Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures is a 3D platform game based on the Cartoon Network animated television series Ed, Edd n Eddy.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: Dolphin 4.0-9199
- Complete the game as fast as possible
- Takes damage to save time
- Heavy glitch abuse
- Manipulates AI
- Aims for Moons
NOTE: To fully play back the TAS, it is required to save and load a state during certain loading screens, or else the game (or Dolphin) crashes.
The RTA timing of this run is 15:59 (from the Scam 1 pop-up box). As of the time that this TAS was submitted, it is 4:58 faster than the fastest PC time, and 7:13 faster than the fastest GameCube time. To be honest, my initial estimates of the TAS of sub 19 minutes was soundly crushed by the final run time of this TAS. The major time differences can be attributed to both more precise optimization of existing strategies, as well as new found strategies discovered through-out the run. Some of these new found strategies are viable for RTA usage, while others are simply just TAS only.
The gist of the game is to complete six scams for the ever elusive jawbreakers. To complete each scam, you must use each Ed's individual abilities as well as group formations (where all three Ed's are used at once). Each formation is specific to each Ed, so to use a particular formation, a specific character needs to under the player's control.
The Ed's
Ed (the one in green) has the individual ability to pick up certain objects and throw them. This is used multiple times throughout the run to complete various tasks. His group formation ability is called the "Batter-Ed", which has Edd and Eddy grabbing on to dear life to Ed. This is used to traverse long distances fast, as well as acting as a battering ram to certain objects which can't be affected in any other way. Using the Batter-Ed is the fastest way of traveling in the game, and is used extensively throughout the TAS. These abilities make Ed the most used character in the TAS.
Edd (the one in orange) has the individual ability to use a slingshot to shoot water balloons. Water balloons can be shot in both first and third person, with first person view allowing more accurate shots, while third person is more random. The water balloons are able to knock down specific obstacles, and is used often. Edd's group formation is called the "Trampol-Edd", which has both Ed and Eddy bouncing Edd up and down, and allows Edd to get to higher places than he can jump. The Trampol-Edd is used a decent amount, with some uses in places not usually intended. Edd is the second most used character in the TAS.
Eddy (the one in yellow) has the individual ability to throw out stink-bombs. This ability is never used during the run, as there's no practical uses that couldn't be handled by the other characters. His group formation is called the "Tower of Ed's", which has all three Ed's on top of each other's shoulders to traverse narrow path ways and to grab items higher than normal. In this TAS, almost every instance of use was circumvented with the use of precise Batter-Ed movement, with only a few legitimate uses throughout the run. Because of this, Eddy is the least used character in the TAS.
Version differences
The GameCube version is different from the usually used PC version of the game. The biggest obvious difference is that load times are longer than those on the PC. The GameCube version also has some exclusive glitches used in Scam 3 and Scam 6 which is faster than on PC. Yet another difference between GameCube and PC is in Scam 1, where the cat is stationary on GameCube, but yet moves around on PC. A negative of the GameCube version of the game is that certain tricks are harder to pull off, such as batter-ed and first person clipping. If not taking into account load times, GameCube is considered the fastest version of the game.
Tricks and strategies
Batter-Ed cancelling
Batter-Ed cancelling is used to cancel the Batter-Ed animation when either hitting a wall which temporary knocks you out or taking damage from an enemy. This is used multiple times to quickly switch characters, as well as quickly switching directions in certain scenarios.
Batter-Ed clipping
Batter-Ed clipping is using the Batter-Ed into a wall at specific angles, which allow Edd to go through certain fences and walls and then use his group formation to pull the other Ed's through the wall.. It's not used as often as first person clips, but is still useful to go through certains areas.
Batter-Ed over narrow bridges
It is possible to use Batter-Ed over narrow passage ways, but it requires to "fall" off the edge of the ground and land back onto the bridge, and get past the point where it checks to see if you're in Tower of Eddy mode or not. It does not work on platforms on a sharp angle (Scam 3).
First Person Clip
First Person Clip is a clip usually done with Ed standing in a corner, and Edd switching between first person and third person while running into Ed in the corner. With enough switching, Ed will get pushed through the wall, and can then use his group formation to bring the other Ed's through the wall. In certain scenarios, Eddy is required to be on the head of Ed so he doesn't shoot up too high while doing the clip.
Scam 1: Cool yer Ed
The goal of this Scam is to collect ice cubes and get access Rolf's meatball making machine to create snow cones to sell. This level on the whole isn't really too spectacular, but there is some AI manipulation done so that the squirrels are as close to the window as possible. For the slingshot section with the dolls, it was possible to shoot two water balloons in quick succession instead of waiting for each shot.
Scam 2: Pin the Tail on the Ed
In this level, The Ed's were refused entry to Jimmy's birthday party, and decide to make their way to the party through the sewers. This is where we start to see some of the bigger glitches used in the run. After getting by the toxic waste barrels, the Ed's are supposed to activate a bridge so they can cross to the other side. However, it's possible to use a Trampol-Edd instead of creating the bridge to get the Ed's across. With some AI manipulation, it was possible to only worry about hitting the crocodile once before completing the Trampol-Edd. I also take damage from the rats to cancel the second Trampol-Edd animation so I switch to Ed to continue on. Once we get to the locked gate, another instance of AI manipulation is used to have the crocodile miss Edd as he's working on unlocking the gate, saving even more time.
Usually, when getting to the valve to unlock the metal door, it's necessary to clear the rats so they don't attack you. However, these rats didn't even bother to attack while doing the Trampol-Edd. After getting to Johnny, a first person clip is used to skip the entirety of grabbing the extra valve handle from Johnny to open the door. After this, the rest of the level is pretty normal and is completed without any issues.
Scam 3: Must Be Something I Ed
In this scam, the candy store is giving out free Jawbreakers, so the Eds take a shortcut to get there. Right off the bat, there is some AI manipulation to avoid having the rats attack while attempting to do the Tower of Ed's up the narrow wooden beam. Once over the fence, the usual route is to grab all the dolls for Jimmy so you can push the picnic table to the fence to jump over. However, a GameCube exclusive glitch allows us to first person clip straight through the fence and bypass the entire challenge. After getting through that fence, we immediately clip through another fence to skip yet another challenge, this time avoiding the use of the Tower of Ed's. Once clipped through the second fence, there are a few switches of Ed characters and use of their group formations to get un-stuck from the fence.
After getting un-stuck from the fence, we Batter-Ed up to the tractor trailer which is blocking us continuing. Normally, the Trampol-Edd is used to get up on top of the ridge to go around and fix the tractor and move it out of the way. However, if you Trampol-Edd off to the side, and then get on top of the ridge from the side, you can bring the other Ed's over and bypass fixing the tractor. Eventually, we get to meet Kevin, and are given yet another challenge to complete in order to continue. Yet again, we bypass this challenge, but this time, using a weird first person clip setup which allows all the Ed's to come over the fence. We then drop the bee's nest on Johnny and open the passage to finally get to the candy store.
After getting to the candy store, Eddy accidentally eats a Jawbreaker with foot powder on it and gets an allergic reaction. He and the rest of the Ed's must sneak around without getting spotted to get back home. A damage boost from the dog is used to get to the hole in the fence faster. While waiting for Johnny to move away from the fence, I shoot the school bell so Naz is distracted. After Johnny is gone, we hop the fence and Batter-Ed across the school grounds. I take a little bit of a detour to continue moving while the cutscene showing Naz walking away is playing. This setup allows easy passage back through the broken log. The rest of the scam is pretty simple, but I do get good RNG and I'm able to bypass getting detected by Kevin, while doing a sweet jump off the bike ramp.
Scam 4: Ed on Arrival
Eddy wants to become a Urban Ranger, without doing anything the entire time, so Rolf has the Ed's go through a obstacle course in a construction site in order to get the Urban Ranger badge. Normally, Eddy is supposed to be used quite often during this level, but as it turns out, every instance that Eddy would normally be used in is either skipped or done with Ed using his Batter-Ed formation. This was the level where the Batter-Ed over narrow platforms trick was found, and saves quite a lot of time in the run over all. The catch is that for it to be effective, you must enter and exit the narrow bridges on an angle while also clearing the check for Tower of Ed's formation. Some of the bridges are easier to bypass than others, but at least in this Scam, we're able to successfully remove the need of Eddy.
After getting past the first set of obstacles, a Batter-Ed clip is used to skip opening a fence to the next set of obstacles. Another Batter-Ed over the narrow beam with a swinging washing machine, then the gate is open for the next challenge, a whack-a-mole game with Jimmy as the mole. The Ed's aren't feeling up to hurting Jimmy, so instead they skip the entire mini-game with a first person clip through the fence. A few more bridges are run through with the Batter-Ed, and we open yet another gate, this time to turn on the Powercell to open even more gates.
One is usually supposed to collect all of the power cells to turn on the big Powercell using Eddy's Tower of Ed's, but instead, simply jump over the fence. In regular speedruns, getting over the fence requires co-operation with the two AI Ed's so that they jump over on their own. However, a weird quirk when doing a first person clip in certain corners can shoot Ed straight up into the air allows Ed to go straight over the gate, negating the need of manipulating the AI Ed's to jump over the gate. Once past the final gate, other than a quick battle with Victor the goat, it's simply just a matter of using the Batter-Ed to complete the level.
Scam 5: Nightmare on Ed Street
By far the shortest of the scams, it is also the most broken. In what was probably an oversight, the final objective of the level is active from the very beginning of the level. Normally, one is supposed to give a gift to the Kanker sisters. If you attempt to approach the saw blade without one, you get caught and kissed. However, with some clever maneuvering and a well timed action button press, you can activate fixing the saw blade while in the "caught" cutscene, finishing the level. Because we exit the level while in a cutscene, the game will continue to have the black bars and no HUD until a new cutscene is played.
Scam 6: Ed Marks the Spot
The final scam, which is also the longest. The Ed's have had their Jawbreaker collection stolen and must find where their Jawbreakers are using a piece of a map left behind. To find where their jawbreakers are, the Ed's need to collect three additional map pieces. Right off the bat, we need to get past a gate protected by a dog (which there are a lot of in this level). One is supposed to get batteries to open the fence, but instead, a first person clip is used to go through the fence, and then bringing the rest of the Ed's over with some formation usage. The Ed's find the first map piece on top of an electric fence, and notice Johnny trying to reach it and turn it into an paper airplane. To thwart this, the Ed's batter a car a bunch of times and knock Johnny away from the map piece. Unfortunately for this run, the amount of times needed to actually push the car was far greater than normally seen. The reason for this is unknown, but time was lost because of this.
After knocking Johnny away, the map piece is now collect-able. Normally, the electric fence needs to be turned off by Edd, but it's possible to grab just jumping at it while taking some damage. Next, another GameCube exclusive glitch is used to Trampol-Edd on top of a fence, allowing Edd to bring over the other Ed's with another Trampol-Edd and bypass opening the gate. From here, up to the spider egg section, it's pretty straight forward, with some AI manipulation used to minimize the amount of enemies needed to clear to open a few more gates. Once past the gates, we find Jimmy with the second map piece trying to make origami with it. To get it back, we need to give him a Jawbreaker. Instead, the Ed's grab a "Spider Egg" to give to Jimmy instead.
Using the Batter-Ed trick to go by the bridges was a lot tougher in this Scam due to the mud causing slippery movement. Unfortunately, we did have to use the Tower of Ed's to get past the final bridge before reaching the spider egg for two reasons. The first reason is because of the issue of movement with the mud preventing a good angle to do the trick, and the second being even getting on the bridge with the Batter-Ed, the pattern of the swinging tire would have knocked us off. Grabbing the spider egg was nothing special, but there was a few scary moments at the beginning and end of bringing the egg back where spiders could have knocked the egg away. With some clever moment, both enemies were avoided.
Having now collected two map pieces, another obstacle is in the way of finding the third map piece. Instead of actually doing the challenge, Edd jumps on some boxes and takes the easy way around to get past the obstacle (the other Ed's aren't needed to complete it). The third map piece is found with Victor, Rolf's goat. Another battle with Victor ensues, where Victor is soundly knocked off the cliff again. With all three of the map pieces, the Ed's discover the Kanker sisters have taken the Jawbreakers, so they go into their trailer where they quickly fall into a trap underground. The Ed's must then avoid getting chased by the Kanker sisters, so they must get through multiple doors to avoid them.
The first rock jump here is the only place where Edd can successfully jump on top of the rock, instead of having to use the Trampol-Edd to get on top. We also see a couple difficult uses of the Batter-Ed trick over some narrow bridges, as the bridges twist and turn. Other than those bridges, the rest of the run is fairly straight forward up to the end of the game.
Potential improvements
- In Scam 1, it's possible to have the pigs run towards the pen unassisted, but I was unable to make that happen despite numerous attempts.
- In Scam 2, a recent strategy was found to first person clip through the first sewer metal door (where the gear is fixed). However, I'm unsure if it was any faster as it was found after completing that level.
- Also in Scam 2, it's possible to move on to the Kanker section by breaking only two pinata's . Again, I was not able to re-produce this.
- In Scam 6, it's usually possible to Batter-Ed into the scrap car front in 2-3 tries before knocking away Johnny from the map piece. This would save about 5 seconds.
- Also in Scam 6, if a better angle is found for the last bridge before reaching the spider egg, it may be possible to batter-ed across the bridge instead of using the Tower of Ed's. This would save roughly 10 seconds.
Final thoughts
This run took a lot longer to complete than I anticipated. This was mostly due to taking extended breaks from working on the game. I'm glad that I finally got around to completing this run. I'm not entirely sure of what game I will be doing next, but I have a few ideas. Thanks to the entire Ed, Edd n Eddy speedrun community for helping me throughout my time working on the TAS, it would not have been possible without your input and support.
Noxxa: Viewer response is somewhat mixed. The running around gets slightly repetitive as the run goes on, but I do think the run shows off enough other things it does, plus a few interesting clips and other glitched. I'll err on the positive side and accept it to Moons.
