My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/Zelda2.html
Kristian Emanuelsen's new game and new game + runs with up+a and deaths
Verifier Responses
I told the verifier that the ng+ run is an improvement and it will be accepted as one. This is what he said.
Same verifier - new game:
Decision: Accept
Reason: One is a really tight run and the other is an improvement.
Kristian Emanuelsen's new game and new game + runs with up+a and deaths
Verifier Responses
Quote:
Here is my verification for the two Zelda II speedruns.
Audio and Video were good, no cheating detected.
Oh, and Mike this is my first time as a verifier so if you could give some feedback for how I did so I know what to do better next time that would be great!
Verification Notes:
First let me start off by saying I loved watching both of these runs and getting to be able to verify them was something I greatly enjoyed!
Zelda II NG speedrun
Road to Swamp Palace: 00:00-14:01 (14:01)
1:38- Gets jump spell
2:15- Fights in the darkness exceptionally well.
6:14 & 6:30 & 7:15- Death Mountain we really have some issues, with only being about 6-7 minutes into
the run, getting hit that much would be an instant reset for me. Not to mention having to take an early
life upgrade because of it. I understand that not having the candle makes it that much
harder to make the trip through death mountain, but that doesn't mean that you get
to make more mistakes, it means your play skills have to be that much better.
I wouldn't have had an issue with one or two hits, but the unintended health upgrade (that you hesistate
on) and the hesitation up to that point because of low health this early in a run just looks bad.
8:52- I'll assume that the death after getting the hammer was intended for the runners sake.
10:27-13:12- Getting the upgrades were quick and precise minus a few hits, maybe about 5 seconds of mistakes
13:38- Got caught in a few monster encounters, crappy luck but made it out of all of
them fairly quickly. I did like the fact that the runner went straight for the palace even though two
sets of monsters were out on the field, its risks like that that make one run better than the next.......
...........unfortunately the runner got caught. But made it out with minimal time lost.
Swamp Palace: 14:01-18:37 (4:26)
14:16- Little slow on the Stalfos fight, about 2-3 seconds lost
14:38- Stopped for about 1.5-2 seconds looking at a magic potion drop. Completely ridiculous for two reasons:
1) Should always be aware of your small/big enemy count as to be prepared for those kinds of drops
and know ahead of time whether or not to get them. 2) It dropped BEFORE the runner jumped up to get the key,
he had plenty of time to decide whether or not to get it before he even grabbed the key, and to
debate afterwards was just poor planning.
15:55- Another death (intended) after picking up the glove.
17:55- Helmethead fight was a little on the slow side, a quick half second stop before the killing
blow sticks out a little.
Overall:
A lot to be desired. A lot of things were done well but those few glaring mistakes definately stop
me from calling this a well done palace.
Road to Parapa(the Rapper!......couldn't help myself): 18:37-19:15 (0:48)
Nothing happens.......which is a good thing.
Parapa(the Ra-*hit with a brick*) Palace: 19:15-21:18 (2:03)
20:13- Got unlucky with the potion drop, had to have a quick death to make up for it. Lost maybe one second,
but its understandable, luck drops suck.
20:44- Very nice horsehead fight, got unlucky with that last hit but even so the fight went very quickly.
Overall:
Very short but well executed palace.
Road to Graveyard Palace: 21:18-22:23 (1:05)
Once again, nothing of note....which is still a good thing.
Graveyard Palace: 22:23-26:45 (4:22)
23:00- Little delay on the level up screen, cost about .5-1 second
24:35- Another death after picking up the raft
25:06- Hit, loses about .5 seconds
26:00- Boss Knuckle fight- Poor start with the first missed downstab. However, rest of the fight went
very well.
Overall:
Very good palace. One thing I specifically want to mention about this palace is the incredibly
well done fighting. All of the enemies were dispatched quickly and efficiently. Very nicely done.
Road to Island Palace: 26:45-33:06 (6:21)
27:39- Very nice evasion on the world map
28:52- Took a few attempts to get a monster encounter on the right square outside of the village
loses ~23 seconds in failed attempts
29:23- First times the charm this time
30:00- Gets upward thrust
30:53 Gets reflect and Up+A warps
Island palace: 33:06-37:28 (4:22)
33:06- Exits and re-enters a few times to (I assume) get his enemy count to the right number for a potion
drop inside. Takes about 20-25 seconds. I can't help but think this could have been accomplished easier
somewhere along the way to the palace, but I guess this way worked fairly effectively as well.
33:50- A bit of an issue getting the first key, about two seconds worth of missed jumps
34:10- Getting the second key was a bit of an issue, I assume that the runner was hoping to get a magic
drop from the knuckle so he could fairy across, this didnt happen and added a good bit of time by
making him jump across the room.
34:30- Another Death after collecting the second key
35:18- Another death
35:40- Carock Fight- Not much to this fight so not much to say, fairly quick death.
36:38- Runner takes a lot of damage and I had assumed it was for a death abuse, however
it was not as the runner used a life level up later. It can be assumed that the damage was unintentional,
so about 2-2.5 seconds were lost
37:28- Collected the boots and Up+A warped out
Overall:
Not bad, a few mistakes here and there like the missed key jump, the unlucky potion (not)drop, and the
stalfos. But made the best of it and came out fairly quickly.
Road to Water Palace- 37:28-38:21 (0:53)
Once again, nothing happens along the way
Water Palace- 38:21-43:32 (5:09)
38:56- Yet another death just inside the palace, this one may not have saved much/any time. The runner uses
it to refill magic so they can use fairy through the next room. However the runner also skips a key perfectly
enroute to where they were going. I can only assume this was to avoid the red knuckles in the room as well
but I'm not sure.
40:46- Gooma Fight: Didn't go very well at all, a couple missed swings and nearly killed, this fight didn't
look very good at all. Easily the worst looking fight of the run, which actually only cost maybe 5-7 seconds.
41:45- Level ups galore!
43:20- Gets needed magic drop on first try
43:30- Gets flute and warps out
Overall:
Fairly good palace. Everything went well minus the Gooma fight and even that didn't cost too
much time.
Road to Hidden Palace: 43:32-47:40 (4:08)
(This specific part of the run brings a few questions to mind, I know the runner chose not to
pick up the Magic Key for the run, but was that to make it harder or just because they thought it would
take too much time? Because in this part of the run, the runner decides to go pick up the last magic
upgrade from Kasuto town, however the runner does not pick up the magic key while here. I know picking
it up and the Spell spell would take a little extra time, but the runner already came all the way out here
for the final magic upgrade. I would think that if the runner is skipping the magic key, they should
skip the final magic upgrade too.)
46:18- Gets final Magic container
47:22- Gets Heart container
Hidden Palace: 47:40-51:03 (3:23)
48:22- Here the runner makes his first big menu error, while trying to choose the fairy spell the runner
enters and exits the menu twice without choosing the correct spell. This is not too damaging but
still costs maybe 3 seconds.
49:00- Another death due to lack of magic drop.
49:45- Very nice Boss Knuckle fight
50:25- Barba Fight: Very well done, nothing went wrong here and he was down in two rounds. Best boss fight
of the run.
Overall:
Very nice palace. Nothing stood out too much minus the menu error and everything else went
perfectly.
Path to Great Palace: 51:03-54:37 (3:34)
51:38- Gets thunder
53:00- Gets the field abuse on first try
53:21- And again on the first try
53:38- Gets hit a few times and loses about two seconds not to mention most of his life
54:10- Which is what causes this death (not sure if intended or not)
Great Palace: 54:37-
54:38- Uses Up+A to refill life magic and lives
56:02- Not sure if it was damage abuse or unintentional but if unintentional the runner loses
about 2-3 seconds
56:48 & 57:27- Very nice maneuvering skills to get through those rooms in one hit-KO status
57:43- Death to refill life and magic
57:52- Hit twice, losing about 1.5 seconds
58:08- Makes a similar mistake to the current run although not as damaging, walks a few steps in the wrong
direction losing about two seconds.
59:04- Thunderbird Fight: Well done, definately on the cautious side, but thats completely understandable.
Didn't get hit and finished it fairly quickly.
59:46- Dark Link Fight: Pretty much what we all expected, good ol' crouch stab.
Overall:
Well done, definatly the hardest palace with the hardest hitting enemies and the runner
made it look like Link could have done it blindfolded.
Start Time: Frame 1368
End Time: Frame 216158 (I'm not sure of the exact moment at which control is lost so correct me if I'm
wrong)
Total Time: 0:59:41.4
Final Thoughts:
Assuming I did my calculations correctly this time beats the old run by over five minutes.
That alone would be enough for my acceptance, but coupled with the fact that the runner showed
near flawless execution during most of the dark cave sequences, the great fighting techniques and
the overall great planning of the whole run definately gives this run an accept in my book.
I'll admit, the runner had me worried during the first 15-20 minutes with the amount of clumsy mistakes,
and I still think that they should have stopped there. However, they came back full force with a great
rest of the run that could be even greater if they choose to try again.
Adding up all of the mistakes I see during this run (minor or major) I count at least 1.5 minutes
worth of time that could have been saved. It definately is room for improvement, but then again, in a
game this random and difficult to run, you can only count on so much luck over a whole playthrough.I would
love to see this runner come back with a sub58 in the future. Very well done!
Zelda II New Game+ Run
Note I am going to be much harsher on this run because its New Game+
Road to Parapa Palace: 00:00-6:30 (6:30)
00:35- Gets first magic container, no big deal
3:03 & 4:02- Death Mountain does not seem to be this runners forte, the runner is hit far too much during
these sequences and loses too much time getting knocked back. Seeing as how he loses roughly 4-5 seconds
in the first four minutes once again I would have hit the good ol' reset button.
5:50-6:30- Anyway, runner makes it to the hammer, Up+A warps and is off to Parapa.
Parapa Palace: 6:30-7:58 (1:28)
6:30-7:40- Very well done, only hit a few times and that was during fairy form so no time lost due
to knockback.
7:40- Horsehead fight: Umm.....well it was over in about 61 frames which equals 1.02 seconds....so uhhh
good job.
Overall:
Perfect. Nothing much to screw up so it went very well, and horsehead just made it look perfect.
Road to Swamp Palace: 8:00-8:45
8:35- One encounter, minimal time lost.
Swamp Palace: 8:45-12:29 (3:44)
9:42- Jumped too far and had to jump back to get magic recovery, about one second lost.
10:27- Death after picking up the glove
11:08- Is hit by two fireballs and loses about 1-1.5 seconds
12:15- Helmethead Fight- Takes about 1.25 seconds no mistakes.
Overall, a meh kind of palace. Mistakes only were about 3 or so seconds worth, but when there is
so little to do in a palace three seconds out of under 4 minutes makes it look a lot worse.
Road to Graveyard Palace: 12:33-13:32 (0:59)
Nothing of note, no encounters and good cave sequence.
Graveyard Palace: 13:32-16:57 (3:25)
13:40- Not 100% sure, but I believe the upslashes on the bricks actually slows link down, if so that's a
terrible error by the runner.
13:59- Runner gets hit again losing a little less than half a second due to link being knocked forward.
14:34- Misses a jump costing about one second
15:20- Death after getting the raft
16:36- Boss Knuckle Fight- Goes ok, nothing to write home about, gets hit once. 5.08 seconds
Overall:
Another meh kinda palace. Like I said, I'm going to be really harsh on this run. These little
mistakes would be much more insignificant in a OG run. But here when you have every advantage from
the start these little mistakes are that much more unacceptable. Too many too quickly so far in my opinion.
Path to Island Palace: 16:57-19:08 (2:11)
17:37- Great cave sequence again, no damage taken the entire way. Very well done
18:17- Gets another magic container
Island Palace: 19:08-22:19 (3:11)
19:29- Missed the jump once to get the key, but better than last time. One second lost.
19:52- Another death to refill magic
20:37- Carock Fight: Man this is unfortunate, I gotta say I would have really restarted here for sure. Granted
this battle is 90% luck but it took 16.3 seconds to kill him versus your OG run taking 11.1 seconds.
This by itself is nothing huge but coupled with the other little mistakes so far I personally feel
that this should have been the killing blow on this run. Especially since you were just twenty minutes
in.
21:36- Path to getting the boots was flawless, no issues here
Overall:
An ok palace. Unfortunately due to the fact that there isnt much to this dungeon and the
fact that the runner lost 5+ seconds to the boss over the runners NG time makes the first half horrible. The
worst part being that its all due to luck and not skill. However it is just as damaging all the same.
Nevertheless the runner came back and saved himself with a flawless trip to the boots.
Road to Water Palace: 22:19-23:11 (0:52)
Nothing of note
Water Palace: 23:11-28:05 (4:54)
24:02- Gets caught as a fairy on a block, costs maybe half a second
25:58- Death after collecting the flute, death took about half a second too long
27:33- Gooma Fight- Took about 9 seconds, much better than the NG fight. Was able to be more aggresive
and take more chances. Of course that equals getting hit more, but overall a good fight.
Overall:
Pretty good. The first Palace without any glaring mistakes and a good boss fight. This
is how the other palaces (minus Parapa) should have looked in my opinion.
Road to Hidden Palace: 28:05-29:42 (1:37)
28:16- Was a little too cautious before getting back on land, spent about 3.5 seconds just sitting in
the water.
28:36- Was also probably a little too cautious in not being hit as a fairly, however mininmal(if any)
time lost.
29:23- Was hit a few times on the bridge ~1 second lost
Hidden Palace: 29:42-33:06 (3:24)
29:42- Created an Red Knuckle at the entrance, if this wasnt to add to the big enemy count than this was
a pointless addition of about .5-1 second to the run
30:09- Not sure if the runner became confused in the pit room or what, but he wastes roughly 4-5 seconds
in the menu, blocking and casting a spell he doesnt need just to fall down into the pit.
30:31- Man this is just an off palace for the runner, wastes about 8 seconds killing enemies here.
I may be missing an obvious reason as to why, but this looks completely unnessicary.
31:09- Death to refill magic
31:47- Great Boss Knuckle fight
32:30- Barba Fight: Very well done, faster than the runners NG fight which was great itself
Overall:
Depending on whether or not there was a reason for those huge mistakes this is either a great palace or
a god awful one. This palace alone added almost 15-20 seconds onto the run and all of the mistakes
seemed easily avoidable.
Road to Great Palace: 33:06-35:44 (2:38)
33:40- Great monster manipulation again
33:55- Two missed attempts at manipulation but manages to succeed on the third try ~10 seconds lost
in attempts
34:25- Succeeds on the first try at yet another manipulation
34:38- Terrible cave sequence, attempts to use shield and make it through with minimal damage, gets hit
5 times for about 6 seconds lost.
35:13- Not sure if this death is intended or if it just happened while trying to make it through,
if not unintended then ~4 seconds lost
Great Palace: 35:44-41:33 (5:49)
35:45- Runner uses Up+A to refill magic life and lives
36:02- Gets hit twice trying to jump over the Firebird, loses about 3 seconds
38:03- Hit twice by blue blob(can't remember actual name) and has trouble killing it ~3 seconds lost
38:46- Hit by another Firebird
38:52- Unwanted death (assumed from runner comments) ~5 seconds lost
39:02- Hit 3 times through this room ~1.5-2 seconds lost
39:48- Another death to refill magic and life
40:21- Thunderbird Fight: Pretty good, wasnt hit at all which was good. However maybe the runner
was a bit too cautious once again. But as I said before, towards the end of the run this is understandable.
41:13- Dark Link Fight: Not bad, started out pretty ominous with being hit out of position twice.
However the last half of Dark Links health went down far faster than the first half so the fight
ended on a good note.
Overall:
The Great Palace leaves alot to be desired from the runner, after seeing his NG run of the Palace
I can say that this one is a bit of a letdown. Now don't get me wrong I understand how frustratingly
difficult this palace is. But seeing all of these little mistakes just doesn't make the run look
polished. Not to say that everything was bad, however all of the mistakes overshadow everything
that went right.
Start Time: 1380
End Time: 149447
Total Time: 41.09
Final Thoughts: I am really on the fence about this run, I see that its a huge improvement
of 40 seconds on the current run and I think "accept!". However I also look at all of the things
that went wrong and it just screams "reject!". The Hidden Palace being one of the bigger mistakes,
coupled with all of the little hits here and there with the missed jumps and the like are fairly
overwhelming. Now don't think that I am overlooking all of the great things the runner did just
because I didnt mention them. Things like damage calculation to know exactly how to get close to
one hit where death abuse would save time. Or how lucky and skilled the runner was doing all of those
monster manipulations on the world map or even how much just random stuff can go wrong that never really
did.
I understand all of these things, but speedrunners take all of these things into account and
make the best that they possibly can. This is a good run, and I truly enjoyed watching it......
but with all of the glaring mistakes, especially the fact that a lot of them weren't even
in the NG run, I think I'm going to have to say reject to this.
Audio and Video were good, no cheating detected.
Oh, and Mike this is my first time as a verifier so if you could give some feedback for how I did so I know what to do better next time that would be great!
Verification Notes:
First let me start off by saying I loved watching both of these runs and getting to be able to verify them was something I greatly enjoyed!
Zelda II NG speedrun
Road to Swamp Palace: 00:00-14:01 (14:01)
1:38- Gets jump spell
2:15- Fights in the darkness exceptionally well.
6:14 & 6:30 & 7:15- Death Mountain we really have some issues, with only being about 6-7 minutes into
the run, getting hit that much would be an instant reset for me. Not to mention having to take an early
life upgrade because of it. I understand that not having the candle makes it that much
harder to make the trip through death mountain, but that doesn't mean that you get
to make more mistakes, it means your play skills have to be that much better.
I wouldn't have had an issue with one or two hits, but the unintended health upgrade (that you hesistate
on) and the hesitation up to that point because of low health this early in a run just looks bad.
8:52- I'll assume that the death after getting the hammer was intended for the runners sake.
10:27-13:12- Getting the upgrades were quick and precise minus a few hits, maybe about 5 seconds of mistakes
13:38- Got caught in a few monster encounters, crappy luck but made it out of all of
them fairly quickly. I did like the fact that the runner went straight for the palace even though two
sets of monsters were out on the field, its risks like that that make one run better than the next.......
...........unfortunately the runner got caught. But made it out with minimal time lost.
Swamp Palace: 14:01-18:37 (4:26)
14:16- Little slow on the Stalfos fight, about 2-3 seconds lost
14:38- Stopped for about 1.5-2 seconds looking at a magic potion drop. Completely ridiculous for two reasons:
1) Should always be aware of your small/big enemy count as to be prepared for those kinds of drops
and know ahead of time whether or not to get them. 2) It dropped BEFORE the runner jumped up to get the key,
he had plenty of time to decide whether or not to get it before he even grabbed the key, and to
debate afterwards was just poor planning.
15:55- Another death (intended) after picking up the glove.
17:55- Helmethead fight was a little on the slow side, a quick half second stop before the killing
blow sticks out a little.
Overall:
A lot to be desired. A lot of things were done well but those few glaring mistakes definately stop
me from calling this a well done palace.
Road to Parapa(the Rapper!......couldn't help myself): 18:37-19:15 (0:48)
Nothing happens.......which is a good thing.
Parapa(the Ra-*hit with a brick*) Palace: 19:15-21:18 (2:03)
20:13- Got unlucky with the potion drop, had to have a quick death to make up for it. Lost maybe one second,
but its understandable, luck drops suck.
20:44- Very nice horsehead fight, got unlucky with that last hit but even so the fight went very quickly.
Overall:
Very short but well executed palace.
Road to Graveyard Palace: 21:18-22:23 (1:05)
Once again, nothing of note....which is still a good thing.
Graveyard Palace: 22:23-26:45 (4:22)
23:00- Little delay on the level up screen, cost about .5-1 second
24:35- Another death after picking up the raft
25:06- Hit, loses about .5 seconds
26:00- Boss Knuckle fight- Poor start with the first missed downstab. However, rest of the fight went
very well.
Overall:
Very good palace. One thing I specifically want to mention about this palace is the incredibly
well done fighting. All of the enemies were dispatched quickly and efficiently. Very nicely done.
Road to Island Palace: 26:45-33:06 (6:21)
27:39- Very nice evasion on the world map
28:52- Took a few attempts to get a monster encounter on the right square outside of the village
loses ~23 seconds in failed attempts
29:23- First times the charm this time
30:00- Gets upward thrust
30:53 Gets reflect and Up+A warps
Island palace: 33:06-37:28 (4:22)
33:06- Exits and re-enters a few times to (I assume) get his enemy count to the right number for a potion
drop inside. Takes about 20-25 seconds. I can't help but think this could have been accomplished easier
somewhere along the way to the palace, but I guess this way worked fairly effectively as well.
33:50- A bit of an issue getting the first key, about two seconds worth of missed jumps
34:10- Getting the second key was a bit of an issue, I assume that the runner was hoping to get a magic
drop from the knuckle so he could fairy across, this didnt happen and added a good bit of time by
making him jump across the room.
34:30- Another Death after collecting the second key
35:18- Another death
35:40- Carock Fight- Not much to this fight so not much to say, fairly quick death.
36:38- Runner takes a lot of damage and I had assumed it was for a death abuse, however
it was not as the runner used a life level up later. It can be assumed that the damage was unintentional,
so about 2-2.5 seconds were lost
37:28- Collected the boots and Up+A warped out
Overall:
Not bad, a few mistakes here and there like the missed key jump, the unlucky potion (not)drop, and the
stalfos. But made the best of it and came out fairly quickly.
Road to Water Palace- 37:28-38:21 (0:53)
Once again, nothing happens along the way
Water Palace- 38:21-43:32 (5:09)
38:56- Yet another death just inside the palace, this one may not have saved much/any time. The runner uses
it to refill magic so they can use fairy through the next room. However the runner also skips a key perfectly
enroute to where they were going. I can only assume this was to avoid the red knuckles in the room as well
but I'm not sure.
40:46- Gooma Fight: Didn't go very well at all, a couple missed swings and nearly killed, this fight didn't
look very good at all. Easily the worst looking fight of the run, which actually only cost maybe 5-7 seconds.
41:45- Level ups galore!
43:20- Gets needed magic drop on first try
43:30- Gets flute and warps out
Overall:
Fairly good palace. Everything went well minus the Gooma fight and even that didn't cost too
much time.
Road to Hidden Palace: 43:32-47:40 (4:08)
(This specific part of the run brings a few questions to mind, I know the runner chose not to
pick up the Magic Key for the run, but was that to make it harder or just because they thought it would
take too much time? Because in this part of the run, the runner decides to go pick up the last magic
upgrade from Kasuto town, however the runner does not pick up the magic key while here. I know picking
it up and the Spell spell would take a little extra time, but the runner already came all the way out here
for the final magic upgrade. I would think that if the runner is skipping the magic key, they should
skip the final magic upgrade too.)
46:18- Gets final Magic container
47:22- Gets Heart container
Hidden Palace: 47:40-51:03 (3:23)
48:22- Here the runner makes his first big menu error, while trying to choose the fairy spell the runner
enters and exits the menu twice without choosing the correct spell. This is not too damaging but
still costs maybe 3 seconds.
49:00- Another death due to lack of magic drop.
49:45- Very nice Boss Knuckle fight
50:25- Barba Fight: Very well done, nothing went wrong here and he was down in two rounds. Best boss fight
of the run.
Overall:
Very nice palace. Nothing stood out too much minus the menu error and everything else went
perfectly.
Path to Great Palace: 51:03-54:37 (3:34)
51:38- Gets thunder
53:00- Gets the field abuse on first try
53:21- And again on the first try
53:38- Gets hit a few times and loses about two seconds not to mention most of his life
54:10- Which is what causes this death (not sure if intended or not)
Great Palace: 54:37-
54:38- Uses Up+A to refill life magic and lives
56:02- Not sure if it was damage abuse or unintentional but if unintentional the runner loses
about 2-3 seconds
56:48 & 57:27- Very nice maneuvering skills to get through those rooms in one hit-KO status
57:43- Death to refill life and magic
57:52- Hit twice, losing about 1.5 seconds
58:08- Makes a similar mistake to the current run although not as damaging, walks a few steps in the wrong
direction losing about two seconds.
59:04- Thunderbird Fight: Well done, definately on the cautious side, but thats completely understandable.
Didn't get hit and finished it fairly quickly.
59:46- Dark Link Fight: Pretty much what we all expected, good ol' crouch stab.
Overall:
Well done, definatly the hardest palace with the hardest hitting enemies and the runner
made it look like Link could have done it blindfolded.
Start Time: Frame 1368
End Time: Frame 216158 (I'm not sure of the exact moment at which control is lost so correct me if I'm
wrong)
Total Time: 0:59:41.4
Final Thoughts:
Assuming I did my calculations correctly this time beats the old run by over five minutes.
That alone would be enough for my acceptance, but coupled with the fact that the runner showed
near flawless execution during most of the dark cave sequences, the great fighting techniques and
the overall great planning of the whole run definately gives this run an accept in my book.
I'll admit, the runner had me worried during the first 15-20 minutes with the amount of clumsy mistakes,
and I still think that they should have stopped there. However, they came back full force with a great
rest of the run that could be even greater if they choose to try again.
Adding up all of the mistakes I see during this run (minor or major) I count at least 1.5 minutes
worth of time that could have been saved. It definately is room for improvement, but then again, in a
game this random and difficult to run, you can only count on so much luck over a whole playthrough.I would
love to see this runner come back with a sub58 in the future. Very well done!
Zelda II New Game+ Run
Note I am going to be much harsher on this run because its New Game+
Road to Parapa Palace: 00:00-6:30 (6:30)
00:35- Gets first magic container, no big deal
3:03 & 4:02- Death Mountain does not seem to be this runners forte, the runner is hit far too much during
these sequences and loses too much time getting knocked back. Seeing as how he loses roughly 4-5 seconds
in the first four minutes once again I would have hit the good ol' reset button.
5:50-6:30- Anyway, runner makes it to the hammer, Up+A warps and is off to Parapa.
Parapa Palace: 6:30-7:58 (1:28)
6:30-7:40- Very well done, only hit a few times and that was during fairy form so no time lost due
to knockback.
7:40- Horsehead fight: Umm.....well it was over in about 61 frames which equals 1.02 seconds....so uhhh
good job.
Overall:
Perfect. Nothing much to screw up so it went very well, and horsehead just made it look perfect.
Road to Swamp Palace: 8:00-8:45
8:35- One encounter, minimal time lost.
Swamp Palace: 8:45-12:29 (3:44)
9:42- Jumped too far and had to jump back to get magic recovery, about one second lost.
10:27- Death after picking up the glove
11:08- Is hit by two fireballs and loses about 1-1.5 seconds
12:15- Helmethead Fight- Takes about 1.25 seconds no mistakes.
Overall, a meh kind of palace. Mistakes only were about 3 or so seconds worth, but when there is
so little to do in a palace three seconds out of under 4 minutes makes it look a lot worse.
Road to Graveyard Palace: 12:33-13:32 (0:59)
Nothing of note, no encounters and good cave sequence.
Graveyard Palace: 13:32-16:57 (3:25)
13:40- Not 100% sure, but I believe the upslashes on the bricks actually slows link down, if so that's a
terrible error by the runner.
13:59- Runner gets hit again losing a little less than half a second due to link being knocked forward.
14:34- Misses a jump costing about one second
15:20- Death after getting the raft
16:36- Boss Knuckle Fight- Goes ok, nothing to write home about, gets hit once. 5.08 seconds
Overall:
Another meh kinda palace. Like I said, I'm going to be really harsh on this run. These little
mistakes would be much more insignificant in a OG run. But here when you have every advantage from
the start these little mistakes are that much more unacceptable. Too many too quickly so far in my opinion.
Path to Island Palace: 16:57-19:08 (2:11)
17:37- Great cave sequence again, no damage taken the entire way. Very well done
18:17- Gets another magic container
Island Palace: 19:08-22:19 (3:11)
19:29- Missed the jump once to get the key, but better than last time. One second lost.
19:52- Another death to refill magic
20:37- Carock Fight: Man this is unfortunate, I gotta say I would have really restarted here for sure. Granted
this battle is 90% luck but it took 16.3 seconds to kill him versus your OG run taking 11.1 seconds.
This by itself is nothing huge but coupled with the other little mistakes so far I personally feel
that this should have been the killing blow on this run. Especially since you were just twenty minutes
in.
21:36- Path to getting the boots was flawless, no issues here
Overall:
An ok palace. Unfortunately due to the fact that there isnt much to this dungeon and the
fact that the runner lost 5+ seconds to the boss over the runners NG time makes the first half horrible. The
worst part being that its all due to luck and not skill. However it is just as damaging all the same.
Nevertheless the runner came back and saved himself with a flawless trip to the boots.
Road to Water Palace: 22:19-23:11 (0:52)
Nothing of note
Water Palace: 23:11-28:05 (4:54)
24:02- Gets caught as a fairy on a block, costs maybe half a second
25:58- Death after collecting the flute, death took about half a second too long
27:33- Gooma Fight- Took about 9 seconds, much better than the NG fight. Was able to be more aggresive
and take more chances. Of course that equals getting hit more, but overall a good fight.
Overall:
Pretty good. The first Palace without any glaring mistakes and a good boss fight. This
is how the other palaces (minus Parapa) should have looked in my opinion.
Road to Hidden Palace: 28:05-29:42 (1:37)
28:16- Was a little too cautious before getting back on land, spent about 3.5 seconds just sitting in
the water.
28:36- Was also probably a little too cautious in not being hit as a fairly, however mininmal(if any)
time lost.
29:23- Was hit a few times on the bridge ~1 second lost
Hidden Palace: 29:42-33:06 (3:24)
29:42- Created an Red Knuckle at the entrance, if this wasnt to add to the big enemy count than this was
a pointless addition of about .5-1 second to the run
30:09- Not sure if the runner became confused in the pit room or what, but he wastes roughly 4-5 seconds
in the menu, blocking and casting a spell he doesnt need just to fall down into the pit.
30:31- Man this is just an off palace for the runner, wastes about 8 seconds killing enemies here.
I may be missing an obvious reason as to why, but this looks completely unnessicary.
31:09- Death to refill magic
31:47- Great Boss Knuckle fight
32:30- Barba Fight: Very well done, faster than the runners NG fight which was great itself
Overall:
Depending on whether or not there was a reason for those huge mistakes this is either a great palace or
a god awful one. This palace alone added almost 15-20 seconds onto the run and all of the mistakes
seemed easily avoidable.
Road to Great Palace: 33:06-35:44 (2:38)
33:40- Great monster manipulation again
33:55- Two missed attempts at manipulation but manages to succeed on the third try ~10 seconds lost
in attempts
34:25- Succeeds on the first try at yet another manipulation
34:38- Terrible cave sequence, attempts to use shield and make it through with minimal damage, gets hit
5 times for about 6 seconds lost.
35:13- Not sure if this death is intended or if it just happened while trying to make it through,
if not unintended then ~4 seconds lost
Great Palace: 35:44-41:33 (5:49)
35:45- Runner uses Up+A to refill magic life and lives
36:02- Gets hit twice trying to jump over the Firebird, loses about 3 seconds
38:03- Hit twice by blue blob(can't remember actual name) and has trouble killing it ~3 seconds lost
38:46- Hit by another Firebird
38:52- Unwanted death (assumed from runner comments) ~5 seconds lost
39:02- Hit 3 times through this room ~1.5-2 seconds lost
39:48- Another death to refill magic and life
40:21- Thunderbird Fight: Pretty good, wasnt hit at all which was good. However maybe the runner
was a bit too cautious once again. But as I said before, towards the end of the run this is understandable.
41:13- Dark Link Fight: Not bad, started out pretty ominous with being hit out of position twice.
However the last half of Dark Links health went down far faster than the first half so the fight
ended on a good note.
Overall:
The Great Palace leaves alot to be desired from the runner, after seeing his NG run of the Palace
I can say that this one is a bit of a letdown. Now don't get me wrong I understand how frustratingly
difficult this palace is. But seeing all of these little mistakes just doesn't make the run look
polished. Not to say that everything was bad, however all of the mistakes overshadow everything
that went right.
Start Time: 1380
End Time: 149447
Total Time: 41.09
Final Thoughts: I am really on the fence about this run, I see that its a huge improvement
of 40 seconds on the current run and I think "accept!". However I also look at all of the things
that went wrong and it just screams "reject!". The Hidden Palace being one of the bigger mistakes,
coupled with all of the little hits here and there with the missed jumps and the like are fairly
overwhelming. Now don't think that I am overlooking all of the great things the runner did just
because I didnt mention them. Things like damage calculation to know exactly how to get close to
one hit where death abuse would save time. Or how lucky and skilled the runner was doing all of those
monster manipulations on the world map or even how much just random stuff can go wrong that never really
did.
I understand all of these things, but speedrunners take all of these things into account and
make the best that they possibly can. This is a good run, and I truly enjoyed watching it......
but with all of the glaring mistakes, especially the fact that a lot of them weren't even
in the NG run, I think I'm going to have to say reject to this.
I told the verifier that the ng+ run is an improvement and it will be accepted as one. This is what he said.
Quote:
I can completely understand that, and like I said part of me agrees.
I figured I would be too harsh on the NG+, and it seems like I was.
It was a really good run, I just can't get over the Hidden Palace issues, but like I said I could be
way off base and there might be a very good reason or at least an understandable reason for it.
Nevertheless I don't doubt for a minute that he deserves acclimation for both runs
I figured I would be too harsh on the NG+, and it seems like I was.
It was a really good run, I just can't get over the Hidden Palace issues, but like I said I could be
way off base and there might be a very good reason or at least an understandable reason for it.
Nevertheless I don't doubt for a minute that he deserves acclimation for both runs
Quote:
New Game Run (Up+A, Death Abuse)
This is an instant accept. It is faster than the run in place on SDA and faster than the Twin Galaxies world record held by Rodrigo Lopes for the same type of run (which is faster than the run SDA already has on the site). It's not perfect; in fact, some of the mistakes are really stupid. However, it's still very fast.
The mistakes in this run speak for themselves, but there was something I was wondering. Would it be faster to get Level 4 Magic earlier in the run? Leveling Magic in Palace 1 (desert) would've given him an extra Magic level before Palace 3 (island), where he does level it to refill after that fairy. He would've had enough to do this in Palace 1 without sacrificing the attack level up. I think Palace 3 is one of the palaces where you can get a Red Magic Jar at the beginning and make a Magic level-up unnecessary right inside the door. I'm not sure how the numbers would line up, but it seems like an idea.
I don't know if I've ever seen the Darunia jump before.
New Game Plus Run (Up+A, Death Abuse)
This looks like a good enough improvement and should be an accept. Bonus points for not bringing the Fire spell. Now, the question is what Link will do when all else fails...
This is an instant accept. It is faster than the run in place on SDA and faster than the Twin Galaxies world record held by Rodrigo Lopes for the same type of run (which is faster than the run SDA already has on the site). It's not perfect; in fact, some of the mistakes are really stupid. However, it's still very fast.
The mistakes in this run speak for themselves, but there was something I was wondering. Would it be faster to get Level 4 Magic earlier in the run? Leveling Magic in Palace 1 (desert) would've given him an extra Magic level before Palace 3 (island), where he does level it to refill after that fairy. He would've had enough to do this in Palace 1 without sacrificing the attack level up. I think Palace 3 is one of the palaces where you can get a Red Magic Jar at the beginning and make a Magic level-up unnecessary right inside the door. I'm not sure how the numbers would line up, but it seems like an idea.
I don't know if I've ever seen the Darunia jump before.
New Game Plus Run (Up+A, Death Abuse)
This looks like a good enough improvement and should be an accept. Bonus points for not bringing the Fire spell. Now, the question is what Link will do when all else fails...
Quote:
Two speedruns of Zelda 2 in my mail box the same day... Sweet!
Zelda 2 is a NES game. So you have to remember a bit about the 8 bit colors and 16 bit music. I don't see major problems on audio or video on this run. As usual, the sand (which is pink) doesn't have his true pixelled look as in the original game, but it's the only problem, and there is the same problem on all the Zelda 2 videos.
The player starts on an already created game, but it's the beginning of the game, and there is no "start video". By the way it's not a problem at all.
Part 1 : The Angel
In this part, the player wants to take the angel, which is necessary to learn the jump spell he will need later.
The traveling part is pretty perfect (and pretty linear). He has to dodge a random encounter which makes him lose something like 4 frames (It's not a TAS so I don't care)... The level is pretty hard without the candle but he immobilizes the bat with a shot. He takes damages but doesn't lose time on that. He doesn't care about his life because he is already next to restarting. Taking the angel and restarting...It's faster to restart than going through the level out... It's a pretty perfect segment
Part 2 : "Now you know how to jump"
Perfect travel. Most of this segment is based on city traveling... I made this kind of game play at 5 year old so yes it's a "perfect" segment. It's pretty funny to see how Link can make the blue man totally crazy. Taking the spell and restarting. The runner decides to restart (12 seconds from Zelda's room to the city) rather than run out of the city (25 secs or so); it is clearly a good decision.
Part 3 : The dark maze
Perfect traveling part (1)
Second "dark" area. This one is harder because of the number of monsters, even if it's pretty easy to remember the position of all of them. As Link is ridiculously weak, he needs 2 shots to kill the red "octopuses" or the "blue running under-evolved plancton_look_like" (or bruepll) beasts. So the player needs to kill them one by one. The boomerang (orange I think) dogs are pretty nicely done. There are the first "run jump slash" fights. It's the strat for pretty all the big enemies from them to the final boss.
The player takes one hit from the bat but doesn't lose too much time on it. Spelling the jump and going out of the area is pretty easy.
Traveling time : The player goes on the swamp at the very beginning because it's faster than the event on the left side.
One small swamp encounter which is pretty fast.
The player hesitates one second before going out of the swamp without any obvious reason.
(useless) fairy encounter right before Bagu's forest. It allows to make the random encounter disappear.
Bagu is fat, but you need to see him if you want to go through the channel.
Nice : first event on the bridge. These skeleton flying fish (skf) are crazy for such an early level, but they are pretty easy to dodge when you know them.
City traveling and channel traveling (yes,I know Bagu and thanks).
Now the hardest part on a Zelda 2 speedrun : "the dark maze". I always lose my mind here, even with light...
1 : Only "blue jumping under-evolved unicellular" beasts. I will name them "blue little obviously_stupid beasts" or blobs, and one big bad guy which are pretty easy to kill (all of them). One of the blobs drops an exp bag which should be required by the runner to reach his level at the end of the maze.
2 : The first axe man. remember that you can't block his shot with your shield
3 : skf right here and without light. They can jump through the wall and walk IN the ceiling.
4 : This one, the axe man is red and drops his weapon through the all room. Need to dodge that! The player takes one shot here.
5 : Difficult room for the runner : There are big guys with bats this time. He takes a damage from the boomerang guy and right after from a bat near the axe man.
6 : One of the hardest part for me with the one right after because you need to be offensive enough with the axe men or you have really big trouble to attack them if they are one step lower than you. Pretty nicely made here by the runner.
7 : In this part the runner survives with nearly no life. He has 49
8 exp. He kills an orange axe guy(70 points) and a blob (2 points). So he reaches 560 xp points and takes a life (50xp) level and a weapon level. With the weapon level he has taken earlier, he reaches the usual 3.1.2 levels at this part of the game.
8 : One of the orange visible monsters... I think that the runner goes back at the red axe man because he doesn't want to be blocked on the ceiling. Jump jump jump... Orange visible guy, hammer and abuse death which allow the runner to appear on the start of the room. Run out, break the rock, take the magic pot and restart.
Part 4 : a drug for an old guy.
The runner wants the fairy so he needs the medicine. He runs on the right side because he has the hammer. He enters Bagu's house pretty with no reason as the random encounters are far. He has a small random encounter at the swamp, but pretty easy, even if it can be better. The medicine room is boring but pretty easy if you don't stupidly fall after an axe shot. This is not the best part of the run but it's ok.
Part 5 : " Teach me some skills!!!"
Going to the white village. This village always burned my eyes when I played. Link learns the downward stab from the fighting monk and from the magician he learns a "magic word" which "gives power"... Understand "a spell which allows you to metamorphose yourself into a fairy"... Thanks to both of you and .... Restart.
Part 6 : Bugs are attracted by the lights, fairies by magic.
Nothing to say about this stupid part... You travel, you morph, you push your right button and... Restart.
Part 7 : The first (but the second) dungeon.
During the traveling time, the runner enters an area for no obvious reason as there are no random encounters near him. And he doesn't really allow himself to travel without trouble as he has a random encounter 3 seconds later in the swamp... A contrario, I would probably run into the safe area to dodge the random encounters right before the dungeon... He doesn't meet any encounters so he was right but...
This dungeon should be the 2nd one as the first one is the candle one. But the player makes this one first because he wants to kill the boss of the first dungeon fast, and he needs more exp.
From now on I won't explain everything because someone who doesn't know the game won't read that. The runner can fairy through the key doors so he can skip nearly all the dungeon. He takes one key because it doesn't take any time at all and allows himself not to morph one time. He makes abusive death because it's faster to go out of the room and makes him full mana. The gauntlet allows him to break cubic blocks with his sword (don't ask me how it physically works... Japanese game creators...) Then he just needs to run and slash to the boss.. Just notice that he needs the exp pack on one of the big guys to win the 2000 exp. He is now 5.1.2 (pretty usual for this type of run). Restart just after finishing the dungeon.
Part 8 : The second (but first) dungeon
This one is easy at 1.1.1 and without the fairy so it's really boring now. He doesn't take the 2 keys of the dungeon, doesn't take the candle, abusively dies for mana (and fairy)... The horse boss (so cute!) is shot three times, then he closes the dungeon, exp and restarts... Notice that the exp bags are needed one more time.
Part 9 : the third dungeon : horseman
One more time a pretty easy dungeon. The player needs experience for magic and the raft. I think that he wants the exp bag right before the item because he doesn't want to kill the blue knight, because he wants to abuse die. The boss is not really beautiful... Exp for level 7 and restart.
Part 10 : Going through the sea, and so on.
The player uses his raft. In an interview, Link said that the "Link's awakening" story came from this travel.
The player finds a child in a room near a dungeon and goes back to the city. He abuses of the random encounter to skip the events. In the city he learns the upward stab and reflect. This part contains really many random encounters. So this is where most time can be won.
I'm not absolutely sure that he wins time restarting... He isn't really lucky with the random encounters skip so why not...
Part 11 : mazy
Going back near the 4th castle, you have many events here so it's the best way if you want to be fast.
The dungeon isn't perfect at all for me. The runner starts by making a bit of experience but takes a stupid shot. What really stunned me is that there is a red knight on the statue. It would be faster to use it... He can also base his exp route on a few kills of spectres. He would needs mana to reflect, but can refill it with a level up or a pot. I'm really not sure that it's the best route here.
The player is blocked on the first key (near the skull ball) because he doesn't jump well.
One damage on a pegase head right before the key . here, the runner kills himself to win some time and mana.
The boss is ok. It's pretty lucky to take so few damages. Then he takes the boots. Some few useless damages on a blue skeleton.
part 12 : aquatic palace
The traveling time is perfect. The runner dies for mana after morphing into a fairy. In this dungeon, key skips are really overused. The boss (one of the hardest of the game) is made with skills. The jumping strat is funnier but not really better. After that the player turns back for the item and take 4 levels of magic. Sweet. taking the item and restarting.
Part 13 : From the hidden village to the hidden dungeon
Traveling starts to be boring, particularly if there are no random encounters and boring events. I don't really know why the player goes to the bridge and goes back right after... fairy allows him to skip some monsters that needs fire (the spell). The player takes the last magic upgrade for thunder (and even more fairies) but skips everything else in the hidden village. He also takes a (hidden) heart container.
If you play this game the "normal" way, you should have the super key that opens every door, so you shouldn't use the fairy spell. He shoots on a statue that reveals a knight. I think that the player searches for a pot, in order not to kill himself in the lava. Looks like longer if he hasn't it.
Dodging these 3 skull balls can be really annoying.
fairy on jump then go to the boss. This boss fight is amazing as you really need to be in an exact position to kill the boss with the upward stab. After that, he runs to the village to learn thunder and go to the last dungeon. The strat seems pretty crazy as he has already lost a life : he tries to go through the whole lava area by morphing into fairy, which costs a lo of mana.
Part 14 : The last castle. This one is really hard, even for runner, because it's really huuuge. There is some absolutely useless room where only one enemy is really at the end, there are some 3 level lifts... The player runs half of the dungeon with 1 health point... really crazy part. The route is really good as dying is obviously faster here if you are not crazily lucky. Both boss fights run well. The strat on shadow Link is cool, too.
Overall, this is a pretty strange run with crazy parts, and some really poorer parts. There are not too many stupid mistakes but some improvements can be made on parts 10, 11 and probably on one or two more minor spots. I would accept the run as there are some really good boss fights and routes, and the death abuse is really nicely used.
Two speedruns of Zelda 2 in my mail box the same day... Sweet!
Zelda 2 is a NES game. So you have to remember a bit about the 8 bit colors and 16 bit music. I don't see major problems on audio or video on this run. As usual, the sand (which is pink) doesn't have his true pixelled look as in the original game, but it's the only problem, and there is the same problem on all the Zelda 2 videos.
The player start on an NGP game. He has all the spells (except a useless one) and 8.8.8 levels. So he is absolutely abused from the start to the end. The route is nearly the same so I will be shorter than for the low run.
This game is less good than the low % run. As the runner has a lot of health and mana, he feels free to take many damages from the enemies, and as he doesn't need any exp, he feels free not to kill anyone. But he takes many damages which slow him down really often, and even on the 5 firsts minutes of the video.
An another example is the 2nd dungeon. As he has a lot of mana and health, he needs many damages to death abuse. He takes these damages as a fairy because he doesn't lose any time. By the way, he needs to morph to take a damage from the big blocks, which uses him some mana, so he can't morph in the elevator room. So he needs a key, and this key takes him something like 4 seconds to take. I think that he can take many damages during these 4 seconds or during other fairy rooms.
After that there is the "blue skeleton and 2 heads" rooms. From the 2 heads appear some blue balls which hurt. The player loses pretty much time here taking some damages.
I don't like the way he takes damage from the boss of the third dungeon. I think that is exactly as fast as making it by the usual way, and it seems pretty awful.
I can find many other reasons to explain why I reject this run. If you want a more complete list, just ask...
Zelda 2 is a NES game. So you have to remember a bit about the 8 bit colors and 16 bit music. I don't see major problems on audio or video on this run. As usual, the sand (which is pink) doesn't have his true pixelled look as in the original game, but it's the only problem, and there is the same problem on all the Zelda 2 videos.
The player starts on an already created game, but it's the beginning of the game, and there is no "start video". By the way it's not a problem at all.
Part 1 : The Angel
In this part, the player wants to take the angel, which is necessary to learn the jump spell he will need later.
The traveling part is pretty perfect (and pretty linear). He has to dodge a random encounter which makes him lose something like 4 frames (It's not a TAS so I don't care)... The level is pretty hard without the candle but he immobilizes the bat with a shot. He takes damages but doesn't lose time on that. He doesn't care about his life because he is already next to restarting. Taking the angel and restarting...It's faster to restart than going through the level out... It's a pretty perfect segment
Part 2 : "Now you know how to jump"
Perfect travel. Most of this segment is based on city traveling... I made this kind of game play at 5 year old so yes it's a "perfect" segment. It's pretty funny to see how Link can make the blue man totally crazy. Taking the spell and restarting. The runner decides to restart (12 seconds from Zelda's room to the city) rather than run out of the city (25 secs or so); it is clearly a good decision.
Part 3 : The dark maze
Perfect traveling part (1)
Second "dark" area. This one is harder because of the number of monsters, even if it's pretty easy to remember the position of all of them. As Link is ridiculously weak, he needs 2 shots to kill the red "octopuses" or the "blue running under-evolved plancton_look_like" (or bruepll) beasts. So the player needs to kill them one by one. The boomerang (orange I think) dogs are pretty nicely done. There are the first "run jump slash" fights. It's the strat for pretty all the big enemies from them to the final boss.
The player takes one hit from the bat but doesn't lose too much time on it. Spelling the jump and going out of the area is pretty easy.
Traveling time : The player goes on the swamp at the very beginning because it's faster than the event on the left side.
One small swamp encounter which is pretty fast.
The player hesitates one second before going out of the swamp without any obvious reason.
(useless) fairy encounter right before Bagu's forest. It allows to make the random encounter disappear.
Bagu is fat, but you need to see him if you want to go through the channel.
Nice : first event on the bridge. These skeleton flying fish (skf) are crazy for such an early level, but they are pretty easy to dodge when you know them.
City traveling and channel traveling (yes,I know Bagu and thanks).
Now the hardest part on a Zelda 2 speedrun : "the dark maze". I always lose my mind here, even with light...
1 : Only "blue jumping under-evolved unicellular" beasts. I will name them "blue little obviously_stupid beasts" or blobs, and one big bad guy which are pretty easy to kill (all of them). One of the blobs drops an exp bag which should be required by the runner to reach his level at the end of the maze.
2 : The first axe man. remember that you can't block his shot with your shield
3 : skf right here and without light. They can jump through the wall and walk IN the ceiling.
4 : This one, the axe man is red and drops his weapon through the all room. Need to dodge that! The player takes one shot here.
5 : Difficult room for the runner : There are big guys with bats this time. He takes a damage from the boomerang guy and right after from a bat near the axe man.
6 : One of the hardest part for me with the one right after because you need to be offensive enough with the axe men or you have really big trouble to attack them if they are one step lower than you. Pretty nicely made here by the runner.
7 : In this part the runner survives with nearly no life. He has 49
8 exp. He kills an orange axe guy(70 points) and a blob (2 points). So he reaches 560 xp points and takes a life (50xp) level and a weapon level. With the weapon level he has taken earlier, he reaches the usual 3.1.2 levels at this part of the game.
8 : One of the orange visible monsters... I think that the runner goes back at the red axe man because he doesn't want to be blocked on the ceiling. Jump jump jump... Orange visible guy, hammer and abuse death which allow the runner to appear on the start of the room. Run out, break the rock, take the magic pot and restart.
Part 4 : a drug for an old guy.
The runner wants the fairy so he needs the medicine. He runs on the right side because he has the hammer. He enters Bagu's house pretty with no reason as the random encounters are far. He has a small random encounter at the swamp, but pretty easy, even if it can be better. The medicine room is boring but pretty easy if you don't stupidly fall after an axe shot. This is not the best part of the run but it's ok.
Part 5 : " Teach me some skills!!!"
Going to the white village. This village always burned my eyes when I played. Link learns the downward stab from the fighting monk and from the magician he learns a "magic word" which "gives power"... Understand "a spell which allows you to metamorphose yourself into a fairy"... Thanks to both of you and .... Restart.
Part 6 : Bugs are attracted by the lights, fairies by magic.
Nothing to say about this stupid part... You travel, you morph, you push your right button and... Restart.
Part 7 : The first (but the second) dungeon.
During the traveling time, the runner enters an area for no obvious reason as there are no random encounters near him. And he doesn't really allow himself to travel without trouble as he has a random encounter 3 seconds later in the swamp... A contrario, I would probably run into the safe area to dodge the random encounters right before the dungeon... He doesn't meet any encounters so he was right but...
This dungeon should be the 2nd one as the first one is the candle one. But the player makes this one first because he wants to kill the boss of the first dungeon fast, and he needs more exp.
From now on I won't explain everything because someone who doesn't know the game won't read that. The runner can fairy through the key doors so he can skip nearly all the dungeon. He takes one key because it doesn't take any time at all and allows himself not to morph one time. He makes abusive death because it's faster to go out of the room and makes him full mana. The gauntlet allows him to break cubic blocks with his sword (don't ask me how it physically works... Japanese game creators...) Then he just needs to run and slash to the boss.. Just notice that he needs the exp pack on one of the big guys to win the 2000 exp. He is now 5.1.2 (pretty usual for this type of run). Restart just after finishing the dungeon.
Part 8 : The second (but first) dungeon
This one is easy at 1.1.1 and without the fairy so it's really boring now. He doesn't take the 2 keys of the dungeon, doesn't take the candle, abusively dies for mana (and fairy)... The horse boss (so cute!) is shot three times, then he closes the dungeon, exp and restarts... Notice that the exp bags are needed one more time.
Part 9 : the third dungeon : horseman
One more time a pretty easy dungeon. The player needs experience for magic and the raft. I think that he wants the exp bag right before the item because he doesn't want to kill the blue knight, because he wants to abuse die. The boss is not really beautiful... Exp for level 7 and restart.
Part 10 : Going through the sea, and so on.
The player uses his raft. In an interview, Link said that the "Link's awakening" story came from this travel.
The player finds a child in a room near a dungeon and goes back to the city. He abuses of the random encounter to skip the events. In the city he learns the upward stab and reflect. This part contains really many random encounters. So this is where most time can be won.
I'm not absolutely sure that he wins time restarting... He isn't really lucky with the random encounters skip so why not...
Part 11 : mazy
Going back near the 4th castle, you have many events here so it's the best way if you want to be fast.
The dungeon isn't perfect at all for me. The runner starts by making a bit of experience but takes a stupid shot. What really stunned me is that there is a red knight on the statue. It would be faster to use it... He can also base his exp route on a few kills of spectres. He would needs mana to reflect, but can refill it with a level up or a pot. I'm really not sure that it's the best route here.
The player is blocked on the first key (near the skull ball) because he doesn't jump well.
One damage on a pegase head right before the key . here, the runner kills himself to win some time and mana.
The boss is ok. It's pretty lucky to take so few damages. Then he takes the boots. Some few useless damages on a blue skeleton.
part 12 : aquatic palace
The traveling time is perfect. The runner dies for mana after morphing into a fairy. In this dungeon, key skips are really overused. The boss (one of the hardest of the game) is made with skills. The jumping strat is funnier but not really better. After that the player turns back for the item and take 4 levels of magic. Sweet. taking the item and restarting.
Part 13 : From the hidden village to the hidden dungeon
Traveling starts to be boring, particularly if there are no random encounters and boring events. I don't really know why the player goes to the bridge and goes back right after... fairy allows him to skip some monsters that needs fire (the spell). The player takes the last magic upgrade for thunder (and even more fairies) but skips everything else in the hidden village. He also takes a (hidden) heart container.
If you play this game the "normal" way, you should have the super key that opens every door, so you shouldn't use the fairy spell. He shoots on a statue that reveals a knight. I think that the player searches for a pot, in order not to kill himself in the lava. Looks like longer if he hasn't it.
Dodging these 3 skull balls can be really annoying.
fairy on jump then go to the boss. This boss fight is amazing as you really need to be in an exact position to kill the boss with the upward stab. After that, he runs to the village to learn thunder and go to the last dungeon. The strat seems pretty crazy as he has already lost a life : he tries to go through the whole lava area by morphing into fairy, which costs a lo of mana.
Part 14 : The last castle. This one is really hard, even for runner, because it's really huuuge. There is some absolutely useless room where only one enemy is really at the end, there are some 3 level lifts... The player runs half of the dungeon with 1 health point... really crazy part. The route is really good as dying is obviously faster here if you are not crazily lucky. Both boss fights run well. The strat on shadow Link is cool, too.
Overall, this is a pretty strange run with crazy parts, and some really poorer parts. There are not too many stupid mistakes but some improvements can be made on parts 10, 11 and probably on one or two more minor spots. I would accept the run as there are some really good boss fights and routes, and the death abuse is really nicely used.
Two speedruns of Zelda 2 in my mail box the same day... Sweet!
Zelda 2 is a NES game. So you have to remember a bit about the 8 bit colors and 16 bit music. I don't see major problems on audio or video on this run. As usual, the sand (which is pink) doesn't have his true pixelled look as in the original game, but it's the only problem, and there is the same problem on all the Zelda 2 videos.
The player start on an NGP game. He has all the spells (except a useless one) and 8.8.8 levels. So he is absolutely abused from the start to the end. The route is nearly the same so I will be shorter than for the low run.
This game is less good than the low % run. As the runner has a lot of health and mana, he feels free to take many damages from the enemies, and as he doesn't need any exp, he feels free not to kill anyone. But he takes many damages which slow him down really often, and even on the 5 firsts minutes of the video.
An another example is the 2nd dungeon. As he has a lot of mana and health, he needs many damages to death abuse. He takes these damages as a fairy because he doesn't lose any time. By the way, he needs to morph to take a damage from the big blocks, which uses him some mana, so he can't morph in the elevator room. So he needs a key, and this key takes him something like 4 seconds to take. I think that he can take many damages during these 4 seconds or during other fairy rooms.
After that there is the "blue skeleton and 2 heads" rooms. From the 2 heads appear some blue balls which hurt. The player loses pretty much time here taking some damages.
I don't like the way he takes damage from the boss of the third dungeon. I think that is exactly as fast as making it by the usual way, and it seems pretty awful.
I can find many other reasons to explain why I reject this run. If you want a more complete list, just ask...
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My comments pretty much apply the same to both runs. No cheating, of course. Video quality seemed lower than usual, but it's certainly acceptable.
Anyways, on to the run. The runner does an excellent job. As far as I can tell, all the deaths in the game were intentional, which, given how this game is, is really quite impressive. The only really notceable mistakes were messing up the forced encounter skips, which seem fairly difficult given the rather random nature of enemy movement. Assuming it beats the current run (I'm fairly certain it does), it's an accept for me.
Anyways, on to the run. The runner does an excellent job. As far as I can tell, all the deaths in the game were intentional, which, given how this game is, is really quite impressive. The only really notceable mistakes were messing up the forced encounter skips, which seem fairly difficult given the rather random nature of enemy movement. Assuming it beats the current run (I'm fairly certain it does), it's an accept for me.
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NG+
Video quality is fine, no cheating spotted unless there's some requirement about having an actual full file for NG+ run I don't know about. He doesn't have the Fire spell, which I guess could offer a tiny advantage when scrolling through spells, but I don't think it's anything to reject the run over.
As for play quality, the runs is really good on the whole. The route and spell usage seems solid and the uses of death abuse all make sense. No unintentional (or at least unplanned for) deaths save one in the Great Palace from bad birdnight luck, and that one only sets him back 10 seconds or so which is forgivable in a 40 minute run. Also some great intentional damage taken to facilitate death abuse in there-and-back rooms. Elsewhere gameplay is generally very high quality. One needs to remember there is a whole lot of random in this game, so there's rarely a foolproof strategy for most areas and there are a couple places this is evident, but the runner general does well to think on his feet and handle the unexpected well. Sure there's some little mistakes here and there, but those are pratically inevitable in this game.
Really liked some of the strategies used too. The mounted ironknuckle fights were nice, taking a hit to get a quick dismount is a good idea. Jumping over the fifth palace boss was an unexpected touch, and a really smart play to boot. Liked the sixth boss strat as well. The fourth palace boss was a bit unlucky, but that's totally random so can't fault him there. Bosses 1 and 2 were murdered like they should be with level 8 attack.
There is one glaring eyesore in this run, however. A rather ugly mistake early in palace six. He gets knocked into a pit he's trying to cross for a shot at a red potion after casting Jump and waiting around a bit for a chance to get through a blue ironknuckle's knives. This does look really bad, and I have to question trying for a red potion there to begin with. Yes, it would cut out an instance of death abuse and if the potion's gotten cleanly the time taken to get it would probably cancel out the time taken to kill yourself. Any loss or gain would be negligible. So basically the end result there is you have an insurance life for death road, which is definitely desirable, but we see later it wasn't at all needed. Plus, there's the fact that the statue only has a 50/50 shot of spawning a potion, so even if he got over there cleanly it could've been all for naught, and in that spot it's just time lost. If you couldn't tell, I really question trying for the potion to begin with. Just embracing death abuse here is probably the best idea and taking your chances with one spare life on death road is just something that has to be dealt with.
Now what we have here is not the worst case scenarion (which would be getting over there and no potion), but definitely the ugliest. He loses about 10 seconds here for what would appear to most viewers as no good reason. It does look really bad, but ultimately it's not that costly. If there's an improvement to come, I hope the runner takes the above words to heart and just skips the potion here, but I don't it's a rejection worthy mistake.
And really, at the end of the day this is a solid improvement over the existing run. The only way I could see rejecting it is if he found a massively imrpoved route but only barely beat the incumbent run through bad execution or simply dicking around. That is definitely not the case here. Good show.
Accept
Video quality is fine, no cheating spotted unless there's some requirement about having an actual full file for NG+ run I don't know about. He doesn't have the Fire spell, which I guess could offer a tiny advantage when scrolling through spells, but I don't think it's anything to reject the run over.
As for play quality, the runs is really good on the whole. The route and spell usage seems solid and the uses of death abuse all make sense. No unintentional (or at least unplanned for) deaths save one in the Great Palace from bad birdnight luck, and that one only sets him back 10 seconds or so which is forgivable in a 40 minute run. Also some great intentional damage taken to facilitate death abuse in there-and-back rooms. Elsewhere gameplay is generally very high quality. One needs to remember there is a whole lot of random in this game, so there's rarely a foolproof strategy for most areas and there are a couple places this is evident, but the runner general does well to think on his feet and handle the unexpected well. Sure there's some little mistakes here and there, but those are pratically inevitable in this game.
Really liked some of the strategies used too. The mounted ironknuckle fights were nice, taking a hit to get a quick dismount is a good idea. Jumping over the fifth palace boss was an unexpected touch, and a really smart play to boot. Liked the sixth boss strat as well. The fourth palace boss was a bit unlucky, but that's totally random so can't fault him there. Bosses 1 and 2 were murdered like they should be with level 8 attack.
There is one glaring eyesore in this run, however. A rather ugly mistake early in palace six. He gets knocked into a pit he's trying to cross for a shot at a red potion after casting Jump and waiting around a bit for a chance to get through a blue ironknuckle's knives. This does look really bad, and I have to question trying for a red potion there to begin with. Yes, it would cut out an instance of death abuse and if the potion's gotten cleanly the time taken to get it would probably cancel out the time taken to kill yourself. Any loss or gain would be negligible. So basically the end result there is you have an insurance life for death road, which is definitely desirable, but we see later it wasn't at all needed. Plus, there's the fact that the statue only has a 50/50 shot of spawning a potion, so even if he got over there cleanly it could've been all for naught, and in that spot it's just time lost. If you couldn't tell, I really question trying for the potion to begin with. Just embracing death abuse here is probably the best idea and taking your chances with one spare life on death road is just something that has to be dealt with.
Now what we have here is not the worst case scenarion (which would be getting over there and no potion), but definitely the ugliest. He loses about 10 seconds here for what would appear to most viewers as no good reason. It does look really bad, but ultimately it's not that costly. If there's an improvement to come, I hope the runner takes the above words to heart and just skips the potion here, but I don't it's a rejection worthy mistake.
And really, at the end of the day this is a solid improvement over the existing run. The only way I could see rejecting it is if he found a massively imrpoved route but only barely beat the incumbent run through bad execution or simply dicking around. That is definitely not the case here. Good show.
Accept
Same verifier - new game:
Quote:
Verifier: I guess for the new game, it's an improvement and it's entertaining is good enough
Verifier: wooh sub hour!
Verifier: wooh sub hour!
Decision: Accept
Reason: One is a really tight run and the other is an improvement.
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