Hey all,

I'm just getting started on learning to speed run this game. I played it all the time growing up and even had music from the game in my wedding I love it so much.

I ran Mario in collage. My times were nowhere near world record speeds but I was under 6 and a half minutes which I'm happy with. Now I'm looking to learn a second game and figured one of my all time favorite NES games was a good choice.

I watch the speed runs here and some from GDQ and I've read all the TAS notes to get an idea of what frame saves are potentially possible. But I wanted to throw this out here and see if there are any tips you have for a new Cristalis runner (and a relatively new speed runner in general).

I do have a specific question too. Is it permissible to select continue rather than new game to save time on exiting the start cave? Or is it required to start from name entry for this run?

So I've done a couple of attempts and I have to admit I'm a little daunted by the length of the game. I'm used to being able to get 10-15 attempts into an hour rather than not even 1... I'm worried this isn't a great choice for a second game to learn. I'm mostly posting this because I'm hoping someone will talk me out of changing games. Takers?

My alternative is to look through my collection of games to see if there is something else that is both playable and shortish similar to Mario. Which I'm kind of excited about doing. Dr. Chaos and Festers Quest both stand out to me as possibilities... hmmmm

You should stick with it. It's always so satisfying when you hit goals. I'm picking this up as a speed game and currently battling with the casual gatekeeper (blue slime). But I'm certain once I am able to complete runs consistently I'll have a much better time. It's my favorite nes game and I really want to run it.

I did figure out the slime somewhat. My tip would be "Circular motion" rather than straight to him and straight back in. That helped me at least.

both have worked for me.. it really seems to depend on whether the slime wants to move up or not. usually take a hit when he moves up. but eh i'm learning the route so i'm not too worried about dying it seems to be a real possibility. my new stumbling block is the vampire but like all things, grinding will get me where i need to be

The slime is easy. Exit cave while holding B. Let go of B while the screen is transitioning and hold diagonal down left. Bop slime. run back into the cave and hold b again.

The slime can move in ways that you are guarenteed to take a hit, but for the most part the slime grind is free once you learn it.

Axethrowers on the other hand.............

Also, you can get LOTS of attempts in on Crystalis in an hour. Youll just be resetting 15mins or less in most of the time. 90% of all runs, are over before Kelbesque, the other 10% end at medusas. Anywhere that has poison before portoa is death (which is nearly everywhere) and Kelbesque is an RNG nightmare until you learn to be aggressive with him, and make sure you have enough MP to do some healing.

Sometimes he will just crush you regardless, but being defensive with him usually ends with you resetting.

Medusa's suck because they have colossal hitboxes, and the move like idiots. Paralysis is your friend here.

Crystalis is fantastic, but the things you need to know going into it, you WILL reset a lot at Mt Sabre South and earlier, and you need to learn to grind the menuing, because youll lose a lot of time in menus otherwise.

Also if youre a new runner, WORK ON TIMING SWINGS. i cannot stress this enough. Spamming only works with certain enemies. Timing swings is the difference between controlling monsters and getting bashed. Take the time to learn this, you'll thank me later.

Thank you for the tips!

I know in a run I watched Dragondarch do he talked about timing swings but I didn't quite understand his explanation. Is it just that you can swing more often timing the input? or is it learning the distance/time to swing with each enemy? or some combination of both? Sorry for all the questions. I can't find a ton of detailed information about the technical aspects of the run other than the TAS notes :S

Also... Is the Giant Insect skip (via the level 2 sword/ball reset glitch) viable? I feel like there are crazier things speed runners do to save less time. Is it just that there are easier things to do to save time right now that it isn't being attempted?

Here are the TAS notes for easy reference if anyone needs them: http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/NES/Crystalis.html

Hadn't check this for a while BBoy. The primary reason that big bug skip wasnt used with the sword charge glitch is because the run was originally single segment. However, if you watch the runs on the board, ALL of them outside of DD's run have at least one death, making them not single segment. So this is kind of invalidated. I started doing exploration on the sword charge glitch. Needs a LOT more testing, and its only effective in 2 spots really because of its limitations.

Still needs work.