Revenge of Shinobi
This run uses lots of new glitches and a new ceiling clip to achieve a time about 48 seconds faster than the previous TAS. More details below.
New improved movie. 19 frames faster and several changes for entertainment added.
Below is a video that shows the improved movie's inputs while the video plays since I have gotten multiple questions about it.
After seeing a video post from Bluslider in the Shinobi Speedrunning forum I decided to experiment with the infinite jump technique he found. After seeing easy improvements possible I worked at it and got a good portion of it done. Then I saw Clément D's TAS attempt on youtube which used some techniques and gave me a couple ideas. After even further experimentation I found a couple glitches which I used to save more time. This including two ways of performing ceiling clips one of which I encountered on accident which led to large time saves on 7-2 and skipping most of 8-2. Here are the most important glitches. The various states of movement and such may require a graph of some kind.
Note that this run uses REV01. sempura, a user on speedrun.com, noted that the Spiderman and (NOT) Batman fight in REV01 was the fastest. It is a little over 100 frames faster than REV00.
Quick Explanation
Air Walk
Jump on a specific frame on landing and you bounce up in the Walking State while in the Air. Allows you to then Jump and then do another double jump. Air Walk can also be achieved by walking of a ledge and holding the walking state with two opposite directionals held. Extremely useful.
Infinite Jump
Using UDLR while jumping are certain height ranges will allow you to shoot a kunai and this then puts you in a Walking State. This can then be used to jump and UDLR again, then jump etc.
Infinite Double Jump
Using UDLRB while in the jumping state.
Hold State
Holding multiple directionals allows you to keep the animation you are in. This applies for most states. With this you can keep the smaller size double jump state and roll for a longer time.
Ceiling Clip
By using the Airwalk to either stay in the double jump state or crouch then release near a low ceiling you can clip a ceiling.
More Details
UDLR
-After jumping on way up or on way down at certain height limit will shoot kunai left. then allows you to perform a full jump as if on ground. Works faster to jump if you hold R. This can be chained indefinitely.
-If you are in a ceiling or walking it does not freeze your X while attacking or change or position. Useful for alternating with jump to get higher speed than normal.
-After jumping without powerup will only shoot kunai backwards
-Will shoot kunai even if you have none. Rarely used since you need LOTS of kunai for the Kunai Wheel move since this game is really laggy.
-Alternating this on the ground will shoot kunai super fast. Useful for enemies behind you, but not effective on bosses on bosses besides the Disco Ninja.
UDLRB (Air Walk When Used on Landing / Double Jump in Air)
- On way down will shoot kunai wheel or double jump. if you wait for a while to return to the normal falling animation you can then double jump again. Double jumps in air can be chained indefinitely, but you lose height slowly for each use.
- If you land on same frame then you do the Air Walk.
- Without powerup you just shoot the kunai.
- If you hold UD after then you will be the in the WALKING state even though you are in the double jump animation. This is the reason for why the ceiling clip is possible.
- When used on levels with layers, such as the army area with the fence or the bridge level this will make you change layers. Normally only possible during the standing double jump.
- NOTE that the original Air Walk height is the same as that of a double jump.
- NOTE when moving left this will move you right. Needs careful consideration if you are need this.
- Game will RESET if you try to do this technique with 0 kunai.
Holding Opposite Two/Three/Four Directionals
This will retain certain animation states. Typically the use is you activate one an animation then hold it.
- LR moves right holding current animation.
- UDL moves left holding current animation.
- UDR moves right holding current animation.
- UD can be used to hold animations without moving like the double jump animation.
Ceiling Clip Details
- After using the Air Walk If you hold UD after then you will be the in the WALKING state even though you are in the double jump animation. This is the reason for why the ceiling clip is possible. If you are near a low ceiling you can essentially be in the smaller form of the double jump then when near the ceiling you release UD. This will change the sprite to walking in the ceiling. You can then jump / double jump/ crouch.
- Using the Crouch is beneficial to get in the ceiling since it will allow you last longer if you are going for distance. But crouch has a speed is 1 pixel so it is slower than walking's 1.5 pixels.
- When in the ceiling the game will push you LEFT only. if you are near the very top of the ceiling object you will be bumped up, but mostly you will be pushed down.
- When in the ceiling and moving left the game will give you an additional push increasing your speed about 50%.
- The 8-2 skip is humanly doable. What happens is that when you jump and the the double jump height is at the same height of a platform you can do the Air walk. This allows you do hold down to crouch, and when near the ceiling, then release down. The character is in the ceiling and you need to jump again. If you have enough height the ninja should be OOB. Link to the SRC thread in additional resources.
UDR / ULR
Will make enemies think you are crouched when in fact you are standing, or vice versa. this is good for manipulating whether enemies are firing standing or crouched. Also used for a little comedy since the enemy input reads like nothing else at times.
UDLRC
- Walk Backwards using the non powerup walk. Does not actually walk backwards.
- (On landing while airwalking).Will ignore ledge and retain downward speed
UDLRBC on Land Holding Two Directionals
You do stabbing animations continually backwards. Useful for killing enemies left and slightly above you. That take no kunai.
Extended Kunai
Kunai exist for a short distance when off screen and are not cleaned up like normal. They can pierce objects and enemies. Difficult to use.
Damage Boost
Normal walking speed in 1.5, damage boosting gives you 2. However you have to use this carefully since there is a very large down time after you get hit. Only used once in the middle of a level at a high height. Typically if you fall on an enemy you can avoid losing the powerup.
Ledge Help
If you are close to the top of a ledge while jumping the game can possibly help you out and increase your height slightly, like 8 pixels or so.
Stage 1
1-1
Not sure if it is due to lag differences, but it seems start is a frame or two faster than the original run on gens. Usually it is the otherway around. At 1-1 you start with no kunai as per the other runs. This allows us to show something rare, a shurikin parry. When you have no kunai and use a physical attack there is a short window where you can parry projectiles. The only time in the run you see this. Once you have kunai and the powerup you have a lot more options with the multiple inputs at once. On this starting stage you begin to see a lot of the unusual movement, attack, and jump techniques. There is a constant struggle is to find and keep kunai so I will only use kunai wheels when I can and try to use single kunai or physical attacks.
Note: There is a glitch here that is possible with one of the dogs that is stationary. If you kill it and then walk over that spot you can throw invisible kunai. This is most likely due to the kunai erasing ability of the dog. I do not show this here due to losing time.
1-2
Here this is a switch at the start and it is important to not load up or too far right otherwise the door takes longer to load. I use the Hold State to have the stationary crouch position go through the door opening. That ironically has a faster speed that actually moving while crouching. Here you can see some input reading from the ninja on the other side of the door so I use some manipulation on him so he shoots while standing. To have that happen you have be pressing ULR instead of UDR in order for the enemy to think you are standing while you are moving forward while crouched. You have to then go forward enough to hit another trigger to unlock a hidden door that leads to the next mansion. When double jumping above the traps there is a slight gap that allows me to fire a kunai wheel while I hold the double jump animation. There is a slight penality when you use the forced double jump UDLRB but it saves more time than normally double jumping. This hits the hidden 50 kunai pickup and a ninja. Continuing on through the passage I use a n Air Walk to Jump high then do a double jump which barely allows me to land up in the second mansion.
1-3 Samurai
On the final two hits I instead jump up faster to him faster since you need to hit his face to damage him. Then I use a UDLRB forced double jump and kunai wheel to deal the final hit, doing this a little faster.
Note: If you kill him and move off screen it is possible for the boss fight to not end.
Stage 2
2-1
Waterfall level is normally tricky since timing the logs can be tricky as they fall. However with the Infinite Double Jump trick this is no problem. There is a specific series of movements that need to be done to manipulate the log falling early. The early logs is not performed here since I can just do the infinite Double Jumps. There is also some odd sound effect drop near the beginning after killing an enemy. Note that the existing TAS does not do early logs so this part is improved.
2-2
Complicated layout on this stage. Lots of stuff both high and low. Here I need to be aggressive as I can to get kunai and move up and down to make that happen. There is a very useful trick of falling off of a ledge, throwing a kunai, and forcing a double jump which lets me grab even more kunai. You get to see some more backwards facing jumps with UDLRB near boxes. At the end I use a damage boost up high which happens to be 2 frames faster than just normally moving to the exit. Damage boosting is 2 pixels per frame, while walking is 1.5.
2-3 Disco Ninja
You can bait him to jump up near you if you move forward and jump. This boss input reads really hard. Using a tech to use kunai wheels in rapid succession along with a forced UDLRB double jump. Then a smack him when he is down to finish the fight faster. This one is much faster than the existing one.
Stage 3
3-1
This army area has two layers, in front and behind the fence which is normally changed with a double jump. However I use UDLRB to force a double jump in the air and on the ground to change layers to get kunai and kill enemies to reduce lag. This round was pretty fun to do.
3-2
The jump glitches comes in handy here for the start and end to make it faster. This is pretty straightforward, you just have avoid the opening doors and couple bullets.
3-3 Brain
Strange boss. Seems that waiting will cause him to come out faster, but if you hit him too much he never comes out and is impossible to kill. Faster since I use a trick to just walk through half the boss with the powerup and slightly better movement. When you have the powerup you gain some invulnerability and on this boss that happens to be enough.
Stage 4
4-1
This has a lot of enemies in odd positions many of them below you. If you leave them be the level lags so kunai wheels are necessary to knock them out. Damage boost at end.
4-2
Awful awful evil level. Depending on the cycle you get you can get royally screwed. This happens to be a good cycle that avoids a lot of the Iron presses, Falling Explosives, and Flame Jets. Uses lots of jump tech to complete this level in a way not possible normally.
The first section uses the Infinite Double Jump trick. I stay near the middle of this walkway since if you go too high the enemies bullets and falling explosive will cause more lag. There are backward turning belt pathways(?) on the ground, and landing on them will kill your forward speed.
The middle section avoid looking at the flame jets above and below as much as possible and uses an Air Walks, then a jump and multiple double jumps. There is a crane here which causes massive headaches since it is a frame or two away from getting getting an optimal landing to go up. Use a kunai wheel to kill that soldier since he will shoot you. It is possible to force him to shoot in the crouched position and you can clear the bullets, but you jump too far back and then sacrifice jump height since you will just barely clip the ceiling.
The last section does an Air Walk to a Jump to a double jump. Hold that double jump state and then fire a kunai wheel making most of the bullets immidiately dissapear into the ground to reduce lag, but be forward just enough so that you can kill the soldier in front. We want to walk forward to Air Walk as soon as possible. After starting the Air Walk do a UDLR kunai throw which puts you in the Air Walk state, then do a Jump and a Double jump at the end.
The path chosen here is slightly faster than if you were to take the upper route. The upper route has more vertical movement with more forward delays as well as a lift at the end that you need to delay forward for. Also note that using jump ninjitsu is slower.
4-3 Hulkinator
Getting him to have the box is better than the car since it allows you to get in closer and deal damage faster. Frustrating since it seems random with what he appears with.
Stage 5
5-1
Fun vertical level. Lots of vertical movement tech here. Near the top you can land on those guns so I delay slightly so it comes down. There is a trick where if you are near the top of a platform the game will kindly give you like 8 pixels in height to reach the platform. Trigger to end the level is at the top right. Using the double jump technique here will make you reach the top faster than just waiting for the jump to reach its apex. No jump ninjitsu used at all!
5-2
The most fun level in the game besides 5-1! This bridge level has two layers slightly offset from each other. One layer has lots of pits and small platforms with soldiers on them, while the other layer has kunoichi and on coming cars. I use the Instant Kunai with the UDLR to shoot backwards without losing speed. Lots of movement tech here. There is a fun glitch where if you force a double jump low on the bottom layer you can get behind the other layer without getting stuck in any object. You can see the shinobi disappear for a short period. There is a hidden 50 kunai pickup here which I make work although the timing is quite tight. At the end I use a damage boost to save some time.
Note it is possible to walk completely through the oncoming red cars. With the powerup just walk forward. Then at the very end if you perform a moonwalk at the right spot (or was it a moonwalking crouch?) you can then completely go through the car with no damage.
5-3 Truck
Tricky to get this down quickly. There are three orbs that are on a cycle that appear up and vulnerable then go back into the truck to be invulnerable. I abuse the fact that you can use the kunai wheel in quick succession, although you do have to wait a bit before the other kunai de-spawn and you can regain the use. For the last orb I wanted to avoid spamming more kunai wheels, so I abuse a trick where if you use a kunai in air then land you can immediately use another one to park myself on a corner of floor and go on, and off the corner shooting rapidly. After killing the truck I clip into the train and have a little fun until it finishes exploding. Look at the Ceiling Clip section above for a more in depth explanation.
Stage 6
6-1
Chinatown makes you go up and down a lot so having those high vertical jump techniques comes in real handy to save time. You can fall down platforms even if you are holding the double jump rolling state. There is a hidden 50 kunai pickup which of course I pick up. At the end I do a little series of jumps reaching a pretty good height for entertainment purposes.
6-2
I do my best to mess around with the movement to make it interesting, but other than that this is the worst designed level in the game. You can see pretty much all the movement tech on display here with the exception of the UDLR jump that freezes your X position.
6-3 Spidey and the NOT Batman
Faster to jump, double jump and use kunai wheels on certain frames to kill Spidey quicker. The NOT Batman appears and he hovers in place on the right side. I use the power block to kill the servant bats on the left side first before shooting him down.
Stage 7
7-1
Surfs up dudes! A level with regular lag frames every 8 or so frames. The layout of the level and the enemies is not hard, but sometimes the lag can really make things difficult especially since it changes every time anything before this changes. There is a funny thing I noticed here is that the Rambo type will have his upper body disappear if he overlaps a ninja. Also one of the stacked boxes, if you hit it off-screen will appear slightly higher than usual with the kunai pickup available. At the end I use a little UDLR to shoot a kunai at the dumb Rambo shooting at the box right before the round ends.
7-2
Here I use a clip to get into the ceilings (floors?) to get an additional boost. This was pretty tricky to do. Basically using the clips along with UDLR that will instantly shoot out a kunai. Normally it freezes you if you are in mid air, but while in an object you just get pushed left. Then you can jump for 2 frames, and then UDLR and chain that. When you are about to pop out of the ceiling there your speed drops slightly because the game will act as though you have hit a wall, but if you decrease the height of your sprite by crouching or double jumping you can reduce the impact.
7-3 Godzilla
Tried to do this as quickly and amusing as I could. You need to hit his head in between his bursts of fireball. No delay start after boss for 7-1 Rain to give a good cycle.
Stage 8
8-1
Rain. I really f-in hate this level. Every time you change any thing before this level it will change the lag and the large fireballs and the bullet timings from the enemies. There is forced lag every 8 frames and this is highly problematic. If you have an input that happens to share an input on a frame that straddles a lag frame the following input will not work. It is common to do a forced double jump then an attack, but if a lag frame is in between them the attack will not go off since the game thinks you are just holding the button I believe.
8-2
Mess around a bit as I head towards my chosen ceiling clip spot. This level is one giant map and the exit happens to be on the bottom right. I clip up, and hold the double jump state to avoid the ninja that ALSO clips up out of the level and is shooting off screen shurikin at us. Careful to get height to have fast falling speed when going down. The Trigger is not exactly on the edge of the map but instead inside the final room on the bottom right. Also luckily the trigger extends up slightly out of the bottom right room into a gap between that room and other and it just so happens that the room has just enough space for our favorite shinobi to get in there in the double jump state, which I was holding the entire time. Skips pretty much the entire level.
Originally when I first found the ceiling clip glitch I tried to go into the door that leads to the room with the exit however that door glitches out and causes the game to reset unless you go through it the normal method. Note that I found how to do that trick for a normal human with a controller to do. Link in additional resources.
8-3 Last Boss
All about the Hair baby. Trick is to try and keep the attack where he flings his hair at you to a minimum. it is POSSIBLE to have 1 frame of hair which I do in one cycle, but its very precise with the subpixels and 2-3 was the typical hair attack frames. The earliest possible frame to hit him is on the first frame when he using the hair like a whip parallel to the ground. The hitbox is above his shoulder a good distance up for whatever reason or his hip(?) area. Hitting the switch in the wall to make the falling trap stay up prevents one lag frame. Made the final hit on boss to be as quickly as possible instead of jumping up and pressing the attack button to end input earlier. Looks better to me. Also this is quite a bit faster than the existing submission.
There is an amusing glitch with this last boss where if you move in just the right way his hair will be flung down through the floor and it never returns. He then becomes frozen and invincible and there is no way to recover.
Gameplay Mechanics
Powerup
3x damage multiplier pickup that goes away if you take damage. 3x damage is shown when close to an destroy able object like a box or enemy. These attacks tend to have pretty high and wide hitboxes. You can use close quarters combat in walking, jumping, crouching, and standing still. Jumping close quarters attacks seem to only activate if you have no kunai.
Walking
The main method of moving forward at 1.5 pixels per frame. If you have the powerup you can block.
Blocking
When moving forward walking or crouching, damage is prevented from projectiles with a couple exceptions like the last boss's hair attack. This blocking mechanism can be used to block damage from the red car, although to fully go through the car requires turning around at the last minute. This trick is also used to walk through half of the 2nd boss. Blocking will actually damage some bosses too.
Crouching
Normally used to fit through more confined spaces. However you move at 1 pixel per frame if you normally move forward while crouching. If you hold crouching you get a stationary crouching pose. This stationary crouching pose if you use Hold State and forward will move you for 1.5 pixels per frame. Alternatively holding the double jump state is better.
Jumping
Holding the jump button will get you more height until you peak, then it is possible to double jump. Attacking while jumping will decrease the overall height of the jump, but it is possible to extend the height a little by continually holding the jump button even after throwing the kunai.
Double Jumping
Double Jumping is done by jumping at the peak of a jump. this reduces the height of your sprite and moves forward at the normal walking pace. There is a glitch where if you jump and at the peak you are one frame from landing on a platform you will to the Air Walk glitch.
Physical Attack
When near a box or enemy you will use a close physical attack. In almost all normal cases, physical attacks will freeze you in place for a time. However with some Hold State tricks you can be moving while using a backward jumping attack that is normally only seen when you have no kunai. When you have no kunai there is also a projectile characteristic.
Kunai Attack
Kunai are limited and it is important to try and preserve them while trying to make things as fast as possible. 3x powerup kunai have a larger attack hitbox which is another benefit. Kunai use is almost always faster than using a physical attack.
Kunai Wheel
While in the double jump state you can shoot out an arc of kunai up to 8. You can use this multiple times immediately afterwards, but should you already have kunai on screen the number of kunai shot out will decrease. This means waiting after attacking to get more horizontal attack distance is necessary. One the hand if you only need one or two extra shorter attack times can be used like in the Disco Ninja fight. This attack is very effective but under some conditions will cause massive lag.
Ninjitsu
Not used due to it being slower. It adds in a forced period of time even if you use it at the end of bosses. The jump ninjitsu is the only one that would normally be used in a speedrun to speed up certain vertical sections. However with the various Infinite Jump techniques ninjitsu are not necessary.
Additional Resources
Possible Improvements
- 4-2 and 8-1 Have some lag that could possibly be removed.
- 8-3 Less Hair = More Win.
Recommended Screenshot Frame 24473
ThunderAxe31: File replaced with a 19 frames improvement, and also fixing Header and SyncSettings file.
The audience liked this movie, and me too. It features a lot of cool movements, which is something that the current publication really lacked. I see that the current publication is in Vault, but I think that this new movie can be considered enough more entertaining to allow an upgrade.
