Spawn: The Video Game is based on Todd MacFarlane’s comic book anti-hero Spawn. While Spawn in the comics is heavily geared towards a mature audience, the game tones it down a bit for the sake of Nintendo censorship and the plot becomes saving the souls of innocent children. The game is pretty interesting itself, mixing the genres of fighting games, beat em ups and platforming into something that actually works out quite well in the end.

Spawn can do the most basic fighting game moves, with a light and heavy punch/kick. There is also a block button that is used both to defend against enemy attacks and to execute special moves. There are also command moves. These are things like the corkscrew punch (UP+Punch) or the slide kick (DOWN+Heavy Kick). In this run, the attack that is used the most frequently is the rushing tackle (Dash+Kick). This is because it has both the longest active frames and increases your speed beyond that of running for the short time it is active. Additionally, it seems to effect movement speed if a corkscrew punch is performed after it and you utilize the glide function of the cape. I believe it stores the dash speed and transfers it to the glide, allowing for the fastest movement speed possible at longer bursts. However, since it can only be used off the dash (which has a long recovery time) it is only used where significant horizontal distance can be covered (Stage 4) or after screen locks.

As mentioned before, there are a variety of special moves that Spawn can perform from his blocking animation. I tried to include every one of them in this run. The commands are based off of fighting game archetypes. A good list of them can be found here: http://www.consoleclassix.com/snes/spawn.html .Every time a special move is performed, it takes away some of your meter in the top right of the screen. Once this runs out, the game is over.

RNG manipulation is based on a couple of factors. These are things like: when you enter the screen, your position on the screen, and the frame you last hit an enemy, etc. This is mostly important for boss fights, but it also comes into play when despawning troublesome enemies, or for creating more favourable conditions in order to end a screen lock sooner. It should be noted that some enemies are on a fixed spawn timer, and many of the screen lock patterns are based on attacking these enemies on the first possible frame using either the rushing tackle, corkscrew kick or the hadouken (QCF+Punch). The screen locks are based on “pairs” of enemies, so waiting for two to come on screen is not a time loss in most circumstances as long as they both die at the same time. Lastly, the reason enemies are mostly hit off screen is because past a certain point of the border of a screen lock, it counts as a pit. If you hit any enemy early enough with the right moves they are knocked into this pit, instantly killing them.

Stage 1 (Rooftops): Press start on the earliest possible frame to skip the cutscene. Every cutscene in the game (except one important one) is skipped like this. The level is pretty simple stuff, just running to the right, getting the screenlock ASAP, and defeating the enemies. The real odd ball here is the last screenlock, where I use the “tinkerbell” special move to stop the pipe guy in place and stand on the very right of the screen. I did this in order to stop the potential spawning of a fourth pipe guy, and to freeze the third one in place so I could deal with him and the final enemy with a single corkscrew kick. This may look odd, but it turned out to be faster than my first “vanilla” attempt. Overtkill is the boss here and the power punch (strongest move in the game) takes him out in two hits. Utilizing the shoryuken move, I’m able to grab the falling Spawn symbol (which recharges your energy) on the first frame and end the level.

Stage 2 (Streets): More screen lock fun (actually the most in the game using this route), and proceeds much like the first level at the start. Only thing of note here is the appearance of the first of the enemies that have invulnerability frames coming into the screen (the blue gun guys). Overtkill makes a second appearance and is disposed of in the same manner. Utilizing the pause button we are able to skip both the intro and post-fight dialogues. Climbing the building is pretty straightforward, first frame possible on the first screen and then more calculated jumps on the second in order to get to the ledges on the first jump. Elevator is your standard beat em up fare. The boss here is the Redeemer (Jason Wynn for the comic book fans). The first phase is an auto scroller. In this section, you can only damage the Redeemer up to a certain point before he just fully heals. I utilize seven heavy kicks and one light kick in order to get him to a point in which he will not recover, but will be defeated in one hit once I’m able to do so. Once we get close to the window, he stops and does his invulnerability beam. Once his i-frames are over I hit him with the power punch and we get to phase 2. Phase 2 can be manipulated, mostly via positioning. I make him use the moves that don’t give him i-frames in order to speed things along.

Stage 3 (Asylum): Using the glide function I’m able to simply fall down to the next area without having to really stop for anything. The laser room is pretty rough. I try to stay on the ground as much as possible (jumping has a delay on both takeoff and landing), using the rush tackle speed and even taking a hit in order to get through the traps. When exiting an area its faster to use a rush tackle pretty much every time. The bulk of the asylum is skipped thanks to a little known short cut at the start. By using the shoryuken (heavy kick) you’re able to reach it and it takes you to the second last screen. Entering the last screen is delayed by a frame in order to prevent the spawning of pipe guys, allowing me to simply run through and not waste time jumping. Boss here is the Violator. Hit him on the first frame possible with three power punches to end the fight (notice a pattern?).

Stage 4 (River of Fire): Get to use the dash speed bug here, saves a couple of frames over simply running and jumping (not to mention some manipulation on the phoenixes). Use it again in the caverns, and is much faster due to the lack of jumps as well as the increased movement speed. On the large vertical climb, the combination of the teleport (sphere transformation) and the shoryuken allow for a quick screen. Boss here is “Son of Sun” (at least that’s what I call him). Manipulation is based on when I enter the screen (places its weak flame on the third fire from the right) and when I strike the fire. There seems to be a period of 10~ frames at the beginning of the next cycle where it is impossible to change where its weakness is based on when you attack. Additionally, it takes a lot longer for the aerial fires to have their hitboxes available, so all attacks are manipulated for the bottom two fires. There was a bug on the fifth (?) hit where it wouldn’t register any attack to the third flame for about 50 frames later than usual, so I was forced to move to the second flame for that one. Again, the shoryuken is used to grab the Spawn symbol once the boss is dead.

Stage 5 (Spider Cavern): More screen locks here, usual strategy of getting there ASAP and knocking the enemies off the screen. This level has the introduction of the funky blue guys. They have invulnerability coming in and are generally extremely annoying to deal with due to their huge hitbox. Luckily, they can be manipulated into killing themselves if you stand at the edge of the screen, which is exactly what I do. Boss here is the spider queen. Entrance frame manipulation didn’t change anything, so I was forced to use the explosion for the first attack. I then manipulated her to a spot in which she could be hit by the power punch, as well as stopping her from moving in between hits.

Stage 6 (Cathedral of Hell): The last of the major screen lock levels. The spawns here are unabashedly fixed, and are dealt with perfectly with a simple macro. There comes a spot where there are 3 paths. The top one leads to a hallway with two fixed screens that take around 2000 frames each to complete. This one allows for you to be at the very last screen lock on the final part once you’re finished. This takes approximately 5900 frames to complete. The middle section has a brief platforming section which takes around 1300 frames using the strategy within, and puts you at the second screen lock on the final section. This takes approximately 5100 frames. The bottom path forces you to wall climb to the top, taking around 500(?) frames. This places you at the very first screen lock on the final section. This takes around 6200 frames. Obviously I chose the middle path. Boss is the Demon Knight. Very much like the Violator fight except he takes 4 hits.

Stage 7 (Inside the Devil): A small bit of manipulation at the start in order to make the blue guy fall off the platform, enabling me to jump over him. Second screen didn’t need any manipulation, which was really surprising to me. Third screen is a bit annoying to watch, but basically I abuse the i-frames of the special moves and use the rush tackle to cover huge distances and destroy the barriers under the bile. I use heal here in order to stay under the bile for the second time and get through in a perfect two cycles. The end climb is something that looks really awkward, but is actually faster than any other method (the RTA method LOOKS a lot smoother though). Boss here is what I call “The Faces of Evil”. The boss is essentially 3 faces that you have to kill, with it shooting cannon balls out of its pores. The first face is mauled by running uppercuts and corkscrew punches. The next one is up top and the teleport is utilized to get up there on the first frame possible. I-frames on the punch are abused to go through the phallus he thrusts at the top head. The final head is taken down with a combination of spin kicks, corkscrew punches and the explosion special move. The explosion is a real oddity here, as it hits the face twice when it’s supposed to only hit once. Weird.

Stage 8 (Evil Pyramid): This stage is a little more imaginative than the rest. First climbing section is blown past using the shoryuken 3 times. The upside down room is pretty interesting. There are actually a lot of frame perfect jumps used to stay on the “second level” throughout the hallway, saving time with less jumps. More shoryukens on the way “down” (the input is actually reversed here, I always found that neat). The phoenix room is a bit rough. There are some jumps made in order to coax the birds to fire before climbing up, which turned out to be faster than doing an awkward strategy that avoided the flames. Pretty basic platforming after this, using the i-frames of the shoryuken to go through saws, and jumping on the last frame before falling off the log in order to gain a little distance. Final screen lock room was pretty good. It introduces the World War 2 zombies, who are the final enemy type that has invulnerability coming onto the screen. They have to enter in specific ways (slowly in other words) in order to be knocked out in one rush tackle. Luckily the manipulation I had allowed for there to be a minority of ones that would need repositioning to kill (using the slide kick), and they were always the first of the “pair” which allowed for no time loss. Minotaurs are killed with the power punch, as they are impossible to smack out of the screen on the first frame. Boss here is the Scorpion Hieroglyph. This fight went absolutely perfectly, I think it speaks for itself. Showcased the little glitch that allows you to survive the wall crushing you before the second phase.

Stage 9 (Malebolgia’s Lair): Oddly enough this level took the most time. You can skip all the “mini bosses” and go straight to the Mario and Luigi demons to reach Malebolgia and The Mad One. Mario and Luigi demons were manipulated to trap themselves in the corner, and I beat them to death with the power punch. I took a TON of time on the Malebolgia manipulation here. What I needed for the upcoming fight (him to only use lightning on the left side of the screen) can only be accomplished by entering on a specific frame. This is why it takes so long to get down there. Additionally, this is the only cutscene in the run that actually shows up, as skipping it actually hardlocks the game. Boss here is the Mad One. It’s another joke, we use perfectly timed power punches and he goes down. The reason Malebolgia needed to be manipulated is that the lighting can both overwrite your punch hits AND it will REVIVE The Mad One when he is at zero health.

Stage 10 (Lazy Developer Road): It took too many frames to manipulate away the pipe guys, so we’re stuck with them here. I enter the boss room on a specific frame in order to avoid his invulnerable punch rush attack and get into position quickly. Standing and blocking the lighting is easily the fastest method here, and is nearly impossible to do in a real time setting. After I'm knocked down its just a short dash to get into position and finish the New Breed off.

Samsara: Judging.

Samsara: Not the most entertaining game in the world, but the audience seemed to like it well enough. Accepting to Moons.

Spikestuff: Publishing