Submission #5053: Plumato's GC Tony Hawk's Underground 2 "Classic All Goals (Normal)" in 17:22.08

Link to the Movie Verification

This is my very first TAS, and it's pretty to the point on what goes on. One thing you will need to know is what a buttslap is. This is an extra ollie (or ollies) that happen when you ride off a ledge, do a grab trick or a flip trick, and mash ollie. Triple buttslaps are the average most that people can do, although very, very few can do a quad every now and then. It is a very hard trick at first, but it's basically nothing once you get it down.

IGT: 0:49 The triple buttslap to the bench is usually what determines a run, aside from the Tapas sometimes.

IGT: 1:01 Goals are pretty spread out, and the normal way of going about this level causes you to lose 10 seconds. That buttslap to the tape (which is borderline impossible for a human) really does make up a lot of original time loss.

IGT: 0:50 Buttslaps to the Tape is the hard thing here, unless you're TASing lol

IGT: 0:56 Probably the craziest TAS out of all 14 levels, considering how perfect everything turned out. The buttslaps in the TAS play a HUGE part in this, especially with the Tape grab and E grab. This is my most proudest level out of all of these.

IGT: 1:03 A throwback from THPS3, the route I use in this is actually THE fastest route. I have indeed tested grabbing everything above and then going down to the bottom, and no matter what, the route used in speedruns is the fastest. What a level.

IGT: 0:55 A throwback from THPS1, there are some insane movements I think in this one, that last jump from the books to the fire alarm is LITERALLY frame perfect. Took me a good hour or so on that same bit trying to get it. Literally a 1 second difference, which was worth it.

IGT: 0:58 Also from THPS1, this level is normally labelled "Runkill Jam". The route used in this is pretty insane as well, considering you have to keep your combo for that first half, and still grab a few things. This wasn't easy, but I am glad it's over with.

IGT: 0:58 This route is found as a collaboration between me, SilentLaws, and Tkmala. The extra TAS revisions are obvious (like never getting off the board for all of combo and such) and I don't see any real improvements here.

IGT: 0:48 Similar to Warehouse from THPS1 in the design of the right side, this is the FASTEST level in this TAS. Credit to Unpro for telling me to jump off the high rail and do the Benihana then. I didn't think it would work at first with how everything was placed, though after going through with it I found it to be faster than what I previously did before. 13 seconds faster, to be exact.

IGT: 0:55 I used part of the Classic Sick route Slowfreq does in his run (where you grab C, then do the tape grab), and went from there. Pretty solid route.

IGT: 1:16 From THPS3 also, the longest level simply because of the FS Boardslide around the Log QP. That is an automatic 10 second grind, and jumping or changing trick will negate it.

IGT: 1:02 Throwback from THPS2, I made this route myself when casually looking for some sort of better route, and I came upon this. It requires about 2 or 3 triple buttslaps, which is hard if you aren't consistent. This is actually possible to do in a run, but super risky.

IGT: 1:11 THPS3 level again, shoutouts to ThePackle for the buttslap strat from the stairs to the tape. Other than that, this level is pretty back-and-forth because you have to open the grates.

IGT: 0:58 Almost did it all in one combo, but I would have been slowed down and lost a couple of seconds going towards the chest. It's the closest you'll get for all goals in one combo that's actually fast, lol.

The improvements I see are probably menuing, and some slight optimizations. Other than that, unless a new route appears, this is pretty optimal. IGT is 13 minutes and 40 seconds.

Fog: Judging.

Fog: Hey Plumato, welcome to TASVideos!

Glad to see more THPS speedrunners getting into TASing. I've enjoyed the THPS runs that have come in, this being no exception. However, there are some glaring issues I've noticed while judging the run.

First off, there are a couple instances where there are no menu actions being done for several seconds. These are obvious optimization issues which aren't being done for RNG manipulation and generally take away from the run.

Secondly, it seems like there is some questionable movement and route decisions which makes the run feel sloppy and not optimal.

Finally, this run can be easily improved upon. To prove this, with about an hour of work, I was able to improve the very first level by two seconds [dead link removed]. This doesn't bode well for the other levels. If I can find improvements in such a short time, it should be possible for you to do so as well.

There are some nice technical tricks during the run, but overall, the lack of optimization has proven to be its downfall. The beauty of TASes is in how it makes the humanly impossible look easy. It also allows for creativity in routing and movement which would otherwise be missing in normal runs. Become willing to try new ideas out and break from the normal bounds of speed running.

Don't be discouraged by my comments above, I hope to see more runs from you in the future. I'm definitely willing to assist you with your potential next submission. With everything said, I'll be rejecting this run for the reasons stated above.