(Link to video)
Allow me to begin with an explanation of the differences between the 3 branches of Zelda II movies.
This movie, which I'm just calling "any%" here, (or "warps," colloquially) is a new branch that allows warps but not the scroll-lock glitch. Speedrun.com calls this category "any% no scroll-lock." For this run's categories, remove the "forgoes time-saving glitches" category (which should have been "forgoes warps"), but keep the "forgoes major skip glitch" category. A "warp" (or "wrong warp") in Zelda II is when an exit takes Link somewhere other than where that exit is supposed exit into. The three warp glitches that I use in this run all follow the same rule:
  • With the healer glitch, Link is supposed to exit outside the healer's house, but instead he exits into Glitch Town.
  • With the recently discovered encounter glitch, Link is supposed to exit to the overworld tile from which he entered, but instead he exits on the opposite side.
  • With the fairy glitch, Link is supposed to exit to the room above, but instead he exits to the room below or to the right (or elsewhere).
The "warpless" branch, which is also known as "any% no OoB" on speedrun.com, allows basic glitches but none of these warps. Here are some examples of time-savers used in the warpless run that are not warps:
  • When we walk on the ceiling, we exit to the right like normal, just from a higher Y-axis position. The game correctly exits into the screen that is to the right.
  • A random battle occurs before reaching the encounter tile. After reaching the exit of the random battle, the game correctly exits into the next tile onto which Link was stepping. We never trigger the encounter tile entry.
  • Fairying through a door is a basic feature of the game and doesn't warp anywhere.
  • Up+A is a standard game restart sequence that resets everything to a fresh state except for Link's levels. It has nothing to do with unintended exits.
The "warp glitch" branch, which is just "any%" on speedrun.com, allows both the scroll-lock and hyperspeed glitches. These extremely gamebreaking glitches transform the game into an unrecognizable mess. Every exit becomes broken and Link can bypass the Great Palace barrier without placing any crystals, and so the game ends after 5 minutes of madness.
Now, let's talk about the specific differences between this movie and the warpless movie. This movie ends 25056 frames earlier than the warpless movie. For illustrative purposes, this chart helps visualize where the movies significantly differ. The chart shows a classic rise-fall-rise story like Cinderella, with an especially powerful climactic ending.
At this point I am going to point out all of the main differences between the two versions. This information will spoil what happens in the movie, and so you may wish to stop and view the movie first. You can also check my spreadsheet for complete details about screen differences.
What this movie generally does that the warpless movie does not:
  • Immediately goes to Rauru and performs the healer glitch.
  • Takes the backdoor route to Death Mountain instead of through Saria.
  • Uses the encounter glitch on the bridge.
  • Obtains experience in a different way in Death Mountain.
  • Restarts immediately after getting the hammer (skips the Magic Container).
  • Gets the statue from the cave.
  • Goes to Ruto and learns Jump.
  • Reverses Downstab and Fairy order in Mido.
  • Gets the Magic Container from the cave before Parapa. This decision came after a long internal debate about whether to go 2-2-1 or 1-3-1 in Death Mountain because of how much time it would take to finish Parapa with the necessary levels. After much research, I found that the correct answer was neither, and everything I had done was a waste of time, because I would need 6 Magic Containers to get Reflect later.
  • Makes no changes in the Island Palace, but I spent a long time looking into using the fairy glitch here. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to make it work with the long-term planning of the movie. I need the experience to get to Magic-5 by the end of the palace.
  • Takes Magic Container in the Maze before going to Darunia.
  • Skips all 4 traps at Darunia.
  • Takes all of the shortcuts through the Maze via the encounter glitch.
  • Uses a completely new method to get through the Maze Palace because I have only 6 Magic Containers instead of 7.
  • Minor changes in the Sea Palace.
  • Longer, more entertaining Gooma fight because I have Attack-3 instead of 5. Link never touches the ground.
  • Skips the 3 rock geru traps.
  • Completely skips Kasuto and the Magic Container.
  • Skips the bridge to the Rock Palace.
  • Gets a magic jar in the Rock Palace in a slithery manner.
  • Uses the fairy glitch to skip 2 screens.
  • Wicked awesome whirlwind to kill the paltamu.
  • Fights Rebonack II at Attack-4 instead of 6.
  • A crown jewel, silky smooth boss battle against Volvagia at Attack-4 instead of 6.
  • Skips Thunder in Old Kasuto.
  • Skips 2 traps before the Valley of Death and the 3 traps within it.
  • Achieves a useful forward damage boost in the MothaFokka room! See the .gif at http://i.imgur.com/YqhCz5T.gif
  • Uses two consecutive fairy glitches to skip Thunderbird.
  • Dark Link fights are always different in different versions.
Credits: Inzult, FatRatKnight, PresJPolk, CrystalSaver
Screenshot:

Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Being unburdened by the restriction of skips and tricks other than breaking the game with L+R movement, this run brings a creative new route compared to the "warpless" branch. Viewer response seems to agree. Accepting as a new standard branch, with the former branchless movie relabeled to "warpless".
feos: The other run will be up soon, claiming this one meanwhile.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5264: Arc & Inzult's NES Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in 38:38.45
Active player (421)
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Yes vote. A Thing occurs to me. Would it be faster to use the lady guarding Reflect spell to healer glitch into glitch town and exit darunia that way after grapping the spell? Probably not, it takes a while for her to spawn. But I'm curious.
Kung_Knut
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Loved so many parts of this run: The route to death mountain, beating the crap out of Gooma, literally everything about palace 6 and you toying with those orange skulls in several of the rooms of the Great palace, just to name a few. Thanks, Arc. Yes vote.
Arc
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Inzult wrote:
A Thing occurs to me. Would it be faster to use the lady guarding Reflect spell to healer glitch into glitch town and exit darunia that way after grapping the spell? Probably not, it takes a while for her to spawn. But I'm curious.
I tried the healer glitch on her and it takes me into the house like usual.
Kung Knut wrote:
Thanks, Arc. Yes vote.
Thank you. Glad to hear that you liked the new elements.
Active player (421)
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Arc wrote:
I tried the healer glitch on her and it takes me into the house like usual.
You know what, this makes sense. I should have inferred this. Or remembered it maybe. However brains work.
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I never played this game before, but is there no 100% item collection like other Zelda games?
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Zelda 2 is probably less controversial in terms of what counts as 100% compared with other zelda games. But nobody's been interested in making a high quality tas of that run thus far. I've seen a 100% AK tas by Boats, but it was more of a theory tas.
mklip2001
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I liked this run enough for it to merit publication as a separate category, in my opinion. There were a lot of different strategies because of the different magic levels and containers. Nice going!
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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Run verified on console.
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
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The screenshot looks blurred for whatever reason. What frame is that?
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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Hello? Everybody just died? Also, do other movie tags from "warpless" than the ones explicitly mentioned in the submission still apply?
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.
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. ---- [3256] NES Zelda II: The Adventure of Link by Arc & Inzult in 38:38.45
Kung_Knut
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I rewatched this (still loved it), but could not figure out the following (which I am hoping Arc might answer if/when he visits this thread sometime): When killing off Caroc (boss in Maze palace), you cancel the 1000 attack level-up, and not in favour of getting any other level-up before resetting when grabbing the boots. Later, in the ocean palace, you get and take the 1000 attack level-up. So, why did you not take the level-up already in the Maze palace? Thanks!
Arc
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One of the biggest challenges in the run was calculating whether leveling up was worth the time that it takes, because it takes 184 frames to accept a level-up compared to 29 frames to cancel. I understand that it looks like the 1000 Exp is wasted, but basically I don't want the level up because I want to limit Link's final levels to Attack 4 and Magic 5. The Maze is also the last chance to restart in the run (which resets Exp to 0), and so the math wouldn't work properly if done otherwise. Here's a post where I sort of explained it at the time: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=442011#442011
Kung_Knut
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Thanks. I thought a cancel vs accept was the reason, but couldn't get the math to add up. Having read your post linked from your post above, I realized I'd not thought about the palace 6 crystal level-up. Now it makes sense. Thanks again.