About This Run

The main goal of this run was to get everything in the game (100% completion) as fast as possible. Getting all the items (even though I don't use most of them) is necessary to acheive the "good" ending, and also makes for a more entertaining video, I believe. My main chances to shine were during boss fights. The bosses in this game are (for the most part) highly manipulatable, making many of the normally frustrating bosses look extremely simple.
This is 2212 frames (or about 37 seconds) faster than my previously submitted run, which I cancelled due to the fact that I could spot large costly mistakes even after submitting it. Improvements cover a broad range of techniques and route changes, as well as movement optimization and me not being stupid.
  • Aims for fastest possible time.
  • Items: 100%
  • Takes damage to save time.
  • Uses death as a shortcut.
  • Abuses programming errors in the game.
  • Manipulates luck.
  • Genre: Platform.

Sync Settings:

  • Use WIP1 Timing: ON
  • Allow Left+Right / Up+Down: ON
  • Volume Envelope Height Reading: OFF
  • Fake Mute desync workaround: ON
  • Sync samples with sound CPU: OFF
  • I used the modified version of SNES9x with reset recording to record this particular run. Other versions of SNES9x that support the smv should run it fine though, since I don't use the reset feature.

The Run

Level 1

  • Hippogriff 1 is manipulated by headbutting him a few frames late. This causes him to die near the ground, saving time.
  • The extra jump from the floating platform is used to manipulate a later platform to come sooner. Killing the spider soon after is also necessary to manipulate the one above it.
  • Arma 1 is manipulated by hesitating before entering the boss screen, so that he dies on the ground, saving time.

Level 2

  • From this point out, I try to use the Ground Gargoyle as much as possible to get through areas quickly. Jumping at the end of the dash extends the dash quite a bit, hence all the dash-jumping.
  • It seems to be impossible to dash back through the water after collecting the vial, seeing as I don't have quite enough vitality. There is a very good reason why I don't come back for the vial when I have more vitality (i.e. on the second and third runs through the level), but it's a long explanation involving having enough vitality to mitigate the lag in the first underground area, which is important.
  • Speaking of the first underground area, this is my best attempt at lag reduction. Though I do get hit a lot, and the dashing is jerky, it still ends up being considerably faster than just killing all the enemies as you see them.
  • Ovnunu's slime passage is a lag fest--unless you collect the vitality as early as possible and stay off the walls and in the slime.
  • You'll notice that Ovnunu "pulses" within his slime. He "checks" to see if his mini-eyeballs are dead every once in a while, which means there's a frame rule on when he comes out of the slime himself. I can't seem to kill the mini-eyes fast enough for him to come out after the third "Ovnulation Cycle" (an endearing term coined by Dromiceius). This would save a lot of time if it could be broken (about 130 frames).
  • On the third run through the level, you may notice that I don't just die to exit the level. The reason is that the very thing I came here for (the life extension) would bring me to full health. I tried several ways of dying while collecting it, but the game just won't let you do it on the same frame. So I just walk out of the level by entering the boss room.

Level 4

  • The horizontal section is quite windy, in case one is wondering why I'm able to fly so fast. Same goes for the large outdoor vertical section, except the wind is blowing up this time, aiding my jumps up the wall.
  • Right before entering the room with the three statues and the Crown talisman, you may notice I get snagged on the door. This is on purpose and saves time (for some unknown reason).
  • Arma 2 gets caught in a loop, but to do this, I had to tweak my shots a little (which is why they look unoptimized). The loop is necessary so that he stays near the ground half the time, where the Ground Gargoyle shots do 2X damage.

Level 3

  • Even though the Aerial Goyle can snap those vines, I use Ground because he's still faster.
  • Dying at the boss is necessary to burn the canopy prematurely so that I can collect that Life thingy that was inaccessible before.
  • Killing the boss while I was inside him saved a huge chunk of time. This is because the item falls on top of me, and I'd otherwise have to wait quite a while before I could walk over and pick it up.

Level 6

  • I could have flown to the right until I exited the area after collecting the first Vial, but it was pretty boring up there in the sky. I sacrifice a few frames and take the ground route, which is more entertaining.
  • I jump around a lot in this level instead of walking because the ground has slippery properties, wasting frames if you try to walk on it.
  • The dark room is the Desync Room of Death. Just thought I'd let everyone know that I hate it.
  • Shots aren't optimized at the very end of the Arma 3 battle so that I can get him to the ground before he dies.
  • The odd sliding through the air right before I fight Grewon is partly for entertainment value, though it's also faster for some reason.

Level 1

Just backtracking to pick up a few items.

Head-Butt Mini Game

Looks easy, but is actually quite difficult in real time. I manipulated the skulls to appear on the bottom two rows only. I'm quite pleased with how this came out on this run.

Level 5

  • When Crawler (the pile of puke or whatever) falls down from the ceiling, you're supposed to run away from him to the right and wait for him to transform. You're also supposed to return later and head up into the area that he falls from to get a Life Vessel. I do neither and simply walk through him, which saves me from returning to the area later, and also saves me the hassle of waiting for Crawler to reach the boss area and transform.
  • The aquatic parts of this level were the hardest to optimize, especially the areas where I had to continuously avoid spikes, destroy blocks, and kill the swimmy guys. The parts where I touch spikes or otherwise get hurt are to better position myself to eliminate as much as possible on the screen to reduce lag, which is a plague in this level. It's also necessary to space out your shots, even though it slows you down, since firing too many at once causes horrible lag.
  • Switching to Legendary Gargoyle during the Holothurion fight (the snail) is faster, despite the fact I am slowly drowning. Also, his invincibility times after he gets hit vary wildly for no reason whatsoever, which is why I can hit him at odd times.

Level 3

Not much to say about this section, really. It's as easy as it looks, even for the casual player, including the pathetic boss.

Final Level

  • When I ring the bell, it takes forever for the Life Extension to fall out, hence me falling back down and messing around.
  • I never thought I'd actually use the Claw shot in this run, but it proved itself invaluable in the horizontal wind section, especially when I realized that I can stand on top of the goo in addition to using it normally to latch on to.
  • Annoyingly enough, Phalanx is one pixel out of reach, forcing me to switch to Aerial Gargoyle, fly up, and switch back to Legendary. Phalanx's third form is amazingly brutal for the casual player. It's stupidly simple in this movie. I fly to the left towards the end to end input sooner.

The one minor glitch

If left and right on the control pad are held down while firing, Firebrand will shoot a fireball to the right, but it comes out of the back of his head rather than his mouth. I use this a lot to kill enemies that are behind me, and to manipulate bosses into positions I normally wouldn't be able to. This is especially valuable in the Holothurion fight.

Special Thanks

Zurreco for various suggestions and his 100% route
Mechuyael for various suggestions
Dromiceius

Suggested Screenshot


NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots of this movie and placed them here. Here goes! Feel free to clean up the list.

Truncated: Some small possible improvements have been mentioned, but nothing that I feel keeps this run from getting accepted.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15587
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2017: ElectroSpecter's SNES Demon's Crest in 36:14.45
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
No canceling this time! The mentioned version of SNES9x is in my sig, which is partly why I'm posting. EDIT: Should have known the link was broken, I'll have to find it somewhere. EDIT 2: Well, it seems to work fine on other version anyway. So go for it!
Player (168)
Joined: 4/27/2006
Posts: 304
Location: Eastern Canada
Allow me to snag the first vote! The unpublished run you made was a great watch as well. This is a pretty significant improvement! Well done.
Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332
Ha. That was fantastic. I'm surprised it's only 37 seconds shorter, because the movement looks a lot cleaner. Great job. Yes vote.
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
Definitely looks faster than last time.
Ambassador, Experienced player (709)
Joined: 7/17/2004
Posts: 985
Location: The FLOATING CASTLE
Awesome! I love it and of course I vote yes.
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Screenshot Ideas: (Crap, I forgot to hit the screen capture button a frame early, so these pictures are all a frame later than I wanted them to be, but they give the same general idea; for the pictures with the enemies flashing, just imagine them not flashing and you have your screenshot).
1.  77025
2.  82511
3.  82526
4. 104311
5. 104327
6. 104422
7. 111251
Joined: 2/1/2007
Posts: 245
Location: Israel
Voting yes. I especially liked the part where you shot Arma with the air blade thingy before he even landed to taunt you and actually start the fight.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Grr. I'll be voting as soon as I can watch this, but you can pretty much expect a Yes vote from me when I get back to the states. Still, this beats the 40:xx predictions I had a few years ago. Good work!
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 12/20/2004
Posts: 226
Just saw this run, it was pretty much pure awesome. I was shocked by how many places you could effectively use the Ground Gargoyle.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Got around to watching this. Very impressive through and through. The last Arma fight was magnificent. My only concern is whether killing Ovnunu closer to the center with air shots would be faster than killing on the side with ground shots, since the flying back to the ooze takes forever once it dies. Either way, giving this a Yes Vote.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Ah yeah, that's one of those things where I decided a long time ago (when I wasn't so good at TASing) that Method A was faster than Method B. I guess I just assumed while recording this new run that I was correct way back when, but it's definitely possible that i was thoroughly wrong...
Skilled player (1416)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
I'm voting yes on this, but I have a few concerns. Why not use the earth gargoyle towards the end of your revisit of level 1 and in the beginning of the last level? No pun intended, but your swimming seemed kinda fishy. Regular swimming seems to be just as fast as the "special swimming", and it doesn't force you to stop whenever you attack. Am I wrong here? Other than that, nice to see this finally done. Good job. :P
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
At the end of Level 1 (second time) I switched to the Aerial Gargoyle because it saves time getting out of the pit and also flying up to the breakable blocks (don't have to wait for those platforms). At the beginning of the final level, Ground Gargoyle is fairly useless, due to the large amount of lag he creates when the jesters jump through the window, and his limited jumping area due to the stupid crossbows on the ceiling. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that I tested a long time ago and decided that the L. Gargoyle was faster, so I don't remember my exact times for comparison; it's probably pretty close though. I have to switch back to L. Goyle anyway for Hippogryph. About the swimming: although holding A is slightly faster than B swimming, I should have only held A for the longer straight segments. You're right, and I definitely could have saved time there. I guess I'll chalk this up as an improvement if I work on this again.
Skilled player (1416)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
In level one, I was referring to the very end when you were the legendary gargoyle after getting the health expansion. There was a fairly long stretch of not much right before where you fought Arma where it seems the earth gargoyle would have been handy. As for the other stuff: Gotcha. Still, I loved it. If that's all I can nitpick on, you did a very good job. :P
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Thanks :) Yeah, that short stretch up top... I think it was too short to warrant a change, if I recall correctly.
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
Location: United States
Hm... A 100% run of the third, last, and BEST (in my opinion) of the "Red Arremaa"/"Gargoyle's Quest" games, eh? Let's have a looksie! Stage 0 - The Colosseum - No Comments Stage 1 - Chasm of Thorns - Seems you amused yourself (and the viewers) by dance-hopping to the music from time to time. I approve of this considering it wastes no time and is...well...AMUSING! Stage 2a - Demon Village Graveyard - Nice handling of Belth! Stage 2b - Demon Village Catacombs - Once again, I enjoy a good jig. :3 - Very nice handling of Ovununu, but is there a way to kill him closer to his slime hive, or would that have made any difference at all? - (Revisited) Would it have made much difference to return to the Ground Gargoyle form after bustering through to get the life-up, then changing back to Fire Firebrand and back to Ground Firebrand again on your way to the level's end? Stage 4 - Towers of the Wind - I'd say manipulating Arma as you did here was worth the "unoptimized" look, if you're absolutely positive there's no other way to get him to stay semi-grounded and over in the corner like that. - (Revisited) Way to squish that Flier demon bug thing! Stage 3a - Forest of the Leviathan - No comments. Stage 6a - Ice Palace Tower - Another Flier? I know Capcom gets lazy from time to time, but why not some sort of ice beast, or maybe a frozen skeleton knight to fight you here? :( - Pre-emptted strike! Eat that, Arma! XD Stage 6b - Frozen Valley of Death - No comment. Stage 1 - Valley of Thorns (Revisited) - No comment. Trio the Pago III - I'd say you finished that game in record time, myself. Stage 5a - Water Shrine Caverns - I don't think that Crawler much appreciated being RIPPED APART like that. XD Stage 5b - Water Shrine Depths - This level is pretty. - Holothurion is one ugly son-of-a-slug. I was pleased to see you put it down so easily. Stage 3b - Lair of the Leviathan - I remember Scula being considerably harder... Oh well! Stage 7 - Phalanx's Citadel - Well, if Capcom has something going for them, it's that they're not afraid to show a little BLOOD in their games. Or in this case, SEVERAL BLOODY IRON MAIDENS. WITH DEMONS INSIDE OF THEM. Right on! - Well, clearly Phalanx's Crest of Heaven is no match for your Crest of Time! 'nuff said THERE. Hidden Stage - The Final Stand-Off - Well...technically, it's not a 100% run without a trip to the Human Realm, but I honestly can't say I blame you for not fighting the Dark Demon and getting the alternate ending. He's a really...REALLY hard fight and would probably be frustrating to manipulate. >_< So...what can I say about this run that I haven't already? Well...not much. I can say that I'm casting my vote of Yes[/i], though. I'm not altogether sure if there's a GREAT DEAL of spots that can be optimized, so it looks pretty complete.
I'm not that hard to find... if you know where to look. -=( http://jolikmc.tumblr.com )=-
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Thank you for your input! The main reason I didn't do DD is because it would have added like 15+ minutes onto the run, since you have to wait for the credits to run before the password screen appears. If I did wait it out though, it wouldn't be a problem to use the reset feature of the SNES9x, since the password is stored and I wouldn't have to put it in. But even after I killed the DD, the credits would roll again, I believe, which would make the AVI at least 33% longer.
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
You could always submit a DD only NG+ run.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
Location: United States
Sounds logical to me! I see no reason why this run wouldn't be accepted, after all, so if it's accepted, well...there ya go!
I'm not that hard to find... if you know where to look. -=( http://jolikmc.tumblr.com )=-
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Zurreco wrote:
You could always submit a DD only NG+ run.
The part I dread about that, surprisingly, is optimizing the password input. I wonder if the password is stored in the SRAM?
Skilled player (1416)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
I actually tried making a Dark Demon only run. The password was kinda fun to do. A couple of hours and around 200 reloads if I recall. I would have continued it if the file hadn't gotten lost in a file transfer.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Player (25)
Joined: 4/23/2005
Posts: 435
Location: Germany
Great RUN. Looks well planed. And great done.
Last TAS finished: Final Fantasy Adventure (4.0 Warp Glitch Run) WIP in the moment: Tail Gator (GB) Matty
Player (246)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
I just took a closer look at the NVA shots, and I actually really like this one: This one is nice, but the L. Gargoyle blends too much into the background: Suggested movie description (Publisher: touch it up if necessary): Demon's Crest is the third installment of the Gargoyle's Quest series. The player controls Firebrand, who is scouring the Demon Realm for elemental Crests, which preside over different elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Time, and Heaven). When collected, these crests allow Firebrand to transform his shape at will and gain powerful new abilities and defenses. Demon's Crest (to those who have played it) is notorious for some very difficult bosses. In this run, the author abuses boss weaknesses to the extreme by switching Gargoyle forms when necessary. In addition, heavy luck manipulation was used during several encounters to make the otherwise troublesome boss fights look easier than a play through of Barney's Hide and Seek.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15587
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1166] SNES Demon's Crest "100%" by ElectroSpecter in 36:14.45