About:Config

  • Emulator used: PCSX-RR v0.0.7, with no special plugins nor specific settings.
  • Abuses Programming Errors
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Uses ziggy's name entry method
  • Starts from a predetermined save point (sort of)
  • Sugar and spice and all things nice

Small Talk

Ah
Finished it.
hmm... since I started this thing... how long ago? 6 months...? ...so many things have happened... hmm...

Some Description...

There's no need for explanations, I guess.
It's Symphony of the Night. The greatest episode of the Castlevania series and one of the best games of all things of all times. Excelent graphics, excelent music, excelent gameplay. It is also famous for its glitches, that allow many sequence breaks and involuntarily add much more replay value.
This is an extra mode, unlocked after you finish the game. You play with Richter Belmont: the testosterone-boosted vampire hunter. There's no spoon, no storyline, no relics to collect and no Dracula. Your goal is just to find and defeat Shaft, the dark priest.
Richter comes with some cool special moves too: a dash/charge attack (COMPLETELY immune to all things, good and bad), an uppercut/super jump attack (invincible) and a slide (that can be cancelled with a "kuuhadan" flying kick). He can also run if you tap forward twice quickly.
This is my second attempt. Much faster and more efficient than the one I didn't submit. It uses basically the same route as the speedrun in 5:56 by K.D. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQBvuIJcv1k

SRAM, obviously...

Since it requires the game to be finished first, there's a memory card included in the movie file, and it contains 1 save file done with the help of zggdydp's run. But any memory card having 1 saved game with the "Clear" status would do fine, since that's all that is read from it at that point.

A Warning...

Important: if for some really revellent, swaggering, monotheist reason you have never played this game before, you may find this run a bit repetitive and the constant "HAH" (and sometimes "YAH") a little irritating (even though it's not half as annoying as Julius' "OOLAY" in Aria of Sorrow)

Enlightenment

I now notice that all comedians with Martin in their names are no fun at all.

And then...

I'm done, I presume.
Byez.

KTHXBAI

Thanks to:
  • mz: for the awesome work on the emulator.
  • zggzdydp: my accomplice John Chinaman gave me the youtube link to the 5:56 speedrun.
  • arukAdo: well, I think the video was in his channel.
  • Bisqwit: yeah, now we can submit PSX crap.
Thank you thank you silence

3 weeks later...

Yeah, I wrote all that bullshit when I finished the job, around the end of january. Then I submitted it, failed because of a "movie file contains embedded memory cards" warning, mentioned it in the forum, and PMed Bisqwit.
He asked for the movie file, so he could verify the memcards. If they were empty, he could add an exception.
Maybe I should've asked why one would add blank memory cards to a movie file, but I didn't. I just sent him another PM with the requested file.
And that message is still sitting in my outbox. I think he's busy with his stuff so I decided to act predictable and put the cart before the horses.
I edited the file, and removed the memory cards but kept the rest so that I could submit it and the site would still show the correct info.
Now it is visible for everyone to verify, and if somebody has any doubt about it's legitimity, just query one of the Castlevania experts around (arukAdo, zggzdydp, klmz) or go watch Bob The Builder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdasg6oQV0g
The memory card is required to enable that special game mode, and ANY card containing 1 save with the 'Clear' status will work. The one I used was created after zggzdydp's run, as you can see for yourselves.
It goes like this: when you beat the game, the current memory card save is UPDATED with the 'Clear' flag and the rest remains untouched (game time and map completion aren't changed) The info is only UPDATED, not CREATED... if you didn't save (like in zggzdydp's run), nothing will be changed in the memory cards.
So I:
  • Interrupted ziggy's movie near the end and saved; (the save file is created)
  • Finished the game; (save file is updated)
And of course the submitted file won't run, so...

If you like it then you should put a ring on it

The original movie file: http://stashbox.org/386807/Richter.zip

Update

The site now accepts movie files with embedded memory cards. Let's wait until Bisqwit or someone elese replaces the file in the submission and I'll fix the submission text.

Bisqwit: Replacing movie file.

adelikat: Accepting to be published as a separate category, "Richter" version.
ShinyDoofy: Processing...

Experienced player (954)
Joined: 12/3/2008
Posts: 936
Location: Castle Keep
Acheron86 wrote:
Is frame count not an option?
Now with pcsx yeah it is the best option, that game is now 11 years old, and it took many years to get alucard speedruns under 20 min, the first speedruns where hour long, requiring all relics ect... In other words i was speaking of the past (and that richter speedrun pirate based himself on is an old chick) Also aside from been able to take a pic, everybody know if your able to nail down such a fast speedrun, you can take down the last boss pretty easly, tricks needed in alucard speedrun to get under 20min are much more harder to pull than to use shield on dracula and wait for him to die... :p Ah and for richter... well its just about to cast hydrostorm... nothing realy interresting there neither lol
adelikat wrote:
Someone tell me that this .pxm file beats the game, and I'll accept it for publication.
ah, hope to see that happening soon now :) Edit: oups, seem it is now :p
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14909
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. ---- [1275] PSX Castlevania: Symphony of the Night "Richter mode" by pirate_sephiroth in 05:41.73
Joined: 1/13/2007
Posts: 335
You know what would be entertaining? A Richter game that uncovers as much of the map as possible. One that beats the theoretical map max in all the faqs. :)
Joined: 5/31/2012
Posts: 4
This can't be compared to go through the full game as ^ said, but is a good work anyway.
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
http://youtu.be/3zvEkvoyNvs This is one of those awesome TASes that deserve an HD encode. Enjoy! I was surprised to see that this movie was still in 240p when there has been SotN TASes in HD since last year. Hmm. video processing takes quite a long time :/
Post subject: Re: HD Encode
Editor, Emulator Coder, Site Developer
Joined: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1108
Location: Murka
iiro2 wrote:
http://youtu.be/3zvEkvoyNvs This is one of those awesome TASes that deserve an HD encode. Enjoy! I was surprised to see that this movie was still in 240p when there has been SotN TASes in HD since last year. Hmm. video processing takes quite a long time :/
Welcome to TASVideos! Your donation to our library of encodes is appreciated, and I'm going to add it to the official publication page; this movie was indeed long overdue for a replacement youtuber. Your encode looks quite good for a first timer. I congratulate you in successfully navigating the thorny web of encode guidelines. Two things stood out that I would change (for future encodes, no need to redo this one): 1. Please make the logo at the beginning last for 2 seconds; this only appeared to last for about 1 second. The extra second really helps in giving people time to read (or hit pause before the logo goes away). 2. In both the logo and the subtitles, please give the website URL as "http://TASVideos.org"; note that the 'V' is capitalized. If you'd like to encode more, you might possibly considering hanging out on #tasvideos on freenode irc. It's where we flail around helplessly coordinate our encoding and publishing efforts.
Editor, Publisher, Player (46)
Joined: 10/15/2021
Posts: 371
YouTube encode: Link to video
Site Admin, Skilled player (1237)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11274
Location: RU
While I prefer subtitle positioning in this video, and breaking the first subtitle entry into 2 if there's a ton of lines, this is not bad enough to redo IMO.
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.