The most recent NES Wishlist thread has me thinking about this game again. Perhaps it is time to further examine the game physics (and I use that term loosely). I've made it clear that I don't intend to try to TAS this game further until I understand the "why and how" of my first level being 3 frames faster than Blublu's, so perhaps I should take a closer look at the differences of our movies and how we play the first level.
... so I did... and I'm more confused now than I was before, but before I get too far ahead of myself, I'm referring to these two movies:
Blublu's: (you may need to right-click and select Save Link As in order to download depending on your browser)
http://fast.filespace.org/blublu/KickleCubicle_U_world1.fcm
Mine:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/806/HBv3.fcm
In short, I previously thought there were 2 differences in our first level: a difference of either 2 caused by methodology and a difference of one frame in my favor due to left/right differences. I was only partially right.
I recorded the inputs from the first level in each of our movies in a spreadsheet program to analyze them and compared the frames on which we changed input (to change directions, freeze an enemy, push an ice cube, or create/pull a pillar). The only differences were (1) left/right and up/down differences being generally interchangable in the important 1 frame perpendicular direction hold as part of the whiplas walking; (2) How we approach and push the first ice block, which is the 2 frame improvement I knew of before; and (3) left/right differences inherent in the fact that our paths were exactly mirrored.
The above differences were as expected, but the number of points wherein I either lose or gain frames on Blublu (which, of course, is easy to determine thanks to our identical yet mirrored paths) is surprising. Compared to Blublu, my results were:
I gain 1 frame when moving up after placing the first pillar.
I lose 2 frames when moving back down right behind the first enemy.
I lose 1 frame when moving horizontally under the block diagonally below the first ice block.
I gain 2 frames when pushing the first ice block. (This is the 2 frame improvement mentioned above)
I lose 1 frame just before removing the first pillar.
I lose 1 frame just before pushing the second ice block
I gain 2 frames due to what appears to be lag. (See more below)
I gain 1 frame when moving downward after pushing the second ice block the first time.
I gain 2 frames (1 at a time) while moving 2 spaces to the right toward the second ice block.
So, I have a four gains of 1 frame, three losses of 1 frame, and a loss of 2 frames (for a total loss of one frame) that I cannot account for. I conjecture that these gains and losses are inherent in how whiplash walking is performed, but I don't fully understand the game mechanics of the whiplash walking, mostly the number of frames before a perpendicular direction hold will cause the desired "half space warp". Help needed in this regard.
Finally, I have a gain of 2 frames, specifically at frames 1378 and 1379. In Blublu's movie, he has the input of Left+B at frame 1377, but the animation for pushing the ice block doesn't appear until frame 1380. My understanding of terminology is a bit shaky, but I'll classify that as lag, and I do not understand why this lag occurs. At first, I suspected it simply to be a result of a new enemy spawning, but there is no such lag at that point in my movie. Help needed in this regard.
In short, I have 1 difference I can explain, 1 difference I can describe but not reproduce at will, and 8 differences I can't explain at all. What I do know is: (1) path planning is going to be much more difficult with left/right mirroring being unequal at many points, (2) lag can be a potential problem as well (3) there's a lot I don't know.
If you've managed to read this entire post, thank you. Please consider downloading the movies I've mentioned and seeing for yourself the differences. Watching them both at the same time is quite entertaining, actually!