Submission #8840: Merl_'s Linux jumpNULL in 03:14.90

jumpNULL is a 2D puzzle-platformer where you can't jump. In order to beat the game, you must collect four "orbs" throughout the map to unlock new abilities which allow you to progress. Thanks to some new glitches and strategies, this TAS beats the RTA world record by 10 seconds.

Despite being a metroidvania, jumpNULL is a very linear game, and there's only one way you can collect all of the orbs. You first need to get the slow-falling ability, which allows you to reach the waterfall area. There, you gain the ability to walk up steep slopes, which lets you access the top left portion of the map, where you get the abilities to ground pound and walk up even steeper slopes.

There isn't much you can do to optimize the first section of the game. The main thing I do is I press "R" shortly before I reach each checkpoint. After you press R, the screen fades out and then you respawn at the last checkpoint you collected. You can still move around while the screen is fading, so I collect the checkpoints right before I respawn, which teleports me forwards. This saves 2-5 frames each time I reset.

The first glitch of the run is done at the first orb. Normally, collecting the orb freezes you in place for a bit, and then there's some dialogue you have to get through before you regain control. I'm able to get control of the player during the cutscene by resetting before I get the orb, then saving the game by interacting with the checkpoint. After the checkpoint's textbox is closed, I can regain control of the player during a cutscene. This actually doesn't save time with the other orbs in the game, but the first orb has a checkpoint right next to it so it's faster to do the glitch here.

After the first orb, there's some more simple movement while I head to the waterfall. There is a subtle timesave I do to climb ladders a little bit faster though. If you land on the ground while slow-falling, you'll actually hover one pixel above the ground. As long as you stay on flat ground, you can maintain this hover by holding down the up arrow, and you can grab onto ladders a little bit higher this way. There's a split path about halfway through the switches section, and I take the faster of the two options.

After collecting the third orb, things start to get a bit more interesting. I'm able to do a small skip by doing a glitched ground pound. Normally you're supposed to climb up to the platform and then ground pound through the blocks. However, if you hold up+down at the same time, you'll do a slow fall, but you'll still be able to break blocks with the ground pound. So I only climb halfway up the ladder and then drift over to the breakable blocks, saving about a second. As soon as I break the first block, I stop slow-falling in order to fall through faster. I keep holding the ground pound button to get through the next section faster, and do one last glitched ground pound to make it to the platforms section. Unfortunately, this section is cycle based, and it doesn't seem possible to make a faster cycle, so there's a lot of waiting. There's a block I need to ground pound at the top right of the room, which unblocks the path of a platform I need to ride on to progress. I'm able to ground pound the block and land on the platform at the same time, which saves a cycle.

The final section of the game is my favorite part of the TAS, since I found a glitch that lets me move around while text is on screen, skipping a lot of dialogue and a cutscene. First, I reset and grab the orb. Resetting here lets me skip a short platforming section and backtrack immediately to go to the end of the game. I then do the same glitch I did on the first orb to regain control of the player. I then walk to the left until I'm at the very edge of the checkpoint's hitbox, and then I activate it for a second time. By closing the checkpoint's textbox at the same time the orb cutscene's text appears, I gain full control of the player while the text is on screen, and I can skip through the dialogue while progressing through the game. It's a short walk to the top of the mountain, where I can talk to the alien and finish the game.

CasualPokePlayer: Claiming for judging.

CasualPokePlayer: This movie seems to be fairly well optimized, syncs perfectly fine, and beats the RTA record by around 10 seconds, good job! Accepting.

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