Cool beans, I'm happy to say a big part of this speedrun can be RNG manipulated,
(there's a tl;dr at the end for those solely interested in knowing the optimal route as of now)
[UPDATE 13/01/2019]
I started putting in practice what I stated below and I'm seeing things work in a very different way then expected. A new thing I'm noticing is that quitting out of a game is not advancing the cycle of patterns as I initially predicted it. If a game is played throughout (all three balls collected, screen transitions by itself) then, the cycles move as expected, But if the game is quit (not sure if there is a difference between) before the balls load into view or after only one ball is collected the cycles don't advance as normal. For now I'll just leave here that entering stage A=A after resetting the game gives pattern A1, and if quit out the following pattern is A6, I've not confirmed this by testing it several times.
More studying later.
[UPDATE 16/01/2019]
Uff, so I'm glad to say my mistake wasn't too bad, I was only missing a piece of information that I will document in this update; It is true it will make the following sections obsolete but I'll label them accordingly and since there won't be much more to update from here I'll leave them just in case the information is useful to anyone.
When Start is pressed, depending on when you do it inside the Ball picking game, the cycle which comes next gets incremented by 5, 10 or 15. The moments where this happens depends on if you picked a ball or not.
Explaining with an example. If you just turned on the game and enter A=A, the first patterns appears (A1) If you press start to exit the game to the main menu:
- before the first ball is picked --> the pattern you'll get if you enter A=A, a=a or a=A/a will be A6 (A1 +5 = A6)
- after the first ball is picked --> the pattern you'll get if you enter A=A, a=a or a=A/a will be A3* (A1 +10 = A3*)
- after the second ball is picked --> the pattern you'll get if you enter A=A, a=a or a=A/a will be A2 (A1 +15 = A2)
it's still correct that if you let the game send you to the next game the pattern is simply the next one in sequence (A1 +1 = A2)
[ARTICLE 1]
Stages "A=A". "a=a" and "a=A/a" are manipulable, though unfortunately I've not been able to find a predictable pattern on any of the remaining stages. (This means for now there will still be a good part of RNG to the run as is so far)
There are 13 patterns that the first three stages cycle through from the moment the game is turned on. The pattern that will appear on the game advances in sequence every time you enter the "ball" juggling game.
A1 is the pattern you will get regardless if you first enter "A=A", "a=a" or "a=A/a"
If I label the initial position of the balls as they appear before moving like so:
The patterns are as follows:
(notice how there's 14 on the image, though pattern 3 (A3) is the same as pattern 11)
The patterns as I mentioned cycle, meaning after pattern A13 comes A1, and it loops,
To the right of each pattern is a count I made of how many frames it takes for a perfect run of each of them This initially proves that pattern A7 is the fastest.
Resetting a pattern and reentering the same stage loses approximately 100 frames of time
[OBSOLETE INFORMATION, skipping alters patterns as mentioned previously]
T̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶"̶I̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶X̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶,̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶s̶k̶i̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶?̶"̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶:̶
O̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶,̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶(̶f̶r̶)̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶,̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶k̶i̶p̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶w̶e̶e̶n̶.̶
̶A̶n̶ ̶e̶x̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶:̶ ̶ ̶ i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶A̶2̶ ̶(̶1̶8̶0̶8̶ ̶f̶r̶)̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶A̶3̶ ̶(̶2̶2̶3̶7̶)̶ ̶f̶r̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶4̶0̶4̶5̶ ̶f̶r̶ I̶f̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶d̶ ̶s̶k̶i̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶s̶ ̶A̶3̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶A̶6̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶A̶7̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶3̶7̶6̶2̶ ̶f̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶ (̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶4̶x̶1̶0̶0̶ ̶f̶r̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶)̶
A̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶k̶i̶p̶ ̶d̶e̶p̶e̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶:̶
[ARTICLE 2] [OBSOLETE INFORMATION, skipping alters patterns as mentioned previously]
T̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶A̶n̶y̶%̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶ ̶1̶0̶0̶%̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶,̶ ̶. A̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶1̶0̶0̶%̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶m̶o̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶r̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶ A̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶%̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶1̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶q̶u̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶.̶
T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶%̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶k̶i̶p̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶e̶s̶t̶:̶
A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶:̶
[ARTICLE 3] This information is mainly important for Any%
This table reflects the fact once on a pattern, finishing it advances the patterns by one, but when quitting out of the stage the patterns get incremented by 5 after the first increment.
A simplified table:
I wonder if this is coincidence, but these patterns loop, meaning technically A5, A7 and A12 are all ideal patterns to begin your run in, but A7 is the easiest to reach from booting up the game
Finally, the ideal route so far is as follows:
Any%
Boot up game -> enter A=A (A1) -> play and let the game send you to the second game (A2) Quit out to main menu before picking any ball. --- You are ready to start the run --- Enter and play A=A (A7) -> quit out once second game starts (A8) Enter and play a=a (A12) -> quit out once second game starts (A13) Enter and play a=A/a (A5) -> quit out once second game starts (A6) and then you're on your own for the next stages, good luck!
100% [UNDER CALCULATIONS]
