Sync info

Overview

Objective

Techniques used

Backwards Long Jump

• This movement technique gets used throughout most levels to increase Sonic’s movement speed past the normal cap of 3840 while boosting to 4320, since he gains this speed whenever he jump kicks (decreases by 6 per frame). The typical input pattern looks like this:
  • 1 frame - → + B + Y (initiation)
  • 1 frame - → + Y + R
  • 8 frames - ←
  • 1 frame - ← + B + Y(replaces the first frame, process repeats)
  • the ← period needs to be 9 frames in underwater sections (Water Palace).
  • Y can be held as well during the process of holding ← but may lose frames occasionally. The main benefits of doing it are either to conserve tension (since pressing every certain # of frames uses it up faster) or to kill enemies while doing so, where the ← period has to be 11 frames.
  • → and ← are reversed for traveling left.

Jump Boost/Backwards Jump Boost

• Jump boosting (→ + B + Y) with the right timing on an upward slope gives Sonic a decent amount more height and often allows him to do certain skips, such as portions of Water Palace 1 at 0:14 and Mirage Road 1 at 0:10.
• Backwards jump boosting (← + B + Y) achieves the same goal but instead by taking advantage of downward slopes by boosting into them while reversed, like in Leaf Storm 1 at 0:13. Sonic must be a decent amount below the speed cap to do a backward jump boost, usually requiring slowing down a bit.

Zip Movement

• When approaching a downward slope angled about 30° (either at the top or the base of a hill), Sonic can fall onto the exact spot where the slope intersects with the flat terrain and press B and A repeatedly (alternating between frames) while holding ← launch himself forward at speeds much faster than normally possible, sometimes being able to skip portions of levels such as in Leaf Storm 2 at 0:19.
• Each zip requires a very precise setup, typically being pixel and frame-perfect, and tends to get Sonic to different speeds depending on the slope, typically ranging from 7000 to 15000.
• Zip speeds are usually cancelled by pressing → while on the ground, although holding → while airborne cancels it temporarily, like in Dead Line 2 at 1:09.
• Zip speeds can also be typically maintained on grind rails except specific sloped ones that automatically cap Sonic’s speed to 3840, and some subtler zips are performed whenever it’s possible to jump off a grind rail, jump kick forward and immediately land on a new one (usually whenever there’s a grind rail loop).

Ground Speed Preservation

• Rolling helps preserve ground speed by slowing down the decline rate of Sonic’s velocity, usually helpful on loops and places where Sonic can zip and maintain higher speeds than his usual cap.

Air Speed Preservation

• Like with backwards long jumping, jump kicking and holding ← often helps in midair for some shortcuts that otherwise aren’t possible. Sonic’s normal air speed cap is 2560 (3072 while boosting), and gets temporarily raised to 4320 after a jump kick regardless of how many frames Sonic has been off the ground for.
• By jump kicking after tricking off of a boost ramp, Sonic’s speed gets raised to 5556.

RNG Manipulation

• Every boss is significantly influenced by RNG in some way, typically changing their attack patterns around. Most bosses have stall attacks and long periods of being immune to damage, so those periods are kept very minimal through use of some manipulation.
• RNG typically gets changed depending on the amount of times Sonic boosts, spindashes, or tricks in previous levels, and optimal luck for bosses can usually be found by manually adding/removing these inputs during previous levels where necessary.
• RNG has no effect on Acts aside from minimally on enemy spawn locations.

Cutscene/Load Optimization

• Among the languages in the DS’s BIOS supported by Sonic Rush, German has the net fastest load times and least dialogue, which is why it’s picked.
• Dialogue between levels can be fast forwarded by holding R.
• Cutscenes after boss fights except the first Egg Hammer can be skipped by pressing Start.

Easy Difficulty

• While not really a technique, changing the difficulty to easy before starting the first level is advantageous. Bosses have 6 hitpoints instead of the normal 8, saving some time on each one, although their attack patterns stay the same.

In-game level times

Additional Notes

• Getting only 2 wheel attacks rather than 3 during the first Egg Hammer is possible albeit rare, which could potentially save a few more seconds.
• Egg Turtle is the most consistent fight to set up (except Egg Ball and Blaze) and always has to be baited into slamming the ground to get the first attack on him quicker. Baiting him into biting is also necessary when the water gets drained.
• During enemy room sections like the ones in Mirage Road, spindashing into rather than boosting lets Sonic leave a second early.
• Intentionally taking damage helps Sonic save time on forced parachute sections once on each Altitude Limit act. While doing the one in Altitude Limit 2, a glitch can also be done involving spindashing and boosting at the sametime to preserve a spindash in midair, then letting go to get extra distance and reach across the gap.
• The zip on Dead Line 2 at 1:09 has a unique additional glitch that moves Sonic into the background layer where he has no collision with anything except springs and certain walls. This is the only spot in the game where dying saves time, since Sonic can skip a spring antigravity section and hit a checkpoint but is blocked from the next section by an invisible wall while unable to stay on the ground beneath him.