Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle improved by about 79 seconds (4738 frames).
Thanks to Foda for the previous movie, which helped me a lot! nesrocks also gave me feedback that helped improving this movie.
There are 11 levels in the game. These are the improvements:
0.5 seconds were saved in levels 1-8 due to better precision.
0.5 seconds were saved in level 9.
6 seconds were saved in level 10 by using the bike to gain speed.
The rest of the improvement comes from a completely revised route for level 11.
My route for the final level abuses two new tricks:
The bike can be used to gain enough speed so that you get stuck in a wall. Then you can ascend by jumping inside the wall. This trick is used four times for shortcuts.
If you get damaged when you are using the bike or the helicopter, you sometimes get warped upwards the height of approxximately 7 blocks. This trick is used once by equipping the helicopter, touching an enemy and warping to the screen that is located above.
Here are useful RAM addresses:
Alex's X-axis sub-pixel position
00FFD01A
Boss HP
00FFE126
I'm sure that some sub-pixel optimization is possible in the final level (and maybe in level 9), but I'm not used to it, so I can't understand how to do it perfectly. So go ahead and improve the movie further, if you can handle the sub-pixel world. I would enjoy seeing any improvements to this. :)
The movie attributes are the same:
Plays at hardest level
Aims for fastest time
Abuses programming errors in the game
Genre: Action
Genre: Platform
Enjoy!
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
I'm not sure I got the right ROM though. (I tried Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (U) [!].gen, which was the closest match to what you wrote.) Well, here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.
Bisqwit: Replaced file with a new provided by the author. Apparently, it is 21 frames faster now.
adelikat: Accepting for publication as an improvement to the published movie.
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
How did you find that glitch?
Anyway, gotta watch it now. Sad to see one of my movies obsoleted, but happy at the same time for the improvement :) congrats. brb
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Oops, I may have noticed a mistake in the movie... Foda, can you notice it? Please tell me if you see mistakes, since you know the game well. :)
Edit: Oh, never mind... I was wrong. I thought one jump was unnecessary around 4:26:00, but it was not a mistake as I thought. It just happens too often to me that when I verify that the submitted file works, I spot a mistake. :)
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
Man, are you human??? You made a movie like 10 people were working on smb1 :) The motorbike on the helicopter level was clever, but the glitches in the last level are insane, how did you find that? hats off to you!
Ok, on the last level, right after your first use of the bike, when you deactivate it, couldn't you have done a crouching punch and passed through the block and keep the momentum, instead of getting up to a total stop?
Also, at the first rubber blocks part, couldn't you cut directly to the right?
Oh, and when you use the bike on the helicopter level, couldn't you keep it a little longer on the first use?
Otherwise, there may be a better route on the castle, but not by more than 1 or 2 screens, for what I could notice. Oh and did you try to get out of the map boundaries?
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
FODA wrote:
Man, are you human??? You made a movie like 10 people were working on smb1 :)
Haha! You are a funny guy, Foda. Oh, but anyway, it feels good to hear such a thing. Thanks a lot. :)
The motorbike on the helicopter level was clever, but the glitches in the last level are insane, how did you find that? hats off to you!
I found both tricks completely by accident while trying to find a faster route through the castle. After they occurred once, I tried to figure out places to use them efficiently.
Ok, on the last level, right after your first use of the bike, when you deactivate it, couldn't you have done a crouching punch and passed through the block and keep the momentum, instead of getting up to a total stop?
It might be possible, but I fail, because I have too much speed, so I can't hit the block with a fist before Alex hits it with his body. Anyway, it is something to look into for future versions of the movie.
Also, at the first rubber blocks part, couldn't you cut directly to the right?
It is not possible to get far inside the walls. As you can see, I actually never go through a wall, I just use the walls as platforms to rise upwards.
Oh, and when you use the bike on the helicopter level, couldn't you keep it a little longer on the first use?
I tried, but either fell too low and died or crashed towards an enemy and died.
Otherwise, there may be a better route on the castle, but not by more than 1 or 2 screens, for what I could notice.
I also believe there might be a better route through the castle, if more bugs are found or some of those bugs can be done in better places. With my current knowledge, the route is the best possible.
Oh and did you try to get out of the map boundaries?
I managed to get on top of the castle, but not horizontally outside the castle. It is also possible to use the helicopter to come through the castle ceiling back inside, because the top boundary of the area does not damage the helicopter, but pushes it downwards.
Thanks a lot for the comments! I hope we see future improvements to this someday. :)
That was great.
The shortcuts, glitches and new approach to the final boss gave the run exactly what it needed.
PS: a little late, but congrats for having the most published movies
edit: my bad, i should read more carefully. sorry Aqfaq and adelikat
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
I improved the movie by 21 frames.
- 1 frame was saved in level 3. (Stupid mistake.)
- 6 frames were saved by jumping higher to the wall in the first bike trick room.
- 14 frames were saved with Foda's suggestion! Foda is awesome!
I'll send the replacement file to Bisqwit.
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
I'll add a post publication yes vote, and props for the new tricks. Sonic because Sega's mascot because of his much superior hair-do. Alex looks like he has half a brown bowling ball on his head.
Joined: 10/18/2017
Posts: 171
Location: San Francisco
This movie is OK! I was using a lot of money to spend items.
Planned runs:
Marble Madness (Arcade, Genesis J, GG/SMS)
Proposed:
Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis, GG/SMS, CD: regular, camera freeze)
Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis, GG/SMS, CD; normal mode)
Mario Kart DS (all cups, all missions)
In progress: Grand Poo World 3 (all exits hard mode)
