Any% (15 card) - Exarion - July 6th 2019

Properly formatted version: https://pastebin.com/4sFW2G8N

This is a basic guide on how to speedrun Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories with the 15-card drop mod. In the future I plan to make a more comprehensive guide. Here is a link to download the game: https://www.mediafire.com/file/6dnbt49lt455ld2/15+card+mod.7z
 
A good guide for beating the original game, which has some useful tips for this mod as well, can be found here: https://www.speedrun.com/yugiohfm/guide/o9dax
 
If you haven't played FM before, definitely do it once casually to learn the basic mechanics such as Guardian Stars and fusions, familiarize yourself with the cards, and memorize the basic steps required to progress through the story of the game.
 
USEFUL LINKS
- Card overview: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3lqe1p71svugaan/Forbidden%20Memories%20-%20Card%20Overview%20v2.1.zip?dl=0
- Rank calculator + useful passwords + drop/duelist info: http://www.mediafire.com/download/03r019t4991dkoo/Forbidden+Memories+Tools.zip
- Win rates per duel: https://pastebin.com/bZeR6JUR
 
GENERAL TIPS
- The main strategy for beating the game is to fuse for and power up Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (2800 ATK/2100 DEF, Pluto/Moon). You can power it up with an equip or, in some cases, the field spells Umi and Mountain. The fusion is usually <1600 ATK Dragon + Plant/Rock/Water + <1600 ATK Thunder. Sometimes it's 1600+ ATK Dragon + <1600 ATK Thunder.
- Your final deck on most runs should look something like this: 15 dragons, 9 thunders, 5 plants/rocks, 1 Raigeki, 3 Umi, 5 equips, 2 additional monster removal cards (Widespread Ruin, Dragon Capture Jar, Crush Card). If you're just concerned with beating the game as fast as possible on average, rather than going for a good PB run, you'll want more equips and monster removal, and no Umis.
- The best cards in the game (by far) are Megamorph (+1000 ATK/DEF equip) and Meteor B. Dragon (3500/2000, Mars/Sun, takes Dragon Treasure). However, about 65% of runs won't have Megamorph, and about 90% of runs won't have MBD.
- In this guide, I will refer to opposing duelists as having normal and hard modes. Normal mode basically means they play their most common strong monsters. Hard mode means they play their less common (5-20%) strong monsters. The AI will never play a monster other than the strongest one in their hand.
- If you want a rank of SA-POW, try to use 12 or fewer cards (so you have 28+ cards left on the turn you win). If you want a BCD rank, use 13 or more cards and do one of the following: fuse 5+ times, fuse 1-4 times and equip 1+ time, fuse 1-4 times and use a pure magic (Raigeki, Umi, etc.), or fuse 1-4 times and take 1001+ damage
- The fastest method of skipping text is holding Square and mashing X.
 
MOST IMPORTANT FUSIONS (THTD)
- Dragon + Thunder (if one is 1600+) = Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon (2800/2100, Pluto/Moon | takes all 5 equips)
- Dragon + Thunder = Thunder Dragon (1600/1500, Pluto/Jupiter | takes Beast Fangs, Invigoration, Dragon Treasure and Horn of Light)
- Dragon + Plant = B. Dragon Jungle King (2100/1800, Jupiter/Neptune | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs and Dragon Treasure)
- Dragon + Rock = Stone D. (2000/2300, Uranus/Mars | takes Beast Fangs, Invigoration, Dragon Treasure and Horn of Light)
- Dragon + Zombie (if one is 1700-1950) = Curse of Dragon (2000/1500, Saturn/Pluto | takes Beast Fangs, Dragon Treasure and Horn of Light)
- Dragon + Machine = Metal Dragon (1850/1700, Mars/Moon | takes Beast Fangs, Dragon Treasure and Horn of Light)
- Dragon + Water (if one is 1600-1750) = Kairyu-shin (1800/1500, Neptune/Mars | takes Beast Fangs, Invigoration and Dragon Treasure)
- Dragon + Warrior (if one is 1300+) = Sword Arm of Dragon (1750/2030, Uranus/Moon | takes Beast Fangs and Dragon Treasure)
- Dragon + Zombie (if one is 1600-1650) = Skelgon (1700/1900, Moon/Pluto | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs and Dragon Treasure)
- Dragon + Water = Spike Seadra (1600/1300, Pluto/Mercury | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs and Dragon Treasure)
- Dragon + Zombie + Dragon Zombie (1600/0, Moon/Pluto | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs, Invigoration and Dragon Treasure)
 
MOST IMPORTANT FUSIONS (NON-THTD)
- Winged Beast + Pyro (if one is 1300+) = Crimson Sunbird (2300/1800, Mars/Mercury)
- Female + Rock = Mystical Sand (2100/1700, Mercury/Saturn | takes Dark Energy and Invigoration)
- Animal beast + Pyro = Flame Cerebrus (2100/1800, Mars/Pluto | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs and Invigoration)
- Beast + monster with wings = Garvas (2000/1700, Jupiter/Pluto | takes Beast Fangs)
- Female + Beast = Nekogal #2 (1900/2000, Jupiter/Uranus | takes Beast Fangs and Horn of Light)
- Female + Plant = Queen of Autumn Leaves (1800/1500, Jupiter/Moon)
- Beast + Plant = Flower Wolf (1800/1400, Sun/Jupiter | takes Dark Energy and Beast Fangs)
- Warrior + Machine = Cyber Soldier (1500/1700, Moon/Mars)
- Thunder + Spellcaster = The Immortal of Thunder (1500/1300, Pluto/Sun | takes Dark Energy and Invigoration)
- Thunder + Water = Bolt Escargot (1400/1500, Pluto/Jupiter | takes Dark Energy, Beast Fangs and Invigoration)
- Warrior + Plant = Bean Soldier (1400/1300, Jupiter/Uranus | takes Horn of Light)
 
DECK EDITS
- As you win better cards, remove these cards (in order of priority): Insects, Beast-Warriors, Fiends, Reptiles, Winged Beasts (unless many Pyros), normal Fairies, fake Beasts, Dinosaurs, Fish, non-Dark Spellcasters, Warriors, Waters, Machines
- Add these cards (in order of priority): Dragons, Thunders, Beasts, Females, Pyros, Rocks, Plants. Try not to overload on any of these (except Dragons and Thunders)
- Once your deck has 7 dragons and 4 thunders (can also be 8/3 or 6/5), remove all monsters that cannot be used to fuse THTD
 
ANCIENT EGYPT (part 1)
- Run away from Simon, then check your starting deck. It's random, with 37 monsters, one field spell, one equip, and one of Raigeki/Dark Hole. You are looking for Raigeki and one of the following equips: Dark Energy, Beast Fangs, Invigoration, Dragon Treasure, Horn of Light. These all work on Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon. It is also helpful to have a few dragons and/or thunders in your deck, but on average you'll only get about one of each, so don't sweat it.
- After getting an acceptable starting deck, go back to Simon, and choose the second option both times. Then go through the cutscene to Heishin, and lose to him as fast as possible.
 
WORLD TOURNAMENT
- See the chart below for notes on each duel
- Before dueling Weevil, go to Free Duel and farm Rex or Duel Master K. You want to farm Rex if you have 0 dragons, and DMK if you have 0 thunders. Continue once you have 2 of each, 1/3 or 3/1. DMK's deck is just a copy of yours.
- Once you have 25 star chips, buy LALA Li-oon (password 09430387). Once you have another 30 star chips, buy Mega Thunderball (password 21817254)
- Save before Weevil, Keith, Pegasus and Isis
- Before dueling Kaiba, you want at least 4 equips. You can farm these from Pegasus BCD (1/64 per card), Isis BCD (1/64) or Pegasus A-TEC (1/12.5). Only A-TEC Pegasus if you have at least 7 dragons and a trap.
- Other useful cards to win are Widespread Ruin (Isis BCD, Pegasus A-TEC), Dragon Capture Jar (Pegasus A-TEC) and Crush Card (very rarely on Pegasus A-TEC)
- A-TECs are a duel rank that require many actions to be taken during the duel. This video by GFC is an excellent tutorial for them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXxxyMW4sn4
 
DUELIST     NORMAL MODE     HARD MODE                   DESIRED RANK        BEST DROPS
Rex         900 ATK         1350 ATK (Clown Zombie)     SA-POW              Crawling Dragon #2, Dragon Zombie, 2 thunders
Weevil      1500-1600       2200 ATK (Jirai Gumo)       Either              Tripwire Beast, Blackland Fire Dragon
Mai         1800            2000                        SA-POW              The Immortal of Thunder, Bolt Escargot, 2 dragons
Keith       2000 DEF        2600 ATK (Zoa)              SA-POW              The Immortal of Thunder, Bolt Escargot, Dragon Zombie, CD2
Shadi       Varies          1800 ATK                    BCD                 BEAST FANGS, several small dragons/thunders
Bakura      3000 DEF        --                          BCD                 Invisible Wire*
Pegasus     2300 ATK        3500 ATK (Meteor B. Dragon) A-TEC (if trap)     MEGAMORPH (!), BRIGHT CASTLE, DRAGON TREASURE, WSR, DCJ
                                                        BCD                 DRAGON TREASURE, Umi, ATH*, Oscillo Hero #2, many dragons
Isis        2250 ATK        3200 ATK (B. Skull Dragon)  BCD                 DRAGON TREASURE, WSR, Umi, many dragons
Kaiba       3000 ATK/DEF    --                          BCD                 DCJ, many dragons
 
WSR = Widespread Ruin
ATH = Acid Trap Hole
DCJ = Dragon Capture Jar
 
*only useful for A-TECs, not beating the final duelists
 
ANCIENT EGYPT (part 2)
- See the charts below for notes on each mage duel
- Once you have another 30 star chips, buy Kaminarikozou (password 15510988)
- After you arrive, go left one. In the cutscene with the man, choose the second option, then the third, then go back to the town
- In the town, go left one to initiate the cutscene with Jono. Decline to duel him or Tea, then go left one to duel Mage Soldier
- After Mage Soldier, search the room, then return to the King's Valley
- After Seto leaves in the cutscene, select "Return" to exit the area
- Do the mages in this order: Ocean, Mountain, Desert, Forest, Meadow. Save before Mountain, Forest and Meadow.
- After Desert, save, exit and re-enter the Hiding Card Shop, and select the Duel Grounds instead of the Card Shop. Here you will duel Labyrinth Mage and Seto 2, which allows you to skip dueling Labyrinth Mage before every attempt at beating Final 6
- After defeating all the mages, save and go to the Vast Shrine to duel the Final 6. If your deck has fewer than 7 thunders, fewer than 4 equips, or 4 equips and no cards besides Raigeki that can destroy Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, go back and farm for some of these cards.
 
DUELIST             NORMAL MODE     HARD MODE                   DESIRED RANK        BEST DROPS
Mage Soldier        1500 ATK/DEF    2200 ATK (Jirai Gumo)       BCD                 DARK ENERGY, Tripwire Beast, Koumori Dragon
Ocean Mage          2600 (in Umi)   N/A                         SA-POW              Sea King Dragon, Kairyu-shin, 2 small thunders
Secmeton            3000 ATK/DEF    N/A                         Either              THUNDER DRAGON, Kairyu-shin (SA-POW)
Mountain Mage       2500-2600       N/A                         SA-POW              METEOR B. DRAGON (rare), Skull Knight (rare)
Atenza              3100-3300 ATK   3700 ATK (B. Skull Dragon)  Either              Several small dragons/thunders
Desert Mage         2700 ATK        3500 DEF (Labyrinth Wall)   SA-POW              Sword Arm of Dragon, Dragon Zombie, CD2, thunders
Martis              2500-2700 ATK   3500 DEF (Labyrinth Wall)   SA-POW              Zoa, thunders
Labyrinth Mage      2800/3000       3750 ATK (Gate Guardian)    SA-POW              Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, many thunders
Seto 2              3750 ATK (GG)   N/A                         Just win            B. Dragon Jungle King
Forest Mage         2500-2700       N/A                         Either              Kaminarikozou, LALA Li-oon
Anubisius           2950-3100 ATK   4000 ATK (PUGM)             Just win            Tripwire Beast
Meadow Mage         2400-2700 ATK   3500 DEF (Mill. Shield)     SA-POW              METEOR B. DRAGON, Skull Knight, Dark Magician
Kepura              4250 ATK (GG)   N/A                         Just win            Kairyu-shin
 
DUELIST             PLAY 2800 THTD in       3300        3800
Mage Soldier        Doesn't matter          --          --
Ocean Mage          Moon                    Moon        Moon
Secmeton            Moon                    Moon        Moon
Mountain Mage       Doesn't matter          --          --
Atenza              Pluto                   Pluto       Pluto
Desert Mage         Moon                    Moon        Moon
Martis              Moon                    Moon        Moon
Labyrinth Mage      Moon                    Moon        Moon
Seto 2              Pluto                   Pluto       Pluto
Forest Mage         Moon                    Moon        Moon
Anubisius           Moon                    Moon        Moon
Meadow Mage         Pluto                   Moon        Moon
Kepura              Pluto                   Moon        Moon
 
FINAL 6
- See the chart below for notes on each mage duel
- You can't save between these duelists. If you don't defeat them all consecutively, you must start again from the first duelist.
- Rank doesn't matter here, and generally it's much important to win than to have fast duels. You should be tossing your entire hand on many turns, only keeping the ones that might be necessary to win, such as equips and Raigeki
- Sebek: Just make a 3300 THTD, either with an equip or Umi/Mountain
- Neku: Make a 3300 THTD with an equip, or set Umi on the first turn if you have THTD in your hand, then activate it before your turn 2 attack. If you use Umi from your hand, he will almost always Yami back.
- Take out any Mountains
- Heishin: Try to make a 3800 THTD, or 3300 if he leads with B. Skull Dragon or weaker. Do not play Umi turn 1 unless you can't play a monster, as he will often Megamorph a monster from his hand on an empty field. If you start with Umi, keep it for a potential turn 2 play. If you start with Raigeki, set it (he might destroy it with Harpie's Feather Duster, but this is better than waiting to use the Raigeki, and then getting Megamorphed to death)
- Put in any Dragon Capture Jars
- Seto: He leads the 4500 ATK Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon 57% of the time. If you see it, toss everything except monster removal cards or Megamorph. If you draw Widespread Ruin on a turn other than the first, be careful about setting it; he's about 65% likely to use Harpie's Feather Duster. You will probably lose if he leads BEUD. If you manage to avoid or destroy one, try to make a 3800 THTD. He doesn't have Megamorph, so Umi is safe to play.
- DarkNite: Usually a 3300 THTD is enough, but he leads the 3500 ATK Meteor B. Dragon 28% of the time, and rarely he will do the same Megamorph play as Heishin. If you don't destroy his first monster, he will usually set several traps. Two of his four traps are useless; the useful two are Reverse Trap, which reverses the boost you get from any equip, and Widespread Ruin. Be smart around both traps. If you lead THTD with no equip or Umi, play it in Moon to get over the 2900 ATK Cosmo Queen.
- Nitemare: His deck is 100% monsters. He will lead BEUD 28% of the time. But usually he will play a 3500 or 3750 ATK monster, and you'll need to make a 3800 THTD quickly. Widespread Ruin is great to have here, since he doesn't have Harpie's Feather Duster.
 
DUELIST             NORMAL MODE                 HARD MODE           PLAY 2800 THTD in       3300        3800
Sebek               3000 ATK/DEF                N/A                 Moon                    Moon        Moon
Neku                3000-3150 ATK (in Yami)     N/A                 Pluto                   Pluto       Pluto
Heishin             3750 ATK                    N/A                 Moon                    Pluto       Pluto
Seto                4500 ATK                    N/A                 Pluto                   Pluto       Pluto
DarkNite            2900-3200 ATK               3500 ATK (MBD)      Moon                    Pluto       Pluto
Nitemare            3500-3750 ATK               4500 ATK (BEUD)     Moon                    Pluto       Pluto

Video on why HLE Bios is Banned for FM speedruns on SRC.

Hey everyone, I went ahead and made a quick YouTube video on why the moderation team and I have decided to enforce a new rule to the SRC leaderboard and that rule is in regards to the use of HLE bios on ePSXe ver. 2.0.0. I hope this video will answer everyone's questions on why this was enforced in the first place because of a recent run submission that we received that used HLE bios. Thank you and have a good one folks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wadutvDa4FU

Exarion

BadNewsNate

Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories Category Extensions

PlayStation

PaleYuki

Layoso

gui93

DEX888_

USA / NTSC

No RNG Manip

RNG Manip

5 Card

15 Card

15 Card, x15 Starchips

Original

RNG Manipulation

Drop count

Pocketstation

All VODs submitted to the leaderboards that are dated after 15-December will need to include the cutscene after Nitemare to include saving at the credits.

Name	Author
Any% (15 card) - Exarion - July 6th 2019	Exarion 5 years ago
Video on why HLE Bios is Banned for FM speedruns on SRC.	BadNewsNate 3 years ago