When it comes to "calculated time", then yes, it certainly does beat my last movie by about 4 minutes, but... besides the hints given by McBAIN and Uyama, there are other things you missed that I need to point out.
MAIN POINT TO CONSIDER IN HARD MODE:
- The Z-Knuckle CAN be charged up in Hard Mode, yet, you were unaware of that function and didn't use it against the bosses. Charge it up WHILE you're damaging a boss or using the Saber, and the moment the boss is about to stop flickering, you should have a full-charged Z-Knuckle attack ready. Use it to deal tons of damage, and keep charge it up, use Z saber in-between, and repeat the process.
And other points to consider:
- Pick up the Burst Bomb from one of those Yellow Crates in the Intro Stage and use them at SubDesert Core (Intro Stage Boss) to deal tons of damage, while also unplugging the boss and attack with Z-Knuckle afterwards.
- Tech Kraken's stage, you choose a very good route through the "labyrinth". When I did my run, I only did it from mind and not from a sheet, so that's why my route wasn't so efficient, but I did kill more enemies this way, even though it was truly unneccessary to do so. Moving on, after killing the midboss Spy Rarrier (Larrier?) I, you seem to stand still infront of the RB Cannons, waiting for them to be vulnerable. I think that (although not tested yet), you can jump over them right at the tip of the edge they're standing on, gaining a couple of frames this way.
- Heat Gemblem's stage, you don't need to kill the very first Gan Ga Gahn (drill enemy) seen after you jump down one floor at the beginning of the stage. Just skip it. When Gemblem uses his fire wave attack and you stood infront of him, you could've used the charged up Z Knuckle on him inbetween your saber attacks.
- Fenrir Lunaedge's stage, on the elevator with spikes on the sides when going up, there's no need to attack the Valiant Fire's on the left side of each floor. Just ignore them, since you're killing some Metools during your trip to Lunaedge, and they count as kill score as well.
- Sol Titanian's stage, on the first area, before continuing the stage indoors, you seemed to take a different route than supposed. It's better to just stick to the right side route at all cost, since it saves a few frames. And also, since you didn't seem to bother bringing a Lamp Shield (from Lamproid X enemies, fire-type) with you, why not bring a Mega Axe (from Axeroid enemy) with you, like McBAIN suggested. It works efficiently against pretty much everything on that stage. But I did like the nifty "helicopter-ride" you pulled in the second area with those Sandozers.
- Mino Magnaxe's stage, you forgot the Mega Axe deal again. Bring at least one axe with you, even though you think that swiping weapons from enemies wastes frames. In the end, you'll gain frames instead.
- Purpura Cockapetri's stage, you were right about using the lower path, since it's faster.
- The other stages were almost flawless.
- And unless you were informed of things here, when you record a TA movie, you CAN skip the ending and credits entirely. And you should stop recording your movie the moment you make the last hit against the last boss, since people can actually take time to see the ending themselves, and you save more frames on your movie this way too. Endings are only supposed to be recorded on AVIs, unless Bisqwit or anyone else has a word about this matter.
Overall, that's a great overall time you got there, but for people to be able to view your movies from now on, and for more efficient play, make sure to record from "power-on", thus forcing you to play Normal Mode rather than Hard Mode. ^_^
