Is this a regular speedrun or a re-recorded speedrun?
I think there were some flaws in the first part, such as missed(?) jumps, bad manipulation of enemies, and jump forward as whipping?
I'm not sure about the game dynamics, but it did look goofy at some places.
I like the choise of game though. Seems to differ some compared to the NES version.
I have to agree with you there, looking back I probably could have shaved off about 20 seconds. I'm so used to playing this game a certain way (I bought the original in 1987). Until now this is the fastest run ever recorded for this game (MSX version)
Part2 and 3 look ok but I could have shaved a bit off here and there. I read the FAQ on TAS and it seems I already know about most tactics. Konami didn't make much mistakes while programming and most (hard to trigger) glitches result in a 'reboot' of the machine itself.
I have about 500 videos on youtube with walktroughs of games but I'm pretty new to 'speed running' I hope more people will pick up MSX games.
Thanks for the feedback, I saw what you meant with missed jumps. Enemy logic is straight forward and can not be easily manipulated in this game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2WRJUGWtA Here is another example and I'm quite pleased with the time I made on this one. I've challenged people to do it faster.
PS excellent game choice to do Toki! :)
Yo:
A quick, -highly- unoptimized testrun to get me used to TASing with openMSX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_csim50uZA
The run completes Stages 1 - 3 and the Vampire bat. I'm not quite sure of the best way to manipulate it, and wether jumping over it is better than taking a hit. Oh, well.
And finally, the Testrun's done at 19:11ish (sort of hard to say where exactly input ends, a read-only mode would be nice to avoid tampering with it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIFhbF4kPi0 : Encode, may take a while to process
http://www.mediafire.com/?e2ym83chzehhs6j : Input file.
With enough optimization, this could potentially be sub 19 minutes or even less, so I will now test out a variety of things before moving on to the optimized run. I hope you like this run, everything else I want to say is in the video comments. Any comments, possible improvements, etc. are greatly appreciated
~ scrimpeh
Gentlemen, I have noticed an improvement in Vampire Killer. In the beginning of Stage 2, you can damage boost off a bat on the higher platform, the same way like in the NES game. Since I was gonna redo the run if I notice an improvement, here I go.
//Only I forgot you need to get the key, so never mind that. Still, I'll be looking out for some other stuff and examine wether damage boots are usable in other places.
///I did however find this:
Link to video
Remember the one Jump I pointed out I was unable to get right? Well, turns out, that is not the only way.
////Now as for other useless crap I found:
Link to video
Useless, but fucking hillarious.
Link to video
I only wish the key would be in some out of place location so this would actually save time.
Exciting stuff happening in regards to the route. I found a couple faster approaches in various stages, which should save several seconds. Unfortunately, I haven't found any major glitches since, and I haven't found any other place in the game where it's possible to skip the key to my dismay. Oh well, expect an improvement in the next couple of weeks.
Link to video
I found this one little thing in Stage 10. Using the Wing Powerup, it's possible to simply jump into the ceiling. Depending on your position, you can either jump all the way up or get stuck. If you jump through the ceiling, you end up in the screen below, unless there's water or a bottomless pit - in that case, you die.
Very interesting. I wasn't aware of that glitch yet.
Unfortunately, I don't see that much application for it in a TAS. To elaborate, the runner freezes time using the stopwatch item before exiting the stage, thus freezing all enemies in the remainder of the game. This significantly changes the way you approach the levels, but from what I can see, there's a few significant downsides to it:
1.To activate this glitch, you need to obtain the Stopwatch in Stage 2 and wait several seconds in the boss area before exiting the level.
2.Despite all enemies being frozen, several of them still spawn in inconvenient locations, forcing the runner to whip them away.
3.The TAS utilizes several damage boosts, none of which are possible with the enemies frozen. This especially means a TAS would have to go "the slow way" in Stage 17 (though you could unfreeze time before that to get a damage boost up to the key, which I believe would be the more sensible option).
The only real upside to the current route I can see freezing the game permanently is that you don't need to collect the Stopwatch to fight the Grim Reaper in Stage 13. Unfortunately, I don't think it's enough to outweigh the cons, as the current TAS manages to deal with most enemies and bosses relatively quickly either way.
Still, it is interesting to see there is a glitch like this in a game, it makes me wonder what else still lurks in there.
A while ago, a romhack for Vampire Killer has been released which turns the stages into those of the NES Castlevania.
Here is a quick and very rough testrun for the patch in 10:16.86
Link to videoInput File
Note that the movie uses a hardpatched ROM. I used IPSWin to create the patch, as Lunar IPS does not apply the patch properly. The patch is applied to the [a3] version of the ROM.
Notes:
- In general, this game is a lot friendlier to TAS than either Castlevania or Vampire Killer. For example, there is no heart countdown at the end of the stage, which means you don't have to worry about reducing it before the boss.
- While the stages have been changed to resemble those of Castlevania, the gameplay remains mostly like in Vampire Killer. This includes the weapon system, which treats the Holy Water and the Stopwatch as subweapons, and any other type of weapon as main weapon. Unlike Vampire Killer, your weapons remain into the next stage.
- Just as in Vampire Killer, you can have both the Holy Water and the Stopwatch at the same time. This combo is mad OP, and I do my best to show it off against bosses. Holy water does the same damage as your main weapon, but whereas you can use your whip only every 14 frames, the holy water does damage every 4 frames. While the holy water is active, no other sources can damage the boss, so the fastest approach is to throw a jug of holy water at the boss, and use the whip on him just until the holy water hits, then let the holy water do the rest.
- You're given the wings and boots by default, which is nice from the game, but makes you outrun your own holy water. This results in several awkward situations. Even with the wings, you cannot damage boost into three block high tiles. This means I have to take several damage boosts differently than I would on the NES version.
- The stopwatch glitch appears to have been fixed, at least to a degree.
- Once you complete the game, you're dumped into the second quest and stage 19. Unlike on the NES, nothing seems to have changed.
Stage by Stage Notes:
BLK 1 (Stages 0 - 3):
As far as I know, there is no way to make the bat in Stage 2 spawn from the left side of the screen, so I have to wait for one cycle. In the boss fight, I wait on the left side to lure the bat toward the higher platform so that it can be hit by the holy water.
BLK 2 (Stages 4 - 6):
I'm not sure if it is the best idea to pick up the Cross, because using it causes lag. However, I figured that if I get the opportunity to show it off, I might as well do. Even if you pick up a different weapon, the projectile remains active, if invisible. Interestingly, the damage boost in Stage 5 is impossible on the NES version, while the damage boost in the NES version is impossible on MSX.
BLK 3 (Stages 7 - 9):
The damage boost in Stage 7 is faster than going the normal way by about 20 frames. It could be faster by using the rightmost hunchback to boost onto the lower platform, but doing so causes the left hunchback to jump off the platform, making me unable to use him for the second damage boost.
BLK 4 (Stages 10 - 12):
The RNG is influenced by the entire MSX keyboard, which allows me great control over the hunchbacks' behaviour. In the boss fight, it is faster to let Franky come to you, as the holy water has an annoyingly high arc otherwise.
BLK 5 (Stages 13 - 15):
Thanks to the wings and boots, I can just jump over the axe armors that gave me so much trouble in the vanilla version. I facetank some damage from the red skeletons because the orb in the boss room allows me to heal up to full anyway.
BLK 6 (Stages 16 - 18):
The second room in stage 17 was very lucky, as I just got through without manipulating the skeleton bones at all. The strategy for Dracula is the same as in Vampire Killer, as there is no ground area for the holy water to burn him. This means I need 20 hearts for four stopwatch uses, and the knife, which the game conveniently puts right in my way. Using the stopwatch a fourth time would also speed up the currently published run by about 2 to 3 seconds.
I found something interesting.
Link to video
Unfortunately, you get stuck at this point, since you can't get to the key. I'll go through the game and see if it can be made useful somewhere.
AgentWyvern discovered something very interesting. This game also has a stair glitch. (Twitch Clip)
Link to video
From what I can tell, this is caused purely by walking up and down the stairs through a screen transition and stopping on the right steps. If you do it right, Simon will walk over the end and climb up the staircase into the air. Whether or not this works depends on the length of the staircase above and below the screen transition. I've gotten this in other places, but so far, I don't know any application for it.
Update: It's caused by exiting a staircase after walking on it for exactly 512 frames (= 32 steps). You can walk up and down any staircase then. The important RAM variable to watch is 0xC42B. This means it's quite slow to activate, but it might still save time somewhere, considering how out of the way some of the stuff in this game is. A door skip would be the holy grail, but I haven't tried routing anything yet.
