The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Here are two blitzes I performed on Majd, as part of grinding segments for my Assassin's Creed 1 speedrun.

The first one is an anonymous blitz in 5.4 seconds. It utilizes a trick that I recently discovered, but that I haven't figured out yet. For some reason, if you don't move too much and jump correctly after the cutscene ends, you can get through the guard post surrounding the platform anonymously. I currently have done about 50-ish attempts for the Majd Assassination segment with this setup, and it's happened twice. The second time is the one you can see in the video.
It might be a bit faster to climb up on the platform directly rather than running around like I did, but I don't think Altaïr would stay anonymous then.

The second one is an exposed blitz in 3.6 seconds. It utilizes the same setup as the anonymous blitz, which is to position yourself slightly to the left of the center of the platform as shown in the video, and then using gentle push () to get room before jumping through the guard post. This case was particularly lucky because Altaïr hit a civilian with his right foot, which triggered Majd jumping from the platform a bit earlier.

This video is the result of a collaboration between aurllcooljay, JoeyFogey and myself. Our goal was to document the ten greatest achievements in AC1 by members of The Hidden Blade. We hope to publish this video to a wide audience and let them see what THB is all about. To that end, I've joined the Union For Gamers program to partner with Curse. They have agreements with publishers like Ubisoft that let them monetize and promote gameplay videos (as long as they don't contain copyrighted music). If your channel qualifies it's a good deal: 90% revenue share, no lock-in, and no branding requirements.

See the following links for more information on the original discoveries.

1. Robert and Al Mualim Early Death
Reported on Gamefaqs
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/930278-assassins-creed/41477738
Original Robert Death
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/robert-de-sables-early-death
Original Al Mualim Death
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/al-mualims-early-death

2. King William's Death
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/williams-instant-kills-and-king-richards-d...

3. Shock and Awe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mRMw24xs2I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIWonR67u4o
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

The main title page says "Executing the Executioner", which is almost the same as Stabguy's video on stylishly killing Majd. This one actually includes the 'execution' kill-move, though.

Swift Death
This relies on exactly the same mechanics as my Pre-exposed Blitz, but it takes very little setup time. I imagine it would be better to start from a position closer to Majd, but you'd have to piss off the guards real quick, or Majd will stay at the podium unless you wait, at which point you've got a bunch of guards taking swings at you. I didn't feel like trying over and over. I watched enough of Malik and Majd's blabbering during the making of the Pre-exposed Blitz.
Time taken is something like 6.5 seconds.

Instant Retribution
...after having been warned. While playing around in the area, I found this neat spot above the stage where you stand atop of the branch. You can't move or do anything really, or you'll fall. The spot is very easy to get to, you just need to find the correct place to wallrun, which is just a bit off from the side.

Base Jump Stunt
I called this a stunt, even though Altaïr doesn't take damage in the video. The description for 'stunt' in the Advanced Techniques Summary states: " The height of the fall should be sufficient to cause injury." And the height is, just not if you roll. Whether or not this can be classified as a stunt, it is a very stylish kill.
To start off, go to flag #14. From there you have to make quite a tricky jump, but you have plenty of time while Majd is busy talking. Once you land in the right spot, you have to punch yourself up a bit and then turn back around. If you look closely, you see this is because the wall isn't vertical, but diagonal at that height. When you get up top, you just wait for Majd to walk out, drop down, et voila.
Note how the assassin was killed. There is no penalty for this (if you wait too long you'll desynchronize, though) and Malik makes no note of it.

http://youtu.be/fJlv36uWC8c
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

A collection of additional assassinations in AC1, made possible by back to the future exploit.

Maria
Start this the same way as the original early assassination of Maria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaikxWTUYVI
Reinitialize the memory by going through the city entrance in the south of Jerusalem. The game doesn't recognize Maria as a target anymore. Now there is no memory corridor scene, and Maria stays dead. It's probably possible to get an instant kill from this by taking out her health and talking to the bureau leader, but I didn't have enough time to record more.

Sibrand
Start this the same way as the original early assassination of Sibrand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tww7kpXiA8
Reinitialize the memory by going through the city entrance in the north part of Acre (there's also an entrance in the eastern part, but you desynch before getting there from the game thinking you already started the mission). Sibrand usually goes onto the docks and walks back and forth along them just like the guard patrol. He's unresponsive to you, but still reacts to seeing dead bodies (in the original Back to the Future assassination he can detect you and would run back to the ship to get to the guard tower). Now that the game doesn't recognize him as a target there's no memory corridor scene. You can also take out his health for an instant kill, but it isn't very interesting.