Game:

The Guardian Legend (1988)

Duration: 4:40

2,825 views

23

Link to a reuploaded version that preserves the annotations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pboQc5sawO8

SMW challenge by nathanisbored: Clear Soda Lake without using the A or B buttons. I am allowed two savestates: One after reaching the first ledge after using the "Zero Time" glitch, and another whenever I want it.

The "Zero Time" glitch (if anyone has a better name for this glitch, let me know) allows me to keep playing after time hits zero by having Yoshi eat a power up just as I die. If timed correctly, I'll switch from being dead to the status of whatever power up Yoshi ate. In addition, this gives me a sudden surge of upward momentum afterwards (even without pressing A or B), so essentially, it's a free jump. If on land, this free jump will give me about 4 blocks of height (and this is without A or B). In water, I can hold up as I'm doing this to go much higher. Definitely essential for getting started with this level.

Note: While trying to get the glitch to work, I made use of rewinds, because I didn't want to wait 300 SMW seconds (even with fast-forward) every time I screwed up.

After using the glitch the rest of the level just involved a lot of tricky bouncing off of fish and Torpedo Teds. I chose to place my second savestate just after the third Yoshi Coin (sort of like a halfway point). Good thing I did, since it took multiple tries just to get to that spot, and it took several more tries to clear the rest of the level!

At the very end, after I exit the water, there is a one-block wide gap between me and the goal that may or may not be a problem. Fortunately, I didn't fall into it on this run. (I tested this spot before starting a real run, and sometimes I fell in, and sometimes I didn't, even when I performed about the same actions.)

After I cleared the level, I decide to show four more levels that can be cleared without A or B with the help of the "Zero Time" glitch: The Switch Palaces! Before, there was no way to actually jump on the big switches at the end of them, but the "Zero Time" glitch fixes that problem! Unfortunately, YouTube started desynching my video during the last couple of Switch Palaces. Dang! I was hoping that problem was fixed by now...
(Feb. 17, 2018 update: Oh, I guess it is fixed now. YouTube must've fixed it at some point.)

I'm going to look over every level in SMW again to see if the "Zero Time" glitch can be used to help me clear any more of them without pressing A or B.

Overworld music:
Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time
Level music:
Soda Lake: The Guardian Legend NES - Deep Blue
End of Soda Lake: Super Mario Bros. - Main Theme
Switch Palaces: Balloon Fight NES - Balloon Trip
Other music:
Death: The Guardian Legend NES - Aqua Sector Corridor (This way there's something playing during the bulk of the level!)
P-switch: Mega Man 4 - Final Wily Battle

Links to The Guardian Legend music:
Aqua Sector Corridor: http://bin.smwcentral.net/37326/glus.zip
Deep Blue: http://bin.smwcentral.net/37327/gldb.zip

This was a great challenge (even if it is basically an extension of my April Fools videos)!
Creativity: 8.5
Difficulty: 9
I look forward to the next challenge!

Feel free to comment, but just know that I dislike profanity. Any comments containing F-bombs and/or S-bombs will be Torpedo Teded! (In other words, they'll be deleted.)
(Comments containing other types of inappropriate content may meet this fate as well.)

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