Well, this took a lot longer to get from planning to recording than I would've imagined. The thread on the SDA forum has the first post logged at Oct 11th, 2005. Over a year later, it's done.

Several people require my thanks as without them I wouldn't have completed this run:

• First and foremost, 'Konnan' for inspiring me to run Master System games with his runs. The Master System is still underrepresented on SDA, sadly.
• 'Angerfist' and 'Konnan' (again) for pushing me to complete the run over several false starts, exams and the other stuff that gets in the way.
• The people over at www.smspower.org for finding interesting tricks and general encouragement.
• 'Maxim' (of www.smspower.org) for picking apart a dump of the game to get me item stats.
• Mike Gordon (also of www.smspower.org) for describing how to add composite video output to a Sega Master System II. If not for him, the run would've been recorded over RF. Being too scared to solder onto chip legs I decided to use small clips to hook onto the IC legs. I've sent a picture of my SMS with the mod for amusement value.

What follows is a breakdown of the run broken down into ten sections. Enjoy.

• Section 1: Meka Dragon's Castle

  This went more-or-less to plan. The dragon fight went well and I managed to miss all the annoying falling blocks during the escape section. I think that missing the damage boost at the end of the falling blocks section actually saves time because you exit the tube with control rather than flying really high straight up. I have no idea what those things are in the clouds during the cutscene. They're a documented oddity that turns up on occasion.

• Section 2: Side Crawler's Dance

  Heading out to collect the key went almost perfectly except for some stupids with the red roper near the hut. I got the early tornado drop I require. Things went a little awry on the return trip at the blue and green side-crawlers, but nothing catastrophic.

• Section 3: The Desert

  I hate the underwater section because the green giant fish are rather fickle - mostly they die in one hit, but sometimes it takes two. They hit fairly hard, too. Although the money I get from the chest at the end of the underwater leg is minimal, I need the fireballs and charm stone later. The observant watcher will notice that the fish can fly out of the water.

  Jumping up the pyramid 2 steps at a time is annoyingly fiddly, but I get it right for a small portion of the way. Running hurdles over the faerie zombies is fun, and I stall for a couple of seconds to bait the goblin because he hits for a lot of damage and is hard to avoid if you can't see him.

• Section 4: Mummy Dragon's Castle

  I was obsessed with the castle music ever since the first time I heard it. This part went pretty well although the will-o-the-wisps are annoyingly hard to hit. The mummy dragon fight could've been a bit better if I'd hit with more of the arrows.

• Section 5: Mouse-Man

  I goof up on the way out of the pyramid, but it's nothing major. For some reason, there's a ridiculous amount of health refills in the space of 2 minutes or so. Oh well. I hate mouse-man's toothpick of a sword with its reach of about two pixels. I also abhor the skeletons and their tendancy to jump around. At least they drop decent gold, as do the green ropers. The path through the jungle went pretty well and I think it's fair to say it was one of the best I did. I get a good boomerang drop, which is handy for collecting items without slowing down.

• Section 6: Dragon Zombie's Castle

  I take a detour in the castle to grab some tornados which I'll need a bit later. Fortunately it's not too far.

  Hooray for the strange falling music as you drop down the middle of the tower and climb it again from the other side.

  The dragon zombie went well, although I could never find a way to make it go faster (unlike the other dragon fights in the run). It's one of the very few times I've done it with no damage. Sadly, I get hit by the blue flame too early and miss out on some easy money - you'll see me pay for that mistake later. It's not too bad because the dragon drops are farly ordinary until you get the lucky sword.

• Section 7: Piranha-Man

  I lose my boomerang at the start of the lava area for some reason, which irks me. Luckily another one drops almost immediately. Usually two things happen in this area: 1. a blue fire-ant-lion drops me the lava-proof dragon mail saving me 300 gold and 2. I don't fall in the lava. Sadly, neither happened. On the plus side, I get a rare full heal from a medicine so my dip into the lava wasn't too awful.

• Section 8: Mouse-Man in Lion-Man's Cave

  Here begins the major sequence break in the run - using the tasmanian sword to skip the sunken ship, the Captain Dragon, the randomly placed Japanese Castle underground and the Damiyo Dragon. The tasmanian sword allows switching to different forms outside of the transformation rooms. When I performed this run, there was no consensus on whether or not this is a cheat - it's listed along with the other magical weapons on the inventory (thunder and magical sabers (sic), the lucky sword and the muramasa blade). It certainly makes the run more interesting because mouse-man is decidedly underpowered in the cave.

  Another of my pet peeves shows up here - the way that some enemies get knocked back into you when you hit them. Hard to predict and really annoying.

  Due to my goof up at the end of the Dragon Zombie's fight (didn't get enough money), I have to grind a fire flower for a few minutes to afford the tasmanian sword. I'd wind up grinding for money anyway at some point (the Legendary shield is really expensive) so here's as good a place as any. I lose a few seconds killing a cyclops for a full heart (forgetting that there was one in a chest a few seconds into the future).

• Section 9: Hawk-Man Returns to the Castle

  I'm killing things with the lucky sword because I need enough cash to buy the Legendary Shield (note that I've been using the starting shield all the way so far - it really doesn't cut it in the final dungeon) and a key. Note the awesomeness of the Legendary Sword - count the number of hits to kill a blue cyclops!

• Section 10: Vampier (sic) Dragon's Castle

  The only point of the magical saber (sic) is to open the way to this castle. Such a shame - it was a good concept. I use the tasmanian sword to switch forms because it's quicker than the transformation rooms. I also abuse it a bit to switch forms early.

  Another of my real hates make an appearance here - the deadly ninja and deadly samurai. Overpowered.

  My final hate with this game is how hard it is to fly from the top of one screen into the bottom of the next.

  Fighting the Vampier (sic) Dragon as Hu-Man (yes, it is an awful pun) is overpowered and normally not possible. It's a great quick kill, though.

  And that's the end: roll credits, etc.

Goodnight Brave Warrior,
Goodnight Monster-land.