Z1 Any% 2nd edition

The Legend of Zelda any%. Second attempt to help the community understand it.

First, The timing of this pastebin may give some the wrong impression regarding some way I felt about not getting the spot on Best of NES. Lack deserved to run the game for BoNES because he has the best run. Any% hasn't yet been pushed to a time that deserves the spot. I was aware of the schedule for BoNES and decided not to push Any% to meet that. I was just recovering from the Bounty and going right into the upcoming Z2R and DWR tourneys.

Any% as a project began at the beginning of this year. My inspiration for wanting to push this game to new times came from watching the evolution of Super Metroid over the last year and a half. This is the game that introduced me to the concept of timed runs. It was called dead by the viewers at 44:08, and now has a WR of 41:56 due to more aggressive routing and relentless self-improvement by the runners. This year Dragon Warrior went from a 5+ hour speedrun to less than a 35 minute run because of ambitious dedication to designing an RNG manipulation in RTA and improving on it. Both of these games improved by moving closer to the TAS. I also want to move closer to the TAS. Dropping No Up&A increases the number of strats available. More damage boosts, RNG-Manipulated Money Making Game, less backtracking -- all core elements of speedrunning. Adding to that there's more viability in different level orders and getting the white sword. Personal favorite, no sitting at the title screen for 10+ seconds.

In terms of Any% PB times, I haven't made a lot of visible progress and since I'm the only one running Any% my progress is synonymous with the category's value.  It's a bit of work to reroute a game under changed conditions, relearn parts of the game, then output a really good run. I've spent time looking at the overworld routing, mapping out the RTA-viable MMG results recorded from my NES. There's also a lot of ways to improve ALL categories -- BT and I both retrained ourselves to pump out those frames (20% faster than walking straight lines) and do the short clips where possible (12 frames a piece, also include Reabs and KHAN for this tech). Saver and I went through the trouble to re-time no up&a routes we were not running and examine the finer points of Link's movement while also trying to learn three new games for the Bounty.

As for outside contributions to Any% the list is short: Reabs who did RTAs of more aggressive level orders, and routed fairy drops after Up&A; Timmiluvs tried to find a reliable way through the new Gibdo patterns after Up&A in Level-5; Saver's idea to take the upper route in Level-3 for the tourney was re-purposed for Any%; Jkoper, when I was trying to teach MMG manips for his run, was reading Tektite patterns to pin point the frame rule (which for me would mean rerecording all the MMG results).  So perhaps you can imagine my annoyance when I read or hear belittling comments about Any% from the camps of players who have not been part of this process. I've done my best to not let them get to me, but those comments do not create a friendly environment for a hobby.  For my part, I feel like I've exercised a large amount of restraint compared to how I'd like to respond.

Currently, I'm not using ALL the available changes because I think I can get my goal without using the more volatile routes before my aching hands can't keep up. I may not be able to achieve my goal for The Legend of Zelda, or in doing so I may not succeed in broadening the fossilizing community, but I'm certainly going to try while I can because I love this game and it should have a better audience.