Due to insufficient QA when R&D-ing the dimension's teleporters, Captain Viridian manages to teleport himself into walls and avoid most of the health hazards that are usually in his path.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Hourglass r81
- Game version: VVVVVV 2.0
- Aims for fastest time
- Uses death to save time
- Avoids game state manipulation
After improving the current any% skip-the-entire-game run, I decided the current skip-somewhat-less-of-the-game run needed an update. This is that update, reducing the time with 4:44.38 to a mere 8:45.87. The route used for the run is the same as the current real time SS route, so any time saved over that is purely by optimization. That said, the in-game time of this run is 7:55, which beats the current world record (8:21) by 26 seconds.
As Masterjun has repeatedly pointed out, optimizing this game (by which I solely mean going around corners) is annoying as hell. Luckily, there are plenty of platforms and enemies that require some degree of waiting, meaning that you often only have to make sure you enter a room as early as possible and any further position optimization is pointless.
Tricks & Glitches
There are not that many tricks used in this run, but together they amount to a large portion of the game being skipped. Most of these glitches are made possible by the suicide function (R). Originally intended for player levels only, its presence is the main game in version 2.0 was considered a bug. Although it has been fixed in the (never officialy released) beta 2.1 patch, Terry Cavanagh (the developer) will probably keep it as a feature for the official 2.2 release, purely for speedrunning purposes. I like him.
Space Station 1 skip
By suiciding when you enter Space Station, you are respawned at the ship, allowing you to completely skip this level. You do have to come back eventually to save Violet, though.
Gravitron skip
Rescuing Violet is normally the first thing the player does and as such, there is a short cutscene after that explaining that you have to save the other crew members too. Fortunately for us, this cutscene overrules any other thing that might happen after saving someone, such as going to the Gravitron.
However, sometime during the cutscene, your progress is reset. This is prevented by suiciding as soon as the cutscene begins.
Inversion plane clip
Inversion planes (the white bouncy lines) that are close enough to the floor (4 tiles maximum) can be clipped through by pressing action for one frame, releasing and pressing again.
Teleflinging / telejumping
By suiciding upon using a teleporter, the timer that regulates the teleport sequence is delayed, resulting in a different "teleport state" upon its expiry. This results most commonly in the player being flung further out, which can, in some places, be used to enter walls. The game pushes you out upward or downward (in which case you can flip to go up again), which allows for some pretty big skips.
Level-by-level
... To whatever degree the word "level" still applies.
Intro
Skipped, as mentioned before. After this I visit two teleporters I need for teleflinging: one below the laboratory and one near the start of the Warp Zone. I only have to see the first one, so I suicide upon entry of the room. The second one is used to death-teleport to the first one, clipping us into the Laboratory.
Laboratory
The Laboratory is completed as normal, there isn't anything special here. After saving Doctor Victoria, I go to yet another teleporter I need for clipping, the one below Space Station 2.
Warp Zone
The teleporter below Space Station 2 is used to death-teleport to the one at the start of the Warp Zone, clipping into the wall and pushing us up to Chief Verdigris. It doesn't matter which teleporter you use after saving someone, so I suicide to get back to the one I used for the clip.
Space Station 2
The ship teleporter is used to death-teleport to the one below Space Station 2. A second suicide is needed to delay the teleport timer even further, as a different state is needed for slightly different, higher fling. After this I simply go to save Professor Vitellary. The only TAS-only trick done here is standing on the edge spikes at "Exhaust Chute", which for some reason don't kill you.
Intermission 1
Escort missions always suck, and this game is no exception. However, the AI is at least predictable and consistent, which means the TAS has little problems guiding Vitellary through his trials and tribulations. The route taken in "...Not as I do" requires high precision, and is never used in real time. Apart from that the route is normal.
When waiting for Vitellary at the end of a room, there is a barrier that prevents you from going to the next room. The specifics of this barrier are odd, but backing up for a run-up is used to save time in some way for every room.
Space Station 1
While going through Space Station 2, I passed the room that contains the teleporter at the end of Space Station 1 and as such, I can teleport there. Touching the checkpoint triggers the dialog, and using the teleporter starts the cutscene with Doctor Violet.
Intermission 2 (the Gravitron)
Overruled by Violet's cutscene. To prevent a reset of progress, I suicide as soon as possible. Suiciding in a room with a teleporter disables the teleporter, so I have to leave to room to use it. Most real time runs go back to the teleporter by suiciding, but with TAS-precision, walking back is slightly faster due to the lengthy death animation.
The Tower
Skipped by teleflinging from the teleporter at the end of Space Station 2.
Final Level
Nothing special here. The only difference is flipping down to the inversion plane in "Origami Room", which save 1 frame over "falling" up.
Credits
Yay, you did it!
feos: Accepting as an improvement over
[2368] Windows VVVVVV by Masterjun in 13:30.25. But that was a Star, which this run isn't getting. People were missing some awesomeness from Masterjun's movie here, but at the same time it's a good improvement. So we will expect the 100% run and most likely resurrect the Star with it.
