SMS Ghouls Speedrunning Notes Aremath Here's my giant text file for routing SMS ghouls. The current route is near the bottom where it says "THIS IS THE CURRENT ROUTE". A few variations that are safer or potentially faster but more dangerous are also down there. There's also an explanation of how item spawns work in SMS Ghouls (Thanks to Fred_), and a list of all (?) the chests in the game. (https://pastebin.com/kkCBSTvQ if you want good formatting)

123H4 Red Boots 5X (Save time, no change) 1H234X 1H Red Helm X ---> 12345H Red Helm X ? 123H4 Green Boots 5X (Save time, no change) 1H234X 1H Gold Boots X ---> 12345H Gold Boots X ? 1H234 Dagger X 1H23X 123 Axe 45 GO (Save time, no change) 123 Axe 4 H5

Also on 2-1 2345?

Chest count resets when you continue the game! - Otherwise, death does not affect the chest count! Boss chests count as spawns - Touching the boss chest trigger after defeating the boss also counts as a trigger

Need to get:

• 3x boots
• 3x armor
• 3x helmet
• dagger
• axe
• discus
• torch
• psycho cannon -> 14 total upgrades

Old route (Teleo's old WR): 4:30 of setup to get: - (spawn x4) Red Boots (spawn x1, die 1 lives) - (spawn x4, die 0 lives, spawn x1) Red Helm (die CONTINUE) - (spawn x4) Green Boots (spawn x1, die 1 lives, spawn x4, die 0 lives) - (spawn x1) Gold Boots (die CONTINUE) - (spawn x4) Dagger (die 1 lives) - (spawn x3, die 0 lives, spawn x3) Axe (spawn x2) Loop 1: - Hill: (spawn x4) Red Armor (spawn x1 boss) - Slime: Nothing! (spawn x2) - Fire: Nothing! (spawn x4) - Imps: (spawn x1) Green Armor (spawn x5) - Clouds: (spawn x2) Green Helm (spawn x1) - Reapers: (spawn x3) Gold Armor (spawn x2) - River: Nothing! (spawn x1 boss) - Castle I: Nothing! (spawn x2) - Castle II: (spawn x1) Gold Helm (spawn x3) After loop 1 have - Gold Helm, Gold Armor, Gold Boots, Axe (makes sense, axe is very fast for ohme, need other gear anyways) - probably want gold helm for the spike section, although it's not strictly necessary Loop 2: - Village: Nothing! (spawn x4) - Hill: Nothing (spawn x1) - Slime: Nothing (spawn x1) - Fire: Nothing (spawn x1) - Imps: (spawn x2) Discus (spawn x4) - Clouds: (spawn x2) Fire (spawn x1) - Reapers: (spawn x3) Psycho Cannon

Routing ideas: - Get armor later - die a lot earlier - Dying in boss fights does not take very much time - set up the next chest easily - May still want to do setup in Village - Village, Reapers, and maybe Clouds are the best places to get equipment - Probably take a death at ohme because it is very fast to do so (or at the beginning of waterfall for the same reason) - The current route does not spawn very many chests -> plenty of room to move chest spawns into the run from the setup section - The current route does not know about (?) the chest at the start of clouds - Probably want to get psycho cannon before the 2nd ohme fight, although it's not a requirement - When is it convenient to die? - Village of Fire - Village of Slime sand pits (although this probably wastes time) - Boss fights - Need to die 3x to reset the count though! - Start of the "next level" where health is carried over - Probably want to get boots first - Probably want to get dagger early - This sounds dangerous - BUT not getting armor early makes deaths faster to take

Tentative Plan: This works: Village: 1234 Red Boots 5x 12345 Green Boots x 12345h Hill: 1 Gold Boots x 1234 Dagger 5 - leaving 5 with 2 lives in the next stage -> Maybe avoid spawning 1 chest e.g. 1245 leaving 1 2 lives -> Then do 1 ???? x 12345 leaving 1 1 life for imps - now after imps 1 have 6 items Definitely is 4-6-6

• Can re-trigger a boss chest after beating the boss!

from Fred_: Chest 1: Magician Chest 2: Magician <---
Chest 3: Magician | Chest 4: Equip Room | Chest 5: Magician | Chest 6: Magician | Chest 7: Health Room ---/ (Loops back around to chest 2) Game over resets to chest 1. Touching the chest trigger after a boss arena will increase the counter This means items will appear on chest 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, etc. if you do not die. After death, chest 4 will be the first item.

List of all (?) Chests in SMS Ghouls:

1. Village a) Jump to the left of spawn b) Pass the first stone building on the ground c) Jump from the gravestone d) Pass the second stone building e) Jump off the end of the building, or dboost off the guillotine 5

2. Hill a) Jump from the 3rd cross b) Pass the hill c) Jump into the first scary tree d) Jump right of the ladder e) Boss Chest f) Boss Chest b 6

3. Slime Village a) Jump from slimy pillar to the left b) Pass the hill after the slime pillar c) Above pit 1 d) Jump left from the right side of pit 2 right before the sand starts e) Boss Chest 5

4. Fire Village a) Jump to the low section b) Jump off of the high pillar slightly early c) Left of the top of the ladder d) Jump at the second background pillar e) Boss Chest f) Boss Chest b 6

5. Imps a) Stay right b) Go left c) Go right again d) Stay left after the choke point e) Clear the first gap f) Jump after going under the last green platform 6

6. Clouds / Tongues a) Jump at the spawning point b) Pass on the first moving platform c) Stay on the moving platform until the end of the first tongue d) Pass the second moving platforms e) Boss Chest f) Boss Chest b 6

7. Reapers a) Jump to the destroyed noop noop b) On the skeletal spine c) On the ramp after the spine d) Jump below the ladder to the right e) In the nook f) On the down ramp before the exit 6

8. River / Waterfall a) Past the second hand on the up-down roof-shaped river - NOTE: need to destroy this chest if you spawn it if you want BigFall to work b) Jump left from the hand below at the left-hand side c) Jump into the gap in the spiky balls on the down-left moving river d) At the bottom of the last river e) Boss Chest 5

9. Castle I a) On the ground at the start (jump left?) b) Jump down to the left after climbing the second ladder c) Jump to the right after the second arremer d) Walk left on the first layer of platforms e) Jump left on the second layer of platforms f) Jump left on the top layer (3rd layer) of platforms 6

10. Castle II a) On the ground at the start b) On the ground after the first astaroth c) Before 2nd astaroth fight d) Pass on the floor after the 2 astaroths e) Jump left on the platform right before going into the beelzebub room f) Boss Chest g) Boss Chest b 7

58 total chests -> 2 loops = 116 Need 82 chests -> can skip 34

Deathless route: V 5 H 4 2 S 4 1 F 4 2 I 6 T 4 2 R 5 W 4 2 C1 5 C2 5 2

Route Format: Stage Name | Chests to spawn, Chest to get the item from (*) |> # of chest spawns you end the stage with What item to get from the * chest.

Loop1: V | 1234 * 5 |> 1 Red Boots H | 1256 |> 5 S | 1 * 2345 |> 4 Dagger F | 12 * 3456 |> 4 Axe I | 12 * 3456 |> 4 Green Boots T | 23 * 456 |> 3 Red Armor R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Gold Boots W | 15 |> 4 BigFall - Intentional death for HP in Ohme C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 Green Armor C2 | 1234 * 67 |> 2 Gold Armor Have: 8 items out of 14 required Loop2: V | 1234 * 5 |> 1 Red Helmet H | 1256 |> 4 S | 1 * 2345 |> 4 Green Helmet F | 12 * 3456 |> 4 Gold Helmet I | 12 * 3456 |> 4 Discus T | 23 * 456 |> 3 Fireball / Torch R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Psycho Cannon W | 15 |> 4 C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 C2 | 1234 * 67 |

Alternative idea: V | 1234 * 5x, 12345x, 12345 |> 5 Red Boots, Dagger H | 1x, 1234 * 56 |> 2 Green Boots, Axe S | 1234 * 5 |> 1 Red Armor 1L F | 1256 |> 5 2L I | 1 * 23456 |> 5 Green Armor 4L T | 2 * 456 |> 3 Gold Boots 6L X R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Gold Armor W | 5 |> 3 (15 if you need hp then skip 2 - or intentional death at boss...) C1 | 123 * 46 |> 2 Red Helmet C2 | 1234 * 67 |> 2 Green Helmet 1L Loop2: V | 1234 * 5 |> 1 Gold Helmet 1L H | 1256 |> 4 2L S | 1 * 25 |> 2 Discus - Might be faster to skip this somehow and fight Gassuto with Fireball after fighting arremer and cerberus with axe... F | 156 |> 5 (Can also skip boss trigger for chest 6) I | 1 * 23456 |> 5 Fireball T | 2 * 456 |> 3 Psycho Cannon (intentional death at start for hp?) R | 123 * 56 |> 2 W | 15 |> 4 Intentional death in boss fight? C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 C2 | 1234 * 67 | At the end of loop 1, have Gold Armor, Green Helmet, Gold Shoes, and Axe

• only need 4 items after this! Advantages:
• Get psycho cannon earlier
• Fight Ohme the first time with 5 health! -- make the health route way better
• Get Axe earlier
• Get gold boots earlier Disadvantage:
• Farm for like 45 seconds

Alternative idea 2:

• Fight Arremer 2 and Cerberus 2 with Axe, Gassuto with Fireball
• Faster because you spawn fewer awkward chests
• Fighting Cerberus with discus takes forever
• Fighting Gassuto with fireball vs. psycho cannon seems about the same V | 1234 * 5x, 12345x, 12345 |> 5 Red Boots, Dagger H | 1x, 1234 * 56 |> 2 Green Boots, Axe S | 1234 * 5 |> 1 Red Armor 1L F | 1256 |> 5 2L I | 1 * 23456 |> 5 Gold Boots 4L T | 2 * 456 |> 3 Green Armor 6L X R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Gold Armor W | 5 |> 3 (15 if you need hp then skip 2 - or intentional death at boss...) C1 | 13 |> 5 C2 | 1 * 23467 |> 5 Red Helmet Loop2: V | 2 * 34 |> 2 Green Helmet H | 256 |> 5 S | 1 * 25 |> 2 Gold Helmet F | 156 |> 5 I | 1 * 23456 |> 5 Discus T | 2 * 456 |> 3 Fireball R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Psycho Cannon W | 15 |> 4 Intentional death in boss fight? C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 C2 | 1234 * 67 |

THIS IS THE CURRENT ROUTE V Alternative idea 2*:

• Fight Arremer 2 and Cerberus 2 with Axe, Gassuto with Fireball
• Faster because you spawn fewer awkward chests
• Fighting Cerberus with discus takes forever
• Fighting Gassuto with fireball vs. psycho cannon seems about the same V | 1234 * 5x, 12345x, 12345 |> 5 Red Boots, Dagger H | 1x, 1234 * 56 |> 2 Green Boots, Axe S | 125 |> 5 Red Armor F | 1 * 2456 |> 4 Red Armor I | 12 * 3456 |> 4 Gold Boots T | 23 * 456 |> 3 Green Armor R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Gold Armor W | 5 |> 3 (15 if you need hp then skip 2 - or intentional death at boss...) C1 | 13 |> 5 C2 | 1 * 23467 |> 5 Red Helmet Loop2: V | 2 * 34 |> 2 Green Helmet H | 256 |> 5 S | 1 * 25 |> 2 Gold Helmet F | 156 |> 5 I | 1 * 23456 |> 5 Discus T | 2 * 456 |> 3 Fireball R | 123 * 56 |> 2 Psycho Cannon W | 15 |> 4 Intentional death in boss fight? C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 C2 | 1234 * 67 |

Alternative idea 3:

• Can we cut out some stage 1 grinding? - Do not NEED gold armor for Ohme if you take an intentional death
• Lose a bit of time waiting for spikes in C3 without magic, but maybe it's ok?
• Axe on the first boss fight seems like it saves a lot of time over dagger though
• Putting off Green Boots for a while seems bad too
• Is this really safer than the deathless route? V | 1234 * 5x, 12345*, |> 0 Red Boots, Dagger - Saves 45s immediately H | 12356 |> 5 S | 1 * 2345 |> 4 Axe - Lose ~30s? (No idea) in sand zone F | 12 * 456 |> 3 Green Boots I | 123 * 456 |> 3 Red Armor - Red Armor gotten in the middle of imps is a bit scary T | 234 * 56 |> 2 Gold Boots R | 1235 * 6 |> 1 Green Armor W | 5 |> 2 C1 | 134 |> 5 C2 | 1 * 23467 |> 5 Red Helmet Loop2: V | 1 * 2345 |> 4 Gold Armor H | 12 * 56 |> 2 Green Helmet S | 125 |> 5 F | 1 * 256 |> 3 Gold Helmet I | 123 * 456 |> 3 Discus T | 234 * 56 |> 2 Fireball R | 1235 * 6 |> 2 Psycho Cannon W | 15 |> 4 Intentional death in boss fight? C1 | 13 * 46 |> 2 C2 | 1234 * 67 |

Stage 1 timings 123h4 * - ~28s ~25s to spawn it 123h4 * 5x - ~42s -> Chest 5 is 14s 1234 - ~65s 12345 * - ~80s 78s with another intentional death then get item 1 (but this is timing with the death)

Skull dboost in 1.2? - The ledge is too high to make it I think. Pig vomit dboost in 1.2? - You have to wait for the pig to walk over to the right where the slope is higher Don't go up early in 3.2? (Can you just jump over the skulls?) - Can ALMOST make it, but it doesn't quite seems like it. Fight both arremers in 5.2 at the same time? - Saves a little bit of time Intentionally dboost off of magicians / magician shots? - Doesn't seem like there's a place to use it. The ceilings in 5.1 are solid Weird Arremer despawn in C1?