Five years ago I made a thread asking why nobody uses Dudley -- seems like my question took hold because the top two times are with him, that's great! I went back to check what I wrote in that old thread aaaaaand... I can't say that I entirely agree with that now, lol. Let's get into it.
Some time ago, I got back into doing tool-assisted videos and recently did some new speedruns. They're not all good but it certainly got me thinking about the RTA community again.
I should've checked here when RTA speedrunners start the timer (I forgot because I'm a dummy) because I included a timer in my recent videos and made the mistake of starting it when pressing the Start button instead of when selecting a Super Art; this roughly adds 2 seconds so please keep that in mind! I may update the videos so the timer is correct later -- but that is a bit of a hassle, so, to be honest, if I have to rerender and reupload these videos, I'd rather attempt to do more optimized runs instead.
I've included text on the right-hand side of the video so you know if Q was fought in the run, as well as Default Settings and Bonus Game (in case I ever change those). I might also start showing the in-game settings at the start if people insist on it, so please let me know.
I still strongly believe that knocking down the opponent and performing supers still wastes time -- though there are still times when using a super makes sense in a TAS -- but whether or not getting a Perfect does, kind of depends. When clearing Round 1, the game waits for the BGM to hit a certain point before moving on to the second, regardless of anything, so that the second BGM is synched. I've not yet tested whether clearing a round with no Perfect will delay the game less. I think the game also waits for the BGM again before fading out when the match ends, so I might test that too.
This is just to explain that, at the moment, all the matches in my runs are Perfect (I think one or two aren't), even if I previously believed that they waste time. But now, I'm not so sure it matters, and I'm not sure if anyone's ever tested that. I'll talk more about this in a second thread. Stay tuned!
Anyhoo! Here's a list of the new runs I've uploaded so far:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2hgIWyLo4cwMA1HkdeLxAfXZ9d_CIBsi
With Q:
- Dudley SA2 - 9:22
- Ken SA2 - 9:14
- Akuma SA1 (only Raging Demon was used) - 8:39
- Dudley SA3 - 8:47
- Makoto SA3 - 8:13
No Q:
- Alex - 7:34
(Continues)
Now, I have a few notes. I got the fastest time with Alex because I was lucky enough that Q didn't spawn. In the Makoto run I was sure I wouldn't get Q because, before beating Necro, I only got ONE SP. Still to this day, I'm not sure what exactly lets you fight Q but that's a whole other subject... so it might be ideal to avoid getting Perfects at all and as few SPs as possible or none at all.
Taking a few things into consideration, I took the best times I got with Akuma, Alex, Dudley, and Makoto, and came up with estimates for ideal times in THESE runs. The adjustments were:
- Start the timer when SA is selected
- Deduct time fighting Q
- Assume ideal SUV time (depends on character; I went for the Excellent in some of my runs instead of just breaking it because I'm a dummy)
So, IN THEORY, [my] best times might be something like:
- Akuma - 7:55
- Alex - 7:34
- Dudley - 8:01
- Makoto - 7:32
Again, IN THEORY, Alex and Makoto should be the fastest characters with the way I'm doing things now. The biggest optimization comes from hitting enemies while they're crouched for that damage boost, and this is how there were very specific circumstances where I was able to defeat the opponent in about 4-5 seconds, which I believe is the fastest a round can possibly end.
Alex defeated Akuma in the first round in a little over 4 seconds. With Makoto, Necro went down at about the same time (but exactly 3 seconds if we ignore the SA3 startup animation) in the second round.
So when doing a TAS speedrun (I'm being redundant here because I do non-speedrun-focused TAS as well), I try to manipulate the CPU to crouch when getting hit. This isn't always possible, especially at default difficulty, because it does so very much love to a) stand there and take it or b) block everything or c) parry, so a lot of the time they won't crouch no matter what you do. So you just have to get lucky most of the time. The only character that crouches predictably is Gill because he loves to do low kicks when you're moving forward, so you can easily tap forward then tap down to parry > counter against him, but in a TAS that may not even be necessary.
FINALLY, I have to pose the question. themightybill's speedrun (WR at the moment) uses ROM version 990512, but I use 990608 (which is what I've ALWAYS used). Should I switch or it doesn't matter? Also, I do customize all the character color palettes, and as far as I know, that doesn't change how the game works, but do let me know if it would be better to leave them alone.
Oh, one more thing I should've noted, using Raging Demon to end the round definitely wastes a lot of time; I did it 10 times and the animation lasts 2 seconds, soooo that's 20 seconds of nothing, d'oh! When I did the run, I was only thinking about the damage and ending the round, completely forgetting about how the kill animation actually affects the run time. Next run this won't happen, and I may in fact use SA2 or KKZ for big damage instead. I'm thinking the ideal time estimate may be sub 7:50.
