Boss strategies:
Vulcan (aka The Derpy Dragon) takes 4 damage from bombs, so instead of 17 sword strikes, he goes down very fast with 1 sword strike and 4 bombs.
It is possible to stack the Gargoyles and kill them simultaneously. This turns 22 sword strikes into only 11. It's also possible to place well timed bombs in the middle of the room to make the fight even faster. I usually do 3 bombs and 5 sword strikes.
Lich Turtle (aka Poverty Trinex) can be a real headache. It is possible to stack all three heads together, but very difficult to pull of consistently. Instead, it's a more reliable strategy to kill 2 heads, then the last one.
The Mad Crab is already a very fast fight with the tier 4 fire, but it's also possible to kill it in one cycle with 3 well timed bombs. This is especially useful in any% no fire wand.
Routing:
In all categories you can try to get a bomb drop from scorpions or lizards on the way to Crypt 2, then get the potion and bombs from the old man on the way to Crypt 1 instead, saving walking time and screen transition time.
In any% no fire wand there is a much faster route to Crypt 2 if you turn north instead of going east to where you would normally get the fire wand. This saves 4 screens.
In any% no fire wand, it is possible to beat Dirth's Illusion with the steel sword instead of exiting to get the strongest sword, but It's a VERY hard fight. It takes 46 hits with the steel sword vs 23 hits with the strongest sword.
TAS strategies:
I discovered some things from making an any% TAS and a no fire wand TAS. Perhaps these could be useful in RTA also.
By holding diagonal directions against a wall, brick, or water's edge, you can walk 4 or 5 pixels closer to that surface. This only works in certain directions. Against an upper wall it works both L to R and R to L. against a lower wall it only works R to L, against a right side wall it only works U to D, and against a left side wall it's not possible at all.
The bell glitch skips playing the melody, saving 2+ seconds. It's frame perfect, and even though I made it happen in 26 times in 2 TASes, it's still a mystery. Here's what I do know. It requires you to be touching a wall or block, so in RTA you might as well touch a wall as you ring the bell to have a chance at getting the glitch. And, it doesn't work when you have an hourglass active. Perhaps the glitch happens because there is a problem with switching between music and the bell melody? Maybe there is an audio cue? Who knows.
Although it's probably TAS only, there are certain frames where you can manipulate item drops and enemy movement with seemingly random combinations of inputs, even pressing select can affect it.
In the TAS I kill Dirth in 4 cycles, hitting him a maximum of 8 times each cycle. This seems like it should be possible in RTA, but it would take a lot of practice.
Lore:
Not really a discovery, but I like knowing the names of things. In the Japanese guide published by Futabasha there are names for all kinds of things.
The four spheres are Southrilia, Megidonia, Aquaramses, and Iscarion. The bosses are Vulcan, Golem, Gargoyle, Seant Beach (no idea), Mad Crab, Tartle Luch (terrible misspelling of Turtle Lich), Crystal Mars, and Reflecter Mask (another misspelling). Even the crypts have names. Gaias, Istom, Darks, Vals, Maima, Karma, Rasma, and Guildom. Of course the enemies have names too, but they're really generic, like "Flyman," "Sheepman," "Griffon Knight" or names that sound cute in Japanese, like the grasshoppers are "batarin."
There is also a 4 page manga that gives a back story. Hundreds of years ago, the high priest Po Ramuel, the swordsman Murdock, and the mage, Raana went on a quest to seal Rafael (Dirth) in Castle Galm in the arctic. Murdock is mentioned in Neutopia 2.
There was going to be a 9th level, "Arctic Castle Galm" but instead some ideas for it were moved to crypt 6 and others were saved for the next game.
Hopefully this info will be useful or interesting to other players in the future. I've been playing this game way too much, so I'm gonna take a break for a while.
This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for the information and all of your hard work!
Here are some of notes I did from wayyyy before
Boss 1 32 Health Points 16 Fireball Attack (Default Armor) 16 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 8 Fireball Attack (Bronze Armor) 8 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor)
1 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 8 Boom Bomb Damage 2 Flame-Throwing Wand damage
Boss 2 40 Health Points
18 Flying Golem Debris (Default Armor) 9 Flying Golem Debris (Bronze Armor) 20 Red Orb Attack (Default Armor) 10 Red Orb Attack (Bronze Armor) 20 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 10 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor)
2 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 4 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 4 Boom Bomb Damage 2 Flame-Throwing Wand damage
Boss 3 42 Health Points Each
2 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 4 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 8 Boom Bomb Damage 2 FTW Rank1 Damage 3 FTW Rank2 Damage
24 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 24 Projectile Damage (Default Armor) 12 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 12 Projectile Damage (Bronze Armor)
Boss 4 44 Health Points
28 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 14 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 9 Walk Into Damage (Steel Armor)
2 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 4 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 8 Boom Bomb Damage 2 FTW Rank1 Damage 3 FTW Rank2 Damage
Boss 5 46 Health Points
1 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 2 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 3 Sword Damage (Silver Sword) 16 Boom Bomb Damage 3 FTW Rank1 Damage 6 FTW Rank2 Damage
30 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 15 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 10 Walk Into Damage (Steel Armor)
24 Bubble Attack Damage (Default Armor) 12 Bubble Attack Damage (Bronze Armor) 8 Bubble Attack Damage (Steel Armor)
Boss 6
48 Health Points per head
2 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 4 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 6 Sword Damage (Silver Sword) 8 Boom Bomb Damage 1 FTW Rank1 Damage 3 FTW Rank2 Damage
36 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 18 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 12 Walk Into Damage (Steel Armor) 9 Walk Into Damage (Strongest Armor)
Boss 7
50 Health Points
4 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 8 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 12 Sword Damage (Silver Sword) 16 Boom Bomb Damage 4 FTW Rank1 Damage 6 FTW Rank2 Damage 8 FTW Rank3 Damage
42 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 21 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 14 Walk Into Damage (Steel Armor) 10 Walk Into Damage (Strongest Armor)
24 Fireball Attack Damage (Default Armor) 12 Fireball Attack Damage (Bronze Armor) 8 Fireball Attack Damage (Steel Armor) 6 Fireball Attack Damage (Strongest Armor)
Boss 8
200 Health Points
1 Sword Damage (Default Sword) 2 Sword Damage (Bronze Sword) 3 Sword Damage (Silver Sword) 6 Sword Damage (Strongest Sword) 2 Boom Bomb Damage 4 FTW Rank1 Damage 4-8 FTW Rank2 Damage 4-20 FTW Rank3 Damage
28 Walk Into Damage (Default Armor) 16 Walk Into Damage (Bronze Armor) 14 Walk Into Damage (Steel Armor) 8 Walk Into Damage (Strongest Armor)
28 Shield's Eye Attack Damage (Default Armor) 14 Shield's Eye Attack Damage (Bronze Armor) 9 Shield's Eye Attack Damage (Steel Armor) 7 Shield's Eye Attack Damage (Strongest Armor)
24 Fake Dirth's Magic Attack (Default Armor) 12 Fake Dirth's Magic Attack (Bronze Armor) 8 Fake Dirth's Magic Attack (Steel Armor) 6 Fake Dirth's Magic Attack (Strongest Armor)
Game Boss - Dirth
255 Health Points
6 Sword Damage (Strongest Sword)
