With the addition of three new shortcuts, Sonic and Tails finish the game about 45 seconds faster than the previous run. Although neither Nitsuja nor Upthorn were actively involved in this improvement, they are listed as co-authors because their input comprises over 90% of the movie.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Gens 11a + S3KCamhack + SolidityViewer + (partial)HitboxDisplay + LUA HUD for Genesis Sonic games
  • Ignores delays caused by bonus effects
  • Aims for fastest (primarily in-game) time
  • Takes Damage to save time
  • Abuses death
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Counts time spent dying
  • One player controls two characters

Comments

Marble Garden 1, Carnival Night 2 and Launch Base 1 are all improved. Marble Garden 2 was redone to fix desynchs, with no actual improvements. There were also some minor corrections due to lag and luck differences.
According to Upthorn, luck, in this game, "is strictly due to frame rules in the universal frame timer". Short pauses can be added (or, in this case, removed) just before the level that desynchs to correct the issue.

Comparison Table

ActNew TimeOld TimeSavings
Marble Garden 10:30:290:37:210:06:52
Carnival Night 20:42:111:08:530:26:42
Launch Base 10:37:410:56:190:18:38
Total Savings: 0:52:12 in in-game time, or 0:46:24 in real time.
The table shows the in-game timer values. The value after the final colon indicates the in-game frame counter, and is restricted to the 0-59 range. It is updated every frame (except during lag frames), and increments the in-game second when resetting to zero.

Stage by stage comments

Marble Garden 1

Using a trick to get inside the spring by Mr Sweed, the level is cut short by several seconds. A few frames are lost because Tails can't be manipulated to reach the boss faster.

Marble Garden 2

While visually nearly identical to the previous run, this level has been redone almost entirely, using little input from the previous run, to correct desynchs due to different (sub)pixel position. The exception is the boss fight, which uses essentially the same input as the previous run.

Carnival Night 2

Using the shortcut from the 100% Sonic Run, but 42 frames faster thanks to Tails.

IceCap 1

The level has 3 less lag frames due to luck differences when Sonic is hit (the placement of rings).

Launch Base 1

Tails pushes Sonic inside the spikes, which put him inside the wall. No more waiting for that pesky Flybot! The trick is thanks to Orkal.

Sky Sanctuary

There are fewer frames "lost" in pauses to manipulate luck for Death Egg 1 at the end of this level.

Other comments

For more comments about the run, see the comments from the previous run, as well as the runs that it obsoletes.
I started the run from the previous run, keeping the rerecord count and splicing in the unchanged input as needed.
I wish to thank Nitsuja and Upthorn for making the previous run(s), as well as improving the tools for making runs, as well as Orkal and Mr Sweed for the tricks.

Possible improvements

If one were to replay the portions that desynched due to luck differences, instead of adding pauses to manipulate luck, some 30-35 frames might be saved in real time, but none in in-game time. At this time, I am unaware of any other improvements.

cpadolf: Accepting as an improvement to the published run.

TASVideoAgent
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Wait, what? I'm amazed the run got improved by that much. I'll encode this when I am insane enough to bother.
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>Although neither Nitsuja nor Upthorn were actively involved in this improvement, they are listed as co-authors because their input comprises over 90% of the movie. The submission form goes by the nickname field, not the real name field (where they are indeed listed). I suggest you add them in the nickname field too, if you want to list them as co-authors. I will watch this as soon as possible, it sounds intriguing.
marzojr
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Truncated wrote:
The submission form goes by the nickname field, not the real name field (where they are indeed listed). I suggest you add them in the nickname field too, if you want to list them as co-authors.
Done.
Marzo Junior
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Yes vote. I'm impressed that you were able to shave off as much as you did.
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My most favourite and in my opinion, the most entertaining run gets improved once again. Yessed for sure!
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
sgrunt
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Yes vote, for improving the already impressive. I'm taking a stab at encoding this. Keep your eyes peeled. EDIT: http://www.archive.org/download/NitsujaUpthornMarzojrsGenesisSonic3KnucklesIn3219.38/knsonic3-tas-nitsujaupthornmarzojr.mkv
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Here is an encode: http://www.archive.org/download/NitsujaUpthornMarzojrsGenesisSonic3KnucklesIn3219.38_88/sonic3knuckles-tas-nitsujaupthornmarzojr.mp4 http://www.archive.org/download/NitsujaUpthornMarzojrsGenesisSonic3KnucklesIn3219.38_88/sonic3knuckles-tas-nitsujaupthornmarzojr.mkv Daily Motion links: Playlist: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x1658b_Aktanusa_s3-32194-nitsujaupthornmarzojr Part 1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb9l16_genesis-sonic-3-in-321938-by-nitsuj_videogames Part 2: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb9jjv_genesis-sonic-3-in-321938-by-nitsuj_videogames Part 3: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb9iqk_genesis-sonic-3-in-321938-by-nitsuj_videogames Edit: Well Daily Motion is a pain in the ass, converting to 3 parts, the above link will be removed later. Encoding is done, will upload shortly. Edit 2: Added MP4 encode link. Edit 3: Added MKV encode link. Edit 4: Took forever to figure out how to uplaod this to Daily Motion. Apparently the movie has so much action, Daily Motion craps out. Added Part 3, Part 1 and 2 coming shortly. Edit 5: Added Part 2. Edit 6: Added Part 1. Edit 7: Added Playlist.
upthorn
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I have to agree, this is a pretty impressive improvement to a run that (at least I'd like to think) is already pretty well optimized. I cannot reasonably vote anything but yes.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
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I know that Ice Cap 1 didn't change very much in this version of the run, but I still love how Sonic is running at that weird angle... he looks so determined to get inside those walls and zip. The same thing also happens in Flying Battery 1 and 2. I never really knew why the run changed shield types as much as it did (especially when some of the shields take time to obtain from the end-of-level signposts), but I presume there are good reasons for these shield changes. Also, these shield changes make the run always a treat to watch, and the new gimmicks are pretty awesome.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
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One mistake I noticed about the movie file: the author metadata says "nitsuja & Upthorn S3&K v4" although it should say v5 and list another author. Maybe nobody else reads that stuff, though... EDIT: oops, I was looking at the wrong file, disregard that.
mklip2001 wrote:
I never really knew why the run changed shield types as much as it did (especially when some of the shields take time to obtain from the end-of-level signposts), but I presume there are good reasons for these shield changes.
The timer isn't running in-between levels, so they are taken then if doing so saves even a little in-game time later. But as far as I can remember, every shield switch saves a significant amount of time... the abilities they grant are simply that useful.
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Nice run! I'm glad that the LB1 improvement was found as I thought that the last one was one of the run's weaker points. Oh, yes vote and best run on the site etc............
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Wow, I love those improvements. o_o Congrats to the three guys who've found these. ^^ And thank godness Launch Base 1 got improved. Entertainment wise it used to be the worst part of the run imo. That spike glitch can't be used anywhere else?
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nitsuja wrote:
One mistake I noticed about the movie file: the author metadata says "nitsuja & Upthorn S3&K v4" although it should say v5 and list another author. Maybe nobody else reads that stuff, though...
That is valid only for the version at Microstorage; I corrected this on the submitted version.
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Some of the acts feel slower than in the 100% TAS; is this because some glitches could only be performed as Super Sonic?
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marzojr
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arflech wrote:
Some of the acts feel slower than in the 100% TAS; is this because some glitches could only be performed as Super Sonic?
There are no changes from the pre-existing any% run other than those mentioned in the description. Of these, all three are faster in this run because of Tails (Carnival Night 2, Launch Base 1) or because there is no pause to grab a giant ring (Marble Garden 1). If you mean the levels later in the run -- those with Hyper Sonic -- then you are correct: several tricks used there require Hyper Sonic's hyperlaunch ability to work. It might be possible to replicate some with a bubble shield, but it is hard to say if it will be any faster -- and, in some levels, said shield may not be available at all.
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sgrunt
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Suggesting the following screenshot (frame 20210) (That's right before the Marble Garden 1 glitch, by the way.) Here's a description derived from the past few movie descriptions, as well:
Suggested description wrote:
Ludicrous-speed bouncing around. Completed without collecting any emeralds, with both Sonic and Tails controlled by the player. This run takes everything you know about Sonic and Knuckles and turns it upside-down. It extensively uses the "scroll objects offscreen to pass through them" trick to zip and warp to places that shouldn't be reached, break bosses, and effectively skip entire stages. This is the fifth iteration (four of which have been published) of a run that originated with nitsuja, who (along with Upthorn) did not directly participate in the creation of this run; instead marzojr spliced in several new tricks for a total improvement of 46.4 seconds.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1400] Genesis Sonic 3 & Knuckles by nitsuja, upthorn & marzojr in 32:19.38
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when angel island act 2 started why did you come to a full stop at the spikes past the starpost instead of rolling under them while charging for the spindash
The money which I earn is mainly dedicated to video games and I am very content. -- Shigeru Miyamoto
upthorn
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sgrunt wrote:
Suggested description wrote:
Ludicrous-speed bouncing around. Completed without collecting any emeralds, with both Sonic and Tails controlled by the player. This run takes everything you know about Sonic and Knuckles and turns it upside-down. It extensively uses the "scroll objects offscreen to pass through them" trick to zip and warp to places that shouldn't be reached, break bosses, and effectively skip entire stages. This is the fifth iteration (four of which have been published) of a run that originated with nitsuja, who (along with Upthorn) did not directly participate in the creation of this run; instead marzojr spliced in several new tricks for a total improvement of 46.4 seconds.
Err, actually there's been 6 published ones, I believe. Sprintgod's, Sprintgod's improvement, Nitsuja's, Nitsuja's improvement, Upthorn's improvement, Marzojr's improvement. I accidentally labelled my improvement as v4 instead of v5, though.
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upthorn wrote:
Err, actually there's been 6 published ones, I believe. Sprintgod's, Sprintgod's improvement, Nitsuja's, Nitsuja's improvement, Upthorn's improvement, Marzojr's improvement. I accidentally labelled my improvement as v4 instead of v5, though.
I was referring to the line of successive edits to nitsuja's original movie, not all of the movies that have been published; I guess I missed that one of them didn't actually exist? I was going by the version number in the metadata. EDIT: by which I mean I thought "v4" referred to successive improvements to nitsuja's run, and not overall published runs...
upthorn
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sgrunt wrote:
upthorn wrote:
Err, actually there's been 6 published ones, I believe. Sprintgod's, Sprintgod's improvement, Nitsuja's, Nitsuja's improvement, Upthorn's improvement, Marzojr's improvement. I accidentally labelled my improvement as v4 instead of v5, though.
I was referring to the line of successive edits to nitsuja's original movie, not all of the movies that have been published; I guess I missed that one of them didn't actually exist? I was going by the version number in the metadata.
Yeah, the version number in the metadata is one higher than the version number in the metadata of my last improvement, which is one lower than what it was meant to be (all of the sonic any% s3k movies that have been published).
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bombman wrote:
when angel island act 2 started why did you come to a full stop at the spikes past the starpost instead of rolling under them while charging for the spindash
The money which I earn is mainly dedicated to video games and I am very content. -- Shigeru Miyamoto
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bombman wrote:
when angel island act 2 started why did you come to a full stop at the spikes past the starpost instead of rolling under them while charging for the spindash
Because it's impossible for Sonic to roll under them. (Unless you know of some amazing new trick that I'm unaware of.)
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bombman wrote:
bombman wrote:
when angel island act 2 started why did you come to a full stop at the spikes past the starpost instead of rolling under them while charging for the spindash
I'm going to be blunt about this, because I really really dislike when people are doing so. You waited for a grand total of 15 minutes before repeating yourself. It doesn't only make you look like an impatient moron, but also potentially limits your posting ability. Think about this before you do it again.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.