Maniac Mansion improved by 52 seconds! That's better than what I was expecting.
When I began, I expected improvements solely from the precision allowed by FCEU's frame counter and a few minor things I found when I made my legit speedrun of the game. But then I realized a route improvement (getting the silver key) and another major glitch.
Major glitches and tricks used:
- Glitch: switched kids while in the kitchen so that Edna would disappear.
- Glitch: went downstairs after giving the can of Pepsi to the green tentacle so that the wax fruit wouldn't be needed.
- Trick: only used the Hunk-o-matic machine once instead of twice.
- Trick: went for the hamster in order to cut off Ed's speech. (Note: it's possible to use the kid-switching trick to freeze him, but he'll still come after you when you go for the hamster. That's why I had to sacrifice Razor.)
- Trick: minimized the time that the pool was drained so that a cutscene with purple tentacle was avoided.
- Glitch: cut off Ed's speech on the stairs by using a command (get vase).
- Trick: used the 0000 code to open the inner door to the lab.
- Glitch: managed to get into the lab entry room guarded by purple tentacle before the early cutscene that occurs there. This does not allow me to get by purple tentacle though, because the room doesn't change (which is the key to the enemy-freezing glitch.) What it did enable, though, is that Ed would respond to the doorbell's ring. Normally when the time is too close to the arrival of the package, Ed ignores a kid ringing the bell.
- Glitch: used Ed's response to the doorbell to freeze purple tentacle. In case you are unfamiliar with the glitch, here's a brief outline. First enter a room containing someone unfriendly. Either switch kids or have a cutscene occur before being captured. After switching back to the first kid, the unfriendly person/tentacle will be frozen. (An exception is the green tentacle at the stairs.) The 'New Kid' command is disabled in the lab entry precisely because of this glitch, but the programmers seemingly forgot that cutscenes also make the glitch work.
- Glitch: didn't get the radiation suit.
The game is unique for its humor, music, and gameplay.