Recorded with snes9x improvement (completed with v6) which can be found here: Forum/Topics/1816
The movie must be played with this improved version, or it will desync. For correct playback, under the emulator sync settings only have checked the 'Use WIP1 Timing' box.
Uses no warps or passwords. Manipulates luck. Aims for fastest time.
This is a unique Squaresoft RPG that uses traditional Nintendo characters from the classic Super Mario Bros games.
This movie includes the fight with Culex. Although the movie may have shorter without them, it is more interesting to be able to observe it and take advantage of the rewards later in the game. The Lucky Jewel is used in most of the boss fights to gain levels faster, most notably in the Culex fight. The Lucky Hammer was bought to use against the Shoguns to save the Lucky Jewel for use in more effective instances (i.e. the Culex fight). Timing for freebies was the most tedious aspect. I would have liked to have used less Rock Candies and Fire/Ice Bombs, but at least I was able to alternate sometimes between them instead of constantly using the same thing over and over. I often managed without them (thankfully) and I hated timing them constantly in the final battle.
The rerecord count is not accurately conceivable. It should be much larger since a lot of the controller data was hexed from the test version (which had a rerecord count of 26462). The hexed data is only from out of battle in places where there were no problems to begin with.
the fight with Jinx is gone...and that saved approximately 4 minutes
the other 2 minutes were saved only because I was able to beat the bosses faster with the Troopa Pin equipped; maybe also partially to the fact that I had Mario equipped with the Exp.Booster in the Culex fight yielding him 976 experience points and a level higher in the fight with last few bosses in the Smithy Factory
for those that have already watched the original submission the difference begins at the start of the Megasmilax battle
i honestly saw no reason to watch it AGAIN, but i did anyhow... from megasmilax on.
again, superb job. however, id still want a write up as to why everything happens and why you choose the things you do, but the movies excellent as always. also, thanks for the savestates as well. nice idea.
YES.
hmm..I seemed to have run into a problem watching the movie. I used fast foward since I didn't know how to work the save states in the movie (or rather, I tried one, but this same error came up..will explain) and once I got to Land's End, Mario jumps and it says movie end. This also was the save state I loaded before, and the movie ended at that point also. Maybe the save state interfered somehow..I restarted snes9x and I'm fast fowarding again, to see if the error comes up again. I'll keep you posted on what happens.
edit: okay, I guess it was a problem with the save state..n/m ^^; I'll let you know what I think of the improved movie after I finish watching.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
did you make a savestate and then load it? if so, you probably undid everything after the state. check if 'read only' is ticked the movie's properties.
Loading a savestate while watching a movie will start recording from where the loadstate was, provided you don't have the "Read Only" box selected in the movie play dialog.
Simple sulution would be get yourself another copy of the movie and replace your old one with it. If your going to loadstate remember to you "Read Only" checked when you start the movie.
you asked for it
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GAINING LEVELS:
I never raise HP, and from the Belome fight on I always raise Atk.Pwr in favor of it at every level up. Mag.Pwr is always still raised according to its highest increment (alternates between +2 and +3). Nothing wrong with Mallow in these circumstances (to fell the Shysters in one Thunderbolt in the Mack fight), but there are some problems with Mario here...I once raised Mag.Pwr in favor of Atk.Pwr when the Atk.Pwr had the highest increment (+3, I recall) and I would have had a higher Atk.Pwr later in the game.
I decided every battle that rewarded with Flower Points should be fought and all FP boxes should be hit up to Kero Sewers, since FP increments are very important early in the game with only 10 FP max; only so many jumps are usable before rejuvenation w/Honey Syrup is necessary. This only continues until Mack's defeat. All KeroKeroCola's are grabbed because they are worth 200 coins each (and I needed to use one against Bowyer).
In the Mushroom Kingdom, I buy two extra Honey Syrups* to use in the Croco and Mack fights, which make constant use of Mario's 'Jump' and Mallow's 'Thunderbolt'. I also get the Cricket Pie after Mack to obtain the Froggie Stick from Frogfucius, which has high resale value and I needed as high as an attack power I could get with Mallow to face off against Bowyer (the longest and most tedious fight in the game right after Smithy and Culex).
I grab as many coins as possible in Midas River for whatever reason*. All of the 10-coins are grabbed in Rose Way to stock up for expensive items later in the game. I bought the Froggie Drink* at Tadpole Pond to use in the Yaridovich fight later in the game.
In Moleville I buy up the strongest equipment plus three pairs of Work Pants which will be the choice attire for all three party members until the Super Suit/Attack Scarf.* The bosses in the mines are able to be defeated much quicker due to this. Afterwards bought the Lucky Jewel to use in boss fights to level up faster.
Took the Rock Candy in Booster Pass for obvious reasons. Grabbed all Frog Coins in Booster Tower and the Masher and Zoom Shoes. Zoom Shoes raise speed by 10 and make the Grate Guy/Knife Guy fight faster because Bowser (who is the slowest character) is able to take the first turn to use Terrorize. The Masher is Mario's strongest weapon until the Lazy Shell; due to it's unusually wide attack range, it can be manipulated to do a lot of damage.
Got 16 flowers from Booster Hill, which I think is the most possible.
Bought up as many Fire and Ice Bombs as I could afford to use a lot in later battles without timing for freebies*. Got the Exp.Booster to get Mario quickly caught up to the others level-wise and surpass them shortly after. I use the Fire Bombs in every turn in every fight in the Sunken Ship up to Johnny. I save a Lucky Jewel use in the Johnny fight because incidentally the Bandana Blues give Lucky Flowers. The last attack often needs to be manipulated to double XP instead of coins (this proved to be a little vexing in many battles).
The rest of the game is pretty much just monotonous abuse of Rock Candies. I fought Culex not just to get the Quartz Charm, but primarily to take advantage of the shitload of experience by doubling it with the Lucky Jewel and QUADRUPLING it for Mario, equipped with Exp.Booster! I wish I could have taken more breaks from the candies, but few instances were there that I would have dealt more damage to all enemies on the screen than the 300 yielded by the candies, what with the low levels and all.
About the Super Jumps/Ultra Jumps...many people might consider that I should have used these a lot more. The thing is, these take a lot longer than one would think to pull off the desired amount of damage. Many monsters have rather high MagDef, and even with the ultimate relics Mario's equipped with plus a Geno Boost, doing 1000+ damage takes quite some time. Birdo had a high AtkDef, and Zombone had a low MagDef and a Jump weakness, as did Countdown.
The battle puzzles in Bowser's Keep would have taken too long (although I'd probably had been at a much higher level come Smithy) if I went through them, so I ruled them out.
I think the game is programmed to have Smithy always morph to Tank head at the beginning of the battle, unless someone has had a contrary experience. Really, really wish Smithy had've changed to Magic Head like in the last version; I could have dispatched of him sooner and I fucking hated manipulating freebie luck over and over and over and over and over. Magic Head has a horrible AtkDef, and I find nothing wrong with doing 800+ damage every turn. Chest Head is vulnerable to fire, hence the Fire Bombs. This is the only battle in the game where I use Mario's fire attacks (which unfortunately take longer).
*didn't need to; should have just used Toad's from Mushroom Way for freebies
*should have stuck to the right lane because changing lanes loses time, and only 60 coins are needed for a Frog Coin, 19 less than what I got
*didn't need to; should have just used the Red Essence from the Forest Maze at the beginning of Yarid...makes manipulation easier and saves more time overall
*should have sold some items/equipment while buying to make enough money for the Lucky Jewel without having to talk to the Mole at the counter AGAIN right before leaving for Booster Tower
*probably better to have just bought two fire bombs and and two ice bombs (900 coins) instead of switching back and forth in the menu selling items for more bombs; the more in your inventory, the longer it takes to wade through the multiple instances of bombs in battle and ultimately it's longer sell/buy extras than timing for freebies
It's all right in here. Both in beginning (00:06:38) and near end (02:40:05) there is no problem with sync - the jumps are perfectly timed with the sound.
I think the emulator itself screws up on the sound timing for certain scenes, specifically in the intro after the princess gets captured and mario comes out. Some other games do this too, and there's no way to avoid it at the moment. But most of the game's sound is timed correctly.
Got a few questions I wrote down... and of course now I can't completely interpret them completely, but here they are:
1- Before the Mack the knife fight I notice you didn't timed-hit Mallow's lightening and you used Mario's hammer. Why?
2- Why listen to the starfish's lullaby melody in monstro town; I thought that only helped with Toadofsky, who you didn't even visit.