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?

Glad to hear from ya Hotsauce, can't wait to see what you can bring to the leaderboard! :)

1. That's exactly what's happening there, even though RK doesn't even carry out his lever-grabbing animation. From what I understand, RK is also able to trigger levers simply by falling on them (I don't believe there's any other levers in the game where you can do this).

2. You have to push the explosive box a slight bit to the left (the visual cue I use is aligning the rightmost board on the front box face above the leftmost metal bar on the trapdoor). Then you need to face Sketch back to the right, jump, and just before landing do a standard air attack, and you should clip through the trap door. It's not incredibly precise, but getting it down through muscle memory helps quite a bit.

Hope this helped! :D

Wow, thank you for such a speedy reply!

Your information was perfectly helpful, and much appreciated. I'd pulled off the #2 gimmick only a couple times, and just wasn't sure of the exact requirements for it.

I'm having a blast so far practicing and looking for moments to polish and fine tune. Currently, my most sought after route improvement is all about expediting the Kung Fung fight as it seems to be one of the only moments now that is out of our control (aside from just being really good, and taking little to no damage). That, and possibly the pre-Mortus fight cutscene of disarming the nuke. I think it would be so wonderful to have all three bosses contain a quick-kill method!

And as for waiting to see what I can bring to the board, well...let's just say you won't be waiting long! ;)

It may be possible to use paper airplanes in a manner which the TAS does, in order to inflict multiple critical hits on the second boss, although I would assume it'd be quite difficult to pull off. I know the WR loses some time there so that is a good place for some time gain.

Great! Feel free to post a progress run, and we can give you some pointers if necessary :)

Just did this morning! Now it's all about the anxious wait for it to be approved and posted. :) The run you'll see has two panels which take an excess amount of time (including a highly disappointing miss on the final boss quick kill...), and the second to last panel of Level 5. I was hoping for the right Strigil to get kicked back sooner, enabling me to grenade both on top of each other.

Two things I need more consistent performance on:

1. Clipping through the explosive box trapdoor in Level 1. I usually grab it on the 2nd jump, and only sometimes on the 1st. Just needs more practice.

2. The quick kill on the first boss. I've heard it's pretty easy, but I just do not pull it off reliably for whatever reason. If I'm understanding the mechanics right, Sketch and the dragon need to be damaged at almost the exact same time. However, does it have to come from the same source? I've seen most runs where Sketch jumps, and then flying kicks the boss just as they themselves fall on top of their own plane. I've also pulled it off just by jumping at the boss, and coming down on the plane as it hits both of us together--no flying kick. Not sure which is easier. I've also seen people starting the plane at different spots. Some from farthest left, and some from farthest right on the shattering mutant glass vials panel. It seems to be important when you actually get the camera to scroll, or more specifically, on what frame you jump away from the plane throwing animation. Most people I see don't even allow the frame to appear where Sketch's arm tosses the plane forward and has that Nike air swoosh trailing his hand. The second plane "ZOOM" sound effect sometimes comes sooner than expected (almost on top of the end of the first ZOOM sound) and it catches up with me too quickly as I panel transition to the boss. Then I just end up jumping up into the bottom of it.