Mighty_bomb_jack_(nes)

READ THIS FIRST

The route described on this page is based work leading up to the current SDA-run. Faster routes have been found in many rooms. Refer to https://youtu.be/iXHH3Bg6-d0 for the fastest reported run at the time of writing.

Category description

This category exploits the fact that the palace rooms are secretly connected (see the section about the game mechanics). The idea here is therefore warping from palace room to palace room until level 17 is reached and then rescue the king. This means no hidden items are collected and will therefore give the normal ending when Jack leaves the pyramid.

Level-by-level description

To shorten down the text I will use some references below. Numbers refer to the bomb numbers in the Palace room bomb sequences. The tases for the best ending and the normal ending are referred to as tasbe and tasne, respectively.

Corridor 1-1

https://vimeo.com/946751758
A straight-forward level. In theory, you don't need to collect any mighty coins (see the tasne), but it's difficult to save time in real-time and risky. The recommended route is instead spending time collecting two coins and then collect three more coins by upgrading to orange Jack. The coins will be used in level 5 and 17.

Palace room 1

https://vimeo.com/946751995

Palace room 2

https://vimeo.com/946752011

Palace room 3

https://vimeo.com/946752026

The following route is a few tenths faster, but considerably more difficult as it requires tight movement to be able to jump over the first mummy: https://youtu.be/PS-R9qCVly0?t=88

Palace room 4

The palace room warp is not used here, since there is a shortcut in corridor 5.
https://vimeo.com/946752056 - If you're not fast enough at the start, the first mummy will spawn on the right side. If that's the case, it will most likely be in the way when trying to collect the three last bombs.
https://vimeo.com/946752034 - Alternative method that is a few tenths slower, but avoids close enemy encounters since the P-ball is collected along the way.

Corridor 5-1

https://vimeo.com/946751774 - Upgrading to orange Jack and run through the last chest should save around half a second or so. There are alternative jump sequences near the end. One long jump is a fairly safe way, but a little time is lost near the end of the jump because of the low vertical speed. Jumping on more platforms can make this a little faster, but also risk losing time if the landings and following jumps are not well timed.

Corridor 5-2

The method for opening up the shortcut in 5-5 is obscure to say the least. You need to first find the hidden sphinx in 5-2 to open up the passage to 5-5. The passage to 5-X opens on the third visit to 5-5. https://tasvideos.org/Forum/Posts/524874 contains an explanation based on code analysis on how the shortcut works.
1st passage: https://vimeo.com/946751804 - It's recommended to pick up as many bombs as possible along the way to set up for a P-ball on the second passage. Also note the jump sequence after upgrading to orange Jack to make him last until the end of the room.
2nd passage: https://vimeo.com/946751829 - By collecting enough bombs (bomb value = 20), the sphinx chest will produce a P-ball, which can both be helpful by avoiding potential enemies. Since the bomb count is reset after the P-effect is over, it also makes it easier to manipulate the P-ball spawn in palace room 11.
3rd passage: https://vimeo.com/946751853 - It's important to use the same route so the same bombs are collected. Or else the P-ball spawn in palace room 11 will be impacted. There is some leeway on the bombs to collect, so it's worth remembering the most common scenarios and resulting actions.
Alt 5-2 end: https://vimeo.com/946751869 - Going the lower route at the end is a little over a tenth of a second faster, but also misses out on a mighty coin. Having 3 coins in corridor 17 is safer, but not necessary, so taking the lower route here is minor time save.

Corridor 5-5

https://vimeo.com/946751890 - The bombs collected are still part of the route to manipulate the P-ball in palace room 11.

Corridor 5-X (and 11-3)

https://vimeo.com/946751910 - Other jump sequences are possible and faster, depending on how tight the platforming can be executed. It's individual what will be fastest for each player.

Palace room 11

https://vimeo.com/946752072 - Upon entering, the bomb counter should be in the range 9-12 to spawn the P-ball in the center so it can be collected without detour. This can easily be set up by following the route shown in corridor 5 (or by tweaking it to hit the desired bomb counter value). If the bomb counter is 11 or 12 (as shown in the video), it will require a slightly higher jump to collect the P-ball than if it's 9 or 10. The time difference between these two options should be very close though, so it's more of a personal choice how one prefers to collect the P-ball.

Palace room 12

https://vimeo.com/946752093 - This route contains intentional slowdown(s) to set up an enemy manipulation in palace room 13. There are four cases to consider:

1. The first mummy transformed into an enemy just before Jack reached the exit (as in the linked video). The enemy counter is the SAME as the enemy type that just spawned.
2. The first mummy transformed into an enemy before Jack collected the last bomb, the enemy counter is ONE MORE than the enemy type that spawned.
3. The first mummy transformed into an enemy between case 1. and 2. The timing of mummy to enemy transformation is not fully understood and the enemy counter is therefore EITHER the same or one more than the enemy type that spawned. The probability of each case obviously increases the closer to the respective case the enemy transformed into an enemy.
4. Jack exists before any mummy has transformed into an enemy. In this case, there is unfortunately not much else to do than guess and hope for the best in palace room 13...

The first case is the ideal one since it finishes the room as fast as possible, while still providing information about the enemy counter to set up an enemy manipulation in room 13. When playing conservatively, one might consider the second case as it's easy to set up by intentionally pausing before the last jump to ensure an enemy transformation takes place and thereby avoid the uncertainty of the third and fourth case.

The following video demonstrates a faster room solution that is almost guaranteed to end up in case 4 above: https://vimeo.com/946752082. The downside is that room 13 will have to be played either without enemy manipulation or by starting by controlling the number of A-presses much earlier (somewhere in corridor 5), which would require a lot of playtime to become familiar enough with the route and possible variations from enemy interference. The upside is that it should save somewhere between half and a full second over the previous route. The last jump can be a bit tricky at first, but gets more manageable with practice. You need to wiggle back and forth mid-jump as Jack's hitbox stretches a bit outside the sprite, which allows collecting bombs #4 and #5. A pure diagonal jump won't work.

Palace room 13

The strategy in this room is to adjust the number of A-presses when traversing to the left side and then dropping down to the floor in order to manipulate the enemy counter. Clearing the room as quickly possible requires that the first enemy transforms into either a bird or a skull. If lobsters start appearing, it will be very tricky to clear the room efficiently (or at all!), while the other enemy types can be dealt with, but usually requiring additional dodging. However, only the skull and bird cases will be described here:

The following A-presses will set it up so the first mummy transforms into a bird or skull:

• Enemy counter = 0 - 3x A-presses to get to the left side + 1x A-press inside the first alcove on the left side + 1x A-press in the second alcove on the left side => Bird
• 1 - 5+1+1+1 (the last one in the bottom left alcove) => Skull
• 2 - 5+1+1 => Skull
• 3 - 4+1+1 => Skull
• 4 - 5+1+1 => Bird
• 5 - 4+1+1 => Bird

It's of course possible to play around with the A-presses to manipulate more bird or skull cases, depending on personal preference.

https://vimeo.com/946752111 (bird) - The two "bats" on the right side can either start going left or right (each one random 50/50?). If one or both start going right, they will be in the way when collecting the four bombs in the bottom right. If they start going left (like in the linked video), they can however be ignored. The bird can also interfere. However, with practice, the room can be cleared fast enough so the bird doesn't interfere.

https://vimeo.com/946752131 (skull) - If not moving through the room quickly enough, the skull will be in the way when leaving the second alcove from the top of the right side. A safer, but slower, way is to let the skull pass by overhead (see solution below). The fireballs in the lower right alcove can be in the way, just like the "bats" in the "bird" case above. Their initial horizontal movement direction appears to be random (50/50?) and if one or both start moving right, they often end up blocking Jack.

https://vimeo.com/946752144 (skull, safer and slower method) - Usually 0.5-1s slower than the routes above.

Palace room 14

https://vimeo.com/568102528 - Conservative approach.
https://vimeo.com/568102573 - Half a second faster. Bombs 8-13 could be collected in a similar way. However, that would trigger the top mummy to start walking to the right and block the passage for a short while (see the tasne). The tasbe has another (and faster) solution, but not practical.

Palace room 15

https://vimeo.com/568102619 - It's a real risk that the jump to the last three bombs will end on top of the mummy. This can be prevented by deliberately be a bit slow in the sections before.

Palace room 16

https://vimeo.com/568102667 - The stop below is to manipulate the right mummy to start walking to the left. This is a fairly safe method.
https://vimeo.com/568102721 - Time-wise similar to the solution above, but does not require a stop below and is therefore a few tenths of a second faster. It's at the same time riskier. Both because the mummies can sometimes transform into enemies faster than shown in this video and then block the exit of the interior and also because the last jump somehow seems to be quite tricky to perform on console (not enough height). Some enemies are more favorable than others, so this solution requires enemy manipulation based on the spawns in room 15, but will not be detailed here. Also be aware that 00FA will likely loop around here. This creates a risk for the discontinuity around 0 that is mentioned in Game Mechanics.

Round 17

https://vimeo.com/568102784 - It's possible to get through the whole level without using mighty coins. In the first room, there is only one enemy setup that is workable and it's still extremely difficult. The second room is also very impractical because very good mashing ability is needed and there is still a chance to trigger a mummy, which is inside one of the chests. The king's room is also possible to get through, but it depends on the enemy spawns. Overall, it introduces a ton of risk to cut out on using mighty coins in this level. And one also has to keep in mind that it's possible to clear these three otherwise difficult rooms with 5 mighty coins. Not powering up Jack to green in one (two) of the rooms would only save one (two) mighty coin(s). So unless all rooms are done without power ups, the time gain is small (less than a sec).