In short: Kid Icarus in 22:42, approximately 1:14 faster than the published run. Biggest improvements include using a new trick discovered by Celeri to shoot arrows very rapidly, making boss fights extremely speedy. Because of this, only 2 strength upgrades need to be collected. Damage taking was optimized and a new trick involving completing a level and dying at the same frame was also used to gain some seconds. A more detailed description below.

The long version:

I used FCEU 0.98.15 to create this movie.
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Uses no passwords
  • Uses death (?) to save time
I’m not really sure about the last one since Pit doesn’t actually die, his HP just goes down to 0.

Description of the game:

In Kid Icarus, the main character is an angel called Pit, who has to collect 3 treasures in order to fight the evil Medusa. There are 3 worlds (4 stages each) in the game, plus the last, special 13th stage with the final boss. Along the way there are chambers that have various things in them. The only chambers of interest to us are the chambers with strength upgrades.

Strength upgrades:

There are 4 strength upgrades in the game. To get a strength upgrade, Pit has to gather 10,000 points of ‘skill’ in the level with the upgrade, and enter the upgrade chamber. ‘Skill’ is gotten from killing enemies and collecting hearts. Each upgrade allows Pit to do one more point of damage per shot (Pit starts with 1, max is 5).
In the previous movie, it was beneficial to collect all the upgrades to make the boss battles radically shorter. Now, however, thanks to Celeri’s trick (described below), the last two upgrades are not worth taking because the boss battles are already so short.

Improvements

Almost all of the improved time comes from Celeri's trick: boss fights are lightning fast and two strenth upgrades can be skipped. My dying trick also saved time because it allowed me to take a lot of damage in 3-4. Score tallying was also taken into consideration this time, and no unnecessary enemies were killed. In total the movie is 1:14 shorter than my previous movie (which, by the way, was 1:14 shorter than Sleepz's previous movie).

Tricks (including old ones) used:

The 2-3 platform trick by Sleepz: Used already in the first Kid Icarus run by Sleepz, this trick allows Pit to step on to a platform at the right side of screen by scrolling in from the left. This helps because Pit can now get to the very right side of the screen and drag the screen with him. There are two platforms later on which are at just the right height when you enter the screen, but if you come to the screen normally, you will just miss them and have to wait for them to come back. With this trick, Pit can jump on the platforms right away.
The 1-4 shortcut by me: This is a trick I already used in the previous movie. I clip inside a wall to get a foothold to jump up to a platform you can’t normally reach. The trick is explained in pictures here (mod edit: delete dead link).
Rapid firing by Celeri: Normally, Pit can only fire his arrows at a fixed, slow rate. Celeri found out that if you duck after firing, Pit can fire again instantly. This is of course abused to the max in my run because the bosses in this game do not have any invulnerability periods whatsoever. It also comes in handy in some of the levels.
Dying in 3-2 by me: I found this trick out completely by accident. At the end of 3-2, Pit has only 1 HP left. Pit gets a lethal hit from a jellyfish, right at the same frame as he is exiting the level through the door. Pit’s HP goes to 0 but he still moves on to the next level. Here he takes damage from the spiky bush-thingy and suddenly he has full HP! This allows me to save many seconds in 3-4 by taking damage from spikes etc.

Detailed analysis of individual levels:

1-1: Boring level, I try to avoid killing unnecessary enemies to avoid a delay in the score tallying.
1-2: I get a strength upgrade here. Note the beginning where I use Celeri’s trick to dispose of 3 red eye-thingies quickly. The ice here is extremely annoying and results in some bad-looking jumps. There was some unavoidable lag at one place here, I really did try to eliminate it as best I could.
1-3: Nothing special here, had to manipulate the platforms a bit which resulted in some 1-2 frame delays.
1-4: Used the shortcut trick and absolutely slaughtered the boss.
2-1: A word of warning: if you are allergic to boring platform-levels, watch this at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any rashes, itches or deaths resulted from the boringness. I do take a strength upgrade here but I do it by just killing stuff as I go.
2-2: If you survived the boringness of 2-1, brace yourself for a new challenge. This is easily the most boring level in the game. I tried doing this at 75% speed, but I kept falling asleep and messing it up and I had to start over, so finally I did the whole level at 100% speed. Seriously, a blind monkey could complete this level by sitting on the d-pad and randomly smashing A. I don't fire my bow even once in this level.
2-3: This is a bit more interesting; it has enemies, lava, and the platform trick.
2-4: I have to avoid the spikes here because I have to take damage from an eggplant wizard later in the level to get past them. The boss fight is quite speedy.
3-1: Nice and short.
3-2: At the end of this level I use the death-trick to get down to 0 HP.
3-3: At the beginning here I have to stop for a while to manipulate the moving platform ahead. It looks ugly, but it can’t be helped: if you enter the screen even one frame earlier than I did, the platform can’t be reached and you have to wait for it to come back. I take damage here to get my HP filled. I love this trick.
3-4: Here I can afford to take a lot of damage which speeds things up quite nicely. Taking damage at the boss also makes the boss a flash.
4-1: Pretty boring, but thankfully different, so it’s bearable to watch. The last boss is the only reason I grab the second strength upgrade. With only one upgrade it would take a looooong time.

Credits

I’d like to thank Celeri, whose discovery was the only reason I even started this run, and of course Sleepz for his first run. I hope everyone enjoys the movie!

Screenshots

Here are some random screenshots to choose from if this gets published. They have been resized with PNGout.

adelikat: Accepting for publication as an improvement to the currently published run.
Bisqwit: Processifying.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1562: Kyrsimys's NES Kid Icarus in 22:42.23
Tompa
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Joined: 8/15/2005
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Very nice run :D. And a very nice trick there Celeri, was awesome to watch the bosses getting PWNED! Yes vote.
Joined: 7/26/2006
Posts: 1215
yes vote. beating the second boss before it crosses the room once is crazy. Other than some lag in the first level that could have been avoided by killing more enemies (though I don't know if scrore tallying would negate the advantages) this is as good as it gets, and done very quickly after the new trick was found. :)
Skilled player (1669)
Joined: 6/11/2006
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I didn't remember that Kid Icarus was an auto scroller. Yes vote.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
bkDJ wrote:
Other than some lag in the first level that could have been avoided by killing more enemies
As I say in the submission text, the lag really couldn't be avoided. I assume you're talking about the second level, where all the enemies in the screen come from above and I have had no chance to kill them at this point. I kill the enemies the first chance I get.
adelikat
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Nice improvement. Those boss fights look very nice now. Yes vote.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Player (88)
Joined: 11/14/2005
Posts: 1057
Location: United States
Very nice run. All the vertical levels were really entertaining. The horizontal levels in this game are long and boring, though there isn't much you could do about that. Boss fights in particular were awesome. I wonder if you could have saved time by skipping the arrow upgrades altogether. voting yes.
They're off to find the hero of the day...
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
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hero of the day wrote:
I wonder if you could have saved time by skipping the arrow upgrades altogether.
Nope. Getting only 1 upgrade is over 450 frames slower than getting 2 upgrades, getting none would waste much more.
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
Excellent improvement. Bosses really were demolished this time around and all in all it looked more polished.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
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Whoa! Fast boss battles. Congratulations, 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
Morrison
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Posts: 195
Location: USA
Nice boss fights!
twitch.tv/Retrogaming2084
Joined: 5/5/2007
Posts: 5
OK, at least I managed to get it played on a PC. A big WOW for boss battles, I knew that this trick could be huge against bosses when used in superplay mode :) I would happily vote yes if I coud !
Editor, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
This is an awesome movie. I could never figure out how to get past the first dungeon-type area myself, so most of it was stuff I had never seen. Very amazing boss fights, nonetheless, and playing around with the enemies in levels was entertaining, too. Yes vote.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Active player, Editor (296)
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Are you sure you can't duckjump into that hole up somehow (possibly by taking damage for boost or via a walljump or something), saving the detour on the screen left edge?
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Yes, I'm sure. Even if you could somehow gain more height (which you can't, I've tried damage boosting and walljumping but they simply don't exist in this game) the size of Pit's sprite doesn't really change when duckjumping, he is still the same height as when he is standing.
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. ---- [899] NES Kid Icarus by Kyrsimys in 22:42.23
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
Thanks to everyone who voted, and to adelikat for accepting and of course Bisqwit for publishing. The AVI looks very good.
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LGTM.
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.