General notes

• Uses GBAHawk 2.1.3
• Rerecord count - 4977
• Uses glitches and exploits to save time
• Performs a glitch to skip a major portion of the game
• Note: the SHA1 does not match with the Rom. The movie file is made to sync with the US version of the game.

Introduction

General game notes

• I used the US version for this run. This is mainly because the US version has an exclusive exploit which I can best describe as "tutorial desyncs". There are instances in the game where you have these blue question marks which give you tutorials. You hit these and then you have to watch a ghost perform whatever action the game is teaching you about. In the US version, if you pull up the gadget menu on the same frame as hitting a tutorial, the timer and inputs for playing a tutorial will play out but the game will be soft paused and you will be able to freely use the gadget menu. When we exit the menu, we desync the tutorial as the tutorial tries to play out but because you messed up the timing with the gadget menu, the tutorial won't play out correctly. You can even make the tutorial Kim use the wrong gadgets which can lead to some amusing results. We can use this to reduce lag frames and to pause cycles which is useful, even in this short run. This glitch does not work in the European/Japanese versions which I find funny because those versions were released way later than the US version (the European version came out a whole 18 months after the US version) and far bigger glitches and exploits (such as the main trick in this run) were not fixed.
  • The European version has a language select screen after the company logos. Weirdly enough, this actually allows the European version to start faster as the game loads the intro faster after skipping the language select screen than it does after the last company logo in the other versions. This however does not make up for the removal of tutorial desyncs, making the European version slower overall.
  • The Japanese version is the slowest as not only are tutorial desyncs patched but the Japanese version also has an extra company logo.
• The basic game plan of the run is to beat the first level so that we unlock the Global Justice Simulator (it's basically a level select) which will then allow us to warp to Drakken. I will explain this in more detail later on.
• Kim is faster on the ground than in the air so I try and stay on the ground as much as I can as well as minimise air time whenever possible. There are times where it is faster to get a quick burst of speed with the grappling hook which is an instance where jumping is preferable.
• Taking out enemies is fairly slow so I typically opt to gum them up to walk past them or to find another way to go through them without fighting.

Level 1

• The first thing which happens in this level is that I perform a tutorial desync. I pause the game for a very long time as I am setting up a platform cycle for later on in the level.
• The grappling hook is a fairly complex gadget. You generally want to aim it straight up as it will position you more favourably for the next jump. I use it early on to skip a ledgegrab and I try and use it as little as possible whenever I have to use it.
• I perform another tutorial desync choosing to desync the tutorial with gum. This saves frames compared to not doing a desync and it is amusing as the ghost Kim just jumps and chucks gum instead of grappling along the ceiling.
• Near the end of the level, you have this vertical moving platform. This platform moves on a consistent 6 second cycle. I used tutorial desyncs to set up the cycle favourably and the cycle I got is the equivalent of skipping one cycle in an RTA run.
  • It is still possible to just barely make this without tutorial desyncs although the cycle is less favourable since as far as I could tell, you can only just barely ledge grab onto the platform which is less optimal than jumping on the platform.

Early Drakken

• After level 1, you unlock the game's Global Justice Simulator (which I will be calling the level select from now on) where you can revisit any level you have completed, even being able to use upgrades you unlock later on in the game in earlier levels. The level select works as you would expect but there was a major oversight on the developers' part.
• The game normally blocks you off from selecting any level you haven't finished, if you try scrolling in a direction with no levels, the game will stop you as you would expect.
  • HOWEVER, for some reason, if you move down on the first frame you enter the level select and there is no level below the option you have chosen, the game does not actually stop you from scrolling down like it is supposed to. This instead puts you on an empty spot on the menu and where does this empty slot take you? Drakken, the final boss. It doesn't even take you to 4-5 as you skip Shego. You just go straight to the Drakken fight.

Drakken Fight

• The first thing to note is that because I skipped the whole game, I don't have any of the upgrades you get later on in the game so I have to take out Drakken with Kim's base moveset.
• In phase 1, I just spam jump kicks. I spam the jump button as quickly as possible in order to get as little jump height as possible in order to maximise how quickly I attack Drakken. Drakken attacks me and getting hit by hit is faster than avoiding the attack.
• In phase 2, I jump kick up to Drakken and I use the grappling hook to cancel my attack, allowing me to hit Drakken twice with each jump. I run under Drakken in order to prevent him from attacking me. **My YouTube upload shows Drakken going for an attack which is considerably slower as Drakken is largely invincible while attacking.
• In phase 3, I am constantly swinging on the ceiling and jumping off as quickly as I can in order to keep attacking Drakken. I carefully position myself so that Kim doesn't bump into Drakken while swinging as that cancels the swing. The grappling hook also has a bit of cooldown after each use so I have to work around that limitation.
• After taking out Drakken, the game takes me back to the level select. The game lets you access the credits from the options menu so I select the credits to end the run.

Conclusion