Mashou (魔鐘) is the Japanese version of the well-known, infamous, and notorious Deadly Towers for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I chose this version due to it having an exclusive glitch that allows you access Rubas' Tower after technically obtaining only two bells.
This glitch is demonstrated by hisatoki's TAS on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmyLkZT-zBk. My run improves this current record by 1:33 (93 seconds); as well Luke's current run on tasvideos by 7:10 (430 seconds).

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 1.7.1
  • Uses death to save time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Uses warps
  • Major skip glitch
  • Genre: Action
  • Genre: Adventure
Tricks Used
INVENTORY BELL GLITCH (Japan Only)
{this trick requires at least two death warps}
Normally, you're unable to re-enter a Boss Tower once you obtain its bell and exit back into the Main Hall (the entryway to it becomes sealed). However, you can enter Cold Killer's Tower again by going through Dungeon #8 (also located in Main Hall) and finding its exit. Before doing this though, you must death warp after obtaining the first bell. Otherwise, the second one won't appear for you.
Defeating Cold Killer a second time yields another bell, which is glitched. From here, you must burn them both at the Holy Flame back at the Main Hall, before death-warping a second time. Afterward, the glitch is activated -- which essentially places unlimited bells in your inventory. Going back to the Holy Flame and burning five more bells opens the gate to Rubas' Tower (and burning MORE than five steadily glitches out your inventory and the game, itself!).
Final note: Glitch was fixed in the American release of Deadly Towers. Specifically, you can repeat all of the above up to having a second bell appear after defeating Cold Killer again. However, this bell won't register in your inventory (tried it myself to confirm).
COURTYARD SEQUENCE BREAK
Along the way through the Castle, there is a set of invincible guards which blocks a shortcut leading into the room before the second mini-boss. Normally, you need to obtain an item called the 'Magic Key' to pass through. However, while these guards are impervious to damage, they CAN be momentarily stunned with your projectiles. With enough well-timed shots, you can slip past them and save about 12-13 seconds, each time you journey through the courtyard.
Special thanks to forum member Dragondarch
For speedrunners, this trick can also be performed in real-time. Due to doors in this game being skewed to the right, you will need to stun the guard on the right, instead, in order to slip through. This is due to Prince Myer's slow movement in the beginning. Once you have obtained the Hyper Boots, though, you can successfully slip past either guard.
Stage by Stage Commentary
ROUND 1 Courtyard - Dungeon #4 - Main Hall - Cold Killer (1)
My first trek through the Castle involved a major route change that saved about 28 seconds from hisatoki's run. After defeating the first dragon mini-boss, I entered Dungeon #4. This dungeon is very convenient for money grinding due to the close proximity of Orange Tower enemies and a shop that sells Orange Scrolls. The Towers can be manipulated into dropping 8 Ludder each time. Therefore, I entered the Dungeon with 60 Ludder (50 to start, plus two kills) to minimize grinding to a minimum. Farming five Towers gave me enough to quickly enter the shop and purchase an Orange Scroll, immediately warping me to the Main Hall.
Once in Cold Killer's Tower, I worked my way about halfway up and entered one of the game's Secret Rooms, containing a pair of Hyper Boots. In hisatoki's run, he spent a good 8 seconds standing in place and killing off all of the aggressive foes, taking significant damage in the process. I streamlined this down to two well-timed damage boosts: One to get the loot, and another to get outta there!
During Cold Killer's battle, I saved further time by targeting the faster, fireball emitting orb instead of Cold Killer, himself. This allowed me to get additional shots in quicker. I also timed my final hit to land the moment I moved to the top of the pedestal. By doing so, the bell was immediately obtained after viewing the kill animation.
ROUND 2 Courtyard - Main Hall - Dungeon #8 - Cold Killer (2)
Unfortunately, upon dying you don't retain the 50 Ludder that the game initially starts you with. This means that money grinding at Dungeon #4 (12 Towers, instead of 5) is no longer a quicker option. Fortunately, sequence breaking past the guards still progressively saved time from hisatoki's route.
No significant changes up to defeating Cold Killer again. Afterward, I retraced my steps back down the Tower and burned the two bells at the Holy Flame. I death warped faster by trapping myself at the top of the fire instead of along the bottom.
ROUND 3 Courtyard - Main Hall
The route itself is unchanged from the previous trek through the courtyard, although I strove to add some entertaining moments here and there to reduce redundancy. After burning off the required number of bells, I damage boosted off the Holy Flame and death warped within the Main Hall, instead of doing so outside.
ROUND 4 Rubas
Time for a showdown! The climb up Rubas' Tower tested my patience the most in this run, as the more aggressive red bats began to quickly multiply as I ascended upward. I advanced as straightforward as I could, minimizing the time spent preventing a bat or two from tagging me. I had just enough HP for one entertaining damage boost, which I used to obtain Splendor just before entering the Final Boss's Room.
Since I don't have access to hisatoki's movie file, I had to go off his video in order to estimate time savings in close fights such as this one. All three (Dragon, Death Heads, Rubas) appeared to be faster when I ran the emulator side-by-side with the video.
Possible Improvements
Besides coming up with a new skip, glitch or route change, you'd be hard pressed to squeeze another second out of this run. Good luck to whomever can improve this!
Suggested Description
Deadly Towers...when it comes to 'Nintendo Hard' games, you helped write the book. Who would've fathomed one could breach your walls, obtain only two bells, and beat the brakes off Rubas in just over 8 minutes?
In ars4326's run, the Japanese version Mashou (魔鐘) is used due to it containing an inventory glitch that, essentially, gives you unlimited bells after death-warping and defeating Cold Killer twice. New routes, sequence breaking, and movement optimizations are also involved in this updated run.
Suggested Screenshot [dead link removed]

feos: Accepting to obsolete [503] NES Deadly Towers (USA) by Luke in 15:20.27, and to move to Moons. Publishing...

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4379: ars4326's NES Deadly Towers (Japan) in 08:09.53
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Patashu
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Thanks for making this! Finally tasvideos has the Deadly Towers TAS it deserves. Yes vote Btw:
(and burning MORE than five steadily glitches out your inventory and the game, itself!).
Is it powerful enough for ACE in Deadly Towers? ;) You should put in the TAS description a picture or video demonstrating it getting glitched out more and more. I recall it looks really funny.
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You finally finished this! You made really quick progress on the work, and I'm glad to see the wide scope of improvements. There's still a little repetition with this game (mostly making it through the castle on the way to the Main Hall), but the faster movement speed and better enemy dodging help a lot. Out of curiosity, why are there some random missed knife shots? Are they luck manipulation, and/or do they affect your position when turning corners?
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.
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This was a pretty neat watch. Voting yes.
ars4326
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Thanks again for the encode, solarplex.
Patashu wrote:
(and burning MORE than five steadily glitches out your inventory and the game, itself!).
Is it powerful enough for ACE in Deadly Towers? ;) You should put in the TAS description a picture or video demonstrating it getting glitched out more and more. I recall it looks really funny.
Added some gifs in the description to demonstrate the madness! After burning off a ton of bells (over 15), the game starts inserting those glitched solid blocks on screen every time you exit from the menu. There may be potential for ACE for those savvy enough to figure out what's going on...
mklip2001 wrote:
Out of curiosity, why are there some random missed knife shots? Are they luck manipulation, and/or do they affect your position when turning corners?
They were luck manipulation, ESPECIALLY towards the end to manipulate those red bats while ascending Rubas' Tower (they were starting to drive me batty!).
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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Good job finishing this! It was a nice watch, and much faster than the published run. Voting yes.
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Get fucked Rubas. Giving this a yes vote. Undecided whether the US version run should be a separate category.
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Dragondarch wrote:
Get fucked Rubas. Giving this a yes vote. Undecided whether the US version run should be a separate category.
I disagree with being a separate category, since the run this is trying to obsolete is not only a vault run, but also given the ratings, a pretty uninteresting run as well. Edit: Oh, and in case if someone posts about the previous run being a "100%" run of sorts, all I want to know is would the (J) version be faster?
ars4326
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jlun2 wrote:
I disagree with being a separate category, since the run this is trying to obsolete is not only a vault run, but also given the ratings, a pretty uninteresting run as well. Edit: Oh, and in case if someone posts about the previous run being a "100%" run of sorts, all I want to know is would the (J) version be faster?
Your post reminded me of something peculiar that I noticed while doing the run. The first dragon mini-boss in the beginning took a lot more hits to kill than it did in the USA version (32 hits vs 24 hits). I wasn't paying attention to any to any other enemies, but this leads me to believe that the USA version was slightly nerfed in difficulty. With that in mind, wouldn't the (J) version be preferred, due to it technically having the higher difficulty?
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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It would be reasonable to prefer it, but if the US one gives some significant advantages as well, you may also pick that, if you wish.
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.
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ars4326 wrote:
Your post reminded me of something peculiar that I noticed while doing the run. The first dragon mini-boss in the beginning took a lot more hits to kill than it did in the USA version (32 hits vs 24 hits). I wasn't paying attention to any to any other enemies, but this leads me to believe that the USA version was slightly nerfed in difficulty. With that in mind, wouldn't the (J) version be preferred, due to it technically having the higher difficulty?
I located all the memory addresses that hold enemy HP, so I could look into this easily enough (also damage output as well, just need to locate each enemy...)
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The best part of watching a Deadly Towers TAS is the flawless movements getting on and off the ladders.
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. ---- [2655] NES Deadly Towers (Japan) "inventory glitch" by ars4326 in 08:09.53
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Hey ars4326, I hope it's ok, but I changed the description of the publication from what you suggested. The wording you had originally presumes some degree of familiarity with the game already. Instead, I tried to put in something that would illustrate what makes the game so hard. I can go back to this, though, and try to put back in some of the humor from your suggested description.
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.
ars4326
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mklip2001 wrote:
Hey ars4326, I hope it's ok, but I changed the description of the publication from what you suggested. The wording you had originally presumes some degree of familiarity with the game already. Instead, I tried to put in something that would illustrate what makes the game so hard. I can go back to this, though, and try to put back in some of the humor from your suggested description.
It's all good, mklip2000! Being an older title, I did presume some familiarity but I liked your illustration with the 'Nintendo Hard' idea I had. Sometimes I assume familiarity too often, so this helped me become more aware of what to include in the future.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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So I looked into why it took more hits to kill the Red Dragon in the JP version. Apparently they changed the attack power of the Short Sword and Normal Sword in the US version. In the US version the power of swords is 6, 9, 16, 24. In the JP version it's 4, 8, 16, 24. Didn't notice any differences in enemy HP.
ars4326
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Dragondarch wrote:
So I looked into why it took more hits to kill the Red Dragon in the JP version. Apparently they changed the attack power of the Short Sword and Normal Sword in the US version. In the US version the power of swords is 6, 9, 16, 24. In the JP version it's 4, 8, 16, 24. Didn't notice any differences in enemy HP.
Thinking about it, that actually makes more sense that they changed the swords' ATK power over increasing the enemy's HP. It was definitely a noticeable difference between the two versions. Thanks for uncovering that!
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9