Super Castlevania IV

2009-04-05 02:48:24 am

contraddicted

@ Master-88

Your level 5 run seems ok, but I have two questions.

When you took the kill all on screen item, you kill the enemy that appears directly after that not by jump whipping. I can't really remember, but should this enemy usually been killed by the item? If not, use jump whipping Wink

Just before the end, you got the second whip upgrade. At this place it is unneccessary for an IL run, it just takes time to get it.

ZenicReverie

2009-04-05 06:43:57 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

Does it make the whip more powerful (i.e. less hits for later enemies)? Also, the item destroys the two fireballs following him, although I don't know if they would hurt him at all.

Hattori HANZo

2009-04-05 11:13:36 am

contraddicted

@ ZenicReverie

IIRC no, just a bit longer. I could be wrong though and besides making it longer there is a slight increase in damage. But if that is the case, I guess there are next to no enemies that take less hits.
In Level 5 MASTER-88 took the upgrade directly in front of the last enemy he fights. And he then does that directly kneeling before him, which doesn't make the extended range an advantage.

Also, to me it looks as the in game timer is not affected by the freeze during pickup of whip upgrades. In that case picking the last whip upgrade in Level 5 is bad even if the in game timer is used for timing.

MASTER-88

2009-04-05 11:53:03 am

Master-88

Quote:

When you took the kill all on screen item, you kill the enemy that appears directly after that not by jump whipping. I can't really remember, but should this enemy usually been killed by the item? If not, use jump whipping Wink

This was actually mistake. This enemy surprised me and i accidentally make mistakes with this place

Quote:

Level 5 MASTER-88 took the upgrade directly in front of the last enemy he fights. And he then does that directly kneeling before him, which doesn't make the extended range an advantage.

Hmm. Yeah this looks i am are little careless. Cheesy

ColonelFatso

2009-04-06 03:26:44 am

Second whip upgrade damage increase is nonexistant or negligible.

Level 4:

You covered your mistakes in the early part pretty well in the video description. Second part of the level, right after the funky Mode 7 rotating background falling platforms segment, you can make it through the backwards-C-shaped bunch of rising platforms on its first pass if your timing is good.

Level 5:

A bit rough all around, with a little more work you should be able to get it pretty solid.

A warning on your audio quality, whatever codec you're using is distorting the audio.

MASTER-88

2009-04-06 04:09:35 am

Master-88

Im not say my level 5 was rough. Sad

There is only two mistake. First one was end of first part and second one was first whip skeleton in second part. But otherwhise my run was good here, i think it is not possible make it done much faster, but this is short level so this will requires this must be done with perfect speed.

I remember i use Xvid codec. This is only way compress my video. Wink

ZenicReverie

2009-04-06 08:26:38 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

Quote from MASTER-88:

Im not say my level 5 was rough. Sad

There is only two mistake. First one was end of first part and second one was first whip skeleton in second part. But otherwhise my run was good here, i think it is not possible make it done much faster, but this is short level so this will requires this must be done with perfect speed.

I remember i use Xvid codec. This is only way compress my video. Wink

It sounds like you've already moved on, but since this is for an IL you can always go back and give it a try. You life at the doesn't matter for an IL right, since the next level you'll be at full life again? If that's the case, I think there might be a couple places you could damage boost off enemies. One of them at 1:12 where you collected the second upgrade then destroyed that skeleton. If you jump so you hit the right side, will you be damaged away some distance?

MASTER-88

2009-04-06 09:48:29 am

Master-88

Yeah my level 5 was not optimize at all. But i not want say "rough", because it sounds i´ll make many ugly mistakes everywhere and my level 5 was overall good enought. But yeah i might be fixed some level yet if i going to subimit my run in future. First i want make every levels done. Level 6 sounds really borring and i not have any experiense speedrun that level expect first part. Tongue

I think i doing level 7 before level 6, because i like this level much more than level 6. Smiley

Hattori HANZo

2009-04-06 01:31:43 pm

contraddicted

I just remembered that I noticed something in Level 4.

In the sequence where you hang on ne of these strange flying anchors (probably made of uranium) and the room turns, you could save at least 1-2 seconds. When the platform to the next part is building, you have to increase your whip's length after passing the lowest point of your swing and you can let go at least one swing earlier.
At least I am pretty sure it would be possible.

Josh the Funkdoc

2010-03-26 05:24:13 pm

spread the dirt to the populace

Hi.

I'll start working on this soon, probably after I get a good run up for CV1. Notice a pattern here? Wink

ZenicReverie

2010-03-26 05:39:10 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Quote from Josh the Funkdoc:

Hi.

I'll start working on this soon, probably after I get a good run up for CV1. Notice a pattern here? Wink

Pi? 3.14?

MASTER-88

2010-03-27 07:53:14 am

Master-88

Quote from Josh the Funkdoc:

Hi.

I'll start working on this soon, probably after I get a good run up for CV1. Notice a pattern here? Wink

Good luck. This game is hard as hell speedrun. If you wanted see awesome run you are better watch 36 minutes run in Nicole video. This run includes tons awesome tricks all around and its seems very optimize too. Also i haved some tricks stuff in youtube.

Bablo

2010-04-11 07:19:57 am

I'm a flippin' ninja

I've been playing scv4 on and off for quite a while now, and I'm planning to speedrun it later.

It'll take quite a while though since this game is a monster. SDA will never see a perfect run of this game due to the way it behaves (brutal PMS in world without chocolate). But I'm going to cut every corner there is, as I already know some tricks even the TAS doesn't use. I might make some IL runs for fun to show my tactics. But even if I won't get around doing that I'll stream some practice attempts when I'm good enough to finish every run even if I screw up.

Are there other people speedrunning scv4? Please don't get me wrong, I'd enjoy competition, as it usually results in better runs.

DK28

2010-04-11 06:06:40 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Quote from Bablo:

I've been playing scv4 on and off for quite a while now, and I'm planning to speedrun it later.

It'll take quite a while though since this game is a monster. SDA will never see a perfect run of this game due to the way it behaves (brutal PMS in world without chocolate). But I'm going to cut every corner there is, as I already know some tricks even the TAS doesn't use. I might make some IL runs for fun to show my tactics. But even if I won't get around doing that I'll stream some practice attempts when I'm good enough to finish every run even if I screw up.

Are there other people speedrunning scv4? Please don't get me wrong, I'd enjoy competition, as it usually results in better runs.

Sounds like fun Bablo. Especially if it's like your NES Castlevania run. Wink

I'd love to see what you come up with.

And I know Master88 was working on some ILs a while back. I don't know if he stopped or took a break.

MASTER-88

2010-04-12 10:29:11 am

Master-88

Yeah i work ID tabbles about year ago. I got stopped it after DK28 did his awesome SS run. I personally find SS run way too hard and random for me.

I loved see more runs with this game. Its might be awesome to see if someone here can make it better than DK28. His run rock.

DK28

2010-04-12 09:53:28 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Quote from MASTER-88:

Yeah i work ID tabbles about year ago. I got stopped it after DK28 did his awesome SS run. I personally find SS run way too hard and random for me.

I loved see more runs with this game. Its might be awesome to see if someone here can make it better than DK28. His run rock.

Thanks Master-88.

Like I said, if Bablo can put a hurt on this game like he did the original Castlevania, we're in for a treat. Smiley

Bablo

Edit history:

Bablo: 2010-04-13 04:37:33 pm

2010-04-13 09:12:45 am

I'm a flippin' ninja

I wrote down nicovideo speedrun's times and my personal best this far, and noticed I'm able to improve almost every level compared to the nicovideo speedrun. I haven't worked on A or B levels yet, but I do have some ideas for both to save some time.

level: nicovideo time -> my time = difference

1: 310 -> 312 = -2
2: 306 -> 308 = -2
3: 471 -> 480 = -9
4: 343 -> 344 = -1
5: 100 -> 100 = 0
6: 393 -> 407 = -14
7: 420 -> 426 = -6
8: 326 -> 329 = -3
9: 487 -> 494 = -7
A: 466 -> ?
B: 676 -> ?

Sum: 44 in-game seconds faster.

I don't know how exact the in-game timer is, but it gives some kind of idea how fast a good run would be. The nicovideo run says it's 36:14, but it's actually more like 36:03 with SDA's timing method. So sub-35:30, perhaps?

Yes, the chandeliers can be done one swing faster. Wink

Josh the Funkdoc

2010-04-13 06:06:36 pm

spread the dirt to the populace

I'll be learning this for sure. Probably after I get some good CV3 runs archived on ustream, which may not be for awhile b/c of school.

Even if I don't get the record, I'd like to do this for next year's marathon, so I may end up going for some rather different strategies from Bablo.

ColonelFatso

2010-04-14 07:15:39 am

The in-game timer is inconsistent. Not by a lot, but by enough that I wouldn't use it for comparison purposes.

DK28

2010-04-14 01:22:30 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Quote from ColonelFatso:

The in-game timer is inconsistent. Not by a lot, but by enough that I wouldn't use it for comparison purposes.

Definitely this.

You should manually time it.

Bablo

2010-04-22 12:08:39 pm

I'm a flippin' ninja

I just completed a run in 37:11. I didn't record but I timed it with a stopwatch. DK28's run is 39:17 so this means I was 2 minutes 8 seconds faster. No deaths, but lots of mistakes. Anyway, I'm slowly getting there and I'm probably gonna start recording soon.

I'd like to stream my attempts while recording, but am currently unable to. However I'm working on it and hopefully can get a good set up for good quality streaming.

37:11 is still a long way from the nicovideo speedrun's 36:03, but while the run seems very legit to me, it just lags way less at some points, as DK28 mentioned. So I don't know what to gather from that. I'm still able to do most parts faster though.

DK28

2010-04-22 03:43:10 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Quote from Bablo:

37:11 is still a long way from the nicovideo speedrun's 36:03, but while the run seems very legit to me, it just lags way less at some points, as DK28 mentioned. So I don't know what to gather from that. I'm still able to do most parts faster though.

Good stuff Bablo. Keep it up. Smiley

About the lag though, sometimes it's unavaoidable. I wonder if the nicovideo was an emulator. The rotating tunnel is a real bad spot, but the part that sticks out to me is in the library with the red centipede. That part lags every time, even if you're just walking. IIRC the nicovideo did not lag there. But oh well, just kick the hell out of the game.

Bablo

2010-04-22 07:03:48 pm

I'm a flippin' ninja

Quote from DK28:

Quote from Bablo:

37:11 is still a long way from the nicovideo speedrun's 36:03, but while the run seems very legit to me, it just lags way less at some points, as DK28 mentioned. So I don't know what to gather from that. I'm still able to do most parts faster though.

Good stuff Bablo. Keep it up. Smiley

About the lag though, sometimes it's unavaoidable. I wonder if the nicovideo was an emulator. The rotating tunnel is a real bad spot, but the part that sticks out to me is in the library with the red centipede. That part lags every time, even if you're just walking. IIRC the nicovideo did not lag there. But oh well, just kick the hell out of the game.

Actually the lag is not that bad with the red centipede (which is an awesome monster btw) if you can kill the dog in time. Still, yeah, he just avoids the lag too perfectly. Another bad spot is B-1 with the bats. He even whips the candles for extra hearts, and that usually causes massive lag. So it might be done on emulator, but I wonder which one, since it's not snes9x for sure. Might be even bsnes with real-time recording instead of input recording (I'm not sure if it is implemented yet for bsnes).

[quote="DK28"]
[quote="Bablo"]
37:11 is still a long way from the nicovideo speedrun's 36:03, but while the run seems very legit to me, it just lags way less at some points, as DK28 mentioned. So I don't know what to gather from that. I'm still able to do most parts faster though.
[/quote]

Good stuff Bablo.  Keep it up.   :)
About the lag though, sometimes it's unavaoidable.  I wonder if the nicovideo was an emulator.  The rotating tunnel is a real bad spot, but the part that sticks out to me is in the library with the red centipede.  That part lags every time, even if you're just walking.  IIRC the nicovideo did not lag there.  But oh well, just kick the hell out of the game.
[/quote]

Actually the lag is not that bad with the red centipede (which is an awesome monster btw) if you can kill the dog in time. Still, yeah, he just avoids the lag too perfectly. Another bad spot is B-1 with the bats. He even whips the candles for extra hearts, and that usually causes massive lag. So it might be done on emulator, but I wonder which one, since it's not snes9x for sure. Might be even bsnes with real-time recording instead of input recording (I'm not sure if it is implemented yet for bsnes).

ColonelFatso

2010-04-22 10:58:30 pm

37:11 is fantastic already. Can't wait to see the finished product. Did you, like, figure out a reliable fast-whip method on console, or is it just lots of super-optimized boosts/etc?

DK28

2010-04-22 11:09:35 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Quote from ColonelFatso:

37:11 is fantastic already. Can't wait to see the finished product. Did you, like, figure out a reliable fast-whip method on console, or is it just lots of super-optimized boosts/etc?

These questions.

But also, are you using the cross to the end or picking up the holy water?