@wintery_mix: Here's the YT linky for this run:

This looks ace, but sadly I just can't seem to find a good jump-off spot to make it work. ;(

Me and Insom toyed with a similar idea at the start of the Dungeon level as well, right at the top of the first climb. But ultimately neither jumping nor walking off the platform and immediately turning around was good enough.

Yeah, I guess I'll do just that. Might as well deal with the runs and create a new entry when we get to that bridge.

I'll give it a thought. Intuitively, this feels like it could add more problems down the line instead of solving them. E.g. if anyone were to submit a run into this new category, transferring the run to a new entry afterwards would be a nightmare, and deleting the run here to re-submit it under a new entry would defeat the whole purpose of having this category in the first place. I'd just go with the new entry without any stop-gap measures.

Yeah, it definitely would be easier and quicker to just create a category for the sequel. But I can kind of see how that would hurt the visibility of the game even more (seeing that e.g. future players wouldn't be able to find the game on SRC by searching for the respective game name, and wouldn't know where to submit speedruns). And I don't quite mind speedrunning the sequel myself, heh. ;j

I'd guess the new campaign should get an entirely new entry on SRC, seeing as it's more or less a proper sequel. We could probably request those be unified under a Pinocchio/Buratino series to make it easier for people to find the proper game entry for their speedruns.

Requesting a new game entry on SRC would require a speedrun video, and I'll probably do a speedrun of the sequel in a couple of weeks after I'm done with stuff - so if no one comes forth with one before then, I'll request the game entry for the sequel myself.

Added the 'PC Remake' category. Knock yourselves out and good luck on the runs, lads!

Decided against adding subcategories for difficulties, seeing that the only thing that separates those is you being able to save or not.

I've been mulling over the idea of timing the remake against the ZX Speccy version with a small hope that they may be comparable, but never quite got around to doing that.

So yeah, I guess I'll just add a separate category for the remake with different difficulties as variables.

The need to wait out the demo after each reset comes up repeatedly in discussions, so I thought I'd chime in with a possible solution.

Would this community be open to adding a provision that allows using an agreed-upon romhack which locks the RNG from the very start, without watching the demo?

I've already made such a romhack, the technical part is trivial. But I understand that there may be reservations about using such a romhack.

What I can see as arguments against:

1. Unfair to the previous runners of the game, who had to wait out the demo.
2. Unfair to those runners who run the game using the original cartridge.

My personal view on these (albeit I'm not a CnD runner): no. 2 is untenable in the long run, as there are no new CnD cartridges getting produced, and the old stock is bound to dwindle over time. No. 1 is worth considering, but this kind of disruption would be true for any other new development (e.g. a new skip/strat), and these only receive pushback (in the form of relegating them to a separate category or banning them) if they're viewed as somehow making the speedrun markedly 'worse'.

What I can see as arguments for:

1. Stops you from wasting 16 seconds each time you reset (obvious), making pole climbs much less aggravating to master.
2. Makes the game more appealing to new and returning runners.
3. Can still be used on original hardware using flashcarts.
4. The hack can be easily distributed as an IPS patch or even a link to an online patcher with the prompt to provide the original ROM, which should make it easy to popularise.

So... if the esteemed moderators of this game are open to this idea, I would propose holding a community poll to see if it's tenable.

Sounds good!

I'd be down for a race. I'll be out of town for the 22nd-23rd, but 24th (somewhere in the p.m.) would work. Otherwise, the entire weekend after that would be good as well.

I can't seem to activate those Dungeon checkpoints from anywhere underneath them.

The best I could do in Bizhawk is this:

But neither was enough to activate the checkpoint.

I also went back to retry an old idea of mine involving a different glitch:

The idea here is to be hanging at the last possible spot, then you press Left, and then press Jump as soon as Aladdin's falling animation starts (which happens exactly 4 frames after pressing Left). This will cause Aladdin to jump upwards from any horizontal climbing surface (ceilings, ropes, etc.).

Unfortunately, in this specific instance, we bump our head into the floor above and can't seem to get enough height to activate the checkpoint. The best I could do was this:

Heh, that's a neat find. First time I've seen this one, I think.

I've managed to reproduce this one on the exact same spot, and it seems to rely on you activating the checkpoint whilst being somewhat clipped into the wall underneath (the checkpoints seem to be restoring you to about the same position you activate them on). The easiest way to do this seems to be the Up+Attack sword swinging animation.

Couldn't quite find a way to reproduce this clip from a level start respawn, or find a suitable checkpoint on any of the levels to clip to a later spot... yet.

I'm sure this one isn't new, but I haven't seen any runners employing this one, so I thought I'd post it here.

You can skip the small hand near the end of the Genie level with a dash jump + sword slash. This may save up to 2.5 seconds depending on the small hand's cycle.

The best thing is, if you see the small hand turn big before you jump, you can go for the regular route on reaction.

I'll post my own findings in case it helps.

1. This one seems to depend on you having a good walk cycle - meaning, you literally can't make this jump if your initial position is not close or far enough at the start of the run-up.

2. You can't make the jump from a stand-still. You need at least 1-2 frames of run-up.

3. You can't make the jump from the last pixel of the platform, it has to be one of the two pixels before the last one.

Now, the set-up.

Position yourself so that Harry's tip of the left hand is between these two vertical lines in the pattern (marked with red lines). Touching the inside of the lines is fine.

Start running and press Jump after 1-3 frames. (It's a certain rhythm you need to develop.)

Hold Jump for 3-5 frames.

That's thoroughly impressive, given the need to often jump and attack whilst running. Nice job.

I'm half-tempted to try one of the major skips using just two fingers... but I'm quite partial to the other eight as well. -_-

Vote passed with 9 in favour and 0 against.

I've implemented the change.

Thank you all for voicing your opinions and not letting it drag on for too long. Delighted to see such unanimousness.

Voting in favour.

Please vote whether you'd be okay with making Normal Any% the default category over Practice. As for the cut-off point for this poll - I'm suggesting implementing the change (or just ending the poll) when there's an overwhelming consensus (say, 90% of votes) with 10+ votes in total.

My arguments in favour:

1. Potentially the quickest category now thanks to the Cave boss skip.
2. Somewhat forgiving. Almost as easy to get into as Practice, and not as brutal as Difficult.
3. Seems just as popular as Practice, judging by the number of runners.

My arguments against:

1. The climb after the Cave boss skip introduces an extra element of randomness into the run.
2. There's a slight prevalence of recent runs on Practice over Normal.

Notes: Post a message with your vote. I don't think counting Likes as votes 'For' would be fair. Also, I do encourage non-runners to vote and give their reasoning too, but I won't be counting their votes just to be safe.

Current tally. For: 9 votes (Svipur, Demian_Neville, MrMonsh, veschii_nevstrui, GreyGurd, tepleyev, takojaki, PaulSaltine, ZeeGee_) + 4 votes from non-runners (PakLomak, EmilSinkler, JackPro, OopsKapootz). Against: 0 votes.

Vote passed.

Same here with the Mines level, unfortunately.

Exploring that one, I found two unrelated oddities that I can't seem to find any use for. I might as well share those too.

One, riding the second minecart all the way to the end, and holding Down+Jump as Harry is recovering from the wall splat, allows you to crawl through the wall. Sadly, the floor seems to end sooner than we can stand up:

Two, I'm not sure what's happening here. Either the exit triggers for the doors are tied to the camera position, or crawling backwards and standing up shifts Harry's X position to the right past the exit trigger. But we can get inside practically every door in the game by crawling backwards up to the exit trigger and standing up: