General notes

• Uses GBAHawk 2.1.3
• Rerecord count - 4765 + 7096 from my original TAS (along with numerous unrecorded re-records)
• Takes damage to save time
• Uses glitches and exploits to save time
• My YouTube upload has music edited in for entertainment purposes

Introduction

Main notes

Level Comments

• In section 2 during the Pip section, I originally did the Pip section and then switched to Giselle afterwards. In this TAS however, I quickly switch to Giselle during the section to move her forwards without slowing Pip down too much. Giselle has to jump onto ledges which takes quite some time so playing as Pip while Giselle is doing that is highly efficient. As a result, Giselle ended up right next to troll once the rock drops on his head, saving a fair amount of time.
  • I do a similar thing in section 4, moving Giselle while Pip is falling next to a wall. This didn't save as much time but it was still an optimisation which saved a bit of time.

• In section 2, I deal with the troll in a different way. I originally waited for the troll to walk to the right in order to attack him. Here however, I immediately go towards the troll to distract him, I dodge his attack and immediately set up a hedgehog. This allowed me to take out the troll considerably faster and I made it to the next area faster, even though I had to walk further forward after taking the troll out.
• In section 3, I switch to Giselle during the pip section to put her closer to the key/door once the Pip section was over. I also jump down to the platforms in the end section rather than walking off.

• In section 3, after taking out the troll, I originally jumped down to the next area. This ended up in a death and when you first die in this game, you get a weird cutscene which takes a whole bunch of time to skip. The main reason I did this in the original TAS was to set up a death warp in chapter 9.However, I ended up routing out the death warp in chapter 9 with a faster strat and I was too lazy to route the death in chapter 3 since I was still new to TASing.
  • In this TAS however, I do a Pip drop down that pit to avoid taking a death. I need to pick up Pip again for the next section so I move Giselle and Pip in ways to maximise movement while still picking up Pip. I also switch to Giselle at the beginning of the Pip section to dodge a raven and to move her closer to the edge. This all resulted in me saving around 2.5-3 seconds in this section alone.

• In section 2, Instead of pushing the rock with Pip from the front, I pull the rock from the back which was significantly faster. I also now switch between Giselle and Pip during this section.
• This level has a couple of ladders you have to climb up, on these ladders, if you climb up to the very top of a ladder without grabbing the edge, you can just barely jump up to the top without grabbing onto the ledge. This requires frame perfect positioning but it can be done. I did not do this in the old TAS but I do perform it here in this level and in chapter 9.
• In section 3, I jump off the big building as it is much faster than using the birds to fall down (this is why a sing drop was used in the last section) and it is faster than setting up a Pip drop. The doors are deceptively massive so we can essentially enter them from the side. We are supposed to use Pip to distract the troll but we can easily just get past him without Pip.
• In section 4, I take out the troll with a hedgehog rather than a trap door as it is faster.

• In section 1, I switch between Giselle and Pip during the Pip section to save a bit of time.
• In section 2 after activating the gate countdown, I originally waited for the troll to turn around in order to jump up. Here however, I immediately go towards the troll and dodge his attack, removing almost all waiting.

• In section 1, I originally had to wait for the bat to move in order to avoid damage. Here however, I immediately go towards the bat.
• In section 3, In addition to optimising the Pip section further, I take out the last troll faster. Instead of waiting for the troll to move out of the way, I perform an enemy respawn which gets rid of the deer spell on the enemy. I then approach the troll, do an enemy respawn while setting up a hedgehog and then the hedgehog takes out the troll (the same trick which is performed at the end of chapter 6. This wasn't much faster but it still saved a bit of time after all.
• In section 3, we start off by having to get past a troll and a swinging rock, you normally have to wait for the troll to go back and forward which takes forever but if you ledge jump onto the platform, crouch under the troll's attack/the swinging rock, you can skip having to wait. Crouching makes your hurtbox much smaller and you can't get past the rock/troll without crouching. As mentioned before, you have maxed out notes so you don't need to go out of your way to collect more.

• In section 1, I start off by getting menu storage. I didn't do this in the old TAS because you couldn't make the jump to the first ledge. Here however, I realised that you could just walk to the ledge and while you do have to jump later, it still saves time over manually menuing later.
• In section 2, I take damage from a bat early on to avoid a ledge grab. I did have to wait for the bat but this was still around 5 frames faster than not getting hit by the bat. I also switch between Giselle and Pip while getting the second music note as usual for this improvement. I also more strategically set up the weasel and I jump down the second trap door rather than dropping down to save time.
• In section 3, I once again switch between Giselle and Pip during the Pip section in order to cut down on waiting.
• I got 69 flowers in this level. This wasn't intentional in my original TAS but in this improvement, I made sure that I still got 69 flowers(it didn't lose any time as a sidenote). Nice.

• In section 2, I originally dropped Pip down in a certain spot in order to do an enemy respawn and to collect music notes. Here however, I get Pip out earlier with a Pip drop and I am constantly switching between Pip and Giselle in order to move them both forward and to get Pip into position. This ended up being faster and it definitely looks funnier.
• In section 3, I once again switch between Giselle and Pip during the Pip section rather than doing the Pip section and then switching to Giselle afterwards. I even had to wait a tiny bit in order to not take damage from the troll.
• I got 69 flowers in this level as well which I did not do in the original TAS. This was intentional and it wasted no extra time. Nice.

• In section 1, I switch to Pip way later after dropping him by the music note. I originally switched to him when opening the gate where Giselle has to unnecessarily wait. Here however, I switch to him while on the trampoline which is ideal since you have to wait anyway and it takes no extra time compared to not switching. In this improvement, I switch to Pip again in order to get another extra note which didn't take any extra time at all.
• I enter section 2 with an extra note which I use to my advantage. In the old TAS, I collect the music note on the right, distract the troll so he moves to the right, collect the note on the left on the lower floor while I wait for the troll to move and then I progress. Here however, I immediately distract the troll which makes him move to the left, I collect the music note on the right I wait a little bit for the troll to move so I can jump down and then I progress. I miss out on the note to the left but I don't need it anymore since I entered the section with an extra note. This ended up saving a good bit of time as I didn't have to go out of my wait to collect the second note and I could still instantly distract the purple troll to get the high up honey early without any significant problems.
• In section 3, I originally waited around a bit in order to lure the big troll towards me so I could damage boost through him with a hedgehog but here, I don't wait around and I immediately take the damage boost to get through the troll.

• The only change here is that I turn the music back on before entering the credits as it doesn't lose any time. I still switch the language to French as well for the funsies.

Closing statement