Post subject: Super Metroid - Any % Speedrun Plan/Help
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Hi, I'm currently planning/practising a any % speedrun for Super Metroid (Don't know yet if I'll post it anywhere. If it ends up begin good enough maybe to YouTube and here.) and I wanted to ask is my speedrun plan good. Here it is: Complete the Space Colony (a.k.a. Tutorial :D) Get Morph Ball and Missiles (Only the first one. Or should I get both?) Get Bombs (Also trying to avoid the fight with Torizo) Go to Brinstar and get the Energy Tank along the way Kill Spore Spawn and get Super Missiles (Wasn't there a Spore Spawn skip?) Get Charge Beam and the Missile Tank near it Get Spazer Beam from Red Soil Brinstar Go to Norfair and get Hi-Jump Boots and the Energy Tank along the way Kill Kraid and get Varia Suit Return to Norfair and get Speed Booster Get Ice Beam Get Power Bombs from Red Soil Brinstar Get Grapple Beam Go to Wrecked Ship Kill Phantoon Get Gravity Suit Go to Maridia Kill Draygon (?) (and get Space Jump if it's faster to use it) Get Plasma Beam Return to Samus' Ship Use Spacetime Beam to trigger ending I also need tips for Phantoon as I found it really difficult to kill with 2 Energy Tanks If you have anything to change to the list feel free to copy it and paste edited version (Please use green text for added step, red for edited step and strike through for step that I should skip, or something similar so it is easier to read)
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Post subject: Re: Super Metroid - Any % Speedrun Plan/Help
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
Hi, I'm currently planning/practising a any % speedrun for Super Metroid (Don't know yet if I'll post it anywhere. If it ends up begin good enough maybe to YouTube and here.) and I wanted to ask is my speedrun plan good. Here it is: Complete the Space Colony (a.k.a. Tutorial :D) Get Morph Ball and Missiles (Only the first one. Or should I get both?) Get Bombs (Also trying to avoid the fight with Torizo) Go to Brinstar and get the Energy Tank along the way Kill Spore Spawn and get Super Missiles (Wasn't there a Spore Spawn skip?) Get Charge Beam and the Missile Tank near it Get Spazer Beam from Red Soil Brinstar Go to Norfair and get Hi-Jump Boots and the Energy Tank along the way Kill Kraid and get Varia Suit Return to Norfair and get Speed Booster Get Ice Beam Get Power Bombs from Red Soil Brinstar Get Grapple Beam Go to Wrecked Ship Kill Phantoon Get Gravity Suit Go to Maridia Kill Draygon (?) (and get Space Jump if it's faster to use it) Get Plasma Beam Return to Samus' Ship Use Spacetime Beam to trigger ending I also need tips for Phantoon as I found it really difficult to kill with 2 Energy Tanks If you have anything to change to the list feel free to copy it and paste edited version (Please use green text for added step, red for edited step and strike through for step that I should skip, or something similar so it is easier to read)
I'm certainly no route planning expert in this game but here's what I'd do for a space-time beam ending route: Complete the Space Colony Get Morph Ball and Missiles (Probably only the first one, unless you find yourself hard-pressed for ammo as you do practice runs.) Get Bombs (That I'm aware of, Torizo skip still can't be done without tool assistance on NTSC-JU, but I don't know which version of Super Metroid you're using.) Go to Brinstar and get the Energy Tank along the way Skip Spore Spawn Get Charge Beam and the Missile Tank near it Get Spazer Beam from Red Soil Brinstar Kill Kraid and get Varia Suit Go to Norfair and get Hi-Jump Boots, Energy Tank, Speed Booster, Ice Beam, maybe the Wave Beam too Get Power Bombs from Red Soil Brinstar Get Grapple Beam Go to Wrecked Ship Kill Phantoon Get Gravity Suit Go to Maridia Kill Draygon (Probably skip the Space Jump, it probably won't get used too much being that close to the end of the run) Get Plasma Beam Return to Samus' Ship Use Spacetime Beam to trigger ending As for tips for fighting Phantoon, iirc you can dodge the flames with pseudo-screw attacks. Avoid using Super Missiles on him until the final hit, or otherwise he'll go into a fairly long attack sequence during which you can't hit him. An idea to consider would be picking up the Wave Beam while you're in Norfair so that you can use the "beam-swapping" strategy against Phantoon (hit him with 2 charged wave/spazer shots, then pause and turn ice on and hit him with a charged wave/ice/spazer shot). Having the Wave Beam would also increase your shot damage, which would come in handy later on when your fighting Draygon, especially if you can't manage to short-charge shinesparks to try and shinespark kill him.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Here are some things to ask from the changes you made: -Can I really survive in Norfair's hot rooms with just 2 Energy Tanks? -Is it possible to get to Wrecked Ship without Grapple Beam?
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
Here are some things to ask from the changes you made: -Can I really survive in Norfair's hot rooms with just 2 Energy Tanks? -Is it possible to get to Wrecked Ship without Grapple Beam?
1. That's why you fight Kraid and get the Varia Suit before going to Norfair 2. The grapple beam can be entirely skipped. Also, if you need another energy tank, there's one that you can get almost right away after beating Kraid, in the room with the 4 Beetoms.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
I did some research on skipping Spore Spawn and now I'm wondering how to perform Mock Ball. One guide said that I have to run, jump, release all buttons, tap down, tap down and hold jump as I hit the ground. Is this correct? It sounds quiet odd that you don't have to hold left or right. Also, when I try to do this and tap down, the running speed slows down to normal speed or stops entirely. What's going wrong?
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Sounds like you're pretty new to speedrunning Super Metroid. :) Off the top of my head, the recommended realtime speedrunning route for newbies is: 1) Get morphball and first missile pack; skip the second. 2) Get bombs. 3) Go to Brinstar; use the mockball technique to get super missiles. Consider also getting the reserve tank and the extra missile tanks in this section. Skipping Spore Spawn saves you a gigantic chunk of time, so it's worth practicing the mockball until you can do it at least semi-reliably. Even if it takes you 10 attempts during your run you'll still save time. 4) Get charge beam and spazer en route to Kraid. 5) Use walljumps to access Kraid's lair early (you can walljump off of the platform you're supposed to high-jump up to). Kill Kraid, get Varia. 6) Go to Norfair; get the High-Jump boots, head to the green bubble area, wall-jump to the upper section (this is tricky, but again, worth the practice), get speed booster and wave beam. 7) Head back out of Norfair, picking up ice beam on your way out. 8) Climb up the Red Brinstar shaft, grab powerbombs, head to the Wrecked Ship. You'll need to use a horizontal shinespark to skip Missile Lake (where you'd otherwise need to use the Grapple Beam). Charge the shinespark in the previous room with the Kihunters, go through the door, and do the spark. 9) You have two ways to get across the big room leading to the Wrecked Ship. First is you can short-charge another Shinespark and fly across; second is you can use careful running jumps and the occasional walljump. The first is faster, of course (and if you're really snazzy, you can actually use the shinespark that got you across Missile Lake, but that requires a very carefully-timed missile to open the door). 10) Kill Phantoon, get Gravity. 11) Head back to Brinstar and crack open the glass tube with a powerbomb. 12) Climb up Maridia, using a Shinespark in Mount Doom (the big open room that you're supposed to grapple beam across). 13) Use walljumps to climb the other grapple-beam rooms leading to Draygon. 14) Kill Draygon. When he's in his gunk-spitting phase, use a powerbomb to clear the gunk and then run along underneath him, firing supermissiles into his belly. He'll die shockingly quickly -- faster than using Grapple Beam even assuming you had it. 15) Grab the spacejump, and while you're at it, go get the Plasma beam too. 16) Head to Norfair, skip the Gold Torizo (and the screw attack), kill Ridley. Charged plasma beams will do him in quite quickly. 17) Head to Tourian. Research the Zebetite skip; it'll save you a lot of running back to the missile station for reloads. 18) Kill Mother Brain, escape, done. This kind of route should be able to get you under 50 minutes; it's not the fastest route in the world, but it strikes a good balance between unskilled and super-skilled play. EDIT: to do the mockball: 1) Run. 2) Jump. 3) Perform the morphing animation in midair such that Samus lands while you're in the animation. 4) By the time the animation ends, be holding your travel direction (i.e. left or right).
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Derakon wrote:
EDIT: to do the mockball: 1) Run. 2) Jump. 3) Perform the morphing animation in midair such that Samus lands while you're in the animation. 4) By the time the animation ends, be holding your travel direction (i.e. left or right).
I'm still not able to do it. I always do something wrong on step 3 since the speed that I have gained just stops. I have tried to do this quiet a lot today but I'm still failing...
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
BigBoct
He/Him
Editor, Former player
Joined: 8/9/2007
Posts: 1692
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
Tap down once so that Samus is aiming downward, then perform a quarter-circle forward as she hits the ground.
Previous Name: boct1584
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
boct1584 wrote:
Tap down once so that Samus is aiming downward
This is exactly where the movement stops, which is the problem for me.
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
iirc don't you have to hold the run button the entire mockball sequence?
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Former player
Joined: 2/19/2007
Posts: 424
Location: UK
If I recall correctly the jump button must be held when you push down. So to do a low mochball you would press jump, let it go, then press and hold jump, then press down etc.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Okay, I'm confused now. I don't know which instructions to follow.
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
Okay, I'm confused now. I don't know which instructions to follow.
Derakon's instructions + Amaurea's instructions. Run, Jump, at the peak of the Jump or after letting go of the Jump button, press the Jump button again and morph as you hit the ground and press the direction you want to go in. Try and go through the morph-to-forward direction change like boct1584 says, practice up on your hadouken.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Okay. Few more questions: 1. Should I practice with the items on that I have at the point of the game I need to preform this? (Morph Ball and Bombs are probably the only ones) 2. Where should I practice? In the places I need to perform this or in a room with a long flat surface? (Like Crocomire room) 3. Why do I need to release jump and then press it down again? (For some reason knowing why I need to do something (How game reacts to it or how the game registers it) helps me in performing a trick or glitch) 4. Do I hold the run button down all the time?
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
Okay. Few more questions: 1. Should I practice with the items on that I have at the point of the game I need to preform this? (Morph Ball and Bombs are probably the only ones) 2. Where should I practice? In the places I need to perform this or in a room with a long flat surface? (Like Crocomire room) 3. Why do I need to release jump and then press it down again? (For some reason knowing why I need to do something (How game reacts to it or how the game registers it) helps me in performing a trick or glitch) 4. Do I hold the run button down all the time?
1. I don't see any reason to turn off any items since you only need the morphball to actually do the mockball glitch. If anything, keeping the speedbooster on would be good practice for performing the blue-suit mockball, and keeping the spring ball on opens up even more possibilities for the glitch. 2. Practice pretty much everywhere you can, mockball is a great way of maintaining speed when you can't stay running in a straight line. 3. You don't have to release the jump button and press it down again, but doing so lets you perform the mockball without having to make a full jump first. 4. I don't know if you do, but if your speed running you should be holding the run button down a majority of the time anyways. EDIT: http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/SNES/SuperMetroid.html http://www.metroid2002.com/3/ You should take a look at these pages, they're filled with useful information.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
For the early-supers mockball, the process should look something like this: 1) Stand in the Brinstar shaft, facing the open door. 2) Press Run. 3) Press Right. 4) Just before entering the screen transition, press Jump. 5) After the transition, once you're high enough, release Jump. 6) Press Jump again. 7) Press Down. 8) Press Down again (triggers morphball animation). 9) Land. 10) Press Right. 11) Morphball animation completes. 12) Roll under gates. 13) Release Run, Jump, and Right. Releasing Jump puts you into freefall (i.e. you stop gaining height on the jump). As noted, you can just hold Jump throughout the process if you want to mockball after doing a "full" jump. But I seem to recall that Jump and morphballing interact weirdly (like, you can't morph until you're in freefall or something), which is why you need to release and then re-press it for the early-Supers mockball.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
I just managed to pull of the Mockball for the first time :) Now that I know how to do it it's just some practice. Thanks for the tips! EDIT: I also noticed that you can reach Kraid's lair with Mockball instead of doing the wall jump thing. EDIT 2: Now I'm at Draygon but the Shinespark trick doesn't work. What now? Draydon is hard at the situation I'm in now. No Missiles and no Grappling Beam. Or is the point I have to hit Draygon with Shinespark pixel precise or something?
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
How do you mean, "doesn't work"? If the Shinespark intersects with the vulnerable part of his body (his belly) then he should take damage. It probably won't be enough to kill him unless you've weakened him first, though. I've never bothered with the Draygon shinespark myself; I just kill him with supers and missiles, using powerbombs to clear the gunk first.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
Well either Shinespark doesn't damage him or it's just weak. I used like 3 Shinesparks on him and I didn't even see change in the colour of his belly.
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
Well either Shinespark doesn't damage him or it's just weak. I used like 3 Shinesparks on him and I didn't even see change in the colour of his belly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWJmcIqTlPo Judging by Saturn's quickest kill demo, it looks like you need to shinespark closer to his head than his belly, maybe give that a try? Edit: If all else fails, there's always trying to refill your supplies off of his gunk as you fight him.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
creaothceann
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 4/7/2005
Posts: 1874
Location: Germany
Baka94 wrote:
Well either Shinespark doesn't damage him or it's just weak. I used like 3 Shinesparks on him and I didn't even see change in the colour of his belly.
Instead of guessing you could RAM watch.
Baka94
He/Him
Joined: 2/17/2014
Posts: 39
Location: Finland
I just completed my first practice run with the result of 25% items in 1 hour and 6 minutes. Still Phantoon and Draydon are what slowed me down the most. As for Phantoon the two Wave/Spazer shots and one Wave/Spazer/Ice shot thing doesn't seem to kill him. And for Draygon, well he's just hard with so few items. I was thinking of getting one more Super Missile and Power Bomb expansion along the way to make him easier. Also, for the Shinespark thing on that YT video, I think that guy who made the video used cheats. It's impossible to activate Speed Booster and Shinespark in space that short. But anyway, how good is the result for first time speedrun and any other tips/alternate methods for Phantoon and Draygon?
MainLoop: NOP LDX #$01 STX main_loop_done VBlankWait: LDX main_loop_done BNE VBlankWait JMP MainLoop
Former player
Joined: 2/19/2007
Posts: 424
Location: UK
Baka: Have you read TASVideos and metroid 2002's pages about Super Metroid? Once you gain more skill and knowledge about the game you will hopefully become a bit more humble about your own skills and impressed by others'. Perhaps then you would stop implying that well-established and often used tricks are just lies, and that people demonstrating them are cheaters. The Draygon movie you saw was a Tool-Assisted Speedrun (I.e. what this whole site, with the exception of this subsection of the forum) is about. It used the so-called super-short charge, which is documented on the pages I linked to.
Joined: 2/18/2010
Posts: 156
Location: home
Baka94 wrote:
I just completed my first practice run with the result of 25% items in 1 hour and 6 minutes.
Nice job, that's better than what I can do for realtime any%.
Baka94 wrote:
As for Phantoon the two Wave/Spazer shots and one Wave/Spazer/Ice shot thing doesn't seem to kill him.
I never said that it was the best way of killing him. That strategy is basically an alternate to using super missiles and causing long waiting periods during the fight. If you want a better strategy, maybe try the wave powerbomb combo strategy from metroid2002, or if you're up to it you could attempt to try and adapt the missile Doppler strategy for realtime.
Baka94 wrote:
For Draygon, well he's just hard with so few items. I was thinking of getting one more Super Missile and Power Bomb expansion along the way to make him easier.
If it helps you to do so, then I'd say do it. I'd say that until your comfortable without the extra ammo, you should do whatever you need to let you speed run comfortably.
Baka94 wrote:
Also, for the Shinespark thing on that YT video, I think that guy who made the video used cheats. It's impossible to activate Speed Booster and Shinespark in space that short.
Like amaurea said, Saturn's Draygon kill video was recorded with tool-assistance and makes use of the super-short charge on the tasvideos game references page. While super-short charge might not be doable in realtime, a normal short charge can be done by tapping the run button on the right frames of Samus' walk cycle. A normal short charge is short enough to be done in Draygon's room, and shinesparks can damage Draygon.
My user name is rather long, feel free to call me by htwt or tape.
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I routinely do short-charged shinesparks in realtime by just "walking" (i.e. running without run button) for a short distance and then pressing the run button. This is enough to get a shinespark in a lot of places where you couldn't otherwise, e.g. the shore of the Wrecked Ship entrance lake. I don't know if it's enough for Draygon's room, but it's probably close. The tap-run short charge is considerably harder to pull off, let alone the "super-short" charge where you also release the run direction. Such shenanigans are fortunately largely not useful in standard Super Metroid speedruns.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.