Georgia, USAHi there!
I've been interested in possibly trying to run this game, though I noticed all the runs uploaded seem to be for the Easy mode. Is there category options for runs on Normal or Hard?
If there is already and I just overlooked it, apologies in advance! :P
Oh, thank you very much! And yeah! I believe the game could definitely be pushed to an eventually sub 1:10, I can see plenty of places still that there's probably some way to skip or make faster, so any stuff you or anyone finds is great! :D
Strats Update!
-- Faster Sanji -- [pending, uncertain of consistency] A couple folks (myself included) tend to go back to 1-1 right before fighting Smoker so they can grab Sanji to make the final boss more survivable. I need to test it more, but it looks like you can go back to Arlong's fight instead, then immediately exit out of the stage and that will let you still keep Sanji as well. Much faster than getting him in 1-1. [EDIT: Testing again, it doesn't seem to be consistent. On a regular Any% I couldn't get it work. Sometimes it worked on a All Powers run, sometimes it didn't. Will have to investigate further.]
-- More Kuro Strats -- In the Kuro fight, tapping the attack button constantly almost stunlocks the boss. Like, instead of hitting attack fast enough to activate GG Gatling, just tap it in rhythm so that you're only doing the first punch animation, over and over and over. Kuro can still dash or jump out of this attack, but it's a constant barrage of damage easy to put him right back into the almost-stunlock. Plus, instead of falling down and having to wait for his animation to get back so you can keep attacking him, he will occasionally "fall" away from you, but immediately be back in his standing position, letting you get right back to attacking. UPDATE: A similar version of the strat is fairly effective on Buggy (after hitting his head first of course) and Gin. In Buggy's case it's effective for skipping a lot of his leg spin attacks entirely.
-- 5-2 Brawl Skip -- Right after some of the ice platforms and a rope across a big pit, there's a Chuu encounter next to a Rocket pole. As soon as he appears, ignore him and jump/Rocket up, and you can easily completely skip the Brawl that appears right after Chuu leaves. Be careful if Chuu does a 3-way shot, since it can delay you or knock you off the platform and cause the Brawl to happen anyway.
-- GG Pistol Control -- I don't know if this has a practical application to a speedrun yet, but I haven't seen this listed anywhere and only recently found out about it myself (apologies if other runners were already aware). When doing GG Pistol (the Hold Down+B move), right before releasing B you can press Up or Forward+Up to change the direction of the attack. Using regular GG Pistol in 1st Phase Arlong fight seems to work well, so it's possible being able to control it could have applications.
(New to the site, hope it's ok to make another thread so soon, it seemed fitting to separate the discussions.)
Anyway! I'm not quite at the point of being ready to submit a video for a run, but I've practicing on a different category idea that I think is interesting. This was inspired when I discovered the near-invincibility trick with GG Spear (talked about that in another thread).
You get GG Spear pretty late in the game, I believe after you defeat Don Krieg. So my proposal is an All Powers run, playing through an already beaten file, all stages with all of Luffy's powers unlocked. If you have all 5 Super Meters unlocked, you have all powers unlocked. This also makes an interesting run just for having more Supers and health from the beginning of the game.
Proposed rules and versions:
-- All Powers (Correct Order) With all powers unlocked, play through all stages in order as you would on Any%. Since you can't pick "Normal" doing this as you would for Any%, timer starts when you select the first stage. Timer ends when you land on the boat after the Smoker fight.
-- All Powers (Any Order) With all powers unlocked, play through all stages in any order, as long as Smoker (6-3) is the final stage. Start timer when you pick stage, end timer when you land on the boat after the Smoker fight.
Hey! New to speedrunning and to this site. I'm not sure how active any community is for this particular game, but I had a few things I found recently when trying to speedrun the game and wanted to share them.
I don't think I've seen any of these in the submitted runs (but if they are, oops :P ).
-- Kuro Boss Fight (Area 3-3) -- When Kuro is performing Shakushi (the super fast dashing he does partway through the fight), using Luffy's R-button Grab on Kuro does a LOT of damage to the boss. It doesn't have to be super accurate, and seems to be able to hit him even if you can't fully see him while he's moving. I've used it to end the fight several time, it's very consistent.
-- GG Spear Tricks -- There is a lot of stuff you can do with GG Spear (jump, then Down+B). There's a few spots you can sometimes gain a tiny amount of height on, often better for ensuring you get enough distance for a longer jump or if trying to play it safe on tight jumps.
However, the bigger trick is that Luffy seems to be invincible for much of the move, especially the small flip animation he does after his legs retract. Most projectiles (bullets, bombs, knives, cannons) will hit you and just disappear entirely. I found this very useful in the Arlong Park stages. You can do GG Spear inside the giant teeth hazards and it's good way to consistently get through them safely.
Finding this out is also what inspired a new category idea, which I'll be posting in a new thread.
