Prince of Persia (SMS) speedrun in

Played on emulator (BizHawk 1.11.6) @ 60Hz. Default game options (60min limit, 3 health).

So... I decided to come back to SMSPOP to see if I could improve my 3.5-year-old 15m19s PB. No problem! It's gone through quite a significant reroute, but it's still the same ridiculous speedrun. Enjoy!

For info on all the glitches and basic strats, you can read the description on my previous run, here:    • Prince of Persia (SMS) Speedrun in 15:19 *...  

In short, all the level transitions are skipped using precisely timed button presses. Floor glitches, door glitches, and screen wraps only depend on your exact screen position -- if you can align yourself correctly, they're very easy to do. Also, some choppers won't hit you if you have good positioning.


REROUTE NOTES

To cut significant time off the run -- aside from the obvious new floor glitches at 2:07 & 12:28 -- I routed in several precise run-stops. The way the run mechanics work, you can only stop at certain distances from your starting point (see, it's based on the character animations). Some of these have a 4-frame window, requiring you to release the d-pad within about 67ms.

If you release too soon, there's generally a slower backup strat to regain your alignment. If you release too late, it's usually pretty bad. Sometimes you can recover if you immediately follow up with a slow turnaround, but there are a few cases that will end in death or otherwise kill the run.

Here are the timestamps for run-stops in this particular run: 1:36, 1:52, 2:52, 4:53, 5:03, 8:41, 10:23, 13:12, 14:14.

To curb the difficulty and remove a lot of the RNG factor, a few of the guard fights were simplified. If you compare this run to the old run, you'll see now I rarely step towards a guard after striking them. I rely more on timing than on sheer luck of whether the guard will block. As a result, I may lose a small amount of time because I'm not gaining ground during a fight (though I make up for this through better positioning coming out of the fight).

Most of the guard fights are manipulated to some degree. You can strike the guard at certain points in their animation so they will not be able to block. It mostly depends on your relative position. There's a bit of variance in how quickly the guards attack. For example, the guards I fight in level 2 can delay quite a bit before attacking. So, while I can guarantee a hit if I attack at the right time, these fights heavily depend on reaction time.


TIME TO SAVE

Only lost ~2s at the end of level 7, despite how bad it looked.
Messed up a run at the start of level 8 that could've saved ~0.75s.
Screwed up a run-stop on level 9 but saved it with a turnaround and only lost ~0.5s.
Missed a precise turnaround on level 11 before the floor glitch, so lost ~0.75s.
Lost ~1.5s on the final level only to perform the best glitch in the game! (didn't need that time anyway :P)
Might be able to save ~1s with better movement and fights, or maybe ~1.5s if everything goes perfectly.

So, this run could definitely go under 14m55s. Cutting 3 seconds off at this point is realistic but depends if I want to grind it out. I have other stuff I want to do now, but I may put a few attempts in here and there just to stay fresh. ;)

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