THE BEST POSSIBLE TIME "IN THEORY"
NOTE: I used an original NES cartridge version of "Zelda 2: The
Adventure of Link" to conduct this theory and walkthrough. If you
are using an emulator, your time results will vary, as some are
slower or faster than the original cartridge.
Before actually going through the game as fast as possible, I
conducted a theory as to how fast Zelda 2 could possibly be
finished, by timing each part of the game as I traveled along.
Here were the time theories in mind:
Start of game to the end of 1st Palace: 6 mins, 19 secs
NOTES: Skipped SHIELD spell and 1st Life containers.
End of 1st Palace to Start of 2nd Palace: 20 mins, 27 secs
NOTES: Got 1st and 2nd Magic containers, 2nd life container,
JUMP and LIFE spells, the HAMMER, as well as the FAIRY spell
and an Extra Life
2nd Palace: 6 mins, 3 secs
NOTES: Substituted 2 keys for FAIRY spells. Shaved time
considerably.
End of 2nd Palace to End of 3rd Palace: 7 mins, 39 secs
NOTES: All stops done beforehand. Went straight to 3rd Palace.
End of 3rd Palace to Start of Palace 4: 7 mins, 57 secs
NOTES: Got REFLECT spell and 3rd Magic container.
Palace 4: 8 mins, 4 secs
NOTES: Substituted 2 keys for FAIRY spells. Died once, exited
Palace after acquiring MAGIC BOOTS to replenish Magic.
End of 4th Palace to End of Palace 5: 10 mins, 7 secs
NOTES: Substituted 2 Keys for FAIRY spells. Spent extra time
raising levels long neglected. Got 3rd Life Container and Extra
Life.
End of 5th Palace to Start of 6th Palace: 7 mins, 50 secs
NOTES: Got SPELL spell, 4th Magic and Life containers, got
MAGIC KEY, got THUNDER spell (Not recommended before the Cross).
6th Palace: 7 mins, 32 secs
NOTES: Did not take shortcut. (explained later)
End of 6th Palace to Start of 7th Palace: 10 mins, 12 secs
NOTES: Spent extra time to raise levels in forest.
Great Palace: 7 mins, 32 secs
NOTES: None. Little to do during the goal at hand.
Theoretical Time: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes, 38 Seconds
I had 27 unintentional action sequences along the way. It
takes, on average, 6 seconds to leave an action sequence without
fighting monsters. So that said, if assuming I could avoid all
unintentional action sequences, then:
6 secs x 27 = 162 seconds, = 3 minutes, 2 seconds shaved off
the journey.
Theoretical Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes, 36 Seconds
Other factors to take into consideration is the effeciency of
leveling up, which I failed to do during this first trial run.
I have reason to believe I can beat this time if I knew what
to level-up first.
I doubt that that is really the theoretical best time in the same sense that 5:08 is the theoretical best time for SMB.
Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Experienced player
(769)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 534
Location: Arizona
I think maybe cheating should be defined.
Cheating in the gaming sense, means to violate the rules of the game, i.e. using invincibility, giving items at the start, etc, so it's not cheating in that sense, because it is theoretically possible to do what is done in time attack videos by a human without slowdowns or save states. If a human completed a speed run that looked exactly like a time attack, then it would not be called cheating, thus the actions within the game are not cheats in time attacks either.
Outside of the game (making videos), cheating would be deception/fraud, i.e. claiming a Time Attack as a real record. But Time Attacks are clearly defined so that they are not deceptive, but explained as artistic works made for entertainment, thus this is not cheating either.
Agree/Disagree
