The History of Ninja Gaiden World Records

[00:04] This is Ninja Gaiden for Nintendo Entertainment System. It's one of the hardest games ever made, but for the past 15 years, gamers from around the world have competed with each other to beat it as fast as possible, culminating

[00:17] in a world record that has been traded back and forth for years. Most speedrun record progressions have a degree of drama, but Ninja Gaiden is unlike any other. It has seemingly unbeatable world records, cheaters falsely claiming

[00:33] victory, communities hidden from the rest of the world, and a streak of dominance practically never seen in a game more than 30 years old. Let's see game more than 30 years old. Let's see how it got there.

[01:06] early history of Ninja Guiden speedrunning is hard to accurately track. From looking at old leaderboards, the world record was initially traded back and forth between Japanese runners Osaka, Ramuda, and Shivering Erotic King

[01:21] Banana. But it unfortunately seems like most of these runs don't have videos that are around today. However, over in the West, runners were submitting their fastest times to the website speed demos archive. And while

[01:36] these times were slower than the ones in Japan, they at least have video we can Japan, they at least have video we can look at today.

[01:49] oldest surviving time with video and is a great introduction to how Ninja Giden speedruns work. Ninja Gaiden is broken into six acts, and each act has a few different stages in it. Stage 1 one is pretty easy, even for non-sp

[02:03] speedrunners. You simply have to use Ryu's sword to slash all the enemies out of your way while running and jumping your way through the stage. There's a few special weapons that can be picked up along the way. There's five total

[02:15] weapons, but spin slash blows the other four out of the water. When used in the air, it deals one damage per frame to every enemy you're touching. Ryu essentially turns into an invincible hitbox when spin slash is used, killing

[02:29] anything he comes into contact with. However, it takes five nino to use spin slash, which must be picked up as you go through the levels. At the end of each act is a boss who normally takes several hits to kill. But since Spin Slash deals

[02:45] hits to kill. But since Spin Slash deals one damage per frame to enemies, Spin Slash must be repicked up in each act, so Teeont quickly did so in 2-1.

[03:00] The general strategy when you're running through stages is to kill each enemy while you're in the air. Since if you're on the ground, you must briefly stand still to slash them. So, whenever Team M could, he was able to jump and kill

[03:13] enemies on the way up and on the way down. Stage 2 featured heavy use of spin slash, using it to just obliterate enemies that were in his path. It also featured the first notable randomness in the run. These enemies, nicknamed hammer

[03:28] brothers, throw their projectiles at random times and at random trajectories. Although it often led to getting knocked back, this time was able to cleanly get through the two two hammer brothers. After another quick boss fight came act

[03:43] three, the only act in the game to not have spin slash. So Timont instead had to use the throwing star in 3-1 to pick up the art of the firewheel, which he would use later against the act three boss. As for act three itself, 3-1 was

[03:58] fairly straightforward, using the sword while in the air as much as possible to defeat enemies. 32 was quite a bit harder and featured more random hammer bros. Teeont got good hammer brother luck again, but slowed down a few times

[04:11] throughout the level. In stage 41, Teeont picked up the spin slash once again and used it to tear through enemies. He had to do quite a bit of wall climbing in this stage where you wiggle the D-pad back and forth very

[04:25] precisely to climb up walls as quickly as possible. 4 featured more random hammer brothers, but thanks to the spin slash, they were no big deal. He did get knocked back a few times by other enemies, though. 43 is a stage featuring

[04:40] a lot of enemies and a lot of wall climbing. Teont took sections of it very slowly to play it safe and avoid dying. Act 5 is where the game takes a big step up in difficulty and stage 51 is one of the toughest in the game. There are

[04:55] enemies everywhere, many of which have random positionings and random hammer throws. This time, T-M wasn't immune to all of them. 52 is similar, but this time T-Mont was more stocked up on NO, so he was able to use spin slash to take

[05:10] most enemies down easily. 53 was more the same, stocking up on noo and using spin slash over and over. Act six is the final act in the game, and they certainly saved the toughest for last. It starts with 61, a stage where T-Mot

[05:27] had to almost non-stop jump and slash enemy after enemy. That prepared him for 62, another one of the hardest and most random levels in the game. There's enemies everywhere, many of them randomly throwing hammers or walking in

[05:41] various directions. Teeont did a lot of standing slashes instead of jumping to slash, meaning he repeatedly stopped to stand still throughout the level. 63 is similar to 62. Spin slash, enemies, and hectic gameplay everywhere. Teeont made

[05:57] it through with some more standing slashes, and then he was on to the final bosses. There's three of them in Ninja Gaiden. And for the first one, you get to keep your special weapon. So, Teeont made quick work of him with the spin

[06:09] made quick work of him with the spin slash. boss fights on the NES. You can only hit him by leaping into the air and slashing him with your sword. All the while, Jacko is moving back and forth and

[06:24] hitting you with fireballs. Teimos slowly hit him one shot at a time and after about 45 seconds he was able to take him down. Finally came form three of the final boss, the demon. Teeon attempted to use a technique here

[06:39] normally only use your sword a couple of times while in the air, but by pressing down and B over and over, you can use it several more times. The faster you can mash those two buttons, the faster Rio will attack. Teamont Slash canceled over

[06:55] and over to destroy the demon's head, then slashed on the ground repeatedly to take out the tail. All the while, the so-called shrimp were being launched from the demon randomly, potentially hitting and damaging Ryu. Finally,

[07:08] Teeont was able to slash cancel some more on the demon's heart, and after landing the last hit, he had defeated Ninja Gaiden in 1349. It was a solid run. There were mistakes and slowdowns, but beating Ninja Gaiden

[07:21] in under 14 minutes was still a great achievement. Over the next few years, the record on Speed Demos Archive would be lowered by several great players, eventually even coming under 13 minutes. And that was nice and all, but the truth

[07:35] is, compared to what was going on in Japan, they came up way short.

[07:47] In September 2007, a Japanese player known as Reley got a time of 12:31. At the time, a full minute ahead of the record on Speed Dumbles Archive. It's unknown if this time was actually a world record or not, but unlike many

[07:59] times from back then, it has a video we can look at. This run was essentially a much more refined version of the product on Speed Dumbles Archive. Those standing slashes that T-M had in his run were few and far between in Rey's run. He also

[08:14] went for more boosts off of enemies. In Ninja Gaiden, when an enemy hits you, you get propelled up and back. This can actually be done at strategic times to reach new areas faster, like off of this bullet in 43 to avoid falling down and

[08:28] climbing up the ladder. Thanks largely to boosts like that and fewer standing slashes, really was 20 seconds ahead of the speed demo's archive record after the speed demo's archive record after act 4. Acts five and six had way less

[08:41] slowing down, too. Thanks to knowing when to pick up NPO and precisely when to use it, he once again didn't need to do as many standing slashes. But his biggest time save came against Jacko, the second form of the final boss. A

[08:55] cycle of Jacko is defined as him making a full movement across the screen, starting from the right and then making it back there. Teont's run took 13 cycles to kill Jakio. And the SDA record by the time Ry's run happened by Liger

[09:10] of Fortune featured an 8 and a half cycle fight, but really was able to more getting knocked around as much as possible. It ended up being just a 5 cycle fight, saving more than a dozen seconds. Really's demon fight was

[09:26] similar to the others, and it all led to a time way ahead of what Speed Demos Archive had been able to do. And over the following years, Japan would continue their dominance. A player known as R50,000 lowered it down to 1212 in

[09:40] 2008. The best at speed that Mosarchive could get by then was a 1244, still more than half a minute behind. Japan was on top and they were there to stay until Arcus came along.

[10:00] By early 2012, more than 4 years after Ry's run, a player known as Arcus had been able to match the 1231. It was celebrated across the community. exactly how he did it since everyone knew that it wasn't really the world

[10:16] record. Because just like how the Western community had improved over the past 4 years, so had the Japanese community. All evidence showed that by early 2012, the world record had been lowered all the way down to a 1205 by

[10:30] Japanese player Hodor Ruby. At the time, the run had no video. Its existence stemmed from a Japanese leaderboard that had Hodory's time at the top. But even though there wasn't a video they could access, everybody knew that this record

[10:44] was legitimate. Hod Ruby is one of the most legendary speedrunners of all time. He had held the world records in Super Metroid, Ninja Gaiden 2, and several other games, each with video proof. And during research for this project, video

[10:58] for his Ninja Gaiden 1 run was ultimately found. So, it probably did exist back in 2012, but couldn't be found by anybody in the West. So, this mystical 1205 without a video was the time to beat. But by this point, even

[11:12] the 1231 by Arcus was very, very optimized. Where were 27 seconds going to come off of it to get a 1204? Nobody was able to do it. So for months, it stood as the best known time on Speed Dumbo's archive, half a minute behind

[11:27] the world record. But then Arcus had a breakthrough.

[11:41] in April 2012, Arcus was able to cut the gap in half. Compared to Ailly's 1231, Arcus traded small time saves and time losses early on, but saved a couple of seconds in 43 by cleaning up the knockbacks that really had taken. In 53,

[11:57] Arcus saved another 4-se secondond chunk by successfully getting the SP boost by climbing your way up this section very quickly. You can get to the top and jump to the left just as the enemy trails you, allowing you to boost higher and

[12:10] activate the next screen sooner. Act six was just a few seconds cleaner overall, was just a few seconds cleaner overall, too, with few slowdowns and knockbacks. And finally on Jako, Arcus' better matching was able to get him a four

[12:23] round fight instead of a five round one, saving a couple of seconds. The final time was a 1217. He was getting closer, but saving 13 more seconds seemed almost impossible. He had an extremely optimal first four

[12:37] He had an extremely optimal first four acts, more boosts than ever before, and a four round Jacko fight to cap it off. If Arcus was going to take it to sub 1205, he would need some help. And later that year, that's exactly what he got. A

[12:51] player known as Dexter and a third player who will remain nameless started pushing their Ninja Guiden one times down near Arcus' level. The third player many of his speedruns, so his times will be ignored. But Dexter quickly pulled up

[13:05] to the same level as Arcus, matching his 1217 in October 2012. [Music] [ __ ] yes. Over the following several

[13:19] of the best rivalries in all of speedrunning. They show each other new strategies, collaborated to figure out the most optimal places to save time, and formulated just how they could take the 13 seconds off their records to beat

[13:33] Hodar Ruby. And as they played, they realized that 1205 didn't need to be the final frontier. Was that 12-minute barrier possible to break? Here's what they did. [Music]

[13:51] [Music] Done. Wow, that's a PB. [ __ ] yes. [Music]

[14:57] On February 4th, 2013, Arcus finally did it. The final time was 11:58. There were still slowdowns toward the end of the run, most apparent at the start of 62 and 63, but the rest of the run more than made up for that. Very few mistakes

[15:10] in the early acts. Boosts used all over the place. Good luck from the hammer brothers. And to cap it off at the end, a three round Jacio and blazing fast demon fight that went straight for the heart. Arcus had done it. Sub2 was

[15:25] achieved. And finally, after almost a decade of being behind, Japan had been beaten. At least that's what they thought. But they were wrong. The timeline for Ninja Giden was about to be put on its head because it turns out

[15:40] Hodu Ruby's 1205 wasn't actually Japan's fastest time. In January 2013, a user posted to the speed demos archive forum that they had found another Ninja Gaiden run from Japan. The runner's name was Ohan. The date of the run was April

[15:57] Ohan. The date of the run was April 2010, 3 years before Orcus' 1158, and 2010, 3 years before Orcus' 1158, and the time of the run was 11:56.

[16:13] In April 2010, the fastest time outside of Japan was a 1244, which just pald in comparison. Ohan's run was way ahead of its time.

[16:25] So that means Hodor Ruby's 1205 was never the world record. This guy Ohan had apparently held the world record ever since March 2009. By 2013, his 1156

[16:37] was still standing as the fastest time in the world. That means Arcus' 1158 wasn't the record either. Oh alone was ahead of the efforts of the entire Western community nearly 4 years before they could even get their first sub12.

[16:52] As for the run itself, it was brilliant. He used even more boosts early on to save fractions of a second, like the precise double bird boost in 32, where a bird is left on the screen to boost off of twice. He cleaned up the slowdowns at

[17:06] the start of 62 that Arcus had and then had similar final boss fights at the end. It was enough to save about 2 seconds over Arcus. Overall, Ohan was the undisputed king of Ninja Gaiden. He had been on top of the world for 4 years

[17:20] straight. And even still, he was ahead of Arcus by 2 seconds. But if there was one thing people could complain about, it was that his 1156 was performed on an emulator instead of an actual NES. That technically left the possibility more

[17:35] open of finding the run being cheated or faked somehow. So, in April 2013, Ohan went ahead and did attempts on an actual console. And I guarantee nobody in the world could have anticipated the time that he was about to pull off.

[17:59] record that's so good people don't even think it's worth trying to beat. This was that run for Ninja Gaiden. When Ohan completed it, it was widely considered to be one of the greatest speedruns ever performed. How on earth did he get it

[18:14] down to 1148? The big thing he did was really good wall climbing. When climbing up a ladder, it's possible to wiggle the D-pad back and forth while pressing A to jump up the ladder slightly quicker than

[18:27] normal. Each of these wall jumps saves about a tenth of a second if done properly. So, across a whole run, it's good enough to save a few seconds. It's very difficult to wall climb effectively, but Ohan got really good at

[18:40] them and executed them all over the run. He got the double bird boost again in 32, and thanks to good wall jumping in 4-1, he got a boost off of this bird. He also manipulated where a hammer brother spawned at the start of 5-1 to boost off

[18:54] of him. But outside of that, that was about all for the new strats. He had a solid three round Jacko fight and a good demon kill, but the real time saves just came from good wall jumping across nearly every ladder in the game. It was

[19:08] the only sub 11150. It was one of the best speedruns ever performed. Oh was 10 seconds ahead of anybody else in the world. And so, as expected, it stood all

[19:20] throughout 2013 and 2014 and 2015. By March 2016, going back to the first record he had set, Ohan had held the world record in Ninja Gaiden for the

[19:33] world record in Ninja Gaiden for the past 7 years straight. That is just complete and utter dominance. But it couldn't just go on forever. Someone had to at least try to beat him eventually. So years later, someone

[19:48] finally decided to attempt to improve enough to get on Ohan's level. And funnily enough, it was the guy who had been beaten by Ohan all those years been beaten by Ohan all those years prior. It was Arcus.

[20:06] a bit differently. He was streaming his attempts live on Twitch for anyone to watch. This time, and his personal best was 11:54. Somehow, he had to find a way to save time over Ohan's 1148.

[20:19] But even though 1148 was so good, it wasn't perfect. Oh got knocked back by an enemy in 43 and didn't go for a risky faster boost at the end of 62. Those two

[20:31] combined for about a second and a half of potential time save. And his boss fights could have been improved a little bit, too. Better mashing on Jacko could potentially beat him in slightly less time, making for a so-called 2 and 1/2

[20:44] round fight instead of a three- round fight. And it took him three jumps to could potentially be done in two jumps with better mashing, saving a little bit with better mashing, saving a little bit of time. He had to get that on top of

[20:57] all the other crazy execution and wall jumping did for 12 minutes straight. But at least he had a bit of wiggle room now. As his attempt counter climbed into the thousands, Arcus got better and better. For the past 7 years, nobody had

[21:12] even attempted to take the Ninja Gaiden record from Ohhan. But now that was changing. There was no turning back. Arcus was going all in to beat Ohhan.

[21:25] Arcus was going all in to beat Ohhan. [Music] Yes. 11:52. [Music]

[21:46] Oh, we got it. 1151 flat. 1151 flat. [Music]

[22:00] [Music] There it is. [Music] Oh boy, I can't mash. The nerves are

[22:15] Oh boy, I can't mash. The nerves are real. [Music] I think I got it. I think this is it.

[22:32] Yes, I did it. That was the urn. Oh my god.

[22:45] there. It had actually happened. On March 24th, It had actually happened. On March 24th, 2016, Arcus beat Ohan with an 1147. way, but there were also some time saves. A clean 43, a fast boost in 62,

[23:01] and faster boss fights at the end. It had taken him more than 5 years since learning how to run the game, but Arcus had finally set a world record. What had done to the game for the past 7 years was legendary and really cannot be

[23:16] overstated. For 3 years straight, his 1148 stood as more than just a world record. It symbolized near perfection in the speedrunning community. But it had finally been broken, and now it was Arcus' turn at the top. And to put it

[23:32] bluntly, what Arcus did next made that 1148 pale in comparison. The 1148 stood 1148 pale in comparison. The 1148 stood as the world record for 35 months. This is what Arcus did over the following four months.

[23:46] [Music] Arcus was revolutionizing this game. What had he done to Ninja Gaiden? Well, starting around the time he first got the record, Arcus began streaming full-time. And one of his first projects

[24:00] was to push the Ninja Giden record even lower. So, he did tons of attempts with his counter climbing higher into the thousands. He still had time saves to get. There was potential for a faster kill on the

[24:14] act three boss, the bird boost that Ohan got in 41, fewer slowdowns in 52 and 53, and then even more time saves on the final bosses. With really good mashing,

[24:26] Jack-o could potentially be beaten in just four jumps, making for a two- round fight where Jio isn't able to leave the left side of the screen. All of those time saves added together meant several seconds of potential. As he did more

[24:40] attempts, Arcus developed this amazingly calming presence. He grew a mustache and started wearing a cowboy hat. He had played the game so many times now that he had to add his own sound effects into the game just to mix things up. Every

[24:55] boost off an enemy was a boom. Killing a boss with spin slash was a bz. His wall climbing was usually kept track of by counting.

[25:07] This star throw in 22 was the swag star. That is a swag star. Spin slash usage in a stage was usually accompanied with a spin. I'll do two more spins and other little narrations were thrown in

[25:22] too. Jump and throw and slice. Jump and nice. Spin and throw. Do some freef fall action there. Do some flip-flopping there. Nice. Made it through. W for run after run

[25:39] Made it through. W for run after run after run. But whatever he did, it sure did work. Oh, I did it. This might even be 11:45. I'll have to frame count it. I don't think that did it.

[25:55] I don't think that did it. Oh my god. Did that do it? world record. It was just good enough. By December 2016, Arcus had set the past

[26:07] eight world records in Ninja Gaiden and taken it down all the way to 1144.2. Nobody else was close to him on the leaderboards. He was way ahead of anyone

[26:19] could have just stopped right there, and his record probably would have stood for years. But like any good speedrunner, Arcus wasn't satisfied. He knew he could do better. mainly because on December 24th, 2016, a Christmas miracle came

[26:35] from an unexpected source. This is Stuck in a Plate. He's best known for running Super Mario Bros. and Ghosts and Goblins, but that December, he posted this video to his YouTube account. It was a two round Jacko fight,

[26:50] but with a different approach. He ran straight to the center of the screen, then attacked Jako on both sides as he moved back and forth. This enabled him to get in more hits as Jacku passed since you didn't just have to stand in

[27:03] the corner and wait. Stuck in a plate acknowledged in the description that possible to get a one and a half round fight if your mashing was good enough. It turned out he was right. Jackio started on the right, moved to the left

[27:17] and back, then was killed before he could reach the center of the screen for could reach the center of the screen for a second time. A 1.5 round fight. The Jio kill in the world record at the time was much slower. A three round fight.

[27:31] Mashing well enough to get a 1.5 rounder on Jacko would save more than 5 seconds. [Applause] [Music]

[27:44] was also a fast kill on the demon he was going for, the rich kill, named after its discoverer, Old School Richard. After getting a two jump kill on the head, it was possible to jump in the tail in such a way that it never hits

[27:57] you, allowing you to kill the heart without ever getting hit. The tail's hitbox is active while it's in the middle. So, it's possible to time your jumps perfectly to be in the air while it can damage you, then land safely

[28:09] while it can't. Three jumps without getting knocked back is enough to take out the demon. Arcus had been going for the rich kill for a while now, and in the record, he got one that was almost dead. He had to do a fourth jump because

[28:23] his mashup wasn't good enough, costing him about 2/3 of a second. Add that with a time save on Draio, and that meant Arcus could potentially save 6 seconds just on the final bosses. Now, the odds in actually saving those 6 seconds were

[28:38] staggeringly low. The mashing and movement needed for a 1.5 round fight is really good, and even getting a two cycle fight is hard. The rich kill, in addition to being difficult, is also insanely random. The shrimp projectiles

[28:53] the demon launches go in random trajectories, and none of them are allowed to hit you for the entire fight in order to get the kill to work. The heart's hit box also isn't active right away, and it's random how long it takes

[29:05] until you can begin to do damage to it. Arcus calculated the odds in him getting a perfect pair of boss fights was well under 1%. So, he started referring to runs that made it there as lottery tickets. Getting runs to the end of the

[29:19] getting the boss fights needed at the end, even if they weren't perfect, was just so unlikely. So, he kept doing attempts, trying to get as many lottery tickets as possible. Most of them didn't go well. But on

[29:34] January 2nd, 2017, he got himself a two Oh, wow. Two cycle hype. We're in there.

[29:50] Did that do it? I think we got it. I think this is a new record. It's going think this is a new record. It's going to be close.

[30:04] later, he got on a run that just kept gaining time more and more and more. Sustaining a pace like that is nearly impossible. So, he bled some of it in the later stages. Some poor wall climbing lost some time in both 53 and

[30:20] 62. This is a pretty good illustration of how much a pace can bounce around during a run. But still, he had a 2se second lead going into the bosses.

[30:37] Wow, we're still on this. All right, let's see. Uh, let's see a decent demon.

[30:50] I don't know what this is. Is this a record? I don't know. We don't know.

[31:03] keep in mind, although these runs were done just one week apart, Arcus had done 500 runs between them, and dozens of those made it to the final bosses, but every time one or more of them went poorly and killed the run. Most of these

[31:18] there was no point highlighting them on Twitch, so they can't be showcased here. At this point, world records were very small. just a fraction of a second was taken off at a time because there was so much that had to go into a run for it to

[31:33] be world record. Of course, there was potential to go lower, but for that to happen, you would need a winning lottery ticket at the end of an insanely good run. So, he was going to just keep chipping away at his time, tenth of a

[31:47] second by tenth of a second, until he approached the 1140 barrier. And remember, his 1142 had an amazing first six acts. It was 2 seconds ahead after act six. And just about his only time losses were from failed wall climbs. So

[32:03] almost every run he had that made it deep was behind going into the final bosses. And he was hoping to just make up the time there with a 1.5 round fight or the rich kill. And then he had this run.

[32:16] run. [Music]

[32:39] That might be a new record. I think we got it. Oh, this is huge. got it. Oh, this is huge. Boom. 11:40. Holy cow. I did it. Oh my god. Oh my god.

[32:52] [Music] I wonder if that could be 1139. It was I wonder if that could be 1139. It was miraculous. Arcus took 2 1/2 seconds off the world record thanks to a 1.5 round Jacko and a good demon fight at the end

[33:05] of an amazing run. There is a pretty good possibility that this run was actually an 1139 since he split a little bit late at the end, but after a frame bit late at the end, but after a frame count, the run was rettimed to 1140.

[33:20] 0 0. Arcus was a thousandth of a second away from 1139. This was an incredibly clean run. He had a beautiful first three acts, then got the bird boost in 4-1. Act five was

[33:34] excellent, too, barring a missed boost at the end of 52. The only real slowdown was in 62, where he got trolled by the hammer brother at the start, then messed up a wall climb later on. But other than that, it was an amazing run into the

[33:49] final bosses. The Jacko fight was a rare one and a half rounder. Then, despite solid enough demon fight after two rounding the head. It was a huge gain over the old world record. But since Arcus only had to take one frame off for

[34:04] Arcus only had to take one frame off for an 1139, the next step seemed easy. And 3 months later, some 4,000 attempts in the future, he was on a heck of a run. It was even against the amazing 1140 going into act 6 with a second and a

[34:18] going into act 6 with a second and a half to save in 62, which he did. Arcus half to save in 62, which he did. Arcus was 1.5 ahead going into the bosses. was 1.5 ahead going into the bosses. Wow. Okay. 1.5. Really good pace.

[34:30] Really good. But it would all be for nothing if he couldn't get a good Jacko.

[34:46] Let's go. A two rounder. It was good enough with time to save on the demon from a rich kill. It still had a slim chance at 1139. chance at 1139. [Music]

[35:06] Did I get it? Is this it? Is this 11:39? I sure hope so. Come on. Come on. this. We got to frame count this one. I might have done it. Oh my god. 1140.

[35:24] it. I think this might be it. His splits read 11:40 on the nose, but this time things were looking pretty good. Arcus was known to usually start his splits a little early, meaning the time displayed at the end was typically longer than the

[35:37] actual length of the run. So, he went to rettime it, feeling pretty good about rettime it, feeling pretty good about himself. The final time was 1140. Again, the odds in getting two runs that

[35:53] physically could not be any closer to 1139 are staggeringly low. But after 24,000 attempts, that's what had happened. All he could do was keep on All right, this is one of those runs

[36:08] where a two cycle Jacko is good enough.

[36:34] that wasn't very good. I don't think we got it. It's like 11:40ish. Incredibly, after being a second and a half ahead going into the final bosses,

[36:50] half ahead going into the final bosses, Arcus had hit a 1.5 round kill on Jacko. This run would later be rettimed to 1140.07. That's three runs within a tenth of a second of 1139 without quite being fast

[37:04] second of 1139 without quite being fast enough. It was nothing short of tragic. But just like before, Arcus' only choice was to keep going. And on May 29th, 2017, this is what happened.

[37:19] here. That was a good

[37:33] This is the earn. I have never been on this pace in my life. Arcus had done this pace in my life. Arcus had done over 27,000 runs of Ninja Gaiden. This was the best pace of all of them. Arcus never gets noticeably flustered by

[37:46] anything Ninja Gaiden related, but it was obvious he knew the magnitude of this moment. Oh my god. He just needed something acceptable on the demon fight.

[38:02] [Music] No. Stop it. Oh, is that it? I don't No, I think it's 11:40. That was a bad demon.

[38:20] Did it again. 11:40. E 1140. Tragically, on the best run of his life, Arcus had just missed the 1139. Again, this was the fourth low 1140 that Arcus had gotten. But of course, it's possible he split too late,

[38:35] so he had to frame count it to be sure. So that's what he spent the next several I guess I guess we can frame count it, right? And really, it's almost poetic how cool, calm, and collected Arcus was after

[38:48] finishing this run. That's how he had been for the past 27,000 attempts. And while it's a shame we don't get to see his reaction, we can still at least see the aftermath after we realized what he had just done.

[39:13] Ninja Gaiden after this run. Perhaps 27,000 attempts had finally taken a toll on him. But a year later, he was once again back to it, partially due to a trick that had been discovered just before his first sub 11140, RNG

[39:28] This isn't fully understood by the community yet, but it seems that Hammer timing window that starts counting after the game is turned on or reset. Every

[39:40] second and a half or so, the hammer brothers will change their patterns to move or throw their hammers in a different way. That means that as long brother during the correct second and a half window, it'll never give a bad

[39:53] pattern. Arcus found that by starting the game immediately after resetting, then playing well, he was never getting hit by Hammer Brothers in the first four acts. That cut down on his resets a lot and left the door open to later random

[40:07] events being manipulated in the future, too. A manipulation for the demon would be amazing with its random shrimp and heart, but as of now, there's no known heart, but as of now, there's no known way to do that. So, by April 2018, Arcus

[40:20] was back to doing attempts. Pretty much all of the possible time save over the world record was in the demon fight. So Arcus was just hoping to get runs deep, even if they were well behind in hopes of saving a couple of seconds there. And

[40:34] on April 24th, he got one of those lottery tickets. Yes. Okay, we have a chance here. Finally got the plate kill.

[40:56] I don't know if that was it. It was really good. This might do it. And clunk 1139. It is a new record. It's not 1138 though. It is a new world record. He just barely missed the rich kill. But

[41:09] besides that, his boss fights were essentially perfect. So now his splits were oriented the other way with time saves early on but really good boss fights at the end. And 4 days later he gained some of that time back early then

[41:24] gained some of that time back early then destroyed the final bosses again. 11:38. Clonk. I did it. It is 11:38. We got it.

[41:41] We got it. We got the 1138. This was the first 1138 in the history of Ninja Gaiden. It only took 30,000 attempts. But in all of those attempts, there was one thing Arcus had never

[41:54] actually done. Get a perfect pair of bosses at the end of a world record run. They always had something go wrong. Either a two-rounder on Jio or a shrimp hitting Ryu on the demon. Arcus just couldn't quite close it out, even if it

[42:09] wasn't always his fault. So, just like he had been doing for the past few years, Arcus kept going. He had done more than 34,000 attempts. He just needed one to get the perfect pair of boss fights at the end. It didn't need

[42:24] to be a perfect run. It just needed the perfect ending. [Music] There it is.

[42:39] major mistake of this run. All right, we have a lottery ticket here. Not a very exciting one, though. Mash Not a very exciting one, though. Mash mash.

[42:59] Yes. All right. [Music] I think that was the rich kill, right? And clunk. Yes, it is a new record.

[43:16] Perfect boss fights. We did it. We did it. 34,39 attempts later, Arcus had himself a world record with perfect boss fights at the end. Good luck finding anybody else

[43:30] into a game where they're already 10 world. And that's where the world record stands today. But Arcus is nowhere near done yet. Recently, Arcus has still been pushing

[43:44] Ninja Giden for an 1137. His attempt counter is now over 40,000. Ninja Gaiden's time can go lower since RNG manipulation pushes the boundaries into the low 1130s. How will it get there? We'll just have

[43:59] How will it get there? We'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for watching. to wait and see. Thanks for watching. [Music]