The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Forums - New runners start here!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past(1991)

Zelda Series

SNES WiiVC WiiUVC+5

Category extensions Discord Website

New runners start here!

superSKUJ

6 years ago

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Forums

superSKUJ 6 years ago

#Introduction Welcome new ALttP speedrunners! This post will serve as a repository of information related to the speedruns of ALttP, information about leaderboard submissions and general tips related to streaming and recording runs.

##Discord Link to our discord server: https://discord.gg/Kz4a9cf

Helpasaur King The Helpasaur King is a bot who hangs out in our server and can dispense useful information.

A list of bot commands can be found here.

Additionally, if you'd like to be notified when a race is started you can type "!role add nmg-race" or "!role add 100-race" to be added to the nmg or 100% role list, and you will be notified when that role is highlighted on the server.

And of course if you get annoyed by the notifications you can use the command "!role remove nmg-race" or "!role remove 100-race" to remove yourself from the role list.

#Submission Guidelines The rules for submission are listed on each individual category amd sub-category page, but I'd like to clarify or expand upon some of them here.

##Timing Timing for full game categories begins at the same time you press the input to select the file, and ends the first frame that the fadeout begins as you enter the Triforce room. To be very precise, there is a single frame where the screen darkens before the mosaic fadeout begins, and this is the final frame of the speedrun. For partial game categories the timing will be specified on the rules page of the category.

##Global Rules Only official Japanese, American and European versions are allowed You can play on any version released by Nintendo for the SNES or Super Famicom (the versions released on Virtual Console and SNESClassic are the same versions). No language hacks can be used, nor any other hacked version of the game. PAL versions cannot be played at NTSC framerate.

All official releases:

PAL (Europe):

French
English
German

NTSC (North America):

English
French Canadian

NTSC (Japan):

JP1.0
JP1.1
JP1.2

Turbo and simultaneously pressing Up+Down or Left+Right are banned On original hardware these shouldn't be possible, but with modified hardware or an emulator these could be done. Turbo is auto-firing an input. Up+Down or Left+Right is simultaneously pressing opposite dpad inputs, which can result in glitches or unexpected game behavior. It's general convention in SNES speedruns to ban these, with the exception of turbo in some games. In ALttP these are globally banned.

The full credits must be shown for categories which beat the game This can help us to verify things like framerate and continuity. I know the credits are long, but you only have to let it play out on PB runs which you intend to submit to the leaderboards.

RAM preparation is banned ALttP does not do a good job of cleaning up RAM between Save + Quits, so it's possible to have some RAM variable preset in a way which can give an advantage in a run. To avoid this we recommend a hard reset at the start of each run. The only exception to this rule is for the "Defeat Ganon" run, in which RAM preparation specifically prevents the game from crashing.

##Emulator Rules We accept runs performed on emulators on this leaderboard, but some additional guidelines need to be followed. We haven't always been completely strict with these rules, and complying with the majority of them is usually enough for us to have confidence in verifying emulator runs. However we will likely be more strict and consistent with enforcement of these rules in the future due to recent events which have given us a lot of trouble related to verification of emulator runs.

Emulator specific functionality is banned Savestates must not be used during a run which is to be submitted to a leaderboard.

Binding inputs in a way to give an unfair advantage is not allowed. The main things restricted are:

Binding multiple inputs to the same button or key
Binding the same input to multiple buttons or keys

We allow players to reconfigure controls any way they like as long as it does not violate any of the previously mentioned rules.

The emulator name and version must be visible or shown at the end This helps us to verify that all emulator messages or menus shown during the run were accurate to the emulator version.

The input configuration (button mappings) must be visible or shown at the end This is just a way for us to verify the previous rules about input mapping have been followed.

##Category Rules Rules specific to a category primarily indicate how to time the run if the goal is not to complete the game. Other category specific rules may indicate if Save + Quit is allowed, and specific glitch restrictions. Information about glitches and categories which have unique glitch restrictions/allowances will be explained later in this post.

#Emulators ##Allowed Emulators Emulators which have no advantage over console based on inaccurate emulation of lag or improper framerate are allowed for ALttP speedrunning. Listed are a few we recommend and some pros/cons of each:

Official Nintendo Emulators All Emulators officially released by Nintendo (such as Wii VC, WiiU VC, 3DS VC, and SNESClassic) are acceptable for runs. The official JP version released on these platforms is likely to be v1.2, but v1.0 injections are allowed.

Snes9x version 1.51 or later http://www.snes9x.com/ Snes9x is very easy to setup and has a low resource cost to run. The framerate is slightly slower than original hardware, losing approximately 13 seconds in 90 minutes of gameplay.

RetroArch https://www.retroarch.com/ RetroArch is an emulator front end, meaning it's a sort of container for multiple emulator cores. Use the Snes9x core for lower resource cost, and Bsnes Accuracy core for higher accuracy with a higher resource cost. Fairly easy to set up with tutorial videos right on the main site.

Higan https://byuu.org/emulation/higan/ Higan is another front end but doesn't offer the versatility of retroarch. It uses the Bsnes core for high accuracy.

##Banned Emulators A few specific emulators we do not allow include:

Zsnes
Snes9x version 1.43 and earlier

##Recommended Input Devices Original SNES or Super Famicom controller with USB adapter This gives you the most authentic feel you can get while playing on an emulator. Simply plug an official Nintendo controller into this device, then plug it into your PC. Some brands we recommend include:

Raphnet
Mayflash
Tomee

USB Controllers If you don't have an original controller or don't want to gamble on finding one of quality on eBay, you can go for a USB controller that plugs right into your PC. These are very similar to original controllers, but the quality is not always consistent. The most commonly recommended ones are:

iBuffalo
8Bitdo
Tomee

Keyboard If an authentic feel isn't what you want or need, then it's perfectly ok to play on a keyboard!

##ROM You'll need a ROM to play on your emulator, but we can't link you to one directly here. We can tell you that that CRC checksum of the JP1.0 version of ALttP is 3322effc and typing this into a popular search engine may help you find what you need ;)

#Glitches Over the last few years a significant amount of work was done to completely change the landscape of glitches in ALttP. It's difficult to classify them accurately with how frequently new things are found or understood in a new way; and there's a bit of overlap so we categorize them broadly as either Major or Minor Glitches. Sub-categorization of Major Glitches is also fairly broad. Brief descriptions follow.

##Major Glitches Major Glitches are concisely defined as any glitch which allows you to beat the game without completing every dungeon/boss or major plot event. Most Major Glitches work on all versions of ALttP. The primary classifications of Major Glitches are:

OoB - Out of bounds - Manipulating collision detection of the game to bypass obstacles.
EG - Exploration Glitch - Placing the player sprite on the wrong layer of the game to bypass obstacles.
DG - Door Glitch - Corrupting the memory of an indoor screen transition.
WW - Wrong Warp - Corrupting memory to cause the game to send you to an unintended location.
YBA - Yuzuhara's Bottle Adventure - A technique used to activate other glitches, such as DG or WW.

##Minor Glitches Minor Glitches do not allow the player to skip any dungeons or major plot events. These glitches mostly only work on the JP1.0 version of the game. Minor Glitches include:

Superspeed
Item Dash
Fake Flippers
Mirror Block Erase
Fake Powder

#Speedrun Categories ##NMG (No Major Glitches) Categories These runs contain no major skips or sequence breaks. Most of these categories prohibit Save + Quit, or death warps to emulate a Save + Quit. In ALttP this more specifically refers to deaths on the overworld, as deaths in dungeons emulate a mirror warp and are thus allowed. An unintentional death on the overworld can be reconciled by returning to the location where the player died and proceeding from there.

Any% Full Name: Any%, No Major Glitches (No S+Q) The main speedrun category of ALttP. This category aims to complete the game as fast as possible, with no additional goals or restrictions related to required content.

100% Full Name: 100%, No Major Glitches (No S+Q) In addition to completing the game, this category has the added goal of acquiring all equipment, heart pieces and containers, and the 1/2 magic upgrade.

Low% Full Name: Low%, No Major Glitches (No S+Q) In addition to completing the game, this category requires the player to skip all items which are not necessary to beat the game. Specifically compared to Any%, this includes skipping the Sanctuary Heart Container, the Boomerangs and the Tempered Sword.

Master Sword Full Name: Master Sword The only partial category on the main NMG board, and the only one which allows Save + Quit. The goal is to obtain the Master Sword with no other goals or restriction related to required content.

##MG (Major Glitches) Categories These runs use major glitches to skip content in the game, or to produce major sequence breaks. All of these runs allow Save + Quit.

Any% (No EG/DG/WW) Full Name: Any%, No Exploration Glitch, Door Glitch, Wrong Warp This is a shorter category which still completes the game. The use of major glitches allows nearly all dungeons to be skipped. This results in the final dungeon and Ganon fight being done with the player severely underpowered. The restriced glitches are indicated in the category name.

Reverse Boss Order Full Name: Reverse Boss Order This run requires all bosses to be defeated in the reverse of their intended order. Luckily the "intended" order of bosses in ALttP is pretty clear. Defeats Ganon first, finishes with Armos Knights in Eastern Palace, then uses glitches to activate the credits. All glitches are allowed for this category.

Defeat Ganon Full Name: Defeat Ganon With use of all glitches, the only goal is to defeat Ganon. This is a short run, completing no dungeons and fighting Ganon in the most underpowered way possible.

All Dungeons (No EG/DG/WW) Full Name: All Dungeons, No Exploration Glitch, Door Glitch, Wrong Warp A counterpoint to Any% (No EG/DG/WW), this run allows the same glitches but requires the player to complete all dungeons. With more content more unique sequence breaks are demonstrated, and the player is much less underpowered throughout the run.

All Bosses (No EG) Full Name: All Bosses, No Exploration Glitch The goal of this run is to defeat all bosses, and all pendants/crystals must be acquired. Door Glitches and Wrong Warps are allowed (and put to good use) but the Exploration Glitch is not used in this run.

All Dungeons (Swordless) Full Name: All Dungeons (Swordless) The swordless category of ALttP implements the goal "All Dungeons" as defeating Ganon is not possible swordless, and as such is not done. All glitches are allowed.

100% All Heart Pieces Full Name: 100% All Heart Pieces With glitches it's possible to "dupe" heart containers or heart pieces, but this goal requires the collection of all items and upgrades, similar to a "source requirement" run of other Zelda games. All glitches are allowed in this run.

Any% Full Name: Any% The true Any% category of ALttP. The goal is to activate the credits with no restrictions. Optimally it can be done in under two minutes, but with an easy route anyone can do it in about three minutes.

##Misc Categories Miscellaneous Categories are ones which have less of a history, were traditionally more of a race goal, or have fallen out of fashion in recent years. Some are NMG, some are MG categories.

Mirror Shield Full Name: Mirror Shield, No Major Glitches (No S+Q) This is a partial game category that ends when the play acquires the Mirror Shield. Dark World dungeons are only partially completed, as the player only needs a few dungeon items and no crystals to complete the goal. The end game is a somewhat underpowered execution of Turtle Rock.

Cane of Byrna Full Name: Cane of Byrna, No Major Glitches (No S+Q) Another partial category, this one ends shortly after completing the Light World, only acquiring the Hammer from Palace of Darkness and enough safety items to survive the spike floor in the Cane of Byrna cave.

Any% (S+Q) Full Name: Any%, No Major Glitches In the dawn of ALttP speedrunning the full game speedrun with no major skips was played nearly equally with and without Save + Quit. Over time the (No S+Q) variation became much more popular and this category fell out of style. Save + Quit is used to save over two minutes of overworld travel time. Loading a file after saving also starts the player with less than full hearts, making this category a little more challenging. (S+Q) is specified in the abbreviated name as it's the less common variation.

Any% No OoB Full Name: Any% No OoB When the YBA glitch was first found this run was created and uses only the overworld applications of it. All other Major Glitches are considered subsets of OoB in this run and as such are not allowed. This run allows Save + Quit.

#Learning Resources