Submission #5054: WarHippy's SNES Eek! The Cat in 16:46.89

Eek! is back, and he's getting all of his friends to safety faster than ever before. This is a 342 Frame improvement over the previous submission by Flip.

There are three new movement tricks used in this run that allowed for most of the time saved:

1) Light Jump - There are 21 frames after pressing the jump button (B) that can be used to manipulate the height and duration of that jump. (B) can be pressed multiple times during this period and at any interval. The light jump trick merely refers to jumping onto a platform as precisely as possible (usually from underneath it) without over-shooting it. This lets Eek land as soon a possible and in many cases to start moving towards the NPC even earlier.

2) Light Kick - Normally when you kick an NPC they will retain their horizontal momentum. Right when Eek starts accelerating he is actually moving slower than the default NPC speed, so kicking them right after you start moving means they'll go a shorter distance than walking. The light kick trick happens when you have zero momentum and kick the NPC; they will move through the air at their default walking speed. This is used when Eek needs to run past the NPC in order to turn them around and kick them right away. It's also most beneficial in Chapter 5 where the walking speed of the present is much higher than the NPC's of the other levels.

3) Momentum Optimization Trick (MOT) (truly for lack of a better name) - This is used when trying to turn the NPC around after kicking them onto a ledge. Normally if you're running fast then you have to kick the NPC way early and there will still be a bunch of distance to travel after your momentum drops to zero. The MOT is where you keeping running past the point where you would normally kick them and then slow down to almost zero and then kick the NPC. This gives you the advantage of covering the distance quickly while still having the NPC land right on the edge. See stage 1-2 for the first example of this.

After a nasty accident with a block of soap, Eek's neighbor (a friendly old lady) is convinced Eek has rabies and has decided to take him to the vet's. Unfortunately, she is blind as a bat and has ended up at the zoo. Eek must steer her clear of all the animals and traps and get her safely out.

1-1: No Frames Saved

1-2: Used MOT when kicking granny over the snake near the end. 14 Frames Saved

1-3: Was able to land on barrel and start pushing granny 2 frames sooner. Used quick turn after kicking granny up onto the branch on the left side of the screen. The time saved let me get past the barrels without building up momentum first. 6 Frames Saved

Eek accidentally hands his girlfriend Annabelle over to evil aliens who want to use her as a battery for their Zoltarian Ray which is pointed at Earth. Regrettably for Eek, Annabelle has been stunned by the battery machine and is left stumbling around an alien city. Can Eek save Annabelle and the world from nasty aliens?

2-1: MOT after the switch is flipped in the beginning. Most of the time saved is lost getting past the enemies at the end. 3 Frames Saved

2-2: Used MOT after the giant laser. Used the time saved to build up more momentum. After hitting the first switch at the end it's faster to jump right away so that Eek will fall more quickly. 4 Frames Saved

2-3: Slight improvement on bubble section and used MOT after passing through the teleporter. At the very end it's normally 1 frame faster to catch up to Annabelle and push her into the Exit sign, but the position of the sign after saving time is such that she touches it on the same frame you catch up to her. 8 Frames Saved

It is the night of Halloween and all sorts of ghosts and ghouls are out having a ball at the local cemetery. Wendy and Elizabeth are dressed in an oversized chicken costume. Since they can't see out of the top of the chicken, Eek is left to steer them to safety and out of the cemetery they have stumbled into.

3-1: No Frames Saved

3-2: New play-around section at the beginning somehow let me start pushing the egg two frames sooner? The frames saved were lost waiting to get past the giant foot monster, though. Used MOT during the long stretch right after pressing the first button to open the door. Used light jumps all over the place to land faster after clipping corners and to start pushing the egg sooner. After pushing the candelabra onto the bridge it is faster to slow down and jump onto the ledge and turn around instead of running to the wall and turning around. Was 60 frames up at this point, but 41 frames were lost to the flame cycle at the end. 19 Frames Saved

3-3: Used MOT right after the mushroom in the beginning to get to the hand-bridge 5 frames sooner. I was not able to duplicate the falling glitch used in the previous submission, but being a few frames slower in this section allowed me to get several frames faster in passing the first vampire(you start pushing the garlic so that when you kill the vampire you don't have to stop and turn around for the egg, you just keep running). Used light kicks on the way up afterwards. The small time saved so far changed the fireball section just enough for me to get partly ahead of the fireball cycle. 12 Frames Saved

3-4: Ran closer to the cliff on the left side of the stage (after the sparkles) before kicking the egg up (similar to MOT, but the wall does the slowing down for you). 4 Frames Saved

The Squishy Bears were making a guest appearance at the local shopping mall, to unveil the mayor's statue, which was ten years in the making. Unfortunately, the evil Rat Pack kidnapped the Squishy Bears and then framed them for the theft of the mayor's statue. As they took off with the statue and the Squishy Bears in a truck, Pierre made his escape and fell out of the speeding truck. Can Eek help the poor dazed Pierre to find his partners and clear their names?

4-1: Saved 11 frames through better movement after the elevator, but then lost 9 frames when challenging the garbage can cat at the end. 2 Frames Saved

4-2: Got to the elevator and the sewers a little bit faster, but not enough to beat any of the cycles. No Frames Saved

4-3: Got policeman back down to the sewers 26 frames faster, but it wasn't enough to beat another barrel cycle. Used a different strategy to build up more momentum before pushing the policeman off the barrel once he crosses the water. Kicked the policeman into the floating EXIT sign at the end. 5 Frames Saved

It's the night before Christmas, and yes, you've all heard the stories about Frosty and Rudolph, but here's one you haven't heard. Eek was looking out of the window, watching the snow fall, when all of a sudden out of the clouds flew Santa and his reindeer, straight into the path of a Boeing 747. As he swerved to avoid it a little present fell out of the sack on the back of his sleigh. Eek Rushed out to catch it. Being a sentimental little kitty, Eek takes on the quest of delivering the present to little Joey the orphan. Unfortunately for Eek, whatever the present is, it has legs poking through the breathing holes and has run off.

5-1: Used MOT for the first and third jumps at the beginning. Built up momentum before kicking the present back onto the rope from the upper left side of the level; it doesn't matter if Eek lands on top of the bank or not with this current strategy. When Eek falls onto the rope right afterwards, no jump button is pressed. This allows Eek to trigger the bank alarm on the way up which means that the bomb will no longer be in your way on the way back. Pushing the barrel over the spikes in the next section is 7 frames faster. Since the gift falls and lands with a different walking pattern, it is now 1 frame faster to use the slide cancel instead of falling into the hand bridge. 68 Frames Saved

5-2: Saved 7 frames using light kick off of elevator, but lost them at wrecking ball. Used light kick after falling through gap after the wrecking ball. 2 Frames Saved

5-3: Used light kick off of elevator at beginning. Changed how I kicked the Present onto the steal beam after the 10-ton weight. Used fan lift to get to the top beam instead of going to the right. The time saved allowed me to beat the wrecking ball cycle. 126 Frames Saved

5-4: Used light kick off of both power grids at beginning. Used MOT on the long steal beam right after the second power grid, but still had to make sure to trigger the 10-ton weight before I got there. Used MOT in the final section when kicking the gift onto the first small building. Was able to get ahead of the thunderstorm cycle. 73 Frames Saved

This game has been super fun to work on from beginning to end. There's constantly new tricks to be found, and I can't wait for the next time. Enjoy!

Noxxa: Judging.

Noxxa: It's nice to continuously see this game being improved with new strategies, more playing around, and overall tighter gameplay. Accepting as an improvement to the published movie.

Noxxa: Replacing with a 5 frames faster movie.

feos: Pub.