Nyghtmare: The Ninth King is a dark-fantasy, classic-vania, action-platform game that aims to make an authentic Game Boy [COLOR] retro feel that is as close as possible to the original. From frustrating enemy placements to nigh-impossible leaps of faith, whip your way through Mortemire's roads, meet NPCs along the way, and unleash the world from its nightmare.
Game objectives
- There are two playable characters: Aryn and Blizz. This TAS uses Aryn, but I plan to make another submission with Blizz.
- Walking sets velocity to -15 (left) or 14 (right).
- Taking damage sets velocity to -30 (left) or 29 (right). Like sliding, momentum is preserved while airborne, but holding a direction resets velocity to walking speed.
- The fastest form of movement is sliding, done by pressing Start or holding Down + A. It gives 59 speed and decelerates by 3 per frame, only while grounded. Jumping during a slide preserves momentum, and cancels the animation after a slide. Attacking before sliding lets you get a full jump during it.
- Attacking with the whip (B) deals 1 damage, while the gun (Select) consumes Scarabs and deals 3 damage.
- Scarabs need to finish the pickup animation before being added as ammo, so in some rooms I need to slow down.
Stage 1: Tombs of Torment
The boss has 36 health. We shoot him 11 times for 33 damage, and the last 3 hits from whipping. This boss has a second phase, but because we kill him so fast he never gets to enter it. When whipping, I grab the Scarab and hit the boss at the same time.
Stage 2: Plagued Pipelines
This boss has 42 HP. Before his fight starts, you can shoot the gun to have it fire as soon as his dialog is over.
Stage 3: Outer Mortemire
At the very start of the fight the boss is invincible, so during the wait I grab the scarab on the right. I couldn't manage to hit the boss and grab the scarab on the left at the same time.
Stage 4: Ul'Bciol Nya Parc
This level has a cave route (which the TAS uses) and an inside route. Getting to the boss is slightly faster with the inside route, but it has 3 less scarabs, so it was slower overall. If it takes 85 or more frames to grab one scarab, you end up losing time compared to hitting thrice with the chain.
Stage 5: Hollowed Limb
In the very first room there are 2 lanterns, but they're useless since you fall into the next room before the scarab is added as ammo. The level also has 2 routes, and taking the top one is faster since you can grab 3 more scarabs. The boss has a very long invincibility period, so we have to wait for it to finish before being able to attack.
After the boss fight we enter a cutscene with Blizz. It's faster to choose the revenge option since it's the first one, and doesn't change anything in the next level. It only affects the ending.
Stage 6: Mortemire Castle
Weirdly, this is the only level that starts you out with some ammo. At 7:00, I have to wait for the elevator to come around before I can continue. I stay on the lower area because the enemy I kill at 7:18 shoots fire which lags the game a lot. There are 2 bosses in the level, the one I fight on the left route (at 7:31) is the only boss where your bullets do 2 damage instead of 3. Despite that, he ends up being faster to fight. The boss on the right has dialog and a second phase after you defeat him.
Potential Improvements
Broadly: better lag management. Collect more scarabs without losing time.
The first 2 levels could be improved, they both shoot the gun instead of saving the ammo for the boss.
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: I'm delaying this submission because I need to discuss the availability of this game with our staff.
nymx: Before the "Sync Verification" was performed, I had already determined that this run is very sharp and to the point. I just had to work out some details with our judges and staff, which turned out successfully. Your run is very good and was an interesting watch. Congratulations on your effort!
Accepting to Standard.
