Hello everyone!

After some extensive testing, I have attempted to skip every cutscene in the game that my TAS encounters using a death as the cutscene starts.

Based on this, I've found one (and only one) cutscene which can be skipped by dying: the cutscene of freeing the CloudRunner in Dragon Rock. If you die on the right frame using an explosive barrel, then you will skip the CS of the CloudRunner getting freed, and after you respawn, you can talk to the CloudRunner and go to shooting the spires.

Here is a video I made which shows this new CS skip on the left, and the old method of going through this section on the right (note that no hacks are used in this video, and both videos start on the same frame). As you can see, this skip is about 16 seconds faster than watching the CS normally:

Although none of my other 30-something CS skip attempts that I tried worked, I will post my results down below in order to save future glitch-hunters of Star Fox Adventures some testing time and to show some cool glitches/softlocks that occurred during my testing.

Also, if you want to test a cutscene death skip on your own, you can use the following hacks:

Health: (*0X803428f8), add 0XB8 to get next address to look at. Take this address, and add 0X35C to it's value to get the next address to look at (The first byte of which is health. Set this to 0 on the frame you want to die).

Flame_Damage: (*0x803428f8), add 0XB8 to get next address to look at. Take this address, and add 0X79C to it's value to get the final address of the flame damage (set this address to value of 43952121 on the frame that you want to die, in order to set Fox on fire).

Note that you have to be taking damage and have 0 health on a given frame in order to activate the death cutscene. As such, both of the above addresses need to be altered in order to die.

1. Cutscene of dying dino for Krystal (would have to skip CS and open door) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and nothing happens. On the perfect frame, you die without watching the cutscene, and the cutscene is permanently gone. However, the door to the shrine doesn't open, so you're soft-locked. Too late, and you die after the CS ends.

2. Picking up the staff (would have to give you the staff and let you trigger the sharpclaw spawning CS) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and you get the staff, but can't trigger the CS of the sharpclaws coming out of the Queen's house. Too late, and you watch the whole CS and die when it ends (without the usual death animation) and softlock. (picture below)

3. CS after killing off all of the Sharpclaws in front of the queen's house (would have to make the fireblaster switch appear and open the fire blaster mana cave) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and you die and respawn in the start of the CS. Too late, and you watch the whole CS and then die (note that you get really weird effects if you wait to close the mana gem text box until after you die). Pictures of some death attempts below:

4. Talking to the Queen for the first time (would have to move the thorntail) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens. A bit later, and you skip the CS, but respawn voiding out. Even later still, and you watch the whole CS and then die.

5. Entering the shop for the first time (nothing required) - RESULT: This would work with hacks (In actual gameplay, you can't die on a late enough frame to get the CS skip to work. You either die before it starts or enter the CS normally). If too late, you die as soon as the CS ends and softlock. On the right frame, you skip watching the whole CS, respawn at the last save point you hit, and can enter the shop normally to buy the rock candy without watching the CS. Also note that there's no way to actually take damage over here, since the torches don't have real flame collision. Picture attached below:

6. Giving the Rock Candy to the Warpstone (would have to let you skip this CS when you next talk to him) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and you lose the rock candy and skip the CS. However, the next time you talk to the warpstone, the CS plays. Too late, and nothing happens, and you get sent to IM with 1/4 heart.

7. Intro CS entering Ice Mountain - (no requirements) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and nothing happens. A little later - you respawn in the cutscene, and it plays to completion. Later, and you die after the cutscene ends without the normal death animation and softlock (picture below) . Later - nothing happens.

8. Fox entering the garage with Tricky in Ice Mountain - (race needs to start without cutscene when you next enter, and race must work normally) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early - nothing happens. Later - you die and respawn at the start of the cutscene, which plays through normally. Latest - You go through the whole cutscene on fire - die at the end (after getting on the bike), and then respawn in the cutscene that plays after getting on the bike. Picture attached below:

Hmm... So that's what a FireFox looks like! :D

9. Tricky getting heel command (must get heel command)- RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and you don't get the heel command and the last sharpclaw doesn't die. Later, and you die and respawn at the start of the CS, and continue normally from there. Even later, and you die after the CS ends and softlock (picture below).

10. Giving the 1st alpine root to the snowhorn - (must let you give him the 2nd alpine root normally) - RESULT: This would work with hacks (in actual gameplay, you can't die on a late enough frame to get the CS skip to work. You either die before giving in the root, or you give in the root and watch the CS normally). Too early - nothing happens. Later (on same frame you give root), you respawn without the root and without watching the CS. Next time you give the snowhorn a root, he drops the ice block.

11. Giving the 2nd alpine root to the snowhorn - (must cause the block to fall - dying probably takes too long for this to be worth it, even if it could work) - RESULT: Doesn't work (too early - nothing happens. Later - you give in the root, but the block doesn't fall, so you softlock. Later still - you die after the cutscene ends and softlock (picture below). Even after this - You die after the cutscene ends without softlocking.

12. Garunda Te unlocking DIM cutscene - (must unlock DIM) - RESULT: Doesn't work (either does nothing if you die too early, or you watch the whole cutscene to unlock DIM and die right after it ends).

13. Using the Key to free the Snowhorn - (must give you the cog) - RESULT: Doesn't work - does nothing if you die too early. Later, it takes away the key but doesn't give you the cog (causing a softlock). Even later, you watch the whole cutscene and die after it ends (and you get the cog. Technically, this skips the you got an item animation, but this is shorter than the death cutscene, making it not worth it. Picture below):

14. Acquiring Flame cutscene - (must actually unlock Flame command) - RESULT: This would work with hacks (in normal gameplay, you can't die late enough to make it work. Either you die before starting the CS at all, or you watch the whole CS normally and don't die). If you could die on the right frame, you would skip the cutscene and get the flame command. As an aside, there doesn't appear to be a way to die here without already having the flame command (how ironic!)

15. Hightop lowering the ladder in Cape Claw - (must actually lower the ladder) - RESULT: Doesn't work. If you die too early, nothing happens. If you die on the perfect frame, you die immediately and respawn when the hightop raises his feet to kick the ladder down (which doesn't save any time). If you die later than this, then you watch the cutscene up until the hightop kicks his legs, at which point you die, and then you respawn when he raises his feet to kick the ladder down. Note that you respawn in front of the bribeclaw if you die here without respawning in the CS.

16. Queen Cloudrunner unlocking CRF cutscene (must unlock CRF) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Either you die too early and nothing happens, or you die on the right frames and you don't die until after the cutscene of unlocking CRF ends.

17. Cutscene of getting the Sharpclaw Disguise - RESULT: Doesn't work. The barrel is too high up to damage you, even if it's as low as possible when it explodes (while still being able to destroy the ceiling). Also, the next barrel doesn't appear until after the cutscene of getting the disguise ends. Thus, there's no conceivable way to take damage here.

18. Placing the last power gem cutscene (must unlock the windlifts. Also, would need to die by running out of air) - RESULT: Doesn't work. If you die too late, nothing happens. If you die any earlier, you won't place the power gems.

19. Dying as the CS of getting SS2 starts (would need to give you SS2. Probably impossible to do, but in case a way of doing this with glitches is found, I might as well check if this would actually work) - RESULT: Indeterminate - You're invincible on the bike, so I can't test this until someone actually finds a way to beat the race and detach from the bike.

20. Releasing K3 cutscene - (would have to send you back to TTH, get rid of K3 from your inventory, and set the flag for the dinosaur egg event to be startable - all very unlikely. Also, would need to die from the sharpclaw) - RESULT: Doesn't work. If you die too early, nothing happens. If you die on the perfect frame, you release K3 without watching any cutscene, but don't set any flags and respawn in KP. After warping back to TTH via the warp pad, the portal event can't be started, so you're softlocked. If you die later than this, then Fox releases the spirit, and the cutscene of the head getting the spirit plays. Fox then dies before the spirit rises up to Krystal. You respawn in KP without K3, and when you go back to TTH, the portal event can't be started, so you're also softlocked here.

21. The cutscene after saving the dinosaur's eggs - (must activate save trigger and open hole to portal opener) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early - and the egg event just starts over the next time you enter like you failed. Perfect frame - get a softlock by dying after the whole cutscene ends (pictured below). Any later - you die regularly after the whole cutscene ends.

22. The queen cutscene in front of the portal opener - (no requirements, since this can be skipped anyways. However, if we could die on the frame that it starts, that would likely be faster than the current method of using an airswim to get around the trigger for the cutscene). - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens (CS plays when you next enter). Later on, the CS plays as soon as you re-enter the queen's house, like it's queued up. Even later still, and you don't die until after the CS is over.

23. For the cutscene of unlocking WC (opening the portal) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, and nothing happens. Too late, and you die after the portal opens but before it shoots the vortex into the sky (which doesn't open WC). Then, when you go back to the queen's house, it plays the vortex shooting out CS, which actually opens WC.

24. Releasing K4 cutscene - (would have to get rid of K4 from your inventory, and set the flags for you to be able to talk to the dinosaur who unlocks DR - all pretty unlikely. Note that this would require dying from the sharpclaw) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens. On the perfect frame, you die and lose K4 but don't unlock the ability to talk to the next gatekeeper, which is a softlock. Any later - you die after the statue accepts the spirit from you, but without the ability to talk to the gatekeeper (and you lose K4), which is also a softlock.

25. Dinosaur unlocking Dragon Rock cutscene - (would have to unlock Dragon Rock) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens. Too late, and you die immediately and then respawn in the cutscene. Even later still, then you watch the whole cutscene, die right after it ends, and then respawn at the beginning of the cutscene.

26. The cutscene of talking to the earthwalker/tricerotops - (would have to let you skip this cutscene the next time you try to get onto him) - Results: This would work with hacks (In normal gameplay, you can't die late enough to actually do this skip). If you die too late, you watch the whole cutscene and die right after. If you die on the right frame, then you skip the cutscene, and can climb onto him after respawning without watching the cutscene.

27. The hightop breaking free cutscene (would have to let you skip this cutscene the next time you talk to him) - RESULTS: This doesn't work. If you die too early, you just respawn on top of the bridge with the hightop as though you died in the hightop section, and when you free him again, the CS plays like you never talked to him before (note that this doesn't set your save position, so if you save+quit after this, you still respawn at the arwing). If you go too late, you don't even die at all.

28. Freeing the CloudRunner (would have to let you skip this cutscene the next time you talk to him, and have the CloudRunner still be free) - THIS ACTUALLY WORKS! If you die at the right frame, you die without seeing the CS, and when you respawn, you can talk to the CloudRunner and go on to fight Drakor. This is the only CS skip I found which actually works, and it will save 16 seconds in the TAS.

29. Killing Drakor (would have to actually give you spellstone 4. If this skipped setting other flags, that would actually be useful, since it could potentially allow us to load CC2 instead of CC3 later on) - RESULT: Doesn't work without hacks, since you can't die on a late enough frame to do the CS skip (With hacks, if you die on the right frame, you will skip the CS of arriving back at DR/being greeted by the other dinosaurs, and will spawn at the Arwing with the 4th spellstone. However, you need to hit the save trigger by the gate in order to avoid getting sent back to Drakor when you savewarp, and then you could ESW. This would save barely, if any, time. Since it takes so long to hit the save trigger and do the ESW, and you are forced to watch the CS of the Arwing landing after you ESW back to TTH).

30. Placing spellstone 2 (would have to allow for spellstone 4 to be placed later on) - RESULTS: Half-works (if you go too early, nothing happens. If you die later, you die immediately and respawn in the CS of placing the spellstone, which plays normally. If you die even later still, then you don't die, you watch the full cutscene, and you respawn at the OFPT outer area where you normally spawn, except that this skips the slow warp in to spawn. However, this doesn't save any time, so I haven't bothered to test if it really works without hacks).

31. Placing spellstone 4 (would have to actually set the flags for spellstone 4 being placed) - RESULT: Doesn't work - too early, nothing happens. Later, you die immediately and respawn at the start of the cutscene. Latest - you watch the cutscene till the stone is placed, then die right before the 2nd cutscene starts (where you see the planet coming together), and then respawn in the 2nd cutscene, which continues as normal.

32. Queen Earthwalker cutscene after placing last spellstone (nothing required) - RESULT: Doesn't work. First of all, this causes a softlock if you deathwarp in the TAS route, since the last save checkpoint hit is the glitched one in LFV. However, even if you could get around that, the following happens: dying too early - nothing happens. Dying later, you don't watch the CS, but when you return to TTH, you void. Even later - you die after the CS and softlock (pictured below). Even later still - you die after the CS ends, and respawn in the LFV link map (by the gate leading into LFV).

33. Collecting K5 Cutscene (would have to actually give you K5) - RESULT: This would work with hacks (in regular gameplay, you can't die late enough to make this possible. You either die before the CS starts, or you don't die at all). If you could die on the perfect frame as the cutscene starts to play, then you would get K5, get sent back to WC, and skip the CS of Tricky's dad congratulating Fox. You can also take flame damage on the torches in the center of the room - but you don't have enough time to take damage, place the last item, and then die.

34. Releasing K5 cutscene (would have to actually lower the gate blocking the K6 shrine - pretty unlikely. Also, would require being killed by the sharpclaw) - RESULT: Doesn't work. If you die too early, nothing happens. If you die later, then you lose K5 and skip the CS, but the gate doesn't open (a softlock). If you die even later still, then you lose K5, you watch the CS up until the statue awakens, and then die, and then you respawn at the top of KP with the gate not open (also a softlock).

35. General Scales Fight (would have to give you K6) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens. Too late, and you watch the whole CS. At the end of it, Scales glitched intro text doesn't play, and you spawn in KP with K6 without the usual long fade in animation. However, since you can't take damage and trigger the Scales fight at the same time, this is useless/impossible.

On a fun unrelated note - while messing around (without hacks), I was able to bait General Scales out of the wall/mirror without triggering any of the cutscenes in the room!

36. Turning in K6 (would have to either send you straight to Andross or let you skip this CS and go to Andross when you approach the K6 statue again) - RESULT: Doesn't work. Too early, and nothing happens. Too late, and you lose K6 but don't activate the fight or the CS, and can't ever activate it (softlock). Even later, nothing happens. At even later moments still (like 5 seconds after the CS starts), you watch the statue awaken and lose K6, then die and respawn without K6, and without any way to trigger the Andross fight (a softlock).

37. After killing Andross (This is useless - I just to see what would happen). RESULT: Indeterminate (I can't find a way to die here, since I don't know what memory addresses I would need to alter).