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Sonic Heroes(2003)

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Getting Started in Sonic Heroes Speedrunning

Guides

Getting Started in Sonic Heroes Speedrunning

Updated 3 years ago by CriticalCyd

==Getting started in Sonic Heroes== What’s up speednerds, this is a short guide to help you get started with learning Sonic Heroes. Just some general info, advice and pointing you in the direction of all the resources available.

==Rules==

Always start from a clean file with all stories at 000 progress.
PBs are tracked using the time on the file, so check that after completing the story you run. Credits and skippable cutscenes are not tracked on this file time, so don’t worry about those. (Super Hard Mode is the exception to this rule and uses real time)

==Versions== For Sonic Heroes speedruns you want to use either the Gamecube or the Xbox version, they’re both about equal. PS2 (and the EU and JP PSN ports) should be avoided unless you like pain, it has lower and unstable frame rate, audio issues and to top it off you lose a ton of time to slow-loading score screens. The PC version can be used too, but is a pretty different speedrun and has its own leaderboards. This guide is aimed at the console versions, so Gamecube and Xbox are the way to go.

Region wise the ideal version is NTSC, so either American or Japanese. The European version (aka PAL) is not too far behind however and perfectly viable for running. PAL has 2 options for refresh rate and 50hz is equal to NTSC in terms of gameplay, but unfortunately has slightly slower-loading score screens. This only loses you about 10s over the course of the run, so the difference is only worth worrying about if you’re shooting for records. 60hz is a different story altogether as everything runs at 20% increased speed making it harder to react to things and get your inputs in fast enough (this also effects the file timer, so it’s still viable for runs should you want an extra challenge)

TL;DR Use Gamecube or Xbox; NTSC gains ~10 free seconds over PAL; Play PAL at 50Hz unless you're doing Super Hard Mode.

==Emulator== While running on actual console is always preferred, emulator is allowed for Individual Levels and the 4 teams. We are pretty strict with emulator rules for the sake of accuracy, so if you need help picking the right emulator/version and setting up the settings properly, please refer to this forum post and the responses that follow: https://www.speedrun.com/sonicheroes/thread/4m5el/1#64efv

==Which team do I choose?== Whichever story you’re most motivated to run. Sonic Heroes is a pretty challenging speedgame, so follow your motivation. If you have no preference for any specific team though, I would say pick Team Sonic; It’s a bit easier than the other 3 teams and there’s more resources available.

==Learning the run== Now there’s no one way to learn a speedrun, different people learn in different ways. If you have no idea where to start though, I would say play through the game a few times to familiarize yourself, watch the relevant tutorials listed at the bottom of this guide, watch runs of various skill levels and try to imitate them. If there’s strats you can’t seem to get the hang of yet, look through someone else’s run to see if they have an alternative or of course think up an alternative yourself. And of course if there’s anything you don’t understand about the game or the run, ask other runners :3

==Should I learn the big skips/glitches right away?== All up to you, at the very least I’d try them out, but my personal recommendation is to prioritize improving your general movement over adding big skips in most cases. Bop Boosting, Bingo Highway Skip and Power Flying can be quite tricky to get down, but there’s definitely a few cases where the skips are easier than the movement it replaces. Here’s some advice for each team.

- Team Sonic

Best place to practice Bop Boosting is Hang Castle, it has a lot of room for error and there’s no risk of overshooting. If you’re looking to practice getting the proper distance on your bop boost then Rail Canyon is the place to go. Team Sonic’s bop boost setup is also easier compared to the other teams, so it’s definitely worth looking into. Stages where Bop Boost is easier than the alternative movement are Hang Castle and Final Fortress and ones that I would recommend skipping are Egg Fleet and Casino Park (high difficulty and risk for little timesave). Bingo Highway Skip is a beast in and off itself and requires quite a lot of dedication to learn, but can be one of the most consistent skips in the run with enough practice, you do you.

- Team Dark

Pretty similar advice to Team Sonic; Practice Bop Boost in Hang Castle and Rail Canyon, Bingo Highway skip is up to you and Hang Castle + Final Fortress bop boosts are very worth. Dark has a bigger selection of jank bop boosts though. Seaside Hill is essentially a reset trap, so definitely skip that one starting out as well as Ocean Palace and Casino Park, which offer too little timesave for their difficulty. Overall Team Dark has some pretty difficult Bop Boosts with an intermediate setup difficulty.

- Team Rose

Now one of the reasons Team Rose is not the easier team to run is that they’re absolutely loaded with big tricks. They have the hardest Bop Boost setup, because of Big’s fat ass and they can be rather picky with Amy’s landing location after she gets damaged. Fortunately there aren’t that many of them and all but 1 have a Power Flying alternative. Give it a try, but I’d recommend skipping all Bop Boosts starting out. As for Power Flying, the best place to practice is probably Frog Forest and once you get it down you won’t have too much trouble with most of them, except for a few parts. The hardest one is provably Lost Jungle, since the camera doesn’t cooperate and requires you to hold the c-stick constantly, but Egg Fleet is certainly up there as well.

- Team Chaotix

While Team Chaotix is a bit harder overall in movement and stage routes, they fortunately barely have any huge skips thanks to the mission system. Not learning Bop Boost will only impact Rail Canyon and Frog Forest, but even Frog Forest has a Power Flying alternative. Heck even Power Flying only saves like 20s over the normal route, so if you don’t want to deal with any big skips at all, Team Chaotix will be changed the least.

==I’d rather not do any of the big skips/glitches== For those that would rather not do these strats, there is Sonic Heroes Limited Tech Selection (LTS for short). This is a sub category made for 3 reasons: To have an even more movement oriented category, to bring back some cool obsoleted strats and to be a good starting category for anyone who dislikes or is intimidated by the bigger glitches. Every team has a good example for an LTS run listed in on the leaderboards, so check those out if that's what you prefer running!

==Any other advice?== There is no replacement for experience. A lot of the skill in this game comes from getting more comfortable with its mechanics, more used to the shenanigans of your teammates and more knowledgeable on the many many things that can go wrong and how to prevent or react to them.

==Tutorials==

- Basics, Tricks & Glitches

These tutorials are aimed at Team Sonic specifically, but the majority of it applies to other teams as well, so I can recommend watching them both regardless of team choice.