United StatesHave you joined the DKC Speedrunning Discord yet (link)? If so, there is a post pinned in the dkc1_help channel with details from the autosplitter file I set up. I have only used it with my FXPAK Pro, but the instructions for QUsb2snes mention that it can be set up to work with emulators. Hope this helps!
Update: This strat had been superseded by the Infinite Invisibility glitch strat which allows for a 2-Cycle Smiley Navel fight and saves about 20 seconds over the previous best-known boss rush strats! One very important thing is that in the JP version of the game you can still be damaged by enemies while invisible which makes this strat more difficult, especially against Bacty.
The website link is easy to overlook, but it links to the wiki which has a lot of great info.
https://dkcspeedruns.com/DKC_Tricks
Try starting there and exploring the rest of the wiki first, and if you still have questions afterwards one of the Discord mods should be able to help get your role sorted out so you can ask in the DKC1 help channel there!
To clarify (since my latest PB is right on the edge of the second line), is the start defined by the first frame Bonk changes from looking at the screen to facing right? Or the first frame entering the walk animation?
For now I will assume it is the first frame facing right but just wanted to clarify for the future.
The end frame seems a little more clear, being the first frame where a small explosion is visible on Drool's car.
To follow back up and provide some closure, I've gotten more consistent at reproducing the 3-cycle on the NA version of the game and I believe the key is making sure Bonk is fully rotated downwards and not still spinning when hitting the boss to make sure full damage is applied on each hit.
The JP version of the game can still save time 3-cycling as only a standing headbutt is needed instead of the downward air hit to get enough damage in. This results in the ability to use RAGE! quicker since you don't have to wait for knockback and landing on the ground. I don't believe downward headbutts will do enough extra damage to make a 2-cycle kill possible on the JP version but have not tested for myself.
So in conclusion the 3-cycle is harder to pull off and a bit slower on the NA version, but with the other time saves available to the NA version probably makes both versions about even as far as best possible time.
Here's the video evidence (Thanks sYn for clipping it!):
The 3-cycle is hard to reproduce on the NA version, leading me to believe that more than 2 hits are registering on at least one cycle. If we can figure out more about how exactly this works a 2-cycle may very well be possible especially on the JP version.
So I was trying to test some theories on why the Smiley Navel fight is faster on the JP version and stumbled upon a trick that allows for a 3-cycle kill! This is on the NA version of the game, so not only will this trick allow for a huge time save on the current WR, but calls into question which version of the game has a faster time potential. It may be that the JP version can achieve a 2-cycle kill with this trick and would still be the faster version, but if not, the NA version is likely faster due to the bonus game text skip.
I will post video evidence of the trick (hopefully in the form of a new WR) soon.
I would be interested! As I've started running this game I keep thinking about how much of a shame it is that a big portion of the game is never seen due to the warps. Then again I'm also a bit thankful that Any% doesn't require going through the Anti-Gravity Room and few other areas that will probably make me "RAGE!", but maybe it would be fun.
That said I'm going to focus on Any% for a little while so may not do a Warpless run right away, but the interest is there.
I didn't realize there were already forum posts for this game and came here to post the same information. I recently started running this game (already own the NA version) and could not figure out why I was losing so much time on my Memory Cave splits until watching the posted runs on the JP version more closely.
I've noticed the NA version has the advantage of being able to skip the text at the end of bonus games, saving ~3-4 seconds, but given that you only intentionally do 1 bonus game on the route this doesn't come close to making up for the loss on the Smiley Navel fight... Oh well, I'll probably still see how good of a time I can get on the NA version since I already own it anyways...
I'd be interested to know if any other version differences are found!
