Because apparently pelting Dracula with big bones wasn't enough, Nathan Graves has discovered the power of nuclear fusion and uses it to eviscerate him faster than ever before!! Thanks to this new-found power, this movie is a
341 706-frame improvement to
the current movie by klmz. (Not counting superficial version text time save and the addition of the BIOS)
Game objectives
- Emulator: BizHawk 2.11
- Aims for fastest time
- Heavy programming error abuse
- Manipulates luck
Explanations
Tricks used in past movies
- Apollo vertical warping
- By activating certain explosive (Apollo card) combos that move Nathan vertically on use the frame you enter a vertical screen transition, the game remembers Nathan's Y position from the previous screen and returns him there at the end of the animation. This deposits him at the very top of the following screen, which in this run allows instant re-scaling of the first shaft you fall down.
- Apollo horizontal transitions
- Nathan will trigger horizontal screen transitions if he is at a certain X position when activating the same explosive combos as above. This allows entry into the Ceremonial Room and Dracula's Chamber from above the doorway where we are deposited after the vertical warp.
- Bone float
- While not used in the warp glitch category previously, it is used in the all cards run. As a skeleton (Pluto + Black Dog), if you let go of a direction and attack the frame you land on ground, your forward momentum can be carried across the ground in a sort of "slide." This slide can be used to allow Nathan to float in mid-air off of a ledge that the skeleton slide ends on, and normally is used to allow for infinite vertical velocity.
However, here it is used to set up the first state of the new star of the show...
"Nuclear Fusion"
Discovered by halgorithm in 2022 and dubbed the "nuclear" glitch, this trick allows for Nathan to wander Dracula's Castle with a constant, screen-wide hitbox that deals max damage to everything it touches. While the specifics behind why this glitch occurs are not entirely understood yet, there are two important parts to this glitch, both involving different DSS abilities.
- Sword Draw storage
- Normally the Sword Draw (Mars + Griffon) combination is used as follows: you hold B to charge up the attack and release B to unleash it. While in the charging state, Nathan cannot move and can only do so once the attack is unleashed. However, if Nathan goes from charging directly to falling (by charging either on a crumbling platform, on a frozen/petrified enemy, or in mid-air at the end of a bone float glitch) then the weapon will remain charging, but Nathan will be able to move freely. You will even be able to turn off the DSS or switch to a different DSS without the charge going away, however if you take damage or attack with the whip and do not whipspin at the end, the Sword Draw charge will be lost.
- Imp stacking
- The Imp familiar (Saturn + Black Dog), like the Sword Draw, can charge an attack while B is held, unleashing the attack once B is let go. With the Sword Draw state stored, this allows the two attacks to overlap. Letting go of a charge to attack with this overlap causes odd behavior depending on when during the imp's charge the attack happens, notably causing disjointed hitboxes of varying sizes, locations, and sizes to populate the screen. Whipping a certain amount of frames after the imp's attack starts allows these hitboxes to linger for some time, and ending this in a whipspin ensures it sticks so long as Nathan keeps the Sword Draw charge stored.
For some reason, I'm able to get away with saving a few frames by not whipspinning until after Dracula 1 dies when I would be waiting anyway. If this wasn't done by then, the hitbox would not last into the Dracula 2 fight.
Japanese versus English
The effects and setups of the imp stacking glitch differ between the different language versions of the game. For whatever reason, the US version of the game requires a slightly longer setup to get the 9999 hitbox to stabilize, especially without using extra screen transitions. Even so, a lot of the setups I found left the hitbox smaller at an offset, or did not do enough damage to one-shot Dracula 2, so the switch to the Japanese version was made. A faster or different setup likely will require a deeper understanding of the glitch than is known at the present.
Special Thanks
- halgorithm and bonecrusher1022 for the initial discoveries of the stacking glitch and getting the perma-nuke
- fuse for the hitbox viewer script I used when the movie was still in development on the U version of the game
- DevAnj, fuse, Liquid Cat, spooky, and Malaert64 for work on the CotM randomizer, which has been a tremendous help with the (still on-going) disassembly portion of understanding the glitch
- everyone else on the Circle of the Moon Speedrunning Discord for the treasure trove of info to sift through
Samsara: Every year I leave "Unexpected, Massive Improvement to a GBA Castlevania TAS" off my bingo card, and every year I regret doing so. At this point I should just make it the central free square.
