I submitted my completed WIP as
#2901: dwangoAC's DS Metroid Prime Pinball in 06:49.45 but a few days after the submission Gocha
posted a link to a Nico video of gstick completing the game in
04:54.03 using the JPN version of the game in 18,330 re-records. This was faster than my completion time of
06:48.27 on the US version of the game in 4037 re-records. The submission was properly rejected based on the existence of a more optimized run. I very much wish I had known about gstick's JPN run before I started on my own US run.
I've watched the
encoded video of gstick's JPN run and there were a number of interesting characteristics - gstick's run also started with the Pirate Frigate but then continued on to Phazon Mines and Phendrana Drifts before doing Tallong Overworld. The run proved something that I was suspicious about (it's possible to collect an artifact in Phazon Mines from orbiting behind the boss) and it specifically showed that careful nudging can return the ball to the flipper quicker than the results I was getting in my run.
There are still some potential improvements from gstick's run such as using Motheryas's proposed route and collecting one of the artifacts using a hurry-up instead of doing the wall jump. At this point I do not intend to attempt to re-create this run this year. I may pick this up again next year but if someone else wants to take this on please feel free to do so. If you do, best of luck!
A.C.
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