SMR any% speedrun notes
Progress blog
2007-01-23
Currently in the third room of Brinstar on the way to Spore Spawn. Lost 10 frames to the previous WIP due to skipping damage from one of the geemers in Crateria, slightly inferior kago manipulation and elevator randomness (yes, apparently elevators are as random as Ceres's door), then won 6 frames due to two major subpixel optimizations (I'm happy to say that the production quality of this run has reached unmatched heights of micro level optimization at this point; by this point I mean everything that came after the kago). Additionally, this time I won't be hearing annoying beeping of the low energy alarm, which is a big plus to entertainment. Currently I'm at 02:54 by in-game timer, 76 frames ahead of Saturn's WIP. I will release the WIP after getting the Walljump boots.
Currently in the third room of Brinstar on the way to Spore Spawn. Lost 10 frames to the previous WIP due to skipping damage from one of the geemers in Crateria, slightly inferior kago manipulation and elevator randomness (yes, apparently elevators are as random as Ceres's door), then won 6 frames due to two major subpixel optimizations (I'm happy to say that the production quality of this run has reached unmatched heights of micro level optimization at this point; by this point I mean everything that came after the kago). Additionally, this time I won't be hearing annoying beeping of the low energy alarm, which is a big plus to entertainment. Currently I'm at 02:54 by in-game timer, 76 frames ahead of Saturn's WIP. I will release the WIP after getting the Walljump boots.
2007-01-25
Still in the same room, but with good news: I've figured out the randomness and had it successfully manipulated by killing the zoomer on the upper ledge (it didn't cost me any time). Approaching 18K rerecords. Also, have to check if getting the refills at that particular spot is worth it at all. Also, 77 frames ahead of Saturn at this point, the in-game time is 02:55 (amazing how many events can happen in such a short time span in this game…).
Still in the same room, but with good news: I've figured out the randomness and had it successfully manipulated by killing the zoomer on the upper ledge (it didn't cost me any time). Approaching 18K rerecords. Also, have to check if getting the refills at that particular spot is worth it at all. Also, 77 frames ahead of Saturn at this point, the in-game time is 02:55 (amazing how many events can happen in such a short time span in this game…).
Table of interesting and questionable moments
(Starting from 05:38, earlier info will be available later.)
| Realtime | Notes |
|---|---|
| 05:38 | Could've probably grabbed the missile a frame faster. |
| 05:52 | Haven't somersaulted after the ledge. Could've been ~2-3 frames faster, I guess. |
| 05:53 | The missiles have to be shot preferrably as fast and as close to door as possible. Good performance here. |
| 05:58 | I turned around here to gain myself one more frame of running. Didn't cost any time. |
| 05:59-06:00 | Since I've built enough speed earlier, I didn't slow down here. At the moment of grabbing the refill I have my full speed back with no time loss. |
| 06:03 | This knockback was barely possible. It's a pity that the setup consumed some time, so that the net gain was only 3 frames. |
| 06:07-06:08 | I tried to cross this distance in one big jump, but it apparently was slower. |
| 06:11 | Had to delay one frame here to manipulate the right refill. |
| 06:15 | This jump could've probably been done faster using another method which I didn't know back then. |
| 06:23 | This was the best possible position for knockback I could reach. |
| 06:24 | Could've probably been done even faster. |
| 06:25 | This jump is a sore in my eye, and I think it could've been done several frames faster utilizing the newer method. Pity I didn't discover it back then. |
| 06:46 | I didn't jump there and just run off instead because I had to have more horizontal speed which was impossible to get otherwise. |
| 06:53 | Morphing here probably wasn't necessary, but I was too busy thinking that Saturn made everything good enough to notice that. :) |
| 06:54 | Again, needed horizontal speed. |
| 06:57 | Had to wait for the final missile for so long because of shooting three at a time a second before. Timing them to spread evenly apparently was slower. |
| 07:01 | Taking damage from this geemer would've saved 3 frames but prevented a great shortcut later in Brinstar. No ways to kill it, either. |
| 07:05-07:06 | The horrible abomination of the run: kago refill sequence. Had to morph through it to avoid being harmed. Almost 4000 rerecords are wasted here. >_> |
| 07:13 | The elevator has suddenly decided that it needs one more frame before accepting my will to go down. Shitty random piece of alien machinery, I hate you. |
| 07:29 | Bam! Eat that, Saturn. :P |
| 07:32 | It may appear that I shoot only four missiles at this door. I can't blame you for that impression; the last two missiles have almost melted together. |
| 07:34 | Some extreme optimization in the end of the previous room, et voila: saved 3 frames due to unmorphing already past the block. |
| 07:42 | Had to shoot the zoomer to change randomness without losing time. |
| 07:45-07:47 | This was an interesting puzzle to solve. Choosing the correct shooting position and speed helped me save two frames here almost magically. :) |