The real gimmick was the friends we made along the way.

Samsara: Hi! Pardon the barebones submission text. It should be filled out over the coming days.

By input time alone, this is a 735 frame improvement over the published run, primarily due to a new deathwarp in stage 3 and heavy movement optimization in stages 5 and 6. Timed to the final hit on the last boss, however, this is a 763 frame improvement.

We actually started and finished an improvement last year, but we held off on submitting to look for further improvements, and then we all proceeded to be very busy at the same time for a very long time before we could finish the updated file. After the recent hurricanes, we decided to pull the originally completed file out of retirement and submit it to be showcased at Disaster Relief Done Quick 2024 as part of the TAS block just so we could stop sitting on it.

Originally we were going to leave it at that and work on the updated file in the future, but we started looking at the update again, and some last minute motivation (and admittedly some very good luck) caused us to finish it ahead of schedule. So far ahead of schedule, in fact, that we were able to switch it in at the last moment for DRDQ. If you're interested, the original submission is here, in case you really wanna see slower stages 5 and 6 for some reason.

If you're reading this right as it was submitted, the TAS block for DRDQ has just begun, so tune in for live commentary from SBDWolf!

4 frames saved from minor optimizations.

2 frames saved from minor optimizations.

466 frames saved from a new deathwarp.

2 frames saved from minor optimizations.

68 frames saved from much cleaner movement optimization all throughout.

193 frames saved from much cleaner movement optimization all throughout. A different Wiz3 strategy lost a handful of frames but resulted in defeating it an additional 28 frames faster.

Samsara: We've talked about it! Granted, that was a while ago, and at the very least I've got a lot less spare time than I used to have, so if we do end up working on a best ending TAS it may be a while yet.

Frame 5155:

Samsara: Quietly replacing the submission file with the original FM2, as there's a minor audio bug on NESHawk. The BK2 version is still available here.

DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.

DrD2k9: Sorry for taking so long to get around to judging this...I forgot that I had claimed it. Oops.

Anyway. Run looks good. Nice work to all of you.

Accepting as improvement over the currently published run.

fsvgm777: Processing!