Crush 3D is a game I first discovered 8-10 years ago, a very unique puzzle-platformer that I think should get more recognition. The demo on the 3ds led me to find the (much cooler) PSP version, but there aren't any TAS tools for the PSP yet, otherwise I'd have done that.
This is a TAS of the first world in the game, which is beaten in under 10 minutes. To progress, you have to collect half of the total marbles in the level. There's different routes in each level to see which marbles are the fastest to grab, because you don't want to grab more than needed (that's extra wait time at the end of the level). For 100%, you have to collect all the marbles and memories, but I don't feel like doing that currently.
Link to video
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There are a few interesting glitches/bugs used throughout the game.
Cutscenes only play if you're grounded, so you can delay them (sometimes skip them completely) by jumping the frame before they activate. That's most notable in "Rocks In Your Head" (the level after Under & Over) because you get the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cutscene to play back to back to back, and with the balls platform lowering. The same is true for the fall damage animation, you can walk and jump for a tiny bit before it plays, do that for the duration of the animation and you get no recoil (done in first level and Tin Can Alley).
For cutscene triggers that you walk into, you can crush during their intro to save some small time (first level).
In Nasty Things the cockroach moves very slow, and only dies if he's on screen and on bricks. That's why crushing the first doesn't kill him, and I have to wait for him to walk out of the hole.
In some areas you can crush while falling, if you go from Falling -> Grounded -> Falling fast enough. It's only used once here (in Upstairs, Downstairs) but will be done in later levels as well.
In the romFs of the 3ds version, there's a cfg file suggesting a debug mode (as well as functions within the code stating the same). Weirdly the file had the debug mode set to true. There could be a code still in the game to activate it, but I don't think we'll ever find it out unless someone knows how to fully decompile the game to find it.
I tried changing various settings in the config but they don't do anything, so it's certainly an activation thing.
EDIT: Potential hint for accessing debug mode
I went back and reread the config file in case I missed something obvious, and it seems I did. Based on this comment, there was a "debug pad" for the 3ds that they used during development. If we could know what exactly that is, and hack in a way to hit debug pad buttons, mystery solved (if it's not referring to something completely unrelated)
EDIT: Potential hint for accessing debug mode
I went back and reread the config file in case I missed something obvious, and it seems I did. Based on this comment, there was a "debug pad" for the 3ds that they used during development. If we could know what exactly that is, and hack in a way to hit debug pad buttons, mystery solved (if it's not referring to something completely unrelated)
