Bisqwit's NES bittorrent video downloads

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Last updated: 2004-02-16 15:48:00

NES videos

Also, this is the first 60 fps video on my page.
I'm totally amazed how much a memory upgrade could affect the system!
From now on I use 30 fps for all videos. Youkai Douchuuki as played as fast as possible by Morimoto
(39 MB, video length 14:41 - real playing length 14:31)
This is a very Japanese game - with its praying and all - but it isn't hard to follow even if you don't know the language.
Just how many games have you seen that measure the piousness of your character?
 
Youkai douchuuki = demon travel journal
 
External sound channel was disabled because of an irritating emulation bug in Famtasia. For this reason there are no sound effects in this video.
Solomon's Key as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit.
(62 MB, video length 23:38 - real playing length 23:25)
Uses warps and difficult tricks.
I'll probably try to make a warpless version someday.
In case you're wondering... the monster and the flame it breaths are two different objects. It's possible to jump between them.
This video could probably be improved by ~10 seconds by better planning and ~1.5 minutes by finetuning Dana's jumps. The game is quite hard, and I'm happy I got this done anyway :)
There are many more goals in this game than to just pass all levels... Including some secret levels. Many levels are much more difficult when you try to collect the items required for those quests. This speedrun ignores all those goals. Legend of Zelda as played as fast as possible by Josh L.
(100 MB, video length 37:31 - real playing length 36:01)
Quote from the author: "A game that originally took everyone days to beat, finished in 36 minutes".
Features lots of secrets.
This video has been very well prepared on bigger scale, but it seems like smaller scale events like battles could have been optimized better.
Nevertheless, this video might be quite a surprise to anyone who has used hours and hours exploring the Hyrule world. :)
Ghosts and Goblins (known as Makaimura in Japan) as played as fast as possible by Jeff C.
(33 MB, video length 10:22 - real playing length 10:10)
This is Jeff C's result of hard work with this hard game.
Looks good. (Better than Morimoto's run, which was here earlier.)
Super Mario Bros 2 (the real one which was later ported to SNES and released as "Lost Levels") as played as fast as possible by Michael Fried
(24 MB, video length 9:43 - real playing length 8:25)

(Yes, this game is real. It just wasn't released in the USA.) Super Mario Bros as played as fast as possible by Michael Fried
(15 MB, video length 5:27 - real playing length 5:08)
This is total six timeunits faster than Bisqwit's previous video.
This video features really precise timing to cut the times on some levels and two tricks in level 8-4 that most people don't know and some who know still can't do.
Uses warps.
Level times: 1-1 385(pipe in) 380(pipe out) 370(end) 1-2 346(down) 4-1 340(end) 4-2 382(vine up) 381(coin) 378(grasp) 358(down) 8-1 200(end) 8-2 358(brake) 342(end) 8-3 242(end) (had to wait) 8-4 378(pipe1) 365(pipe2) 355(pipe3) 325(waterpipe) 313(end)  
Coming soon: Michael Fried's SMB speedrun version 2 (click to download the fmv file) - improves this record yet by one more timeunit (and just generally looks a little bit cooler than this)! Super Mario Bros 2 (aka. Super Mario USA, the game which was crafted from the Japanese game "Doki Doki Panic") as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit
(30 MB, video length 10:57 - real playing length 10:13)
My fourth attempt on SMB2, which is about 60 seconds faster than the second version and about 30 seconds faster than the third version. Uses warps.
Things to fix: 1-1: (style) Too much moving around Ostro. Be more confident. 1-2: (speed) Too slow reaction when superjump ready 1-2: (style) Ostro fight isn't stylish 1-3: (speed) Don't walk over Shyguy - he goes to wrong direction 4-2: (speed) No ducking 4-2: (speed) Ostro fight was faster in previous video 4-3: (style) Bottle play isn't impressive 4-3: (style) Too much useless-looking moving when riding the egg 4-3: (speed) Little-Fryguys are done too slow Things to keep (besides the obvious): 1-3: (both) Levelwarp was done elegantly 4-2: (style) Jump glitch abuse 4-3: (speed) Use both top blocks against Fryguy 7-1: (speed) No riding
Btw, the warp from 4-2 goes to 6-1, not to 7-1. (Several people have asked me why I didn't use it.) Contra (which was released as Probotector in Europe with slightly modified graphics; also known as GryZor on some other systems) as played as fast as possible by Mathieu Pronovost.
(34 MB, video length 12:15 - real playing length 11:38)
The game is much more difficult than how it looks like when you watch this video.
Castlevania as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit
(36 MB, video length 13:18 - real playing length 12:42)
My sixth attempt on Castlevania.
I'm quite satisfied with this video, although it isn't exactly as fast as the fifth version which was damaged.
It's faster than the fourth version, however.
The two most useful tricks in this game are definitely 1) using monsters to throw you around and 2) using bottles to walk safely past enemies.
Things to fix: 3: (speed) One axe missed. This is really bad. 6: (speed) Should have the double-item before Medusa! 6: (speed) Two hearts too much! 9 is enough. 9: (speed) Should have a couple of more hearts here 18: (speed) Should have the double-item before Dracula! 18: (speed) Too many hearts! Maybe 12 is enough? Things to keep (besides the obvious): Way too many to be listed ;) Things to note: - The game continuously feeds it's random number generator from the controller input. Sometimes I have pressed some buttons only to affect monsters' actions. The first jump of the video is one example. Without the jump, three monsters would have came from front, being really difficult to bypass. Hi no Tori - Houou Hen - Gaou no Bouken as played as fast as possible by Morimoto
(51 MB, video length 16:51 - real playing length 14:33)
Despite the fact that this is a Konami game, I guess this game is not much known in western countries.
This game is really quite difficult.
It has nice Engrish in the end credits.
 
(audio and video in desync, lots of problems in recording)
 
Hinotori = bird of fire (think of phoenix)
Atlantis no Nazo as played as fast as possible by Morimoto
(10 MB, video length 3:08 - real playing length 2:46)
In western countries I guess nobody knows this game.
This game seems to have obscure secrets similar to Zelda.
 
(audio and video in desync, lots of problems in recording)
 
Nazo = riddle, puzzle.
Gradius playaround - Morimoto has fun with perfect reflexes while completing the game with only the regular weapon
(40 MB, video length 14:42 - real playing length 14:12)
See what happens when the only upgrades you pick are "Speed".
 
(audio and video in desync)
Please refer to the reality check section if you are wondering how this has been played. Castlevania as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit
(39 MB, video length 14:41)
My fourth attempt on Castlevania.
Although I'm quite satisfied with this video, you can probably see that I learned new techniques on this game even during this play.
I already have created a fifth version (which was way faster than this) but again it resulted in a broken movie. I want a reliable emulator damn it.
Things to fix: 1: (speed) Is the chain upgrade necessary? 2: (speed) Is the chain upgrade necessary? 3: (style) One excess whipping 5: (style) The triple-item is never used.. why take it? 5: (speed) Should abuse the medusaheads to get upstairs 6: (speed) The bottle can be used better *2 6: (style) Not all of the items are needed 7: (speed) Collect some hearts - they're needed everywhere 8: (speed) The bottle can be used better *2 8: (style) Don't hurt crows unless absolutely necessary 9: (style) Don't hurt crows unless absolutely necessary 9: (speed) The bottle can be used better *2 9: (speed) One excess whipping 10: (speed) Feed the rnd to keep the bat out of way 12: (speed) The bottle could perhaps be used better *2 13: (speed) Throwing a bottle from stairs slows down 13: (style) Feed the rnd to avoid killing the skeleton *2 14: (speed) Throwing a bottle from stairs slows down 14: (speed) Use bottle, not whip against the armourman 15: (both) Is the bottle against snakepillar necessary? Did it hit? 16: (style) Do you need to whip the bats? 17: (style) Feed the rnd to avoid killing the skeleton *2 17: (speed) Check if there's a shortcut from the first floor 18: (speed) Give always 4 hits 18: (both) Save the candles so that you may get a double item 18: (both) Grab the last throwing cross to waste the hearts 18: (both) You probably only need 15 hearts Things to keep (besides the obvious): 2: (speed) Abuse of monster hit 6: (speed) Use the clock item 6: (speed) Take the double, triple items 3: (speed) Get rid of excess hearts 6: (speed) Get rid of excess hearts 7: (style) Backwardsjump is cool 7: (style) Peaceful act is nice 7: (both) Don't take the axe 8: (speed) Feed the rnd to keep skeleton out of way 10: (style) The amphora colour bug is cool 10: (style) Keep weaponless 11: (both) Don't take the axe 11: (both) Don't kill the snake 12: (both) Don't take the dagger 13: (style) Indirect hit to the monkeyfrog is good 15: (speed) You only need bottles against the boss 17: (speed) Feed the rnd to keep skeletons out of way 17: (both) Short way is good 18: (speed) 4 hits at time is good - don't mind hp loss. Things to note: - The game continuously feeds it's random number generator from the controller input. Sometimes I have pressed some buttons only to affect monsters' actions. The first jump of the video is one example. Without the jump, three monsters would have came from front, being really difficult to bypass. - The bottles are way more useful than I thought. Super Mario Bros 2 as played timewise semiperfectly by Bisqwit
(no avi file, recording length 12:01)
My first attempt on SMB2. There's a lot to improve, so a new version may appear eventually. This playthrough is Luigi-only. Uses warps. Things to fix: 1-1: (speed) Useless pause before pow 1-1: (speed) Visible pauses on mountain climbing 1-1: (style) Too much moving around Ostro. Be more confident. 1-1: (speed) Mario would pick eggs faster in Ostro-fight 1-2: (speed) Too slow reaction when superjump ready 1-2: (style) Ostro fight doesn't look beautiful 1-2: (speed) Slow action before warp 4-1: (speed) Don't walk over monsters that move in wrong direction 4-2: (speed) Don't walk over monsters that move in wrong direction 4-2: (speed) Visible braking before the door to whale-level 4-2: (speed) Braking before Ostro 4-3: (style) Too much useless-looking moving when riding the egg 5-2: (style) Useless jump in start of level 5-2: (style) Too much moving around in the spike-fall 7-1: (speed) Riding isn't needed 7-1: (speed) Don't miss the rocket 7-2: (speed) Don't pause before the magic box 7-2: (speed) Slow climbing 7-2: (speed) Too much moving around in keyholder-fight 7-2: (style) Forgot to open the last door Things to keep (besides the obvious): 4-2: (both) Ostro-fight looks cool 4-3: (speed) Fryguy-fight ends nicely 5-1: (speed) Ostro-fight is pretty quick 7-2: (speed) Hawkhead-fight looks quite straightforward 7-2: (both) Wart-fight looks cool Super Mario Bros as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit
(21 MB, video length 5:03)
Almost nonstop running and jumping. Uses warps, no glitches. Level times: 1-1 385(pipe in) 378(pipe out) 368(end) 1-2 346(down) 4-1 340(end) 4-2 382(vine up) 378(coin) 374(grasp) 354(down) 8-1 259(brake) 199(end) 8-2 357(brake) 340(end) 8-3 242(end) (had to wait) 8-4 378(pipe1) 365(coin) 362(pipe2) 349(pipe3) 318(waterpipe) 306(end) Super Mario Bros as played as fast as possible by Bisqwit
(15 MB, video length 5:31 - real playing length 5:13)
Slightly quicker than version four (total of 10 timeunits improved in 4 levels).
Uses warps.
This is soon going to be replaced with Michael Fried's speedrun that improves the record by six timeunits by total. Level times: 1-1 385(pipe in) 380(pipe out) 370(end) 1-2 346(down) 4-1 340(end) 4-2 382(vine up) 380(coin) 377(grasp) 356(down) 8-1 259(brake) 199(end) 8-2 358(brake) 342(end) 8-3 242(end) (had to wait) 8-4 378(pipe1) 367(coin) 364(pipe2) 352(pipe3) 322(waterpipe) 310(end) Things to fix: 1-1: (style) Try to avoid stepping on the last goomba 1-2: (speed) Could the warpzone be played quicker? 4-1: (style) Either take all coins or take no coins 4-2: (style) Try to step on the middle goomba too 4-2: (speed) Warpzone was quicker in the previous video 8-1: (style) Try to step on the middle goomba too * 2 8-1: (style) Try jumping more on pipes 8-1: (speed) Don't brake (impossible?) 8-1: (style) Either take all coins or take no coins 8-1: (style) One jump too much at time=218 8-2: (style) Try to step on both turtles at beginning 8-2: (style) Too much jumping 8-2: (speed) Grab the flag on bottom, not top 8-3: (style) Kill both hammermen 8-3: (speed) See if you could have got 244 8-4: (speed) Don't brake at phase 2 8-4: (style) Use backwards walking and pit-escape before water phase Things to keep (besides the obvious): 1-1: (speed) Awesome time 8-1: (speed) Grab the flag on bottom, still taking 5000 points 8-2: (speed) The brake-moment is quite good 8-4: (speed) No walking in water phase 8-4: (speed) No waiting at end of water phase Megaman 3 is a really long game. It took 10 hours non-stop for me (Bisqwit) to create a done-quick video for it, in comparison to the 2 hours it takes to create a SMB1 video. Unfortunately, this 38 minutes long recording got out of sync before the half way.
However the first 17 minutes are intact, so you can see me playing the first 7 levels here.
(32 MB, video length 17:56)
Note that this is my first try. There are almost certainly things that can be played better...
Uses no passwords, no glitches.

Other videos

Here are some links though:

• Doom Done Quicker
• Doom 2 Done Quick
• Quake Done Quick Project

Doom done quicker

I'm sorry for the bad video quality. These videos seem to require a lot bigger bitrate than the NES videos...

Doom 2 done quick

Coming soon: Doom2 in 14:41 (tool-assisted). It also seems to completely work.

Quake done quick

List of ideas

• Metroid
• Wizards & Warriors (probably requires vastly planning)
• Lode Runner
• Akumajou Densetsu (jap. Castlevania 3) (the jp version has way better sound than the U.S. version)
• Bionic Commando (has a wrap-glitch (like megaman and smb1); generally looks cool)
• Goonies (the, not 2 - could be quite boring though)
• Rygar (has wall-climb-glitch (like smb1); otherwise quite boring)
• Mega Man 3, 4, 5, 6... (too long / boring?)
• Kirby's Adventure
• Arkanoid

My e-mail address is: wKbitsqaCtwiErt@6ikQi.jaHfiBut please 1) install a virus scanner, 2) get rid of Outlook (the favourite virus nest) and 3) practice care with email attachents before adding that address to your address book.

Btw, you can find comments on all speedruns Morimoto (or yarukinasu? I don't even know the name for certain) has published, at his emu movie page (japanese only).

If you are looking for a video not on this page and not in the above list, be sure to check the sites listed in the links section.

What is the purpose of these videos?

Short answer 1: They are entertainment.
Short answer 2: They are art.

The long answer:
These videos have been made solely for the reason that they should be entertaining to watch.
 
Entertainment comes when the video is:

• Variable (not slow, not boring)
• Surprising (does things you'd not expect)
• Skillful (handles awkward situations confidently)

• Try to eliminate all slowness
• Look for ways to surprise (exploit bugs, look for non-obvious shortcuts)
• Look for fastest ways to handle awkward situations

Myths:
The authors are boasting how they can beat difficult games.
- Nobody is boasting. These are entertainment. Keep it so, don't spoil the fun!
These videos are hoax - they haven't been played honestly.
- That's not the point. We're not demonstrating talents here. We're making cool videos. See explanation.
It's a competition between who makes the fastest video.
- This is not a speed competition. Speed is only a catalyzer for entertainment.

Facts:
This is not a skill competition.
- And this is why quicksaves and slowdowns are used. Nobody is as perfect as the videos are.
The method how the movies are created is insignificant. - the result is all that matters.
- But they have to be honest real games (not video edits).
If you don't know which laws to expect, you can't be surprised when you see them broken.

If the feeling that these videos aren't "real" enough is bothering you so much that you can't enjoy them, don't watch them!
But please keep your bothers to yourself and don't spoil the fun for others.

Guidelines for players:
Be quick.
- Never wait for anything unless it's absolutely necessary.
Even if you have to wait, look like you don't.
- Hide your delays by averaging them in a larger time scale.
- Make it look like you wait for much better reason.
Keep an eye for low probabilities.
- If something most likely doesn't happen, make it happen. The game is only as random as you are.
- If you drool over a route that seems blocked but would speed up your play significantly, find out how to go through it.
- Drool.
Be interesting.
- If you have choice, try to do things in a more impressive way than the easy way.
- If enemies are hard to kill, kill them.
- If an object is hard to miss, miss it.
All of this of course only if it doesn't affect the time.
Be accurate.
- Don't miss your target.
- Even with autofire, don't shoot more shots than you need to.
- Don't jump longer/higher jumps than you need to.
Be determined.
- If you choose a strategy, stick to it.
- Act like you own the world :)
Be aware.
- Be sure you know what kind of exploits you can try.
- Be sure you know what the internet knows about the game.

(So far nobody has followed all the guidelines perfectly...)

Rumours and facts

I don't understand why people are so eager to flame these videos.
It's not just about console games.   jsb, the person who has played awesome records in Dance Dance Revolution, has also got his undeserved share of accusations from people who think they know more than a casual observer. Click here to read his message about the subject.

Facts:
The games have been played under an emulator (Famtasia)
- For practical reasons. A real NES/Famicom/FDS system doesn't provide enough utilities for perfecting a game.
Quicksaves have been used.
- Players are not perfect, yet we try to make perfect plays. For this reason, it's necessary that we can undo mistakes and retry until we succeed.
- Imperfection isn't entertaining to watch.
Games have been played by slowing down the emulator
- Players are not perfect. Slowing down the emulator helps improving the accuracy of playing, without modifying the game physics.
The final product is always a continuous play.
- Rerecording means that all the 1000 cases your jumps are too short to make it or you die etc do not exist in the result, because they never happened (you undo'ed everything until you succeeded). You can verify this yourself by playing the fmv file in your emulator.
The games are unpatched, unmodified ROM images of the NES games.
- You can verify this yourself by running the fmv files in your emulator. No game genie codes or other hacks have been used.
Games are not perfect. They have bugs which can be exploited.
- If you can't repeat a trick seen in the videos, it's because you don't try hard enough. We try. Hundreds of times, until we learn to do it or succeed by chance.
- Games don't do collision checks visually, but using optimized techniques which are not perfect.

Nobody is trying to cheat you into thinking "wow this guy is really talented". Please read the section about the purpose of these videos.

Myths:
It took 2 years for Morimoto to do the SMB3j video
- The videos on this page have all been recorded in a few hours. It's highly questionable why anyone would need two years to make a video someone can do in 10 hours.
- I think someone has believed a crappy Babelfish translation and recklessly spread a misinterpretation.
- Japanese is a highly contextual language. Translating Japanese to English is not easy - let alone a machine translation. Maybe Morimoto has had the speedrun-making hobby for 2 years.
He did it frame by frame
- Slowing the game also slows down the responsiveness of the emulator. It might help your reactions, but it makes it pain to play. Extremely slow speeds are untolerable.
- This is half truth anyway, because the game was indeed slowed down. It doesn't affect the game physics, so the video you see is real - it's exactly how the game reacts if you press buttons like the player did.
The videos are edited with an image manipulation program
- Plain lie. You can't make emulator movie records (the fmv files) with an image manipulation program. Those records consist solely of timed button presses. You can easily reproduce all of those videos by playing back the fmv file in your emulator.
The games are hacked or game genie codes are used to boost the jumps and/or make the character invincible to enemy hits
- Plain lie. You can test yourself and see that the fmv recording works very well with an unmodified rom. No hacks are needed.
Savestates have been edited to make miracles happen during game
- Nope. The fmv replay method works as a proof here too. fmv stores only keypad input, not game state.
Well the button sequence files have been edited then!
- The far easiest way to generate "button sequences" for the right part of the game is to actually play the game! Anything else involves too much work to even consider. What is it with you guys? Why are you so obsessed in twisting everything?

If you still don't get it, ask me in email and I'll answer. My e-mail address is: CZ3bissqhg0wiXt@NikRRi.Nfi But please 1) install a virus scanner, 2) get rid of Outlook (the favourite virus nest) and 3) practice care with email attachents before adding that address to your address book.

Besides, who cares? Just enjoy!

Questions and answers

Why do you require Bittorrent? Can't you make a page where the videos can be downloaded normally?

Bittorrent works like this: Thousands of customers download from each others.
It distributes the load. If the number of clients grows, so does the amount of upload capacity. Thus the server can work even with a small cable, like I have.

But remember to return the favor - leave the download window open after your download is completed!

What is fmv?

Why Famtasia? Why not <put name here>?

• Movie recording and replay
• Movie rerecording (using quicksaves to undo part of the movie)
• Good emulation quality
• The emulator must work in Linux - either as native or with emulation such as Wine.

• FCE-Ultra (lacks recording)
• VirtuaNES (doesn't work in Linux)
• Nesticle (bad quality, doesn't work in Linux)
• Nester (lacks recording, doesn't work in Linux)
• iNES (bad quality, lacks recording)

Where do the A/V desync problems come from?

Why not 60 fps?

However, it looks like Famtasia has been hardcoded to display about 20 frames per a NES second. This has also the side effect that if you slow down the game to 10%, you have display update rate of about 2 fps. That would be ok, but it seems like it also has a REACTION rate of 2 fps then! :(

Why do you make these videos?

Can you add my video?

My e-mail address is: ZRIbii8hsq7jwi7jt@ErsikHOqi.4_ufiBut please 1) install a virus scanner, 2) get rid of Outlook (the favourite virus nest) and 3) practice care with email attachents before adding that address to your address book.

Technical information

The recording process

• Phase 1: Record audio, record video. Both to separate files, with as high quality as the disk/memory/1cpu bandwidth allows.
• Phase 2: Produce the final avi file by re-encoding the produced video file and audio file together.

If the sound and video go out of sync, there's a third phase too:

• Phase 1.5: Do multiple test-encodings, varying the fps and inserting/eating an amount of silence from the soundtrack until a combination is found where the audio and video are in sync in the video begin and in the end.

Software used:

• For playing NES games:
  
  • Famtasia (the NES emulator)
  • Wine (the Windows emulator - to run Famtasia)

• For playing Doom/Doom2 videos:
  
  • prboom

• For audio recording:
  
  • A custom patch in Wine to save the soundtrack (from Famtasia)
  • A custom patch in libSDL to save the soundtrack (from prboom)
  • resample (part of streamixer)
  • LAME (MP3 encoder)

• For video recording:
  
  • xgetimage - a custom program to record video from any X window
  • animmaker for video stream and header processing
  • MEncoder (part of MPlayer) for creating encoded AVI files

Some other pages

• NES game password hacking
• Chrono Trigger translation development system
• FCE-Ultra, a free (rightswise) NES emulator
• Arc's game video page
• "Lezard"'s VirtuaNES movie page