I'd like to thank everybody at SDA who's submitted a run, and the guys who run the site. If not for you I'd never have taken the time to do this run. I'd especially like to thank Nate for helping me figure out how to get the best quality with my capture device that I used for levels 1 and 10-20. I'd also like to thank Gavin Ward (Sprint/SprintGod), whose TAS of this game I lifted most of my route and strategy from.
I picked the SNES version of this game for a few reasons:

• Of the classic versions, it has the most levels and best graphics and sound
• It includes an in-game timer for most levels, making timing it a snap
• It's the version I'm most familiar with
• It's the only one I own on cart :)

In general, jumping everywhere instead of running is faster, but you have to make sure you have room for it. If you see me running instead of jumping, it's because there isn't enough room.

If you need to get down a ledge by turning around, it's faster to try to skate off the edge and grab it as you fall (first seen near the end of level 2), but the timing on this can be tricky.

Most damage taken in the run is intentional, either because avoiding it takes too long or it ends up being a damage boost. Level 13 and 17 are the two exceptions to this, 13 because it was a happy accident and ended up being a damage boost, and 17 because it doesn't slow you down so I didn't restart if the skulls hit me.

If you can pin an enemy up against the wall, you can continously stab them and kill them very quickly. I used this as often as I could against bosses, since they block far better than any regular guard.

• Level 1: 0:27

  In my initial submission I didn't do the guard skip in level 1 because I was trying to do it for a good two hours just practicing and couldn't pull it off. I figured out that it took two jumps with near-frame precision timing to pull off. After a couple of verifiers expressed a desire for me to do it even if it took hours to get lucky enough, I managed to do it in half an hour. Go figure. Without doing the guard skip this level takes over two and a half minutes (old run was 2:38).

   

• Level 2: 1:24

  Jumping early and catching the ledge is faster than fully leaping it and having to turn around. Annoyingly enough the game tries to 'help' you when you jump close to a ledge by delaying your jump a bit, causing you to do the full jump, so the timing window here is a little smaller than you might think.

  The four seconds of improvement was purely from handling the guards better. I should have experimented more in my first run, apparently.

   

• Level 3: 1:39

  Yup, you can skip fighting the skeleton entirely with proper jump placement. Jumping through the last gate is easier than it might look, I was able to get it on the second try, once I knew it was possible.

   

• Level 4: 1:08

  The timing on the crusher is harder than it looks, jump too soon and you get crushed, jump too late and you hit the wall and fall down. Most of the 5 seconds I saved over the last run was from figuring this out.

   

• Level 5: 1:48

  This level gave me a lot of trouble (specifically trying to sneak past the last guard after the mirror smash) until I realized that just killing the guard wasn't significantly slower, if it's slower at all.

   

• Level 6: 1:25

  The boss is easily the thing that will slow you down the most, and it's very random, so I just set a goal and went until I reached it. Even with the 'whiff' during the fight this was a good 3 seconds faster than any of my other attempts. The only way you could make this level faster is with more luck or reflexes from hell.

   

• Level 7: 1:38

  Trying to jump twice at the start will just smash your face into the gate, so don't do it. The jump where I grab the ledge has the same problem as level 2, where the game will 'help' you by delaying your jump.

  Significant level skip here by knocking the tile down from below rather than running around from the right.

   

• Level 8: 1:52

  Fuck this level. I spent more time recording and retrying this level because of random bullshit than any other. Both of the 5-guards killed so many runs, as well as grabbing the ledge after the first one and having the game 'help' me and cause me to sail into the wall. Fuck! The timing on the singular snap trap after the second gate is incredibly precise, and was the cause of a fair amount of tears as well. After the jump off the switch you have to tap crouch and scoot forward in order to get the positioning correct. ANY other position and you'll either get killed or run too far and waste 4 seconds crawling back out of the hole.

  Significant level skip here by climbing up the left side and taking a flying leap, rather than running around the right side and coming up. Not sure how much time it saves.

   

• Level 9: 1:11

  The only place in the game I've found where the 'guard skip' can be executed with 100% reliability. Something about the conveyers makes it easier, I think. Once again the boss fight can be a huge cause of pain, but it went off nearly flawlessly.

  It's faster to just launch yourself down the hole, obviously.

   

• Level 10: 1:55

  Surprisingly, even with all the fighting (read: randomness) in this level, it wasn't all that bad. Level 8 still wins for most irritating.

  Also, what the fuck is a volcano doing underneath the palace?

   

• Level 11: 1:19

  At 0:30 I have to run over and grab the ledge to get the positioning correct, otherwise when I try to knock down the loose tile I fall off the edge and die. At 0:50 and 0:58 I deliberately make moves that are less than optimal, because the flames in the second to last screen are synced to how long you've been in the level so far. When I made optimal moves in those two locations, I would get roasted by the third flame EVERY SINGLE TIME, so I know it's not a random thing. Optimal moves in either of those two locations would cause me to die also.

  Significant level skip here by knocking down the tile from below rather than climbing all the way around and landing on it from above. Saves about 30 seconds.

   

• Level 12: 1:03

  When I recorded this I'd forgotten to remap the 'TIME' function away from Y, which is what I use for attacking, so during the skeleton fight the display keeps popping up. It doesn't slow anything down so it's just a visual thing. Still, whoops. Also, for a boss this guy is stupidly easy. He hardly blocks at all, and he starts off very close to the wall, making him easy to pin.

  Significant level skip here by catching the ledge below the second guard. Saves nearly a minute.

   

• Level 13: 3:07

  Longest level yet. Nothing really to note here except that at the end is the only accidental damage taken in the entire run. I think it was a bit of a happy accident since it looks like a damage boost, so I left it in instead of redoing it.

   

• Level 14: 2:06

  Nothing of note here really. The jump at 1:35 might have been a bad choice but I couldn't get the ledge grab to work reliably otherwise.

   

• Level 15: 2:38

  You can't push the red guard off the right ledge or he falls on a switch that shuts the gate to the right, causing you to have to go back and hit the switch again. This attempt at getting past him wasn't much slower than my best so I just left it in, because the skate-grab soon after caused quite a few tears on my part.

   

• Level 16: 1:38

  The blue guard is surprisingly frustrating. It's hard to get him in the right spot so that he'll miss his final swing. Boss fight went pretty damn good.

  Also, just in case you don't realize it, since I didn't for the longest time: Merging with the shadow in level 15 gives you an extra life bottle (from the one he stole in level 7), so that's why in the remaining levels I have 4 life instead of 3.

   

• Level 17: 0:57

  Took me a bit to figure out how to jump into the logs and not get smacked, but I figured out that if you hold crouch while continuing to hold left, you'll land and duck and be able to skate right under them.

  Weirdest fucking boss in the game. Far as I can tell the skulls are random. I saved 2 seconds over the last run with better swing timing. Getting hit by a falling skull doesn't waste any time unless it interferes with a swing, so I didn't worry too much about getting it "perfect".

   

• Level 18: 3:30

  Hardest level in the game capped by a hard boss fight? Ugh. I couldn't figure out a reliable way to avoid the small step at the end, so I just left it for the sake of my sanity.

   

• Level 19: 3:39

  This level is a gigantic maze of gates, switches, and falling tiles. Many of the switches open two gates but require a tile on them to stay open long enough. Getting through this level requires an incredible amount of very precise movements. The section at 1:20 might look sloppy, but if you don't jump in exactly that manner you'll either land on something nasty, or shut the gate you need to get out quickly by triggering the wrong switch. Going out the wrong way loses at least ten seconds, so there's no reason to let it happen. Same with the gates right before the boss refights.

  The boss refights can mostly be skipped by leaping into the air at precise moments, causing the enemies to warp in too high in the air and die when they hit the ground. I used an audio cue in the music to time it, but it still took me over thirty tries to get it right. At least the level itself isn't too bad since if you screw it up, it's your fault and not random chance.

   

• Level 20: 1:01 (manually timed)

  Since the game does not show the timer for the final level, and the 'best time' timer only counts time AFTER Jaffar is defeated for some reason, this level uses manual timing. Starting from when the screen fades in until the final victory music starts playing is 61 seconds.

  Jaffar's warping is oddly predictable and it's entirely possible I could get it to do what I want with the right positioning, but this was still pretty damned good.

  The swordfighting section went shockingly well. Anybody who's played this game knows how unbelievably difficult it is to get even one swing to connect, let alone what ended up happening here. When I started attempts on this level I was thinking 1:15 would be a reasonable time to shoot for. Needless to say, I was quite pleased with the final result.

Final Time: 35:25

I've been meaning to do these for a while. At 2:30 in the morning on a school night, I decided to just go ahead and bang these out. An hour and fifteen minutes later I was finished. It wouldn't surprise me if the last stage could be improved with ridiculous guard manipulation but fuck that, leave that for the TAS people.

This is probably the silliest set of runs I'll do in the foreseeable future.

Level 1: My fingers hurt. :(

Level 2: This one actually took some effort. But not much.

Level 3: TP TP TP TP FWOO!

Level 4: ♫ I'm walking on snap traps, whooooaaaa! ♫

Level 5: Sorry, I'm too busy to fight you guys.