- 1 standard controller connected
- using an empty GCI folder as the save location (edit: oh great, the TASvideos parser thinks it starts from Sram. It doesn't)
- forgoes time saving... swinging?
- has kind of an enormous problem (skip to the bottom)
So, Spider-Man 2 - you already know from previous TASes that this game is known for its incredible swinging mechanics, which are still my favorite of any Spider-Man game to this very day.
Now hear me out... what if we just, didn't use them? At all? How would you do the Mysterio section? How would you beat the Mega Time requirements of races? In fact, how do you move quickly AT ALL? It's impossible, right?
...right?
Actually, no. You can beat the entire game without swinging even a single time.
Moving Quickly
First things first - how do you move quickly without swinging? It's quite simple - wallrun! By running sideways on a wall and immediately releasing a fully charged jump, you can maintain a high speed... okay, I say "high", but it's about the same speed as swinging with no speed upgrades. This method of movement (we'll call it "wallbouncing") is simpler than swinging, with a much more defined skill cap - but the actual tricks necessary to complete the run are much more difficult without swinging.
It's also worth noting that there are a number of small techs you can use to enhance your wallrunning abilities.
- If you pull the stick backward when you cross the corner of a building, with perfect timing and positioning, you can actually exploit the way the game handles wallrunning, and instantly begin wallrunning on the other side of the corner, turning it.
- Similarly, if you stay away from a corner and then run on it, you can get a wallbounce that actually doesn't lock you to the wall, essentially meaning you can use the corner of a building to go at an oblique angle. For an example, go to 32:36 in the encode.
- A "slyjump" (coined by user Slyfincleton, originally as a joke because the tech was thought to be useless) is performed by releasing a charged jump from a swing, crawl, or wallrun, and wallrunning a frame later, your jump will be stored into your wallrun - and when you fall from the wall, your jump will release and you'll get a lot of distance. However, doing this also puts spider-man into a strange airstate - if he wallruns after doing a slyjump, the wallrun will be extremely slow. However, if you punch in the air after a slyjump, it will fix this. This is why you see me randomly punching in the air at times.
Things you probably have questions about
"That was a swing!"
12:48 in the encode - you're probably thinking: "What the heck? That was a swing! You lied to me, unsub". And to that I say... no it wasn't. It was a webzip - a webzip is very different from a webswing. It does not increment the in-game swing counter, either. Additionally, webzips are required to beat the game if you can't swing.
"In the very first fight (1:26)... what the heck is even happening?"
So, this game has a mechanic called "spider-reflexes". It's the blue bar under your lifebar. When enabled, the world moves slower than spider-man, and many of spidey's attacks are replaced with much stronger versions. By activating this for just a few frames, I can press the attack button for as many attacks as I want to buffer, and then disable spider-reflexes. This means I can utilize these stronger attacks.
Furthermore, when your spider-reflexes bar is at about 97% or higher, you get a whopping 50% bonus damage on almost all of your attacks. Do you see where I'm going with this? Spider reflexes attacks are stronger than regular attacks, and by only turning on spider reflexes for very small intervals, you can get the damage bonus on top of them - allowing you to chunk enemies down in just a few quick strikes.
You can also cancel your current airborne attack or recovery by pushing against a wall, which allows you to melt enemies if you're beside a wall.
"What did you do to Rhino at 8:45?"
Alright, if an enemy is on the ground, and you try to hit them with an air attack, spider-man will do a spinning kick attack. This normally knocks the enemy into the air... but a number of enemies cannot be brought into the air, so you'll just spin kick them. If you push against a wall after a spin kick, you will cancel the recovery, allowing you to do ANOTHER spin kick... and as many as you want. Like I said, this only works on foes that are not brought into the air by a spin kick.
"Why are you grabbing coins/tokens, and why are you buying swing related upgrades?"
Every chapter of the game has requirements that must be met to progress. Some chapters actually require you to upgrade your swing speed to progress. Similarly, nearly every chapter requires you to collect some amount of hero points. Collecting secret tokens and hideout tokens award a whopping 250 points, so they're by far the fastest way to attain hero points.
"How the hell did you even do the Mysterio segment at 24:29?"
This game has poleswinging as a mechanic. The floating platforms leading up to the Statue of Liberty have poles on the edges of them, which can be poleswung on. Combining that with webzipping and charge jumps, you can make your way to the Statue of Liberty.
Then, the orbs on the "mothership" above the statue have massive homing zones. As in, if you punch within like 15 feet of them, you'll home in on them. Don't be fooled, this entire segment is extremely difficult - in fact, if you make any mistake, fall even once... your run is over, as it's impossible to get back up without swinging.
A lot of stuff from here can be used to explain almost any phenomenon you see throughout the video.
Mistakes
In typical Nate fashion, there are some mistakes in this TAS that cost probably around 10 seconds in total.
In chapter 3, there is some movement that could be improved just before reaching the date with Harry and MJ.
In chapter 7, I roll in the bugle, which probably loses a second (I did this because it was the only way I could get the bathroom spawn to work and didn't want to redo it; I wish I would have). Also in chapter 7, in the third prisoner round against Beck, one of the convicts gets glitched and doesn't enter the pit properly. At the end of the round, I yank him out and then bring him back in. This might not even lose any time (since I'm waiting for the other convicts to land in), but it looks sloppy regardless.
Although, I do use a new strategy for rounding up prisoners that saves a lot of time, since it prevents Beck from collecting anyone at all.
In chapter 8, I was only able to get the sniper to shoot the truck once, as opposed to twice in the any% TAS. This loses probably about a second.
In chapter 9, at about 25 minutes in flat, I go straight up on the pole swing. I probably didn't need to, losing a second or two.
In chapter 15, my method of defeating final Doc Ock was about 2 seconds slower than the any%.
An Actual Problem
There's one major problem you probably didn't notice. The game crashed. In chapter 15, the game crashes on the final hit of Doc Ock. The end cutscene just... doesn't play. Ever. I have absolutely no idea why this happened, and I couldn't reverse it without redoing a giant chunk of the TAS. So instead, I just spliced the end cutscene in. This means it probably won't be eligible to be posted to the TASVideos channel, but I decided to submit it anyway, just to see what'll happen.
EDIT: there is some kind of precedent for this, as [3822] DS Super Mario 64 DS "jumpless" by Adeal in 55:05.13 does not complete the credits.
Reference Run
If you want to see an RTA run for reference, check out Sly's current record.