(Link to video)

Introduction

I always thought that improving Mukki's amazingly optimised run would be an impossible task. Nevertheless, after watching through his run a few times I had a feeling that many of the levels could be improved with better routes and strategies. I'm proud to finally present this run, which is an improvement of 848 frames (in-game time) compared to Mukki's run.
This TAS, as with every other Sonic TAS on the site, aims for fastest in-game time over real time.
Optimisations-wise, there were a few general techniques I used to improve Mukki's run. Firstly, when not in boost mode, I try to use A+B to come to a stop then spindash for more immediate speed. Secondly, I avoid more ramps and R-tricks wherever possible, as there is a few frames of delay in the casting animation. Finally, I also try to find better routes (preferably those with very few loops) to maintain more speed wherever possible.

Level notes

Similar to what Mukki did, I have also annotated the maps from The Sonic Center with my commentary. You can click the name of the act in the table to bring up the map.
The in-game times of the levels, with a comparison to Mukki's timings, are as follows:
StageMeMukkiImprovement
Leaf Forest 10:22.770:22.929
Leaf Forest 20:22.570:22.8215
Egg Hammer Tank II0:05.620:05.620
Hot Crater 10:30.430:31.1342
Hot Crater 20:28.680:30.3399
Egg Bomber Tank0:06.520:06.552
Music Plant 10:31.670:32.2334
Music Plant 20:38.680:40.1387
Egg Totem0:05.500:05.500
Ice Paradise 10:38.400:39.8587
Ice Paradise 20:30.680:31.8872
Aero Egg0:05.500:05.500
Sky Canyon 10:36.120:37.6089
Sky Canyon 20:33.720:34.7763
Egg Saucer0:07.050:07.082
Techno Base 10:52.220:53.0246
Techno Base 20:31.030:31.072
Egg-Go-Round0:06.320:06.352
Egg Utopia 10:47.280:47.8333
Egg Utopia 20:51.330:52.7082
Egg Frog0:08.520:08.520
XX Zone0:47.680:49.0582
Total9:48.2910:02.45848

Boss notes

The first 4 bosses are already perfected as every hit was done on the first possible frame inbetween the boss's invulnerability.
Egg Saucer (the Sky Canyon boss) was by far the hardest boss to optimise, especially for the last five hits. Very precise positioning was required to land every hit as early as possible without getting hit by the boss's hand or the spiked container with Knuckles inside it. I managed to save 2 frames from this boss.
I also managed to save 2 frames from Egg-Go-Round (the Techno Base boss) by landing one of the hits earlier.
Egg Frog is probably already perfected.
Using optimisations I found while doing the Knuckles TAS I managed to cut down XX Zone by over a second.

Conclusion

Special thanks to both Mukki and nitsuja for their outstanding predecessor runs. It's been a great pleasure watching such entertaining high-speed runs and finally working to improve them.
Also a shoutout to Kiske for posting his unfinished WIP up to Hot Crater 1 and giving me a rough idea on how to TAS Sonic Advance 2. His input showing a loop skip in Hot Crater 1 was also invaluable in helping me figure out exactly what to do for that particular part.
Another obligatory shoutout to The Sonic Center community, especially the Sonic Advance 2 speedrunners (KirbyMastah, Combo, Znubz, and truesonic53) for making wonderful speedrun videos of the game and giving me some inspiration here and there for certain route ideas.
Last but not least, thanks to Alyosha for making a semi-working camhack for Sonic Advance 2. Even though I didn't manage to use it much, it was quite useful for looking through Mukki's off-screen inputs in BizHawk and figuring out how to improve them

GoddessMaria: Judging Advance 2!
GoddessMaria: This was quite a treat, Dashjump! Excellent improvement over what was once considered to be tightly optimized!
Accepting as an improvement over the previous movie.
Spikestuff: Publishing!

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14776
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5113: Dashjump's GBA Sonic Advance 2 in 17:41.10
Active player (440)
Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Player (76)
Joined: 3/13/2013
Posts: 31
Location: Zebes
Entertaining run, yes vote for me :)
La Hollande, c'est un Pays-Bas comme les autres...
Active player (405)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1677
Location: Brasil
you tased this so fast,impressive.
TAS i'm interested: megaman series: mmbn1 all chips, mmx3 any% psx glitched fighting games with speed goals in general
Editor, Skilled player (1998)
Joined: 8/25/2013
Posts: 1198
Very impressive, especially considering what run it's obsoleting. Yes vote.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1515)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1762
Location: Dumpster
And here I remember hearing that the Sonic Advance 2 camera was able to keep up with Sonic. Clearly that person was mistaken.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Experienced player (703)
Joined: 2/5/2011
Posts: 1417
Location: France
theenglishman wrote:
Holy moly. I was waiting this day along with the one when SMB run would be obsoleted. :O Totally yes, amazing run, nice improvement! :)
Current: Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD Paused: N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair) GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven) TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand
Techokami
He/Him
Joined: 6/23/2008
Posts: 160
Good grief, you made it faster??? Yes vote for such an awesome improvement!
WST
She/Her
Active player (442)
Joined: 10/6/2011
Posts: 1690
Location: RU · ID · AM
Cute vote.
S3&A [Amy amy%] improvement (with Evil_3D & kaan55) — currently in SPZ2 my TAS channel · If I ever come into your dream, I’ll be riding an eggship :)
Joined: 9/13/2014
Posts: 62
Location: Canada
An incredible TAS, even without taking into account how "optimal" Mukki's run was. Thank you for the great watch and yes vote!
Experienced player (670)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2206
Location: Guatemala
Can we still console verify this movie, even though it uses resets?
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony
Dashjump
He/Him
Experienced player (517)
Joined: 8/18/2012
Posts: 82
Yes I believe it can be console verified (if anyone cares enough to do it, that is). The reset sequences were made with the default GBA command (A+B+Start+Sel).
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Great game, great run. Too bad that the score counter no longer overflows due to the resets, but eh.
THC98
He/Him
Experienced player (898)
Joined: 8/7/2012
Posts: 279
Location: Brazil
Great TAS, that was so fast! Yes vote for sure
Youtube Channel | Twitch Channel • Finished projects: GC Sonic Adventure DX - Sonic | GC Sonic Adventure DX - Tails | GC Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Hero Story | GC Sonic Heroes - Team Sonic • Current projects: GC Sonic Adventure 2: Battle - Dark Story - 1st WIP • Paused projects: GC Sonic Adventure DX - Knuckles - 1st WIP • Individual levels records: Sonic Adventure DX | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle • My Discord: Tales98#0408
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14776
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3146] GBA Sonic Advance 2 by Dashjump in 17:41.10
Experienced player (670)
Joined: 11/23/2013
Posts: 2206
Location: Guatemala
Wasn't the previous TAS starred?
Here, my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dekutony