Submission #8837: Nami's N64 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater "All Goals and Golds" in 05:48.58

Genre: Sport

I'm not sure if the name 100% or All Goals and Golds is more appropriate for this run. Technically, there are different decks and trick tutorials for each skater to unlock that are only obtained by replaying through the game with each of them, but the TH speedrunning community has historically called this run 100% since the goals are the same for every skater. Getting all 30 tapes unlocks the character Officer Dick. Getting all 3 Golds unlocks the skater's Trick Tutorials and has a different end screen. With some experimentation, the older version 1.0 saves a few frames in loading times. There are no significant differences known between this and the 1.1/Rev A that I used for any%, aside from the title screen saying "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" instead of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding," and a different interface on the screen to delete files. Even if you have a Memory Pak and/or Rumble Pak in either controller, there is always a message noting the potential use of them depending on which is in Controller 1, so there's no way to ever skip that part of the menu. The any% run skips 4 tapes, currently 2 in School and 2 in Streets. While the other non-competition levels are mostly identical in both runs, stats are affected. That, along with some lag frames means that there are subtle differences in this 100% run. Because of this and using the older version, I had to remake every level from scratch, and ensured to re-optimize those levels with my newfound knowledge and experience. Current rules on SRC allow IL runners to End Run during a combo, which removes the timer but allows them to control the skater and obtain objectives until they land, counting the IGT as the time when they used End Run. I'm forgoing this strategy since it severely hurts the RTA time and is not truly 'faster' in any way.

There are some instances where the first and second controller can both manipulate the menus, which lets me save a few frames when I can alternate button presses between them every frame. Like my any% TAS, it is worth switching controls to Autokick Off - not only does this setting let you accelerate faster at the beginning of levels, but it also removes a natural speed decay so it's easier to preserve momentum. It is also worth switching characters to Rune Glifberg. Despite the couple of seconds this takes, he makes up for it since he is tied for the highest base speed and his Christ Air trick has a high base score that both lets him move the fastest in many instances and also allows for strategies to get scores in the competitions faster than others. Another strat utilized in my any% TAS already, soft resetting by holding Z+A for about 3.5 seconds to return the main menu saves time over traditional menu'ing when ending non-competition levels. Unfortunately, due to the nature of BizHawk, loading times are still extremely slower than they are on console. Soft resetting also gets to the menu from power on faster than any other method. With some searching, I managed to discover some values in memory tied to speed. It turned out that, generally, the higher the base score of your tricks, the faster you go when you land. This is not a perfect 1:1, however, as many tiny factors affect speed in this game, but it made it easier to estimate how best to optimize certain sections. Sometimes interrupting a grab is worse than letting go early even though holding it longer is more points, for example. Many points of this run require tight turns as well, and there are many instances where speed varies wildly over a few frames, so each and every input matters greatly. A tricky part of optimizing speed in this game is that higher scoring tricks tend to take longer, so it's not always apparent when it's worth taking a higher jump for them versus landing earlier. Add that tricks stale the more you use them, so Christ Air is not always the best choice after it's been thrown out a couple times already. Unless it's at too harsh of an angle, landing on a grind accelerates you. It decelerates you each frame you stay on it, so I almost always ollie off immediately unless I need to set up a specific jump from it.

A couple subtle changes in angles to maximize speed let me save a few frames over my any% TAS. Although different grinds grant more points, since I typically only grind 1 frame at a time, it doesn't usually make a difference which I use. In the comps where score matters and for certains sections I optimize the grinds, but most of the time I use 50-50s. Even 1 frame of directional input can change speed and angle, and that often was often more important than which type of grind I hit.

By managing my speed on the awning, I go as fast as possible while still making sure that I'll land on the triangle ramp - doing so gives me a speed boost upon landing. There is no easy way to turn around quickly in this game without losing momentum, so I have to swing wide to have room to turn and jump in time for the 'K', while also setting up the best angle to ride up the slope and quickly turn around to grind back down the rail with the 'S.' The 3rd table is one of the hardest parts in this game: go too fast and you'll slam into the wall behind it. By using a Smith Grind, I ride off at a slight angle, and used a precise angle and tricks beforehand to keep my speed controlled just enough to bump gently into the wall and use it to help turn around towards the bridge. Touching any incline decelerates you immediately, so I use a big fast fastplant to jump over the bridge's incline and grind its ledge. Coming off the 4th park bench, I jump and land at an angle that lets me hit the quarterpipe at a downhill angle to get a slope boost while I'm turning back to jump up to its coping then grindhop down to the 'T.' Grinding the right pool helps me preserve speed just before turning to the 'E' and the final section to the 5th table.

When turning, you don't accelerate as fast, so there's a short shuffle at the beginning here to allow me to speed up between the turns and set up the angle to get down grinding on the rail fastest. A quick wallride up to the escalator grind increases speed a fraction. I turn a little before the wallride up to the 2nd directory and jump just enough to have the platform interrupt the Christ Air. Landing this way is faster (usually landing after falling hurts speed a little), and this angle lets me turn into the 2nd directory perfectly without bumping into its pole. Because of the stat difference, I couldn't find a good setup grinding either ledge here, but I'm still moving at a fast consistent pace thanks to Autokick Off, and simply riding along here sets up for an insane slope boost into the pool that also gains a bit of speed by softly bumping into the rail, then a quick grindhop lets me jump all the way to the Hidden Tape without having to take time on the rafters here. This also gives me a better angle through the 3rd directory, since I don't have to turn back as far to the right to get to the escalator grind. I wallride down to cut the corner around the wall as tightly as possible, then wallride again to get to the next ledge ASAP. There's not enough time to grindhop here, but it's downhill so I'm still accelerating before the jump to the artpiece where the 'T' resides. Instead of grinding the top rail above the T, I land on it and jump off to set up the grind on the ledge below, which saves more time. I use jumps and tricks to avoid touching the ramps and water, either of which would only slow me down. Bailing a Kickflip McTwist at the right moment actually speeds me up and gets me to the final directory 1 frame faster than riding or jumping to it normally would.

This is similar to the RTA strat for this level. I add a kickflip on the way up to the grind, end the Benihana early and don't spin, since I already have enough points to get first, and this lets me land earlier and load the scores faster.

Stats are better here than in any%. That combined with my new understanding of the way tricks affect speed allowed me to better optimize the trick choice here, and save 1s IGT over the any% run. After the 1st sign break, it's faster to land the combo before the bench grind than to land on the grind.

Wallriding the cliff gets me to the rail a few frames faster. Speed is more optimized here than in any. There were no good angles leading to the grind to the Hidden Tape, but a lower jump there and in its setup make up for any timeloss touching the ground before that grind. Increased speed is a curse at a couple points in this level, such as after the 4th valve, where you need to bump the top of it in a way where you can land on a slope boost at the bottom, but still have room to turn off to the side before going into the tunnel. Going over is a shorter route to the 'T,' and allows you to land on the decline afterwards; going under will cause you to land on the flat, taking away a lot of speed. I also had to be careful not to go too fast on the 'E' rail, since the ramp below makes it difficult to land and turn around without losing momentum. I ultimately saved 5 frames over the any% TAS in this level. Stats are the same, so I'm happy with this improvement.

TH speedrunning queen adelyn found a strat here where a gap Over Da Pool lets you use a walljump to get enough points for gold in 4 seconds per heat. I realized I could save some frames in TAS by using a lower jump off the wall, missing the gap, but optimizing the points in the two combos to barely squeeze both heats into 3s IGT each. Lag frames when loading in make it so that I can't match both heats identically, but they are essentially the same strategy, just with different landings; one in the pool, and one out.

I mostly made this level by perfecting my IL RTA record of it. So far, I have yet to find any major improvements I could make to the route, but many small optimizations save the TAS 5 seconds over me. Landing on the window of the 2nd Cop Car is a decline that gives a speed boost. After landing on the stairs, I turn right a little bit to barely kiss the end of a ledge with a grind, which speeds me up. Using a precise angle and jump, I land on the 4th Cop Car downhill as well. Doing any tricks here messes this up and ends up slower, which is nice since I want to save some of them from staling fast anyway. I try to hit the A as low as possible, while still having time to Kickflip McTwist and set up an angle for a huge walljump and Kickflip McTwist, whose base score is super high and keeps my speed up. I land on the decline and bump into the gate in a way that gives me another small boost. After the grind, there's a mostly empty straightaway where I time my jumps and tricks to best maximize my speed, with subtle turns to set up the jump to the ledge. In RTA, I save my first Christ Air for the jump out of the 'T' room. In TAS, it's already fully staled by this point, but Rune's third special, "Front-Back Kickflip," grants barely enough speed to make the jump from the planter to the Hidden Tape. Tight angles and quick grinds get me through the rest of the level. Most tricks are staled now, to the point where even empty jumps are often the fastest option. Something I will need to experiment with in the future is seeing if it's ever worth forgoing certain tricks (like Christ Air) earlier in the run, so that I can use them while less staled later. Jumping over the planter then using a precise angle to jump from the kicker at the end saves me time over turning to jump up the stairs and turning back to grind the ledge to get to the 'S.'

Not too different from my any% TAS, except that I land my first combo in a way to get more speed, and consequently more height for more time to hold Christ Air and more points. I had to experiment with a few different angles of landing, Christ Air holds, and jump heights to find the fastest one where I would beat Andrew Reynolds for first, since every input and timing of the pause could affect his judge's RNG score. I found many routes that had me barely winning after Heat 2, only to get 2nd since the RNG gave him a better 3rd heat (the game compares the 2 best heats of each skater).

Total IGT: 225s = 3:45 I hope people like this. I've discussed TAS'ing this with some other TH runners for awhile now, since it hasn't been done yet, and I believe I've seen a couple comments here talking about the potential for it as well. While a lot of the route is similar to any%, gathering 5 tapes in School and Streets are each their own nightmares of optimization. I believe that and the difference between getting Gold in competitions and how Stats can affect a couple levels warrants this inclusion of its own category.

nymx: Claiming for judging.

nymx: First off, I'm sorry that this took so long. I had to get a machine that would run this game...even then, something wasn't quite right. Emulation maybe? Doesn't mater, I could see everything that I needed.

Well, I compared your run against the WR and you certainly beat the times. By comparison you measure up to a 5:27 run, with about 21 seconds cut from the game going through its start and navigation. I have to say, the human run is very strong and Adelyn64 cries at the end over the accomplishment. I've seen a number of games that almost looked like TASes and this Human WR is no exception. In regards to your run, you certainly did some homework to take advantage of a number of techniques. The difference is a noticeable "Cleaness", that can be seen easily. Great job.

As for your classification, I can only see using 100%...even if there are any doubts. The community classifies it that way, so we'll have to go with it...as it measures your run measures up to the goals in the speedrun, as far as I can tell.

Accepting as "Full Completion" to standard.

Also...providing a trimmed version of the movie.

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