Black Doom Guide

## General Info
Certain damage count = Black Doom warps away if not in an attack cycle

6 SMG bullets = warp away

Black Doom randomly chooses one of four directions to move towards at the start of the stage. Black Doom will then follow a pattern cycle for each next warp.

Black Doom loses invulnerability frames when attacking, and will not warp away until the attack cycle is done.
- meteors attack - considered bad RNG, longest attack and difficult to exploit vulnerable wait; best to only go for the max bullets that regularly make Black Doom warp away
- swift strike - considered good RNG, you can hit full 20 bullets+
- vertical strike - considered good RNG, you can hit full 20 bullets+
- clone attack - only happens when below a certain HP amount - if you get this rip run


When Black Doom enters phase 2, the next warp cancels. Black Doom is then vulnerable until next clone/attack cycle begins.

## GUN Fortress
There are two weapon boxes containing SMGs. You will need both.

If Black Doom uses meteors on the first warp cycle, it is optimal to only attack with 6 bullets, otherwise it is likely you will run out of ammo.

Optimal play kills Black Doom after the first warp cycle.

During phase 1, for the first warp cycle, it is better to purposely only use 6 bullets. This keeps Black Doom under the HP threshold of clone attack.

## Cosmic Fall
There is one weapon box containing an Assault Rifle.

Optimal play kills Black Doom with no warp cycle.

## Final Haunt
There is one weapon box directly behind Shadow containing a Refractor.

Optimal play kills Black Doom with no warp cycle.

Black Doom's position has a large impact on if you will get a ~4s or ~8s time

Egg Dealer Guide

Egg Dealer is quite possibly, the most annoying boss to speedrun. And, at the same time, the most complex. In order to fight this boss optimally, it requires a heavy amount of improvisation and execution in order to deal with any pattern he can possibly give you. As such, there are a lot of techniques used in the fight that are not obvious from just watching an IL or watching the full-game WR. The goal of this guide is to explore the many intricacies and nuances of speedrunning Egg Dealer.

For the record, this guide will primarily be focused on the Lava Shelter version of Egg Dealer. The other versions of this boss put the Egg Pistol in different locations. The Cosmic Fall version in particular has this weird bridge structure with the middle being slightly elevated. Most of the strats mentioned will still work on the other stages, but keep the differences in mind if you are to use this guide to run a different version of Egg Dealer.

Furthermore, this guide assumes that you alreaady understand the basics of how Egg Dealer and his roulette works. Play through the boss casually a few times to get the basics down.

Here is a diagram of the battlefield:
https://i.imgur.com/uPMcOxZ.png

The star represents where you start on the battlefield, and the gun represents where the Egg Pistol will spawn if you follow the route.

So, here's a basic overview of the route.
1) Hit one or two of Egg Dealer's buttons. You want to get either Shadow or Rings on the buttons.
->1.5) If you get bomb, hit the third button to complete the roulette, and then hit a single button on the next cycle, guaranteed to be Shadow or Rings.
2) Spin Dash Jump to the middle platform of the battlefield.
3) Pay attention to where Egg Dealer stops, and manipulate his next movement direction if possible.
4) Spin Dash Jump to the box with the Egg Pistol. (Which spawns when Egg Dealer stops)
5) Break the box, grab the Egg Pistol.
6) Hit the roulette buttons immediately if the step 3 manipulation was successful. Otherwise, wait for Egg Dealer to stop again.
7) Complete roulettes until you get Shadow in order to get Chaos Fever.
8 ) Manipulate where Egg Dealer lands by hitting the last Shadow button at a certain location. 
9) Jump and shoot at his cockpit. Mash hard.
10) If he gets out of your gun range before you destroy him, hit a button/complete a cycle and repeat step 9 to finish him off.

Easy, right? Let's go into these steps more in depth and go over the more complicated nuances of this fight.

STEP 1) Hit two of Egg Dealer's buttons. You want to get either Shadow or Rings on the roulette.

The goal of this is to force the Egg Dealer to fail a roulette, which causes the box with the Egg Pistol to spawn. Because getting Shadow or Ring Fever can only benefit the player, Eggman cannot land on it when he stops the roulette himself. Thus, by forcing him to stop the roulette when you've already landed on one or two things he can't land on, he will be guaranteed to stop the roulette, spawning the Egg Pistol box. (This is also why the player can't stop the roulette on Egg Pawns.)

I recommend starting with the rightmost button and then the center button, because if you end up getting bomb, it's easier to hit the third button to complete the roulette to move on to the next one. (It's imposible to land on Missile because Eggman lands on it during the opening cutscene.)

STEP 1.5) If you get Bomb, hit the third button to complete the roulette, and then hit a single button on the next cycle, guaranteed to be Shadow or Rings.

Because Egg Dealer *can* stop the roulette on Bomb, you need to complete the roulette yourself so that he can start a new cycle. Because of how the game handles getting repeats, you are guaranteed to get Shadow or Rings on the cycle afterwards.

When Egg Dealer falls over to drop the bomb, you can get in a jump dash or two on his cockpit to do a small amount of chip damage. It's not a lot, but there's not much to do while waiting for the next cycle to start. Don't worry about taking damage from the bomb, as you start the fight with 10 rings.

STEP 2) Spin Dash Jump to the middle platform of the battlefield.

When Egg Dealer fails the roulette, the location of the boxes that spawn depends on where you are located. When you're on the outside curve, they spawn in the middle. When you're in the middle, they spawn on the outside.

STEP 3) Pay attention to where Egg Dealer stops, and manipulate his next movement direction if possible.
STEP 4) Spin Dash Jump to the box with the Egg Pistol.
(Covering these two together)

Whenever Egg Dealer stops moving, his next direction is dependant on where you are in relation to him. In particular, he always travels away from you when he starts moving. However, when you're on the middle platform, you can much more easily manipulate him to go wherever you want him to. And for an optimal speedrun, we want to manipulate him to travel *towards* the Egg Pistol, so we can immediately hit one of his roulette buttons from the behind before he turns around and puts his buttons on the front.

So, how do you manipulate his movement from the center? Well, look at where Egg Dealer stops moving, and imagine a line coming out of Egg Dealer, perpindicular to his line of direction. The direction he starts moving will be the opposite of which side of the perpinicular line you are on.

See the Diagram below.
https://i.imgur.com/xyuFNh3.png

As mentioned, we want Egg Dealer to travel towards the location of the Egg Pistol spawn. So, if Egg Dealer lands where he does on this diagram, we want to be on the part of the center platform colored green the moment he starts moving again, as that will cause him to move towards the box as desired. If we are in the red section, he will move away from the box, which will force us to wait a cycle until he stops moving before we can hit him again.

So, the ideal situation is to look to see where Egg Dealer stops, get into a location behind the invisible perpindicular line, charge up a spin dash, and let go of spin dash and jump towards the Egg Pistol box the second he starts moving again.

Now, let's go over a few different permutations that complicate things.

https://i.imgur.com/Y6lDyIm.png

Sometimes, Egg Dealer will stop on the corners of the map, causing him to have a more diagonal line of direction than on the normal sides. However, the technique still stays the same. Imagine a perpindicular line from his direction of movement, and get on the side opposite of the Egg Pistol spawn.

https://i.imgur.com/Iz5GLMm.png

In certain instances, he will land in such a location that you cannot manipulate his movement from the center platform. As such, you'll just have to work with what you're given, and just accept the time loss if he lands in a location that forces him to travel away from the Egg Pistol.

Make sure you always remember where the Egg Pistol is going to spawn! Look at the diagram posted near the beginning of this guide to see where it spawns relatively to where you start.

STEP 5) Break the box, grab the Egg Pistol.

Once you've gotten to the box, punch it open and short jump into the gun to pick it up. Jumping into it can sometimes skip the pickup animation. If you mess up and end up on the wrong side, an Egg Bazooka or Egg Lance will spawn out of the box instead.

6) Hit the roulette buttons immediately if the step 3 manipulation was successful. Otherwise, wait for Egg Dealer to stop again.

If Egg Dealer moves far enough without the player hitting a button, he will turn around and make it impossible to chain all three buttons at once. As such, the movement manipulation we did will allow us to hit a button before he turns around, as he'll be close to the gun once you pick it up.

So, once you pick up the gun, try to hit one of the three buttons as fast as possible in order to prevent him from turning around, and then immediately hit the other two buttons. (You are then immediately on step 7)

If you fail the manipulation, or are otherwise unable to hit a button before he turns around, wait for him to fall and land on something on the roulette before hitting any of his buttons. *DO NOT* hit any of the buttons while he is travelling around until he falls. It resets the timer that determines how long until he stops moving himself, and it costs much more time to hit all three buttons as he goes around (as you can't chain all three together) than to just wait for him to stop and hit all the buttons at once.

If you're lucky, he'll land on Bomb when he stops himself, letting you finish the Bomb roulette and get it for yourself. Most of the time though, he'll get Egg Pawns, forcing you to fail the roulette and just start a new cycle.

STEP 7) Complete roulettes until you get Shadow in order to get Chaos Fever.

Not only does Chaos Fever give you the ability to use Chaos Blast/Control, it also gives you invincibility and infinite ammo! After grabbing the Egg Pistol, we want to use this infinite ammo mechanic to get rid of all of his health.

However, there is no known way to guarantee you land on the roulette you want. As such, we just have to hit the roulette repeatedly until he land on Shadow. If he lands on Rings, this is nothing but a straight time loss. If he lands on Bomb, you can use the opportunity of him falling over to fire 19 shots of your gun into his cockpit before his bomb blows up. With at least one bullet left, you have enough to be able to fire infinitely once you get Chaos Fever. (Once again, don't worry about the explosion, you can take the hit easily.) It is impossible to land on Missile before you land on Shadow. during this step.

Like step 1, I recommend starting with the outermost (relative to the center of the battlefield) button during each cycle after the first cycle, whenever possible. This is because it is easier to chain from the center button to the innermost button than from the center to the outermost button. (The first cycle, assuming you were able to manipulate his movement, you should hit the innermost button just to make sure you can hit any button before he turns around)

STEP 8 ) Manipulate where Egg Dealer lands by hitting the last Shadow button at a certain location. 

Once you've seen that you've gotten Shadow on the roulette, you want to time the last button press so that Egg Dealer stops moving right as he turn to a new side of the battlefield. This is because when you start shooting him repeatedly, you want him to be on a straightaway in order to keep shooting him more easily. If you're shooting him as he's going around a corner, it is much harder to hit him. If you end up stopping him right before he goes around a corner, I'd honestly recommend waiting another cycle to start shooting him, once you've actually gotten him in a good location.

See the diagram below for a visual representation of this.
https://i.imgur.com/lzx1UgY.png

STEP 9) Jump and shoot at his cockpit. Mash hard.

Once you get Shadow Fever, just jump up in the air and mash the shoot button until he reaches the half-way destroyed cutscene. Once the cutscene plays, once again just jump up and mash shoot until he dies.

However, sometimes you won't be fast enough to do all the damage before he gets out of your range! A very helpful skill is to know when to abandon shooting him so you can stop him again, because if you wait too long, he'll turn around as he moves away from you, making you wait until he stops before you can set him up again.

STEP 10) If he gets out of your gun range before you destroy him, complete a cycle and repeat step 9 to finish him off.

Basically, just complete a cycle in order to put him in a position so that you can shoot him some more, and then jump mash shoot at him again until he's dead. You can also, if you're fast enough, hit a button and immediately start shooting him from the bounce of the homing attack. It's hard to pull off, though.

And that's Egg Dealer! There's a lot of complicated nuance to fighting this boss, and it involves a lot of improv around the various patterns he might give you. Take a lot of time to practice various patterns, and how to best deal with the boss! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask on the Sonic Speedrunning Discord in the Shadow channel!

Glyphic Canyon Normal Warp Guide for IL's/No CCG Full Game Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XViUeK9xqU0

Play the stage normally like in Any%. Heal the two GUN soldiers and use the Egg Vacuum to kill everything else. Take the bottom route after the dash ramp and spin dash high jump to the next section.

Get Chaos Control before the tornado and CC until you reach the checkpoint after the tornado, then stop CC. 

After you stop CC, go to the farther platform on the left side of the stage and spin dash high jump. Then homing attack at the front right corner. It may be inconsistent at first, but the warp has something to do with where Shadow's feet are. At least that is the visual cue I took during testing and runs respectively.

After the warp, hold right for a few seconds and then hold down-right on the analog stick. If you do that, you should warp to the goal ring without stopping every time.

Health, Points, and Other Values for Routing

I spent a bunch of time with Dolphin with a memory viewer to gather these values.  With these you get a better understanding on how the game works and how to best prepare your runs for success.

Regarding Meter Points: 30,000 points fills a meter.  So when routing out a chaos power route, use these values to see when you will have a full meter or how to extend a meter.

https://i.imgur.com/fPFunZ8.png

https://i.imgur.com/EX0bHO4.png

https://i.imgur.com/SwDRECF.png

https://i.imgur.com/SrJdRaq.png

For bosses points are depended on the method of applying damage. For now I wont list every option as I dont have them all, but if there’s a need for it we’ll get the data. Typically these fights are pretty straight forward though so I think they will be needed.

https://i.imgur.com/qo8JT8Q.png

These tables show how much damage each attack / weapon deals to the enemies / objects.

https://i.imgur.com/eumvDtQ.png

https://i.imgur.com/a9sfzSH.png

ingametime.com Templates

Note: These are pending as templates for ingametime.com, but until they are approved you can paste from here.

Glitchless Neutral
--
Westopolis
Glyphic Canyon
Prison Island
The Doom
Heavy Dog
Air Fleet
Lava Shelter
Egg Dealer
--

Glitchless Pure Dark
--
Westopolis
Glyphic Canyon
Prison Island
The Doom
Heavy Dog
Air Fleet
GUN Fortress
Black Doom
--

Glitchless Pure Hero
--
Westopolis
Glyphic Canyon
Prison Island
Sky Troops
Space Gadget
Final Haunt
Black Doom
--

Glitchless Dark
--
Westopolis
Glyphic Canyon
Prison Island
The Doom
Heavy Dog
Air Fleet
Black Comet
Sonic & Diablon
--

Glitchless Hero
--
Westopolis
Glyphic Canyon
Prison Island
The Doom
Heavy Dog
Iron Jungle
Egg Breaker
Cosmic Fall
Black Doom
--

Glitchless Expert Mode
--
Westopolis
Digital Circuit
Glyphic Canyon
Lethal Highway
Cryptic Castle
Prison Island
Circus Park
Central City
The Doom
Sky Troops
Mad Matrix
Death Ruins
The Ark
Air Fleet
Iron Jungle
Space Gadget
Lost Impact
GUN Fortress
Black Comet
Lava Shelter
Cosmic Fall
Final Haunt
The Last Way

Lava Shelter Rail Switching

If you have played Lava Shelter you may have noticed trying to rail switch after the S curve at the beginning is very difficult if at fast speed.

Turns out not only does the game check for you holding a direction, but it also looks for the camera to be in relative alignment. Luckily, we can bypass the camera check by simply putting Shadow in FreeCam. Unlike SA1, it is not in the options menu. Shadow enters FreeCam for a few seconds when you touch the C-Stick.

Here is a video demonstrating the issue on the S curve and with using the FreeCam solution.
Note for ILs it is still faster (0.2s per rail switch) to just jump over the egg pawn, but for full game runs this is safer.

https://youtu.be/0vPgBxsFTVo

Mad Matrix Map + Dark Route

Oiriginal map by yoshifan and Groudon199. MM-Dark route taken from a video by OmegaDJ. Route added to map by Azurillkirby.

http://www.soniccenter.org/maps/mad_matrix.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/447625211366342656/476226032295215114/unknown.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuRadySJ3w0

Optimal Setup for Black Comet Skip

Long overdue, finally putting this in a guide.
This does not cover point routing to get CC for BCS, just BCS itself.

This method allows you to setup BCS (Black Comet Skip) in such a way where no analog stick movement is needed, even post-clip out. Simply wait a brief moment for the spindash to end, then use Chaos Control. This will net you more time to attempt CCG post BCS if performing CCGBCS in a run with CCG.

To get started, this is the general onlooking angle needed. It does not need be precise. Approximation is good enough.
https://i.imgur.com/HFQIASD.png


Next is what I use for a frame of reference to setup. The geometry has signs of texture fill lines left on it. I marked the easy ones to spot, and circled in yellow a dark spot you will use for positioning.
https://i.imgur.com/db7KPzy.png

Line up in front of this spot, slightly overlapping it, like this:
https://i.imgur.com/UNyHVcx.png

At this moment you should be able to see two more texture fill lines, and your shadow (not the character... your literal shadow) will be positioned to the right of the intersection of the two lines.
https://i.imgur.com/DUcCu3H.png

That image 4th is all you will need, the first three are just to help you find it the first time.

The target area is here:
https://i.imgur.com/vPaISH3.png

Important: DO NOT touch the analog anymore once you are in position until you have used Chaos Control!!!

All that's left to do at this point is hold down spindash until it feels safe (experiment once you've got the skip down) and release.

Post BCS, if you are doing a NoCCG run, you will want to cancel CC and re-activate it just before it runs out to skip the spiral drop.

Don't fret about getting the exact position I'm showing. There is a great deal of variance that is safe so long as you are in the general area.

If you are still struggling to see the lines then use the dark spot (yellow circled) as your reference point instead.
Below is a video of the above strategy in action for both NoCCG and CCG:
https://youtu.be/-_bFK09iCWw

Space Gadget Expert CC Route Control

If you are not aware, different Chaos Control paths/branches/splines can sometimes be taken depending on which partner you have out.

For example, Glyphic Canyon takes the full circular route at checkpoint #5 if Black Doom is out. 
It skips it if Knuckles or No Partner is out.
Seen here:
https://youtu.be/UQkjTtP7yvI


This brings us to Space Gadget, which allows us to take the Dark Route or Hero Route depending on which partner we have out. Initially it was thought Expert mode disables the mission byte flags. Specific positioning was used to get the correct CC branch in Expert mode to get to the faster route in Space Gadget.

However I found only the D-Pad mission flags were disabled. You can set the mission flags in the pause menu.
This is because the pause menu code is the same as normal mode, only the images are different.

Thus we can set ourselves to instantly take the Hero spline in Space Gadget Expert:

1. Pause the game
2. Press "down", highlighting "restart" 
3. Press "right", setting the 'hero' flag
You'll know it worked because the "restart" will move back up to "resume" with no noise

4. Press "A" (or equivalent for non-GameCube, not the Start or pause/unpause button!)

This video shows the default behavior and after setting the 'hero' mission flag:
https://youtu.be/CzB57zg_BiQ

Bonus / useless info: This trick also results in some expert stages having regular partner dialog if you perform this early. Notably Digital Circuit has lots of left over voice lines from Normal Mode lingering in Expert Mode if you enable the mission flag.

The Ark Dark - Katana% Route

This is the most difficult mission for Only Dark Missions Katana% route.
https://youtu.be/b3gXwG7cb7k

The first two generators are straight forward, play the level normally, but be sure to activate the 2nd checkpoint in the level without breaking any shadow boxes until the 5th checkpoint is reached.

When you reach the 5th checkpoint immediately warp back to the 2nd one, grab the katana and easily destroy generator #1 without jumping. After you are done warp back to checkpoint 5.

Use the two weapon boxes near generator #2 to jump and swing to hit the generator with the katana projectile. You will need to move towards it (over the edge) in your jumps to hit the generator. When it breaks to half HP the hitbox is smaller, so you will need to get even closer.

Video section for generator #1 and #2 || 1:37

Mounting the next black hawk will drop your Katana, ride all the way to the 3rd generator without jumping off. Try to get the missiles that track you to hit generator #3 to broken state / half health.

You can do this consistently by staying in the:

*** upper middle area of the bottom left 'square'
*** DO NOT HOLD A while bumping into shields or generators!

of the shield blocking the generator. 

Once half health is reached, move the black hawk to the top center of the entire shield, dismount and jumpdash towards the platform behind you to get the checkpoint. Immediately mount the black hawk that spawns behind the checkpoint.

Now you will want to once again sit at the top center portion of the entire shield, but slightly be pressing down to have the hawk ready to dive directly onto generator #3 when the shield you are bumping against breaks. It will take 3 hits from the missiles tracking you to destroy the shield if the shield had not been previously hit. Just before the 3rd missile hits, start holding down. 

Once you are successfully 'hooked' onto the generator, you want to carefully make your way to the bottom left corner of it. Occasionally tap the opposite direction to ensure you 'hook' and get bounced back rather than passing the generator. Being in the bottom left corner will eventually cause the missiles from the turrets to hit the generator, destroying it.

Video section for generator #3 and #4 || 2:42

From here just ride to the 4th generator, and be sure to get the final 3 boost pads. The ones before are optional if you have enough health on the hawk.

For generator #4, just dismount and begin homing attacking until it breaks. Be careful not to get hit by the missiles. IF its decided homing attacking the generators are banned, it is still possible to get the turret missiles only to destroy the final generator, but its very difficult/poor consistency compared to generator #3.

Hook on the generator and try to stay on the bottom center, but strafe right and come back towards the center again as the missile volley gets near, otherwise all the missiles will hit the hawk instead of the generator.

Alternative 4th generator method / no homing attacks:
https://youtu.be/JgnE2LpR0rQ
--------
Note: this was recorded on Dolphin, with settings as close as possible to real hardware. I have done this on real hardware and when I complete a Only Dark Missions Katana% run, I will update the videos with the real hardware recordings.

BlazinZzetti

Azurillkirby

JackoTSC

dreamsyntax

Shadow the Hedgehog

Cryptic Castle

Digital Circuit (No CCG)

Death Ruins (No CCG)

Egg Breaker

GameCube

TRU_187

Pokemonmaster888

itsRose

Neutral

Pure Dark

Pure Hero

Dark

Hero

Expert Mode

Ending

Hello all.

We recently created a new discord server to discuss all things Shadow the Hedgehog Speedrunning.

You can join using this invite link: https://discord.gg/S44prxghKD

Naam	Auteur
Black Doom Guide	dreamsyntax 1 year ago
Egg Dealer Guide	Azurillkirby 6 years ago
Glyphic Canyon Normal Warp Guide for IL's/No CCG Full Game Runs	JackoTSC 3 years ago
Health, Points, and Other Values for Routing	BlazinZzetti 4 years ago
ingametime.com Templates	dreamsyntax 1 year ago
Lava Shelter Rail Switching	dreamsyntax 3 years ago
Mad Matrix Map + Dark Route	Azurillkirby 6 years ago
Optimal Setup for Black Comet Skip	dreamsyntax 4 years ago
Space Gadget Expert CC Route Control	dreamsyntax 4 years ago
The Ark Dark - Katana% Route	dreamsyntax 3 years ago