Sound: Enabled, 44100KhZ Stereo, YM2612 High Quality enabled
Categories
Does not use warps or passwords
Abuses programming errors in the game
Manipulates luck
Takes damage to save time
Aims for full completion
Aims for fastest in-game completion time
About the Movie
Sonic 3 & Knuckles has had several celebrated runs done of it, but I thought it was about time we saw what Knuckles can do. Also, I thought it was about time we saw what the Emeralds can do.
The result is that this is a 100% completion run, as Knuckles.
In-game completion times:
Angel Island 1
0:54
Angel Island 2
0:35
Hydrocity 1
0:54
Hydrocity 2
0:46
Marble Garden 1
0:46
Marble Garden 2
0:43
Carnival Night 1
0:46
Carnival Night 2
0:30
Ice Cap 1
0:52
Ice Cap 2
0:51
Launch Base 1
1:24
Launch Base 2
1:26
Mushroom Hill 1
0:58
Mushroom Hill 2
0:57
Flying Battery 1
1:00
Flying Battery 2
1:18
Sandopolis 1
1:41
Sandopolis 2
1:26
Lava Reef 1
1:01
Lava Reef 2
0:21
Hidden Palace
0:08
Sky Sanctuary
0:57
Total Time: 20:14
Notes and Explanations
There are certain portions of the movie where I do something which may seem slow, or pointless.
at 08:34:40 (frame 30885), in Hydrocity 2, I get crushed under a dropping block. If I did not do this, I would be unable to go past the left edge of the level, to arrive at the boss more quickly, and I would therefore lose 20 seconds of in-game time (and about 13 seconds of real time)
at 14:02:50 (frame 50570), at the end of Marble Garden 1, I get a fire shield that the sign post hit. This gives me a better subpixel position to start MG2 with, and was faster than knocking the signpost away from the monitor.
at 14:56:20 (frame 53780), in Marble Garden 2, I take damage from the boss. I was unable to make the third hit on that pass without taking damage immediately afterward.
In several places in Ice Cap 1, I don't charge a spindash all the way, because the ice columns I have to break through are very picky about what speeds they let you through with, and even with the lower speed, doing one partial spindash is slightly faster than doing multiple full ones.
in two places in Launch Base 1, I hold a spindash for more than 6 frames since, because of the way I landed, starting it later would cause me to reverse direction.
at 23:20:00 (frame 84000) at the end of Launch Base 2, I hold a fully-revved spindash for quite some time, to comic effect.
at 36:54:00 (frame 132840), at the start of Flying Battery 2, I start a spindash early, to prevent Knuckles from going into his balancing animation (which prevents ducking/dashing).
at 38:19:10 (frame 137950), at the end of Flying Battery 2, I end where I am instead of all the way right, to get the acceleration bonus from the jump, saving 5 frames.
in several places, during the special stages, while jumping over star bumper spheres, I bump into multiple spheres. This is because it is impossible to jump over three bumper spheres in a row without hitting the third, however it is still faster unless there are at least 7 spheres in a row.
If you have a question, comment, and I will answer it.
Thanks to
Nitsuja for checking over much of this run, and giving good suggestions for many, many improvements; developing, and helping develop, some tools; and tipping me off to a few glitches.
Dustin for unwavering moral support, testing some things for me, and doing the Launch Base 1 boss fight for me.
SprintGod and Mike89 for their great help in planning special stage routes.
All of The Sonic Center, for discovering and sharing several glitches that I make use of.
Extra stuff
For those (most of you) who feel that the special stages are very slow and boring, http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/3511/UpthornS3KTAS050.gmv is a version that does not collect the second set of emeralds in Mushroom Hill, and is therefore 9m 04s shorter. Saves 7 time units in MH1 and 8 in MH2 (for times of 0:51 and 0:49, respectively).
Truncated: Accepted for overwhelmingly positive viewer feedback. Like people commented the bonus stages slow it down somewhat, but the rest more than makes up for it.
I definetly noticed applications of glitches here that might work there, especially for when the routes overlapped. (Lave Reef zone, Air Battery).
I noticed those too:
- Flying Battery 1: This is the most promising one. Sonic can do the screen wraparound to the boss unless it requires a split second of gliding I didn't notice, but he can't activate the other glitches nearly as quickly (or at all) without gliding, so it might be slower given the extra time it takes to get up there.
- Sandopolis 2: Sonic can't glitch through item monitors like that unless he scrolls the screen far away first like in Marble Garden. The screen catches up twice as fast in Sandopolis 2 as it does in Marble Garden 1, so I don't know if it's possible there, and if it is possible I don't know if sacrificing the speed shoes would be worth it. Probably I tried it already and couldn't get it to work, but I can't remember.
- Lava Reef 1.5: I don't think Sonic can glitch into the floor there without being invincible, though it would be very nice if he could... Well, this could be one more reason for someone to try a Hyper Sonic run.
I voted (I'm sure you can guess what) by the way.
Forgot to comment here. I liked it mainly because I've never seen Super/Hyper Knuckles (or any character for that matter) before. The level of play was pretty awesome too. Blah blah boring bonus stages Yes vote.
Dude... wait, what?
Could there be any game so broken as a Sonic game?
+1: Just finished watching Sandopolis 1, and I'm somewhat confused. You make the signpost reveal a ring monitor, but unless I've lost a few marbles, your ring count inside the pyramid started at zero. What was the point of collecting these rings then?
Watching you imitate the golem boss, I couldn't help but laugh.
I love Sonic runs.
I like how you dealt with the bonus stages. Personally, I prefer the games where the emerald courses are speed tracks, even though I never got a single emerald in a Sonic game because of that.
The rest of the run is very good as well. Quite a bit of showing off, and some pretty good glitches as well.
Just finished watching Sandopolis 1, and I'm somewhat confused. You make the signpost reveal a ring monitor, but unless I've lost a few marbles, your ring count inside the pyramid started at zero. What was the point of collecting these rings then?
Take your pick of explanations:
SprintGod wrote:
All the messing around after the end of the last act was for here. The moving pillar at the start was in the way, and if I'm going to wait, I might as well do so when the timer isn't running.
Raiscan wrote:
Because the timer of the big block thing that moves up and down at the enterance is still running, yet the ingame timer is not. by making knuckles hit the ring box, it delays him slightly, so hes able to start the level right away rather than wait for the object to move down again.
upthorn wrote:
I have to wait that long for the pillar at the beginning of act 2 to lower, so I might as well do it while the timer's not running.
Voting yes, although Tails or Sonic probally would have been a better choice for such a run.
Huh? That's like saying Sonic 2 would have been a better choice for this run.
Not true, I was suggesting that Tails has the abilty to fly and that could give him an edge over many shortcuts and possible zipping motions and of course Sonic has the abilty to go hyper and has additional stages plus the infamous Doomsday stage which would have been a spectacular finally.
Voting yes, although Tails or Sonic probally would have been a better choice for such a run.
Huh? That's like saying Sonic 2 would have been a better choice for this run.
Not true, I was suggesting that Tails has the abilty to fly and that could give him an edge over many shortcuts and possible zipping motions and of course Sonic has the abilty to go hyper and has additional stages plus the infamous Doomsday stage which would have been a spectacular finally.
Tails' flight is very, very slow, and Knuckles' glide opens up far more zipping possibilities than Tails' flight does, anyway.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
I thought the point of a Knuckles run was to play as Knuckles.
It also helps to differentiate the run as much as possible when going for chaos emeralds so that it is unique compared to the existing run.
<Swordless> Go hug a tree, you vegetarian (I bet you really are one)
I have watch this TAS through several times, and I am voting YES on it.
There needs to be more All Emeralds runs like this, such as Sonic 2, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic 1 can be skipped I guess, since Super Sonic is impossible, hehe.
Very impressive. :3
Can this be delayed a bit?
I haven't found any improvements, but I have a couple of little extras I'd like to finish up, and link from the submission before it gets published.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Definetly voted yes, though I wonder if there aren't a few parts that couldn't be optimized more...for example the boss battles, unless there is a reason knuckles is slower
You know what would have made this run really good? If you could have broken the game a bit more.
Holy crap!!! You totally wrecked that game! Skipping the boss in Air Battery 1 was hilarious.
My first thought when I saw this was, "Oh great, chaos emeralds." They interrupt the flow of the levels, and they're boring as hell, so the first few levels weren't great. Thankfully you got the emeralds in a hurry and started showing off Super/Hyper Knuckles.
That was worth the effort, and it's quite a bit different from the existing run. Voting Yes on the grounds that you showed off some wicked awesome glitches and broke the game in interesting new ways.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
For me, a really good TAS run should have people standing around and wondering whether it's a TAS run or not. It leaves people in awe because it looks possible, if only someone was insane enough to memorize the route and practice long enough.
If publication of this movie was suspended as per my request, please unsuspend it now. I have finished the planned accompanying files and linked them from the submission text.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
For me, a really good TAS run should have people standing around and wondering whether it's a TAS run or not. It leaves people in awe because it looks possible, if only someone was insane enough to memorize the route and practice long enough.
It's a result of my ignorance, but because I don't know how those glitches are performed, I don't know if they could be done without tool assistance. Probably not, but the point remains that all of it *could* be done if not for human limitations such as skill and reflex. I'm sorry about voting No to your TMNT 2 run but, philosophically, I don't like the idea of overcoming hardware limitations, like the ability to press Left+Right or Up+Down, and aesthetically, I thought the warping around was repetitive and annoying. I just didn't enjoy the movie. I don't want to carry that debate into this thread, so I hope you can forgive me for my stance on that, and not bring it up again.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
Please, let's not do this. I made that quote in the TMNT 2 run thread because I didn't like that it included an opposite direction glitch. It was later suggested that I was inconsistent in my application of that philosophy when I later voted Yes to a movie that used opposite directions, though not obviously or excessively. I still don't care for the idea of L+R/U+D, but I'm willing to overlook it if it isn't obvious or excessive, because it's going to be used in submissions whether I like it or not.
That is an old debate, and I'd like to let it die. I voted Yes to this movie because I enjoyed it, even though it shows off glitches which might lead one to believe that it was played with tool assistance. I believe, generally speaking, that a really good TAS run should leave people wondering if it's a TAS run or not. I believe, in principle, that you shouldn't use L+R/U+D. To be uncompromising on those ideals would mean blindly rejecting some really entertaining movies. The ability to compromise doesn't make me inconsistent, it makes me human. I will, from time to time, find a movie entertaining and vote Yes to it, and someone who has incentive may be able to find a quote that seems to contradict my vote. I voted based on my likes and dislikes, and that is what will always be consistent. I know what I like, and I like this movie.
TASing or playing back a DOS game? Make sure your files match the archive at RGB Classic Games.
