Theory TAS "GodSplice" Notes

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Any% (No Major Glitches, No Save & Quit)
Theory TAS 2018 - "GodSplice" [Final Cut]
Final Time: 1:20:31.02
With Commentary & Chat: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/288423469
Without Commentary: https://youtu.be/hDH5ZMHatyU

I. Preface

I present to you my recent offline project: a Theory TAS or as I'm currently calling it, "GodSplice." I stole the term from Twocat's Super Metroid Any% Theory TAS which he named "Godsplice". I did not want to call this a "GodTAS" because it's done on real hardware and on the Practice Hack (vs all GodTASs being done on emulator and the original ROM).

This TAS aims for more consistent strats while also trying to go as fast as possible. Some rooms go for more fun strats, while others go for more RTA viable. It's a mixed bag. I tried to maintain a balance in the overall product while having some fun with it. I try to stick most RNG that was given to me. I didn't grind out ALL rooms for God RNG to give it a more realistic feel as Jadin did with GodTAS5.

However, this run will include all "bonuses". This means: 2 cycle Lanmolas, 0 Blue Balls, 0 cycle Arrghus, 2 cycle Agahnim 2 and, 0 Ganon warps. Although it sounds like it contradicts the realistic feel, I don't feel like wasting unnecessary time will add to the TAS experience here. Bosses aren't perfect, but close enough in most cases.

The main advantage this run is going to have over Jadin's GodTAS is that it's on console. Console saves roughly ~14 seconds over emulator due to framerate. There are a few minor improvements over GodTAS 5 including very minor strat upgrades and some newer recent lag reduction strats. The new Altitude Manipulation Glitch has also been added to this version. I'll be sure to notate these by segment below.

I really did my best on every screen, and certainly no screen is unbeatable. The point of this TAS is to show off that consistency can be fast, and show off some fun strats. Use this as a guideline of what to aim for room by room.

II. What's New in the "Final Cut?"

Since GodSplice 1.0, a new altitude glitch has been discovered which allows the Fire Rod splash damage to be manipulated. Using the Flute Bird, you can manipulate the Fire Rod shots to hit switches off screen in the Mire Basement. This allows for 2 rooms to be skipped as well as 3 rooms to cleared much faster saving about 11-12 seconds. 741f (~12.3 seconds) were saved in just rooms alone, but about the Mire cutscene is about ~64f slower than GodSplice 1.0. More information can be found here about the Altitude Glitch (aka Spooky Action Glitch): https://pastebin.com/gXVDyUct. Video by JoeDamillio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7ttV0wRTg. Segment improvements are listed below.

I'm calling this the "Final Cut" because I've decided not to improve this any further. So this is the final product. Only amendments that were made were related to the Altitude Glitch. While I feel some rooms could be further improved, I decided it's best to leave these as they are. Improving one room will only lead to a string of other rooms needing improvement. I didn't really want to go down that path, I just wanted to add the big time save and finalize this. I hope everyone is getting use out of this resource, and I really hope someone follows this up with something even better in the future.

III. Individual Room Details

I'm glad everyone got use out of my old room sheet. They were once my senseless notes I used when watching runs back in my early 1:29 days. Then when Pinkus created the practice hack with a room timer, I started adding room times to the sheet slowly. But that sheet has ran its course. I had mostly nothing to go off of when adding all these times. Luckily all you try-hards filled in times and gave me a better idea what to aim for. So here is the brand new and fully revised Room Sheet: https://goo.gl/XBnBd7

Instead of listing every room note here, you can refer to this sheet instead. It should serve you just as well as my previous sheet. If you are interested in seeing room times for the TAS, I listed them here: https://pastebin.com/Wi2JC0py

IV. Segment Breakdown

[Hyrule Castle] 5:44.16

- Link's house is basically RNG when it comes to lag
- Entering south doors 2px to the right of center can save a frame
- Improved movement in main hall; left guard RNG
- Released the spin early for the Boom guard; can be risky in some cases
- Some dark rooms have more lag frames on v9 (not present in original ROM)
- Snake gambled in Sewers chest key room since I had the RNG (not always viable)

[Eastern Palace] 4:49.73

- Cemetary screen: anti-pump and nudging the fence tied here
- Saved ~10f with Blue Guard manip on Eastern Palace screen (found by Adde)
- Fun ^> Boom throw strat for Dark Pot Key (found by JoshRTA)
- Top Popo RNG in Dark Anti-Fairy room (pumping around is faster)
- Exited Big Chest on the right side (ties left side)
- Top arrow grab in Zeldagamer Room
- Top-Right Armos since the majority of players do this

[Desert Palace] 5:53.78

- Timed walking down after getting Boots as faster if you talk to NPC low
- Aimed for most if not all best slope "sweet spots"
- Torch Key timed using "Modern Strat" (miketheviewer's strat)
- Good Cannonball RNG (tried for bad RNG multiple times, sorry)
- Beginning the dash lower at Big Chest is faster (found by wqqqqwrt)
- Best Popo 2 RNG (saved like 2 seconds on average)
- Pumping is actually SLOWER after 2nd Tile Room key
- Lanmolas 2 cycle

[Tower of Hera] 5:09.80

- No Lobby Boomdash here
- Better Big Key Torches (I timed this as being faster overall)
- Leftside pot throw for Beetle Room
- Early Hera Bombjump (this could have been better but settled for this)

[Agahnim's Tower] 6:23.52

- Lost Woods was recorded from a preset
- Dash up in lobby can be faster with a better guard frame rule
- Prize Pack guards can be very fast with good frame rules (shown here)
- Right side Melancholy is really always best unless you really need a blue rupee
- Proper bad RNG (left/right) strat in Circle of Pots
- Bad RNG in statue room (red guy goes left)
- Knocking/stunning guard is consistently better for catwalk room
- Really good Agahnim Warps

[Dark Palace] 5:57.42

- Room time for Pyramid calculated from Agahnim enter; check Room Sheet
- Falling animations seem to have possible variance and can get faster room times
- Could probably save a frame in Junction 3 & 4 by holding ^> pushing the block
- Statue Push could have been better; I took the lowest attempt
- Pinkus style Mimics used here, works very well and fast room times
- Improved movement in first Basement Room (found by timmon_)
- Good Helma considering fireballs at the end

[Thieves' Town] 6:55.13

- PoD exit screen definitely could have been better
- High Hammerdash shown for best time; not a favorable strat for all RNGs
- Menu before talking to Shovel guy is one less input; not really the best for RTA
- Lost Woods screen has extra lag here; way less when loaded from preset
- 5 more frames can be saved on Statue Pull screen; perfect movement + leftmost fast pull
- Picking up Pot is Stalfos Hallway is better if you get the dash from the door
- I'm certain 10'3x is possible in Jail Cell with perfect movement but GL, it's hard
- Safer Jelly-dash room here
- Safer Conveyor Toilet dash (found by waffle42)

[Skull Woods] 5:13.27

- GT5 movement is definitely best here (by about 5f) for the Doorless Hut
- Random frame gain/losses occur on Blacksmith screens
- Mummy Statue Room can also be improved here (pushed stature further than needed)
  + Arrow drop here might make the statue harder to grab? (needs to be tested)
- 1 frame missed in Bumper Room (forgot to record a 3'05)
- Left dash (walk down a bit) is really good for final Skeleton Forest screen

[Ice Palace] 6:03.63

- No Bird Dash here since it's just too inconsistent
- Quite a bit of lag on Zora's River here (also present in real runs)
- Got nice times in Penguins 1 slightly clipping into the pot
- Placing bomb to the left in Big Stalfos room can reduce lag for 3-5 frames on average
- Left conveyor RNG is best handled by walking around, then dashing from my testing
- Big Spike Room: I basically tested all forms of movement and they mostly all tie
- Random lag variations in block push room
- Used a unique setup for Kholdstare double-poke kill (found by z3r0j)
- Improvements over GodSplice 1.0:
  + Saved 3f in Ice 1 using new tech
  + Saved 2f in Ice 2 with better execution

[Swamp Palace] 6:33.27

- Killing the Octorok by the warp is almost always faster due to lag reduction
- Very good swimming and RNG in entrance room
- Key Pot trenches use walking instead of dashing (only 1-2f slower)
- 1st lever can have 0 lag frames if the Red Stalfos dies from your 1st dash
- More weird lag oddities in 2nd lever; beam strat used here
- I later found that falling higher in Socialable Firebar is actually better overall
- Beams used on flashing Jelly (strat missed in GT5)
- Phelps room has a slower 1st ladder exit, but grinding this room is ANNOYING
- Best Arrghus I could get with the RNG I was given; No pause Tech :<

[Misery Mire] 6:49.95

- Ether cutscene has weird lag oddities
- Lower ladder dash used in Ice Rod Cave, tested as faster (found by wqqqqwrt)
- Included Bird Dash after Ice Rod; setup here seems to work fine from testing
- Falling to Big Key: it's faster to dash on the 2nd frame vs the 1st (thanks mike)
- No Hook for Spike Key is very fast as shown here
- Improvements over GodSplice 1.0:
  + Saved 4f in Block Switch room (see room notes; room 40)
  + Saved 92f in 2nd Switch room using new tech
  + Saved 54f in Pegs room using new tech
  + Saved 458f skipping 2 rooms
  + Saved 111f in Bad Farm room using new tech
  + Saved 2f in Firenake Room
  + Saved 5f on Vitreous (extra arrow shot is on purpose)

[Turtle Rock] 6:44.78

- Missed saving the bonk flute frame (but I got 3 idle on this menu lol)
- Double squirrel hook is very useful while in spinspeed state (shown here)
- This Quakedash is amazing here, just sayin'
- Better Roller Room dash setup here (saves about 3-5f)
- Underused Keydash for Pokey 0
- Brahmin Block Blast was actually the fastest strat for the Chomp RNG here
- Pokey 1 Keydash is the fastest strat for this room
- UR, DR for Pokey 2; really fast RNG (~70f slower then best)
- Bonked over Roller in next room (bonk works best if you get UR, DR or UR, UR)
- Improvements over GodSplice 1.0:
  + Saved 23f skipping Bomb at Dungeon Entrance

[Ganon's Tower] 6:32.78

- Cancelling dash <v into GTower Opening cutscene reduces a ton of lag
- Double Crystal strat used here is probably the best if you menu to Hook
- Mike's 10 Arrow Chest here is nice; pulling the bomb late is fine here
- Pretty risky Armos here to show off how fast it can be done
- I learned Mimics 2 optimal specifically for this TAS, ended up with a 4'56 :>
- Leftside spike room dash is very reliable (found by JoeDamillio)
- Godly RNG for Gauntlet 1+2
- Strat used in Gauntlet 3 was honestly the fastest way I was able to do that room
- Rod Dash out of Torches; strat is fast but only good if you need the magic pot
- Helma Key since we're hovering and skipping magic
- Hover saves too much time not to do; could have been faster
- Helma Hellway very recently found, good strat for no Hook too! (found by DomTurchi)

[Ganon] 1:39.92

- Just an average Ganon with a risky cape spin to go fast

V. Recording Process

Every room was recorded in real time from a save state captured through OBS Studio. Each room was recorded individually in most cases. I set the music option to off so I could layer in music later. I had to do this since the practice hack restarts the music track each time a state is loaded. Only parts that had music recorded were boss fights and some cutscenes (which otherwise cause the game to function improperly or crash). Each room was pieced together in Adobe Premiere Pro after it was recorded in OBS.

So each room I created a save state. Then took the .SRM file from the SD2SNES and made a back up with the previously recorded room time. This made it possible to redo rooms or if I had accidentally made a save state in a bad spot, etc. It's a tedious process for sure,  but it came in handy quite a bit. If Josh would see a room that could be further optimized, I could copy the backup .SRM and reload the old save state and redo the room. This would require matching the following room time as well. It was annoying, but it was really the best way to do this.

You may also see sprites flicker for 1-2 frames at a time. This is just a side effect of loading save states. I had to include these frames in the video, otherwise I'd lose 1 frame of transition per screen (which would make this TAS inaccurate). Loading/saving creates 5 extra frames of black/or partially loaded graphics. 1 of those frames will draw the background layer without the sprites, then draw them on the following frame. I made sure I went through every transition to make sure it was 100% smooth.

I also had to record crystal cutscenes on the original ROM since the cutscenes lose seconds (just in lag alone) on the practice hack. Speaking of lag, some screens have extra lag for no reason due to this being a single playthrough. Nearly all mosaic transitions have more lag here in the TAS (except Lost Woods which was recorded from a preset). After comparing to my PB transition frames, the practice hack is accurate here. You get more lag in runs due to never resetting/powering off since RAM never gets cleared properly. So when loading from a preset, you will get faster times on these mosaic screens. Not a big deal, but definitely worth mentioning.

VI. Final Thoughts

This was the largest speedrun project I've ever taken on. It took 2 months from start to finish. I spent 4-5 days a week working on rooms, testing strats, and making sure everything was as close to perfect as can be. I tend to obsess over things because I really stride for perfection in most things I do. I don't think I'll be doing anything like this again for a long time.

In conclusion, I'm happy I decided to stick through this whole project. I learned so many things about the game I never knew. I can't help but feel dumb when I learn weird things others have known for awhile. But I guess it's the nature of this game. There's a near endless amount of knowledge and it's hard to just know everything.

I hope this serves a good learning tool for years to come. Never give up on your goals. Never have expectations. Never get mad. Just play the game and have fun.

VII. Acknowledgements

JoshRTA - Helping optimize room times and letting use his Adobe Premiere license :>
poor_little_pinkus - Helping optimize room times and creating a dope practice hack
miketheviewer - Helping optimize room times (especially those really tiny rooms)

And finally all the inspirational and influential players of my time: Jadin, Xelna, wqqqqwrt, poor_little_pinkus, miketheviewer, JoshRTA, timmon, DarkMindDemon, waffle42, Albrecht84, JoeDamillio, superSKUJ, Acmlm, pui, Andy, ajneb174, revolver005 and adde. Hope I didn't forget anyone.

Good luck.