Hi! I want to use this thread to discuss dominant strategies for certain potential categories. When I put it all in one post then it gets rejected, so I will try to split it into multiple posts.
I wouldnt consider myself to be a good speedrunner, but I have been thinking about different strategies lately and I was wondering if some of you could help me figure out which strategies/routes would be faster:
Strategy 1: 1. Spyro 3 90 Eggs% (+Sorceress fight), 2. Spyro 3 80 Eggs% (+Sorceress fight), 3. Spyro 3 70 Eggs% (+Sorceress fight)
Strategy 2: Spyro 3 Any%+ 4 Main Evening Lake Levels Any% (Frozen Altars Any%+ Lost Fleet Any%+ Fireworks Factory Any%+ Charmed Ridge Any%)+ All Sparx Levels Any%+ ~5min Penalty (+ ~45s if compared to 1.1)
Please also consider that the routing in the 2nd strategy takes a little bit more time due to the runner having to enter more levels and backtracking to previous worlds for the Sparx levels.
Would you say that strategy 2 is faster than strategy 1.1?
If so would you say that strategy 2 is faster than strategy 1.2?
If so would you say that strategy 2 is faster than strategy 1.3?
I tried to make some estimations by using WR speedruns as a reference and if my estimations and assumptions are correct then 2 should be dominant over 1.1, about equal with 1.2 and 1.3 should be dominant over 2.
For context: Im trying to figure out which speedrunning categories would be faster if the anti-p would be active for the entire run in comparison to the normal game. There are some trivial categories in which the anti-p would be faster like e.g. anything purely related to Bugbot Factory (like e.g. Anabelle%) or anything purely related to the Super Bonus Round (like e.g. Yin Yang%) and now Im trying to find the non-trivial categories. My hypothesis is, that e.g. Kobe% (Harbor Speedway egg) should be faster in the anti-p version than the normal version. The more often my 3 questions can be answered with yes, the more non-trivial speedrunning categories exist in which the anti-p would be faster than the normal version. At the end none of the categories would include the Sorceress fight. I only added the Sorceress fight to the equations, because you need the Sorceress to unlock the 4th Sparx level in the normal game and adding the Sorceress fight would add a constant to the equations that can be subtracted later, because you dont need the Sorceress fight for any of these categories. Im wondering if Dan% (Dino Mines egg) would still be faster in the anti-p and if Will% (Haunted Tomb egg) would be faster in the normal version. I discovered some neat tricks in the anti-p version that I used in my anti-p speedruns and one of those tricks allows you to skip into the Midnight Mountain levels without having the required amount of eggs.
Additional thoughts:
Would you say beating Buzz and leaving a level is faster than beating Scorch? And would you say that it takes longer than 4-5 minutes to beat the Sorceress and to skip the cutscenes and credits after the fight?
Context: If you answer the first question with yes then anything purely related to Midnight (apart from the secret Moneybags egg) would be faster in the anti-p and if you answer the 2nd question with yes then getting the secret Moneybags egg would be faster in the anti-p. My hypothesis would be that the answer for the first question would be yes and for the second question no.
It would be cool if someone could help me with the evaluation of the strategies and I would appreciate any kind of help!
Sidenote: If we allow version changes within a speedrun then it would be probably faster to do a Spyro 3 Any% run with the anti-p active first and then switching back to the normal version after using the rocket to get to the Sorceress. The time saved would be equivalent to beating Scorch+getting to the Sorceress in Midnight Mountain - how long it takes from a game reset to the level loading - ~4-5 minutes (the 4-5 minutes can also be overcome if we allow state transfers between save files)
Edit: I forgot, that the Whirling also allows the skip, so you wouldnt have to enter any Evening Lake levels for this, which would save even more time if state transfers between save files are allowed and if they arent allowed then it would be 4-5 minutes slower
Actually I havent tested the APM transfer on the balloon. If this would work then you could beat the Sorceress after beating Buzz in a hybrid approach
In general, it's all pretty interesting, but I can't imagine a world where any of it is allowed in currently existing categories. For the anti-piracy to be activated, a modified game is required and that disqualifies the run. If I understand correctly, all flagship categories (Any%, 100 Egg, 117%) would also require a mid-run version swap from a modified/illegal copy to a regular copy in order to finish a run. Maybe the leaderboard moderators would consider adding a misc. category on the extensions page if you proposed something.
There are some prototype runs and modded Sparxless runs on there, so it doesn't seem like a huge ask as long as there's a specific version that can be used and a ruleset that is agreed on. I'm just not sure what SRC's stance is on pirated game speedruns and if they would even allow a pirated version to be linked.
Keep in mind, the video you linked isn't a run of "Spyro 3" - it's a run of an illegally attempted replication of Spyro 3 that made changes that set off Anti-Piracy traps in the game. It's interesting, but it's incomparable.
Yeah, I also think that this might turn into a new category if people actually run this. Also with the current state of the art you need to swap versions/discs for this. If someone figures out how to trigger these measurements in a normal game (maybe controlled RAM corruption or level corruption by overlapping game states) then this could become a normal any% run
