Common Tricks

Screen abuse

Wrap abuse

• In Darkwing Duck, you can hit enemies on the top side of the screen with arrows falling downward.
• In Little Samson, you can abuse glitches in walls to wrap from the left to the right side of the screen, so that you can exit the current level immediately.

Scroll abuse

• In Super Mario Bros. (warped), you can go down a pipe but warp to the wrong area with the screen pre-scrolled or over-scrolled.
• In Castlevania 2, you can gradually walk off stairs and walk in the air by scrolling left and right on the rightmost side of the current map.

Personal Game List

NES/FDS Games

NES Castlevania (aka. Akumajou Dracula)

• Deal great damage to enemy by making two or more things damaged at the same time? Not sure.

• None.

• [901] NES Castlevania by Phil & Morrison in 11:20.50(USA PRG1) by Phil & Morrison.

NES/FDS Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

• The FDS version uses saves instead of passwords.
• Drunk programming can be seen.

• Damage-boost by a blob from the graveyard to the gate of the last mansion.
• Walk off stair on the rightmost side of the screen.
• Get pushed to "another world" by horizontally moving platforms.
• Fall through floors from one-man-high by whipping at correct frame and subpixels.
• Jump spikes pointing horizontally.
• One-throw-kill every thing by timing the hit with your holywater/dagger subweapon at its disappearance. Holywater should be thrown onto walls to do the trick though.

• This game can be boring.
• But it is Castlevania.

• Glitched main quest: [1119] NES Castlevania II: Simon's Quest by zggzdydp in 29:45.02 by zggzdydp.

NES Contra

• Supports two players simultaneously.

• Multi-player movie: [797] NES Contra (Japan) "2 players" by adelikat in 08:57.98 by adelikat.

NES Duck Tales 2

• 3 Endings depending on how many treasures are collected.

• Jump as soon as you land to prevent some locking-you-down events from happening.

• My cancelled my WIP at 15% completion.^[4]
  • I suspect that a "Good Ending" run would be too similar to the "Bad Ending" run by Adelikat.

NES Excitebike

• No actual ending.
• This game doesn't seem to have speed cap.

• With AI players: [1070] NES Excitebike by JXQ in 05:31.37 by JXQ.

NES Hard Relay Mario (SMB Hack)

• It's a Super Mario Bros. hack for abusing glitches.
• See also: GameResources/NES/SuperMarioBros.
• See also: NesSuperMarioBros.

• Rejected: #1819: mushroom's NES Hard Relay Mario in 09:56.98 by mushroom.

NES/FDS Jackal (aka. Final Commando: Akai Yōsai)

• Supports two players simultaneously.
• The FDS version has no horizontal scroll.
• Lags a lot.
  • Off-screen enemies can still create lags unless they are removed from memory.
• When there are too many moving objects loaded, lessen enemies/bullets can be prevented from spawning.

• Destroy all four boss hangars level 5 from left to right in one round with only one jeep.
• Glitch-through the left side of any convyor belt to avoid being slowing down by it.

• Single-player movie: [1164] NES Jackal "1 player" by klmz in 07:25.98.
• Multi-player movie: [967] NES Jackal "2 players" by Xipo in 07:36.90 by xipo.

NES Journey to Silius

• Abusable walking speed manipulation.

• Hold down UP or LEFT+RIGHT to maintain the current horizotal momentum.
• Fun in the auto scroller stage only:
  • Death-warp from the left edge to the right edge of the screen being killed in the air by "small boxes" on the convoyor belts.
  • Stand in the air by waiting on top of "small boxes" on the convoyor belts till they leave the screen.
  • Glitch into walls or through convyor belts in the auto scroller stage with "large boxes" as shown in the published movie.

• [1014] NES Journey to Silius by klmz in 09:32.03 by me.

NES Krion Conquest, The

• Megaman clone.

• Damage enemy every frame by getting hit and stunned while your uncharged shot is contacting it.
• Stick into walls by crouching on walls.
  • Jump up in walls by turbo-firing A+B simultaneously.
  • slide very fast in icy walls.

• I cancelled my WIP as soon as I found the published movie.
  • I didn't think only a few frames shaved off will be great enough.
  • I won't bother with this unless I find some new tricks.

NES Little Samson

• Some designed warps can be taken. See the discussing thread.

• Jump can be make higher by not holding down for too long, as the game always sets your vertical momentum to certain values as soon as you release the jump button before you starts falling.

• Glitch the scrolling.
  • Start scrolling as soon as possible without being in the horizontal middle of the screen by holding down LEFT+RIGHT at the beginning of a stage. This will be disabled if you glitch-warped the last vertical scroller.
  • Prevent scrolling by holding down LEFT+RIGHT where the scroll changes from the vertical to the horizontal. This can be abused for warping into walls.
  • Hold down LEFT+RIGHT to skip the trigger to covert a horizontal scroller to a vertical scroller before you cross the checker-line from left to right. Retrigger it by recross the checker-line from left to right. Using this trick you can get to where the scroll should change from the vertical to the horizontal, but it's then not high enough and fails to do it. This can be abused for glitch--completing the current stage.

• Glitch into walls!
  • The game always teleports you to the centre (horizontally only) of the screen if you are right to it. This can be abused to glitch into walls in the middle of the screen if you can get past they to the right side beforehand.
  • Switch player character from the boy or the mouse to the dragon at the upper corner of walls and ceilings. You may need steer to the left or right at some frames to do it, depending on the situation. Sometimes it is not feasible due to some unknown subpixel problems.
  • Just in giant dragon boss fight stages, by timing correctly, you can fall into to ground after the boss is defeated.

• Move in walls!
  • This is too complicated to explain here. Just watch my published movie to view all of them frame by frame.

• Glitch-complete current levels!
  When a stage starts, there is always an exit of the current stage existing in the right screen-borderline! However the game will close it when vertical scrolling occurs. The exit can be reopened at certain spots like the end of the stage. You can find a way to get to exit when it is open and complete the current stage...
  • Every time the direction of scroll changes from to horizontal to vertical, there is a 1-frame window when you can jump without pressing LEFT or RIGHT to prevent the game from closing the exit. Just find a way to get to the exit...
    • Get into walls, and then warp from the left side to the right side of screen by repeating switching the player character from the boy/mouse to the dragon/golem and contrariwise.
    • Just get to any opening on the right edge in vertical scrollers whenever you keep the exit open.
  • Similarly, every time the direction of scroll changes from to the vertical to the horizontal, there is a 1-frame window the exit is reopened, but it will be reclosed if you make any horizontal movements. However, if you can get to the where the exit will be reopened before the vertical scroll ends, and jump up without pressing LEFT or RIGHT to end the vertical scroll, you can take the exit reopened just before it is reclosed.

• Warped & glitched: [1091] NES Little Samson "warps" by klmz in 10:13.27 by me.

NES Lode Runner

• Enemy AI seems to be weird.
• A glitch allows get through enemies on a ladder.
• There might be a glitch to create a "fake" brick block.

• Bisqwit and hisatoki have released their WIP's.

NES Lode Runner Championship

• Luck manipulation is incredibly important for any speed- TAS's.
  • Enemies must be manipulated to respawn and/or drop the lode they carry wherever a TASer wants.

NES Lunar Pool (aka. Lunar Ball)

• Bisqwit had Bisqbot making the run.

NES Micromachines

• Supports two players simultaneously.
• Shortcuts can be (ab)used.

NES Shadow of the Ninja (aka. Kage)

• Supports two players simultaneously.
• Lags a lot.
• See also: my submission content.

• Single-player movie: [948] NES Shadow of the Ninja (Japan) "1 player" by klmz in 09:48.32(JPN).

NES Super Contra

• Supports two players simultaneously.

NES Super Mario Bros.

• See also: Super Mario Bros. tricks
• Learn the physics inside walls

Note: By "jumping" the author means "ascending" that cannot be interpreted as "falling".

1. As long as the wall is ejecting you either horizontally or vertically, your corresponding momentum will keep being reset.
2. The wall will certainly eject you upwards onto its top as soon as:
   • The bottom of your feet are higher than the centre of the topmost block of the wall, which you have been sunk into.
   • Your vertical momentum has become about zero.
3. The wall will ignore ejecting you horizontally, until:
   • One frame has elapsed since you entered it.
   • The bottom of your feet are lower than the centre of the topmost block of it, which you have been sunk into.
4. As long as you are falling inside the wall, you will be ejected against the direction of your last horizontal acceleration, except for LEFT+RIGHT.
   • Pressing LEFT+RIGHT reverts the direction of ejection every frame as long as you are falling.
5. As long as you are either on any "ground surface inside the wall", or you are jumping inside the wall, whether and how you will be ejected is determined by your key presses.
   • If you are not pressing towards the direction of ejection or LEFT+RIGHT, you will be ejected. The direction of "non-falling" ejection is simply determined by whether there are solid blocks on your sides:
     • If there are solid blocks only on your right side and none on your left side, you will be ejected to the left.
     • If there are any solid blocks on your left side, you will be ejected to the right.
   • If you are pressing towards the direction of "non-falling" ejection or LEFT+RIGHT, you will move as if you were not inside the wall.

Note: Whether a block is on your left or right side is determined with whether you are more close to its left or right edge than to the opposite edge.

• Glitch the flagpole!
  • Complete the level without lowering the flag by glitching into the base block of the flagpole and touch the flapole from inside. The points got from the flagpole will be only 100.
  • Complete the level without entering the castle by bouncing off a bullet (aka. Bullet Bill) to glitch into the base block of the flagpole and touch the flapole from inside, staying low enough to be ejected to the left side of the block, which will makes the game to tally down the time immediately.
    • Note that this trick is unlikely to do with a turtle (aka. Koopa) instead because bouncing off a turtle gives you too high vertical speed to stay in the block low enough.

• Warped movie: [1080] NES Super Mario Bros. "warps" by klmz in 04:58.18 by me.

NES Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka. Lost Levels, The)

• Two selectable charactors who have different power.

• See also: Super Mario Bros. Tricks

• Warped movie as Mario: [1022] NES Super Mario Bros. "warps" by klmz in 04:58.53 by me.
• Warped movie as Luigi: [1042] FDS Super Mario Bros. 2 "warps, Luigi" by Phil in 08:16.42 by Phil

NES Super Robin Hood

• A glitch allows going through walls from the right side.

• My cancelled WIP at 10% completion.^[4]
  • I think it's a game boring to TAS, and maybe also boring to watch.

SMS/GG Games

SMS/GG Master of Darkness (aka. In the Wake of the Vampire)^[6]

• This game is a Castlevania-clone.
• It's weird that the BGM in the GG version plays faster and thus better than that in in the SMS version.

• I was planning on this game, but I finally cancelled the plan, throwing my test run away.

SNES Games

SNES Mask, The

• [972] SNES The Mask by Randil in 06:39.80 by Randil.

SNES Megaman & Bass (aka. Rockman & Forte)

• 100% CD: [1036] SNES Mega Man & Bass "100 CDs" by parrot14gree in 42:19.82(JPN) by parrot14green.

SNES Super Castlevania IV

• [126] SNES Super Castlevania IV by Phil, Genisto in 31:15.70 by Phil & Genisto.
• Phil and Angerfist are supposed to be improving it.
  • The published movie makes me look forward to the theoretical run.

SNES Young Merlin^[6]

• 100% hearts collected: #2098: DaTeL237's SNES Young Merlin in 40:02.20 by DaTeL237.

Genesis Games

Castlevania: Bloodlines

• John the Whip Guy: #2114: VANDAL, Truncated's Genesis Castlevania: Bloodlines "John Morris version" in 27:36.17 by VANDAL and Truncated.
• Eric the Spear Dude: #2115: VANDAL, Truncated's Genesis Castlevania: Bloodlines "Eric Lecarde version" in 27:41.93 by VANDAL and Truncated.

N64 Games

N64 Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness

• 4 playable charactors.
• There can be a glitch to fall through walls.

• Cancelled: #958: slash_star_dash's N64 Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness in 54:25.07 by slash_star_dash.
• Rejected: #2013: jnx's N64 Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness in 54:20.87 by jnx.

N64 Super Mario 64

• See also: GameResources/N64/SuperMario64.

• Glitched: [1197] N64 Super Mario 64 "0 stars" by SilentSlayers & Johannes in 05:28.97 by SilentSlayers & z0MG.
• 120 stars: [850] N64 Super Mario 64 "all 120 stars" by Rikku in 1:39:02.13 by Rikku.

PSX Games

GBx Games

GB Ninja Gaiden Shadow^[6]

• This game seems to be a mixture of Shadow of the Ninja and Ninja Gaiden.
• This game seems to be synchronized on both VBAR v19 and VBAR v20, amazingly.

• #2105: klmz's GB Ninja Gaiden Shadow in 11:28.97.

GBA Games

GBA Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

• 1 unlockable charactor, boss-rush and several handicap modes.
• This game is heavily glitched.

• Wait for me to explain them.

• Glitched main quest: [1129] GBA Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow "warp glitch" by klmz in 06:46.20 by me.

GBA Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

• 4 extra modes can be unlocked.
• This game is heavily glitched.

• Kill everything (enemy only, though) in one slash/shot/throw/touch/etc! Keep your STR low enough so that equiping Bear Rings and maybe Demon Armour makes your STR lower than zero (displayed as 1, though). Activate any DSS combo (sheild DSS's are recommend as their strength will stay the same even if you've leveled up too much that your STR exceeds zero) and destroy the game.

• Most bosses can be killed at the door! Tiny Devil summoned can do this trick for you as the range of its charged shots is extremely long. Zombie Dragons can be respawned again and again if you only Giant-Bone one of them, get the nice EXP, then leave and reenter the boss room.

• Get through thin ceilings by standing on something so high that Nathan's upper body is inside the ceiling. Transform into the Skeleton/Bear and jump through the ceiling!

• Ultimately freeze everything in the game but Nathan by activating a DSS combo during standing on the top of something that is just about to be no longer a foothold, eg frozen enemies, collapsing platforms, falling boxes and etc. You can even get knock away and land on a platform and get room transition in the same time, to perfrom this trick in the next room as soon as you recover. The freeze can be cancelled by reactivating the DSS successfully.
  • Be aware of true freeze that takes place if you use saving rooms or trigger auto-walking scenes.
  • Every sprites will be fixed on the screen when you enter a new room. Most of them can still interact with you. Power-ups can be got by lapping Nathan over them and cancelling the freeze. Subweapons cannot be got this way, though.
  • Those annoying machinery in the Underground Waterway area can be skipped if not loaded on screen.
  • You can escape from boss fight by cancelling the freeze at the door to open it.
    • Gain the ability to remote-open a later boss-level door by escaping a boss fight when the normal door-opening scene is about to take place after you've defeated the boss.

• Ultimate floating/flying! Throw a bone in the Skeleton form on collapsing footholds at the correct frames to get floating in the air! You can transform back to human form keeping this state.
  • If you have Double Jump ability and perform a jump, or simply walk down a slope in this state, you will fly up!
  • When you fly to the ceiling, you'll become standing in the air again. You cannot jump anymore as you've used up the Double Jump.
    • You can even get out of border via upper room exits with precisely timed crouching and getting up animation during flying.

• If you don't like so crazy flights, DSS Summons can provide a much slower-paced way to glide/climb walls. Just use summons to "glide" towards a wall and wall jumps to "climb" it, repeatively.

• Enter the Arena area via any exits by falling from collapsing platforms while whipping. You may need the flying glitch to reach the narrow gap. You may also need MP Potions in the Arena.
  • There are some secret warps below the formal entrance of the Arena. You can warp to some room in the Arena including where the Shining Armour lies and ouside where the game begins! The latter requires entering the formal entrance using an Legion as a platform to perform the famous Summon-Warp glitch.

• Glitched main quest: [1168] GBA Castlevania: Circle of the Moon "warp glitch" by Cardboard in 05:21.58 by Cardboard.

GBA Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

• 2 unlockable charactors and modes.
• This game is heavily glitched.^[9]

• Glitched main quest: [995] GBA Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance by zggzdydp in 14:04.85 by zggzdydp.
• Glitched Maxim's quest: [1198] GBA Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance "Maxim mode" by klmz in 00:23.58 by me.
• "In-border" Maxim's quest: [1162] GBA Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance "Maxim, in bounds" by Comicalflop & zggzdydp in 12:45.68 by Comicalflop and zggzdydp.

GBA Lode Runner

• Enemy AI seems weird and it's the same as Lode Runner for NES.
• The spawning location of the Buried Guy is one of several designed spots in some levels.

• My latest WIP has half of the Small World levels completed.
  • No one except mmbossman and maybe MUGG as well have shown interest in my WIP.

GBA Megaman Zero

• Cancelled: #1340: Gigafrost's GBA Mega Man Zero in 22:16.50 by Gigafrost.

GBA Megaman Zero 4

GBA Metal Slug Advance

• This game has emulation problems with VBAR 1.72 at the moment and thus cannot be TASed, unfortunately.

Arcade Games

Footnotes