Tempo is a platformer on the Sega GameGear. To complete each level a yellow keynote must be collected that unlocks the exit sign. Tempo is quite fast during his dash state, which is performed with a double tap in the direction you want to dash. Tempo can also flutter, hovering without getting tired until gravity eventually brings him to the floor.
The main problem to overcome in Tempo is that enemies constantly block Tempo's path, interupting Tempo's ability to dash. Tempo has several attacks to deal with enemies. Tempo can land on enemies, roll into them when dashing or roundhouse kick them. Tempo also has a musical note attack that only stuns normal enemies but does damage bosses like the other attacks.
Every time Tempo jumps, it needs to be jump cancelled by performing a flutter or musical note attack because Tempo jumps too high, overshooting every platform. Tempo won't land unless he's in a downward fall so the jumps are cancelled a pixel higher than each platform. Tempo also takes 2 frames to land and no inputs will make him move in this state. Most enemies will knock Tempo into the air after being defeated, so these also need to be jump cancelled. Some rolling collisions can be cancelled almost immediately, allowing Tempo to initiate a dash right away. There are sad wilted flowers in each level that serve as checkpoints. Being in the vicinity of these flowers slow Tempo considerably and unless Tempo is already moving fast enough through this area, it saves time to activate them before dashing.
Stages:
Inner City: The route through the first level uses a secret wall, the second uses a bug boost to skip a large amount of the level.
Through the Woodwinds: Several platforms are avoided by fluttering past them as Tempo falls due to the 2 second land animation. One of the bees in the first level is despawned by performing some jumps where Tempo bonks his head and jumps immediately again to set its position. The bee flies off the bottom of the map and despawns.
Winter Wonderland: in the first level a shortcut through the spikes is taken to skip a lot of the level. Some of the cocoons are defeated while Tempo is fluttering to avoid the landing animation.
Night Lights: There are a couple of shortcuts in the first level where Tempo can jump up to the next platform to skip large parts of the level, fluttering where a bug spawns boosts him up in one place. The start of the second level is a staircase platform area with lots of enemies so it is flown over. Damage is taken to save time with the spikes at the end of the level.
Bosses
During the first boss fight, the Clown boss, Baffo, cannot be hit during iframes. Between the 3rd and 10th hits there are several frames where he is still invincible but his sprite stops flashing. It does look as though Tempo can hit the boss in this state but he won't take damage.
During the second boss fight, the Frog will do one of 4 things that are determined by Tempo's x and y position. It can shoot its head off, either upwards, downwards or straight ahead. It can alternately shoot a tadpole note that will turn into a smaller frog. Unlike the first boss the Frog can be hit and take damage while flashing. The 5th and 6th hits all occur while the Frog should technically be in iframes from the 4th hit and the 8th hit likewise after the 7th.
During the third boss fight, the Penguin will shoot snowballs in set places on the 1st, 2nd and 4th shots. The 3rd shot will be in Tempo's current position, so that is manipulated by moving Tempo to a safe spot and doing damage with the musical note. This is the only spot in the run where ducking is needed to save time.
During the fourth boss fight, Queen Beebee is manipulated to move into the corner. Tempo can't be damaged by her when he is sommersaulting so Tempo's sprite can land inside the boss to hit her the instant that she is out of iframes
There are two refights after the 4th stage, Tempo can fight either the Frog or Penguin again for the first and either the Clown or BeeBee for the second. This is determined by the frame the player enters the cutscene before the fight.
The final boss fight manipulates the boss into a blocking animation and hits him as soon as he stops blocking.