You'll be sure to want to check out this video first ... It was the major find that completely rewrote the route.
Link to video
Interesting find. I always suspected you could get over that wall in Dragon Shores, but I never did spend much time trying. So, permanent super flame can be gotten as soon as Spyro reaches Winter Tundra. Since Dragon Shores isn't necessary for 100% completion, we have to factor in if the time spent getting it is worth it. Most likely it is, since the time it will shave from the Ripto fight alone might make up for it, plus the benefit of having super flame for the Winter Tundra levels and the two Autumn Plains levels we have to backtrack to. I am not convinced it will save 6 minutes, though. That is a lot of time, and the amount of uses super flame has on the remaining levels isn't enough to save that much in my opinion. Still, it is most likely worth it.
I started watching Cypryss' 100% run, but the video quality is poor and it has some stuttering issues. Still, it is the fastest 100% run with a video that I know of so I will study it.
Hello, this is Crash41596 "The guy who discovered the turtle soup skip". I would like to join in on the tas. I do have a very optimized route for this run that I would like to share and some what execute.
Route
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Glimmer 100%
Summer Forest 1
- Get half of the gems in the first area(Due to needing swim), then continue to where Elora is. Then jump down and get the gems on the ground, go up the stairs get the one gem next to the teleporters,proceed and get the 2 baskets then get the 2 gems behind colossus.
Colossus 100%Summer Forest 2
-Pay for swim then clear out the area next to the idol springs.
Idol Springs 100%Summer Forest 3
-Do hunter's challenge then do a double jump through the building, bringing you back to the start of summer forest, clear out that area, then go in the water and clear it out getting the orb, then clear out the area below colossus and continue normally to hurricos collecting gems.
Hurricos 100%Sunny Beach 100%
-Use turtle soup skip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCC1S2cO22c also possible while flaming the turtle then jumping on it, then doing a double jump.
Summer Forest 4
-Collect what ever gems are before Ocean Speedway
Ocean Speedway
-I remember having a very good route for this. It's probably in my speedrun some where. I always manage to get a sub 1m
Summer Forest 5
Collect all the gems before the orb, then get the orb, then double jump on to the aquaria tower's barrier, then do the charge swim in air with the water next to the sunny beach area, then get the orb up to along with the gems, then clear out all the gems before the boss.
Aquaria Tower's 100% Crush
-Abuse getting hit to keep Crush from moving from platform to platform, then when the platforms turn blue do not get hit and have him go to a blue pad, then abuse getting hit to keep him on the blue platforms, because the blue platforms are the fasted.
That is the route for the first hub world. The rest is pretty easy to route. Who knew the first hub of the game would be the most confusing to route.
This route is really good, but I think it could be a little bit better. Here are the changes I would make.
1. You can purchase the swim ability before entering Colossus quite easily without sacrificing time since you will already have 400 gems from Glimmer alone (from skipping Money Bags). It is faster to enter Idol Springs first anyway since you would otherwise have to run to Idol Springs and then run back toward Colossus again. You should collect all of the gems outside Glimmer (except the ones near the water tunnel) and collect all of the gems in the pit and on the stairs in the next room (running down the stairs and taking the whirlwind is the fastest). When you enter the area near Idol Springs, collect all of the gems around Idol Springs counter-clockwise, including the gem worth 25 nearby. Ignore the gems near Hunter for now. By then you should have enough gems to purchase the swim ability.
At this point, go back to Hunter and complete his challenge for the orb. Glide to the ledge above Colossus and take that orb. Then swim through the tunnel back toward Glimmer and collect those gems. At this point, you can either run back to Idol Springs or perform the swim in air glitch there and swim to Idol Springs, passing through the boundaries. I am not sure which method is faster. Using the swim method, you could pick up the lone red gem to the left when you enter the Idol Springs area (near where the portals to Autumn Plains and Winter Tundra would be) that you probably missed. This can be collected without swaying from your path toward Idol Springs if you are swimming through the air (and through walls), but will require a very minor detour if you run back. After Idol Springs, finish up Colossus (break the two boxes and on the way there and grab the two hidden gems before entering the level) and then finish up the gems in the water under Colossus before proceeding to the second half of Summer Forest.
2. You can perform the swim in air glitch from the door near Sunny Beach instead of on top of Aquaria Towers' wall. This method is most likely faster because you must go through this door to collect some loose gems anyway. This should be done after Sunny Beach and Hurricos. Before performing the glitch using the door, be sure to loot the three boxes near Money Bags over by Aquaria Towers. After performing the swim in air glitch and collecting the orb and gems above the ladder, proceed toward Ocean Speedway and continue on the route from there.
Here is the route I propose for Autumn Plains.
1. Crystal Glacier 100%
2. Skelos Badlands 100%
3. Metro Speedway 100%
4. Get the orb on top of the wall
5. Breeze Harbor 100% (Make sure all of the gems in the first part of Autumn Plains have been collected since we won't be returning to this part except for Zephyr.)
6. Purchase the climb ability.
7. Scorch 100%
8. Fracture Hills (We can't 100% the level on the first trip for obvious reasons. What to collect on the first trip is up for debate, but we should focus our time on the Summer Forest and Autumn Plains route first before breaking down individual levels.)
9. Magma Cone 100%
10. Shady Oasis (Same as Fracture Hills)
11. Icy Speedway 100%
12. Collect the gems on the roof and glide to the ledge with the orb near Zephyr. Then fly to Zephyr. At this point, Autumn Plains should be completed.
13. Zephyr 100%
14. Spyro should automatically be teleported near Gulp.
15. Defeat Gulp.
I might take a shot at making this TAS since it seems most people here are either taking a break or giving up completely. I never seem to see large projects through to the end such as this so there are no guarantees I could complete something this complicated, but I will take a shot nonetheless. Hopefully most of you guys are still active and will provide feedback on what I have added.