Game objectives
   * Emulator used: mednafen-rr-249 but windows users should use PCEjin
   * Aims For Fastest Time
   * Takes Damage To Save Time
   * Manipulates Luck
   * Length: 87554 Frames
   * Rerecord Count: 31451
To help facilitate our collaboration we keep our movies and related files on a repository. You can get the latest version of any of our movies here at any time. In addition, we have a "failed attempts" folder that demonstrates varies routes/strats we used that turned out to be slower.
   * SVN: http://code.google.com/p/rondoofblood/  
This submission is 2408 frames faster than the Richter any% #2311: arukAdo's PCECD Castlevania: Rondo of Blood in 25:03.72
Maria starts with a large disadvantage due to the unskippable cutscene where she is saved by Richter. However she is faster than Richter in every following level.
Basic Mechanics & Tricks
Maria generally needs to stay on the ground rolling as much as possible. Her "Dark Maria" attack is heavily abused throughout the movie, however in some cases the doves are faster. She can do a double jump, which allows her to take shortcuts off limits to Richter.
Hearts and health both cost frames at the end of level tally, so we aim to end each level with as little as possible. In some cases this isn't possible or loses time.

adelikat: Replacing the submission file with a fixed .mc2. The movie content is not changed. The file format is fixed to represent the new mednafen/pcejin .mc2 file format.

mmbossman: Quite a bit of cart-wheeling, but still a fun watch. Accepting for publication.

adelikat: Processing.

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Yeah, CotM took the menu music from this game, but unfortunately it was only the menu music.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Post subject: Re: Cute = win = yes!
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arukAdo wrote:
gocha wrote:
by the way, recent "co-working via svn" style is quite impressive.
Wanna team'up with me for DoS via svn ? :p
O_o
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days <adelikat> no doubt <adelikat> klmz, they still do
Post subject: Re: Cute = win = yes!
gocha
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arukAdo wrote:
gocha wrote:
by the way, recent "co-working via svn" style is quite impressive.
Wanna team'up with me for DoS via svn ? :p
Heheh, not bad! If you want, I can make a new project on googlecode and upload files instantly ;)
I am usually available on Discord server or Twitter.
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I'd like to know how well an emulator movie works with svn. Does it merge correctly?
<klmz> it reminds me of that people used to keep quoting adelikat's IRC statements in the old good days <adelikat> no doubt <adelikat> klmz, they still do
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Seriously, svn for sending files between two people? Email or any file transfer function multiple instant messengers have available is too lame for you?
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Location: New York City
I think this should obsolete the Richer run.
adelikat
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ShinyDoofy wrote:
Seriously, svn for sending files between two people? Email or any file transfer function multiple instant messengers have available is too lame for you?
1) It is between 3 people, not 2 2) SVN allows revision histories 3) SVN allows comments on each change allowing better communication between authors 4) SVN allows the audience up to date instant access to our WIPs 5) SVN serves as a backup for the current and all previous versions 6) Since we are dealing with text based movie formats, we can easily do diffs 7) SVN allows more than just the movie file. The current svn also has a failed attempts folder to show all the variations we tried but that turned out slower 8) SVN allows us to share the same spreadsheet for frame comparisons 9) with SVN I was able to set up an irc channel and a bot to notify authors of changes 10) Since I work regularly on TASes in 3 locations, it allows me easy access to my movie to TAS I'm sure there are more advantages I am not thinking of.
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
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That's quite a list. Guess I'll better shut up about it for now :x
mklip2001
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A Maria run does look pretty repetitive when the Guardian Fist is used so effectively. I was happy to see that Dragon subweapon appear, but then it got used twice in the whole run. Also, could anyone elaborate a little more on when doves are better than Guardian Fist, like in the last boss? It's also a shame that you can't skip the intro cutscene. Regardless, this is really well done, so yes vote.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
fruitbane
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eternaljwh wrote:
And...jeez, Konami, how many more games d'you think you can get out of the spritesets you have?
They're good sprites. Why not use them everywhere? Heck, at this rate I've half expected to see skeletons in one of the recent Contra games. ; ) There's a reason this particular Castlevania game is so often put on a pedestal.
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fruitbane wrote:
Why not use them everywhere?
Well, how about "because they can do better now"? That's not to mention that at least 3-4 other titles in the series have been reusing the same sprites for over 14 (!) years.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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Will comment on the run later when I can watch it, just wanted to ask: why was it submitted as 'Castlevania' and not 'Dracula X' or 'Akumajou Dracula X'? The Castlevania title wasn't assigned to it until last year on PSP, and only in the localization. </nitpick>
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>
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I remember i asked about this when i submited NITM (saturn) The point is anyway publication will give the american title (castlevania) and not akumajo dracula Same goes for the game title its Rondo Of Blood and not Chi No Rondo, or Nocturne In The Moonlight and not *insert the right speeling of nitm in japanesse that i dont recall* I would assume a sotn psx run using the jap version would be call also nitm
Joined: 10/15/2007
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In that respect, it should still at least be Dracula X, as that's the English that's actually in the title. Oh well.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>
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I think it should have the original title. At the Submission Instructions: Game name Game name is what the name the game is known. Please write the official name of the game. For example, if you are submitting a movie for the game Super Mario Bros., do write Super Mario Bros. Do not write Super Mario, SMB, Mario, or Mario Bros. "What the name the game is known" wtf... anyway, I believe a japanese SotN should also be called Gekka no Yasoukyoku, not Nocturne in the Moonlight. Since I think that's not the official name, just a translation.
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
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You can check as much you want theres not a single akumajo dracula games on the site, except kid dracula.... altought a few of them are japanesse (nitm for exemple...)
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Well, they seem to be breaking the rules then. But NitM at least has a US counterpart (SotN is official). Boku Dracula-kun doesn't (well, not the NES one), and Chi no Rondo either (the PSP version is called "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles").
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success." - Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Drama, too long, didn't read, lol.
Sir_VG
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With the Kid Dracula one, I did it on the Japanese version anyways. So Yeah.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
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Well, to be fair, "Castlevania: Rondo of Blood" gives more google results compared to "Akumajo Dracula X". That's one thing. Many of the Japanese games on the site that had non-Japanese counterparts released (but not chosen for a TAS for some reason) had the official English title with a note in the movie description telling the original name. That's another. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in choosing a name when several of them are present. Presently we have such things as: — "Hi no Tori (火の鳥 鳳凰編 我王の冒険)" (Japanese name in kanji + romanization); — "Youkai Douchuuki" (romanization of a Japanese name); — "Hitler no Fukkatsu" (romanization of a Japanese name when an English counterpart is available — same as with Kid Dracula); — "Hudson's Adventure Island 4" (inofficial title; the game has only Japanese release with a completely different name); — "Castlevania 3 – Dracula's Curse" (English name chosen to represent Japanese release); — "Castlevania - Nocturne In The Moonlight" (English translation of a Japanese name while an English counterpart is available). Enough to show there is no consistency whatsoever? I think so. Two of the possible reasons it turned out like that are: Bisqwit deciding the game name for himself, and publishers not researching the matter and just going with what they've been given.
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Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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pirate_sephiroth wrote:
and Chi no Rondo either (the PSP version is called "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles").
Dracula X Chronicles includes the original game in it along with the remake. and it is called Rondo of Blood there. if that ain't official, i don't know what is.
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If you want to be more precise moozooh, only the psx version of nitm have a official english name (sotn), the saturn game has never been release in usa I dont mind if they try to put a little more consistency, the problem i guess is to be persistent and clear enought for people who dont even know akumajo dracula (dracula castle) is equal to castlevania, i think castlevania on google win largely :p For kid dracula, that somewhat not important, i mean, after all its not realy castlevania... But as soon as you put any akumajo dracula instead castlevania, or some romanization for the episode title, it will get more confusing i believe, and scatter runs over the movie list Maybe she should have some sort of castlevania-movies.html, then metroid, mario ect... and regroup games regardless the systems... then allow to put the original games naming... so you would still be able to "easly" find them along other castlevania titles Or simply have 2 field for names, one for the list, and a original title show on the movie page Anyway i guess its a minor problem, for nitm, i just remember i asked adelikat, he asked me the details of the name (saturn & jap only, psx = sotn ect...) and say to go with nitm, so i did that :p The cv64 run in bench use the romanization, im not sure what will be the final name tought As for the psp... lets remind its another system, and near 15 years after this game So yeah its official ... for that game Whe are on pcengine now, wait a few more years and i guess there can be a tas of psp port
Post subject: now with 100% more castlevania examples
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In anybody's interested, while it's too late to re-encode videos with "erroneous" titles, we could try anew and decide upon a proper naming scheme now. Here's my proposition. For games released outside of Japan: • use official English title; • • if there are several English titles (Europe & NA releases), use the one that appeared earlier (we have wikipedia for release dates), or, if there is no such information, give priority to NA title. For games released only in Japan: • use English name (see below) and original name written with kanji/kana; • • if a game is an official part of a series (Adventure Island case), use the most commonly accepted English title as the English name; • • if a game is not a part of a series, use romanization of the Japanese title (Hi no Tori case). This way we will always have original name written in original language, AND the most common English name to ease searching. The only disadvantage is that it will very rarely be equal to the ROM name (but that's what we have submission pages for). Here's an example of this system in action using Castlevania series titles we have submissions/published movies for: http://tasvideos.org/901M.html — NES Castlevania (USA PRG1); http://tasvideos.org/764M.html — NES Castlevania 3 – Dracula's Curse (JPN); http://tasvideos.org/89M.html — NES Kid Dracula (悪魔城スペシャル ぼくドラキュラくん) (JPN); http://tasvideos.org/1008M.html — GB Kid Dracula (JPN);* http://tasvideos.org/1037M.html — SNES Castlevania – Dracula X (USA); http://tasvideos.org/1246M.html — PSX Castlevania – Symphony of the Night (USA); http://tasvideos.org/1313M.html — Saturn Castlevania – Symphony of the Night (悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲) (JPN); http://tasvideos.org/2326S.html — PCE Castlevania – Rondo of Blood (悪魔城ドラキュラX 血の輪廻) (JPN). * — Note: this should have actually been done on an US ROM, in which case it would've read GB Dracula Kid (USA).
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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arukAdo wrote:
As for the psp... lets remind its another system, and near 15 years after this game So yeah its official ... for that game Whe are on pcengine now, wait a few more years and i guess there can be a tas of psp port
why does that make a difference? it's a port of the PCE game, therefore it's the same game. also, Rondo of Blood is a perfectly acceptable translation of Chi no Rondo. concerning the NITM run, i think that should have also used Symphony of the Night cause it's just another version of the same game. they have the same name in Japanese, and if it were brought over to the other regions, i don't see why it wouldn't be called SotN. i agree with moozooh's suggestion to use the English name whenever possible. however, using kana and kanji when there is a translation or English version of the name (like SotN) feels redundant to me.
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Satoryu wrote:
if it were brought over to the other regions, i don't see why it wouldn't be called SotN.
This is obvious, it would have been call SotN, but the problem is it never happened Also for the sake of discution i want to mention im not on any side, i consider any solution as leggit, chi no rondo or rondo of blood, symphony of the night or nocturne in the moonlight are all fine and its very mindblowing to make a choice between them, i guess the fact they run on different systems is good to underline the difference, but, need to remind its also differents games (+maria+100 rooms+1relic+someitems...), and this "port" is somewhat unique, the psp version is you can agree largely different than saturn one Of course tought i cant read kanji (as most readers) so i would need to check with google/wiki or whatever to realy understand it, even if it look "cool" i think with kanji, its more likely never understood
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Kanji can be translated in the movie description if needs be (I'm up for that, it's not hard). In title field they're representing just that — the game's title. For instance, Japanese (and likely Chinese, Korean, etc.) audience won't search for "Symphony of the Night", "Nocturne in the Moonlight" or "Gekka no Yasōkyoku" when looking for this movie — they will search for its original title, 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.