Hey all! I've noticed that there hasn't yet been an explanation post made on the Alternate Timeline Glitch (hereafter known as ATG) yet, so here we go!

• What is the ATG? For a very simple explanation, the ATG lets you increase the amount of actions that a single Record (hereafter known as REC) does.

• How do you perform an ATG?

1. Activate a REC and do the actions that you were planning to get done in a normal state. As an example, if you were going to use to take out 4 enemies, use the REC to take out said enemies. As a reminder, you only have 10 seconds to get what you need done during that REC.
2. Wait for the REC to rewind back to the point that you activated the REC.
3. Head for a different area than you went to for the REC itself.
4. Take out another enemy (or enemies).
5. Use a Retry. ATGs are easiest to do with Super Bombs, but any means to use a Retry works as long as you are in a position that you would've used a Retry within the 10 second time frame of that REC that you used. This means that falling into the void works as well.

• What does the ATG do? By using the Retry, you ensure that the action(s) that you did during the playback of the REC will also persist, as if you had done them during the REC itself.

• What are the effects of the ATG? I noted in the steps above that the ATG is easiest to do with Super Bombs. Ammo that was bought before the stage, such as Super Bombs and Spikes, will return to you during the Retry as if you had never used it at all. This is important in a full game run because it means that you will be able to better absorb the blow that your gold would take for buying the Super Bombs in the first place. In addition, you also increase the amount of Time Crystals that monsters drop, making the potential of you getting Time Controls that you need for future stages more likely.

You can also do this with bosses to increase the amount of gold that they drop. In fact, you don't even need to use a Retry to increase the amount of gold you get from bosses. If you land the final hit on a boss during the REC and you don't disrupt that during the playback, you will get double gold from that boss. However, you can actually use a Retry as well to further increase the gold dropped from a boss to instead triple the original amount of gold that they would normally drop (known as an ATG money dupe).

You're also not limited to using the ATG a single time for a given REC either. As long as you have the Retries to justify it and the Retries don't bring you back to a point to before you initially activated the REC, you can perform even further actions to keep the ATG going.

• What is the impact of the ATG in full game runs and in ILs? In full game runs, the ATG is mostly used to ATG money dupe either 6-Boss or 7-Boss. Since gold use in a full game run can get very demanding in the late game, it's more worth it to sacrifice ~10-12 seconds to be able to get that extra 1000-1200 gold that you need in the late game. Unfortunately, the timing difference in full game runs being in real time means that the ATG doesn't have as many uses. It definitely helps with gold management, but the time loss for each use of an ATG is still notable. That said, don't sleep on the ATG just because it has that time loss. There are points in the regular stages where ATGs make for a great backup strat if you feel you're very strapped on gold in the run.

However, in IL runs on the other hand, the timing method being the in-game time (IGT) means that the ATG is far more viable, and far more worth going for. There are some stages that can get completely dismantled by ATGs in IL runs. As long as you have a use for the REC, it will generally always be worth it to go for ATGs. This is especially the case since you can more easily go for ATGs that use more than one Retry. In fact, a lot of the times listed on the IL leaderboard for the non-boss stages would not be possible if it weren't for ATGs being a thing. Take 8-3 for example; that stage will easily take over 20 seconds IGT without any ATGs. But thanks to ATGs, the IGT time for the stage was able to be knocked down to under 15 seconds.

Well, that's all! I hope this post explains the ATG well, and I hope to see you also apply the ATG in other creative ways as well in your runs.

Happy glitching!

-Lotus