Solomon's_key

Category description

This category aims to complete the game as quickly as possible by using all of the golden wings (warps). None of the game's hidden items are collected and this category therefore only achieves 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 (ktwo, 2014-08-27)

Room 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTE12--gmR4
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 means an unavoidable time loss when using 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 gray 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 be almost half a second of difference between a slow, but still somewhat correctly cleared room, and playing it as close as possible to the sparkballs.

Room 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmQZ77BsVo
The gargoyles' walking direction when the room begins is random. They're behavior also changes depending on if you buffer any action, but it's not known how if this can be predict in advance. There are three of the gargoyles that impact the solution:

• If the second gargoyle (from the bottom) on the left side starts walking left (10-20% of the time?), its fireball will be shot a little later than what's shown here, making this solution quite difficult (the shot will have to blocked within a short time window and cost a bit of time).
• If the second gargoyle (from the bottom) on the right side starts walking left (not specifically studied, but give or take around 50% of the time?), you'll have to wait before jumping up to the key. This costs a little over 5 frames.
• If the top right gargoyle starts walking left (not specifically studied, but give or take around 50% of the time?), its fire-breathing animation will trigger a little over 10 frames later.

So in total there is ~20 frames between the best and worst luck.

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.

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=BJXLPF_YPQQ
It seems to be a few frames faster to first destroy the bottom block above the exit and then the one on top (like shown here) than the other way around.
Alternative solutions to avoid the running edge jump 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 (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 1 (by not picking up the fireball there) 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 3-5 frames. Less and Dana will hit the head when trying to jump up. More and Dana will fall down to the level below.
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=5fQBgoK-tXU *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4LdEbydeC8 *
Equally fast, but much more challenging than above. Shown here for reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2DnFfrAr8Q
Much safer solution than the ones above.

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 the 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 time it takes for the gargoyle to turn around also varies ever so slightly, giving you more or less time 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 situation 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 didn't collect the super fireball in room 22.

Below videos refer to an overall slower route (with the current knowledge), since they rely on collecting the super fireball in room 22. They're still shown here for reference since the solution for room 29 is faster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ujism6JPE
The direction the gargoyle starts walking in will have a big impact. 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
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 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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv4-_cX361s *
This solution is identical to the one above until just before the end. There is a 2-pixel window for positioning Dana right before the exit without being hit by the demon head.on head. It saves a little under a second, but comes at the cost of being a 2-frame.

Room 46

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs8kkd-0ZIQ
Easier solution than above by only using a super fireball. It's around 1.5 seconds slower.

Room 47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWXXLd2dru0
Hardest room in the game. The first drop with the key has a 2-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.

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 "nesmania" (beat all the US-released nes-games). He came up with his solution by just trying to solve the room normally, without 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 (including differences between emulator and console, making accurate testing late in the game difficult).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbdAefLoxrA *
Two or three tenths of seconds faster than above, but also 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.