With the addition of three new shortcuts, Sonic and Tails finish the game about 45 seconds faster than the
previous run. Although neither Nitsuja nor Upthorn were actively involved in this improvement, they are listed as co-authors because their input comprises over 90% of the movie.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Gens 11a + S3KCamhack + SolidityViewer + (partial)HitboxDisplay + LUA HUD for Genesis Sonic games
- Ignores delays caused by bonus effects
- Aims for fastest (primarily in-game) time
- Takes Damage to save time
- Abuses death
- Abuses programming errors
- Counts time spent dying
- One player controls two characters
Marble Garden 1, Carnival Night 2 and Launch Base 1 are all improved. Marble Garden 2 was redone to fix desynchs, with no actual improvements. There were also some minor corrections due to lag and luck differences.
According to Upthorn, luck, in this game, "is strictly due to frame rules in the universal frame timer". Short pauses can be added (or, in this case, removed) just before the level that desynchs to correct the issue.
Comparison Table
| Act | New Time | Old Time | Savings |
|---|
| Marble Garden 1 | 0:30:29 | 0:37:21 | 0:06:52 |
| Carnival Night 2 | 0:42:11 | 1:08:53 | 0:26:42 |
| Launch Base 1 | 0:37:41 | 0:56:19 | 0:18:38 |
Total Savings: 0:52:12 in in-game time, or 0:46:24 in real time.
The table shows the in-game timer values. The value after the final colon indicates the in-game frame counter, and is restricted to the 0-59 range. It is updated every frame (except during lag frames), and increments the in-game second when resetting to zero.
Marble Garden 1
Using a trick to get inside the spring by Mr Sweed, the level is cut short by several seconds. A few frames are lost because Tails can't be manipulated to reach the boss faster.
Marble Garden 2
While visually nearly identical to the previous run, this level has been redone almost entirely, using little input from the previous run, to correct desynchs due to different (sub)pixel position. The exception is the boss fight, which uses essentially the same input as the previous run.
Carnival Night 2
Using the shortcut from the
100% Sonic Run, but 42 frames faster thanks to Tails.
IceCap 1
The level has 3 less lag frames due to luck differences when Sonic is hit (the placement of rings).
Launch Base 1
Tails pushes Sonic inside the spikes, which put him inside the wall. No more waiting for that pesky Flybot! The trick is thanks to
Orkal.
Sky Sanctuary
There are fewer frames "lost" in pauses to manipulate luck for Death Egg 1 at the end of this level.
For more comments about the run, see the comments from the
previous run, as well as the runs that it obsoletes.
I started the run from the
previous run, keeping the rerecord count and splicing in the unchanged input as needed.
I wish to thank Nitsuja and Upthorn for making the previous run(s), as well as improving the tools for making runs, as well as Orkal and Mr Sweed for the tricks.
Possible improvements
If one were to replay the portions that desynched due to luck differences, instead of adding pauses to manipulate luck, some 30-35 frames might be saved in real time, but none in in-game time. At this time, I am unaware of any other improvements.
cpadolf: Accepting as an improvement to the published run.