Start at 5:37
At 08:07.55, this movie is 630 frames faster than the current publication (08:18.03). It is my 11th (and the 13th overall) TAS of NES Ghosts 'n Goblins. My first attempt was this site's first submission.
Stages 1-4 are the same as before.
Stage 5 is 315 frames faster. The improvement comes from a combination of a new damage boost and a much better boss fight. We can't perfectly optimize the moving platform anymore, but we can manipulate it to some extent by either killing a skeleton or picking up a money bag. Koh1fds gets credit for all of the new ideas.
Stage 6 is 315 frames faster, as well, because of another new damage boost idea from Koh1fds. The zigzag is gone. I had to confirm that it's still faster to damage boost at the unicorn. It is, barely. The boost is 147 frames faster than taking the ladder. Getting the armor takes 126 frames. And so it's 21 frames faster overall.
Thanks to Alyosha, feos, and AngerFist for creative assistance.

Samsara: File replaced with a 120-frame improvement. Also, judging!
Samsara: I just love what these Ghosts 'n Goblins submissions stand for. It goes to show that even after 12 years and just as many submissions, huge new things can be found in order to whittle a time down further and further. Runs like this are part of why I love this scene. Accepting as an improvement to the published run!
Also updated the submission file with the stylistic improvement that I totally saw before judgement, trust me.
fsvgm777: Processing.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5158: Arc & Koh1fds's NES Ghosts 'n Goblins in 08:07.55
Editor, Skilled player (1438)
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I enjoyed the new damage boosts a lot. Yes vote.
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Thank heavens it was seemingly easy to hex-edit. The new boosts were quite nice! Easy yes vote.
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
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It's not me, it's this guy who discovered it: http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=436739#436739 And he seems to be suggesting new improvements, so it's him who must be co-authored. Well, unless you want to co-author me just for reporting other's advices. I'd be fine with that :D
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
mklip2001
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Holy crap, that was an awesome unexpected change. Ironically, the lack of enemies in Stage 5 (along with the unavoidable platform wait) makes that stage less interesting, but Stage 6 makes up for it. The boosts there are great, along with the tense moments of dodging red gargoyles afterward.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Arc
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Whoever has the power, please update the submission file with this one: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/31976269209143856 The new time is 08:07.55. It is an improvement of 120 frames compared to the submitted movie, and it is 630 frames faster than the current publication. The new file includes two improvements to level 5 based on Koh1fds's post: 1. Picking up the money bag on the left changed the spawn of the platform and saved a net of 6 frames. 2. Koh1fds noticed in the submitted version that by waiting 36 frames, the satan yielded an optimal movement pattern. By incredible luck, getting to the boss 6 frames faster gave me that ideal pattern, and so I improved the boss fight by 114 frames.
Joined: 5/12/2009
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Location: Brazil
Great work guys!!! The run is now even better and it was already amazing! Question: Not sure how the wall clip you used work, but would it be possible to use a damage boost on the penultimate floor of the building in 2nd stage to clip to the top of the wall and fall to the right?
Alyosha
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That's pretty cool. I'm always surprised how such tricks can go undiscovered for so long. I think my name can probably be removed from the author list now. This current work certainly supercedes anything I had to add in the previous run. Nice Work!
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And so with my nickname. I didn't make even a single input for this movie. You can remove it
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Koh1fds wrote:
And so with my nickname. I didn't make even a single input for this movie. You can remove it
Without your efforts this submission wouldn't happen at all.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
mklip2001
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Reeve: The new zips involve going upwards, through the floor. A zip in stage 2 where you mention would require zipping sideways. I'm not sure that would work, but maybe Arc can say more about this.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Player (171)
Joined: 7/1/2016
Posts: 263
It's not like real clipping. Game have fixed jump height and doesn't have ceilings. So you can jump on top of the platform from below trough the platform. In that place collision geometry looks something like this (green lines): http://i.imgur.com/B7BbRko.png It has "holes" in vertical parts and some horizontal platforms. So by boosting of the enemy you can get high enough to land on that invisible platform trough holes in vertical geometry and then you just jump from one platform to another. But there is no such holes in vertical walls at the level 2. So you can't do this. You just land on the next floor
Arc
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Thank you Samsara for updating the file. I uploaded the YouTube with the new version (https://youtu.be/4CPvbZNl1TQ?t=5m37s). I gave 'thanks' credits to Alyosha, feos, and AngerFist. Although in my mind, Alyosha still did enough to deserve partial authorship. You certainly deserve authorship credit, Koh1fds. In reply to the post about ghost/burrito spawns: I tried changing a few easy kills in earlier levels, and it had no effect on the rest of the movie. I remember spending a while trying to find a way to manipulate the burrito that gets in the way at the end of level 1. I couldn't find any way to change it. And I can't recall any instance where my actions on one level had an impact on another level. And even if it were possible to manipulate the spawns, would it change the timing? I suspect it might change only the spawn position. It's already positioned well now. Koh1fds explained level 2 well. You can only boost up to the next floor in the house. Likewise, I've dreamt about clipping into the Aggro Crag on level 3, but I don't think it's possible.
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Enemy spawns position depends on the value of 00C0 address. It's actually was explained before by Alyosha so i deleted that post. 00C0 it is just a simple enemy counter. It counts only enemies that randomly spawns (zombies, ghost, flying knights, crows at the level 2). So you start the game with 00C0=0. If zombies spawns 00C0=0+3=3, because zombies spawns in pack of 3. If then ghost spawns 00C0=3+1=4 etc. It loops around after 16. So to change enemy spawns in the movie you have to get at least one extra random enemy spawn or one less spawn on any level before level 5 because 00C0 doesn't resets between levels. I was thinking, that killing the ghosts can force one extra ghost spawn. And yes, getting 1 extra spawn can dramatically change every spawns on the next levels so it can be really bad. As i think 00C0 affects only spawn position, but sometimes that blue flying thing at the level 5 can spawn near that wall and you can boost like with out waiting at all, so it definitely can save some time. And i think that flying knights at the level 1 is the best for getting 1 extra spawn. I think they requires minimum time lost. In current movie 00C0=10 at the level 4 and so at the beginning of level 5. It has to be something different to get different spawn. So at the middle of the level 3 you can already tell what spawn you will get at the level 5, because there is no random enemies from that point until the level 5. And also maybe killing this skeletons a better way to manipulate platform than picking money bag? http://i.imgur.com/Sw4PCey.png If you wait till enemies spawns anyway. Bad English
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Your English is anything but bad, no need to excuse.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Arc
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I looked into the spawn idea, but I don't think it will work. A perfectly timed damage boost in level 5 could theoretically save maybe 150 frames. But we don't know how changing the timing would alter the platform and the boss pattern. Even assuming that they aren't problematic, I think that the only way to change the raw number of spawns is to lose too much time. I don't think that killing one makes a new one spawn any faster. I had to pay attention to the timing of the birds in the house, and they always were on a 336-frame timer regardless of what I did with them. I think that enemies keep spawning on a fixed timer while you're in a particular zone of a level. When I tried spawning more knights in level 1, it was taking too long. All of this manipulation assumes a better spawn in level 5, but there's a good chance the spawn wouldn't improve anyway. If I kill the skeleton instead of pick up the money bag, I get the exact same timing. However, killing the skeleton is the aesthetically better choice. It looks like I'm killing the skeleton for fun since I have time to wait, and I also spend a little less time standing in the corner by myself doing nothing. And people who watch the video without reading the comments would wonder why I walked left to pick up a seemingly meaningless money bag. Therefore, I would like to replace the submission file again, even though the timing is unchanged: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/31998447334116332
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Nice to see a Ghosts'n Goblins TAS from you again, Arc!
fsvgm777
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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. ---- [3173] NES Ghosts 'n Goblins by Arc & Koh1fds in 08:07.55
EZGames69
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I was able to find a video that shows the verification of this movie on a real console. Link to video
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing