One of my worst WR pace enemies is a softlock I keep encountering far too often. It is located on the last level, in the room with all the bombs, and the magnet crane for unblocking the ladder down.

So often, I press down to go into the hanging bombs room, and Sketch will freeze in place halfway through his down-flip animation (It basically looks like he passed out on the floor, face down). The music will continue for a bit, and eventually freeze.

Is this common for any other runners here? Does anyone know the cause and/or how to avoid it?

Which emulators are legal for use on this game? Are all official releases of Comix Zone allowed, like the Wii Virtual Console?

My first large exposure to speed running came from watching most of AGDQ 2015, and it has finally sparked me to start my own quest to someday play at a GDQ in the future. I've decided to start with this gem from my childhood, a game I haven't beaten since I was 10 (and only three times at that).

I've already started practicing and getting familiar with the route, yet I have a couple questions about the current WR run.

1. What exactly is being done in the room on Stage 1 where the metal pressure plate causes the entire floor to disappear? It looks like Sketch releases RK a split moment before the floor forces Sketch to jump and then fall to the room below, but the switch down there is already thrown, and the player sails right through the open trap door. How does RK have enough time to pull that switch (if he is even actually activating it)?

2. Stage 1, in the room with the high lever on left wall, explosive box in center and trap door underneath, what inputs are necessary to cause Sketch to clip through the bottom without opening the trap door first?