Solomon's_key

Category description

This category aims to complete the game as quickly as possible by collecting all the golden wings. None of the game's hidden items and therefore only gets the normal ending.

The terminology of the game mechanics page will be used below.

Fireball management

Given that fireballs are scarce, cost time to both grab and launch and how they need to be shot in the order they are picked up, fireball management is a huge task when routing this game. Below is a document that shows which fireballs are collected and where they are used in the route described in this section. There are also some comments about time saved by fireballs in the different rooms and how much time they take to collect.

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Level-by-level description

VIDEOS WITH AN ASTERISK (*) USE FASTER STRATS THAN IN THE CURRENT SDA-RUN

Room 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCeAIyJtLhc
The way of collecting the key and drop down to the lower level is the fastest solution in theory (tas). However, to get it done as fast as possible, you need turn from right to left as quickly as possible, which can't be done in practice with a d-pad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz84WKbgNLw *
This solution is in practice a few frames faster for real-time speedruns, but also a bit riskier because of the edge jump.

Room 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQHB2k_zuU

Room 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RznY8Cdog8E
Not too seldom, the item dropped by the fireballed gargoyle will get stuck inside the block. The game reacts by slowly pushing it to the right. If this happens, it allows for creating a block where the gargoyle stood and make an edge jump from it. It's 10-15 frames faster than what's shown here.

Room 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJYm0McO474
The brief halt on top of the grey block is intentional in order to avoid the sparkball below the key. The sparkball to the right is also a threat. The fastest solution is achieved by landing as early as possible and then create the second block as early as possible. There can almost be half a second of difference between a slow, but still somewhat correctly clearing the room, and playing it as close as possible to the sparkballs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfDesiyTDbY
This solution is ~0.3 seconds slower than above (depending on how tight it's played). The extra fireball can be used in room 8, where it saves ~1.3 seconds. So in total one second faster for the cost of two running edge jumps.

Room 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmQZ77BsVo
The second gargoyle (from the bottom) on the left side sometimes start a little out of sync (10-20% of the time?). The fireball will then be shot a little later than what's shown here, making this solution impossible. The workaround for when that happens is to quickly turn around and create a block. If done correctly, this won't slow down the solution by much. There is also some variation to the top right gargoyle. It will sometimes shoot the fireball a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later. This also depends on which way it starts walking when the room begins. The result of bad rng is that Dana has to wait a few tenths of a seconds longer for the fireball to pass by overhead, but the room solution doesn't change in that case.

Room 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mtHtLVGiA *
This solution is ideal, but requires precise inputs. After blocking the second ghost, Dana has to stop for at least 5 frames before dropping down to the ledge below (otherwise he will collide with the ghost). In order to avoid colliding with the ghost before dropping down to floor level, Dana can not to have lost more than (around?) 15 frames in total compared to frame perfect execution. So in total there is a window of (around?) 10 frames dropping down to floor level. This might sound much, but is a bit tricky to pull off. The best is of course to make the first halt as close to 5 frames as possible. The timing for this is very similar to the "drops to a 1 height space". If you master the latter, it will be easier to consistently make a halt for close to 5 frames. The rest is just getting the cornering as tight as possible and this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0QmJM-d2w
This solution is much easier than above, but is also slightly over a second slower.

Room 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSuwLaQTWl4 *
There are easier ways without the edge jump to get through this room, but they are several seconds slower.

Room 13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKbTNBzwl6o
Shooting the ghost reduces enemy slowdown and allows for a one second faster solution than without using it (both because of having the sparkballs in better positions and because of not having to spend time dodging the ghost). It might be tempting to pick up one of the orange jars. This prevents more saramandors spawning for a while because of the game's sprite limit. However, this will also increase the lag and ends up wasting time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPF4NMsDi_I
This solution without using a fireball on the ghost is possibly keyboard-emu only. Testing showed that climbing the right side after picking up the key was very difficult on console. The saramandors spawned too early for passing through. There are other alternatives to circumvent this, but none found that isn't a second slower than with using a fireball. In summary, unless a consistent way is found to complete the room as fast as shown in this video, the time gained in room 7 would be cancelled here in room 13. The result would only be adding a bit of difficulty.

Room 14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSoMhKld3v4
One of the harder rooms. Both because of the running edge jump and turning around correctly after picking up the key. If you tap too long on the d-pad, Dana falls down. After collecting the key, you need to press right for 3, 4 or 5 frames. Less and Dana will hit the head when trying to jump up. More and Dana will fall down.
The beginning is intentionally not optimized. If you go too fast, you'll run into the ghost when trying to cross the middle. The part around the key also usually has to be slowed down intentionally (just a tiny bit). If you're too fast, the Saramandor will not have passed to left before the block is destroyed.

Room 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2DnFfrAr8Q *
Pretty safe solution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UarWD-_vvM *
A little over half a second faster than above, but a great deal riskier. The position of the Saramandor when you pick up the key is important to have it stop and breath fire on top of the breakable block. It would have been convenient if it would have been possible to observe the position of the Saramandor when picking up the key. Unfortunately, since the Saramandor is in the middle of the fire-breathing animation makes it difficult to predict if the timing is right or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4LdEbydeC8 *
Another half a second faster, but very difficult to execute correctly.

Room 21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0SKqiak9A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5noeEnODnRc *
The trick here is to arrive on a level below gargoyle as quickly as possible. If Dana is too late, the gargoyle will wait too long to shoot the fireball (as shown in the first video). The movement has to be within a few frames of perfection for this to work. The good thing is that whether the gargoyle fires early or not, the general solution concept is the same, so it's easy to adapt to the whichever of the two solutions that will occur.

Room 22

If you collect the super fireball in this room, you can skip the one in room 29 and vice versa. Below is shown both options and their consequences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqqj6sNC4oY *
This is the solution without collecting the super fireball. After collecting the key, hold right and then do a buffer jump. It's slightly faster to run right for one or two more frames, because you would land immediately in the exit. However, beyond that two frame window, you'll die from the blue flame. Needless to say, the Saramandor next to the key should also be taken into account. If you go at full speed, you'll collect the key too early and land on the Saramandor. If you arrive too late, you'll collide with it just before the exit. With a bit of practice, you can make the climbing to the key a few frames slower than optimal, which will put the Saramandor in the right spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkr0reIIjs
This solution is slightly easier than above, because you don't have to worry about the Saramandor after collecting the key (unless you arrived there at full speed and lands on it right after the key). The disadvantage of this solution is that it's dependent on the gargoyle's spawn direction in room 29 and room 29 also becomes much harder with the good spawn. However, the good spawn in room 29 will most of the time be a tenth or two of a second faster overall.

Room 23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJKuRr6nPBk

Room 29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daj8GEwvS0U
This room solution assumes you have collected the super fireball in room 22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ujism6JPE
If you collected the super fireball in room 22, you don't have to collect one here. However, the direction the gargoyle starts walking in will have a big impact in this case. Right (like in this video) allows for a quick, but also difficult, solution. Left is bad luck and requires a slow solution and wasting a fireball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGk7DK5LU84
This is the other possibility when you have already collected the super fireball (in room 22). When the gargoyle starts walking to the left, it can't be avoided in a quick manner and has to be destroyed.

Room 30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSis3tsfR3w *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlzMWjs58g *
3 seconds slower than above, but much safer and even some room for errors that won't matter because of the waiting that has to be done at various points in the room.

Room 31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_P5w8jaXDo *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkjVR6WbIPY
Just an alternative to the first solution. Both are equally fast. The first solution has a normal edge instead of a running edge as shown here. However, the right side in this alternative solution is slightly faster, which gives more time to align some of the edge jumps and making them easier. Both solutions are shown here as it's a matter of personal preference which one should be used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyajcGChk8I *
This solution uses zigzag jumping and is actually slower than above. It was recorded long before the above solutions were conceived and was at that time fastest solution. It's shown here as a concept for possible future improvements. It hasn't been researched thoroughly if more time can be gained through tweaking the route somehow. For information, this video took over 40 tries (with a save state at the key) to do in real time. It's doable, but the risk factor increases dramatically (of course very much dependent on the player's consistency as well).

Room 37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygnhN1-M9hk

Room 38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5jqb4H8PZY *

Room 39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8djKxtBhVAQ *
There is some variation in the sparkball movements in this room. The jump in the top left corner is sometimes not possible to make like shown here because the sparkball and the bat are too close to each other. You can get a feeling for this by observing the sparkball's location at the time of collecting the key.

Room 45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkLYpb9Bi28
It's possible to collide with the demon head when running from after having picked up the key towards the exit. Looking at the position of the spawned demon head during the grab key animation gives a good indication if you're early or not.

Room 46

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXJYso0Kn4 *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs8kkd-0ZIQ *
Easier solution than above without by only using a super fireball. It's around 1.5 seconds slower though.

Room 47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWXXLd2dru0
Hardest room in the game. The first drop with the key has a two frame window to break the block and then enter the created opening. The second drop has a three frame window for the same thing. Both of these drops can be avoided in a normal playthrough, but there is not really a good alternative in a speedrun.

Room 48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyX-Xrt9GFY *
There is an interesting back story to this room solution. The essence of it was first demonstrated by TheMexicanRunner while trying to beat the game as part of the "nes mania" (beat all the US-released nes-games). He came up with his solution by just trying to solve the room, not having speed in mind. The current tas uses a route that requires "fire block building" (not a good term, but hard to describe, see the game mechanics page). It hasn't been thoroughly tested which solution is faster, but they're close and it's possible that the solution shown here is actually faster.

Solomon's room

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIY84XSS_s *
It seems like the enemy movements in this room depend on how you have played up until this point (different solutions for room 48 seem to have an impact for example). It seems like playing the game the same way will result in consistent results, but this is not fully understood and enemy movements in this game are known to randomly vary a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbdAefLoxrA *
Two or three tenths of seconds faster than above, but also a riskier. Because of how accurate everything needs to align, even small deviations in the enemy movements (which have been observed on console) will render this solution impossible.

It's worth noting that any fireballs you might have in the inventory when arriving here will disappear.