Hi !

I played this game since its release and for the first time I'm trying to enter the leaderboard for a speedrun on the Saturn so I'm trying to understand as much as I can because I will probably not try to get the perfect run but I would like to at least do the best I can.

One thing I saw is that everyone uses Knuckles in their speedrun, is there a specific reason for it ? My guess is that it's the best character but if you have more info on why that would be most helpful.

I don't really get rules to the categories, I think I'm doing 100% (no OOB) but I wanted to be sure I'm not doing something unauthorized. My current route is : get all emeralds, then use Super Sonic to unlock all challengers and finish on radiant emerald. Am I allowed to do that and should I use Super Sonic or just practice with Knuckles ?

The last thing I never understood in almost 30 years, is why NPCs are faster than me on the loops. They go past me as if I were playing Amy backing up her car and it annoys me to no end.

Sorry for the newbie questions, and thanks in advance to anyone willing to help me !

Knuckles has a decent base speed and a better handling/turning ability than sonic out of the starter characters (Turning ability is quite important, because drifting and counterdrifting is faster than just running straight). He also has the glide ability which helps you on the Saturn version a lot as you only play on clear weather so you wanna dodge all the water. The route you described is fine and you should practice everything the way you would do it in a speedrun (so yes practice both with knuckles and super sonic). Loops on the saturn version are weird in general as some rings in loops are just not collectable, could also be due to rubberbanding/catch up as the CPU speeds up when you are further ahead to make the race closer. If you have more questions it would be best to ask them in the Sonic R Discord if possible as we are more active over there. The pinned thread by daily has the invitation link if you are interested.

Well thanks for the explanation ! I might check out the discord later but you were very helpful !