pretty much done with it i think... just need to clean up some of the input and make a few small tweaks. should i pick up point bags or not? looks like it'll be 39488 frames... so 3 seconds faster than the cancelled run and 4.3 faster than the published one i think.

So... I discovered that up+down+left/right has the same effect as left+right, except it works in both directions. This should shave about 220 frames off the 39487 that I was about ready to submit.

Umm… Does that mean the new submission will be somewhere around 10:54?

If all goes as planned, yep. About 10:54.3 I reckon.

Up+Down saved about a second more than I expected. So, should be 39200 (10:53) if/when I manage to manipulate the position of the bird at the end of 5-2. I also found that I could exit the first screen of 5-2 15 frames faster if I don't pick up the jump n' slash... I haven't actually tested it yet, but I suspect I'd lose at least twice that by killing Malth without it.

You're just awesome Scumtron, awesomeness is you!

I've got a run that finishes at 39201 now, but I'm going to sit on it a bit and try to find solutions to these issues: * in the second screen of 2-2 i wait one frame so an enemy in the next screen won't throw an unavoidable knife * in 3-1 i take two extra frames so an enemy will throw a knife to boost me up to a ledge in 3-2 (if i could fix the first issue it would also fix this) * I wait 5 frames before pressing start at the end of level 4 so those skull-heads won't throw sticks that hit me in the back (this one doesn't bother me too much since one of them ends up giving me a boost that saves 5 frames) So, it could just take a one frame improvement before the last screen of 2-2 to potentially fix all of this. Maybe.

Found a few optimizations in 5-2 and 5-3 today and managed to kill the red orb another 5 frames faster... expect a submission of 39164 or better very soon.