I did research for this game in 2020 and I'm currently looking at it again.

In 1A, the first boost as well as the boost after entering the ground, I was not able to gain any speed by pausing (regardless what timing and how long I wait until I unpause each time), but it's easily possible to keep speed for longer by spamming the B button so the game does a "no nitro sound".

53.92 is the best possible time in TAS at the time of writing, and it should be possible for RTA to reach times better than 54.06 (the current RTA WR) or 54.04 (the best time RTA could achieve without pausing and without using "no nitro sound") easily.

I'm writing up the route from scratch in order to attempt a new speedrun.

I'd like to point out a few time savers that I found that aren't used in the current speedruns listed (by Iyerbeth and me).

I'm on version 1.2.1.

In the elevator room, save/restart when the lever close-up starts closing saves 1.0 second.

In the elevator room, save/restart right after clicking on the spear saves 1.5 seconds.

In the elevator room in the spider web, save/restart right after clicking on the first stick saves 3.5 seconds.

In the elevator room after climbing up, save/restart when Tsioque picks up the sticks (when she reaches for the 2nd one), saves 1.0 second.

An optimal wall sneaking game would save about 25 seconds.

The stairs running mini-game can be faster by 50.3 seconds by failing three times on purpose and then clicking "skip".

At the stairs guard, after dropping the chandelier on him, save/restart when he chases after Tsioque and the coins left your inventory but before the mini-game fades in. This skips the stairs minigame and therefore obsoletes the above timesaver. The skip saves ~1 minute 40 seconds compared to doing the mini-game the normal way without failing on version 1.2.1.

I confirmed both these tricks work on version 1.1.3, before the mini-game was changed ( https://tcrf.net/Tsioque#Revisional_Differences ).

There might be more. I still have half the game left to look at.

I'm looking for and documenting version differences in all three versions of the game (EGA, VGA, CD).

On EGA (16 color version), you can use map in Hook Isle outside area in order to be teleported to the beginning of the room. You could do this after hiring Meathook for your crew to skip having to use rubber chicken on cable to go back across the cliff.

The current WR video doesn't use this, but I'm not sure if EGA version is viable.

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you keep doing that? Does inventory have 256 slots or more?

On this video, someone pointed out in the comments a possible bug that lets you pick the mirror without using the portrait cutout on it. I haven't played in ages nor following the speedruns for this game, but just wanted to point it out here just in case it leads to something.

@Ropetupa I believe I found a slight hickup (bug?) In Goodsoup hotel. I found a way to get the mirror from the lobby, without switching it with the cutout from the painting. Some others may have found it too. But I haven't seen it in any of the easter egg-lists of this game.

@legendofmi Thanks! Can you explain how you got it and I will give it a go.

@tonib.2371 @legendofmi I always "killed" myself to get the mirror He doesn't check the inventory then