Did some finagling with Stage 17 and Dracula for some more frames and lag reduction during the fight. I think a lag frame was added to a transition sequence (of course!)
#48922537085434246 - WIP NES CV 167 frames faster, complete movie
Improvements: 3 frames saved stage 7; optimized 1 frame on the stairs of stage 8; 5 frames saved on the second-to-last room of stage 17, and the remaining were from the stage 18 (dracula).
Not final version yet.
#48832714843949835 - It's synched, but lost some frames. Will try to fix it tomorrow.
whoooo. Check out stage 17 and 18, it's quite a bit different than the old strat and setup. First draft saves 26 frames and still includes the "end input early" finale.
#48795983927083076 - Finally sub-11:18, but problems with RNG always result to desync
103 frames ahead to the published run, but 2 frames were lost during the stair transition for some reason (I also tried to adjust the input, but wasn't able).
I had lost a few frames in editing/splicing, but carefully went through and got them back. May have missed some score opportunities though. Next I want to take a closer look at the Dracula fight.
Edit: This file completes the game.
#48733956219107438 - One more improvement for mummies fight!
Savestate is altered from frame 33357 of the published TAS. Once again I've edited it for demonstration purposes, changing the subweapon (address 015B from 11 to 13) and giving myself a few more hearts (address 0071 from 2 to 5).
As expected the axes make quick work of Death, saving 30 frames. This isn't fully optimized yet, it's just the first time I was able to get both of the nearby scythes in position to get extra damage. Getting them in the right place cost some time, and I had to pause a couple times to keep Death from flying off to soon, so there's still room for improvement here.
Note: This movie starts from a hacked savestate for demonstration purposes. Specifically, frame 24512 of the published TAS, but with the subweapon changed (address 015B from 11 to 13).
The April 1 TAS I had planned is going to be late. In the meantime, I've found a few frames in Castlevania. Okay yeah it's real, but "axes are faster" is enough of a joke on its own.
Just like crosses, which aren't available in this stage, axes can multi-hit enemies when passing through two of them. They can't be used as effectively because of their weird arc, but they still help a little because Frankenstein has that hunchback. Who also spits fire.
I extend the movie at the end to regain the holy water in stage 13. If the axes stop being useful here--and I'm not convinced they will--this should keep them from costing any of those frames.