Before I talk about the actual run itself, let me talk about how broken Yabause and SaturnHawk are, since I had to deal with a lot of crap to get this thing done.
First off, Yabause doesn't have a frame display. Or input display. Luckily, Notepad++ exists so I could at least use that as a way to see how I'm doing. Unfortunately, the built-in AVI dumping causes desyncs in the actual movie, so a video can't be provided at this time. Yeah, it makes no sense. Elsewise it syncs just fine, amazingly enough.
SaturnHawk by comparison isn't quite as bad, but its crippling problem is that savestates completely break loading zones, which means it's completely worthless for TASing unfortunately.
Anyway, on to the actual run.
This run is an improvement of about 9-10 seconds compared to arukAdo's original run, although I started input on the title screen instead of the opening logos, which makes it appear to be much slower then it actually is. The improvement comes from a few new tricks discovered in the years since his run, including a different Shaft fight and minor optimizations throughout.

Opening


A few frames were saved in the opening by canceling kicks on enemies, which allows me to avoid some minor downtime at the end of them. I also saved a few frames doing two diagonal high jumps to the block button instead of two horizontal high jumps, which allows me to land directly on the button with the momentum from it.

Alchemy Laboratory


Minor timesaves climbing thanks to finding a way to get some diagonal high jumps in the long rooms, which allow me to avoid hitting the ceiling/dive kicking to the opening. Another minor timesave is doing a backdash out of the magic door instead of a jump.

Royal Chapel


Minor timesave at the beginning doing a diagonal jump into the staircase instead of a horizontal one, allowing me to get a head start into it. The Griffon fight is slightly slower due to not being able to manipulate a critical high jump. Last minor timesave at the very end of the area by ending an air kick early and instead using the momentum from a dive kick into the door, saving about 7-8 frames or so.

Inverted Chapel


Minor timesave on Medusa thanks to a few axes. Also saved some time on the out of bounds thanks to a new trick that cuts out half a screen of travel, and using momentum from axes to preserve my kick speed slightly longer.

Reverse Colosseum


Using axes right before getting hit increases fall speed slightly, saving a few frames. Using axes also lets me skip getting hit by a werewolf towards the end.

Black Marble Gallery


Minor save avoiding hitting the ceiling getting to the clock.

Shaft


Minor save using the Blue Dragon summon and maneuvering it so I could end input slightly earlier then doing charged jump kicks.

Final Thoughts


Using Yabause and SaturnHawk was hell, but overall I liked TASing a Castlevania game. So, yeah.

Fog: Judging.
Fog: Great Run! Accepting as an improvement to the previous publication.
feos: I'll try.
Fog: Yoink!
Fog: Ok, something has been brought to my attention while going through the publication process.
The author has made the start of input not from boot, but from the main menu. This was overlooked initially by me. However, initial movie editing efforts do get me about half-way through the submission.
I'm sure that with more time handling editing the movie file, the run could be made to sync while cutting out the intro movies. Until then, I'm marking this as delayed.
Fog: Replacing movie file with a 980 frame improvement to skip through the intro videos.
Fog: "Great Run! Accepting as an improvement to the previous publication."
AntyMew: Processing...

TASVideoAgent
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Spikestuff
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No video because Yabause video dumping is completely broken. Help.
On it, I think... also sync checking and other jazz that I'm forcing myself to do. Syncs Dump Sync: Syns, kind of... Soft Graphics Seizure Mode, syncs. OpenGL desyncs, only syncs when Auto Frame skipping is disabled, which will cause issue for audio dumping, but you can half and half it. Temp Encode?: No.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. These colours are pretty neato, and also these.
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Maybe you could record the emulator window using Bandicam or something?
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Ford
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Looking forward to seeing this video once an encode is up. Assuming that is possible.
Guga
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Temp Encode (has some A/V desync though): Link to video
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Thank you Guga for the encode! As it is, entertaining run. Probably going to be Saturn TAS of 2016. Voting yes.
Invariel
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That was really nice, with some really smooth looking movements. Also, I think the area you're referring to in the submission comments (with the Minotaurs) is the Reverse Colosseum.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is Samsara last edited by Invariel on 2015-07-26 02:08:14
mklip2001
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Thank you, Guga! The run seems pretty good. I don't know arukAdo's run well enough to spot most of the differences in movement, but I did notice the use of axes. This kind of run is a little more interesting than the Richter runs since Maria has several ways of dominating bosses instead of just a single Hydro Storm. 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.
Fortranm
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Invariel wrote:
That was really nice, with some really smooth looking movements. Also, I think the area you're referring to in the submission comments (with the Minotaurs) is the Reverse Colosseum.
The area before the final boss is Black Marble Gallery, not Inverted Clock Tower.
scrimpeh wrote:
Thank you Guga for the encode! As it is, entertaining run. Probably going to be Saturn TAS of 2016. Voting yes.
Sadly, there is no such award. There is only one award for all Sega Consoles. Otherwise the two published Saturn runs should have become the Saturn TAS of the year automatically. :P Lastly but definitely not leastly, YES vote.
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Hey, thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. I fixed up the description slightly so it's, you know, more accurate.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
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Nice, glad to finally see an updated Maria run. Also, props for sticking with it despite all of the emulator issues. Yes vote.
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This is a short run, but amazing and fun. yes vote
GAW sms... Totally destroyed
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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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Oh yeah feos, if you're publishing this it's worth noting input actually starts at frame 1448, so the actual run time is like 6:37:55 or something.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
AntyMew
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arandomgameTASer wrote:
Oh yeah feos, if you're publishing this it's worth noting input actually starts at frame 1448, so the actual run time is like 6:37:55 or something.
What? The run starts from power on, blank input or no
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Hi random, did you know
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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Is any progress being made on the resync?
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
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random can't get that frame display working at all, that's all I know.
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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I'll probably work on the re-sync tonight
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. ---- [3130] Saturn Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "Maria Mode" by arandomgameTASer in 06:45.72