(Link to video)
[TAS] Prince of Persia (DOS, 1990) any% by eien86 in 12:10.000
In this timeless classic, the tyrant Jaffar has seized power and has forced Sultan's daughter to marry him. You, the brave youth who is a prisoner in Jaffar's dungeons must rescue her within 60 minutes. Little does poor Jaffar know that he will be defeated in a fifth of the intended time.
  • Total IGT: 12m 10s 000ms
  • Total RT: 13m 07s 868ms

Game objectives

The objective of the game is to beat all 14 levels in less than 60 minutes (IGT). In the "any%" category, all tricks and glitches are allowed except for the use of cheats. This category requires that all levels are completed (without skipping the first three levels using the SHIFT+L cheat code). This run includes the copy protection level, present in the unaltered copies of the game.
This movie makes the best effort to reduce the real time to solution. However, it is the IGT the one used as the metric for speed, as it omits cutscenes and account for changes in framerate (the game operates in 12 FPS normally, but 10 FPS during combat). The IGT starts immediately on Level 1 and stops as soon as Jaffar dies in Level 13, as this is the time taken for the high-score board. Level 14 is only accounted for in RT, hence the difference between both times.
A rough estimate IGT for the level skip (cheat) category can be obtained by subtracting the time for the first 3 levels. In this case, it results in 08:58.666ms. This represents a notable improvement compared to 12:20.58 of the previous level-skip TAS produced by David Newton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOocUkxJ08).
In general, this run abides by the same rules as the RTA runs (https://www.speedrun.com/pop1). Only difference is that we use the Prince of Persia 1.0 version as emulation for newer versions does not handle sounds well. Here some guard reaction times and probabilities are changed, but overall the gameplay is the same.

Comments

This movie is the result of decades of routing and discoveries, and has been developed with extensive help from the current speedrunner community. Notable contributors to the routing are the actual game top speedrunners, such as (in no particular order) crem, CapnClever, 7eraser7, Karlgamer, YOLO4GG, GoodSpectre, Higlak, Velcheran, Creditor, WinterThunder, uvq3tsa, Wolfadawn, KenshinTrek, and GMP.
The route has improved a great deal during the last few years thanks to the use of savestate-enabled emulators (e.g., DosBox-X), allowing players to try different tricks without losing too much time. The development of this TAS is largely based on the existing route but has introduced two novel approaches:

Frame by Frame Analysis / Memory Debugging

Thanks to the use of emulators (JPC-RR) and memory debuggers (Cheat Engine), the discovery new tricks (e.g., level 4, 7 and 8 skips -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA8OhqKGfoI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtFVLF5kuds, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlBbu612T1o) that would have not been otherwise possible, as their discovery required a frame-perfect input and RNG-heavy setups. Fortunately, more human-friendly versions of these skips have been developed after their discovery.

Routing by Exhaustive Seach

The development of an open-source version of the game (SDLPop, https://github.com/NagyD/SDLPoP) allowed the development of a high-performance parallel breadth-first search bot, called Jaffar (https://github.com/SergioMartin86/jaffar) that exhaustively explores all possible movements in each possible frame. The search is made possible by constraining the exploration space to that of a pre-determined route, requiring a few trillion states per level. As a result, the bot found the most efficient way to traverse the community-established route. We've applied Jaffar repeatedly on a supercomputer to solve for every level. Following strict definitions, the re-Record count is: 817,608,423,040

Stage by stage comments

This run is 100% reproducible with the sequence of steps shown below (. = nothing, S = Shift, U = Up Arrow, D = Down Arrow, R = Right Arrow, L = Left Arrow), and the following initial RNG state: 0x4B43826D.

Level 1

Re-record count: 16614726750
Frame Count: 243
Sequence: S S S . . . . CA S S . . . . . . . . . RD . . . . RD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RD . . . . RD . . . . RD . . . . D RD . . . . . S . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . SR . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The route for this level has been proven to be optimal by the bot on sheer brute force. The strat includes bunny hopping at the beginning for a quick fall and then skip the guard via a timed jump.

Level 15 (Copy Protection Level):

Re-record count: 4989675
Frame Count: 107
Sequence: . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . RD . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . D D . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This level appears in the original copy of the game, and is meant as a copy-protection mechanism. As can be seen in this TAS, it does not do quite a good job since the solution is determined by RNG at the start of the game. Only 14 different possibilities exist, so that it would take a few attempts at drinking the first potion to get past it. In this TAS, I was very lucky and got it in the very first attempt, lol!

Level 2:

Re-record count: 58143670541
Frame Count: 937
Sequence: . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . R . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . U . . . L . . L . . . . L . . . . . . L . . D . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . . L . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . D . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SL . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A long level. No changes to the route here compared to RTA, but a lot of RNG optimization by the bot to skip all guards faster.

Level 3:

Re-record count: 70482372534
Frame Count: 1100
Sequence: . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . RD . . . . . . . . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . SL . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . S S S S S S S S S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CA . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . S . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LD . . . . LD . . . . . . . . . . LD . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . L . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . R . . . . . R . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . R . . R S . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L R . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The bot-optimized movement here played a big role in shaving those last few frames. Movement, especially while ascending/descending the way to the exit door open tile has been highly optimized. An RNG-induced hit by the skeleton saves a few backward steps with the sword.

Level 4:

Re-record count: 85190025215
Frame Count: 615
Sequence: . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . L . . . . . R . . . R . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . U . . . L . . L . . . . . R . . . D . . . . S . . . . D . . . . . R . . . . . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L S . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . S . . . . R . . . D . . . . D . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This is one the most abused levels in the run. First, we trigger the guard into opening the door for us, skipping half of the level. Then we manipulate the next guard into helping us open the exit door faster. This includes double-moonwalking him and then teleporting him into the mirror room, where he will vanish from existence when the shadow appears.

Level 5:

Re-record count: 64369883833
Frame Count: 492
Sequence: . . . L . . . . . . L R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . S . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . . . L . . L . . . . U . . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . D . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . L . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Here the door skip is employed to skip a big part of the level. This is performed by luring the guard to the left and then clipping through the door while on-guard. The rest of the level includes the normal route, optimized via the bot. At the end, we use the guard to help us glitch-activate the exit door open trigger prematurely, which is why it is already open when we enter the last room. This strat does not save any time but provides entertainment value.

Level 6:

Re-record count: 32973487819
Frame Count: 216
Sequence: . . . R . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . SL . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . R . . . . . . . . .
Here we used the normal route where we perform a guard-jump and run fast into the pit.

Level 7:

Re-record count: 75950527075
Frame Count: 497
Sequence: . . . . . . . S . S S S S S S S S S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . R . . L . . L . . . D . . . . . . S . . . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . . R . . D . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . L . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L D . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LD . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . L . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Perhaps the most broken of all levels, we employed the newly discovered level 7 skip which contains a whole array of glitches all working in unison. First, we 'moonwalk' the guard through the chomper, then we make him fall 2 stories without dying by exiting and reentering the room. Then we use the guard to perform a 'Yolo skip' through the door. This route was exhaustively optimized by the bot.

Level 8:

Re-record count: 115104481905
Frame Count: 755
Sequence: . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . SR . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . L . . L . . U . S . . S . . . . . . . D . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RD . . . . RD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . L . . . . . . . R . . . D . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . R . . . D . . . . R . . . . . D . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . L . . . . . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . R RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . SR . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . R . . L . . . . . D . . D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Another spectacularly broken level. We lure the guard towards the 'useless' bad potion room and use him to make us clip through the wall and the floor towards the end of the level. This marks the return of the mouse who comes to save the day.

Level 9:

Re-record count: 101579917964
Frame Count: 1362
Sequence: . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . L . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R S . . . . R . . R . . D . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . SL . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . R . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . LD . . . . LD . . . . LD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . U R . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . R . . R . . U . . . . R . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Definitely the longest and hardest to crack level. Here, the only skip found was the damage clip through the last door that allows us to skip making the loose tile fall, saving a few seconds. Other than that, it is still ripe for skips. Here the movements were highly optimized by the bot.

Level 10:

Re-record count: 58837867500
Frame Count: 502
Sequence: . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . R . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R L . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . L . . . . . R . U . . . L . . . D . . . . S . . . . L . . L . . L . . L . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . . . R . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . R . . . . . D . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Here we make use of a few tricks, including 'guard jump', 'overflow teleport', 'yolo skip', 'fall damage cancel', and RNG manip. It would be very hard to improve this level any further.

Level 11:

Re-record count: 112200546782
Frame Count: 828
Sequence: . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . S S S S S S S S S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L R . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . U . . . . . . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SR . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . D D D D D D RD . . . . S . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . R . . R . . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . S . . . . . . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . R . . . . . . . . . R S . . . S . S S S S S S S S S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . S . . . . . . . D . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This level remains skipless, mainly because of it's layout (all horizontal) it is still hard to crack. However, all moments were optimized by the bot, shaving many frames in the way. A new alternative ending was found in which the guard opens the exit door for us. This new strat does not save any time but provides entertainment value.

Level 12:

Re-record count: 25996883109
Frame Count: 897
Sequence: . . . R . . . . . . RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R U . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . S S S S S S S S S S U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L . . . L . . D . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . . . . L . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . D . RD . . . . D . . . . . . . . . . . SL . . . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L . . U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . . LD . . . .
A climbing level, here we use the 'overflow teleport' trick to skip to the shadow screen. Here, we grab the sword and immediately merge with the shadow to exit the level.

Level 13:

Re-record count: 102388890
Frame Count: 384
Sequence: L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . R RU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D . . RD . . . . RD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L . . . L . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Here we used the bot to manipulate RNG to guarantee a fast Jaffar kill. As soon as Jaffar dies, the IGT clock stops.

Level 14:

Re-record count: 56653448
Frame Count: 136
Sequence: . . . . . R . . . R . . . . . . R . . . R . . . R L . . . . . . . . . . . . . U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . LU . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . . . . L U . . . . . . . . .
This level only requires running a few screens, and IGT does not count anymore.

Other comments

This TAS is 27 seconds faster than the current RTA WR, and 9 seconds faster than the sum of human best segments. This speaks to the incredible skills of the RTA runners, who have incorporated most of these seemingly TAS-only tricks into their runs succesfully.

Emulation Issues:

  • Sound Blaster emulation causes some stuttering in this emulator and game version when multiple sounds (e.g., doors) are playing. Nevertheless, this is the best setup working we've found so far. The only other option is using PC Speaker emulation which, besides sounding horrible and ruining the entertainment factor, it affects the way RNG operates and thus also the gameplay itself.

feos: Fixed formatting.

Nach: Note: To play back this movie, the single disk floppy version needs its file contents copied verbatim into the root of a hard disk image. Installing the game to a hard disk and taking an image of that will not produce a matching hard disk image.

Nach: This run is quite nice. Exploiting various wrap-around glitches and guard mechanics was a beauty to behold. Feedback is positive as well. Accepting to Moons.
feos: Pub.
feos: Movie with name entry at the end, for encoding: Userfiles/Info/72419470015923803

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14772
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #7134: eien86's DOS Prince of Persia in 13:08.53
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1634)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1033
Glad to see this game back :) And once again: Great work! Level 4 and Level 11 were unexpected. And I'm surprised to see a faster Jaffar kill this time. Yes vote. EDIT: I should have included Level 5 and Level 8 too (nice skip without taking damage, and that bloody bit).
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.
Player (26)
Joined: 8/29/2011
Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
Wow. Yes vote.
Joined: 1/3/2018
Posts: 65
Definite, obvious Yes vote : ) This time nothing should stand between publishing this gem : )
Dwedit
He/Him
Joined: 3/24/2006
Posts: 692
Location: Chicago
What are walls? Or floors?
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1694)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 160
Location: Switzerland
Dwedit wrote:
What are walls? Or floors?
Same as gates: nothing relevant ;)
Skilled player (1648)
Joined: 7/1/2013
Posts: 433
eien86 wrote:
Dwedit wrote:
What are walls? Or floors?
Same as gates: nothing relevant ;)
Ha! :) Also, yes vote.
Joined: 1/3/2018
Posts: 65
Wow, so many good changes, wasn't expecting these goodies : ) Level 4, level 5, that bloody bit on lvl 8 :D and ending of the 11, even slightly faster Jaffar's demise and Prince bumping his head on the last door... this run definitely made my day. Thank you for this beauty! : ) PLEASE (!) consider doing a TAS of Shadow and the Flame (Prince of Persia 2)! That could also be stunning : )
Active player (372)
Joined: 9/25/2011
Posts: 652
I'm so happy to see this submitted. What an amazing work of art, completely optimizing and breaking this game. Yes vote and I'd love to see this get stars.
Editor, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
Very nice! Yes vote.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1694)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 160
Location: Switzerland
Thanks all for your kind comments. I'm really glad you've enjoyed it.
PLANET wrote:
PLEASE (!) consider doing a TAS of Shadow and the Flame (Prince of Persia 2)! That could also be stunning : )
Yes, Pop2 is next on the list. We've found an unreleased Genesis ROM that seems to be 100% compatible with the DOS version, which will make emulation a lot easier to work with. Another goal is to obtain sub 12 in this game, but I need to take a break from it for a while to try and get a new perspective. By the way, if anyone wants to encode this, you'll need the exact disk images I used. I provided the link for the FreeDOS image, but the original PoP copy can be obtained here: [MOD EDIT: Removed link to copyrighted game material - please read the site rules -Mothrayas] In any case, I assembled both in one zip for convenience: [MOD EDIT: Removed link]
nymx
He/Him
Editor, Judge, Skilled player (1585)
Joined: 11/14/2014
Posts: 798
Location: South Pole, True Land Down Under
I'm impressed. As a fellow BOTer, I am very intrigued by your submission and find this to be top quality work. It is always satisfying to see the end result, after a long run of BOTing. Yes vote.
I recently discovered that if you haven't reached a level of frustration with TASing any game, then you haven't done your due diligence. ---- SOYZA: Are you playing a game? NYMX: I'm not playing a game, I'm TASing. SOYZA: Oh...so its not a game...Its for real? ---- Anybody got a Quantum computer I can borrow for 20 minutes? Nevermind...eien's 64 core machine will do. :) ---- BOTing will be the end of all games. --NYMX
CoolHandMike
He/Him
Editor, Experienced player, Reviewer (634)
Joined: 3/9/2019
Posts: 562
Wow. Cool sequence breaks. Also what the heck was with that level 7 where he just floats down?
discord: CoolHandMike#0352
KennyMan666
He/Him
Joined: 8/24/2005
Posts: 374
Location: Göteboj
CoolHandMike wrote:
Also what the heck was with that level 7 where he just floats down?
That's just how that stage works. When you drink the potion on that screen, you fall slowly when you then jump off the ledge. The game does not in any way indicate that this potion does that.
Det man inte har i begåvning får man ta ut i energi. "I think I need to get to Snoop Dogg's level of high to be able to research this post." -Samsara Read my fanfic, One Piece: Pure Corruption
CoolHandMike
He/Him
Editor, Experienced player, Reviewer (634)
Joined: 3/9/2019
Posts: 562
KennyMan666 wrote:
CoolHandMike wrote:
Also what the heck was with that level 7 where he just floats down?
That's just how that stage works. When you drink the potion on that screen, you fall slowly when you then jump off the ledge. The game does not in any way indicate that this potion does that.
Ok i was thinking that was some strange glitch.
discord: CoolHandMike#0352
Joined: 1/3/2018
Posts: 65
KennyMan666 wrote:
The game does not in any way indicate that this potion does that.
Well, the music plays for a limited time after drinking the potion, so it's somewhat of an indicator ; ) I wonder if it was pointed out in the game's manual, however...
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1694)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 160
Location: Switzerland
PLANET wrote:
KennyMan666 wrote:
The game does not in any way indicate that this potion does that.
Well, the music plays for a limited time after drinking the potion, so it's somewhat of an indicator ; ) I wonder if it was pointed out in the game's manual, however...
Exactly, there is a mellow music that plays while you are 'under the influence'. Since we disable music in the RTA and TAS runs to save frames in between levels (otherwise, the game won't advance until the music ends), this music is not heard in the encode. In casual play, you are presented with this unusual 'green' potion at the beginning of the level and can only get to drink it after passing most of the level. So the idea is that you are kept wondering the whole time what is it about. And then you hear the music and should kinda figure out from the music that you can drop safely now. Funny thing, you don't need the potion at all as you can drop down without dying into the exit room. We do drink it in the TAS because it is the faster route.
Post subject: Re: #7134: eien86's DOS Prince of Persia in 13:08.53
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
eien86 wrote:
Boot Floppy: FreeDOS 1-1-35w (Build 2035w) from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QV3NFjpgVQIrn-Qcf0M70UPfgW-qOTtk/view?usp=sharing
Why was this created/chosen? How was this created? Also, I'm trying to import this image, however JPC-RR says it doesn't recognize it. Edit: Okay, I see the file just needs to be copied directly to the drive library.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Post subject: Re: #7134: eien86's DOS Prince of Persia in 13:08.53
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1694)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 160
Location: Switzerland
Nach wrote:
eien86 wrote:
Boot Floppy: FreeDOS 1-1-35w (Build 2035w) from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QV3NFjpgVQIrn-Qcf0M70UPfgW-qOTtk/view?usp=sharing
Why was this created/chosen? How was this created? Also, I'm trying to import this image, however JPC-RR says it doesn't recognize it. Edit: Okay, I see the file just needs to be copied directly to the drive library.
Hi Nach, For most of JPC-RR's configuration, I followed this page verbatim: http://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources/JPC.html The FreeDOS image is a build shared by CoolHandMike in that page. It used to point to the google drive link but it seems that someone replaced it with a link to a static file in this server. FreeDOS is the DOS of choice since it's GPL and is, allegedly, perfectly compatible to the licensed MS-DOS.
Post subject: Re: #7134: eien86's DOS Prince of Persia in 13:08.53
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
eien86 wrote:
The FreeDOS image is a build shared by CoolHandMike in that page. It used to point to the google drive link but it seems that someone replaced it with a link to a static file in this server.
My only question was why were you using something different than other movies on this site, as that's what I thought your submission notes was conveying. If it's the same as other movies (which I have just verified), then it's fine.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
without skipping the first three levels using the SHIFT+L cheat code
By the way, this isn't a cheat code per se. It appear in the manual as a command to assist the player is practicing the game. The code allows you to jump to any of those levels to immediately practice them, but also lowers the time limit to make it supposedly impossible to beat the game. To actually cheat in the game and skip levels, you can pass the command line parameter megahit, followed by the level number. In general, there's also keyboard shortcuts to save and load your progress.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
GMP
He/Him
Active player, Editor, Reviewer (358)
Joined: 5/22/2020
Posts: 197
Location: Chennai, India
Nach wrote:
without skipping the first three levels using the SHIFT+L cheat code
By the way, this isn't a cheat code per se. It appear in the manual as a command to assist the player is practicing the game. The code allows you to jump to any of those levels to immediately practice them, but also lowers the time limit to make it supposedly impossible to beat the game. To actually cheat in the game and skip levels, you can pass the command line parameter megahit, followed by the level number. In general, there's also keyboard shortcuts to save and load your progress.
Yeah, but doing a level skip/practice mode run is not exactly the cleanest thing either. It's definitely cleaner than using megahit that's for sure.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14772
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [4477] DOS Prince of Persia by eien86 in 13:08.53