TL;DR Do you know any other obscure games with potential for fun discoveries like boss quick kills and sequence breaks?
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The obvious answer is Zelda and other “Zelda like” games, so let me explain.
The number 1 thing I enjoy about speedrunning this game is the boss fights, some are really challenging, and others have a fun quick kill using bombs or the fire wand. I love the music and graphics, I didn’t have a TG-16 growing up, but it feels just like a SNES game to me, very nostalgic. In Neutopia there’s no back tracking since there is a hub that connects the 4 overworlds and you are automatically sent back there after each dungeon. Since it’s divided into 4 worlds there’s a nice change of scenery and music after every 2 dungeons. The speedrun sequence breaks every world, so the dungeon order becomes 2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5, 8, 7. So the speedrun goes back and forth between feeling underpowered and overpowered, it’s really fun! There are no boring puzzles or fetch quests, or level grinding. There’s only one short cutscene at the beginning and not too much text, plus it’s on the TG-16 so I you can use the turbo switch to mash through text.
I think another key thing that makes it fun to run is not having to learn any complex tricks that require TAS-like precision. Since there are so few runners, there’s still a lot of fun stuff to discover and there aren’t any crazy game breaking glitches. The WRs are good, but there is still a ton of room for improvement.
It might seem like a weird comparison, but for me I think it feels a bit like Shadow of the Colossus. There’s a long trek to the dungeon, then a quick, intense boss fight. The only other game I’ve found that I enjoyed running is Tower Of Turmoil.
Looking forward to hearing any suggestions, thanks! ^_^