Revision as of 09:37, 8 November 2024

Mighty_bomb_jack_(nes)

READ THIS FIRST

• There are many differences between the NTSC-U and -J versions of this game. This page is only applicable to the U-version.
• For a general description on how to get the best ending in this game, see here.
• Many of the suggested enemy manipulations on this page depend on how fast the player can execute breaking blocks. What's shown here is average speed. If you follow this guide, but don't get the desired enemy types to spawn, try to adjust the enemy manipulations by shifting the number of A-presses.
• The room solutions demonstrated on this page are sometimes a compromise between risk and reward. At the time of writing, there is generally no TAS solution that can't be replicated with enough practice and/or finger speed, so it's also recommended to check out the latest TASes (linked in additional resources).
• The enemy manipulations in the route described on this page will not work if they occur when the A-counter rolls over (see note for transformed enemies). By following the suggested route, the A-counter rolls over at the start of 12-1 (first visit) and in Belzebut's room. These locations are relatively far away from any enemy manipulations and are therefore of no consequence. However, it's still recommended to not excessively press A, other than when needed.

Mighty coin route discussion

As can be seen above, the most "expensive" mighty coins along the route cost ~1s.

Clearing the royal rooms without using any mighty coins

This section will discuss the possibility to get through the royal rooms without turning into green Jack. The route described on this page enters the king's room with two mighty coins. Skipping two coins along the route would save ~2s. The discussion will be based on tables for the different rooms, where the number '1' column represents enemy type spawning as the first enemy. And correspondingly for the other number columns. The assessment for the different scenarios will sometimes be subjective, so anyone interested in the possible time save should also try out the different possibilities for themselves to confirm how doable they are.

The king's room is cleared quickly enough that only the first two enemies matter.

The second enemy is typically four positions behind the first one in the enemy cycle (but could be three, depending on the execution). Based on the table content, the suggested manipulation in this room is therefore lobster/jellyfish as the first enemy and then a bird.

The queen's room is also short enough that we only need to consider the first two enemies.

The second enemy should transform three or four positions later in the enemy cycle than the first one. Other than mashing speed, this can also be impacted by aborting jumps by bumping into the ceiling. There is also quite a bit of liberty from the start of room until the first jump. This can be used to adjust the type of the first enemy. Looking in the table, it's mainly the first enemy that needs to be considered. Fireball, bird and bat all seem roughly equivalent.

The princess' room is likely going to be the most problematic of the royal rooms to get through without transforming to green Jack. Unless the room is cleared very quickly, all four enemies need to be considered.

While the enemies spawning come down to individual execution, one can expect typically four positions in the enemy cycle between each enemies, with three and five (?) also possible. Based on the assessment made, no combination looks great. By introducing various dodging or pauses, more possibilities open up. However, with "only" around 2s of potential time, the room to maneuver is limited.

Belzebut's is another problematic room without transforming to green Jack. All four enemies need to again be considered.

The second enemy is typically two positions down in the enemy cycle, while enemy three is typically four positions later and enemy four again four positions down. Bumping into the ceiling when breaking the first raven block can change this to some extent, but it's still difficult to find a solid configuration of enemy spawns for this room.

The discussion above is not conclusive. While it's possible to (relatively) consistently get through the king's and queen's rooms without turning into green Jack, the analysis has not come up with good enemy configurations to explore for the princess' and Belzebut's rooms.

S-coin route discussion

All time estimates in this section refer to "quick" TASing. So close to optimal movement with real-time strats, but not offset for average execution inaccuracies.

To achieve the best ending, you need to pass through the corridor system of round 7 (to collect the first crystal) and complete round 17. There is an S-coin in 7-4 and one in 17-1 that are along the route and clearly worth collecting. The discussion in this section will focus on which other three S-coins to collect.

There are in total 10 S-coins in the game (confirmed by code analysis, but missing a reference). Corridors 4, 8, 16 and 17 each have one coin, while corridors 5, 7 and 11 have two S-coins each. A quick look at the pyramid map should make it clear that corridors 4 and 8 are not interesting for this discussion. They're long corridors and only have one coin each. The discussion below will instead focus on the different possibilities the other corridors present.

1 - Corridor 5 (S-coins in 5-1 and 5-6) and S in 17-1 (death abuse)
https://vimeo.com/1027692641 (corridor 5)
https://vimeo.com/1027692678 (17-1)
~3250f +3 (maybe 4?) mighty coins for corridor 5 and ~650f for the S-coin in 17-1 (a death abuse in 5-1 would also have been possible, but costs ~850f and won't be considered here).
Total: ~3900f +3 (4?) mighty coins

2 - Corridor 11 (S-coins in 11-4 and 2S in 11-3)
https://vimeo.com/1027696099
Death abusing in 11-3 is considerably faster than making the detour for the S-coin in 7-10 (~500f vs ~1100f) and also faster than collecting a second S in 17-1 by death abuse (~650f).
Total: ~4250f +3 mighty coins

3 - Corridor 11 (2 S-coins in 11-3) and S in 7-10
https://vimeo.com/1027696126 (corridor 11)
https://vimeo.com/1027035970 (7-10)
~2850f +1 mighty coins (corridor 11) and ~1100f +2 mighty coins (7-10)
Total: ~3950f +3 mighty coins

4 - Corridor 16 (2 S-coins in 16-1) and S in 7-10
https://vimeo.com/1027036072 and https://vimeo.com/1027036094 (corridor 16)
https://vimeo.com/1027035970 (7-10)
~2650f +3 mighty coins (corridor 16) and ~1100f +2 mighty coins (7-10). Palace rooms 15 and 16 also play out differently. It favors going through corridor 16 by ~2s, compared to warping from palace room 15 to 16.
Total: ~3630f +5 mighty coins

5 - Exit the pyramid to be able to death abuse twice in 17-1 and S in 7-10
https://vimeo.com/1027696078 (exit the pyramid)
https://vimeo.com/1027035970 (7-10)
https://vimeo.com/1027692678 (17-1)
~2700f (exit the pyramid) +2 mighty coins, 2x650f (17-1) and ~1100f (7-10)
Total: ~5100f +2 mighty coins

6 - Extra life?
If an extra life could be gained along the route, the same S-coin in 17-1 could be collected three times (so same concept as #5). This would be much faster than entering one of the corridors earlier on (5, 11 or 16). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any easily available extra lives in the NTSC-U version along the mandatory route (= in corridor 1, 7 or 17). And collecting enough coins from transformed enemies and chests to get an E-ball also seems to be out of the question.

In summary, #4 is clearly faster than the other possibilities that have been investigated. The route on this page will therefore be based on this option.

Level-by-level description (with deaths and with palace room warps)

Room numbers refer to the pyramid map linked in additional resources.

Round 1

1-1 https://vimeo.com/1027035781
Palace room 1 https://vimeo.com/1027036282

Round 2

https://vimeo.com/1027036301

Round 3

https://vimeo.com/1027036313

Round 4

https://vimeo.com/1027036331
With a bit of practice, it should be possible to complete up to this round with the same number of A-presses every time. This can be used to determine the first enemy that will spawn in palace room 5 (you want to avoid a bat or fireball). An additional A-press before exiting PR4 is an easy way to mitigate if you think an unwanted enemy type will spawn in PR5.

Round 5

https://vimeo.com/1027036348
After collecting the last bomb, simply hold down-left to reach the exit. This does usually not work if it's a bat or fireball that started to the left. In that case, you can start by straight left for about blocks, press A and hold down-left. These movements can be done with all enemy types, but with the risk of hitting wall before the exit if the timing is a bit off.

Round 6

https://vimeo.com/1027036366
The palace room warping is intentionally broken here to enter the corridor system of round 7, where the 1st crystal is found.

Round 7

7-1 https://vimeo.com/1027035811
See the mighty coin section for a possibility to collect several additional coins in this room. With the route being used, they're however too costly to collect.

7-2 https://vimeo.com/1027035824
For minor optimizations, it's worth noting that Jack can stand partly inside the flames when braking the blocks down to the sphinx.

7-4 https://vimeo.com/1027035846

• The jumps around the S-coin are optimized as to both dispatch of the enemies as well as not to use more mighty coins than necessary
• Half-way through the room, the bomb counter will always reset (see under P-ball in Game Mechanics). The bomb counter will be important in palace room 10, so the number of bomb points need to be counted from the reset point. For this purpose, it's best to avoid the second bomb after the long hover as it can be difficult to know if it was collected before or after the bomb counter reset.
• The enemy spawning near the end seems to be subject to a fairly strict time window. If you're too fast or too slow, it won't appear. There is also the possibility for another enemy spawning right before the exit, which is going to be undodgeable (unless using more A-presses, but that will cost time in 7-5). The advantage of getting an enemy to spawn as shown in the video is that it can be used to predict the enemy type in 7-7 (and manipulate if necessary).
  
  

7-5 https://vimeo.com/1027035869

• The route shown here is designed to fully utilize Orange Jack's ability to break blocks without jumping on them. Some of the jumps are therefore unoptimal, but are overall necessary to optimize the room.
• If a mummy spawns and transforms near the exit before Jack leaves the room, it can be used to predict the type of the first enemy that transforms in 7-7 (5 positions later in the enemy cycle).

7-7 https://vimeo.com/1027035888

• If an enemy spawned at the end of 7-4 and the route shown on this page was used, the first enemy in 7-7 is four types later in the enemy cycle. For example, in the videos shown on this page, a lobster spawned at the end of 7-4. The bird is then four positions later in the cycle. An optional A-press at the start of 7-7 resulted in a bat spawning.
• You can compensate by up to 2 A-presses at the start of 7-7 without losing time
• Unless the blocks are broken very quickly, it's recommended to avoid lobster, fireball and bird (as the first enemy)
• How to deal with the different enemy types:
  • Bat - can be ignored, this is the best case
  • Lobster - take a detour over the top platform
  • Jellyfish - Either wait briefly after collecting the crystal to get the jellyfish out of the way or land on the chests and then make another jump
  • Skull - same as jellyfish
  • Fireball - big jump all the way to the right wall before descending to the exit
  • Bird - can be easy or block the path to the exit, depending on how fast you break the blocks. The birds can therefore be unpredictable.

7-8 https://vimeo.com/1027035906

7-9 (1st visit) https://vimeo.com/1027035928
Transforming into green form too early adds a short animation that costs time when entering the door to 7-10.

7-10 https://vimeo.com/1027035970

• There is a hidden mighty coin on the right side that can be collected instead of the one in 10-1. This is in theory be slightly faster, but relies more on execution. You need to time landing on a hidden block, then break it quickly and finally efficiently collect it mid-air on the way down to the exit.
• With the route shown here, fireballs can be in the way when jumping to the exit. Provided all A-presses are as demonstrated here, the enemy type in 7-10 is one position later in cycle than the one in 7-7 (the crystal room). This means a skull spawn in 7-7 will result in fireballs in 7-10.

7-9 (2nd visit) https://vimeo.com/1027035948

Round 10

10-1 https://vimeo.com/1027035994
The important thing to remember in this room is to make sure the bomb counter is 8 when entering the palace room. The bombs collected in the previous rooms should be pretty consistent, so the ones collected in 10-1 should also be the same. But if a bomb was missed or an additional was collected in the previous rooms, it's possible to compensate in 10-1. Just keep in mind the bomb order as some bomb(s) collected in 10-1 will be worth 2 bomb points.

Palace room 10 https://vimeo.com/1027036389
Getting the P-ball along the way is nice as it avoids some close enemy encounters (and a bit of dodging will likely be required), but it's not strictly necessary. Occasionally, it has been observed that the P-ball collides with one of the lower platforms and bounces off away from Jack. The reason for this has not been investigated, but is uncommon enough that it shouldn't have a big influence on the success rate in this room.

Round 11

Palace room 11 https://vimeo.com/1027036414
It's in theory very slightly faster to collect the bombs in order '1', '24', '23', '12', '11' and '13' instead of as shown here (reference made to numbering of bombs here). It does however require slightly better execution. There is also a cap on how fast you can clear the room. If you're too fast, the last mummy (in the upper right) will start walking right, blocking the access to the three bombs on the top right platform.

Round 12

12-1 (1st visit) https://vimeo.com/1027036024
Once blue Jack has been activated, it's important to not use more A-presses than what's shown here or the upgrade will wear out before you upgrade to orange Jack

Labyrinth 12 https://vimeo.com/1027237958
Most of these rooms are uneventful, so the whole labyrinth has been put into one video, but there is still quite a lot going on.

• Take careful note of every A-press throughout the whole labyrinth to avoid Jack's upgrades to expire too quickly and not to desync the enemy manipulation
• There appears to be two enemy setups in 12-4. Either two enemies will spawn and transform on the floor in the middle of the room or an enemy will spawn and transform in the ceiling near the end of the room. It hasn't been investigated what determines setup. In this video, the former occurred. It's recommended to jump in roughly the same locations (so two big jumps) regardless of the enemies. This prevents issues with other enemies that can spawn along the floor and also makes it easier to keep track of the A-presses.
• The first event happens in 12-4. The transformed enemy(ies) provides information that can be used to manipulate the enemies in the crystal room. With reference to either the transformed enemy in the ceiling or the second enemy on the floor (lobster in this video), a compensation of A-presses can be done in for example 12-29. The number of compensated A-presses depends on how fast the blocks are broken in the crystal room, so each player should adjust to their expected execution in that room. Here is an example of "moderate" execution in the crystal room:
  • Bat - 2
  • Lobster - 1
  • Jellyfish - 0
  • Skull - 5
  • Fireball - 4
  • Bird - 3
• If no enemy transformed in 12-4 (or unintentional A-presses), you can also get information about the enemy cycle in for example 12-20 (the sphinx room, first enemy) and 12-23 (the enemy doesn't always transform before Jack has reached the exit though). There are more chances of transformed enemies along the way to the crystal room, but the advantage with these particular two is that they are on the same cycle as in the previous point, so the number of "compensation A-presses" is the same.
• Optional bombs were collected in 12-15 and 12-28 (other options exist) to set up a favorable P-ball spawn in palace room 12
• Timing the jump in room 12-20 can be made easier by observing how far the screen has scrolled after collecting the sphinx. The following screenshot shows roughly how far the screen needs to scroll before it's possible to jump to the exit:

• Just like in 12-20, timing the jump in 12-18 can be made easier by looking at the screen scrolling:

• Just like in 12-4, there are different enemy configurations possible in 12-23. By holding down and left from the start of the room until reaching the floor, the enemy configuration as shown in the video seems to be consistent. Not having any enemies on the floor matters if you e.g. are on the enemy cycle that doesn't need any compensation A-presses.
• A final check to make sure the enemy cycle is correct before the crystal room is the enemy spawning in the ceiling near the exit of 12-23. It should be a skull (unless the execution in the crystal room is considerably faster/slower than what's shown in the video).
• The death animation in the crystal room impacts the time it takes for screen to transition. The best case is running into an enemy. The worst is jumping into an enemy, which usually results in Jack being hurled up in the air and costing time (about a second). The way the birds move makes them suitable to die against and is (part of) the reason for the enemy manipulation set up earlier on.

12-1 (2nd visit) https://vimeo.com/1027036051
This room can be done consistently with always the same number of A-presses. Since the enemy cycle is known from the labyrinth, this is used to set up an enemy manipulation in palace room 13.

Palace room 12 https://vimeo.com/1027036436
Just like the previous room, the number of A-presses to clear this room can easily be routed.

Round 13

https://vimeo.com/1027036457
The lower right corner is random with knowledge at the time of writing, depending on the bats' movements. Some additional dodging might therefore be necessary. There is no advantage to keep track of the enemy cycle in the coming rooms, so any additional A-presses after the enemies in this room have transformed don't matter.

Room 14

https://vimeo.com/1027036478

Round 15

https://vimeo.com/1027036495
The palace room warp is not used and the room can therefore be cleared faster than in the normal ending run.

Round 16

16-1 https://vimeo.com/1027036072

• The death is taken on the flames to the left as opposed to jumping straight up. While this is slightly more out of the way, the death animation is faster that way.
• The jump to the exit needs to be a neutral jump (not holding up or down) or else it's not possible to reach the exit with just one mid-air A-press.

16-2 https://vimeo.com/1027036094

• It's possible to reach the third mighty coin with one less hover, but requires slightly tighter execution
• The bombs collected half-way through the room are optional. They will make the P-ball spawn a bit earlier in palace room 16, which doesn't make a huge difference, but is certainly no disadvantage either.
• An enemy (skull) barely managed to transform near the end before it scrolled off screen. Knowing the enemy cycle is important for manipulating the enemies in round 17. Note that clearing the room too quickly will change the spawns (or timings thereof).

Palace room 16 https://vimeo.com/1027036521

• There are several alternative room solutions by starting to clear the center section first. Some solutions are very close in time to the one shown, but generally puts Jack closer to enemies and therefore could be considered less consistent.
• Dropping down to the floor at the start is slightly unoptimal, but moving to the right too quickly will trigger the first mummy to walk right instead of left, making the jump to the top tricky to pull off.
• Depending on the enemy type that spawned in 16-2, compensate with the following number of A-presses at the start of the room:
  • Bat - 4
  • Lobster - 3
  • Jellyfish - 2
  • Skull - 1
  • Fireball - 0
  • Bird - 5

Round 17

17-1 (1st visit) https://vimeo.com/1027036125

• With the A-manipulation from palace room 16, the first enemy spawning in 17-1 will be a skull. Manipulating the enemy type in this room isn't strictly necessary, but a skull will always bounce away from Jack, giving room to dig down to the sphinx.
• Landing on the platform before the exit and jumping to the exit is part of a manipulation that sets up the King's room with the correct enemy types.

17-2 https://vimeo.com/1027036171

17-1 (2nd visit) https://vimeo.com/1027036150

King's room https://vimeo.com/568132534

• Depending on how fast you break the raven block, the first enemy will transform into a lobster or jellyfish (or skull if even faster). Regardless, the jump to the exit should be safe. Some of the other enemy types can pose problems so it's important that the enemy manipulation from palace room 16 carries on all the way to this room.
• While this is the last enemy manipulation in the run, the upgrade management for the upcoming rooms is tight and puts a strict limit on the A-presses.

Queen's room https://vimeo.com/1027036538
Breaking the first block by bumping head in the ceiling three times to abort the jumps was done to conserve A-presses and extend the number of jumps as orange Jack.

Princess' room https://vimeo.com/1027036264

Belzebut's room https://vimeo.com/1027036201

• The hitbox of the mighty coin can be a bit unintuitive and Jack can overlap it quite a bit without collecting it. Having two jumps as orange Jack should mitigate this risk.
• Activating green Jack after the second jump gives plenty of time to reach the exit before the coins revert to enemies. Activating green Jack after only one jump could be slightly tighter if there is an enemy blocking the exit and the execution isn't fast enough. However, doing so would liberate two A-presses that could be used in the queen's room (instead of bumping into the ceiling when breaking the first raven block in that room).