(Link to video)
This is a 10251 frame, or 2:51.63, improvement over the current movie.

Goal

  • Aims for good ending
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Uses warps
  • Manipulates luck

Glitches

Talos Skip
Do a low jump, jump attack, and then get hit by Talos, Juste could dive into the floor and then wrong warp happens, skipping the whole section of being chased by Talos. There are several possible destinations of this wrong warp. Whether the glitch happens and the destination of wrong warp depend on sub-X and sub-Y. The side effect of the skip is that the camera stop moving. Objects, including candles, doors, and enemies, outside the camera do not get loaded.
In-event State
When an event is triggered, Juste get invincible and cannot freely move, and the game does not load other rooms even if Juste move outside the current room, except the case that the name of the region is showed on the screen. If a room is loaded while in event, taking advantage of region name display, the in-event flag would be still set, but Juste could do some move now. In such a state, the game will not load other rooms when being outside the current room, which make memory corruption possible, and you...
  • can slide and use the sub weapon of fist, but both these two will immediately suspend;
  • cannot double jump, high jump, or float by using floating boots;
  • can dive kick.
Memory Corruption
Do not try this glitch on real cartridge, it will turn your cartridge into garbage if the demo version flag is set. 0200008C-0200030B is a bitfield that records which rooms are visited. According to whether you are in Castle A or Castle B, the coordinate of the room to the map, the coordinate of Juste to the room, the game continually set the corresponding bit's value to 1. By moving extremely far outside the current room, which require in-event state, memory corruption happens if the corresponding bit is outside the bitfield interval.

Details of minimap RAM area

Please read this section after watching the embedded encode, it gives a good visualization to the RAM map.
The minimap is separated into left half and right half. Each chunk records a 32*40*2 (=2560 blocks/ bits) rectangle region, a double word is used for the whole horizontal line of Castle A in that rectangle region, the next double word is for the same line in Castle B, lines are records from top to bottom. 0200008C-020001CB is for left half and 020001CC-0200030B is for right half. RAM outside the minimap RAM area is also divided into chunks of same size. We can move to prior chunk by crossing the top and left border of the current chunk, and move to next chunk by crossing the bottom and right border.
Double words with address's last digit 4 or C can only be corrupted from Castle A, and those with address's last digit 0 or 8 can only be corrupted from Castle B. Luckily those flags need to be set in this run is in Castle A.

Route comments

We delay 21 frames at the dialog with Maxim, for manipulating luck. The rain animation calls up the RNG routine around 80 times per frame, much more frequent than other routines. We need two big heart drops and massive critical hits to reduce one round of multiple hit in Pike Master fight, and suitable RNG is very rare.
After skipping Talos, we pick axe. Axe is necessary for the whip launch which warp to Castle B, and it speeds up the Pike Master fight.
In the memory corruption section, we inevitably corrupt save room ID. Bit 0 of 0200030C, where save room ID is stored, is for whether the room is in Castle A or B, bits 1-7 are for X position of the room, bits 8-13 are for Y position of the room, bits 14-15 are unused. A illegal save room ID will cause the game freeze when loading the state. In the encode we only list one block (the game over trigger) not to visit, in fact there are lots of blocks need to avoid, those are mainly pointers. Corrupting those pointers can cause soft lock/freeze or reset. 0200043D's value is 0 in normal state and 1 underwater, we set this value to 3 so that the Y speed reduces to 1/8 of normal state, just low enough to set Maxim, Dracula, and Dracula Wraith fights' ending flags in a row.
After good ending's flag and the three bosses' flags are set, save and reset the game and head to final boss room. (Normally Maxim's Ring is required for good ending.) Since all three boss fights' flags are set, no boss fight happens there, and the movie ends after dialog.

Lua Scripts

Map Viewer

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sTynqxAoef3Fjd8mXYyeESTSSXTKVGX_/view?usp=sharing
You need Lua-GD to run this script. Lua-GD can be download here. Decompress it and you get some .dll files, place them at the same directory of VBA-rr.exe.

Memory Corruption Visualizer

Userfiles/Info/65650966036547896
Address display is very awkward because there is no enough room for that.

History Runs

There are two finished runs that we did not submit here.

Any% in 5:30.38 by hellagels & klmz:

We did not know how to skip Talos until a week after this run is upload to Niconico and Bilibili. We did some multiple hits without sub weapon. Still worth watching.

Any% in 5:00.16 by hellagels & klmz:

Pretty much the same as this submission, the only difference is that we did not manipulated luck by taking advantage of the rain animation.

GoddessMaria: Castlevania... Judgement? Nah, just judging.
GoddessMaria: Quite an unexpected find, hellagels and klmz! This new improvement made the previous run, which was already impressive, even more impressive. The audience response, for the most part, was also positive to this. Good work, you two!
Accepting as an improvement to the previous movie.
feos: Pub.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14772
Location: 127.0.0.1
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1634)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1033
That was unexpected.
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
EZGames69
He/They
Expert player, Publisher, Reviewer (3941)
Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2701
Location: Michigan
Why does the encode only show what’s happening in the top right screen rather than the main bigger one?
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Editor, Skilled player (1401)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
We all livin in the year 2020 while this TAS livin in 3020. I'd be lying if I said I understood what's going on. Huge props to the visualization script though, I cannot imagine how much effort it must have been to put it together.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Expert player, Publisher (2254)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6324
Location: The land down under.
Strictly ignoring the CamHack I'd give this a No in entertainment. With the addition of CamHack I would give this a Yes. Based on that it means my vote is Meh.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. These colours are pretty neato, and also these.
Experienced player (542)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 245
Location: Morocco
I'd actually say this isn't an Any% run more like a game end glitch run, since neither Maxim nor Dracula have been fought, and we didn't see Dracula at all lol. As for entertainment, I have one question: Should saving and restarting at the start of the run fix the camera? If so, then it would be better if it was done that way rather than needing the help of camhack to watch it. I like the idea of skipping Talos which is insane, and surprised me honestly!
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
RetroEdit
Any
Editor, Player, Reviewer (164)
Joined: 8/8/2019
Posts: 131
If you could post the script that was used for generating the camhack, minimap, etc. in the encode, that would be really nice to have. It would help in understanding some of the details, and would just generally be in the spirit of open information TASing.
Fortranm
He/Him
Editor, Experienced player (772)
Joined: 10/19/2013
Posts: 1108
Easy Yes vote for impressiveness. If the two glitches aren't directly related to each other, I'm looking forward to see the Talos skip in other categories too.
McBobX wrote:
As for entertainment, I have one question: Should saving and restarting at the start of the run fix the camera? If so, then it would be better if it was done that way rather than needing the help of camhack to watch it.
From what I can see, the enemies outside the camera can't hurt Juste. It would be more than a trade-off for visuals if that is done.
GJTASer2018
He/Him
Joined: 1/24/2018
Posts: 241
Location: Stafford, NY
McBobX wrote:
I'd actually say this isn't an Any% run more like a game end glitch run, since neither Maxim nor Dracula have been fought, and we didn't see Dracula at all lol.
The problem with thinking of it this way is that essentially this would be another branch for a game that already has five of them. Especially considering the current fastest completion run has heavy glitch abuse, is there really a justification for making a seperate "game-end glitch" branch for this game?
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Experienced player (542)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 245
Location: Morocco
Fortranm wrote:
From what I can see, the enemies outside the camera can't hurt Juste. It would be more than a trade-off for visuals if that is done.
Well, if we focus on enemies being skipped, there aren't much that will slow down the pace of the run much. Big portion is in Marble Corridor but only enemies like Medusa or Flea Men. Also, I think killing them also adds entertainment.
GJTASer2018 wrote:
The problem with thinking of it this way is that essentially this would be another branch for a game that already has five of them. Especially considering the current fastest completion run has heavy glitch abuse, is there really a justification for making a seperate "game-end glitch" branch for this game?
The reason is that the run doesn't complete in a regular way, it skips major bosses straight to the end, unlike current Any%. I'm not sure though if that how others will see it or how the judge will consider it, but from what I've seen, game end glitch runs end in similar way.
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 3999
Without the special encode this would be inscrutable, but with it it turns into a fun problem solving exercise. Yes vote!
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
hellagels
He/Him
Experienced player (756)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
EZGames69 wrote:
Why does the encode only show what’s happening in the top right screen rather than the main bigger one?
I feel it is reasonable to show how the run originally looks like in a bigger screen, though I know audience will just focus on camhack.
McBobX wrote:
Should saving and restarting at the start of the run fix the camera? If so, then it would be better if it was done that way rather than needing the help of camhack to watch it.
Yes, and this is how speedrunners exactly fix the camera, but the idea is not attractive to me. The run looks very TAS-like now.
RetroEdit wrote:
If you could post the script that was used for generating the camhack, minimap, etc. in the encode, that would be really nice to have. It would help in understanding some of the details, and would just generally be in the spirit of open information TASing.
Those scripts are for self-use and they are very casually coded and glitchy. I need some time so I can improve them. BTW, camhack is done by cheat, resync, and trim, there is no a single script can do this job.
Fortranm wrote:
If the two glitches aren't directly related to each other, I'm looking forward to see the Talos skip in other categories too.
Talos skip works independently. I did not look into the furniture run but memory corruption still looks favorable in this branch.
Fortranm wrote:
From what I can see, the enemies outside the camera can't hurt Juste.
Objects including enemies, candles and doors outside the camera do not get loaded, it is not that Juste gets invincible, the camhack is a bit misleading.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Fortranm
He/Him
Editor, Experienced player (772)
Joined: 10/19/2013
Posts: 1108
hellagels wrote:
Talos skip works independently. I did not look into the furniture run but memory corruption still looks favorable in this branch.
I have been wanting to ask. How does the game check whether the best ending should be played? If it's decided by one single variable, wouldn't using RAM corruption take away the point of collecting all furniture? If that's the case, might as well do that in this branch like what the SotN "game end glitch" run does. :P [2547] PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "game end glitch" by ForgoneMoose, sockfolder in 09:47.20
hellagels
He/Him
Experienced player (756)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
Fortranm wrote:
hellagels wrote:
Talos skip works independently. I did not look into the furniture run but memory corruption still looks favorable in this branch.
I have been wanting to ask. How does the game check whether the best ending should be played? If it's decided by one single variable, wouldn't using RAM corruption take away the point of collecting all furniture? If that's the case, might as well do that in this branch like what the SotN "game end glitch" run does. :P [2547] PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "game end glitch" by ForgoneMoose, sockfolder in 09:47.20
It seems that there is not a flag for best ending. The game checks the furniture directly. What you can do with memory corruption is quite limited. You can not collect furniture, collect relics, raise STR, or raise level.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Experienced player (542)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 245
Location: Morocco
hellagels wrote:
Yes, and this is how speedrunners exactly fix the camera, but the idea is not attractive to me. The run looks very TAS-like now.
I see now. Voting Yes of course for this run regardless of camera because Talos skip straight up deserves to be published lol! Great job!
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Zinfidel
He/Him
Player (199)
Joined: 11/21/2019
Posts: 247
Location: Washington
You know this TAS is really something else when even the camhack encode can't keep up with your movement. The visualizations that were made for this encode are extremely impressive and the work that must have gone into producing this TAS is obviously large. From a technical standpoint this submission is an obvious 10. Unfortunately, without the brilliant encodes to show what's actually going on, the movie itself would be boring/confusing. I'm voting yes with the hope that the encodes with the visualizers are linked to in the movie description.
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
easy yes, the provided encode is incredibely helpfull to understand what's happening
hellagels
He/Him
Experienced player (756)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
Download links for Lua scripts are now added.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
RetroEdit
Any
Editor, Player, Reviewer (164)
Joined: 8/8/2019
Posts: 131
hellagels wrote:
Download links for Lua scripts are now added.
Much appreciated!
hellagels
He/Him
Experienced player (756)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
One thing I forgot to mention: you can beat this game without killing any enemies. First, skip Talos and get the camera locked. Head to the relic for double jump, Skull Knight's room's left door will not get loaded so you can just walk though the boss room. Now quick save is unavailable, but you need it for memory corruption. Save the game in a save room and reset the game to regain the access to quick save. At last, memory corruption and head to final boss room. The flag for the gimmick that blocks final boss room need to be set when corrupting memory. I did not document where the flag is, but it is possible.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Joined: 8/7/2011
Posts: 166
The most broken Castlevania game gets even more broken! Yes for sure. If this seems a little long for such a broken game, note that gameplay starts at 1:23 and effectively ends at 4:17, so only 3:16. edit: Any other games that can be bricked by memory corruption? Can you elaborate on the "demo version flag"?
Noxxa
They/Them
Expert player, Moderator (4131)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
Some impressive level of game-breaking there, well done. I actually like the non-scrolling screen, since it just highlights that the game is already broken, and you see the occasional glimpse of Juste doing weird forms of movement before disappearing into the unseen. It leaves a lot up to the imagination, even when you've seen everything with the very descriptive encode that was provided.
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.
Skilled player (1216)
Joined: 8/29/2014
Posts: 301
Incredible. I like the decision to not fix the camera glitch. With how glitched this run is with the zips and memory corruption, I think it fits. It also showcases that a TAS can just as easily do things off screen that would be more slower and more difficult for a human.
hellagels
He/Him
Experienced player (756)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
deuxhero wrote:
Any other games that can be bricked by memory corruption? Can you elaborate on the "demo version flag"?
Sorry for late reply. I did not hear any other CV games that can be bricked. The glitched demo version is reported by some other player, we do not know how to replicate it exactly.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Joined: 8/7/2011
Posts: 166
I don't mind the late reply. Shame not that much is known about the result. I was asking about games brickable with glitches in general, not just CV ones.