Emulator: Gens 9Z

Goals:

   * 1) Aims for fastest time
   * 2) Variety and entertainment if it barely affects (1)
   * 3) Abuses programming errors/glitches
   * 4) Takes damage to save time 

This is my second submission on this game, and probably be my last. Refer to my previous submission on tricks and glitches discovered earlier on.

Suggested Screenshot (uncompressed PNG):

Frame 8868

UP+DOWN

Oddly, this glitch causes the game to regard a 6-button controller as a 3-button controller. As such, pressing C while UP+DOWN is held will allow me to select items 3-button style, which is cool :P Also, it grants auto-block in the crouch position, which was used to proceed past the fan in page 2 early

Gliding

Movement (mainly rope climbing) in the game isn't smooth scrolling; usually the middle sequences is faster than the last few, so tapping on LEFT or RIGHT at the correct frame can cancel the last few frames of animation, allowing Sketch to move faster along ropes. Also, Sketch can glide along the ground by interchanging between DOWN+LEFT or DOWN+RIGHT and UP, sort of like arm pumping. This is faster than rolling and walking, but slowing than jumping, so it is used in certain tighter spaces.

Better Usage of Paper Planes

A slight inconsistency in the movie here since I only found this out on stage 5 and it was too tedious to redo the movie (since hex editing never works for a game this random). It is actually possible to fold a plane and throw it directly across the next screen, rather than waiting for it to turn. This however has to be used in conjunction with the gliding technique in order to get to the arrow quickly enough.

New methods of bumping enemies

This I think can be executed on all enemies, though it is easier to do on Gravis. By standing over the fallen Gravis and grabbing at a precise frame, Sketch will automatically push him out of the screen without Roadkill coming in play. The same can be done with a spawn mutant, though instead it requires the mutant to run into the side of the screen, and then grabbing it as it turns around.

Wall tearing glitch

No practical use here, but it's just fun to watch. If Sketch picks up the item at the exact frame it appears, the game would be tricked into thinking the item is still in the wall. So little Roadkill would happily be peeling the page away... D'OH

Attack animation cancellation

As it's name implies, was quite surprised I never noticed this. Basically it features cancelling the animation of various moves to chain attacks better

Better boss fights

Mortus and Fungy done is record time :) Damn glad I managed to pull it off!

Better manipulation of Luck

Managed to get the last cell of the 3rd page to tear on the first projectile of Styx, and also got Fungy to only shoot 2 fireballs. In all, this better manipulation helped keep the flow of the game since there is not less waiting!

Playing with hitbox abuse

Need I say more? Sketch is like the most gutsy person I have ever seen, sticking his hand in that pounder o.0 Goes to show how well programmed the game really is

Better Utilization of Items

Most evidently in the first page where a grenade is used to destroy the barrels rather than breaking them normally, since it avoids the creep totally.

Making Arrows Appear Faster

I can forsee most potential improvements would lie here. This time around, I managed to manipulate the arrow on stage 3 just before the tournament as well the the final arrow in stage 5 to appear much faster. Most of it is pretty random so good luck finding out new methods to do so haha

I am unlikely to redo this run again anytime soon. Randomness makes it extremely tedious time after time since the same strats doesn't always work. There are of course mistakes despite this movie being so short. Much of it lies at the start of the run, before I have made certain discoveries like the glide or throwing the plane directly across screens. I believe these improvements would shave no more than maybe 2-3 seconds of this final time at max assuming randomness does not hurt the timing at all.

To all those who have helped me in one way or another, especially Maximus, Truncated and Zer0. Hope you all enjoy this run as much as the previous :P

Truncated: Yet again accepted as an improvement to the current movie.