Hi guys! Ever since I came to pop1-snes on this website, I've been grinding away at best possible times for each individual level with the glitched sprites that allow running or jumping through closed gates.

Two weeks ago, I made the last big update to one of the levels that gave me a projected time below 23 minutes, including glitch setup, and completing all 20 levels start to finish without any Warping to skip any portion of any level.

In celebration, I've made a compilation video of every level segment. I have calculated an average best transition time of 346 console frames for the short transitions, and 440 console frames for the long transitions (with a Princess Bedroom scene). This is counting from the first frame of the Select Menu during the "end of level" music until the first frame of the next level.

Adding up all the 346's and 440's, and best times for each segment (glitch setups and full levels), the projection sits at 82,927 console frames = 22:59​.8442. The compilation video (link to youtube below) tracked the transition times as closely as possible, and the final time comes in at 22:59.9167, a few frames slower, but safely under the 23 minute mark.

I will be spending the foreseeable future grinding out an official speedrun following this route, and hope to get something around 23:15 - 23:25. Even with no mistakes, microscopic inaccuracies add up very quickly, so I would consider anything under 23:15 to be absolutely incredible, once in a lifetime.

If I'm able to do this, I might want to have a discussion with the MODs about making some slight changes to the categories, so this route can fit in somewhere. After all, it will be the fastest possible way to beat all 20 levels without Warping! But we can save that discussion for another day. For now, enjoy this cool video!

"22:59​.8442"

This simple compilation video was made up of previously uploaded segments, that were already available on my youtube channel. The original recordings were in 1080p60, and the top quality of the youtube videos is 1080p60. But for this compilation, I decided to use the 720p60 versions of the clips, which were auto-generated by youtube during the processing phase of the upload.

Therefore, if you want a closer look at any particular segment, all of them are available in full 1080p60, and much better overall quality, collected into this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2IdN8AnNyUS4Utl0kWUlqklDLk-rcKxS

One important note: for the Level 16 video on that playlist, 1080p60 plays perfectly with no video corruption or playback issues. However, if you manually adjust the quality setting to 720p60, you will find an unfortunate corrupted section, from about 0:41 - 0:47, where video playback is temporarily disrupted, and video data has been corrupted and lost during those few seconds. This corruption was created by YouTube, and I didn't notice it until after I went to the trouble of making this whole thing. So, the same video corruption is present in this compilation video, although the audio continues to play without interruption. (This happens at about 18:11 - 18:16.) After a few seconds, the video continues with no further issues.

I may go back and redo this project later. But for now, this one sufficiently and conveniently demonstrates the full route as it would appear in a real run.

Update: The new projection is all the way down to 22:33.50425, thanks to massive saves on Levels 3, 16, and 19, with Wall Clips! They're similar to Gate Skipping. With the right spacing, timing, and inputs, you can run or jump through a 1-unit wall if you have gate skipping glitch unlocked. In the case of these 3 levels, the route was significantly improved by allowing these clips. For those interested in checking them out, here's the direct links: Level 03 -- Level 16 -- Level 19 --

I'll be reexamining the GT1 setup next. Challenger found several different ways of getting this sprite set. Some are a bit faster, but hard to tell whether they can be applied to this route until I do some further research. I expect some 10 seconds may be coming off. If so, the projection will dip below 22:30!

ok! it took long enough, but I got some better video editing software, and finally put together a better compilation video in 1080p60, to include the wall-clip improvements from levels 3, 16, and 19. The splices aren't exact, but are within a second or two of each level transition. I still have to work on improving the GT1 setup at the beginning of the run. Once that's been done (which may save up to 10 seconds), the next compilation video will more precisely replicate real speedrun timing during level transitions, as was done with the previous video.

Youtube description includes accounting for each level + level transition.

81,344 console frames = 22:33.5042494984243.

Hello all. So, if you guys have been following this particular thread, you know that I've been working for a long time on this concept for a "Warpless" Any%, where any glitches can be used, as long as all 20 levels are completed. As my individual level runs have been perfected, I've been steadily bringing down the projected completion time for a theoretically perfect human run of this proposed category. The one hold up was that, for a long time, I never did put together a complete run that I was satisfied with. Part of it is my perfectionist mentality, and also having wanted to demonstrate all of the main important tricks in a single run.

However, today, I came across a perfectly suitable run that I performed in April of 2020, some 3 months after I originally proposed the category in another thread.

I think that for the time being, I'm no longer majorly concerned about waiting until a flawless run comes along before submitting it, mainly because all of the important tricks are now well documented here in this thread, especially with the new Compilation video I posted here in the previous post, above.

So, I would like to submit this 2020 speedrun for the new category. My previous category recommendations had been based on some obsolete ideas. Now, I think it's best for the two main glitch categories to be distinguished by Warp vs No Warp. (Warpless).

This translates the best with other games -- trying to reach the end as quickly as possible, vs. trying to beat every level as quickly as possible.

At present, this can all be executed by moving all of the "no gate skip" runs into the main glitch category, which is called "Any%." This would allow my 11 minute run to be obsoleted, in favor of my 7 minute run. I would change the main competitive category name from "Any% (No Warp)" to "Any% (NMG)." [No Major Glitches, as per GMP's suggestion.] I think this label is more clear, as the intention is to bar any type of exit glitch, regardless of its effect. Not all glitches are specifically used for "warping," so calling them all "Warp Glitches" isn't exactly accurate. And "NMG" allows for acceptable minor glitches, generally associated with guard fights.

In short, I think these should be the current categories:

• a main Glitchless category called "Any% (NMG)", for all of the classic competitive speedruns;

• an "Any%" glitch category for beating the game as fast as possible with the use of Exit Glitches (including warping to skip levels);

• an "Any% (Warpless)" category for using Exit Glitches to beat All 20 Levels faster than the classic glitchless category.

I think this would clear things up considerably, and is the best focus for the various speedrun types. Of course, once the 100% routes are figured out, those categories can be added as well, as variations of the "100%" label.

Here's a link to my "Any% (Warpless)" Speedrun, recorded on April 22nd, 2020, and completed in 84,832 console frames = 23:31.54200055873. A brief level by level commentary will be provided in the YouTube description.

If the MODs will consider my category proposals, please let me know when things might be updated, so that I can go ahead and submit this run for the new "Any% (Warpless)" category.

We are not using the term "glitchless" in any of the PoP games, so probably "No Major Glitchless" (NMG for short) will be used.

Ah, ok. That makes sense. I think that's a bit more accurate too, since Guard skipping might be considered a "minor" glitch.

• "Any% (NMG)"
• "Any%"
• "Any% (Warpless)"

That looks good.

For the rules, the main distinction between "Any%" and "Any% (Warpless)" would be that "Any% (Warpless)" requires the player to complete each of the 20 levels during the run. Otherwise, both categories can use any Exit Glitches for Sprite Manipulation & Kill Button activation.

Also for "Any% (Warpless)," Warping is not specifically banned in the sense that you can temporarily warp as part of a glitch combo. It just won't be used to skip levels, since each individual level must be completed during the run.

And as I mentioned previously, I think Skinomarsh & Zotmeister's Warp-8 runs should be merged into the "Any%" category, and the distinction between gate skipping or no gate skipping should be discontinued. Especially now that Challenger has demonstrated that Gate Skipping can be done in the context of "minor" glitches (using a Guard Fight to bump you through).

Bumping for MODs! :O