I figured out some further modifiers for the glitch.
In one of your videos, you went to the room with the final guard, turned around and jumped back towards the edge of the screen before exiting the level just on the screen transition. This is not necessary, because the change to the pattern is registered simply by entering the room with the guard. You could save time by pausing on the last frame of the room before the Guard, exit, and then the prince would enter the room with the guard for 1 frame as the game is exiting.
A similar modifier is triggered by entering the room with the other guard. THIS was what I wasn't understanding before, when I originally assigned a number to the hole below the other guard as "hole #3" in my diagram. In fact, there is no glitch to be made by using that hole. In fact, the modifier is added simply by entering that room. You can go to that room at your leisure, and exit at any time. Or you can exit while going up "hole #3", and "entering" the guard room with the last frame. Or you could go through the gate, returning to the other screen, and then exit. Simply by having entered that room recently, and then exiting soon, the modifier is applied.
You can also use the Level Jump to "jump" to Level One, instead of using "GAME END" to return to Main Menu. This saves a little time since you skip the main menu.
With the actual "Hole" glitches, you do need to use "GAME END."
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I found out that Level 20 Checkpoint massively changes the patterns. I found an almost instantaneous route to Invincibility Mode:
Simply defeat Jaffar, return to the Hallway, and then immediately "JUMP" to Level One, and do a SINGLE "UP" glitch on hole #2. This will warp to beginning of Level 6 with Infinite Health, and TWO anti-fatality capacity.
The fastest way to enable Level Jump without the Special Password that I have found is to Enter the Room with the Final Guard, Exit, then do a SINGLE "UP" glitch on hole #2 to enter Playable Level Zero. At that time, you can PAUSE, enter the special button command, and then activate the level select menu for level 20.
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I found an entertaining glitch. If you activate Level 20 Checkpoint, jump to Level One, and perform the Level Zero trick, at this time, you can do another SINGLE "UP" glitch on hole #2 to warp from Level Zero to Level Zero, and the Prince becomes frozen (no controls), but floating towards to the left. At this time, you can level jump back to Level 20, and the Prince will float to the Exit to complete the Game very quickly. Quite funny.
I also found out that you can bring objects to level 20. I went to level 16, picked up the Potion of Warp, and then jumped back to level 20 before the Prince drank the potion. Upon drinking the Potion inside level 20, the Prince warped to Room #17, which is unused, so he appears in the middle of a black screen, and falls to his death. lol. I have created a ROM Hack where Room #17 has a hallway, and an exit door. I put a wall against the Princess' Room (the exit line), so the prince cannot beat the game unless he employs a level jump (object/position glitch). muahahahahaa.
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I have also found that in some patterns, instead of doing the "Quadruple" Up #2, you can do a "Single" UP, followed by another "Single" UP, which tends to be similar, but in some cases creates a stable warp where the "Quadruple" Up would lead to a sound glitch & freeze.
Reference the video of your glitched Level 6 Checkpoint Warp. That's what I call "Quadruple" UP, because you go up and down through the hole 4 times, instead of once.
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I find the Japanese Version of the game to be quite disappointing. Between #2 & #4, I've only managed to uncover 2 sprite scramble combinations, and no warps. So far only a couple of Intro triggers, and one crash. For the most part, it seems almost impossible to get anything interesting to happen. It is fortunate for us that so many interesting glitches appeared in the USA version!
ok guys, great news. I have officially documented a series of exits that creates a completely stable warp to Level 6 Checkpoint with Invincibility Mode activated, and no freezing or resetting of the console. It is official, and can be duplicated by anyone at any time, very easily, with console or emulator. This is for USA version. I have not tested on JAP version. I will try to post a console proof video later this week.
Invincibility Mode covers two types of damage: Fatal, and Non-Fatal.
You have infinite capacity to take damage from non-fatal hits. But there are limitations for fatal hits. You can fall down 4+ levels, land next to a wall, and you will survive this hit. But if you climb up and do it again, you will die.
There are multiple varieties of Invincibility Mode, based upon Fatal Hit Capacity. I have mostly encountered #1, but the variety available in the warp I discovered today is #2, so you can survive 2 Fatal Hits before the 3rd one kills you. In all cases, you can use up your Fatal Hits, and then replenish your Fatal Hit Capacity by drinking a Big Bottle, or by manually adding health with the "Boost Meter" option on the Debug Menu. Be aware that surviving Fatal Hits is not always good enough, because you will lose control of the prince if you become stuck. You will not become stuck from a long fall if you land perfectly next to a wall (as you can see in my video of level 13 above). But in most cases, falling too far, or landing on spikes will effectively end your progress. If you select [END GAME], and return to Main Menu, Invincibility Mode will be lost. You can avoid this by Level Jumping, using the Debug Menu. If you become stuck, you could start the level over with Level Jump, or select another level.
Finally, I have discovered that whenever you warp, and "KILL" button has been activated, this essentially means that the Special Password has been activated. So as soon as you warp, you can pause, and input the B,Y, Up, Down, Left, Right, L, R button command to reactivate the Debug Menu without actually putting in the password. In other words, you can technically warp, activate Debug Menu, and jump to level 20, without ever "using a password." So in the future, we may have to consider more specific rules for the different categories. A category that simply rules "no passwords" can be beat in a matter of 2 or 3 minutes by setting up a warp, activating debug, and then jumping to 20, and instant-killing jaffar with KILL BUTTON. If a category rules "no level jumping & no passwords", the KILL button could still be used to great effect, saving massive time on all the guards and bosses.
I would propose 5 categories: (all of these should be no freeze, no extra reset, no input passwords)
#1 -- no warp, no kill button, no level jumping. (Challenger's TAS).
#2 -- collect all Big Bottles; no warp, no kill, no jump. ("100%").
#3 -- Debug for Kill Button only; no warp, no jump. (possibly sub-30 minutes.)
#4 -- Warp & Kill ok; no jump. (possibly sub-20 minutes.)
#5 -- Warp & Kill & Jump ok. (possibly sub-3 minutes.)
Here's a video of invincibility. I've done this about 8 times now. (warp with 15 bottles added) -- 3 times stable, 3 times unstable (bad audio, eventual freeze), and 2 times I was given 15 bottles, but it was not invincibility mode. I still can't quite figure out the exact thing I'm doing, but I'm pretty close. It seems like something different happens every time, and I'm only using console, not emulator.
Link to videoLink to video
Alright! Got some developments today! I'll post up some pics & a video tonight after work. So I've confirmed the Invincibility on Warp 6. You get 15 health units, but they all stay Red no matter what. Get hit by a guard 100 times, fall on spikes, fall down the highest cliff, nothing kills you. I made a video jumping down the cliff after the first guard on level 13. I fall all the way down, and then stand up like nothing happened. This presents an opportunity to save time on many levels, but unfortunately it would not save enough time to offset playing levels 6, and 7. (It would be faster to just warp to 8 without invincibility.) If we can find a way to combine Invincibility with Warp 8+, that would be truly awesome.
Also, I have an official way to access Playable Level Zero with No Corruption. You can see everything, including Menus. There are 4 different ways to access Playable Level Zero. I can only do 3 of them consistently. The 4th way makes the Prince permanently blue. Unfortunately I made a mistake & left the level (sword warp) before I could confirm what happens with Blue Prince (does he float? does he stay blue on next level?)
Time is frozen on Level Zero, so you can play forever. Once you leave level zero (sword warp, Hole warp, or finish level) time will resume countdown on next level.
A very interesting aspect of Level Zero Warp is that the Prince is in Two Places at the same time, and you must merge the two positions (one above & one below) to avoid dying. I'll provide pictures & explanation tonight!
Aside from possible permanent blue status, or some other property not yet discovered, I think there may not be any practical benefit to Level Zero. Perhaps you can warp once, but you cannot do a series of buffer patterns while remaining inside Level Zero, as almost everything just sends you back to Main Menu. I'll keep working at it until I can confirm Permanent Blue Status. Theoretically, that could save a lot of time throughout the game, and create many shortcuts (extended reach for jumping across, and extended range for falling safely).
I also managed that playable "level 0" before, but haven't explored completely.
I mentioned you cannot battle a guard, or you will trigger instant warp to level 6. The same thing happens if you venture to the bottom, and pick up the Sword. (Even though you start with Sword, it's still down there for collection.)
I have an incredible update now. You should look into the further implications for an entertaining TAS video. Whenever you trigger 15 health on the Level 6 Warp, it is not 15 health. It is infinite health AND Invincibility! You cannot die. But caution! If you are caught by spikes, you cannot escape, and must END GAME, which will end Invincibility.
If I can manage to get it again, I will check to see what happens with a long fall. If my suspicion is correct, Invincibility + lethal fall will make you stuck on the ground, but if you are next to a wall at the bottom, you will pop back up. I will confirm this later.
An invincibility run could save significant time at the beginning of level 13, after the first guard, to fall down three screens to the room with two door panels, and skip the Red Guard. Also, level 14, to fall down on the right side of the gate which protects the End Gate Panel.
I got another non-corrupt Warp to Level Six Checkpoint tonight. This time, the Warp caused increase of health to 15 units instead of 7 units.
I also had another non-playable level zero warp tonight, but instead of flying fast, I was flying in slow motion, and I was blue (like the game gave me a Slow Bottle). I hit "Select" to see what information I could get, but this button froze the game before the menu popped up! I think the answer is the starting position. Perhaps if you are all the way inside the wall, you can stand, but if you are on the edge of a wall, you will fly away, in search of a floor panel. (Like I said, using Teleportation Door on level 15 from Wrong Room, probably sets you in an illegal spot, and the game sends you flying away.) Very interesting that this one time, the Level Zero Warp also gave me Blue Power! lol.
I wonder what's next.... maybe a Level 20 Checkpoint warp, and beat the game in 1 minute with no passwords, and no Jaffar fight. lol.
ok, got some big news! I figured out what the mystery level was! It must be Level Zero, Playable! In the image below, I map out where you begin the level. You are inside the wall, and if you proceed to the left, you will die when you reach the end. If you proceed to the right, you will go out onto the ground below, and begin normal adventure. Once you have come out of the wall, all normal rules apply, and you cannot go back inside. Now you are in a clone of Level 1, but it is Level Zero.
Special rules for Playable Level Zero:
#1, you begin play with scrambled buttons, invisible menus, and corrupted dark world. You cannot see anything except The Prince, The Guards, and The Bottles. (Since you know how the menu works, you can blindly access button control, hit "Initialize" to reset all buttons, and then blindly redefine buttons as needed.)
#2, KILL Button is now enabled. When redefining buttons, you can assign KILL to a button.
#3, you begin play WITH the sword, but you Must Not Use Sword. If you engage in battle with a guard, play will Immediate Stop, and you will be instantly warped to Level 6. As long as you do not pull out your sword, you may continue to explore Level Zero. With KILL Button enabled, you can kill guards to avoid pulling out your sword. (I have done this with both guards. Either battle immediately results in Warp to Level Six.)
#4, killing guards will not prompt the "Victory" Music, because this is Level Zero. All Other Sound Effects should behave normally.
#5, once you complete Level Zero by going through the EXIT DOOR, you will then begin LEVEL ONE. It will still be corrupt (bad visibility), but once you complete LEVEL ONE, the Princess Cut Scene will remove Level Corruption before LEVEL TWO.
#6, during exploration of LEVEL ZERO, all glitch holes are still fully functional. I did not continue experimenting much tonight, because it's late, but before I stopped playing, I was able to use Hole #1 to Warp to LEVEL SEVEN, and Hole #2 to Warp to LEVEL SIX, while exploring LEVEL ZERO.
I reached LEVEL ZERO by the following pattern:
#1 -- Go to Room with Final Guard, turn around, and END GAME when leaving Guard Room. (Goes to Main Menu.)
#2 -- Drop down Hole #2 four times, then END GAME going DOWN. (Reset to beginning of Level One.)
#3 -- Drop down Hole #2 four times, then END GAME going UP. (Screen will flash three times, then place the Prince inside the wall, at the following location) --
hey! good news, Challenger.
I buffered in a couple more exits, from #2 & #4, and got a completely stable warp to Level 6 Checkpoint (#2 UP), no stage corruption, no sound corruption.
I was also able to get normal Warp 6 from #2, and normal Warp 8 from #5, like your videos. Pretty Cool!
However, I had one other warp to an unknown level. It was probably Corrupt Level 1, because very dark, and level 1-3 music. I began on Top Level, started to run left, and immediately fell two levels, and hit bottom for instant kill (#255 room link). I cannot remember any room like this in the game.
Also, a warp to Level Zero, but this time flying around, like in level 15 when you use Teleport Door from wrong room. Weird!
Here's a picture of completing Warp 6 Checkpoint with No Corruption. Password screen shows ---:-- time, because it did not start from the beginning. Decoding this password says 8:39 elapsed, so the Warp caused over 8 minutes jump. Also, you can see 7 health. This is like what I saw for the Level 8 Warp, sometimes gets 7 health instead of 3. This Level 6 Checkpoint Warp also activated KILL button.
Thanks for the map, because while I'm not still able to get level 12 warp, I got a warp to level 8 on that #5 hole!
While I cannot remember the specifics of the level 12 warp, I can give you a general idea: I think I did #2, #2, #4, #2, #1, #2, #4, #5, #2, #5, with a crash somewhere that did not clear the memory. It was fairly random, because I was just continuing to mess around, without paying much attention. At the time, I was experimenting with the different sprite manipulations, and had no idea a level 12 warp was possible. The same the second time.
I can see from your movements in the video that there may be some element of timing, and other actions prior to doing END GAME, so I must assume there are other ways of buffering in the correct memory manipulation to recreate the level 12 warp without spending 5+ minutes and multiple resets.
Also, in theory, you could use #2 + #1 to successfully warp to 7 or 8 with KILL, then go back to level 1 afterwards for further experiments. I am pretty sure that when I got the level 12 warp, I may have warped to level 7 first, then come back. This adds to the buffered memory manipulation.
I think it would be a funny video if you warp to 7, then 12, then 8, then 17. haha, bouncing all over the place!
I have a question: I notice in one of the videos, you go to the right, and END GAME when you are approaching the Final Guard. Did that really make a difference? If so, perhaps every room transition can provide some changes, not just the ones I highlighted on the map.
Thanks! This is quite fascinating. I hadn't considered the possibility of doing END GAME on the way UP instead of DOWN!
Unfortunately, this Level 6 Checkpoint Warp is unstable, as you can hear the corrupted sound effects. In other words, any continuation of this path would most likely lead to a freeze before the TAS could reach the end of the game.
Anyway, this is amazing. I'll have to do some more tests myself with the UP direction.
I know this is a bit tedious, especially the idea of having a speedrun that wastes precious time running back and forth through level 1 for an inordinate amount of time. But the implications of the Level 12 warp may be enough to overcome the time playing levels 8, 9, 10, and 11.
Note for attached picture: when sounds glitch, a freeze is imminent. A freeze will usually occur almost immediately, or within a few seconds of resuming in-game play. When this doesn't happen quickly, do not become confident that you can continue. It will happen soon. I have encountered ONLY one exception to this rule: in one glitch, every sound (foot steps, gates, panels, drinking, swords, Every Non-Musical Sound) was replaced by a buzz. After a couple of minutes, changing levels, skipping levels, replaying levels, I began to think the game would not freeze. But about 8 minutes later, it froze. If you encounter a sound glitch involving different sound effects or muted sound effects, do not continue. You will not be able to complete the game for the purposes of a TAS Speedrun.
I say "do not continue" on the assumption that Manual Soft Reset is not encouraged for the TAS video. A Soft Reset would correct the sound issue, negate the impending freeze, and allow a continuation of the previously buffered warp patterns. It is possible that some warp solutions could involve Manual Soft Reset. As long as "Best Time" data (random nonsense times all over the board) has not been cleared, the buffer patterns will continue to have an effect on future glitches.
also, here's the only evidence of my level 12 warp. As you can see, the glitch combined the upside down menu letters, and the guard/skeleton sprite corruption. I had the special debug code activated at the time, as you can see. I used that for jumping around the game to document various enemy and cut-scene corruption after the glitches were performed. I do not know whether or not the activation of the debug code has an inherent impact on the glitches. My initial guess is No, because I've been able to consistently recreate several glitch combinations with and without the activation of the debug code.
Great to hear about these warp things, since I haven't much knownledge with certain things! Also it's been a while since the last time I've touched this game.
Once managing, would be useful a movie file for check it.
I've been capturing some short videos of the TV using my phone. I may try to put some of them on youtube in the near future. I'm not too familiar with the process of creating emulator videos or video submissions to this website. But a warning: video evidence is not very helpful here. You could see in MESHUGGAH's post earlier, even though he tried to replicate the Japanese Video frame by frame, he could not get it to behave exactly the same. This is because EVERYTHING has an impact on these combinations, including things which happened before the video started, even before an earlier freeze. The only way to confirm a pattern for sure is to do a HARD power reset and clear all memory. I would guess that if the Japanese video cannot be replicated exactly, he did something else before the video started, to cause a slight change. I think the best evidence here is trial & error by TAS machine, which will be exactly the same every time, and then document the different combinations.
Another update: I found an interesting combination of sprite animation corruptions, where the Prince is the Sword (which lies upon the ground in Level 1), when in his standing position, and his running position. In other positions, he takes the forms of various guards and skeleton. The point of interest here is the Sword. The game allows the HIT BOX to roughly match the size and position of the Sword, which means I can run under a GATE when it has almost completely closed.
I could see a benefit here for level 11, when trying to hurry under the gate near the end. Also of benefit at many places throughout the game when you are waiting for the gate to rise before you can continue.
Well, LOL, I found another warp. This time to level 4. Not very helpful! But at least it confirms that there are multiple warps possible from the other room, depending upon conditions.
Now, hopefully we can find a warp to level 16, and bust things wide open!
I have noticed some variations on the level 8 warp. Sometimes I arrive at level 8 with 3 health bottles, the same as I had when I began level 1. Other times, I will arrive at level 8 with 7 health bottles. I haven't confirmed the exact differences in my performance yet, but that's something to look at for sure. It would be interesting if someone could combine the level 12 warp with a sudden increase in health.
I have also noticed that several room drops will scramble my input buttons, requiring me to go to the "Options" window to reconfigure my buttons. Sometimes, it also changes the audio from Stereo to Mono, or change the "repeat" option. When the KILL glitch is activated and available, sometimes the button scrambling will cause it to not be selected anymore, but it's still available when I go to fix my buttons.
I suspect that continuing to drop through holes in a particular pattern could be similar to rewriting code in the memory, like in Super Mario World when they trigger the End Credits via a number of on-screen sprite positions & item glitches.
I'd like to add a request. If someone is going to submit an official video that includes the KILL button, please use the KILL button during the "memories" scenes before the credits, for entertainment value.
If you KILL the guard in the Level 13 scene immediately after the Prince has drawn his sword, he will put it away and get sliced by the Chomper Blade at the end of the conveyor belt.
If you KILL the ghost in the Level 15 scene after the Prince stops running, both will die, and trigger the FRAME sooner. If you KILL the ghost at the very beginning, the Prince will die, but will be stuck in the running position. Being dead, he will run through the closed gate, and into the hallway, finally triggering the FRAME when the Stellar Door is visible.
Possible speedrun paths of this game:
#0 - play the game from level 1 to end -> [3271] SNES Prince of Persia by Challenger & Odongdong in 33:31.20
#1 - without using any password, use [GAME END] glitch warping to stage 8 and finish the remaining 12~14 levels -> probably shaves off 10 minutes
I have found some pieces to the puzzle. You guys should be able to verify these statements easily, and figure out some things I haven't been able to solve.
Shocker: I have warped to level 12 once, and it was stable.
So, the beginning of my experimentation was not to save time, but to get a better understanding of the glitch. I should preface by saying that I'm not a TASer, and I have no technical knowledge of the game. I had some free time for Christmas break, and have only been messing around on my US Super Nintendo Console.
Besides the first room, which can send you to levels 7 or 8, there are three other rooms in level 1 that have a readily apparent impact on the game. I have used combinations of the second room and the first room to make a stable warp to levels 7 or 8 with no freezing or level corruption. (usually, I'll drop from the left side of the hole 2 times in the second room; first time, level 1 resets; second time, bumped out to main menu.) I've tried many combinations of this, as the second room seems to provide a buffer, with the right number of times, to prevent crashes.
After going to the bottom, and heading left (away from the final guard), the next room with spikes has a loose panel overhead. I've tried going up (another guard) and falling back down this hole on both sides, but I haven't been able to confirm whether this does anything. It seems likely not, although sometimes it will reset to main menu, followed by excessive temporary lag upon returning to level 1; in other cases, this hole has caused a crash.
Continuing to the left, there is another room with a pit, and a loose panel overhead. Going up through this loose panel to the room with the skeleton & potion, I drop back down this hole, and have observed a variety of interesting glitches. Depending upon how many times I've buffered drops from the second room, and whether I climb down the left side of the hole, or jump down the right side of the hole, a number of different combinations of sprite (animation) scrambling have been observed. I have also on several occasions used this hole to flip all menu text upside down, including pop-up windows, time window, info windows, and main menu. In some cases, it will only flip all letters and numbers, still kept in their original places. Other times, the lines are flipped also.
Continuing to the left, there is a room with 3 loose panels (two for the little bridge, and one at bottom, leading to a small room with a potion). When I go down the hole at the bottom, you will notice the lower room flip upside down prior to the game resetting. Depending on dropping from left, or jumping down right, other strange sprite corruption takes place. If the correct number of buffers is not observed, the game will crash. On several occasions, this hole flipped the menu letters. And on 2 occasions I've been warped to level 12.
When you notice that the sound effects have been altered, or become silent, this is a telltale sign that the glitch is unstable, and a freeze will take place soon (indeterminate amount of time -- sometimes triggered by random activity, like stepping on a door panel). One of my level 12 warps was unstable, and the other was stable -- the stable warp allowed me to play the rest of the game without any problems, and I beat the game with the "two dudes" in the princess' bedroom.
My new favorite is the sprite corruption jumping to the right side of the hole in this last room; the prince runs around with half an arm sticking out, and becomes a guard or skeleton when sliding or crouching. I love this set because all enemy guards are Princes walking around with bottles in their hands, drinking fiercely as they approach you, and taking a long drink after they die. The woman is the Blue Horse from the Japanese publishers intro, even though that logo is not available in my US version! The 6-armed man is a special sprite of one of the Guards whipping and beating the Prince in the dungeon (both bodies together for one sprite). It's amazing that this sprite is in the US version, even though that part of the game introduction was cut out for being too violent for the American audience. Every time the 6-armed man stops to wiggle his head, the corrupted sprite shows the guard giving the prince a sound thrashing! At the end, Jafar is a blue 6-armed man, and when the prince goes to the Princess's bedroom, the princess becomes a crumpled beheaded prince, with the severed head bouncing on the floor several feet away. (In another pattern, the Prince himself is temporarily beheaded during the Jafar fight when standing up from a magic fall.) I'm curious to know if anyone is able to do sprite extraction to put together all the pieces of the beheading, which was apparently never used in the game.
I've seen another sprite corruption where the Prince is slouched over as he runs, and in the level 13 and level 14 cut scenes, the mouse becomes the sprite of the two guards carrying the Prince away from the Princess in the garden.
Anyway, my point is, between the 5 different lively holes in the first level, there is a lot of interaction going on. Various combinations continue to scramble the numbers on the "best times" screen. Various combinations prevent hard freezes, reveal a wealth of different sprite corruption patterns, and there may be more level warps that we don't know about.
Unfortunately, I've only been able to activate the level 12 warp 2 times, and I've not been able to remember exactly what I did, which is frustrating. I've been documenting several of the combinations of room drops now, so I don't forget. But the level 12 warp and the Slouching Prince have been eluding me for a couple of days now.
I believe some of you TASers may be in a much better position, as far as time goes, to quickly plow through the further implications of these combinations, and observe what's going on, and figure out how to do the level 12 warp, and perhaps others.
Finally, I'd like to state my personal opinion that copying a level 20 password is horrendously illegitimate for the purposes of speedrunning. Literally anyone on planet earth can grab a level 20 password and put it in. Combining that with the instant kill glitch, I'm sure you could run to Jafar and kill him in much less than 1:41 total.
