[TAS] [Obsoleted] NES Castlevania by Challenger in

This is a tool-assisted speedrun. For more information, see tasvideos.org/4342M
This movie has been obsoleted by tasvideos.org/4840M
TAS originally published on 2020-11-28
The original Castlevania is set in the year 1691. Simon Belmont must fight his way through the castle and destroy Count Dracula.
Challenger ( tasvideos.org/Users/Profile/C... ) improves the predecessor movie ( tasvideos.org/3780M ) by 00:56.19 seconds, mostly due to a recently discovered glitch which can affect the level layout.
There is also a run of this game which destroys as little as possible ( tasvideos.org/4371M ).
The MSX version ( tasvideos.org/2444M ) has been TASed as well!

[@LoveFor298Yen]

7:08 This is even more powerful than moonwalking. It’s amusing how the run was fairly normal until Level 5. 9:59 THERE IT IS!

[@bobbillans6715]

"This castle is a creature of chaos. It can take on many incarnations." - Alucard -

[@TheBanishedWind]

"With each rebirth, it takes a new form."

[@Dyojenes]

When you gotta kill Dracula but you have a busy schedule

[@Dispencerhere]

Where is the joke about him doing all of this on the way to buy groceries?

[@kingmiller1982]

😅

[@BlitzerkidSix]

That was ground-breaking. I am absolutely floored. Truly the ceiling is shattered. Turns out entire steps can be skipped.

[@TheBanishedWind]

10:21 And there's Simon's back injury. This run is officially canon.

[@Vrabsher_-Supreme_Perhinther-]

And whats crazy is that he got hurt on Dracula's theet .

[@10Shadowblaze01]

Townsfolk: Oh no, Dracula is terrorizing our lands! Please sir Belmont, help us! Simon: Sure, I got 12 minutes. Brb.

[@NaturalTvventy]

Holy cow. Way more tricks and bugs since the last TAS. Awesome job!

[@enkerzan3755]

Been a while since I said WTF every 10-20 seconds during a TAS, excellent run!

[@CollateralTechMisc]

I'm floored by all these new exploits and swag moves. I love TAS.

[@typhoonthunder]

still a great-looking nes game, i've always wanted to play this because of the many tales of how immensely difficult it is

[@Average_K]

Compared to a lot of other NES games, this one is definitely doable. The second to last level is where most people quit.

[@scottsymonds5649]

Castlevania is hard enough that beating it definitely gives you some bragging rights, but not hard enough to make you have to get a platforming PhD just to beat it. Castlevania III on the other hand...

[@CrasherX2000]

@@scottsymonds5649 now THAT’S a game where playing the Japanese version is much better

[@Kylora2112]

The soundtrack on the Japanese version of CV3 is SO much better.

[@NileLLS]

@@CrasherX2000 I never knew the soundtracks were different?!

[@kirjian]

6:00 what in the world just happened

[@avalonjustin]

It's getting to the point that Simon is breaking reality to defeat Dracula.

[@Mr-on2ww]

Simon - kills Dracula Subtitle - My brother is googoo.

[@vaiyt]

uuuuuuuuu

[@awesomeariados6501]

9:16 voodoo moose

[@murphmariotwopointoh7714]

1:47 [Music] Moody Eroward

[@IndyShepherd]

4:25 - The 1-UP sound is SO satisfying when you are throwing boomerangs while jumping backwards! LOL

[@sinkfaze]

Jesus, this run is legend. Use of the boomerang is out of this world, kills and item drops everywhere. Those boss crits are the next big advance in gameplay, and the Dracula fight? Bravo!

[@mevicky100]

I prefer this to the current WR because I find commentary/live footage really distracting, I prefer straight gameplay. this is really great to watch!

[@viewtiful1doubleokamihand253]

I just like to imagine realistic Simon just anger-walking throught the entire castle without a single stop made just to defeat Dracula.

[@darrnellnott07]

Haha wow!! Those manipulations or whatever you call it is freaking amazing!! I loved seeing all of these shortcuts i never knew were possible

[@encryptedprinter3289]

I've done so much laundry with TASVideos playlists in the background. The sound of an NES being played in the background is very comforting. Thanks so much to Challenger and everyone else. You're awesome.

[@Eldoofus]

This is how one should live life.

[@retro3188]

Agreed.

[@sifone7251]

Oh my god!!!! can't believe that there can be a new TAS~~~

[@WannaDropAgain88]

I love TAS! I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!

[@Endru85x]

A very nice run. And subtitles are quite hilarious when you set translation to english :)

[@NevermindThee]

thanks for sharing, what a nice tas!

[@CinderGamingChannel]

All I could do was laugh! Fantastic trickery! Keep it up!!!! 🤙🤙🤙

[@joeshittheragman6252]

TAS is the grestest speedrunner who will never die

[@darnellbarnes4959]

🔥🔥🔥 a slight variation of the game I remember, but very nice run.

[@tonyharris5533]

Suggestion. Anytime there is a new run with a lower time, have a thumbnail video playing in an up corner, like some speed runners do, of the previous play through to show and compare the newer strats.

[@xxEzraBxxx]

Video editing isn't allowed for TASVideos encodes.

[@Truffle_D_Toad]

HOW MANY BAGS OF GOLD DO YOU NEED DUDE

[@Spindrift]

The Belmonts have bills to pay, too

[@Endru85x]

Trevor had to pay for a beer in a tavern :)

[@Truffle_D_Toad]

@@Endru85x That's Simon.

[@Endru85x]

@@Truffle_D_Toad I know, was just making a reference to animated show :) .

[@davyjones3105]

@@Truffle_D_Toad simons was getting the money for Trevor

[@jeremyjw]

what i like to remember is that the NES had a screen resolution of 256x240 . pixel-perfectly, you could fit entire levels on a modern monitor or maybe even the entire game

[@josemanoeltavaresfilho3693]

one of the ps3 era castlevanias has castlevania 1 as one big level try that sometime.

[@dickmarx1298]

@@josemanoeltavaresfilho3693 Seriously? That sounds cool af

[@pentelegomenon1175]

but then it would be too small

[@jorge0358]

@@josemanoeltavaresfilho3693 Harmony Of Despair I think it was

[@Eldoofus]

3:36 ... BRO, THAT SKELETON WAS TERRIFIED!

[@MrDuckbutter85]

Simply the best.

[@adamb89]

10:00 "Ahh, you must be the Belmont..." 13 seconds later "...I guess I'll just go fuck off and die in the corner now."

[@Sarvets]

This is flat out amazing. What causes the new stage layouts and are any of those possible thru a human player?

[@DruidVorse]

It's TAS-only, you have to spam certain inputs on certain frames in order to mess up the layout of the level. According to Scrimpeh: "The game only updates the screen every second frame, so by making the camera move only on the other frame, you can keep the level data that was in the area before around." "It needs 6 frames to load one complete 32 pixel column essentially, the game checks if simon moves and it has to load the next tiles. If you just stand still when the scroll engine checks if simon is moving, no tiles are loaded normally that's no problem, because simon takes 32 frames to cross a column, so it should be done after 12 frames of constant movement." According to Challenger: "About the stair glitch, that was done through the previous glitch.

[@dcul8812]

This is nuts. It’s could easily take me 10’ to get through the first 2 levels lol

[@Opanker_]

The first 2 levels arent that hard but level 3 is where the challenge REALLY begins

[@servedbot7377]

10:12 not sure why it sounds satisfying. it was like he got in a dance groove with his whip and sub weapon.

[@seronymus]

Simon:A man with a mission.

[@zwataketa]

A new Castlevania TAS? In this day and age? It's more likely than you think! Also how am I this early.

[@adiomtimur]

Amazing!

[@joelfriz221]

9:59-10:01 El pasito de Michael Jackson😀 Esta pelea contra Dracula fue brutal, no le dió tiempo de atacar.

[@Supperdude9]

Now, you see, this is what you get when you overload the RAM of the NES. It's how the End Game trick works in Mario 3. You make the RAM think something else is going on, and it allows you to pull off some wacky things.

[@elvissilvanoleto]

I would absolutely love to see a score watch, with the time compare of the current human WR.

[@pharaohboy8657]

I know tricks that were presented in summoning salt’s video. I’m very surprised of that layout changing glitch it looks weird

[@Thoutzan]

Why... What... how did you one-shot the bosses ?

[@diw123]

in the giant bat, only put in the stair and hit, its call criticall hit, wit the medusa the same, and the mummy only hit both in same time

[@rljgzr069]

@@diw123 damn. That made no sense.

[@diw123]

@@rljgzr069 wath have sense in TAS?

[@rljgzr069]

@@diw123 you're proving my point.

[@homerosz97]

As far as I understand there's a bug/mechanic in the game (idk for sure) called critical hit. If you damage an enemy on the same frame you get hit it'll do massive damage. Enough to oneshot the bat and Medusa but needs a few more hits for Dracula. For the Mummies, overlapping enemies behave a bit weird. If you hit two enemies while they are over each other they take damage every frame.

[@bgrcomputersltd]

This is actually the world’s record.

[@ryuukoyazaki3466]

Wait. Can someone explain to me what exactly happened at 1:26 ? How can he one-hit K.O the enemy?

[@megamanzero3486]

I am not much of a speedrunner myself, but there is a trick called "critical hit", if you hit the boss at the exact same frame that you take damage, you will deal more damage to the boss.

[@eliasmartinezmorgado]

I love the speedruns, but I have a question mister please and forgive me mine ignorance: is this a special ROM or is this aftermath your brief timing?

[@eliasmartinezmorgado]

Oh by the way could you upload other same speedrun after finished this first ending? I say, when the bat and Medusa's heads are flying to do more difficult the second reboot c: Thanks a lot of I will hope you speedrun ;D

[@singlereedenjoyer]

It’s not a special rom. Also it’s a TAS, not in real time.

[@-Ryu]

Oh no! Dracula's Been Awakened! We need to-- oh look A TASbot with a whip, guess we can go home now.

[@videosjuanitos6004]

my favorite game of nes

[@BaneKing57]

Wow....sooo many questions

[@Iris_Descent]

Over a minute faster than the RTA WR, sheesh. (RTA WR is 11:22 for those wondering.)

[@cantaloupeme]

This game is different that run. You’ll notice rooms are a little different. Like the Madusa fight and Frankenstein’s monster.

[@shellnut8224]

@@cantaloupeme no, they just used a new glitch to manipulate the level layout.

[@shellnut8224]

Now the RTA run is 11:19 btw.

[@arunsai1082]

Super good

[@E85_STI]

He has time to moonwalk and whoop Dracula that’s awesome.

[@zander2758]

Almost a minute of timesave goddamn

[@zacharyjeffares8158]

No double crit on Dracula or am I not seeing this right. Still two cycle without Crits is insane! Then machine gun holy water and critical hit at the end! So good!

[@doquangtan]

Tuổi thơ năm 1996

[@carloslaroque]

I barely saw Frankestein in the boss fight hahaha

[@questionblock8949]

Wait how did part of the wall get de-spawned @ 2:37 for that skip??

[@guilhermefreire8093]

weird right?

[@sparko9662]

Something about Castlevania - Gameplay version (Loud sound warning)

[@InfoManiac742]

I made this :)

[@devilotx]

I have so many questions about HOW this was done... god I need a breakdown of these exploits and glitches STAT

[@daywalker3735]

Are all the one hit kills on the bosses some kind of glitch???

[@groundbeef2]

TAStlevania.

[@markpaulabad986]

Arcus must watch this

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

If its obsolete then where is the current version

[@JayByrd83]

I just beat this game for the first time ever earlier this month!! It's not as hard as TMNT, but it's close. I couldn't get past Death to save my life!!

[@enerc2333]

I want to see him do a (Tas) of Castlevania mirror of fate but the one of the 3ds, I want to see how it happens or if he already did it, pass me the link of the video.

[@orngng]

When you do the math and notice it isn't a skip that saves 7 frames

[@drakonchik1361]

I mean... sure, that technically is TAS

[@mikeratkiewicz6720]

If this is obseleted, is there a more current version?

[@FlynnJeux]

Poor Dracula :(

[@indazone1]

How do you kill the bosses with one stroke of the whip?

[@cordaxg6261]

Stage 5 what happened there ? How was that glitch done?

[@tacky4237]

Can the boss oneshot crit be done without TAS?

[@Prodmullefc]

Oh so that's how you do it. I see.

[@saharasahara814]

How to trig these bugs ?

[@JoLiKMC]

Man… I know Demon Castle Dracula is a creature of chaos, ever-changing and never-resting, but this TAS takes that bit of lore just a wee bit far, don'cha think? Seriously, so much memory is manipulated, this feels like a _ROM hack!_

[@questionblock8949]

Lol those boss kills! I wonder when someone will do this legit

[@18-zero-4]

oh !? 2: 35 👍🏼

[@BrandyBrandalia]

I thought this was a reupload at first.

[@exxor9108]

0:51 S P E

[@baykay9559]

Um, wow. 😮

[@Prokudak]

I’m flabbergasted. Can someone please explain this new glitch that affects a level layout?

[@singlereedenjoyer]

Something to do with the game loading stuff every other frame, not really sure.

[@EdwardHowton]

Oh neat a CastlevaHOW MANY RE-RECORDS?!? I'm blind so I can't possibly be seeing 87,236 re-records. What's left of my visual cortex is playing tricks on me and I'm just imagining one of the numbers in there, right? Are there even eighty-seven thousand frames in the final TAS?

[@shukterhousejive]

re-records are the number of frames that got "rolled back" when a savestate is loaded, all it means is that getting the perfect route for this run took a lot of trial and error

[@EdwardHowton]

@@shukterhousejive It was my understanding that a re-record was when you loaded a save to try a new key combination, not the number of frames rolled back. But that was my point, in a ten minute run at 60 frames per second (and I'm assuming an NES game ran that fast), that's 36,000 frames, unless I'm failing at math as usual. That a lot of re-records per frame!

[@shukterhousejive]

@@EdwardHowton Oh yeah, it is just savestates loaded, that's an absurd amount for such a short game

[@yoshiman1221]

I feel weak

[@joeyk107]

Jay cee is getting closer and closer to this

[@DaBiggusGit]

Can anyone explain how the instant boss kill exploit works?

[@detectivesky6123]

I'd guess it has something to do with crits - if you hit something and take damage on the same frame it's like x6 damage to the thing you hit, i think

[@ThiagoMnab]

Hit the enemy at same frame enemies hits you will trigger the simon damage. Simon have s, enemies does not. So it will cause damage the amount of Attack instance simon is stand. He manip the block respawns, This way he can force a huge Attack instance manip of damage. For a human unique enemy who can die with one Hit like that is THe bat. Because it has stairs and on stairs simon doesn't take knockbacks. You can realize that simon never take knockbacks on stairs or when blocks are shorts each others

[@gavbav]

How are the bosses getting one shot????

[@jones4150]

Has that ledge always been there?

[@parimabartender]

Was this a Ta's?

[@jakekaufman8302]

What are the odds of getting the cross 3 times in a row on stage 3?

[@IndyShepherd]

From what I understand, there is a way that you can manipulate exactly which items are dropped by individual enemies if you understand the specific pattern and if they are killed only by a specific weapon at a specific time. Notice how Simon also receives the invisibility potion at opportune times as well. It's nearly impossible for a human player to calculate this in real-time... Similar to counting cards in Blackjack.

[@hoanhac6407]

Take a bow

[@willsmusicandgaming4929]

When you have a birthday party in 10 minutes

[@detectivesky6123]

holy fuck now we have wrong warping glitches

[@jasonhunt6842]

Candle %? ^_^

[@TamHonks590]

2:38 - WHAT? HOW! WHY! WHO! ARE YOU SURE! !WHEN DID ! WHY DID! ok let me try it!

[@BowsettesFury]

Wizardry

[@franciscadeguerrero6720]

This game seems to be "hacked for convenience", the level layouts are not the same as the original

[@elimer6860]

How does he one shot bosses? I am new sorry.

[@CrispyMWHC]

Sounds like if you hit something on the same frame as taking damage you do a huge damage multiplier to whatever you hit.

[@elimer6860]

@@CrispyMWHC Thanks for the hint.

[@one7decimal2eight]

How are the bosses killed so quickly?

[@morbidtorture]

If you get hit by the boss/enemy within the same frame that you hit them you’ll do insane amounts of damage. Almost a 1 hitter for most enemies.

[@King_Puffleump]

I don’t understand how he was able to kill bosses so quickly

[@sero539]

Memory manipulation. The game runs a check on simon's whip on a specific frame, dealing damage to the enemy. If simon gets hit during that specific frame, the game bugs out and doesn't stop dealing damage until simon recovers from his stunlock. I may be wrong and maybe he's using a different strategy but that's what it looks like.

[@sero539]

There's a video explaining how it works in detail here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npesnJRtj5xmkNk