My first movie. Be Gentle.
This game is HARD. You play Nasir, a cheap Link ripoff. He is equipped with his 5 micrometer sword of justice. And apparently purple eyes. You battle against evil persons who are making the water of Lakeland all icky, making you of the type warrior/environmentalist.
I bought the Red Potion and Shiny Stone at the beginning of the game because I planned on getting the two treasure chests that would have 350 Gold each instead of the item. One in Phillips Castle and one in Gold Cave. But as you can see I wound up not getting either one, or buying anything, or using the Shiny Stone. So that's a half second I can save in v2.
I also made a mistake in the desert and allowed myself to go into the lava cave with low health. The second long pauses are to regenerate health. That's about 3 seconds that can be saved. Plus another 2-4 for the path through the lava cave the first time. I can save perhaps 3 by not switching to the three way fireball. And another 3 by not switching to the fireball, because I don't need it. Though for the lava cave I'll probably need the wind cutter. But if I can find a way around that it's another 3 seconds or so.
Boss names and strategies:
Samson- Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
Natela- The jump was to manipulate luck, as was the timing of the first swing. This was to prevent her from moving to the bottom of the screen and blowing fireballs everywhere.
Eardon- It's a rock, so I have to wait for it to open up. I know that the timing can be slightly manipulated, but I'm unsure how to. The movements are to manipulate its movement.
Duma- Ugly head thing. I move that far down so the hands follow me. I don't know if there is a way to manipulate the timing his helmet is open.
Thimale- One armed sword spamming. After you kill its barrier.
Ella- One armed sword spamming. The pauses and movements are to manipulate her next warp.
Mathais vs Zerah- Wow that's a stupid fight...
Battler- More of the mindless one-armed sword spamming. The pauses are to keep him from warping away.
Evil Green Spirit-
First form: Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
Second form: Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
Zerah- Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
Thor-
First form: Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
Second form: Too fast for mindless one-armed sword spamming. This bastard is actually insanely difficult to do, even with rerecords and frame advance. This is the fastest way I found to do it.
Red Evil Spirit- Mindless one-armed sword spamming.
I skip the Force Sword because it's so far off path and only +20 compaired to the Magic Sword. I still don't know if even the Power Ring saves me time, and that's right on my path.
I don't know if the Moon Sword is necessary or not. But I believe it is. I don't think you can defeat the first form of the Evil Green Spirit without it.
I don't know if the walking through enemies is a bug or a feature. I'm leaning towards bug though. And it's the only one I can find.
All the text in the game is as fast as possible. And most of the menu manipulation. (Maybe 10 frames off total)
Was made 99% with the pause button and the \ button. Exceptions are long empty hallways. Everything else was frame advanced.
So the lineup:
SNES9x WIP 1.
Aims for fastest time.
No warps. No passwords.
Abuses programming error in the game.
Takes hits to improve time.
Does not use death. (I couldn't find a useful place.)

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #508: OmnipotentEntity's SNES Lagoon in 1:08:32.68
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 453
Location: Norway
I have to vote Meh on this submission. The Meh is because the game itself is 'plain'. Unless you have played it it doesn't have much action to speak of, and you have to backtrack a lot, and too many of the bosses are just hack-n-slash. Also scenery is too similar, and so on. There is no entertainment in watching this run unless you have previously played the game. The run itself seemed to be performed optimally. Meh due to lack of entertainment for me. (That it lasts 1hr 08 is not a good thing either)
Post subject: Re: #508: OmnipotentEntity's SNES Lagoon in 1:08:33
Editor, Active player (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
submitter wrote:
I bought the Red Potion and Shiny Stone at the beginning of the game because I planned on getting the two treasure chests that would have 350 Gold each instead of the item. One in Phillips Castle and one in Gold Cave. But as you can see I wound up not getting either one, or buying anything, or using the Shiny Stone. So that's a half second I can save in v2. I also made a mistake in the desert and allowed myself to go into the lava cave with low health. The second long pauses are to regenerate health. That's about 3 seconds that can be saved. Plus another 2-4 for the path through the lava cave the first time. I can save perhaps 3 by not switching to the three way fireball. And another 3 by not switching to the fireball, because I don't need it. Though for the lava cave I'll probably need the wind cutter. But if I can find a way around that it's another 3 seconds or so.
So in a tool-assisted movie over 1 hour you admit you could have saved 15 seconds by better planning?
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
I would vote yes simple because I have played this game. I thought this game was funny to play actually. Also it's hard and one hour seems like ridiculus fast! However, I still haven't fixed my emu so I can't watch it and therefore I will not vote.
/Walker Boh
Post subject: Re: #508: OmnipotentEntity's SNES Lagoon in 1:08:33
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2623
Bisqwit wrote:
So in a tool-assisted movie over 1 hour you admit you could have saved 15 seconds by better planning?
Yes. As it is the honorable thing to do and I intend to make a second version.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Ambassador, Experienced player (696)
Joined: 7/17/2004
Posts: 985
Location: The FLOATING CASTLE
Clearly, watching this video is better than actually playing the game as it's just too tough. The boss fights are very well done. However, due to obvious flaws there should be a better-planned second pass before this is publishable. It looks like you have a good idea of what needs to be done, and hopefully there will be some surprise improvements as well. Hope to see it soon!
Post subject: Proper job!
Joined: 5/17/2004
Posts: 106
Location: Göteborg, Sweden
Yes vote from me. Though I agree that Lagoon isn't the most enjoyable game to watch for someone who has never tried it, I've played this game through and very much appreciate watching it suffer. Pity there's no speedy way to off the 2nd form of Thor, it really deserves it. It should be noted that, although it doesn't always look like it, this run is very different from what you'd get playing regularly. Getting the slashing rythm perfect on regular enemies is *hard* and the bosses in this game are just plain murderous. Regular play also involves a lot of getting lost in labyrinths (Lagoon is the only SNES game I ever made hand-drawn maps for, which is a "feature" I actually like), keeping away from nasties to properly smite them with magic and standing around regenerating all the MP spent on said smiting. Oh, and I love the bass lines. Amazing what a few sine waves can do if you try.
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2623
TheAxeMan wrote:
However, due to obvious flaws
Any specific ones that I didn't mention? Because everything I mentioned wasn't all that obvious (except for the pauses in the Dwarf Cave). But I might have overlooked some that may be glaring to others. EDIT: I fail at bb tags.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Former player
Joined: 6/26/2004
Posts: 139
Location: Kuopio, Finland
IMHO, the movie looks good and is perhaps as fast it can be.. but It's just not intresting to watch at all.. I had to frame skip almost 98% of the game (watched only bosses. and they were just abused with the sword so not so intresting there eighter ^.^' good strategy tho.) An hour of turbo frame skipping is enough for me to say.... No.
- mazzeneko
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [288] SNES Lagoon by OmnipotentEntity in 1:08:32.68
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Now I have watched this run and I loved the whole hour! It doesn't really appers like it but the boss battles is amazing! I remember having to spend hours leveling up before I could take on any of the bosses from the one in the Ice Cave. Also, it's not possible to beat the bird (one of the last bosses) that nice!! ;) When I played it on a console I had to rely on my life ball, standing in the left corner and hit him as much as possible when he passed by. Impressive! I do have one question though. I noticed that you pressed yourself against walls so you could move sort of diagonally. I totally understands why you are doing this and it's a good idea, however, is it really faster? It looked like the slowdown it caused was greater than not to move diagonally. That's the only thing I can think of. Great run of a great game (atleast I liked it)!
/Walker Boh
Editor, Active player (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Walker Boh wrote:
I do have one question though. I noticed that you pressed yourself against walls so you could move sort of diagonally. I totally understands why you are doing this and it's a good idea, however, is it really faster? It looked like the slowdown it caused was greater than not to move diagonally.
Also, there was at least one occassion when that move was not used even when possible. I wonder what made it special...
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2623
From the limited amount of tests I've done, it's the exactly the same amount of time either way. I used it to cut down on rerecords. And thanks so much for the vote of confidence from everyone.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Former player
Joined: 11/5/2004
Posts: 43
good job. actually, what i think i amazing is that you wer able to complete the run. I watched it and yeah, there are nothing to add. good job!
Joined: 3/3/2010
Posts: 87
I know it's been 5 years since this movie was published, but I thought I'd bring up a few ideas for anyone who might be thinking of improving on this run. Besides the optimizations that the author mentioned, there is one major timesaver that I think needs to be mentioned, and that is the fact that it is not necessary to visit Poper before entering Siegfried Castle to obtain the Mint. That will save quite a few seconds (perhaps a minute or more, I haven't bothered to time it out yet) over the route shown.
sgrunt
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Joined: 10/28/2007
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Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
There are improvements under active discussion in the thread for the game; you may also want to place your comment there.