Submission Text Full Submission Page
Emulator: VisualBoyAdvance Emulator Version 1.7.2 re-recording 19.3
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Manipulates luck
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Uses game restart
This run was done on the Japanese version of Zelda: Link's Awakening because text in the Japanese version is notably quicker than in the English version.
The gameplay was further optimised as well, through corner boosting, putting more thought into where Link should be before entering the next screen, and better manipulation and lag avoidance on the boss.

Tricks and glitches

Screenwarp

This is done by pressing select just before the screen starts changing when moving to another screen. It causes Link to warp to the other side of the screen.

Up/down + A and B

This is done by pressing up and down at the same time, then pressing the A or B button. Pressing A causes Link to become graphically distorted, and can lead to some cool side effects. As you'll see in the boss battle, I turn into Dark Link. Pressing B makes the game think Link is at another part of the screen, which was used to get the sword without actually going down to it.

Corner boosting

This only works on corners which you're moving away from, i.e., it won't work on the corner while exiting the house at the start of the game. It will, however, work on the two corners outside the house, and the one before entering the dungeon. It's done by moving Link into the corner on a certain frame, and it causes him to be pushed forwards a bit. It saves 1 frame each time it's done.

Conclusion

This run is 1448 frames faster than the previous run, which is 24.13 seconds. In the comparable sections, I saved 62 frames, which is just over 1 second.
Thanks to Soulrivers for his previous run, and advice on the boss battle, and Tompa, for checking my progress regularly and reporting back any improvable parts.

Truncated: I will reject this submission because it is in violation of the rules, specifically the section about using the correct version. Runs should preferably be made on the (U) version, and when choosing a different version from the published movie this should be negotiated in advance. (In fact this is to avoid exactly this kind of problem, where the runner's effort to produce a well-made movie is wasted, which noone wants to happen.)
An improved run on the (U) version would be very welcome.


TASVideoAgent
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Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2215)
Joined: 8/15/2005
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Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
"And Tompa for being my slave which wasn't allowed to go to bed until he had helped me out, just so I could redo it afterwards." I love you too! Good run, voting yes :).
Experienced player (504)
Joined: 1/12/2007
Posts: 682
Since this movie requires the J ROM to play correctly, and that ROM is notably more...difficult to get from the cart to the computer...than the U ROM, I've made a temporary encode. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MHTT41L3
Joined: 7/16/2006
Posts: 635
Looks ridiculous, as always. In other words, yes.
Former player
Joined: 12/27/2006
Posts: 532
Location: Göteborg, Sweden
Great job, it's ridiculus how I didn't think of using the J version when I look back. You quite simply destroyed my movie times two. Yes vote.
My published movies [03:45:05] <Naohiro19> Soulrivers: ... [03:45:19] <Soulrivers> ? [03:46:35] <Naohiro19> <Soulrivers> No! <Naohiro19> So? <Soulrivers> Yes! [03:46:48] <Naohiro19> joke
Mitjitsu
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Amazing improvement, I didn't think that much time could be saved.
Joined: 8/13/2007
Posts: 29
Just curious, how much effect did using the text from the jappanese rom have on the time? 10 frames, or more maybe?
Editor, Experienced player (734)
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
" This run is 1448 frames faster than the previous run, which is 24.13 seconds. In the comparable sections, I saved 62 frames, which is just over 1 second." Submission texts are there for a reason. Read them. First time watching this run; good and confusing stuff, yes vote.
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Former player
Joined: 12/27/2006
Posts: 532
Location: Göteborg, Sweden
DeeDee wrote:
Just curious, how much effect did using the text from the jappanese rom have on the time? 10 frames, or more maybe?
This run is 1448 frames faster than the previous run, which is 24.13 seconds. In the comparable sections, I saved 62 frames, which is just over 1 second.
This means time saved from new text is 1448 - 62. I'll let you do the calculating.
My published movies [03:45:05] <Naohiro19> Soulrivers: ... [03:45:19] <Soulrivers> ? [03:46:35] <Naohiro19> <Soulrivers> No! <Naohiro19> So? <Soulrivers> Yes! [03:46:48] <Naohiro19> joke
Joined: 4/3/2005
Posts: 575
Location: Spain
I prefer understandable text, and if almost all of the improvement is due just to shorter displayed text, I'll vote No on this run.
No.
Former player
Joined: 12/27/2006
Posts: 532
Location: Göteborg, Sweden
DrJones wrote:
I prefer understandable text, and if almost all of the improvement is due just to shorter displayed text, I'll vote No on this run.
Sarcasm?
My published movies [03:45:05] <Naohiro19> Soulrivers: ... [03:45:19] <Soulrivers> ? [03:46:35] <Naohiro19> <Soulrivers> No! <Naohiro19> So? <Soulrivers> Yes! [03:46:48] <Naohiro19> joke
Joined: 8/13/2007
Posts: 29
Comicalflop wrote:
" This run is 1448 frames faster than the previous run, which is 24.13 seconds. In the comparable sections, I saved 62 frames, which is just over 1 second." Submission texts are there for a reason. Read them. First time watching this run; good and confusing stuff, yes vote.
More like take more time reading, I looked over a word or two in the submission text. @@;
Experienced player (504)
Joined: 1/12/2007
Posts: 682
I prefer understandable text, and if almost all of the improvement is due just to shorter displayed text, I'll vote No on this run. Well, let's see. Had I done this on the english version, I would've saved over a second. Look at the previous submission. Look how optimal it is, and notice how short the run already is. I think a second of improvements would be worth it on that, and since I was able to save that much, why not do it on the japanese run, which also cut the time significantly by removing a lot of the boring text?
Joined: 4/3/2005
Posts: 575
Location: Spain
Swordless Link wrote:
<i>I prefer understandable text, and if almost all of the improvement is due just to shorter displayed text, I'll vote No on this run.</i> Well, let's see. Had I done this on the english version, I would've saved over a second. Look at the previous submission. Look how optimal it is, and notice how short the run already is. I think a second of improvements would be worth it on that, and since I was able to save that much, why not do it on the japanese run, which also cut the time significantly by removing a lot of the boring text?
Well, straight from the rules:
Use the (U) version of a ROM unless there is a good reason not to (as an example a shortcut/trick which only works in a different version, or superior music), or the version does not exist. * If you decide to start to a run using a version other than (U), make a post on the forum detailing why — this is to prevent future complications. * If there already is a published video, do not use a different ROM than what it uses, unless the new ROM is obviously better, and you can show how it should be compared to the existing movie.
Shorter text in another language is not considered a reason good enough to swap ROMs last time I checked. A 1 second improvement is very good on its own, but as I understand, it could also have been done on an (U) rom. As thus, I vote NO on principle that movies shouldn't be obsoleted by language changes. It's nothing against you, just trying to keep things coherent. :)
No.
Joined: 10/15/2007
Posts: 685
If the text speed of the region change accounted for all of the time saved, I'd vote no. But because other improvements were made, I'll go ahead and give it a thumbs up.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>
Joined: 1/27/2008
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Yes Vote! BTW, this game may have a difference between the two versions, like I recently found Mega Man 3 has a difference in damage.
See Youtube page (GIRfanaticTAS) for all runs and stuff.
Editor, Active player (476)
Joined: 5/23/2006
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I'm not sure what to think about this run... On the one hand, -It's faster than the published movie (by a significant amount, compared to the total movie length) -New techniques are incorporated (e.g. cornerboosting) -The stylistic choices are entertaining to me On the other hand, most of the improvement is just due to a version change. I would be completely in favor of publishing this movie if the version change allowed for some crazy new trick to be performed. However, the only thing it did for this TAS was make the texts go by more quickly... which, while obviously faster, decreases the entertainment of this run. It would be different if some texts could be skipped entirely, but right now, the time saved is not very noticable (from a casual perspective). There's something about the Wind Fish saying "Play the eight instruments!" (when you haven't collected any) that makes me laugh almost every time I see the glitched run, and that's missing from this version of the TAS. Also, consider the audience: if a visitor to the site gets to watch one of two movies, one with English text and the other with Japanese text, I'm pretty sure that the one with English text will be more entertaining to the viewer. I know how much of a pain it is to have to redo an entire movie just to change versions (especially because of all the luck-manipulation that goes into LA with-warps TAS), but I really don't know how to vote. Right now, I'm leaning towards a 'meh', but I'm willing to listen to other opinions. If this TAS gets accepted, I would strongly suggest that any future TAS use the English version, even if it ends up being slower because of the text.
Player (206)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
What if that visitor only reads Japanese?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
arflech
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I say yes, but I can't vote yes yet.
i imgur com/QiCaaH8 png
Former player
Joined: 7/21/2006
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Location: Northern Hemisphere
I don't see why this shouldn't be accepted. The Japanese option clearly saved a justifiable amount of time. Even if it does say in the guidelines that choosing a different ROM for a new improvement isn't always right, the author of the currently published movie (ie, Soulrivers) admitted that choosing the J ROM would've been better in the first place. The less text the better (so I'll stop here). And voted Yes for a badass improvement, with or without the text stuff.
Player (156)
Joined: 4/7/2008
Posts: 217
This TAS clearly does it's purpose of entertaining the viewer, far more than the previous submittion..so what's wrong with cutting out the text? Time was saved even with the text included, so i vote yes definitely.
Editor, Active player (476)
Joined: 5/23/2006
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Bloobiebla wrote:
This TAS clearly does it's purpose of entertaining the viewer, far more than the previous submittion.
Can you describe what parts you mean, specifically? I just re-watched Soulrivers' TAS, and I honestly think it was more entertaining than this one. Soulrivers did some crazy things during the boss battle, like creating a note sprite out of thin air and activating the shield in time to the boss's patterns. This TAS did some funny things, too, but Soulrivers' TAS entertained me a lot more. When you add in the fact that I'm now unable to read the text, it just makes me unsure of this submission. Hopefully this will clarify my opinions a little better.
Banned User
Joined: 12/23/2004
Posts: 1850
I am voting "no" because version changes that are only changes to remove text are stupid. If the Japanese version included some massive glitch the US version didn't, then I would not mind. But there's no difference other than text. There is a precedent here that version changes only due to text amount/speed are usually not allowed and I hope that is upheld here. Edit: Basically what DrJones said.
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Soulrivers wrote:
DrJones wrote:
I prefer understandable text, and if almost all of the improvement is due just to shorter displayed text, I'll vote No on this run.
Sarcasm?
nevermind the time is less i guess i'll go vote yes instead dear me
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Posts: 685
In retrospect, the justification I provided for my vote makes no sense, seeing as the run sans text speed could assumably be duplicated on the U version. I'm not burned by the text being in Japanese, however, and stylistic choices aside, this run is still faster than the currently published run, even taking away the regional text display time differences. I suppose that at worst I'd give it a 'meh' vote for a weak reason to switch regions, but a thumbs up on merit alone. In other words, my yes vote stands. If this happens to get rejected due to poor region switch reasoning, I hope to see it duplicated on the standard U version in the future.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>