A group of Japanese speed racers have discovered that the key to getting faster times in all-time RPG classics Dragon Quest III is to literally control the temperature of your Famicom systems with hot plates and ice packs.
Dragon Quest III, like many role-playing games, is long. Playing the game regularly can take dozens of hours and even the fastest speed races used to take an hour before a major error was found in August 2020. Following a series of steps that include saving the game and quickly changing the Famicom power switch while holding down the restart button, the game will restart in a crash state that, if properly exploited, will maximize the stats. party.
Since the discovery of the problem, Dragon Quest III the speedrunners have used it to complete the long game faster than ever. Japanese player Hitshee posted a time of 22:48 in November before lowering his time to 22:22 earlier this month. Your secret? Increase the temperature of your Famicom, usually in the range of 50 ° C (or 122 ° F), but sometimes up to 80 ° C (or 176 ° F), to improve your chances of getting the problem working properly. .
According to a recent report by Denfa Minico Gamer, players have found that start the file Dragon Quest III the problem can be manipulated by several external factors, including the Famicom model they use and the temperature of the console, which can make the internal memory more volatile. Where speedrunners like it Hitshee i Pirohiko use devices that generate heat, such as hot plates, for example, another player named baku_zero has used ice packs to cool his Famicom.
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On the weekend, Hitshee, Pirohiko, baku_zero and a fourth player named lime participated in a Dragon Quest III career during a speedrunning event. They all used the on / off error and, as far as I know, at least Hitshee and Pirohiko used hot plates, with the latter setting a new world record of 22:07. It is unclear whether the temperature of the Famicom was crucial in achieving this feat, but I’m not ready to discuss with the extensive experimentation some of these players have put themselves in the strategy.
“Do not you worry” Hitshee wrote on Twitter in response to concerned commenters. “I am playing with security. I’ve never broken an NES console and it’s not as dangerous as you might think. If the unit breaks, I will repair it quickly. Even if you don’t think it’s worth it, it’s an important research and presentation for us. ”