Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Sonic speed run [39:26 RTA-TB]

Channel:

Michael McKenzie

Subscribers:

2,770

Published on August 28, 2016 12:21:19 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OocDpbuc73s

Game:

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)

Duration: 44:50

3,065 views

32

This is my Sonic 3 & Knuckles speedrun as Sonic in 39:26, as timed by the RTA minus Time Bonus method. The run is timed in real time with the length of the time bonuses subtracted. For example, the 50000 time bonus counts down for 500 frames, or 8.33 seconds. This is the fairest way to time the game because it means you are never penalised for completing a stage faster, but time spent between stages (and paused) is also counted.

A pretty good run slightly ruined by missing the level wrap in the last stage by a single frame. :(

Mistake log:
HC2 - died two extra times because this trick sucks. 12 seconds lost
MG1 - probably just outside the acceptable range, which is 1:22 to 1:27. In particular, if you can hit the first orange drill before 12 seconds, you can pass underneath the platform at 29 instead of going over it and having your momentum stopped.
CN2 - went for the spindash past the barrel and missed - you need three taps on this spindash and I missed one. Cost me two cycles of that barrel to get back in position, which is 8 seconds.
LB2 - got the spindash right first try but missed the jump. 4 seconds lost
MH1 - Tails landed on the switch and prevented me from getting my first attempt at being pushed into the ground! He did die in the process, though, which makes it worthwhile.
FB1 - Really bad spindash cost me a couple of seconds, but then getting 1:00 compounded it even further. The platform cycles continue from act 1 into act 2, but what's more, the time that the time bonus takes to count down contributes to them too! So by taking 7 less seconds to count down the time bonus, I get put 7 seconds further back in the cycles at the end of act 2. If you finish at 59, you get pretty well positioned for that platform cycle, but at 1:00 you have to wait a whole cycle out. (It's a very long cycle, at least four seconds on and four off.)
FB2 - My first chance to skip the laser was at 0:33 but it took me until 0:56 to actually get through. 23 seconds lost, but I would have lost about that much more had I failed to get through at all.
SO2 - I botched the manipulation in act 1 (should've hit the signpost three times instead - failed to account for the larger than usual time bonus, see FB1 for why this matters) and the platform at the start was in its worst possible spot. Lost 4 seconds waiting for it to come back into position.
LR1 - this stage would have been amazing except I completely miscounted the bobs of the hand in the boss fight, resulting in me getting hit and losing about 9 seconds.
Also here - I had some IRL to attend to, and I had meant to leave the controller on my desk while I did it, but instead it fell off and paused the game! Now when I change this game's timing to RTA minus bonuses that will count against me, but for now it doesn't, and I just managed to get back in time to avoid falling foul of the 20 second rule that currently exists for pauses.
LR2 - lost about 8 seconds in the tube, plus a few more due to the stage being generally sloppy.
DE2 - missed the level wrap first try and had to die to get another shot. Cost 34 seconds. :(

That isn't exhaustive (my sum of best is over 3 and a half minutes faster than this) but if I list every unlikely scenario (like 6-0 HC1 boss, or worse, LR2 level wrap) that I didn't get, I'd be here all day!

Enjoy the run!

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