First off, I could not have completed this run without the help of others. Major thanks to Tompa, who helped tremendously with route planning and glitch-finding. Without Tompa’s help, this run would probably be about 10-15 minutes slower. Other people I want to thank are Maur, spockybiemmichab, evilchen, and Graveworm for helpful criticism and encouragement over the course of the run. This was my first real TAS, and I was grateful for all the help I received.
Link’s Awakening Deluxe is the first Gameboy installment in the Legend of Zelda series, remade in color and with a few bonus features (such as a “Color dungeon” and a set of photos you access through in-game events). This run, however skips all of that in favor of completing the game as fast as possible.
The screen-warp glitch in the black and white version is absent from the DX version, but this run does exploit a number of other glitches. Most of these are a result of holding normally impossible direction combinations, such as up/down or left/right, at the same time. Different directional combinations will achieve the following results:
  • Pegasus boots: rockets you diagonally (every diagonal except down/left)
  • Bombs: can be dropped (regardless of walls) above, below, or to the side
  • Arrows: can be shot diagonally
  • Hookshot: chain can reach through walls and be shot in weird directions
  • Fire rod: shoots projectiles diagonally
The exploitation of these glitches can be seen in the run.
A few general tricks:
  • The text that appears when opening a chest, and some boss text, can be skipped by pressing a/b/start/select at the right moment.
  • Save and Quit (accessed through a/b/start/select) warps Link back to the entrance of a room or dungeon. This is used to save time by not having to run to those places.
Start – Sword
I bump off a few things to get places faster. The sword is picked up using the left/right glitch, saving time by not having to talk to the owl first.
Through Dungeon 1
Some pits can be crossed by “damage boosting across,” which means getting hit while walking into a pit, boosting you across. Getting the Tail Key this way is a fairly major sequence break and time-saver. The dungeon is rather unremarkable... look for more action later!
Through Dungeon 2
I turn myself invisible using the multi-directional glitches after rescuing Bow-wow. I also “cut” Link in half, again, using the multi-directional glitches. The boss fight is pretty long and boring... so Link demonstrates the genie’s poor aim, and his dance skills :)
Through Dungeon 3
The dungeon is the first location for some real action. I collect a piece of power early on, so the double sword power speeds some things up. At the miniboss, we see the first real application of the multi-directional glitches with bombs. After getting the boots, it’s just a mad dash (hehe) to complete everything in the dungeon.
Through Dungeon 4
This is a long segment, mostly because I have to pick up the Ocarina, the Angler Key, and Marin.... I leave the dungeon early because I can skip the ghost sequence (he normally appears after dungeon 4, and you have to return him to his house). I save and quit to skip another owl encounter.
Through Dungeon 5
Another action packed segment! I use bombarrows sparingly (need to save the arrows), and instead just use bombs in most places. I also begin to use some of the hookshot glitches here.
Through Dungeon 6
Face Shrine is normally pretty long and boring, but I glitch my way through it pretty quickly, using the hookshot in strange ways to clear obstacles. At the miniboss and boss, I use a glitch that lets me throw two bombs down at once. If one presses up/down while holding a bomb and tries to lay another bomb, another bomb will drop, but you’ll still be holding the first bomb in your hands! I use this to kill the boss before he even begins talking (normally impossible). I skip the lvl2 bracelet due to a trick I’ll explain below.
To Dungeon 8
Tons of tricks in this segment! Mambo-ing back after dungeon 6 allows me to skip yet another owl encounter. The Frog’s Song of Soul has a nice tune, be sure to listen to it :) The rooster can be skipped due to a neat trick found by Tompa; if you jump in a pit and use the hookshot, you can jump again once the hookshot is done firing! The flame cave (which normally requires the mirror shield to pass) is skipped using the pegasus boots to run past before the flames have really had a chance to start. Another nice skip is the Turtle rock boss... you can just walk through his head!
Through Dungeon 8
Another use of the hookshot glitch saves quite a bit of time in the dungeon. An application of up/down bombarrows can be seen more easily (since I timed a menu switch). Note the glitched graphics... did Link just shoot a bomb with a boss key on it?
Through Dungeon 7
Hookshot glitching through the block (to get to the 3rd and 4th pillars) saves a lot of time. The pit was too wide to throw the ball over, so I performed a glitch where I jumped and grabbed it at the same time, thereby giving me greater throwing distance. The boss is dispatched rather quickly with some well-timed fire rod swings (and one glitched swing).
Back to Dungeon 4
Time to finish the dungeon... three bombarrows take down the boss with no trouble at all.
To End
From here, it’s simply a trek to and through the wind fish’s egg, and a final boss battle. The ghost follows me up to the egg, since I had just beaten dungeon 4. I hope the ghost enjoyed the music :) The boss is of course humiliated through Link’s elite skills.
Notable improvements that could be made (I’ll add more if and when I find them):
(Semi-)Major mistakes (several seconds saved)
  • Up until the first dungeon, I wasn’t sure that jumping diagonally was faster than walking diagonally (it actually was). Some time can be saved from jumping instead of walking.
  • I use a piece of power to kill the Moblin boss on his first charge. The piece of power should be saved for the second dungeon, since the extra movement speed and power against the bosses would save more time than is currently saved on the moblin boss.
  • The 50 rupee chest in the swamp should be taken before the dungeon is completed.
  • Room in dungeon 3 (with the walking bombs I kill with a bomb) can be completed faster, possibly with a glitched bomb drop.
  • My use of the boots in dungeon 3 overall was not very good... in some places, keep walking while charging the boots to gain some distance.
  • Using the mambo to warp back as soon as I get it is apparently not the best route; it would be better to warp back via one of the nearby warp holes.
Minor mistakes (a few frames to a couple of seconds saved)
  • The text at the beginning of the dungeon can be skipped, and I neglected a few places where it was reasonable to do so, notably dungeons 2 (both times) and 6.
  • While the feather is equipped, jump while doors are opening to avoid standing still
  • In the beginning of dungeon 2, light the left torch first.
  • In dungeon 2, before the miniboss, push the left block first.
  • In dungeon 2, after the miniboss, go up and right instead of right and up (in the next room).
Possible areas for further improvements (these may or may not be feasable)
  • The small bow-wow who gives you the food sometimes moves closer to the door, this could be manipulated.
  • Manipulating Bow-wow to eat the plants faster
  • Possible damage boosts elsewhere?
  • The final form of the final boss could be manipulated to open his eye earlier? (Not sure about this one, I think it's on a timer)
TAS Info
Uses VBA rerecording 17.1
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Uses Save and Quit to warp
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Aims for the fastest time

adelikat: Large number of positive responses, accepting for publication.

TASVideoAgent
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Tompa
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Editor, Expert player (2139)
Joined: 8/15/2005
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Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I guess you timed both routes in D4. To go down instead of up after the mini boss teleport. Guess it's faster your way. Just want to know if you tested it:). Also, can't your Ganon battle be faster really..? I quite sure you can somehow. Really nice movie! I will of course vote yes for it! One note... You have wrote wrong on the ROM that was used. It shall be GBC in end, not GB ;).
Player (104)
Joined: 1/30/2005
Posts: 562
Location: Québec, Canada
The correct filename (at least the one that matches the CRC) is this one: Legend of Zelda, The - Link's Awakening DX (V1.0) (U) [C][!].gb I think the run is very well done. I voted yes, of course.
Joined: 3/17/2006
Posts: 243
Location: Back to good old Germany
Of course a clear yes! :) There are some minor possible improvements, but I waited so long for this to be finished and this is high quality material!
Active player, Editor (465)
Joined: 5/23/2006
Posts: 361
Location: Washington, United States
The Zip folder which has the Rom is titled "Legend_of_Zelda_DX", and the actual Rom inside is "The_Legend_of_Zelda_-_Link's_Awakening.gb". There weren't any problems with other people's versions, though. Edit: And, to Tompa: I take the hits during the Ganon battle because a. the bats are quite hard to avoid (i.e. for me, it wasted time to dodge them all), b. getting hit by one of the bats allowed me invincibility for a short time (which = more strikes on Ganon), and c. I tried to get hit in such a way that my "recovery" time would be minimal. But maybe you're right that it could be done faster (but only a little bit, if at all!)
Joined: 10/24/2005
Posts: 1080
Location: San Jose
I've been watching the WIPS as of recent (only recently was I able to get the right version of VBA), so I couldn't really offer any constructive criticism. Great run. The quality is consistent all throughout. However, I was having some graphical glitches with Link in some areas (esp with bow-wow). I take it that it's something you wanted to put in the game? And I'm not too big of a fan of save-warping, cause I didn't know where the hell you were going ;). As I haven't played LA in a few years, it took me a while to gain my bearings, but after that, this run seemed like butter on bread! All in all: I liked your first WIP (that I viewed) a lot. As soon as I re-familiarized myself with the game, I LOVED your run. A yes vote. No questions asked.
<agill> banana banana banana terracotta pie! <Shinryuu> ho-la terracotta barba-ra anal-o~
Active player (432)
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3516
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Yoshi and Mario enemies in this game? A bit awkward wouldnt you agree? :) Anyway, looked through your run (fastforwarded a bit here and there) and it looks solid. Voting Yes.
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
Tompa
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Editor, Expert player (2139)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Other possible improvements: More L/R/U/D glitches, I'm quite sure there are more to be found! You shall be able to use those kind of glitches and slash enemies from distance. Run more! There are some places I've noticed where you could have started running earlier. Like when your'e opening the 4 keylocks in dungeon 3. You can start running before you unluck it and get the boost right after. More S&Q's can be used to save time. More text skips, like when taking Bow-wow. Damage boosting. Talk closer to the dog who gives you the riboon, can be manipulated I think:). Try to have PoP more often. It might save time to get a PoP sometimes instead of S&Q warping. Another Bomb/Arrow route. You have to go away a few rooms to get a refill. I think I can improve my route. Jump when a door closes/opens to avoid standing still. Make bow-wow eat faster. Take the 50-rupee chest before entering dungeon 2 instead of after. Light the left torch instead of the right first in beginning of dungeon 2. Push left block before the right one in dungeon 2. Go Up-Right instead of Right-Up after killing miniboss in dungeon 2. I will write more later...
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
Voted yes. It's about time someone did a non-warp run. Very nice for your first tas.
Joined: 6/9/2006
Posts: 614
Location: Mettmann
voting yes, followed all your progress in the zelda:LA(DX) topic for sure a great run and a good comment
JXQ
Experienced player (749)
Joined: 5/6/2005
Posts: 3132
Level 7 was fun to watch. Sometimes it seemed that you could switch items more efficiently (pause less), but I could easily be wrong, since you can only carry a whopping two items in this game.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
Joined: 1/31/2005
Posts: 95
D/led it, watched it, was entertained and impressed. You certainly didn't copy the speedrun, which is good. P Despite the possible improvements, none are major enough to warrant not publishing this run. It was an easy yes vote. Nice job, Stef. Congrats.
Banned User
Joined: 12/23/2004
Posts: 1850
Calling this game "horribly broken" after this would be an understatement... Aside from that, I was quite often wondering how in the hell you did some things (Maybe we need a LinksAwakeningTrcks page? heh) and had my jaw on the pillow quite a few times. Very creative. Naturally, voting yes. Edit On another note, I'm going to have to recommend that, if this is published (which is looking almost certain anyway), it uses the "Motion Blur" option. Several things in this game look better, most notably the end credits and the "semitransparent" shadows and such. Edit II This run also runs perfectly in v19.2, so you don't have to go switching versions. =P
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Joined: 10/24/2005
Posts: 1080
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Tompa wrote:
Other possible improvements: More L/R/U/D glitches, I'm quite sure there are more to be found! You shall be able to use those kind of glitches and slash enemies from distance. Run more! There are some places I've noticed where you could have started running earlier. Like when your'e opening the 4 keylocks in dungeon 3. You can start running before you unluck it and get the boost right after. More S&Q's can be used to save time. More text skips, like when taking Bow-wow. Damage boosting. Talk closer to the dog who gives you the riboon, can be manipulated I think:). Try to have PoP more often. It might save time to get a PoP sometimes instead of S&Q warping. Another Bomb/Arrow route. You have to go away a few rooms to get a refill. I think I can improve my route. Jump when a door closes/opens to avoid standing still. Make bow-wow eat faster. Take the 50-rupee chest before entering dungeon 2 instead of after. Light the left torch instead of the right first in beginning of dungeon 2. Push left block before the right one in dungeon 2. Go Up-Right instead of Right-Up after killing miniboss in dungeon 2. I will write more later...
Just curious, how much time do you think all this would save? Obviously not enough for the run not to be published, but I'm just curious.
<agill> banana banana banana terracotta pie! <Shinryuu> ho-la terracotta barba-ra anal-o~
Twisted_Eye
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Joined: 10/17/2005
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Absolutely loved this movie, glitchfests like these are my favorite TASes by far to watch! With this being one of my favorite Zeldas I'd have to say that there's no way this gets less then a 'yes'
Tompa
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Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1932
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I really don't know how much it will save... And I'm not sure that all those are able to do faster. It's both possible and also certain things that can be improved. I'm going to continue watch the movie now to look after more things. EDIT: More possible improvements: Try to manipulate enemies to drop the 20 rupees you need for the bombs, instead of taking a 20-rupee chest. Stealing the bow faster. Activate the Warp Hole after dungeon 2. Take the leaves faster (The bombguy and bird.) It might be able to take the leaf from the Ball%Chain enemy from the left using L+R glitches. Have tried this but not been able to it... At the bush labyrinth: You can slash the bush and dig up the key just when you get out from the cave. Maybe you can take it that way too, not sure... Maybe using the same key bug to open dungeon 3 as you did with 1? Have tried this a bit, but it might be possible. Take the eye at start in dungeon 3 using L+R glitches maybe? Not sure... Might be a couple of frames faster to dash down when fighting the dungeon 3 boss instead of Diagonally. Also, try to make the last eye fall closer to the door. Avoid the door shut in the third room in dungeon 4. Don't run up as much as you did. More will come...
Player (165)
Joined: 4/27/2006
Posts: 304
Location: Eastern Canada
Schwas a pretty good run.
Tompa
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Try to avoid the key bounches, it sure is possible somehow. Could have killed the last phase of the Skeleton Master by laying a bomb earlier at start. Or if I change my bomb/arrow route you may be able to kill him with three bombarrows. Hookshot the heart after killing dungeon 5 boss. When killing the armos holding Face Key; some places you could have let go of your charge one, two frames earlier. Also, it might be possible to kill him closer to the entrance. I wasn't needed to take the bombrefill on your way to dungeon 6 boss´, that lost you some frames I presume... Change my bomb/arrow route so you can take the other way inside the switch room in dungeon 8. Saves some seconds. Was it only me, or did you wait ½ second in the first room in the second "ice underground" in dungeon 8? Ok, I think that's all. + those things Ste already written. EDIT: People, don't think that this run could be improved by millions of minutes because of all the possible improvements I'm writing down. These are only a few frames improvements. And some may be major things, but I'm not sure that those are possible.
Yrr
Joined: 8/10/2006
Posts: 289
Location: Germany, Bayern
I never thought this game has so many glitches. Going through walls, sprite bugs, get sword without touching it, use hook shoot diagonally, put bombs in place you aren't... It's exciting, entertaining and it does the unexpected.
Joined: 7/20/2004
Posts: 45
I just finished watching the end...great job! In the original, it IS possible to skip the last owl speech before entering the egg. I've played the original at leats 30 times or so, and there has been a few times where I've been able to enter the egg just before the owl starts to speak (or just before he lands, its been a long time since I've done it). This was using my crappy game boy too, so it'll be easier to replicate on an emulator; its probably just a matter of finding the right frame or something. If it's possible to so in the DX version, I have no idea, I've only played it once or twice (since screwing around with the screen warp glitch in the original is so much more fun), but it's worth a shot if the run is ever going to be re-done and improved.
Emulator Coder
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 563
Location: Toronto, Ontario
wow. that's pretty much all i can contribute. I doubt a huge improvement is possible after watching this. Excellent planning and implementation .. overall great job.
Player (103)
Joined: 6/7/2005
Posts: 290
Location: New York
Boy I'm glad I gave up on my run, what a waste of time that would have been. I'll have to give this a play as soon as I can get the ROM for it...
Soft Blue Dragon
Sir_VG
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Joined: 10/9/2004
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Location: Floating Tower
Played right enough to know what's going on. Played wrong enough to make you go WTF?! Great job. YES vote.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Joined: 3/26/2006
Posts: 42
Location: Germany
This was my most anticipated run. Thanks for bringing back great memories in such an astounding way. Awesome :)
Tompa
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Maximus wrote:
c Excellent planning
Hmm, I wonder if it's me or Stef that's going to say "thanks" on that one, lol :D.