100% Live Pseudo-Tutorial

YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA3DSPQu18U



Twitch version: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1084275193

A Crash 1 Speedrunning intro for beginners [***START HERE***]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKdkFYG5Wp4

Merry Christmas everyone! I have been secretly working on this video with the intention of releasing it on Christmas as a gift to the community. It was inspired by a similar video done in another community.

Any% (NTSC-U) - Death Abusing

Well, i will leave here the best locations where you should death abuse in each level, and if needed, i'm going to explain the reasons.

Why death abuse?

You can learn this from experience: When you die after hitting a checkpoint box, then you're unable to see the scene where all the boxes you missed on the level falls into Crash's head (Except for NTSC-J, you can't skip the scene, but just 1 box falls into Crash's head). A single death after hitting a checkpoint can save several seconds for you in each level, that's the Death Abuse. You can also take more advantage of such death, because everytime Crash dies, the global cycles in the game resets, so you can use the death for cycle manipulation as well. So the places where you death abuse are also important, and here follows a list containing where you should Death Abuse:

N. Sanity Beach: There's just 1 checkpoint here. Death abuse on the first hole you see.

Jungle Rollers: Also has just 1 checkpoint. Hit the checkpoint, then backtrack a bit and die on the first hole.

The Great Gate: Just 1 checkpoint as well. Death abuse on the subsequent gap.

Boulders: Also just 1 checkpoint. Death abuse on the hole.

Upstream: There's 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the first one, fall into the waterfall. (Faster death here than on the 2nd checkpoint)

Rolling Stones: There's 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the first one, fall into the hole. (From this death abuse you can keep more masks through the level for damage boosts.)

Hog Wild: You don't Death Abuse here, because getting all boxes but 1 is faster than Death Abusing.

Native Fortress: There's 5 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 5th one, just fall into the gap. (You get the fastest cycles in the end.)

Up The Creek: There's 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 1st one, just fall into the water. Allows you to get better cycles in The Lost City. (If you were to be crazy enough to do all the double jumps in here, death abuse in the 2nd one).

The Lost City: You don't Death Abuse here. The Lost City has the green gem when you collect all the boxes, and you need the Green Gem to unlock a path in Castle Machinery where you skip the entire level directly to the warp platform.

Temple Ruins: There's 3 checkpoints here. Death abuse on the 1st one, just fall off the ledge. 

Road to Nowhere: There's 4 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 4th one, just fall into the subsequent gap. (doesn't matters much where you death abuse here, but that's the place where i usually death abuse.)

Boulder Dash: There's 2 checkpoints here. Death abuse on the first one, just fall into the subsequent hole.(The 2nd checkpoint has only slow death possibilities)

Sunset Vista: The level with the highest number of checkpoints, 7 in the total. Death abuse on the 5th one, just fall off the ledge (down right diagonal). (The respawn will set Crash on the perfect position for the Out of Bounds, just walk straightly). (If you are doing the Game Over abuse strat, only death abuse after finishing the Tawna bonus).

Heavy Machinery: Has just 1 checkpoint. Just fall off the ledge.

Cortex Power: Has 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 2nd one. (You can have a pretty fast death abuse there)

Generator Room: Has 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 1st one. Just fall off the ledge. (I recommend taking the subsequent mask after this death abuse, and keeping it till the Red hot pipe, so you can damage boost on it. Death abusing on the 2nd checpoint makes you lose this mask).

Toxic Waste: Has 2 checkpoints as well. Death abuse on the 2nd one, just fall into the acid. (That way, the mask you get at the start lasts longer, for safety.)

The High Road: Has 4 checkpoints. Death abuse on the 4th one, just fall into the gap behind Crash. (This setups good initial cycles in Slippery Climb). (Death abusing on the 3rd one gives you slightly better cycles for Slippery, saving around a second, but it's trickier).

Slippery Climb: Has just 1 checkpoint. Death abuse on the spikes under the subsequent moving platform. (There's no holes or voids around to give you a faster death animation, that's the only option.)

Lights Out: There's 2 checkpoints. Death abuse on the first one, just fall off the ledge. (This death setups the fastest cycles for this level.)

Jaws of Darkness: Has 2 checkpoints as well. Death abuse on the 2nd one. (This death gives you good subsequent pillar cycles.)

Castle Machinery: If you got the Green Gem from Lost City, you can step on it and walk directly to the warp platform (you're unable to death abuse on this path). That saves a lot of time, even if you don't death abuse.

The Lab: Has just 1 checkpoint. Just fall off the ledge.

I will disponibilize a video containing the Death Abuse Locations in the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3NlDsp7SLo

Easy subtle timesaves for all runners

Crash 1 has a ton of stuff to it that is very subtle and may be hard to notice just by watching a speedrunner's gameplay. These are a bunch of subtle ways to save time throughout your runs. Get in the habit of doing them :)

https://pastebin.com/zy4WVe3M

Explanation/demonstration of zigzag's influence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8Wcq3R3hw

Hundo cycle info for intermediate - high level

INFO: Cycle classifications across the game

This document intends to provide some documentation on the classifications of different cycles across Crash 1.

https://pastebin.com/aQa7Sv2F

INFO: Platforms to play on

Here I will list all platforms you can run this game on from fastest so slowest as well as important info.
 
NOTE: Methods of playing NTSC-J discs on NTSC-U and PAL consoles will not be discussed here. I will not be responsible for people messing up their hardware.
 
PlayStation 2: The biggest reason for PS2 being the fastest platform is the “fast disc speed” feature (abbreviated as FDS by the community, with standard disc speed/SDS being the opposite), which makes the PS1 disc spin at the speed that a PS2 disc spins. This makes each loading screen faster by a few seconds, which saves around 1m40s in an any% run and 2 minutes in a 100% run. Several models of the PS2 were released, but the fastest model is the “90k” (the model code will be SCPH-9xxxx. To put things on a scale, the slowest model is the SCPH-3xxxx. NTSC-J discs can only be played on NTSC-J models).
NOTE: If the PS2 is a Japanese model, the fifth and final digit in the model code will be 0.
 
Emulator: The allowed emulators for speedrunning PS1 Crash games: https://www.speedrun.com/crash/thread/kfh5l/1#bz8py
 
PlayStation 1: Laggier than PS2 and the loading screen are even slower than PS2 SDS. NTSC-J can only be played on NTSC-J models.
 
PlayStation 3 (Digital): Laggier than PS1 in terms of dropping framerate in spots, has the second slowest loading times behind PSP w/FDS, and has nasty input delay.
PlayStation 3 (Disk): NTSC-J can only be played on NTSC-J models.
 
PSP: Region free. FDS is slower than PS2 SDS due to it (for some reason) giving slower loading times and extra lag. SDS is about the same as PS2 SDS.
 
PSTV only has PAL available to my knowledge so I won't discuss it. FDS is doable with it though.
 
Platforms from fastest to slowest:
PS2 w/FDS
Emulator
PS2 SDS
PSP SDS
PS1
PS3
PSP w/FDS

INFO: Quick resources for 100% revisit skips/one-cycles

Making this just as a quick resource for the 5 skips with all links available for them since some may seem a bit scattered.

There are 5 revisit skips/one cycles in crash 1 100%: Jungle Rollers skip, The Great Gate skip, Upstream skip, Rolling Stones skip, and Cortex Power skip.
All runners should definitely learn Jungle Rollers skip and The Great Gate skip right away. They are very easy and at the start of the run (some runners struggle a bit getting some things in Jungle Rollers skip down at first but they always figure it out after like 15 mins at most). Cortex Power skip has undergone changes and discoveries that make it also reasonable for new runners to do, so that should be done right away too in my opinion. Upstream skip, in my opinion, should only be done at top-level for reasons I'll explain below.
Rolling Stones skip was discovered by Lukademus in late 2022. It turned out to be even easier than Cortex Power and Upstream skip. A new section has been added to this guide at the bottom.

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*JUNGLE ROLLERS SKIP*

This allows you to get the gem without having to revisit with the green gem from The Lost City (Hog Wild on NTSC-J). In my opinion this is the 2nd easiest to do of the 5 skips.

WHiP's tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTXOM3CMH-Q&list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk&index=4&t=0s

Tutorial for my alternate method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L6ZeGpGbek&feature=youtu.be

WhitePaaws' backup method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_VXMDCxtTo&list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk&index=61

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*THE GREAT GATE SKIP*

This allows you to get the gem without having to revisit with the yellow gem from The Lab. In my opinion, this is the easiest of the 5 skips.

The tutorial linked below covers the current method for this skip. Before a user named SShotty found the current method back in 2015, the strat was to jump off the side(s) of the portal to get to the other side. This can still be used as a backup, however, if the turtle dies (which can happen if you get hit by the spikes since the i-frames will kill it) or you don't have a mask (or 1 mask if you're going for upstream skip). Methods to do this backup include zigzagging to the left side of the portal and jumping off, jumping on the right side then zigzagging to the other side, and jumping on the right side of the portal then the left side of the portal and then onto the other side.

WHiP's tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoNhEEow6Dk&list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk&index=4

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*CORTEX POWER SKIP*

This allows you to get the gem here without having to revisit with the blue gem from Toxic Waste. This is the 4th easiest of the 5 skips.

This skip has reached a point where any runner can learn it and go for it consistently. In the past this skip has either been impossible, TAS-only, not viable, or had some pseudorandom element we couldn't figure out (2016-fall 2018). But now, thanks to work of several runners (most notably The8BitBeast and Rex), we have a setup that makes the exit part of the skip 100% consistent with a perfect visual cue.

If you fail the skip you can go beat Toxic Waste and quickly go back to Cortex Power and do it normally. Though the skip is consistent enough where you should not be stuck in a loop of failing the exit, so you can also just re-enter and try it again reasonably.

The two parts to this skip are:
The entrance to the blue gem path
The exit from the blue gem path back into the main part of the level

My tutorial (covers both entrance and exit in detail): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbJdTzw3AJs

WhitePaaws' alternate entrance method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYN3xfgpfDs&list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk&index=6

WhitePaaws' entrance with input display: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbH3FcIemWw&list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk&index=7

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*UPSTREAM SKIP*

This allows you to get the gem here without having to revisit with the orange muffin from Generator Room. This is the hardest of the 5 skips by a long shot.

Note that this skip is a huge pain to learn and get good at. It's precise, annoying, you can get consistent with time but some days it'll still kick your ass. I'd only advise learning this after getting around a 1:05-1:06, or even more. Due to the amounts of resets this can add if you have poor consistency with the skip, you should be consistent at the rest of the game before implementing this. At the end of the day though it's your choice, just remember that understanding the diagonal theorem explained in the tutorial below is key to success with this.

This skip has 2 parts:
Getting the box under the bridge with 3rd mask form
The out-of-bounds trick to access the orange gem path (really hard to get consistent, not worth for non-top level runners to spend their time on).

WhitePaaws' tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELESbay0PQ



Safer but slower setup by Lukademus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKNQ1Rok_fs

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*ROLLING STONES SKIP*

This skip allows you to get the gem in Rolling Stones without needing the blue gem from Toxic Waste. Also, by doing both this skip and Upstream skip, you can do Native Fortress 2 earlier and save a bit of time from that as well. This is the 3rd easiest skip in my opinion.

Check both tutorials and see which works better for you.
You could divide this skip into four sections:

1. Getting into the pit (VERY easy - just hold forward off the middle without spinning or invincibility)
2. The turnaround fall into the lower section: The place with the boxes is on a lower plane than the one you initially drop onto. Note that you don't have to do a 180 for a quick turn when you fall off a ledge. A spin isn't required here either. Find  your preference.
3. Getting the crates
4. Getting out of the pit without dying. This is the most complicated part but can be made super consistent.

Lukademus tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUA_8EnF02U

Klaxxy73's tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj_ISpWQ6TI

INFO: Region/version differences

This is some quick info on which versions are faster for which categories and also "version differences".
I will first list off the region differences that are relevant to explaining why X version is faster for X category and then list general region differences that are still relevant to the speedrun

-----------------------------------------------

**REGION DIFFERENCES**

**FASTEST FOR ANY%: NTSC-U (North American version)**
Reason(s): 
- On J you cannot skip the box cut-scenes at the end of levels. On U you can death abuse after a checkpoint to make it not load at all which is faster most of the time than watching 1 box fall on crash's head. This death abuse also kills two birds with stone as dying resets global cycles, so by choosing to death abuse on the checkpoint that gives the best cycle positions, you save even more time.
- J has RNG delays in the box cut-scenes which can make you lose time by screwing up global cycles you try to carry through levels.
- Note that J is faster for TAS because it can get perfect box screen RNG which allows it to viably map out a fast full run cycle and also it doesn't have to setup zip-zagging (TAS only movement tech) again each time after death abusing.


**FASTEST FOR 100%: NTSC-J (Japanese version)**
Reason(s): 
- Road To Nowhere only needs 1 visit instead of 2 because the red gem (which is needed to reach the secret boxes) was moved to The Lost City which is before Road To Nowhere instead of after it.
- The death abusing stuff mentioned for any% doesn't matter much in 100% here since you get gem screens on most levels anyway.


PAL (European/Australian version) is very slow and very different



**OTHER RELEVANT REGION DIFFERENCES (using NTSC-U as the base comparison)**

PAL:
- 25 fps instead of 30
- Crash's base movement speed has been increased (don't be fooled into thinking this makes this version faster). 
- Crash's jump height has been increased
- Zigzag has a higher threshold to meet for it to save more.
- Slower loading times
- Slower animations, map transitions, bosses, cycles, and more
- Desyncing cycles in Sunset Vista, can death abuse at the start to fix this on J, not sure about PAL.
- Different method for Cortex Power skip is available here.

NTSC-J
- Password can only be accessed by inputting this code at the title screen: UUDDLRLRLRO
- Added hints to some masks where a text box will appear and kind of "pause" the game. It can only be skipped with X or O, which will buffer it into a jump or spin respectively unless the mask was collected in the air for pressing X. A submarine jump with O can also be used to make surviving after skipping the hint easier. The placement of these masks work in a weird but understandable way - they will move based on which ones you collect in a level and if you die. For example, Cortex Power has 3 masks and 2 hints - if you skip the first one, the hint that shows after collecting that first mask will move to the 2nd one and the one that shows in the 2nd one will move to the 3rd one - so if you collect the first 2 masks the 3rd one will have no hint.
- Added some more Tawna bonus rounds (this is relevant due to added boxes, I will point out where these are). Interestingly, some of these new bonuses will not have tokens load in their respective levels if previous bonuses have been completed.
- 1 box falls on Crash's head no matter how boxes were missed and cannot be skipped by dying. Death abusing in NTSC-U to skip this entirely is still faster most of the time.
- You can now enter levels with O in addition to X
- To skip gem cutscenes, O and Triangle can be mashed instead of just X
- Triangle can be used to skip the save screen after bonuses
- You can die past a checkpoint and still get the gem if you backtrack, though this is not faster than re-entering anywhere. 
- The boulder moves a bit slower on J, making "boulder skip" in Boulder Dash 2 easier.
- The 1st mask in N. Sanity Beach is collected automatically upon skipping the cut-scene at the start instead of being in a box, making this level a little bit faster in J for 100%
- Platforms in Upstream and Up The Creek are larger, the only things notable about this is it makes it easier to not zigzag off the side by mistake, changes double jumps positioning, and makes some strat in the orange gem possible (or more viable idk haven't tested on NTSC-U) when not doing upstream skip.
- If you die in a boss you will respawn with only 1 mask (wtf lol) - if you die on Ripper Roo you should re-enter.
- Papu Papu has two more hit points - he will move faster for each one
- Green gem has been moved from The Lost City to Hog Wild - this is not enough timesave to make NTSC-J faster for any% in RTA
- Added box above the 1st TNT near the start of Temple Ruins and at the end for the bonus round.
- (again) Red gem has been moved from Slippery Climb to The Lost City.
- Sunset Vista has been swapped with Slippery Climb (reason is that they thought Sunset Vista was harder so they wanted it later). One issue this causes is desyncing cycles - they are easy to deal with in Slippery Climb, and easy in Sunset Vista as long as you death abuse at the start to reset them (which also makes them faster, wow!). If you don't reset the Sunset Vista cycles they can be a nightmare if they desync. 
- Sunset Vista cycles can break if you die past a checkpoint and become hilariously slow, however this is only an issue if for some reason you are running any% on J, it doesn't seem to happen in 100% after re-entering)
- Added a box near the end of Cortex Power for a bonus - this becomes a checkpoint after completing the bonus round/completing the game 100% which is very useful for practicing the exit part of the skip!
- Added mask near the end of Toxic Waste, slower to get anyway
- Removed metal crate above the topmost TNT near the end of Toxic Waste - this means that on J you must bounce on the top TNT to make it break off-screen, while NTSC-U doesn't have to as the metal crate landing on it will begin the countdown after breaking the middle wooden crates.
- Added mask at the start of The High Road, slower to get anyway 
- Shorter High Road, it ends about where the 4th checkpoint is in NTSC-U
- Added some boxes in Slippery Climb, doesn't matter much
- Added mask to the start of Slippery Climb - doesn't matter much since island 2 is filled with masks but it can be picked up without timeloss besides the pause from the hint if the starting cycle is bad
- Added checkpoint near the end of the 1st floor in Slippery Climb - just means you have to re-enter if you die past it on J
- Added mask at the start of Jaws of Darkness, makes the respawn cycle here possible which can save around 10s sometimes if the global cycles here are bad
- Added some boxes to Castle Machinery for a new bonus, doesn't matter much

-----------------------------------------------

**VERSION DIFFERENCES**

There are none! Enjoy your non-existent headache over this.
No 1.0/1.1 crap, etc.

There were different labels released like greatest hits for NTSC-U and like 6 different labels for J (lmao) but none have any in-game differences.

INFO: Zigzag

I realized I forgot to post this here and it was only on discord and my YT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clGmvP8FOOg

Strats Playlist (Any%/100%)

This YouTube playlist contains videos about strats for Crash 1 (both any% and 100%). Hopefully, this playlist grows and allows runners to be able to have easy access to strats for both categories without having to search all over YouTube/Twitch to find them. Videos with outdated strats are not in it. If you know of any videos you think should be added to the playlist, message me on Twitter.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWY7qrhvH2V7FeX5GbqmB0wL0GsxYiHk

Name	Author
100% Live Pseudo-Tutorial	Tebt_W 3 years ago
A Crash 1 Speedrunning intro for beginners [*START HERE*]	Tebt_W 5 years ago
Any% (NTSC-U) - Death Abusing	Deleted 4 years ago
Easy subtle timesaves for all runners	Tebt_W 5 years ago
Explanation/demonstration of zigzag's influence	SkylarFerret 5 years ago
Hundo cycle info for intermediate - high level	Tebt_W 5 years ago
INFO: Cycle classifications across the game	Tebt_W 5 years ago
INFO: Platforms to play on	Tebt_W 3 years ago
INFO: Quick resources for 100% revisit skips/one-cycles	Tebt_W 1 year ago
INFO: Region/version differences	Tebt_W 2 years ago
INFO: Zigzag	Tebt_W 5 years ago
Strats Playlist (Any%/100%)	Tebt_W 7 years ago