How I (Accidentally) Discovered The Trapdoor Shortcut Near The Rocket (Area 51, Tomb Raider 3)
3Welcome to Area 51, the third and final level of the Nevada section from Tomb Raider 3.
If you are playing Area 51 without using glitches then it was believed that you had to launch the rocket in order to be able to complete the level. This is because there are ladders that you have to climb which are blocked by trapdoors. Launching the rocket causes the trapdoors to collapse, enabling you to climb the ladders and make further progress. For many years it has been known that you can complete the level without needing to launch the rocket if you are using glitches; there's a glitch which saves you from needing to launch the rocket. However, it continued to be believed that launching the rocket was compulsory if glitches weren't allowed.
Some time ago I did a challenge for the following levels:
Barkhang Monastery (Tomb Raider 2)
Crash Site (Tomb Raider 3)
Lud's Gate (Tomb Raider 3)
High Security Compound (Tomb Raider 3)
Area 51 (Tomb Raider 3)
RX Tech-Mines (Tomb Raider 3)
Menkaure's Pyramid (Tomb Raider Last Revelation)
Khufu's Queens Pyramids (Tomb Raider Last Revelation)
It was a challenge where I had to keep all of the allies alive from those levels, and there were other restrictions to. When doing the challenge for Area 51 I encountered a strange scenario where I was able to travel straight through the trapdoors. I tried doing the glitch which stops you from needing to launch the rocket, and part of this glitch requires you to stand on top of the first trapdoor, which means that the glitch can only be done if the trapdoors haven't collapsed. I was unsuccessful with producing the glitch; I fell through the trapdoor instead of landing/standing on top of it. This meant not being able to do the glitch. This didn't stop me though as I was able to simply climb the ladders and go straight through the trapdoors, as if they weren't there.
I had no idea what caused this, but I had it on record and so I decided to share it. My suspicions were that it was some sort of one off blip and that no one would get to the bottom of it. I also thought that climbing through the trapdoors would be classed as a glitch and therefore wouldn't be useful in speedrunning because I believe that the glitched way of completing this part of the level is quicker than climbing up the ladders like I do in this video. However, I was wrong about no one figuring out how to do this, and I was wrong about this being classed as a glitch.
Climbing through the trapdoors in this instance is not classed as a glitch and is therefore allowed in glitchless speedruns. It saves the elite speedrunners about 4-5 minutes when doing a glitchless speedrun for this level.
Apel saw my video and managed to figure out what the cause was. Apel then uploaded a video demonstrating what needs to be done in order to be able to climb through the trapdoors.
I was watching Footi do a glitchless speedrun for Tomb Raider 3 when he climbed through the trapdoors in Area 51 and then mentioned about Apel and myself, as well as the videos that we each uploaded regarding this discovery. I was thrilled to see the trick in action and that someone had managed to get to the bottom of it. I was also thrilled that the trick was useful for something; glitchless speedruns, as well as other glitchless challenges.
I wanted to put a video together where I talk about this discovery that I made accidentally, as well as Apel figuring out how to re-produce this and the use that it has in speedrunning. The solution to this trick is surprisingly simple; you just have to avoid being spotted by the second guard in this level. Then, when you get spotted by the third guard the second guard gets alerted and he runs to the switch which triggers lasers and this results in a flip map where you are able to climb through the trapdoors.
My original video of this discovery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9g33cBenuY&list=PLxxgS9r8op1o_ryV_ZRpQuYcTFB0o_tnq&index=92
My video that the discovery was taken from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGaqSm8kbbc&list=PLxxgS9r8op1qAt8AKst6rSlNoWADTcJpp&index=3
Apel's video of this discovery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHPiwyGJFLA
Footi's speedrun:
https://youtu.be/_LU3ukkztsM?t=2237
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