Recorded on Snes9x Improvement v6
Sync-Settings: WIP1 Timing ON; Left+Right/Up+Down OFF; Volume Envelope Heigh Reading OFF; Fake Mute Desync Workaround ON; Sync Samples With Sound CPU ON;
  • aim for fastest possible time but with 100% of items, sidequests, formulas etc.
  • abuse programming errors (Atlas-glitch, Desert-glitch, Diamond Eyes-glich etc.)
  • manipulate luck extremely much (in boss fights or critical parts almost every frame)
  • use "Death" in order to activate the Atlas-glitch
  • Genre: RPG
  • Frames: 446767
The Game: Secret of Evermore is a very good RPG game of Squaresoft. It was completely made in USA and is the successor of Secret of Mana.
The Story: A teenager from "Podunk" and his dog leave the cinema, the dog saw a cat and run after her. The boy followed them and both ended in front of a old hidden lab in which something went terribly wrong 30 years ago. There they found a machine that accidentaly teleported them to a fantasy world "Evermore" (almost like in MATRIX) and now they are stuck and can't return anymore. In this world they met some more people who are also from Podunk (the real world) like the boy and learned more about Evermore. Now they have to help out and complete many interesting and dangerous quests in different time-areas (from Prehistoria over Antiqua till future space station) in order to get back to their world again.
Graphic/Sound: The graphics are very nice (one of the best on SNES) especially the trees you can see in the foreground in Prehistoria. The sound is also extremely good from the realistic dangerous jungle background-sound till the great Hall of Collosia, Queen Bluegarden and many more tracks.
Moviemaking: This is a 100% walkthrough which shows how to beat the entire game in sensational 2 hours and 4 min while collecting at least 1 of every possible item, geting all formulas and beating all possible sidequests and bosses. It also shows every secret you can find.
I started this project in March 6th, 2005 and it took me almost a half year to complete mostly because of the extremely optimizings. During the moviemaking I learned many usefull techniques from running even faster till some tricks to manipulate luck even better. The biggest problem I had was that I could control 2 characters and finding the fastest possible route by switching in the right times required extremely much testings (you can see it on the re-record count). At the beginning of the movie I didn't know some of this optimizing-tricks (like running) which would save some sec but after the beginning of the 2nd World (Antiqua) the movie is absolutely flawless.
A real pain was to manipulate luck in some parts like let the enemies move in the wanted direction to not block your path since you can't know imediately what to press and have to test every combination. Optimizing the boss fights was also very hard. I had to find the max. damage of each Hard Ball I casted on them before I had Atlas. But definitely the worst thing of all was the killing of the Sphere Bots in Omnitopia to open the hatches for the boy. I had to find the best damage, had to manipulate the CPU boy to move in the needed direction and the acting of the enemies, all 3 problems at the same time.
Also very important was the planning, calculating and testing before the final recordings. Without planning I never could reach this time.
And last but not least I had troubles with desyncs. It took me some time to understand on which point the movie desyncs most, sometimes I worked very hard for a part in order to find out that it desyncs in the playback later so I had to record this part again and that really pissed me off. Only way to avoid that was to playback the movie after every new screen and make a new savestate there to record from it later.
All in all this movie is inhumanly perfect optimized (mostly on luck manipulations) and I'm very satisfied with the result. It's a absolute must to see for people who know this game.
If you need some savestates at the beginning of each world download them on my site: http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/snes9xmovies.htm
Enjoy the by far best optimized and longest worked out movie I ever did!
Oh and by the way: Are you interested in a secret scenario at the end? Then wait 2 min (with turbo faster of course) right after the "THE END" screen appears. You want more secrets? Then wait 30 more min! (yes indeed - 30 min) after the secret scenario. Still not enough? Then wait again 5 more min to see the last one!
Saturn

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #783: Saturn's SNES Secret of Evermore "100%" in 2:04:06.12
Active player, Editor (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7468
Location: Arzareth
That's... LONG :I
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
Yes vote from me. I've watched every WIP leading up to the release and have been thoroughly impressed by the play displayed here. It's been quite a wait ;o GJ, however.
Active player, Editor (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7468
Location: Arzareth
I'm inclined to vote yes, too. I watched part from the beginning with mixed feelings. It's very interesting to watch, and the play doesn't have mistakes that I as unexperienced player could spot, but I think that I should play the game myself before spoiling myself with this movie...
Player (24)
Joined: 4/23/2005
Posts: 435
Location: Germany
Yes, I have see many parts from the WIP, maybe 3/4, then I have make an error and delete my SaveState. I have not found the time to watch the missing parts, but these were short. So I have saw now the Last Stage and it looks complete fast and great. Much luck manipulation and well played. Congratulation for this great movie.
Last TAS finished: Final Fantasy Adventure (4.0 Warp Glitch Run) WIP in the moment: Tail Gator (GB) Matty
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I've watched some of the WIP versions and find that this run is of extremely high quality. You really go great lengths to show a movie that fans of the genre will appreciate. It's also incredible how you were able to squeeze all that gameplay in such a relatively short time. A firm yes vote from me. (In fact, I'd be inclined to give this run a star.)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 141
I've watched the speedrun from start to finish, and I must say that I am impressed with it. And how you managed to get everything in just a little over two hours just makes it even more impressive. A big YES from me.
Joined: 4/16/2005
Posts: 251
I've watched all the WIPs and now the final segment + ending and although I can't vote: Yes. The ending is one of the best in all SNES games. (I didn't even know about the second and third ending.. and neither do I understand them now)
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
I've been watching this one since it started, how I'm voting is a no-brainer. :) Excellent job, Saturn.
Player (65)
Joined: 3/29/2005
Posts: 229
Location: The boonies.
Well, the movie accomplishes its goals, and the run is pretty thoroughly optimized. But I'd still rather have an any% run. But I can't very well vote "Meh" for that, now can I?
If life were an RPG, I'd be an NPC.
Joined: 7/29/2004
Posts: 136
Location: Temple City, CA
There is no doubt in my mind that this deserves a yes vote. It does everything it aims to accomplish is such a short amount of time it is stunning.
"How can you prove you exist? Maybe we don't exist..." -Vivi Ornitier (Final Fantasy IX)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 191
oooo how i have waited for a run of this. watching it now and so far so good. unless something ghastly happens looks like it'll be getting a yes from me too EDIT - 3 questions so far... 1.) what does all the trading in the market accomplish? what do you get as a result of all that annoying noise? 2.) why do you run into the empty courtyard before going to the 2 guards? 3.) crits for 999+ how you able to do that at such a low level?
Ambassador, Experienced player (695)
Joined: 7/17/2004
Posts: 985
Location: The FLOATING CASTLE
Wow, that was pretty sweet. Some of the tricks were a bit slow to watch, but overall very interesting. Saturn clearly knows this game inside out. The timing of this submission is an amazing coincidence, I just finished playing through this game for the first time in years. I highly recommend FuSoYa's 2-player hack, though it wouldn't be allowable in a TAS.
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
Dark Mana wrote:
oooo how i have waited for a run of this. watching it now and so far so good. unless something ghastly happens looks like it'll be getting a yes from me too EDIT - 3 questions so far... 1.) what does all the trading in the market accomplish? what do you get as a result of all that annoying noise? 2.) why do you run into the empty courtyard before going to the 2 guards? 3.) crits for 999+ how you able to do that at such a low level?
1 - http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=29216#29216 2 - Not sure, can't recall that part. 3 - Due to the #1 bug.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
This was a long watch, lemme know when the short version is out... j/k. Unfortunately I have no idea about this game, and so on, but it looked very derandamnized and no excessive moves I could see. +1 to Yes. You feel stronger!
Player (209)
Joined: 2/18/2005
Posts: 1451
Dark Mana wrote:
1.) what does all the trading in the market accomplish? what do you get as a result of all that annoying noise? 2.) why do you run into the empty courtyard before going to the 2 guards? 3.) crits for 999+ how you able to do that at such a low level?
1.) As HSZZZ pointed out for the Atlas-glitch but also to get every possible trade-good you can buy in this market as fast as possible and to the cheapest prize since this is a 100% run which requires that. The running up and down in the market is because I was very limited on money so I had to buy "Rice" for 3 yewels and sell it for 4 at the bottom. On this way I got about 100 jewels each time and only on this way I could get the needed money for everything then. I also bought all the needed goods ahead for the Gothica World so I could exchange them for other goods there. You can check the result of this trading by going to the ring-mode and look in the purple pouch in the game after this all. 2.) I run in the empty courtyard just for showing the full location of Nobilia, the same is with the guards. This all happened in the unavoidable waiting time till the meeting so I don't lose time here at all. I think it's better this way than just standing and waiting for the meeting. 3.) This is the result of the Atlas-glitch like HSZZZ mentioned. Without this glitch I would lose definitely much more than 1 hour in the end result. I discovered this one myself accidentaly in early 1997 before anyone ever mentioned that anywhere. A bud even suggested me to report it somewhere to get some cash for it but in this time I was to lazy to do that.
See my perfect 100% movie-walkthroughs of the best RPG games on http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/index.htm Current TAS project (with new videos): Super Metroid Redesign, any% speedrun
Joined: 9/12/2004
Posts: 184
Location: Austria/Styria
I can't find this movie on IMDB so I can give it a 10 star rating :(... Meaning: I WANT MY 2 HOURS OF MY LIFE BACK SUCKER, JK ;) Yes vote :)
Player (209)
Joined: 2/18/2005
Posts: 1451
nice one :-)
See my perfect 100% movie-walkthroughs of the best RPG games on http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/index.htm Current TAS project (with new videos): Super Metroid Redesign, any% speedrun
Shingen
He/Him
Joined: 11/23/2004
Posts: 68
Location: Urf
YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES. That is all. (Suggestion for screenshot: the crazy prophet in the market saying "we're in a video game!") (And for that matter, who is Bill?)
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Very nice movie. I would have rather seen the any%, but this was good as is. Even though I had played this game countless times before, I never knew some of these things existed. Also, thanks for giving me a way to pass 2 hours of work very quickly :D Yes vote
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Player (209)
Joined: 2/18/2005
Posts: 1451
Shingen: I agree with the picture "We are in a video Game", good idea. Bill is one of the programmers of this game. I heard once he made something wrong in his work and for a gag they decided to implent this in the game but very good hided.
Zurreco wrote:
Also, thanks for giving me a way to pass 2 hours of work very quickly :D Yes vote
No problem. Sadly my boss would kill me if I would do that during work :-(
See my perfect 100% movie-walkthroughs of the best RPG games on http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/index.htm Current TAS project (with new videos): Super Metroid Redesign, any% speedrun
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
It's my last day here anyways. Might as well go out with a bang :)
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Shingen
He/Him
Joined: 11/23/2004
Posts: 68
Location: Urf
Saturn wrote:
Shingen: I agree with the picture "We are in a video Game", good idea.
First time I played this game, I burst a seam laughing, then turned him into a basket. In retrospect, despite the rewards you get for not turning him into anything, I think I made the better choice, considering I wasn't speedrunning :-p
Player (209)
Joined: 2/18/2005
Posts: 1451
I was a bit surprised seeing this statement first time. As a 100% freak I always prefered the reward, though. Anyway, here is the screenshot we are talking about: EDIT: Damn, it don't want to display it. Just type in this link manually then: http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/SOE_Video-Game.png
See my perfect 100% movie-walkthroughs of the best RPG games on http://www.freewebs.com/saturnsmovies/index.htm Current TAS project (with new videos): Super Metroid Redesign, any% speedrun
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
Location: United States
Ah, Secret of Evermore. . . It's one of those really weird-ass games that you simply can't find anymore for less than $24.99.(Or sometimes $150.00, if you're a really greedy bastard.) Using the Seiken Densetsu 2(Secret of Mana) engine, Squaresoft USA was able to make this less-than-successful game a reality. As stated, in this game, you play the roles of a boy and his dog, both stranded in a very strange and varying world simply known as "Evermore". From prehistoric, to Egyptian, to Medivel, to the future, this game has a little bit of everything. . .and a whole lots of glitches. However, only a few of them have been exploited here. It should also be noted that for whatever reason, it is physically impossible to emulate the sound for this game correctly on any emulator, so if you think that the sound is a bit loud, long, or otherwise ugly. . .rest assuredly, it's nothing more than an emulation error. Or even quite possibly something involved with the ROM itself. Though I will admit, the actual cart is just as noisy, particularly when fighting Carltron at the end of the game. Can we say "instant headache"? Sheesh. . . But anyway, let's get into it. Unknown Location: The Beginning General Comments - No comments. Mini-Boss: Guard Bots - Nice, quick disposal of the guard robots. Bugmuck: Searching for Strongheart General Comments - Now that's effective use of the two-person party system. Nicely done, switching back and forth and using both members to attack and collect items, enter caves, etc. Oh, and run about. - Is it just me, or is this kid like a short and young version of Guybrush Threepwood? Heh. Mini-Boss: Raptors - Quick and easy disposal of the Raptors mini-boss proved useful in levelling up both The Boy and The Dog(Saturn and (the to-be-named)Nirvana). Boss: Thraxx - *laughs* Nicely done! Excellent use of the ol' 8x Alchemy glitch! XD Volcanoic Catacombs: Volcano is Cooling Down Rapidly General Comments - Again, excellent teamwork between The Boy and The Dog. - Also, nice work on getting Mud Peppers from the Viper Commander with no delay. Even if you did kill the ambience in the process. Oops. Mini-boss: Vipers and Viper Commander - Pretty damned effective method for scouting the area and beating the Vipers. Boss: Salabog - Could you possibly be any faster? Damn. Boss: Magmar - Whoa. Superb job on completely erraticating Magmar. Noblia: Reunite With Your Dog General Comments - What the Hell happened? One minute you're running through the desert. . .the next, you're in Noblia. Weird. . . - . . .what the Hell were you doing with that spider just outside of Noblia? No, seriously. I want to know what you spent, like, five minutes doing there. I don't get it, and it doesn't seem to be listed on this FAQ I have. It didn't look to me like you were levelling up anything, either. . . - Lemme guess. You saved your game and died to. . .enable one of those perma-status dealies. It didn't seem to work, though. But I could be wrong. - "I wonder if that rock will ever land?" Heh. I'm serious, Guybrush Threepwood must'a been inspiration for this kid. - Just so you know, the Silver Sheath is actually useless in this game. Due to a bug caused by complete and utter accident in testing, the Silver Sheath's effect is always in effect. Your swords are always powered-up. This was verified by the head programmer himself via the GameFAQs.com forums one day in 2004. But yeah, I know you said "every side-quest". So. . . Boss: Vigor the Indestructable - I see them. Do you? Yes indeed. I see Lock, Mog, Relm, Stragus, Tina, and what looks to be Umaro. And they're all under that tarp. They're the only ones not moving, too. How bizarre. - "And introducing the challenger. . . Some loser with a stick!" Hee hee hee. - Whoa. Apparently that perma-Atlus thing you did did work. Yow. . . Halls of Collosia/Great Pyramid: Treasure Hunting for Diamond Eyes General Comments - "Wow! It sure took a long time for that rock to fall!" Hee hee hee. . . I forgot why I loved this game so much back in the day. . . - Once again, you impress me with your extremely effective teamwork between The Boy and The Dog. - It's nice that The Dog can apparently walk on air, isn't it?(And actually, he can in Omnitopia if you use a "dog modifier" code, but that's beside the point.) - Same goes for The Boy being able to pass right through walls if he's far enough away. Hah! - Mini-Boss: Mini-Taur - Never stood a chance. Mini-Boss: Rouges - Also never stood a chance. Boss: Megataur - Took two(three) whole hits to take down. I bet you're lovin' that Atlus perma-stat by now. Heh. Mini-Boss: Sons of Anhur - What can I honestly say about these buggers? They died in one hit. Period. Boss: Eye of Rimsala - Do I really need to repeat myself? Boss: Aegis - Aww. . . I wanted to see you kick some Bad Dawg ass. Oh well. Horace's Encampment: The Undiscovered Territories of Evermore General Comments - Ooh. . . That fall down the waterfall had to hurt. Boss: Aquagoth - Playin' "Hard Ball" again, eh? Sorry, Aquagoth. Game called on account of electrical death! Heh. Ivor Tower South: The Exhibition, Pig Races, and the Banquet General Comments - Ahh. . .more trading game stuff. . . Fun. Not nearly as long, though, this time. - I have to admit. . . Watching The Dog in his poodle form from the side is really weird. Like he's trying to hump something or something. - Nice, quick work with the tunnels under Ivor Tower, dude. - Equally nice work on getting out of those sewers. Land of Gothica: Journey to Ebon Keep General Comments - Nice, quick, and pointed navigation of the Dark Forest. As quick as possible, anyway. - Is it just me, or are those armored porcupines possibly a reference to Sparkster, the Rocket Knight? Just a random thought. . . - Hey, look! It's Cecil Harvey! Or is it? He really doesn't look much like a Dark Knight or Paladin in this game. But if Square USA says it's Cecil, then by gum, it must be him. =P - Also, explain to me how Cecil could have possibly managed to have found a god damned Bazooka in "one of his travels". What? From Giott, maybe? I dunno. Additionally, if this world was made in the 1960s, how on Earth is Cecil there in the 1990s? Simple answer: Really bad writing and product placement. - "We've met evil twins everywhere we go!" Again, Square USA must'a gotten bored when they were writing this or something. Seriously. Heh. Boss: Footknight - DELETED! Mini-Boss: Bad Boys - SPEAR'D!! Boss: Timberdrake - BURNINATED!!! Boss: Verminator - You get the idea.(And actually, he was more "burninated" than Timberdrake, so. . .) Land of Gothica: Going Back to Ivor Tower General Comments - Since when does a telescope have a directional microphone attached to it. Particularly one crafted with medivel technology?? - One more unto the breach and into the sewers, eh? - Dayum! The Evil Queen must'a been one heavy load to do that much structural damage in such a short time. Mini-Boss: Stainglass Rouges, Vipers, and Satyrs - Much like all bosses to this point, these five critters never stood a chance. Boss: Sterling - Not much of a challenge by this point, dragon or not. Boss: Mungola - Wow. He's hardly the creature that exibitionist described, huh? All Over Evermore: One Way Flight to Omnitopia General Comments - How the Hell'd your Windwaker get from one place to another without you moving it? Yeesh. Square USA really didn't think this through. Boss: Coleoptera - What? Again? Square couldn't think of something else to jam in there? It had to be another giant bug? Meh. . . Mini-Boss: Tiny and the Oglins - "Oglins understand Tiny, so Tiny throw them at boy and dog." Pinhead. Heh. Omnitopia: Find Dr. Sidney Ruffleberg General Comments - I hated this place. Omnitopia sucks. On the bright side, you seem to have found ways to zoom through it in record time. Groovy stuff. - Why on Earth did you leave the lights on in the Greenhouse? Just to show off? :x - Mini-Boss: Faces - Pretty simple stuff, apparently. Nuked them in record time. And up until a couple days ago, I didn't even know about that room! Mini-Boss: Guard Bots - Reading this guide, I see that this dude wrote "HP: Not much" for their HP. Heh. That's cool. Kind of irrelivant, though, considering you never fought them. Ah well. Gothica Ravine: Retrieve the Energy Core General Comments - No comments here. Not much really happened during this part. But hey! We're gettin' to the home stretch, folks. . . Omnitopia: The Final Battle General Comments - The end of the movie should always be when you can no longer press a button to make something happen. The final conversation with Dr. Ruffleburg has such events. Therefore, this movie is technically incomplete. . . But only technically. Mini-Boss: Mecha Raptors, Mecha Dusters, Death Spiders, Rimsalas, Bad Boys and Dark Toasters - Talk about cleaning house. . . Man, none of these guys stood for longer than a few seconds. Boss: Metal Magmar - Magmar stood, but only just. Then again, he had a ton of Hit Points. Final Boss: Carltron's Robot - For being the final boss, he sure wasn't that tough. Should This Movie Be Published?: Yes. Reasoning for My Vote: As said above, this movie is technically incomplete seeing as the game still responds to button presses after the last battle. But then again, I think we can bend that rule a little considering all the rest of the interaction involves pressing one button, and it's not required. Otherwise, this is a pretty damned good 100%/Best Time run. Comments? Critique?: Nothing that I can think of. I didn't see you do anything wrong or anything that needs improving. Period. Anything Else?: This playthrough rocks. I might like to see a pure Speed Run, though. One that doesn't collect 100% of all items. Do I Type Too Much?: Yes! Yes I do! >_> <_<; [Edit by Bisqwit: Made font size relative]
I'm not that hard to find... if you know where to look. -=( http://jolikmc.tumblr.com )=-