All disc-tray skips

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTmQzhpHkUH_Cj6gwStrRb4Oycs8zAXcF

I would recommend practising all skips (except chapter 8 puzzle skip) on time attack mode so you can quit out and quickly start again.

The core theme behind all of these skips is opening the disc tray mid-gameplay. The PS2 is a unique system in that this allows you to keep playing whatever is loaded in RAM and doesn't boot you back to the home screen. Most games will eventually crash or display an error message, but Tokobot Plus doesn't do this so we can use this to our advantage for some skips.

When the data stream is interrupted (by opening the disc tray), we can keep playing until we reached an unloaded zone. The interesting part about these unloaded zones (or any out of bounds zone) is that all physics stops while Bolt is in them. What this means, practically, is that if you jump while entering one of these zones you can gain effectively infinite height and skip large portions of the level (this is called "moon jumping")

Two things of note before we start: 

One: When Bolt is completely out of bounds, it doesn't matter if the disc is in or not, moon jumps are still possible and current moon jumps will not be interrupted. The only time a moon jump will be interrupted is if you fly above a loaded area.

Two: When Bolt is completely out of bounds, he turns red like so: https://imgur.com/bb2pyxi . If you are moon jumping and Bolt is still green, this means there is a collision area below you and you will begin to fall once the area has properly loaded.

Skip 1: Valve Air Ruins 1 skip

For time attack: open the disc tray as soon as the level starts. This isn't a precise timing, but there's no reason not to do it while the countdown is still counting.

Start the jump from here https://imgur.com/ItHXhyO , close the disc tray when Bolt turns red. Hold straight forward the entire time and if you've done it right you'll trigger the morphbot cutscene. At this stage one of three things could happen.

One: The cutscene ends and the mission is finished immediately after. This is the best possible result.

Two: The cutscene ends and you are out of bounds like so https://imgur.com/NNTIpWt . In this case, just walk away from the room and the mission should end. This only loses about a second over the first possibility.

Three: The cutscene ends and you are in bounds. This is the worst possible scenario. Here you can reset, as proceeding with this method is about 30 seconds slower than the first and second possibility.

For any%: open the disc tray after the toko-attack diagram is dismissed, or the game will freeze.

You'll want to jump from about this point https://imgur.com/oEgDPAz . After this, close the disc tray as soon as Bolt turns red. Like in time attack, if you've done it right you'll trigger the cutscene. At this stage only one of two things can happen.

One: The cutscene ends and you're inside Morphbot's room. This is slower, and you may want to reset, but understand that skipping Morphbot entirely is very precise.

Two: The cutscene ends and you're outside of Morphbot's room, like so https://imgur.com/zLmqXVJ . In this case, just walk off the edge to unload the room but make sure you are jointing! Once the room has unloaded and Bolt has turned red, you can safely jump back into the room and Morphbot will be dead. If you don't joint, you won't be able to jump back in bounds, effectively softlocking you.

Skip 2: Damper Rock Ruins moon jump

In time attack, you can open the disc tray as soon as you enter https://imgur.com/GEwLpG5 this area, but open it after the Toko-Screw https://imgur.com/jkxZmmK diagram has been dismissed for any%.

This is the point of entry https://imgur.com/GlkFZYD for this skip. Jump up into the unloaded zone and more or less immediately close the disc tray again (practise and mess around with different timings to find one that works). Hold left until you rub up against the wall like can be seen in this video https://youtu.be/IYc1zr0bgJM .

Here I paused the game to allow the game time to load without Bolt moving too far away from where I needed him to be, so it might be useful to mess around with pause timings. Note that time attack submissions should have no more than 3 pauses or they will be rejected. 

You're aiming to land somewhere around here https://imgur.com/6Exm1gd . It's a somewhat blind skip but you're basically looking for any out of bounds land to stand on. Once you do land, move forward while jointing so as to not fall into a bottomless pit until you can clearly see the loaded level like so https://imgur.com/IrchL2s . Jump towards the door, you're aiming to land around here https://imgur.com/t46zojf . Walk past the door and you'll load the next area https://imgur.com/hXcUExI . Getting back inbounds from this point is simple, just jump into the wall until you pop through. There are certain points that work better than others, I have had more consistent success jumping back inbounds near the door.

...And that's it! You've successfully skipped a large platforming section and an enemy gauntlet.

Skip 3: Chapter 8 puzzle skip

Saves about 4 minutes against a fast puzzle solve and is a lot easier than solving the puzzle normally. 

To start this skip, open the tray after completing the MECHAN-O-WHEEL section. This https://imgur.com/WhmxyOF is the point of entry, but be aware that the area of invisible collision is much larger than other areas, so be careful when navigating this area.

You're aiming to land about here https://imgur.com/ZLfW4L1 which is forward and left of your starting point. Once you land the next room will load like so https://imgur.com/plo5a0d . Getting back in bounds is as easy as jumping through the wall like before. I would recommend trying to enter from behind the unknown piece.

OBSOLETED SKIPS

Skip 1: Valve Air Ruins moon jump

The entry point for this skip is actually out-dated on the skips playlist, the fastest to do it is a bit earlier at this https://imgur.com/a/YbAPT45 point. 

On time attack it's acceptable to open the disc tray as soon as the countdown starts, by the time you reach the skippable area which should then look like this https://imgur.com/U6o5eNt . Approach the unloaded area and there is a small section you can stand on before the collision for the level ends, you should be able to get an idea for how big this area is by jointing so you don't fall off the edge.

Jump at this https://imgur.com/ErdisYL point and... congrats! You've taken flight. Now it's time to direct this moon jump in a helpful way. 

So, after having jumped into the unloaded area you'll want to close the disc tray once again (it's okay to pause to do this, but normally I close the disc tray with my foot to save time). Continue flying until Bolt turns red. Now you've done two things: you've gotten completely out of bounds and you've allowed the game to start loading terrain. Continue on for awhile, but move to Bolt's right so that you can enter the loaded area once you do get there. 

At first it will be hard to gauge exactly how far you want to fly to reach the loaded area, so please pay close reference to this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVujqY5Qu4 where you can see me perform the skip. It will take a bit of practise, but this skip isn't too hard.

Now, that's the skip! But we're not done here yet. You might have noticed I opened with "On time attack it's acceptable", and that's because we actually need to open the disc tray at a slightly different point in a full game run. It's important that you only open the disc tray AFTER this https://imgur.com/2kfGiMm Toko-attack diagram has been dismissed, or the game will hang (not crash). This does make it a bit more precise, but it's really no big deal. Just open the disc tray before the next area is loaded (i.e. before you've turned the corner).

Skip 2: Taji skip

Apply the skills you learned in the last skip and you should be skipping this boss fight in no time at all! Open the disc tray as soon as you reach this https://imgur.com/BYz1NCg point (note you don't technically need to enter the loading zone, in this case the Beepers won't spawn but you can continue playing as normal).

You'll begin your moon jump at this point https://imgur.com/sFHHcs8 . Much like the last skip there's a bit of collision outside the loaded area, you can feel this out by jointing. Normally I close the disc tray a second or so *before* jumping, as you don't need to jump very far with this particular jump. Try to get a feel for it yourself, and it may help to reference this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVujqY5Qu4.




That's all, folks!

Video Tutorials

On my YouTube channel I've been making several commentated video tutorials for speedrunning Tokobot Plus, below you can find a playlist containing all of these videos!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTmQzhpHkUH_i9WTcP2bR0bBSYxh1EpAW

Namn	Författare
All disc-tray skips	MelonkeepR 4 years ago
Video Tutorials	MelonkeepR 4 years ago