Speed-running this game required a great deal of planning. The route i took is pretty standard -- differing only slightly from that of the previous SDA record and from the TAS record. The real challenge lies in deciding which keys and bombs to grab and where to use them. It presents an interesting optimization problem. There is a time cost in each key or bomb that i pick up and there is a savings of time or of reliability with each key or bomb that i use. There are a number of random elements in this game that affect key and bomb usage, so i generally planned for the worst luck in all of these cases. There are also places where you can trade a key for a bomb -- I used such tradeoffs in order to keep the number of bombs from exceeding the limit of 10 (grabbing extra keys that i could cash in for bombs later on). It took quite a bit of time, planning, experimentation, and spreadsheet work to weigh all the costs and benefits. There is nothing ad hoc about which bombs and keys i grab or where i use them -- all of it is meticulously scripted, including contingency plans for all conceivable bad-luck scenarios.

The really frustrating aspect of this game is the randomness. There are a number of random elements such as teleporters or rooms that have randomly-placed exits. But the largest sources of randomness by far are the treasure rooms. The treasure rooms in Worlds 1, 2, and 3 are not so bad. The exits are randomly placed, but an optimal search pattern will get me to the exit in at most 10 seconds (usually much less). The really bad treasure rooms are those in Worlds 4 and 5, as these have numerous false exits, so a visual inspection will not reveal which one is right -- i must visit every single one of them. Each world 5 treasure room takes me about 13 seconds average, or 26 seconds maximum, to complete. Each world 4 treasure room typically takes me the full 30 seconds, since i rarely ever actually find the exit (due to random teleporters). The bottom line is that having bad luck on just 1 treasure room costs more time than EVERY mistake that i might possibly make during the entire rest of the run combined. No exaggeration. It is pretty extreme. I had to beat this game dozens of times before i got a run with exceptionally good luck in the majority of the treasure rooms (particularly those in worlds 4 and 5). Fortunately, i planned my route conservatively and my completion rate was about 75%, so it didn't take as long as i expected.

Rooms 1 and 5: Nothing remarkable.

Room 9: The speediest strategy here, as in most rooms, is simply to plow straight through everybody. I take heavy damage, but it doesn't matter because treasure rooms are never far away.

Rooms 10 and 11: Nothing remarkable.

Room 13: Slightly worse than average luck on exit placement, but it's only a matter of a couple seconds, so i don't sweat it.

Room 14: Nothing remarkable.

Room 17: My favorite room. Up to this point i've spent a few seconds here and there to grab some extra keys, and it pays off big-time as i take the speedy 4-key shortcut.

Room 18: Nothing remarkable.

Room 19: Very good luck with exit placement. I am pleased.

Room 20: It's worth spending a few seconds to grab the shot power-up. I rarely ever use my arrows during most of the game, but it makes the encounter with the last boss go much much faster.

Room 21: This sometimes takes 2 teleport jumps instead of 1, but i got lucky this time. You can't control the destination of the teleporters -- only the direction from which you pop out at the destination.

Room 22: I don't have to hit the upper door-wall, but it costs less time to just plow through it and then pick up an extra key to the south-west than it does to carefully tip-toe around collecting the 3 keys (and risk hitting the wall anyway).

Room 24: Bad luck on exit placement -- this exit is the farthest of the possible exit locations. But the cost is only a couple seconds, so i don't sweat it.

Room 25: Took two teleporter jumps instead of one. It happens sometimes -- random luck.

Room 26: One doesn't strictly need to visit this room, but it's well worth it to max out on bombs (you can have up to 10), which save time and damage later on. I also pick up a shield power-up, which is absolutely invaluable later on in the game when you get totally swamped with enemies. Note that the teleporter can always be done in 1 jump.

Room 27: The slimes near the exit move randomly, and i always allocate myself an extra bomb for use here in case they block me (which they did this time).

Room 28: I use a bomb here to eliminate the wraiths near the exit, and it is well worth it.

Room 29: Average luck with exit placement.

Rooms 30 and 34: Nothing remarkable.

Room 36: Worse than average luck on exit placement.

Room 37: Finally, the speed power-up! Number 1 most essential item in a speedrun. Too bad it makes the Elf so much harder to control.

Room 38: I trade a bomb for a key near the beginning. This allows me to be reckless near the exit rather than waste time tip-toeing in between the two lock-boxes (which i would invariably run into anyway).

Room 40: I use the bomb slightly north of the wraith so as to also eliminate a few of the wizard bad-guys that will be in my path shortly thereafter.

Room 41: Very good luck with exit placement.

Room 42: Nothing remarkable.

Room 43: This sometimes takes up to 3 teleporter jumps, but i was lucky and made it in 1.

Room 44: I trade a key for a bomb inside one of the lock-boxes. This bomb i would normally use to blow up the army of slimes, but i got a bit greedy and thought that i might be able to pass them without using the bomb after all. After losing a few seconds i came to my senses and nuked 'em.

Room 49: Average luck on exit placement.

Room 50: These teleporters are mostly consistent. There are two outcomes for the 3rd teleporter jump, but i have a contingency plan that guarantees i'll eventually end up on the smiley-face side of the exit rather than the frowny-face side (even if it takes an extra jump in order to do so). Ending up on the smiley-face side means that i can pick up the magic power-up. I have to be extremely careful when shooting the wall to uncover this, because if i shoot twice or if a stray enemy bullet happens to come by and destroy the power-up there will be much cursing and throwing of NES controllers. Without the magic power-up your bombs are quite weak and it becomes all but impossible to complete this game.

Room 51: Nothing remarkable.

Room 52: I expend a key and crash through the door-wall rather than wasting precious time trying to tip-toe around inside it. I also use a bomb here at the start because otherwise this level spawns way too many enemies and you start to get slowdown as the system becomes overloaded. Why on earth do the designers build levels that the processor can't handle?

Room 55: Bad luck with the exit placement. Meh. Time cost is small.

Room 56: This room probably takes the longest out of all the rooms in this game (besides 100). So much maneuvering to be done with an over-caffeinated Elf.

Rooms 57, 60, 59: It is actually faster to go from 57 to 60 back to 59 and then on to 62 than it is to take a more direct route, since levels 60 and 59 each only take a few seconds.

Room 62: Slightly worse than average luck with exit placement. Meh. The loss of time is nothing compared to the awful treasure rooms coming up in World 4 and the almost-as-bad ones in World 5.

Rooms 63, 64, 65: "Hey, i've got an idea. Let's make the walls invisible!" "Brilliant! That will totally piss the player off!"

Room 66: This room is nice because it is quick and it gains me a few bombs plus the super-shot item (which lets me bust down doors with my arrows, thus saving a few keys). But the real advantage is that this room lets me skip one of the World-4 treasure rooms, which are total time-wasters. Also, you'll notice here my first use of the pause-to-unstick glitch: When you hit a sand-trap you are immobilized for several seconds. The interesting thing is that the immobilization timer counts down even while you're in the pause screen. Using this trick doesn't save you any time (you are still stuck for a few seconds either way), but what it does do is save you several seconds of getting your ass beat by the enemies.

Room 68: Thanks to the super-shots i can just blast the lock-box rather than using a key to open it and a bomb to blow up the wraith inside.

Room 69: As far as i can tell, these teleporters are random, and they often give me trouble (as seen here). I lost about 14 seconds, which is really a shame because normally i'll get through here in just 2 or 3 jumps.

Room 70: There are two possible exit locations. I was unlucky and it turned out to be the one i checked second. Cost about 5 sec.

Room 71: Very good luck on exit location. Normally i don't find the exit at all and end up wasting the full 30 seconds.

Room 72: Nothing remarkable.

Room 75: I pick up the super-shots once again because they let me bust through several doors later on without using keys.

Room 78: Brilliant luck on exit placement! Good god, somebody loves me. Treasure rooms 71 and 78 are the largest time-wasters in the whole game, so you can imagine how excited i was to finish both of them so quickly.

Room 79: Nothing remarkable.

Room 83: There are 16 possible exits in this room. Worst case, it takes about 26 seconds to try all of them. The average-case time is 13 seconds. But i was lucky and found it in only 5 seconds.

Room 84: I use a bomb (and then spend a key to reclaim the bomb) because i tend to get beaten up by enemies here, and i'll need all the life i can get in order to make it through rooms 86 and 87. Also, notice how cautious i am when walking around the bad exits -- one false step and i'd be taken to room 85 which then leads me back to room 84 again. That spells "game over" for a speed-run.

Room 86: I use the pause-to-unstick trick to avoid taking heavy damage in the SW corner of this level. Over on the east side of this level i got blocked by slimes and eventually gave up and used one of my bombs. This happens sometimes, and the contingency plan is to use a bomb here and then use 1 less bomb in room 93, taking a slightly riskier route. Fortunately, i ended up getting the North exit in room 93, so the bomb wasn't needed there after all and i didn't have to put myself at risk.

Room 87: Even after using a bomb to clear out the north-south corridor, this room often inflicts heavy damage on me and i'll typically make it through by the skin of my teeth. This time, however, it wasn't nearly as rough as usual, and i reached the treasure room with plenty of life to spare.

Room 88: Incredible luck with exit placement. It was at this point that i began to think i might reach my ultimate goal of under 18 minutes (at which time i promised myself i'd stop playing Gauntlet and resume working on my stupid dissertation).

Room 89: Nothing remarkable.

Room 91: There are 4 possible exit locations (the 4 corners), and i was unlucky in that it turned up in the last place i checked. This level is the second place in the game where there are too many enemies for the processor to handle; unfortunately i didn't have any bombs to spare, so there is considerable slowdown. Near the exit i used the pause-to-unstick trick, but it probably wasn't necessary.

Room 92: The final treasure room. I spent 14 seconds here, which is about average. Given the fantastic treasure-room luck i'd had up to this point, i'm not complaining.

Room 93: This room is complicated, not because the layout is complex (it isn't) but because there is much potential to be swarmed by enemies. And, since there are no more treasure rooms between here and the end of the game, every bit of life must be conserved. This means that bombs must be used judiciously in order to avoid situations where the enemies become overwhelming. I allocate 3 bombs for this level, though depending on the exit location i may only need 1. There are 2 possible exit locations -- one to the North and one to the South -- and you can't tell which one is real until you visit it. If the exit is in the North, i use 1 bomb. If the exit is in the South, i use 3 bombs. This time the exit turned out to be in the North, saving me 2 bombs and about 10 seconds. This is very fortunate because i had used a contingency bomb back in room 86. It also left me with one more extra bomb which i could put to use in room 94. Note that i left a key behind -- this key was unnecessary since i typically plan for 1 more key than is strictly needed just in case i accidentally run into a door or a lock-box.

Room 94: I normally allocate only 1 bomb for use in this level. However, since i was lucky with the exit placement in room 93, i had an extra bomb to spare, allowing me to get past the slimes with ease.

Room 99: I allocate 4 bombs for use in this level, and believe me i need every single one. There is a ton of enemies, and it gets quite brutal if i don't nuke them.

Room 100: The vault code has been cracked by some clever and resourceful individuals out there on the interweb. It is merely a function of the first character of your password. Thus i did not need to collect all the clues. Room 100 is a total cluster-frak of enemies. I allocate 3 bombs for use in this room, and these bombs must be deployed in precise locations in order to kill as many spawn points as possible. The battle with the dragon is quite easy. I attack the heads one at a time, starting with the outer ones, and trick them into shooting the middle head instead of me. This doesn't damage the middle head (i don't think) but it does allow me to focus on blasting the heads without having to worry about dodging. The middle head requires a slightly more complicated pattern of misdirection, but nothing too difficult. After the dragon has been slain, it's just a matter of running around and hitting all the trigger panels to reach the orb. This is pretty easy since most of the enemies have been nuked. The only hitch is the sand trap by the orb, but the pause-to-unstick trick keeps me from taking appreciable damage and i exit the level smiling, with loads of life to spare.