]The death abuse at the last boss would make for a good publication screenshot. Now all I need is more Run Saber. :P
AzumaK wrote: I swear my 1 year old daughter's favorite TASVideo is your R4MI run :3 xxNKxx wrote: ok thanks handsome feos :D Help improving TASVideos!
Editor, Experienced player (570)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4038
Nice improvement! I found it very entertaining. This is a great game for TASing, as Zeupar said. Yes vote.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2394] NES Moon Crystal by Hotarubi in 08:19.04