Friday, December 28, 2012

Time Attack Records


Refer to my Time Attack video here: http://youtu.be/U_3WyMiRDFg

This entry is to keep an updated record of the fastest times that have been recorded to date. Below are the fastest PS2 & PS3 times I could find with 'video evidence' on the web. Other players may have beaten these times and some have posted them on gaming forums in the past, but without video proof I won't be adding them here. Note: I add new updates above the previous ones (check the dates).

 Full Gameplay Records

 (21-07-17)
Neurotaku (an American player) has broken Shirapon's previous record with a new time of 01:27:55, just 19 seconds faster! He was playing the PS3 version. 

 (30-09-16)
Shirapon has broken his previous record with a new time of 01:28:14, approximately three minutes faster than his old record. As such, he is currently the fastest player in the world for a full playthrough which requires amazing skill to pull off each colossus battle without mistakes, and a lot of luck!

 (11-12-15)
Update: Sadly for Meows - who spent so much time perfecting his game play, the Japanese master Shirapon has broken his record! Beating the whole game in a staggering 1:31:07, just 2 minutes 40 seconds time difference! It's up to Meows to rise to the challenge and defeat this Japanese master of the game xD. Watch Shirapon's amazing full play through here: http://www.twitch.tv/shirapon021212/v/29250693

(30-08-15)
Update: Awkward Meows has broken his previous record and achieved a new world record time for a complete playthrough of the game with 1:33:47! Congratulations Awkward ; )
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnG-NXkdic

(25-12-14)
Update: Awkward Meows has achieved a new world record time for a complete playthrough of the game with 1:41:35 (Note: This includes playing as Dormin at the end cut scene). I actually think you can stop the timer after Malus (#16) is defeated as the end cut scene will always play out the same no matter what, in which case Awkward Meows' time would be 1:38:58.
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtCOHnNC884

The current world record for a full game speed run (as far as I know ) is 1:42:52 by Otaku Gamer (www.twitch.tv/the_otaku_gamer), see his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJT0onmUU0

So this is the record to beat and it requires all the time attack skills gained from defeating all 16 colossi! Only a supreme player could possibly beat this time (could it be you?)

Normal Time Attack World Records


Hard Time Attack World Records


Time Attack Updates
There is only one version of the PS3 game as opposed to the PS2 (i.e. NTSC or PAL). But some players such as Tsunamayo, are faster than the fastest times for the PS2 version, which is amazing as the PS3 version I found more difficult to play as Wander seems to stumble around a lot more when climbing the colossi.

Note: Stormglad now holds the most Time Attack world records of any player in the history of the game! 23 world records out of a possible 32 (that is 10 records for NTA and 13 records for HTA), so two thirds of the total amount. He is truly the Mozart of the Shadow of the Colossus Time Attack records :P Never have we seen a player with such skill as this - most props to Stormglad! See all his videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDJCEpgjEVBuPHkRbkXRfQ/videos

As of September 2018, Stormglad now holds almost all of the world record times for Normal and Hard Time Attack (PS2/PS3). This is due to his amazing skills of course, but also may be due to the fact that hardly anyone else trying to break these records. It seems speed running the colossi isn't as popular as it was a few years ago, or maybe others are trying but just can't break his records? Even the updated PS4 remake doesn't appear to have a lot of contenders, just Stormglad as far as I can tell. 

 I have yet to make a PS4 table as I was waiting to see which players would participate and who would get the fastest times, but nearly all the videos on Youtube are just tutorials and are not going for the world record 'fastest' time. It seems only Stormglad is dedicated to this endevour.

 (08-04-18) Cemeries has beaten Stormglad's record for HTA Quadraus (#2) of 1:21:96 with a new world record time of 1:20:03. Congratulations Cemeries! It proves that Stormglad is not immune to defeat, as gifted a player as he is ; )
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOOAXru7yw4

 (28-01-18) Marcello Vianna has beaten Unidone's previous record for NTA Gaius (#3) of 1:06:02 with a new world record time of 0:58:79. A blistering new time, congrats Marcello ; ) See video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sdjt0K7UNw&feature=youtu.be

 (09-09-17) Riku7kun has beaten Stormglad's previous record for HTA Kuromori (#8) of 0:53:03 with a new world record time of 0:48:48. Congrats Riku7kun! ; ) He is using a new, faster technique here - see video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=400hFMcR7FU&feature=youtu.be

 (21-05-17) Stormglad has beaten Cimeries SotC previous record for NTA Pelagia (#12) of 0:40:98 with a new world record time of 0:37:41.

(06-06-17) Marcelo Vianna has beaten Stormglad's record for NTA Basaran (#9) of 0:32:64 with a new world record time of 0:31:34. Congrats to Marcello! See his video here:

 (25-07-17) A new player Riku7kun has beaten Stormglad's record for NTA Kuromori (#8) of 0:28:94 with a new world record time of 0:27:02, approximately two seconds faster! Congrats to you Riku7kun ; ) See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juDbZTytM6g&feature=youtu.be

(21-05-17) Stormglad has beaten Cimeries SotC previous record for NTA Pelagia (#12) of 0:40:98 with a new world record time of 0:37:41.

 (22-04-17) Stormglad has beaten Cimeries SotC previous record for HTA Pelagia (#12) of 1:38:97 with a new world record time of 1:27:31. Approximately 12 seconds faster!

 (22-04-17) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Vianna's previous record for HTA Cenobia (#14) of 1:34:37 with a new world record time of 1:26:92.

 (22-04-17) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Vianna's previous record for NTA Cenobia (#14) of 1:17:91 with a new world record time of 1:15:80.

(20-01-17) Stormglad has beaten his own previous record for NTA Argus (#15) of 0:38:41 with a new world record time of 0:33:65.

 (20-01-17) Stormglad has beaten Unidone's previous record for NTA Quadratus (#2) of 0:46:80 with a new world record time of 0:43:61.

 (07-01-17) Stormglad has beaten Unidone's previous record for NTA Celosia (#14) of 0:22:42 with a new world record time of 0:20:32.

 (15-12-16) Stormglad has beaten Mikael Gamer's previous record for HTA Valus (#1) of 1:54:22 with a new world record time of 1:41:89. Approximately 12 seconds faster! You can see Stormglad takes a different route here... and shaves off valuable seconds ; )

 (15-12-16) Stormglad has beaten Unidone's record for HTA Celosia (#11) of 0:27:71 with a new world record time of 0:26:39.

 (15-12-16) Stormglad has beaten his previous record for HTA Phaedra (#4) of 1:29:12 with a new world record time of 1:25:55.

 (26-11-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcello Vianna's previous record for HTA Malus (#16) of 1:25:91 with a new word record time of 1:10:76. Approximately 15 seconds faster!

 (15-11-16) Stormglad has beaten Cimeries SotC previous record for HTA Argus (#15) of 1:25:91 with a new world record time of 1:10:76. Approximately 15 seconds faster!

(30-10-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcello Vianna's previous record for HTA Phalanx (#13) of 1:18:16 with a new world record time of 1:14:70.

 (23-09-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Cimeries record for HTA Basaran (#9) of 0:54:79 with a new world record time of 0:49:41. See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38AzvB1kUKg

(16-09-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Vianna's record for HTA Kuromori (#8) of 0:56:33 with a new world record time of 0:53:03. See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjODPVpFzE

(11-09-16) Stormglad has beaten Tsunumayo's record for HTA Hydrus (#7) of 0:45:34 with a new world record time of 0:44:74. See his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSsuayBbCKY

(27-08-16) Stormglad has beaten Rafael's record for HTA Avion (#5) of 1:38:53 with a new world record time of 1:36:62. It's an amazing acrobatic play through - you have got to see this to believe it! Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD1Y4skG9ds

(20-08-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Vianna's record for HTA Phaedra (#4) of 1:33:25 with a new world record of 1:29:12. See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrokm3R3Wcw

(13-08-16) Stormglad has beaten MgoStun's long held record for HTA Gaius (#3) of 1:45:71 with a new world record time of 1:42:87. This record was held since 2010, although I think the actual video by MgoStun was released even earlier as it can only be found on alainaiso's Youtube channel (who may have uploaded it later)? The amazing thing about this record is that is was achieved on the PS3! MgoStun's record was made on the US version of the PS2, which is much easier to accomplish. If you have ever played the Hard Time Attack trials on the PS3 you will understand just how difficult the third colossus is to defeat in the allotted time, let alone to break the world record. Players always complain that the 3rd colossus in Hard Time Attack is too hard to defeat, but Stormglad has used some unique techniques and his amazing skills to pull off the impossible! Congrats ; ) See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHT0RO7SE7Y

(27-07-16) Stormglad has beaten Tsunumayo's old record for NTA Cenobia (#14) of 1:20:20 with a new time of 1:19:87. Stormglad now holds eight world record times beating out all other players. Next is Cimeries SotC and Marcelo Vianna with five, Unidone with four, Tsunumayo, Noocurrname & Mikael Gamer with two, then Shirapon and Rafael with one each. Checkout Stormglad's channel page here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDJCEpgjEVBuPHkRbkXRfQ
(23-07-16) Cimeries SotC has broken his own record for NTA Pelagia (#12) of 0:43:70 with a new time of 0:40:98  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5bdfQ4H4Mw&t=0s

(14-07-16) Stormglad has beaten Marcelo Vianna's record for NTA Malus (#16) of 1:32:61 with a new time of 1:30:70. Jarrod Mitchell's time of 1:41:59 stood for years and many never expected it to be broken, but there is a new breed of players changing our previous misconceptions of what is possible.

(09-07-16) Cimeries SotC has beaten Unidone's old record for NTA Pelagia (#12) of 0:45:80 with a new time of 0:43:70 - congrats Cimeries - you are one of the best Time Attack players in the world right now ; )

(06-07-16) Stormglad has beaten Tsunumayo's old record for NTA Argus (#15) of 0:39:41 with a new time of 0:38:41 - exactly one second faster. Notable for a new shortcut where he jumps from Argus's shoulder to the hand weak spot, cutting down the time required.

(22-06-16)
A new player, Rafael just beaten Marcelo Vianna's old time (by a few tenths of a second!) of 1:38:96 with a new time of 1:38:53 for HTA #5 (Avion). Congrats to you Rafael ; )

 (21-06-16)
Stormglad has broken Marcelo Vianna's old time of 1:05:89 with a new time of 1:02:99 for NTA #13 (Phalanx). Congrats to you Stormglad ; ) See video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFYgcTGWN90&t=0s

 (02-06-16)
Stormglad has made yet another world record! We should keep a close eye on this player as he has appeared out of nowhere and is fast becoming a real Time Attack contender. He has again beaten one of Unidone's records of 0:35:58 for NTA #9 (Basaran) with a new time of 0:32:64. See video here:

(15-05-16)
Stormglad has broken Unidone's old time of 0:33:32 with a new time of 0:32:67 for NTA #6 (Barba). Congrats to you Stormglad ; ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G76Q2mcoKec

 (25-05-16)
Stormglad has achieved another record for the charts! He has beaten Marcelo Vianna's time of 0:29:11 with a new time of 0:28:94 for colossus #8 Kuromori in NTA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2_oer9CbJ8

(06-05-16)
A new player on the scene called Stormglad has broken Unidone's old record for Phaedra (#4) NTA with a time of 0:42:29. Welcome to the records list Stormglad ; ) 
You can watch his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK6Og7SRcZs

 (25-04-16)
Update: Cimeries SotC has beaten Noocurrname's long held record for Pelagia (#12) HTA by a mere second! Congrats Cimeries, you now hold 4 world record times!

(23-08-15)
Marcelo Vianna has broken a new record for Cenobia (#14) HTA, (1:34:37) beating out Noocurrname's old time of 1:35:71 on the PS2. Congrats again Marcelo, you now hold 8 world record times! Amazing! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVvH7O9N39E

 (25-05-15)
Yet another record has been set by Cimeries SotC, this time for Argus (#15) HTA, (1:29:55) again beating Noocurrname's previous record of 1:30:16. Looks like we have another serious player here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGpg60k9EpU

 (12-02-15)
A new record has been set by Cimeries SotC for Basaran (#9) in HTA, (0:54:79) beating out Noocurrname's long held record of 0:57:77. Congrats Cimeries!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6PN32XOq50

 (20-10-14)
Marcelo Vianna has again recorded a new record for HTA #4 blasting away Unidone's previous PS3 record of 1:38:81 with a new time of (1:33:25) for the 4th colossus (Phaedra). This is also faster than Noocurrname's PS2 HTA time of 1:33:73. So in one video he has bettered two of the world's fastest players! He is on his way to be the fastest Shadow of the Colossus player of all time! Congrats dude - you deserve the praise!

 (25-06-14)
Marcelo Vianna has again achieved a new record for HTA #13 of (1:18:16) just beating out Nooccurname's previous record of 1:18:40 on the PS2, although Marcelo plays on the PS3 and the previous record for HTA #13 on the PS3 was held by Unidone of 1:19:23. Looks like we can expect more amazing records from this player ; )

(21-03-14)
Marcelo Vianna has achieved the fastest ever time for NTA #8 with an amazing time of (0:29:11). This beats the previous record held by Tsunamayo of 1:35:52 by a whopping 3 seconds!

(02-03-14)
Tsunumayo has achieved a new record for NTA #16 (1:35:52) breaking his previous record of 1:40:79. He has also made a significant new discovery in his path towards Malus! Instead of the usual route he has found an even quicker way - watch it here:

 (19-02-14)
Mikael Gamer has achieved a new record for HTA #1 (0:52:31) breaking Noocurrname's previous record of 0:59:19. Again I only have the idol note time for this, not the video evidence, but he did post a video with a time of 0:58:84 which is still faster than the previous record: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trHkcFWbqdA

 (28-01-14)
Marcelo Vianna has achieved the fastest time for HTA #5 (Avion) with a time of (1:38:96) played on the PS3 A remarkable achievement ; ) You cam watch his video here:

 (19-01-14)
A player named Mikael Gamer has achieved two new records in NTA mode, #5 (1:20:14) and #10 (0:34:94) breaking Unidone's and Shiapon's previous records. Note: I only have the idol note times for these records, not the video evidence, but I'll add them in any case.

 (10-01-14)
Alainaiso has informed me of a new NTA record for #7 (Hydrus) by Tsunamayo with an amazing time of (0:39:37)! This beats his previous record of 0:41:14. Video here:

 (29-12-13)
Noocurrname has just released three more videos which break previous records.
HTA #1 - 0:59:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw1ibMLc9zE
HTA #2 - 1:22:76
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jx1So4rGQg
NTA #14 - 1:24:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ9VCBQWnF0

 (04-12-13)
Marcelo Vianna has recorded at time of (1:54:22) for HTA #16 beating out Unidone's record of 1:56:42. Although to be fair there aren't many PS3 HTA videos out there, so the field is wide open to exploit these times. You can see in the above list that three colossi have no times recorded yet!

(06-10-13)
Added Unidone's new NTA time of (0:55:21) for Colossus #1. Thanks to Alainaiso for keeping me updated with any new times, without him this record would be out of date ; ) We still need some better PS3 NTA times and some more PS3 HTA times to complete the list.

 (01-10-13)
Well Marcelo tried again and surpassed Unidone's HTA #8 time with (0:56:33), so he is now now the official record holder for that colossus - congratulations Marcelo! Perhaps we will see more amazing times from you?

 (30-09-13)
Alainaiso has informed me of a faster time for HTA #8 by Unidone of Japan. There is no video of the battle but there is video of the idol statue time stamp which is proof enough (sorry Macello).

 (24-09-13)
We have a new record for HTA #8 by Marcelo Vianna of Brazil.

 (09-08-13)
Tsunumayo has just released another time attack video using the PS3 version and OMG his times are amazing! You can watch his latest video here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12tf6s_tsunumayo-time-attack_videogames

 (18-07-13)
Unidone has made his NTA videos public! So you can watch them here at Dailymotion:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1224e1_smile_videogames#.Uej6JNJkN8E
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1224eq_smile_videogames#.Uej6bdJkN8E

 (13-07-13)
OK, I have seen the extra NTA videos of Unidone's times and as such have updated the list above. He even beat out Jarrod Mitchell's amazing time of 1:41:59 for the final colossus with a new time of 1:39:87. But there are even some faster times by another Japanese player by the name of ツナマヨ which Google translates as Tsunamayo, but I'm not sure if the translation is correct. Apparently these times are for the PS3 version (which is hard to believe) as they are faster than Unidone's NTA PS2 times. 

 (10-07-13)
You can see from the NTA times above that I have made a lot of new updates from Unidone (a Japanese player). Unfortunately, it seems Unidone doesn't want his videos made public and I have only seen his first 12 NTA videos, but apparently he has more records that surpass Noocurrname's times on other private videos. So you will just have to take my word for his NTA times for now until he agrees to make them public again.

 (29-06-13)
Nooccurename has recently added three new records to the list. He has beaten Shirapon's old record for NTA #13, (1:10:40) by three seconds with a new time of (1:07:13). He beat Shirapon's old time for HTA #16 (1:58:96) with a new time of (1:58:36) (less than a second's difference!). And he succeeded in breaking another of Shirpon's records for HTA #7 (1:10:91) with a new record of (1:06:56). So congratulations Nooccurname! Soon all the records will be yours ; ) I also noticed a mistake I made with NTA #15, Shirapon actually had the best time on this one.

NTA Colossi Health Values
Here I will list the Normal Time Attack colossi health values, or the Normal Mode Colossi health values (Note: The colossi health values are the same in game as they are for time attack). Each colossus starts with a set amount of health, as does Wander when the game starts. Wander gains 4 health points and 8 grip points for every colossi kill and these values are what you get when you play in Time Attack mode.

#01 - Valus (200)
#02 - Quadratus (220)
#03 - Gaius (170)
#04 - Phaedra (190)
#05 - Avion (160)
#06 - Barba (230)
#07 - Hydrus (170)
#08 - Kuromori (220)
#09 - Basaran (240)
#10 - Dirge (260)
#11 - Celosia (190)
#12 - Pelagia (210)
#13 - Phalanx (270)
#14 - Cenobia (220)
#15 - Argus (260)
#16 - Malus (270)

HTA Colossi Health Values
 #01 - Valus (300)
#02 - Quadratus (330)
#03 - Gaius (255)
#04 - Phaedra (240)
#05 - Avion (285)
#06 - Barba (345)
#07 - Hydrus (255)
#08 - Kuromori (330)
#09 - Basaran (360)
#10 - Dirge (390)
#11 - Celosia (285)
#12 - Pelagia (315)
#13 - Phalanx (405)
#14 - Cenobia (330)
#15 - Argus (390)
#16 - Malus (405)

To find the colossi health values I first froze the colossi, then moon jumped up onto their heads and using my memory editor searched for an 'unknown' float value. Then I stabbed the colossi's sigil once then 'sub-searched' for a 'decreased' value, this searches for any values that are lower than the first values it found. Repeat this a number of times and you will be able to find the colossi's health code.

The list below shows Wander's health and grip values he starts with for each colossus in time attack (these are the same as in normal game play mode). The following lines show the colossi's health values and by how much it decreases with every stab of the sword, the bracketed value denotes the amount of damage Wander delivers with each stab. (Note: I had full grip strength when stabbing the sigils, but during an actual battle the grip strength would be reduced as you are hanging on at various parts of the colossus).

HTA Colossus #1 - Valus
100 health 100 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Head) 300 > 267 > 234 > 201 > 168 > 150 (33)
2nd Sigil (Arm) 150 > 117 > 84 > 51 > 18 > 0 (33)

 HTA Colossus #2 - Quadratus
104 health 108 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Head) 330 > 304 > 278 > 252 > 226 > 220 (26)
2nd Sigil (Side) 220 > 194 > 168 > 142 > 116 > 110 (26)
3rd Sigil (Back) 110 > 84 > 58 > 32 > 6 > 0 (26)

 HTA Colossus #3 - Gaius
108 health 116 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Head) 255 > 238 > 221 > 204 > 187 > 170 (17)
2nd Sigil (Arm) 170 > 140 > 111 > 85 (30-29-26)
3rd Sigil (Stomach) 85 > 68 > 51 > 34 > 17 > 0 (17)

 HTA  Colossus #4 - Phaedra
112 health 124 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Shoulder) 240 > 224 > 208 > 200 (16)
2nd Sigil (Shoulder) 200 > 184 > 168 > 160 (16)
3rd Sigil (Head) 160 > 138 > 116 > 94 > 72 > 50 > 28 > 6 > 0 (22)

 HTA  Colossus #5 - Avion
116 health 132 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Wing) 285 > 244 > 228 (41-16)
2nd Sigil (Wing) 228 > 187 > 171 (41-16)
3rd Sigil (Tail) 171 > 126 > 81 > 36 > 0 (45)

HTA  Colossus #6 - Barba
120 health 140 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Head) 345 > 315 > 285 > 255 > 230 (30)
2nd Sigil (Back) 230 > 200 > 170 > 140 > 115 (30)
3rd Sigil (Hand) 115 > 75 > 35 > 0 (40)

 HTA  Colossus #7 - Hydrus
124 health 148 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Spine) 255 > 221 (34)
2nd Sigil (Spine) 221 > 187 (34)
3rd Sigil (Spine) 187 > 153 (34)
4th Sigil (Head) 153 > 100 > 47 > 0 (53)

 HTA  Colossus #8 - Kuromori
128 health 156 grip (Wander's health & grip)
Weak spots on legs 330 > 328 > 326 (2)
1st Sigil (Stomach) 326 > 298 > 270 > 242 > 214 > 186 > 162 (28)
2nd Sigil (Stomach) 162 > 134 > 106 > 78 > 50 > 22 > 0 (28)

HTA  Colossus #9 - Basaran
132 health 164 grip (Wander's health & grip)
Weak spots on legs 360 > 359 > 358 (1)
1st Sigil (Head) 360 > 322 > 284 > 246 > 208 > 170 > 132 > 94 > 56 > 18 > 0 (38)

 HTA  Colossus #10 - Dirge
136 health 172 grip (Wander's health & grip)
Arrow in eye 390 > 384 (6)
1st Sigil (Back) 384 > 344 > 304 > 264 > 224 > 190 (40)
2nd Sigil (Back) 190 > 150 > 110 > 70 > 30 > 0 (40)

 HTA  Colossus #11 - Celosia
140 health 180 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Back) 285 > 187 > 89 > 0 (98)

HTA  Colossus #12 - Pelagia
144 health 188 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Stomach) 315 > 268 > 221 > 174 > 127 > 80 > 33 > 0 (47)

 HTA  Colossus #13 - Phalanx
148 health 196 grip (Wander's health & grip)
Air bags 405 > 397 > 389 > 381 (8) Note: Shooting the airbags later has no effect on the value
1st Sigil (Back) 381 > 333> 285 > 245 (48)
2nd Sigil (Back) 245 > 197 > 149 > 110 (48)
3rd Sigil (Back) 110 > 62 > 14 > 0 (48)

 HTA  Colossus #14 - Cenobia
152 health 204 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Back) 330 > 283 > 236 > 189 > 142 > 95 > 54 > 7 > 0 (47)

 HTA  Colossus #15 - Argus
156 health 212 grip (Wander's health & grip)
1st Sigil (Head) 390 > 351 > 312 > 273 > 234 > 225 (39)
2nd Sigil (Chest) 225 > 150 > 75 > 60 (75)
Note: Stabbing his sword arm has no effect on the value
3rd Sigil (Hand) 60 > 19 > 0 (41)

 HTA  Colossus #16 - Malus
160 health 220 grip (Wander's health & grip)
Note: You can get Malus' health down to 81 with explosive arrows or the harpoon of thunder etc.
Weak spot (Back) 405 > 395 (10)
Note: If you keep stabbing its back you remove 10 points per stab
Stab hand 395 > 385 (10)
Note: If you keep stabbing its hand you remove 10 points per stab
1st Sigil (Head) 405 > 351 > 297 > 243 > 189 > 135 > 81 > 27 > 0 (54)

Time Attack Items
For every two colossi defeated in time attack you receive one item that appears in the pool of water at the back of the Shrine of Worship. You get different items for the Normal and Hard time attacks with the exception of the fruit tree map and lizard detection stone, which you get in both modes.

Two items were removed from the final release of the game but are still present in the program code as are the animations of Wander receiving them in the pool. The 'Mask of the Titans' appears to be just another mask that gives you more strength when stabbing a colossus, but since the other two masks do this they may have decided it wasn't needed. The 'Eye of the Colossus' lets you see through the eyes of the colossus you are fighting.

You can, however, get these items in the Preview (or pre-release) version of the game and test them out. The Eye of the Colossus is fun to play around with but for most of the colossi it doesn't work very well and it doesn't work at all for number 3 (Gaius). It's accessed by pressing R3 on the controller (only in the Preview version). The camera seems to move around wildly and you can see inside the colossi's head at times. You have no control of the camera either so all you can do is watch where the colossus moves. But for some (like #5 Avion) it works well and you can fly around the arena watching the action from its point of view (see inset image above). When the colossus moves far enough away from Wander, the Eye of the Colossus stops working and you will hear a 'beep' like sound to let you know the colossus is out of range. So you have to be close enough to the colossus for it to work ; )

So now we can see why we received the fruit tree map and lizard detection stone in both Normal and Hard Time attack. If we had received these two 'extra' items we would only have one of each item across both time attack modes.

NTA Item Descriptions
That is the "Whistling Arrow"... 
By using it, thou shalt be able to avert the attention of a colossus...

That is the "Cloak of Force"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt be able to inflict more grievous injuries upon a colossus...

That is the "Mask of Strength"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt be able to inflict deeper wounds upon a colossus...

That is the "Lizard Detection Stone"... 
By using it, thou shalt be able to find the lizards throughout the world...

That is the "Fruit Tree Map"... 
By using it, thou shalt be able to find the fruit tress throughout the world easier...

That is the "Mask of Power"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt be able to inflict more grievous injuries upon a colossus...

That is the "Cloak of Deception"... 
By using it, thou shalt become invisible to the colossus...

That is the "Flash Arrow"... 
That arrow explodes... Thou may be able to injure a colossus without aiming for the vitals...

HTA Item Descriptions
That is the "Harpoon of Thunder"... 
With it, thou shalt be able to inflict greater damage upon a colossus from afar...

That is the "Sword of the Sun"... 
It is able to gather light even in places sunlight cannot reach...

That is the "Fruit Tree Map"... 
By using it, thou shalt be able to find the fruit tress throughout the world easier...

That is the "Shaman's Cloak"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt receive less injuries...

That is the "Lizard Detection Stone"... 
By using it, thou shalt be able to find the lizards throughout the world...

That is the "Shaman's Mask"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt receive fewer injuries...

That is the "Cloth of Desperation"... 
Use it when thou hast fallen off a colossus and thou art in peril...

Ahh... That is the "Queen's Sword"... 
It can inflict a mortal blow with one strike to the vitals.

Extra Item Descriptions
That is the "Mask of the Titans"... 
By wearing it, thou shalt gain the power to inflict deeper wounds upon a colossus...

 That is the "Eye of the Colossus"... 
By using it near a colossus, thou shalt be able to see what the colossus sees...

 The Last Guardian
The fastest Last Guardian speedrun I have found so far was achieved by a player named 'Karekusa' who finished the entire game in 03:28:03. This is based from the start of the game when the boy wakes up in the cave, until the final showdown with the Master of the Valley! When the MotV is destroyed the timer stops. Also check out this webpage for times: http://www.speedrun.com/The_Last_Guardian

 (18-06-17) satsu has beaten Karekusa's record with a new world record time of 3:22:22.

Fastest speedrun so far is 3:22:22 by satsu - can you beat it?

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Saturday, November 17, 2012

Beta Mountains

In October 2008, Syd-tiger posted his discovery of what he called an 'invisible floor' over the ocean in H8 on the GameFAQs website. He discovered this strange anomaly by accident - 'I was actually just trying to see how far I could get to the east, trying to get to the cloudy area left. I got mad and jumped off Agro, and I use the cloth whenever I do anyway. Sheer luck!'. It took a while for Khfan1 and Legaiaflame to make it to the invisible floor as Syd-tiger hadn't recorded a video or even taken a screen capture as he wasn't sure if he was the first to do this. But eventually Khfan1 got there 'Got to it, I was jumping off the wrong ledge! Anyways, explored to the east side all the way east then south and jumped off. When you go all the way east there is a blue triangle type thingy floating... Like glitched ground that you can't walk on. Beside it is a mountain texture. Pretty sure there was land here before and they removed it, sad. :(' This was the first glimpse of what fans later called the 'Beta Mountains'.

You can read Syd-tiger's (aka: Toxic_Trace/Willy) GameFAQ post here:

Legaiaflame made a video of the invisible lands here: (one of my favourites!)

This is as far as you can get legitimately in the game, just one tantalizing look at a mountain mysteriously floating out above the ocean. It wasn't until Pikol came onto the scene and showed us that this was just the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). Using his emulator glitch he discovered that the mountain Khfan1 found was just the first in a long chain of lands that the developers had left in the game but were completely inaccessible.
Map showing all the squares that contain beta mountains

G7 Cliffs above the invisible lands

Solitary mountain at the north east corner of H8

It's only possible to launch off the cliffs onto the H8 invisible lands in the US (NTSC) version. The PAL/Japanese versions have a tweaked cloth of desperation that doesn't allow you to float out far enough (this is also true for the HD PS3 version). I don't know about the Chinese version as I've never been able to get my hands on a copy.

So it was Pikol that first had the means to explore these vast, unused eastern lands and this led to his biggest discovery of all - the beta dam. Unfortunately, there were no more temples or ruins to be found even though the beta mountains occupy nearly 1/3rd of the world map. Most are just vast, empty plains punctuated by the occasional cliff or mountain range and have the same whitish/brown texture. It is my belief that these are the basic matrix upon which the developers would fashion the landscapes in the game, a skeleton if you will that was later textured with grass, plants and trees etc. There is evidence for this in an early intro trailer that shows the cliffs under the entrance made up of the same whitish/brown texture (before it was rendered into what we see today).
Early cliff texture (May 2005)


So here I will be showing images of all the beta mountains starting from i8 (the one Khfan1 found) and heading north all the way up the J column, then west into row 0 and ending in the A column (as shown in the above map).

Complete i8 beta mountains viewed from the south

Top of the mountain looking west

Strange blue triangle next to the invisible lands (H8) as seen from i8

These mountains seem to be the southern most cliffs of a once larger area

The i7 quadrant was removed leaving i8 and J7 to the south and east
Update June 2017: My hacker friend Wisi was checking out the code and realised that there were two extra map squares in the data that were not available in the game. He noticed that the headers of these files were slightly different (and therefore appear to be older) than the other map squares in the game. So after some clever coding he managed to get these two map squares to appear in the game for the first time ever! The first one was the i7 map square that for so long I had wondered and speculated about. It turned out to be very different than what I had imagined.

Photoshop montage of how I imagined the i7 map square once was

i7 map square with never before seen plateau (rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise)

You need a special version of the Preview version (modified by Wisi) in order to actually see the i7 plateau. Most of the map square is made up of a grey ocean like texture, with just a small piece of brown land at the Eastern most edge. Note: There is no collision detection at i7, however it's close enough to the shore to still retain its wind sound effects. When I first saw this map square I was amazed (of course) but also a little disappointed as I had expected there to be more to this quadrant. 

Wander & Agro at i7 (using hacks)

The i7 plateau - close up view

Heading east we come to the J8 blue lands with these distinctive triangles

A vast plain of blue nothingness!

We move north to the J7 beta mountains with this unique high wall

Complete J7-J6 beta mountains - you can see how it's been cut on the west side

Other side of wall

Lonely mountain top - I brought Agro along for company ; )

Mountains tower above a large flat plain

Heading north we move into J6 (same mountain range though)

Very top of J6-J7 mountains

Map of what we have seen so far H8, i7, i8, J8, J7 and J6

We move north to the sheer rock cliffs at J6

I made a video about this area back in February, 2011: https://youtu.be/Uci3JohpBrc

Not one of my most popular videos to be sure (only 480p) but it gives you a sense of how large the area is when seeing it from Wander's point of view, or ground view, which we had never seen before. At the end of the video Wander floats up the high cliffs, giving you a sense of their enormous height!

Top of J6 cliffs looking south

Towering cliffs at J6

Looking down at a lower ledge - very angular and jagged

On ledge looking down - a dizzying drop to the ground below!

Lower ledge - was this a path at one time?

Moving north into J5 we pass through a vast, flat empty plain

Finally arriving at some rounded hills

J5 & J4 viewed from a distance

Northern tip of J5

You can see the vast scale of the landscape here compared to Wander

We've moved into J4 - a thin band of brown mountains

You can see it's also been cut away from i4 (which was removed)

Map of i4 and J4

You can see what looks like a path leading east from Avion's lair (H4) into i4 which looks to have large table top type mountains and valleys. We can imagine the brown sand like floor extending west from J4 into i4 with the J4 mountains acting as a barrier to the east.

J4 mountains looking south

J4 mountains looking north into J3 (which are higher up)

Southern tip of J3 - clearly this area was unfinished

Undulating plains at J3

Miles and miles of the same patchwork landscapes

At the border of J3 and J2

There's something mysterious about these lands. They exist out at the edge of the map, unexplored and forgotten. Even in their unfinished state there's an eerie stillness about them. There's no sound out here, only the sound of Wander's footfalls or his parachute opening and closing breaks the absolute silence. But they were made for a reason, a much grander vision of the forbidden lands that sadly was never realized. But seeing them from Wander's perspective makes you appreciate how much work was put into making them and even in their bare boned state, there is still a grandeur about them.

Wander at Western edge of J2

We can only imagine what areas like these would have looked like complete

J2 depression - next to where the beta dam mountains begin

We are moving north into J1

Looking down a steep cliff face (shown in above image)

Most of J1 is flat except for the western edge which has mountainous features

Map showing black screen crash areas - the beta dam is at the bottom

The quadrant i1 was removed from the game and as there is no object within it, the game will crash if you try and enter. Normally they put a small white cube or triangle texture in the empty quadrants so that there is something to load, but here they seem to have overlooked this. But the crash area extends beyond i1 into the surrounding quadrants, so exploring these areas was impossible. They don't even load using the SotC Viewer (previously the Dormin editor), you just get an error message. But WWWArea worked out a way of freezing the quadrant so it was possible to enter and he used this to get a closer look at the brick like structures north of the dam (you can see from the map above that these are within the crash area).

So I used this technique to first explore the western edge of J1 (which had never been seen before). I was hoping that this last unseen area might hold some interesting leftover relic, some ruins or a broken column... but as I guessed, there were just more mountain features. Even so, it was still interesting to see this area for the first time.

Northern tip of J1 (west) - more angular structures

View from the south end

High walls tower above Wander

A lonely outpost at the edge of the world
Update June 2017: As mentioned above with the i7 map square, Wisi also managed to load another never before seen quadrant, this time it was i1, a much more interesting area in my opinion! I remember carefully studying i1 on the world map trying to glean any interesting features. There were definitely square shaped structures there which made me think that there may have once been temples or other man made structures here once? Perhaps some temples that were once linked to the Dam? But again, seeing the map square for the first time was another revelation! Of course, there were no man made temples, but what was there was very interesting and intriguing! 

View of the entire i1 quadrant from above

Above we can see the entire map square that was until recently unknown to anyone except myself, Wisi and SpaceOmega500 (formerly WWWArea). Thanks to Wisi's amazing coding skills we were lucky enough to see something that was just an empty quadrant since 2009 (until players like Pikol first made inroads into these out of bounds areas). You can see how I mistook the low quality world map at i1 as showing some kind of man made structures here, as there are clearly defined square shaped holes and promontories that are unlike any other map square in the game.

Weird path leads into i1

The first thing you will notice about this new enigmatic location is this strange path that seems to lead deeper into the quadrant. It stands out boldly against the rest of the surrounding whitish/yellow rocks, having a mix of grey and red. But where does this path lead you might ask? Well, it leads nowhere and just stops abruptly at a sheer cliff face. So if this path ever had a purpose, it is now lost to history, only the early Team Ico developers could answer this question. Note: to get these views I had to use my camera codes in order to show these locations from Wander's point of view ; )

Strange high rock promontories stretch up into the sky

This is a very strange map square! I mean look at these structures, they are unlike anything else seen in the forbidden lands. These tall, narrow stone structures seem like they were pulled up out of the mountains by some God like hand, much like taffy is pulled into long strands of candy xD.

 Right angled cliff faces

You can tell this is an early map quadrant just by looking at the design of the structures seen here. As Wisi discovered, the header files of this map square were made much earlier than the later additions and as such, we can perhaps see some of Team Ico's early attempts at designing a map square. Here they just stretched out the models into these strange right angled square holes and promontories. This might explain the geometric design of the structures seen here?

View of i1 with the Shrine of Worship in the distance

View of i1 from the orange brick structures of the Dam (at i2)

This was the first time I had ever seen any link to the beta Dam that Pikol had found back in 2009. For the first time since then, there was an actual mountain that was so close to the Dam that it might have once been one and the same! Look at how close the i1 mountains are to the edge of the green cliff ledge that supports the orange brick like structures! Just a small gap - surely at an even earlier stage, these two areas were once joined (?)

The orange brick structures at i2 and the i1 beta mountains are so close!

You can see above that there is not much space between the i2 and i1 map squares. Perhaps at one time, these two map squares were tightly linked together? The Southern edge of i1 (although a different colour) seems like it would join to i2. So we can imagine that the green grass of i2 would have extended North into i1 , that is when this map square was part of the world map.

i1 another deep hole - looking up

One of the deep holes seen at i1

I made a video about these two new, never before seen map squares, i.e. i7 and i1. All credit goes to Wisi, without his amazing hacking skills we would never have seen these map squares. See video here: https://youtu.be/wD1GC5U82uc

We head north into J0

We are at the northern most edge of the map here

We head west into H0 along the top edge of the map

Colossal wall of rock - the area has a greenish hue

What I have dubbed 'The Temple Mountains' as they almost look like a temple

Looking up at the Temple Mountains

Wander on first tier of the Temple Mountains

Panned out view of the area

Bottom of a valley

The H0 mountains have a deep valley far below ground level

Bottom of H0 deep valley - you can move a little way into I1 down here

There's a large cleft in the mountain face

Top of cleft looking down

The H0 valley winds around north into H1

Wander looking down into the H1 valley

Top level of H1 - mostly featureless

We now move west to the other side of the map - to the A0 beta mountains

Large flat plain with sheer walls

Looking south - these mountains are similar in style to the H0 beta mountains

Wander contemplating his next move further south

Looking north

A2 mountains - there is nothing in A1 except a large flat plain

Looking down into a wide valley

We move south into A3 - distinctive non textured mountains

 Again it was Pikol who first found these but could only view them from far above

Parts have a pinkish creamy hue

Clearly unfinished mountains

There's a lower level to these mountains - perhaps it was to be a cave of some sort?

Complete A3 beta mountains showing both levels

Extra Beta Mountains in the Preview version
When the Preview (or pre-release) version appeared a few years ago (around September 2009) it was soon discovered that there were more beta mountains than in the final version. Both Pikol, WWWArea and myself found these, but I believe Pikol was the first to see them. In any case there were extra mountains at B0, C0, D0 E0, G0, B1, B2 and I6, the latter being within corrupt quadrant. As this was an earlier version of the game we can see how much more work was done in the early stages of development. The forbidden lands were much larger and more extensive than previously thought, covering roughly 26% of the entire map.

Map showing beta lands from both NTSC/PAL and Preview versions

I'll start off at G0 and work my way west this time. G0 is just east of the bridge and exists at ground level, unlike the rest of the beta mountains which are around 300 metres above ground level. Why they were put up so high is a mystery, perhaps they put them up high to work on them and when finished they would have moved them back to ground level? Or perhaps these lands merely existed at higher elevations.

G0 appears to be a beach type area with dark cliffs at its northern edge. It definitely looks like sand where the cliffs meet the ground, as if they are wind blown dunes of some kind.

Dark cliffs with the bridge in the distance

The brown smear behind the cliffs is the low res 2D mountain texture

The H1 beta mountains can be seen high above from the eastern end of the beach

Top of cliffs with H1 beta mountains above

Top of cliffs looking west at the bridge

South east corner of the E0 beta mountains

You can see how close the northern beta mountains were to the forbidden lands we are familiar with. It seems clear they were planned to be joined at one time, perhaps being accessed via the entrance temple. There's an early image of the Entrance temple in the art book with Wander's HUD displayed, so we can speculate that at one time it may have been part of the game and could have allowed access to the northern beta mountains.

Art book image showing the Entrance temple with Wander's grip and health

A large expanse of flat land as far as the eye can see

Northern edge of the map - you can see we are outside the game game map here


We arrive at what looks like a large crater. There's an entrance at the south side but it's above ground level, so perhaps this was to be a lake at one time?

Looking down into the crater

At the bottom of the crater with Agro

Further west of crater - you can see the south entrance more clearly here

We've moved into D0 now

We arrive at another crater type structure, larger than the first

Edge of D0 crater

View of D0 crater from above - you can just make out Wander and Agro

West edge of D0 crater

Angular plateau - most of the features are on the south edge of the mountains

To the north it's mostly featureless and flat - we've moved into C0

More mountains jutting up out of the plain

Top of mountains from previous image


Heading west we see more mountains rising up on the horizon

We are at the very edge of C0 now, moving into B0

View to the western edge of the northern beta mountains

Northern edge of map at B0 - a trail leads up to higher elevations

View to the east from the edge of a cliff

Panned out view of B0

Wander surveying the mountains

 Extreme panned out view

Here A0 and B0 meet

View of A0 mountains from B0

Down below B0 we can see B1, a large flat, mottled brown plain


Northern beta mountains float above the B1 plain

To the west we see the A0 beta mountains floating up above

To the east we see the edge of the forbidden lands (around 14's area)

and to the south we see some more beach like cliffs at B2

Cliffs at B2 are the same type as G0

We now move back across the map to I6 where one last set of unfinished lands exist. The I6 quadrant freezes the game when you enter too far, so it's problematic mapping it. I can use certain codes to move around there but invariably the game still freezes. These lands extend a little way into 15 (to the north) and J5 and J6 to the east.

You can actually see these beta mountains from H6 in the Preview version


This is as far as you can go north in H6, but you can see from the map (inset) that a path led northeast to I5. So we can imagine the cliff winding around the cliffs leading to perhaps a beach like area with caves at I5. If you look closely at the I5 quadrant on the map you can see what look like caves. As with most of the other beta mountains, those at I6 are high above ground level.

Part of the missing I5 quadrant looking southeast

Further east in I5, closer to the mountains

Northeast edge of I column looking north - J column is to the right

Lands not yet joined - J column on the left, I column on the right

 Further south along the split line separating the two columns

 Southern tip of J5 looking down


Here we can see how the J6 mountains continued west

We have moved into I6 now with this strange stretched texture underfoot

Panned out view of the stretched texture
Sadly, according to Wisi, there are no more hidden map squares in the code to be discovered. So what I have shown here is the most extensive exploration into the beta mountains ever seen. I have covered every map square with diligence, so I doubt that anyone else will find any extra information that I have not included here in this post ; )

See my two beta mountains videos here:


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