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Revision 14 (current)
Edited by adelikat on 4/14/2024 3:10 AM
[https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/hloop.gif|left]
!!! Bisqwit's Solomon's Key movie v6
!! Introduction
A new movie was in progress. I have reverse engineered the game somewhat
and created a robot using that knowledge. It still requires lot of labor,
unfortunately though.
A bit too much in fact. Project cancelled for now. More information [Forum/Posts/222532|here].
!! Aim
I'm aiming for%%%
① the best ending (solve all the special hidden rooms, excluding the fairy rooms)%%%
② without using warps (wings).%%%
③Ⓐ least frame count%%%
③Ⓑ biggest remaining timer readings%%%
Goals ③Ⓐ and ③Ⓑ are somewhat adjacent and vary. The timer in Solomon's Key is an object that sometimes runs faster, sometimes slower. An improvement of 1 frame may sometimes cause the timer to count a few extra ticks. I am primarily aiming for fastest level completions frame-wise, but within that goal, I am aiming to optimize for maximum remaining timer reading. However, I do take the hourglass items which reduce the timer to 5000 when possible, because it makes the score tallying go quicker after the room is completed. In short, I try to get the best of both worlds.
I am using FCEUX and Lua.
!! Progress
For emphasis, I provided a comment for each level in the form of a Japanese-style smiley.
||Level || v4 time || v5 time || v6 time || Comment|| Notes
||1 | 9340 | 9360 | 9380+176 | (^ ^) |
||2 | 9210 | 9220 | 9230+82 | (^ ^) |
||3 | 7960 | 8070 | 8070 | (~_~) | Lost many frames. Bleh.
||4 | 9310 | 9330 | | | (if take icon, next level is fairies)
||5 | 9000 | 9230 | | |
||6 | 8410 | 8410 | | |
||7 | 9000 | 9050 | | | wings at 14,1
||8 | 9210 | 9210 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||9 | 8900 | ''s''8860 | | | >seal 1 at 10,8
||10 | 8220 | 8290 | | | > (( (8300 is possible) [#3]))
||11 | 8360 | 8730 | | | >
||12 | 8820 | 8840 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||13 | 8600;''½b''4690 | ''s''8760;''½b''4710 | | | seal 2 at 8,9
||14 | 8580 | 8650 | | |
||15 | 8560 | 8730 | | | wings at 11,12
||16 | 9200 | 9300 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||17 | 8610;''½''4700 | 8980;''s½''4340 | | | >seal 3 at 14,2%%%(( (+luck abuse to get an extended fireball) ))
||18 | 8860 | 8950 | | | >
||19 | 9140 | ''s''8950 | | | >seal 4 at 5,5
||20 | 8150 | ''i''8130 | | | >icon at 11,2
||Special 1| - | 9200 | | | (4 seals and icon needed). page of time
||21 | 8990 | ''s''9000 | | | seal 5 at 11,6%%% (( (+saved a fireball) ))
||22 | ''rg''45000 | ''rg''45450 | | |
||23 | 9180 | 9260 | | | wings at 4,12
||24 | 8880;''½''4660 | 8990;''½''4700 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||25 | 9300 | 9350 | | | >
||26 | 9480;''½''4690 | 9560;''½''4720 | | | >
||27 | 8460 | 8640 | | |
||28 | 7270 | 7580 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||29 | 9250 | ''s''8960 | | | seal 6 at 8,11
||30 | 7590;''½''3260 | 8120;''½''3490 | | | (( (I hate this map.) ))
||31 | 8620 | 8760 | | | wings at 15,12
||32 | ''d''9980 | 9180 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||33 | 7840 | ---8050--- 8180 | | |
||34 | 8490 | 8510 ---8520--- | | |
||35 | 8770 | 8790 ---8840--- | | |
||36 | 7090 | 7400 ---7430--- | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)%%%(( ---(This is a really difficult level to play optimally.%%% I used the fireball. Without using a fireball, I%%% could only get 7290.)--- ))
||37 | 9130 | 9290 ---9280--- | | |
||38 | 7100 | 7670 | | |
||39 | ''w''8660 | 8870 | | | wings at 1,7
||40 | - | 9240 | | | >(if take icon, next level is fairies)
||41 | - | 8750 | | | >
||42 | - | 8720 | | |
||43 | - | 8570 | | |
||44 | - | ''i''6060 | | | >icon at 1,5
||Special 2| - | 8770 | | | (6 seals and icon needed). page of space
||45 | 7800 | 7960 | | |
||46 | 8900 | ''s''8600 | | | seal 7 at 14,1
||47 | 8950 | ''s''7640 | | | seal 8 at 15,1
||48 | 6860 | 7020 | | | icon at 5,4
||Special 3| - | 7860 | | | (8 seals needed). princess
||Solomon | 8900 | 8900 | | |
''½'' = Used the item that resets clock to 5000%%%
''g'' = Used the item that multiplies clock value&speed by 5%%%
''b'' = Took extra time to pick up a blue bottle%%%
''r'' = Took extra time to pick up a red bottle%%%
''w'' = Took extra time to pick up a wing%%%
''i'' = Took extra time to pick up an icon%%%
''s'' = Took extra time to pick up a seal%%%
''d'' = Used death%%%
''''> = skipped if a wing was taken
Interpretation of comments:
||Comment ||Meaning
|(~_~) |Nothing new here
|(^ ^) |Minor optimizations
|\(^o^)/ |I'm proud of this result
|＼(◎o◎)／|Totally incredible based on my earlier experience
|(・_・?) |Uncertain
|\(-_-)/ |(Lazily) yay.
!! Notes
! Resources
There's a very invaluable
[http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/game/8143.html|FAQ/walkthrough]
for Solomon's Key.
! Timing weirdness
Solomon's Key timer is evil. It does not seem to tick at regular basis.
Investigation results here: [Forum/Topics/8893]
Also, the Japanese version of this game (ソロモンの鍵) apparently
has a different, slower timer.%%%
The record times at
[http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Denei/3370/|High level challenge]
can't possibly apply to the USA version.