PR2 Speedrunning Guide

[Master Raiden]

Welcome to the PR2 Speedrunning Guide!

Hello, Platform Racers!

In this guide, I'm going to share everything I know about speedrunning to help you shave precious seconds off your times, whether you are new to speedrunning or an experienced racer.

I have broken it down into the following sections:

• Fundamentals of Movement
  
• Using Items
  
• Blocks
  
• Optimizing Movement - Essentials
  
• Optimizing Movement - Timesavers
  
• Optimizing Movement - Advanced Timesavers
  
• Routing Levels
  
• Speedrun Analysis
  
• External Factors
  

Glitches and the use of Hats are not covered in this guide.

[Master Raiden]

Fundamentals of Movement

Although PR2 is a simple platformer, the way your movement works can be quite complex. In this section, I am going to dive into the details of movement to help you better understand the mechanics behind it.

Speed
The speed that you can travel is dependent on the frame rate of PR2. PR2 runs at 27 frames per second.
The slowest you can move is 1 pixel per frame while the fastest you can move is 28 pixels per frame which is the speed limit of PR2.
Blocks are 30 pixels wide, so this is equivalent to 0.9 to 25.2 blocks per second.

Your maximum running speed is determined by your Speed stat.
The formula for your speed is 2 + (Speed ÷ 10) pixels/frame, rounded to the nearest whole number.
With 0 speed, you will only be able to move at 2 pixels/frame.
With 100 speed, you will be able to move at 12 pixels/frame.

Because your speed is rounded, speeds ending in 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 all offer the same top speed. So you can save a few stat points by using 95-99 speed instead of 100.

An important detail to know is that you will take much longer to reach top speed when you use speeds ending in 5.
For example, your top speed will be 12 pixels/frame if you use 95 speed, but you will not reach that speed until you have fully accelerated to the maximum speed. This means you will be 1 pixel/frame slower for a few seconds, which is equivalent to using 86-94 speed. So using speeds ending in 5 is discouraged. You are better of spending an extra 1 or 2 stat points to avoid the delay.

Note that this does not happen if you are running to the left. Your top speed will remain 1 pixel/frame slower.

Acceleration
Acceleration controls how quickly you gain speed.
It also impacts your crawling speed and your speed in water. More on these later.

To avoid confusion, there are two different speeds to be aware of:
• Maximum Possible Speed - The fastest speed you can possibly run. Your top speed.
• Maximum Allowed Speed - The fastest speed you can run at the current moment.

While the Speed stat affects your Maximum Possible Speed, Acceleration determines how quickly you can change your Maximum Allowed Speed. When holding Left or Right, your Maximum Allowed Speed increases which results in your actual speed increasing. This is capped by your Maximum Possible Speed.

The more Acceleration you have, the faster your Maximum Allowed Speed increases.
It will drop if you let go of Left/Right, begin crawling or run into a block. In moments like these, you will slow down significantly and be required to accelerate up to speed again.

Interestingly, your Maximum Allowed Speed is not actually tied to your actual speed. It is possible to increase your Maximum Allowed Speed when you are not moving, and even when you are moving in the opposite direction. All you have to be doing is holding Left/Right while not running into any blocks
You can use this to your advantage to reduce the time it takes for you to reach top speed.

Acceleration - Examples

In the following examples, the player is using 100 Speed and 0 Acceleration.

1. The player stands on the Arrow Blocks and only begins moving left as they jump at the end. Because of their low acceleration, their movement is very slow and they fail to reach the finish with a single jump.

2. The player stands on the Arrow Blocks briefly before running to the left. By doing this, they are increasing their Maximum Allowed Speed towards the left. As they jump off the Arrow Blocks at the end, they are able to move much more quickly and reach top speed almost instantly since they have built up their Maximum Allowed Speed along the straight.

 

Jump
The maximum height that you can jump is determined by your Jump stat.
Using the right amount of Jump will allow you to easily perform perfect jumps onto blocks of a certain height which can save you a little bit of time.

Here's how many blocks you can jump up with the following jump stats (with 1.0 gravity):
0 – 1 block
11 – 2 blocks
29 – 3 blocks
44 – 4 blocks
56 – 5 blocks
66 – 6 blocks
77 – 7 blocks
86 – 8 blocks
95 – 9 blocks

Jumping up 4-6 blocks will be enough for most levels. I have rarely needed to use jump values outside that range.

With the above jump values, it takes slightly longer to reach the required height to jump up the number of blocks. So using a little more jump is recommended.

Personally, I use:
46 – 4 blocks
57 – 5 blocks
67 – 6 blocks

Super Jumping
Super jumping allows you to scale up to 13 blocks with a single jump.
The process of super jumping begins before you actually start charging the jump.

To begin charging a super jump, the Down key must be held for about 0.5 seconds (13 frames). You can use this time to continue moving and cover some distance before you come to a stop and begin charging.

You can use this knowledge to mark places in the level where you can start holding the Down key so that you charge your super jump at the perfect moment.

Try it for yourself:

Super Jumping - Quick Quiz

Starter Steps by kinx (5976844)
You have 60 speed and you want to start charging your super jump at the purple dot. When should you begin holding Down?

It takes about 1.4 seconds (39 frames) to fully charge a super jump. However, you do not actually need to charge fully to maximize your height. Releasing the super jump shortly (0.1 seconds/3 frames) before your player turns yellow can still launch you sky high.

Like with regular jumping, every frame that you spend charging a super jump will result in additional height. The smallest possible super jump is enough to get you over 1 block, while the highest super jump can propel you about 13.3 blocks high.

Falling
Holding the Down key while you are in the air will slow down your ascent and accelerate your falling. While your maximum falling speed does not change, accelerating your fall can help shave off time by allowing you to reach an area below you slightly quicker.

Low Jumping
Performing low jumps can add a level of precision to your movement, but they can be difficult to perform, especially if you have high jump stats.

This is where the Down key can also help.
Holding Up + Down together allows you to perform a jump roughly half as high as a standard jump.

Here's how many blocks you can jump up by holding Up + Down with the following jump stats (with 1.0 gravity):
15 – 1 block
46 – 2 blocks
67 – 3 blocks
87 – 4 blocks

Similar to normal jumping, you can still perform fairly decent jumps even if you have a little more jump than listed above.
For example, 20, 50, 70 and 90 jump all work pretty well.

Another way to reliably perform low jumps is to practice frame-based timing.
Your inputs (key presses) are recorded frame-by-frame and the height that you jump is determined by your jump stat and how many frames you held the Up key for, up to a limit.

Tapping the Up key for the shortest possible period of time would be a 1-frame jump. Tapping Up ever so slightly longer would be a 2-frame jump.

1-frame jumps will never be enough to jump up a single block regardless of how much jump you have, but they can be helpful for other things such as carrying speed into crawl spaces.
2-frame jumps allow you to easily perform a 1 block jump if you are using 44 to 67 jump.

Note that you can combine these two techniques together to make things a bit easier for yourself if your frame timing is not the best. My keyboard is not that good at doing 1-frame jumps, so instead, I do a 2-frame jump while holding the Down key to achieve the same result.

Controlling Speed
Holding the Left and Right keys together can allow you to control your speed more precisely.
By holding Left + Right, you will lose speed very slowly, much more so than letting go of the Left/Right key, and preserve momentum in the direction you are running.

This means you can make fine adjustments to your speed, and hence your position which can help shave off time.

Controlling Speed - Examples

1. Catacombs by look (1524183)
I hold Left + Right to slightly reduce my speed on the Up arrows so that I stick to them slightly longer, giving me the height I need to reach the platform.

2. Inertia by JGPrix (6338680)
To fall onto the arrow blocks without bumping into the wall on the right, I reduce my speed slightly by tapping Left + Right. In this instance, I was using a speed ending in 5, so only a very brief tap of the Left key was needed to reduce my speed.

 

Crawling
You begin crawling when you are sandwiched in a 1 block high gap. When crawling, your speed is reduced but you can limit your losses by using the right combination of speed and acceleration.

Your maximum crawling speed is determined by a combination of your acceleration and speed.

Here's how fast you can crawl with the following acceleration stats:
2 – 1 pixel/frame
29 – 2 pixels/frame
56 – 3 pixels/frame
83 – 4 pixels/frame

Your maximum crawling speed is 4 pixels/frame, which is equivalent to running with 15-24 speed.
Note that you cannot move at all if you have 0 or 1 acceleration.

Your crawling speed is further capped by your speed stat.
Take the lesser of your maximum running speed and your crawling speed based on acceleration, and that will be your maximum crawling speed.

For example, say you have 10 speed and 90 acceleration.
With 10 speed, you can run at 3 pixels/frame. With 90 acceleration, you can crawl at 4 pixels/frame.
The lower of these two is 3 pixels/frame, so that will end up being your maximum crawling speed.
Your speed won't make a difference to your crawling speed if you have 15 speed or more, so this won't really affect you in practice.

Swimming
Like crawling, swimming also relies heavily on acceleration. 
While swimming, your speed is entirely dependent on your acceleration.

Similar to running speed, you gain an extra pixel/frame of speed for approximately every 10 additional acceleration you have.
However, your speed in water is 1 pixel/frame slower. This means your minimum speed in water will be 1 pixel/frame, and your maximum speed will be 11 pixels/frame.

Swimming vs Running in Water

Swimming (left) vs Running (right)

          

Running in water is where your speed comes into play. Your maximum speed is a combination of speed and acceleration, capped at 9 pixels/frame. Like crawling, your maximum speed will be severely limited if either your speed or acceleration are too low. Because of this and the lower maximum speed, you are better off swimming in water instead.

[Master Raiden]

Using Items

Items can be a powerful asset in speedrunning if used correctly. In this section, I am going to explain how you can extract the maximum benefit from the various items available.

Speed Burst
The Speed Burst doubles your speed and acceleration for 5 glorious seconds. It is often better to use Speed Bursts as early as possible to increase your acceleration to top speed, and when your speed is highest, such as after bumping a Happy Block.

Note that changes to your speed and acceleration stats will not take effect if a Speed Burst is active at the time of change. They will be applied when the Speed Burst ends.

Super Jump
The Super Jump propels you upwards with a single explosion of thrust. Surprisingly, it is more powerful than a regular super jump. While a regular super jump can take you about 13.3 blocks high, using a Super Jump item while standing on the ground can take you about 14.5 blocks high (with 1.0 gravity).

This is because the Super Jump item increases your upwards speed by 26 pixels/frame whereas a regular super jump sets your speed to 24 pixels/frame (equivalent to 100 speed + speed burst).

You can combine the power of the super jump item with a regular jump to gain some extra height. Maximum height and upwards speed can be achieved by jumping and using the item at the same time.

Using the Super Jump item with a fully charged super jump can make you soar, but only if you use the item at the right moment. Given that the speed limit in PR2 is 28 pixels/frame, you will gain the most benefit from the Super Jump if your upward speed is 2 pixels/frame or less. Using a Super Jump item when you are already ascending quickly means you will not be utilizing the full power of the item.

With the right timing, you should be able to jump a whopping 32 blocks high!

Teleport
The teleport takes you 4 blocks to the right or left, depending on the direction you are facing.
You can teleport into water, safety nets and vanish blocks when they have vanished completely.

Its benefits are highly dependent on the level. Try to use it for skipping sections that cause you to slow down, or altering your trajectory to help you retain speed and save some time.

Teleport - Example

First Frontier by Twilan (5738275)
I use a Teleport to move myself to the right more quickly so that I can carry my upwards speed from one shaft to the other.

Sword
Using a Sword gives you a slight speed boost in the direction you are facing and helps accelerate you to top speed more quickly. Because of this, it is often a good idea to use a Sword immediately after changing direction or accelerating from a standstill.

The Sword can also be used to clear Bricks, Mines, Crumble Blocks and Vanish Blocks within 2 blocks of you.

After swinging your Sword, you must wait about 0.8 seconds (22 frames) before you can use it again.

Sword - Example

Wonderland by Levente77 (6260593)
The Sword is used to damage the crumbles block in addition to boosting the player's speed on the arrow blocks so that the crumble blocks can be broken instantly without any loss of speed.

Laser Gun
The Laser Gun also gives you a speed boost, only more powerful. It is also more effective than the Sword at helping you accelerate to top speed. However, it requires firing the laser in the opposite direction of travel.

The Laser Gun can clear Bricks, Mines, Crumble Blocks and Vanish Blocks up to 98 blocks away.
Lasers can also pass through water and safety nets.

After firing a laser, you must wait about 0.8 seconds (22 frames) before you can fire another one.

Laser Gun - Example

[Expert] Volcanic Inferno by Pounce (5396064)
I use the Laser Gun to give me the boost in speed I need to go over the mines. This allows me to save a bit of time as I skip what is probably the most frustrating part of the level – falling between the mines.

Ice Wave
The Ice Wave can be used to freeze a large number of blocks in the direction you are facing, up to 16 blocks away. When frozen, blocks allow you to retain your speed for a longer period of time, making places after a high speed section the ideal place to freeze. Examples of this are crawl spaces and blocks that follow arrow blocks.

Left and Right Arrow Blocks accelerate you much more quickly when frozen, so it can be beneficial to freeze them too.

The Ice Wave also unlocks a lot of potential new routes by allowing you to stand on blocks that you may otherwise not be able to. It can also buy you some valuable time on Vanish Blocks and Push Blocks which you can use to your advantage.

Frozen blocks remain frozen for about 5.4 seconds. The Ice Wave cannot re-freeze blocks that are already frozen.

Jetpack
The Jetpack increases your upwards speed, allowing you to jump higher, jump faster and hover in the air. It has enough fuel to propel you for about 7.4 seconds (200 frames).

Alone, it is not particularly effective at helping you scale blocks. It can only carry you upwards at a speed of 5 pixels/frame (with 1.0 gravity, equivalent to 30 speed). Combine the use of the Jetpack with a jump to fly upwards more quickly. You can maximize your upwards speed by using the Jetpack while jumping at the same time.

Jetpack Jumping Tips

Timing the use of the Jetpack with the exact moment you jump requires some precision. Using the Jetpack too early can either lift you into the air and prevent you from jumping, or alter your trajectory too much which may ruin your flow. Using it too late can cost you time, especially if you have a huge wall to scale.

Here are a some things you can do to make sure your Jetpack is providing you with thrust the moment you are jumping.

1. Start using your jetpack before you land
This will ensure that your Jetpack is active when you perform your jump. While it sacrifices a little bit of jetpack fuel, it means you will not be required to time your Jetpack use to the millisecond to achieve a perfect jetpack jump.

2. Fall faster
The faster you are falling, the more vertical room for error you will have. This means you can afford to use the jetpack well before you land on the block.

The images below depict the trajectory of a high speed fall (left) and a low speed fall (right). The green line illustrates the difference in height between the two extremes that still allow you to land on the block.
The room for error is much less in a low speed fall which means you will require more precision when applying your Jetpack or you may risk missing the block entirely.

          

Falling faster also means you will experience a smaller relative change in your falling speed when you use your Jetpack. For example, losing 1 pixel/frame of falling speed is a lot less significant if you are falling at 25 pixels/frame than if you were falling at 2 pixels/frame. This makes it easier to anticipate your position as you approach the block which can help you make more precise landings.

Jetpack - Example

Ice Land by justinbob100 (6115141)
I maximize my falling speed on the approach to the first block to make it easier for me to land on the right edge of it, giving me a trajectory where I can ascend with greater speed.

During the ascent, I tap the spacebar to slow myself down slightly to avoid hitting the nets. Ideally, I would have done a slightly smaller jump off the first block so that this deceleration wouldn't be necessary. Notice that my upwards speed drops significantly as I approach the top. This would not have happened if I were to keep my upwards speed more constant.

To perform my second jump, I make use of the gap between the ice blocks. To maximize my upwards speed, I begin using the Jetpack while I am still crossing the gap so that as I jump off the next ice block, my Jetpack is already providing the thrust I need to jump as quickly as possible.

Conserving the Jetpack's fuel can allow you to fly higher and hover for longer. This can be done by tapping the spacebar quickly. As long as you don't lose too much upwards speed when you release the spacebar, you should be able to go higher and further with the same amount of Jetpack fuel.

Mine
Although it was originally intended as a weapon to harm your opponents, the Mine can actually be used to help you shave time off your runs. Apart from glitching through blocks, you can use Mine's powerful explosion to propel yourself in any direction.
It takes about 1.4 seconds for a placed Mine to become active.

Landing on top of a Mine will launch you 19 blocks high.
Running into a Mine will launch you 8 blocks to the side and 11 blocks up.

The exact direction you are launched in depends on the pixel of the Mine that you made contact with.
Landing perfectly on top of a Mine will propel you directly upwards.
Landing on a Mine, but slightly to the right will launch you upwards and to the right by a small amount.

Note that the direction you are thrown will differ based on how you are rotated.

Mine - Example

[Expert] Volcanic Inferno by Pounce (5396064)
This genius shortcut utilizes a Mine to launch the player above the wall of vanish blocks, saving them a huge chunk of time.

[Master Raiden]

Blocks

Blocks are what stand between you and victory. Understanding the properties of the different types of blocks will allow you to take advantage of them and help you get through levels more quickly.

In this section, I will uncover the inner workings of various blocks relevant to speedrunning and how you can use them to gain an edge in your runs.

Vanish Block
Vanish Blocks disappear momentarily when touched by a player, sliced with a sword, or hit with a laser.

The Vanish Block is a dynamic block that consists of three phases – the Vanishing Phase, the Invisible Phase and the Regeneration Phase.

The Vanishing Phase begins when the block is touched. It takes about 0.4 seconds (10 frames) to disappear completely.
Then the Invisible Phase will start. The block will disappear completely for 2 seconds (54 frames) before it begins to re-appear.
Then the Regeneration Phase begins. The block takes another 0.4 seconds (10 frames) to fully regenerate.
Note that during the Vanishing and Regeneration phases, the Vanish Block is still solid.

Touching a Vanish Block while it is regenerating will cause it to begin vanishing from its current state.
For example, if a Vanish block has been regenerating for 0.1 seconds (3 frames), touching it will cause it to vanish completely in 0.1 seconds (3 frames).

A Vanish Block will not re-appear if you are occupying its space. If you are in the way when its 2 second Invisible Phase ends, another 2 second Invisible Phase will begin. Only when you vacate the space will it finally begin regenerating at the end of its current Invisible Phase.

Because of this, it can be better to remain patient as you wait for a Vanish Block to re-appear. While you can try timing your movement to stand on the block as soon as it starts regenerating, a failed attempt means you could be waiting up to 2 additional seconds for its next Invisible Phase to end.

An interesting property of the Vanish Block is that it can be frozen with an Ice Wave even if it has vanished completely and will immediately become solid again, although not visible.

Crumble Block
Crumble Blocks can be destroyed with repeated hits from players, swords and lasers.

A Crumble Block has 10 health which means it can sustain a maximum of 10 hits before it is destroyed.
Ideally, you would deal 10 damage at once to instantly destroy the Crumble Block and prevent it from slowing you down.

The damage you deal to a Crumble Block on impact is based on your speed. The faster you are going, the more damage you can do.
Here's what Speed you need to deal the following amounts of damage to a Crumble Block:
1 – 1 damage 
23 – 2 damage
46 – 3 damage
69 – 4 damage
92 – 5 damage
116 (48 with Speed Burst) – 6 damage
138 (59 with Speed Burst) – 7 damage
162 (71 with Speed Burst) – 8 damage
184 (82 with Speed Burst) – 9 damage
208 (94 with Speed Burst) – 10 damage

You can increase your speed and the damage you deliver by boosting yourself with a sword or laser gun. Since your speed is highest at the moment you use these items, it is best to use them as late as possible.
A well-timed shot from a Laser Gun can allow you to destroy a Crumble Block instantly with as little as 69 speed.

When crawling, you can only deal 1 damage to a Crumble Block. However, you must have at least 1 Speed and 43 Acceleration.
To instantly destroy a Crumble Block from above, you will need to be falling from at least 5.5 blocks above, equivalent to 62 jump (with 1.0 gravity).
Crumble Blocks cannot be destroyed in a single hit from below regardless of your upwards speed.
Hitting a Crumble Block with a sword or laser will deal 1 damage.

To tell how much damage you have dealt to a Crumble Block, look for the pieces of rock that come out of it when you hit it. Two pieces will come out for every unit of damage dealt.

Crumble Blocks can still be damaged and destroyed when frozen with an Ice Wave.

When falling at high speeds, you will smash through Crumble Blocks instantly.
However, despite getting destroyed in a single hit, Crumble Blocks can be used to slow down your fall.
Since jumping increases your upwards speed, you can hold Up as you break through the Crumble Blocks to reduce your falling speed. The more jump you have, the quicker you will slow down. Eventually, you will slow down enough to stop your fall entirely.

Falling through Crumble Blocks - Example

Portal Temple by justinbob100 (6376626)
I hold Up as I plummet through the Crumble Blocks, stopping my fall so that I can begin moving left immediately, saving me a bit of time.

Interestingly, Crumble Blocks can be strengthened.
By holding Up as you are crawling under a Crumble Block while on a Down Arrow Block, the Crumble Block gains 2 health per frame. There does not appear to be a limit to how much health it can have.

ㅤ
Mine

A Mine block behaves exactly the same as a placed Mine item.

Using existing Mines to shorten speedruns is far more common than using placed Mine items not only because of the places where Mines can be found in levels, but also because there is no time lost in placing the Mine.

The combination of Mines and Water is powerful and can allow you to benefit from the Mine's explosive boost without getting stunned. Hitting a Mine while you are swimming (not running) in water will prevent you from being stunned. However, you must hit it in the right way.

Touching a Mine from above and below will always allow you to get away unharmed.
But if you are approaching the Mine from the side, be sure to hit the Mine with your body, not your head.
If you hit a Mine from the side with your head, you will get stunned.

Hitting Mine with Body vs Head

You can judge whether you are going to hit the mine with your body or head based on the water blocks that you occupy.
The left image shows an imminent collision with the body while the right image shows one with the head.

          

Mine and Water - Examples

1. Zenolyth by suicide idiot bomber (6323268)
The Mine is used to give the player a considerable upwards boost, allowing them to skip two jumps on their way to the top.

2. Perfect Storm by Colind (6202240)
I use the Mine to boost myself to the left. While this only saves a little bit of time, the main advantage of this move comes from removing the Mine. Later on in the run, I will be able to speed to the Rotate Block much more quickly since the Mine is gone.

 

ㅤ
Safety Net
The Safety Net is a block that takes you back to the last safe block you touched.
It is a non-solid block. This means Hats, Alien Eggs and Lasers can pass through it, and players are unable to stand on them. Its hitbox is also slightly smaller than that of regular, solid blocks.

Your speed is reset when you hit a Safety Net, although your acceleration to top speed is not.
This means you can use them to quickly slow yourself down which can help with controlling your movements at high speed areas.

Slowing Down with Safety Nets - Example

Salad by makie98 (5880537)
The high speed arrow section is followed by a tight jumping area surfaced with Ice Blocks and followed with Mines. I jump into the nets just before the end to reduce my speed so that I can easily make it into the column of water.

Safety Nets can also allow you to move back to a certain block in a shorter time than it would take to run there. They can be used as a form of teleportation to help optimize your runs.

Resetting with Safety Nets - Examples

1. The Time Machine by Sanzep (5981302)
The player uses the Safety Nets to reset them to the Arrow Block from which they can quickly collect the item while maintaining their momentum to the right.

2. Rage 2! by good job man (6500659)
After I get the item, I hit the Safety Nets immediately afterwards without touching the basic block, allowing me to instantly go back to the water, saving me some time.

 

Safety Nets can also be used to reduce your stun period after hitting Mines which can reduce the time lost from hitting Mines and allow you to regain control of your movement much more quickly.

When you are hit with a Sword, Laser, Lightning or Mine, you will be stunned and unable to move for about 2.2 seconds (60 frames). Hitting a Safety Net prior to being stunned will reduce the amount of time until you regain control.

When you hit a Safety Net, your player will begin flashing. During this period, your stun "timer" is counting down. If you are stunned during this period, your stun will end when your player stops flashing. Your player will flash 8 times before the timer ends, so you can use this to time your movement into a Mine to minimize your stun time.

Safety Nets and Mines - Example

Time of Death by makie98 (6421975)
I touch the Safety Nets below the water to start my stun timer. This allows me to run through the Mines without getting stunned, taking a shorter path and saving some time.

ㅤ
Ice Block
Ice Blocks preserve your momentum when you are standing on them. They slow down your acceleration, but also slow down your deceleration.

Accelerating while in contact with an Ice Block will cost you time. If you need to gain speed, jump so that the Ice Block can't hold you back.
When you are travelling at speed, Ice Blocks can help you retain your speed for longer. When you approach a section with Ice Blocks, try to carry as much speed as possible onto them. This is particularly helpful in crawl spaces.

Boosting yourself with a Sword or Laser Gun is also far more powerful when done on Ice Blocks.

[Master Raiden]

Water Block
Like Ice Blocks, Water Blocks can also preserve your speed for longer.
As a result, it is more beneficial to use swords and laser guns while in water.

Like Safety Nets, Water Blocks are also non-solid blocks.
Hats, Alien Eggs and Lasers can pass through water, and players are unable to stand on them.
Its hitbox is also slightly smaller than that of regular, solid blocks.

Despite being non-solid, you are still able to jump off Water Blocks.
Jumping out of a Water Block will result in a jump about 1/4 the height of a standard jump. You can gain extra height by combining the jump with upwards speed.

An interesting property of Water Blocks is that your player is not affected by gravity while swimming (not running) in water.
Being in Water Blocks will cause you to fall slowly, at a rate of 2 pixels/frame (equivalent to 0 speed). This has implications to your vertical swimming speed.

Because of this, your maximum upwards swimming speed will be reduced by 2 pixels/frame while your downwards swimming speed is increased by 2 pixels/frame.
This means that it is not possible to swim upwards if your acceleration is too low.

Item Block
Item Blocks allow you to obtain a new item.

In speedrunning, the primary benefit is that they can be used to instantly recharge items such as Swords and Laser Guns, allowing you to skip the cooldown between uses.

Item Block - Example

Push Puzzle2 by moslof (2452477)
The Item Block is bumped repeatedly, allowing the player to destroy the bricks more quickly while also saving some sword uses for later.

ㅤ
Arrow Block
Arrow Blocks push you in the direction they point.

Arrow Blocks are capable of taking you to the maximum allowed speed — 28 pixels/frame. They also accelerate you more quickly if they are frozen, or if you are in water.

Bouncing on an Up Arrow Block will take you about 2.3 blocks high (with 1.0 gravity, equivalent to 20 jump)
Jumping on an Up Arrow Block can vastly increase your height.
With 0 jump, you can launch yourself 8 blocks high.
Every additional 8-9 jump will allow you to go one block higher.

Using a Super Jump item while jumping on an Up Arrow Block allows you to make some of the highest jumps possible.
The timing of the Super Jump item is similar to when using it with a super jump. It is best to use the item when your upwards speed is 2 pixels/frame or less.

Normally, the Up Arrow Block will launch you upwards the moment you set foot on it. However, this is not the case when approaching one from a crawl.
In such cases, it takes an extra frame for the Up Arrow to begin hoisting you into the air. This means you are able to jump freely if you jump within the first frame of contact.

Crawling onto Up Arrows - Example

Smog by Kwing (5821108)
The player performs a tiny jump the moment they touch the Up Arrow Block which allows them to avoid three Sad Blocks.

When sticking to Up Arrow Blocks, Water Blocks can help you achieve more height.
When holding Up as you leave an Up Arrow Block, your upwards speed will be combined with your upwards speed from jumping off the Water Block.

          

Rotate Block
Rotate Blocks rotate the level in the direction the arrow points.
Rotation occurs around the feet of the player and takes 1.1 seconds (30 frames) to complete.

Given that blocks are 30 pixels wide, you can pick a point on the Rotate Block to bump so that you resume from a favorable position after the rotate is complete.

Rotate Block - Example

Time's Up by December 2012 (6025049)
By bumping the right edge of the Rotate Block, I rotate directly onto the upper platform, avoiding the need to fall down to the lower platform and jump from there.

An interesting thing about rotation is that if you are stunned or frozen by an Ice Wave, the stun and frozen effect will end when the rotation completes.

[Master Raiden]

Optimizing Movement - Essentials

Optimized movement is what separates great speedrunners from truly outstanding speedrunners. It can be surprising to see how much time you can lose with a few minor imperfections. In this section, I am going to share some simple tips and things you should aim to do in your speedruns.

Conserving Speed
Finding ways to retain as much speed as possible will help you shave off quite a lot of time.
In an ideal world, you would run non-stop to the finish at top speed. 

But since there are blocks in the way, they can slow you down. Running into blocks instantly brings you to a standstill and you will have to accelerate from zero again. If you have high speed and low acceleration, this can cost you a lot of time. 
Try to jump and land on blocks that allow you to clear other blocks without needing to slow down, and if you must slow down, slow down as little as you can get away with. Any speed you maintain is speed you will not have to spend time regaining.

Try to also carry as much speed into crawl spaces as you can. Head glitching into them or giving yourself a run-up will allow you to get through crawl spaces much more quickly.

Conserving Speed in Crawling - Examples

1. Deception by skulljunn10 (6371452)
I perform a series of jumps to head glitch past the hanging blocks, maximizing my speed and getting through the section with only a very brief moment of crawling.

2. Maze race by Firefight (2663352)
The player stops for a brief moment to perform a low jump, allowing them to carry speed into the crawl space as they head glitch through multiple blocks. If the surface were Ice Blocks, this would have been even more effective.

 

Acting Early
Doing things to allow yourself to begin moving as early as possible will help you shave off little bits of time. The opportunities for this are abundant in almost all levels, and when executed consistently, the results can be quite significant.

Accelerating – Accelerating early means you can build up speed sooner and carry that speed until the next obstacle. This is particularly powerful if you have high speed and low acceleration.
To begin accelerating early, you need to position yourself so that you can begin moving as soon as possible.
This will be as far from the clipping point as possible.

The clipping point (red dot) is the inside of the corner that you are going around and is the point you should aim to pass closest to. Start from the outside, then begin moving in as soon as you can, with as much speed as you can.

Early Acceleration - Examples

1. Orion by TRUC (6217028)
I move over to the left to give myself as much space to accelerate as possible. While the timing of this is difficult to get right, I managed to accelerate for about 1 second before reaching the clipping point which means I would reach top speed about 1 second earlier than if I had just stuck to the wall on the right.

2. Toast by Beta Tester (6286003)
I jump as high as possible to distance myself from the clipping point before beginning a high speed fall. The speed I build up before reaching the clipping point allows me to fall all the way to the bottom without needing to slow down to avoid bumping into the wall on the right, saving me some time.

 

Bumping Blocks – Blocks are 30 pixels wide which means you can gain or lose a bit of time depending on where you hit blocks. Bumping dynamic and destructible blocks such as Vanish Blocks, Push Blocks, Crumble Blocks and Bricks as early as possible can save you a little bit of time. 

You will also benefit from boosting yourself on Arrow Blocks as early as possible.

Bumping Blocks Early - Example

Mission: Disappearance by cooldude90 (5760221)
Instead of bumping the Vanish Block directly above the block I land on, I bump the one to the left of it. Not only does this mean I can make it begin vanishing slightly earlier, but I can also start moving left a bit earlier after it has vanished which will save me some time.

Using Items – Items that boost your speed and acceleration such as Swords, Laser Guns and Speed Bursts should be used as early as possible so that their benefits are realized sooner and carried for longer. Like accelerating early, this is particularly important if you have low acceleration, or are using a speed ending in 5.

Reducing to a Single Motion
Doing things with one motion instead of multiple motions can save you time. This often pertains to jumping where fewer jumps are performed to achieve a result.

This can be in scenarios where a Vanish Block or Brick is removed with a single jump instead of with two or more jumps.

Single Motion - Example

Mario Bros Speed by zerostar(oO) (4976738)
Instead of making a jump to the higher brick platform prior to bumping the Item Block, the player collects the item with a single jump from the lower platform.

This allows them to do two things with their jump: 
1. Cover some distance and clear the higher brick platform
2. Obtain another Speed Burst item

They also forgo the need to slow down when bumping the Item Block which saves them even more time. 
This was a key technique to achieving sub-34 second times on Mario Bros Speed.

Multiple Motions - Example

From the lower platform, the player makes a total of 3 jumps compared to the single jump in the above example.
Their jump from the lower platform only achieved one thing - covering distance and getting on top of the higher platform
Their second jump also achieved one thing - collecting the Speed Burst
Their third jump also achieved one thing - covering more distance

[Master Raiden]

Moving Diagonally
Your horizontal and vertical speeds are independent which means your horizontal speed is not affected if you are also moving vertically. Because of this, you can cross diagonals in the same amount of time as it takes to move horizontally or vertically by the same amount which allows you to cover more distance in the same timeframe.

Diagonal vs Horizontal Movement - Illustration

The paths to the lower (Red arrow) and upper (Black arrow) Finish Blocks are shown. The lower Finish Block is closer to the starting point than the upper Finish Block, however, both can be reached in same amount of time.

Diagonal vs Horizontal Movement - Example

~Fantasy World~ by gerben (6134067)
Jumping as early as possible to break the brick (Red arrow) is faster than waiting until you reach the Arrow Block (White arrow).
Since the Brick and Arrow Block are in the same vertical column, a player running to the right will be able to reach both of them in the same amount of time. Following the Red arrow will allow them to break the Brick while a player following the White arrow will have only just begun their ascent to the Brick.

Moving diagonally is essentially the combination of two movements at once, one horizontal and one vertical.
If you stop moving diagonally, that means you have stopped moving in at least one direction which can cost you time.

Breaking Down Diagonal Movement

Perfect Storm by Colind (6202240)
Depicted below are a perfect diagonal fall (left), moving too far to the right (middle) and falling too far down (right).
The White arrows show where movement is ideal and the Red arrows show where time is being lost.

  

Since the crawl space is below and to the right, it is best to move downwards and to the right as quickly as possible without slowing down or stopping in either direction. This is what a perfect diagonal fall achieves.

Moving too far to the right does not save time since there will still be some downwards distance to cover.
Falling too quickly does not save time either since there will still be some horizontal distance to cover.
So a balance must be made so that neither direction is required to slow down too much.

Knowing Your Direction
Knowing which direction you need to be moving in, and optimizing your movement to allow yourself to begin moving in that direction as early as possible will smoothen your run and save you some time.

Levels are often not completely straightforward. There will be jumps that you have to make, drops that you have to fall down, and switches in direction.

Because of this, a balanced application of the previous tips may be required to achieve the optimal result.

Balancing Speed Conservation with Early Acceleration

The Time Machine by Sanzep (5981302)
In this part of the level, the player must fall down a narrow section, then continue moving right.

On the left is an image illustrating the two key clipping points. The upper point is the one that a player must pass before they can fall into the gap. The lower point is the one that a player must pass before they can begin moving right. How do you optimize your speed for two different clipping points?

The middle image depicts a trajectory optimizing speed past the first clipping point. By performing a high jump, the player can begin accelerating downwards earlier and maximize their downwards speed. However, due to the tightness of this section, falling quickly makes it difficult or even impossible to avoid the lower block, so the speed cannot be conserved. The player will lose all their downwards speed temporarily before falling slowly again past the second clipping point.

The right image shows a more balanced trajectory. By performing a smaller jump, the player falls more slowly, but they are able to conserve their speed and carry it all the way to the bottom.

Ultimately, what matters most in this particular scenario is how quickly you can pass the second clipping point and begin moving right. Maximizing speed past the first clipping point does not achieve much unless it also helps you pass the next clipping point more quickly. So the direction of movement that should be optimized in this case is movement to the right, and that can be achieved by sacrificing a bit of downwards speed.

  

[Master Raiden]

Optimizing Movement - Timesavers

Depending on the level, your opportunities to implement optimizations will vary. While the tips in the Essentials section can be applied to almost any level, there are some specific situations where you can extract even more time out of your runs. In this section, I will be exploring some of these and showing you some tricks you can employ to take your speedrunning to the next level. 

Running Over Gaps
Running over gaps between blocks does not exactly save you any time, but it can be a good practice when speedrunning since it allows you to stay on the ground and jump whenever you want.

Your ability to run over gaps between blocks depends on your speed.

Here's the size of the gaps you can run over with the following speed:
56 – 1 block gap
126 (53 with Speed Burst) – 2 block gap
206 (93 with Speed Burst) – 3 block gap

Head Bumping
Bumping your head on blocks allows you instantly stop your ascent and increase your falling speed. The harder you hit your head, the faster you will fall. Because of this, head bumping is usually done when blocks are not very far above you.

You can also bump blocks that are slightly below head height. This can jolt you downwards which can allow you to descend even more quickly.

To make the most of head bumping, jump as hard as you can and begin holding Down as you bump your head. Holding Up and Down together to perform the head bump can be helpful if you are bumping a very low ceiling since it eliminates the need to time your Down key press.

Head Bumping - Examples

1. Maze race by Firefight (2663352)
The player bumps their head to accelerate their first fall. Then they bump their head again to fall cleanly through two gaps without needing to slow down.

2. Toast by Beta Tester (6286003)
I bump my head into the red basic blocks below head height to descend more quickly. With the right speed, I was able to chain two head bumps together. Bumping the first red block lowered me to the basic block almost immediately which meant I could jump off it and bump into the next red block with almost no delay.

 

Bouncing off Blocks in Water
You can increase your upwards swimming speed and optimize the path you take in water by taking advantage of the blocks at the bottom.

Since your acceleration is reduced in water, touching the blocks at the bottom can save you some time by allowing you to instantly stop your descent and immediately begin swimming upwards.
Additionally, you can gain a small boost as you jump off the blocks. The more Jump you have, the larger your boost will be.

Jumping In and Out of Water
Since jumping out of Water Blocks combines your upwards speed with a portion of your jump, you can vastly increase your upwards speed by jumping in and out of multiple Water Blocks and chaining the effect.

Jumping In and Out of Water - Example

1. Rage! by good job man (6148606)
I jump out of the first column of water prematurely so that I can re-enter it with greater speed and carry more upwards speed as I exit the top Water Block. This allows me to leap all the way up to the platform above without needing to swim up the second column of water.

2. Square by Fresh Cookies (6326984)
The player charges a super jump in the water, then releases it by entering the space beneath the top Water Block. Not only does this mean they can unleash their super jump earlier, but it also allows them to carry more speed into the top Water Block as well as gain another boost as they jump out of it which helps them reach the platform without needing to spend much time charging their super jump.

 

Running Out of Water
When exiting water, you lose all your speed for a brief moment, similar to running into a block, meaning that you will have to accelerate back up to speed as if you had stopped moving. If you have low acceleration, this can be very costly, but there is a way to avoid this.

Keeping your feet on the ground when exiting water allows you to avoid losing your speed. Since running in water is slower than swimming, it is best to touch the ground just as you are about to exit the water to minimize your losses.

Running Out of Water - Example

Starter Steps by kinx (5976844)
I touch the ground just before I reach the end of the water section so that I retain my speed upon exiting the last Water Block.

[Master Raiden]

Positioning After Rotating
Bumping a Rotate Block on the correct side will allow you reduce the time it takes for you to accelerate in your next intended direction, whether that be falling down somewhere or jumping up somewhere.

The general rule is to bump the Rotate Block as far away from blocks you want to avoid, and as close to blocks you want to land on.

Test yourself:

Positioning After Rotating - Quick Quiz 1

Claustrophobia by JGPrix (6338675)
Which side of the Rotate Block should you bump?

Quiz 1 Solution

After rotating, you want to land on the blocks as quickly as possible so you can begin jumping and moving as soon as possible. So you should bump the Rotate Block on the left because it will reduce the distance you need to fall onto the blocks.

Positioning After Rotating - Quick Quiz 2

Zirconium by JGPrix (6338668)
Which side of the Rotate Block should you bump?

Quiz 2 Solution

After rotating, you want to fall down to the Ice Blocks. Landing on the Arrow Blocks will slow you down, so you want to avoid them.
The Arrow Blocks on the right look tempting, but bumping the Rotate Block on the right side is slightly slower. The amount of time you save from using the Arrow Blocks does not outweigh the time saved from bumping the Rotate Block on the left which allows you to begin your fall to the Ice Blocks earlier.
If the Arrow Blocks were not there, the difference would be even greater which goes to show the amount of time you can save with this simple optimization.

Positioning After Rotating - Quick Quiz 3

Time's Up by December 2012 (6025049)
Which side of the Rotate Block should you bump?

Quiz 3 Solution

After rotating, you want to land on the blocks as quickly as possible so you can begin jumping as soon as possible. But in this case, you need to land on the Arrow Block rather than just any block. Note that the Arrow Block will be slightly to your left after rotating, and that makes a big difference.

In this scenario, it is best to bump the Rotate Block on the right for two reasons:

1. It makes it easier to jump off the Arrow Block
Bumping the Rotate Block on the right will give you the space you need to easily land on the Arrow Block. If you bumped the Rotate Block on left, you would land on the basic block next to the Arrow Block. This means you would need to perform a frame-perfect jump to jump off the Arrow Block the moment you come into contact with it.

2. You can begin rotating earlier
Since rotation happens around the feet, the Arrow Block will be slightly to your left after rotating, which means your intended direction of movement will be left and down. Going too far down without going left enough will not benefit you. Neither will going too far to the left without going down enough.

It is best to bump the Rotate Block at the point that allows you to land on the Arrow Block without needing to reduce your leftwards or downwards speed. So unless you have very high speed and acceleration, it will be faster to bump the Rotate Block a little earlier. This scenario is an example of Diagonal Movement covered in the previous section of this guide.

Carrying Speed through Vanish Blocks
When touched, Vanish Blocks take a small amount of time before disappearing completely. You can use this brief period to reposition yourself and get a run up so that you can carry more speed into the space that the Vanish Block occupied.

It is important that you time your movements precisely. Failing to do so may end up costing you time instead.

Speeding through Vanish Blocks - Example

Lightspeed 2 by mapleleaf (3711604)
The player performs a small jump off  Vanish Block so that they can fall through spaces with increased speed.

Landing on Up Arrow Blocks
Approaching an Up Arrow Block the right way can make it easier for you to jump off it.
If you simply walk onto an Up Arrow Block, you will need to press Up at the exact moment you walk onto it. Pressing Up too early will cause you to miss the block, and pressing Up too late will result in you bouncing on the block before you get the chance to jump.

So it is much easier to land on the block instead so that you can ensure the Up key is held down when you touch the Up Arrow Block with no risk of jumping too early or too late.

Crawling on Up Arrow Blocks
Crawling on Up Arrow Blocks can offer you an opportunity to save some time.
To take advantage of this, ensure that you land on the Up Arrow Blocks instead of walking onto them. You will get bumped upwards by the blocks for a brief moment.

If you continue holding down the Up key, you will repeatedly get bumped upwards by the Up Arrow Blocks. This prevents you from getting stuck in a crawl which will allow you to move faster.

Defying Down Arrow Blocks
You can alter your trajectory when exiting a crawl space while on a Down Arrow Block by holding Up.
When holding Up, the downwards force from the Down Arrow Block is negated (Red arrow).
If you do not hold Up, the Down Arrow Block will cause you to fall sharply (Black arrow).

[Master Raiden]

Optimizing Movement - Advanced Timesavers

You will often be able to discover ways to optimize your speedrun simply by observing the layout of a level. However, there are usually some additional opportunities hidden in plain sight. These are ones that are either very hard to discover or difficult to execute. In this section, I am going to share some advanced tricks you can use to set yourself apart in speedrunning.

Alignment
Alignment refers to placing yourself in a position from which you can consistently perform certain maneuvers without fail. Aligning yourself is common when pulling off glitches, but it also has its benefits in speedrunning.

There are many ways to align yourself:

• Standing against a wall – Running into a wall will result in you standing in the exact same horizontal position every time.
  
• Hitting a Safety Net – The Safety Net will reset you to the center of the last safe block you touched.
  
• Bumping the corner of a block – Hitting your head on the corner of a block will always result in you being in the same vertical position. This must be combined with a form of horizontal alignment to give you a reproducible result.
  
• Snapping onto blocks – Similar to bumping the corner of a block, snapping onto a block also aligns you vertically and requires a form of horizontal alignment.
  
• Moving for a fixed duration – Holding down Left or Right for a certain number of frames will always result in you moving the exact same amount in that direction. This must be combined with another form of horizontal alignment to remain consistent.
  

With alignment, you can uncover ways to consistently pull off difficult and precise moves which can shave off time with minimal effort.

Alignment - Examples 1

1. Salad by makie98 (5880537)
This high gravity, high speed level has a section with many small traps that require you to super jump to escape. I align myself on the second highest block of the staircase leading up to this tricky part, sacrificing some time, but positioning myself perfectly to avoid all the traps. With this powerful alignment, all I had to do was hold Up and Left to speed past all the blocks.

2. Catacombs by look (1524183)
I run into the Safety Net to place myself in the perfect position so that holding Left + Right at the fourth rope enables me to make it onto the platform consistently.

 

Alignment - Examples 2

1. Misty Mountains by TRUC (6049716)
I align myself with the wall on the right as I fall down, allowing me to consistently land and jump from the perfect position to climb the staircase of blocks with a single jump.

2. razor blade by zerostar(oO) (102573)
The player climbs up the Up Arrow Blocks, performing the first horizontal alignment. As they move left briefly before slowly accelerating to the right, they align themselves horizontally again. This crucial second alignment is what sets them up for the perfectly-timed jump that follows which allows them to glitch through the blocks seamlessly.

 

Making alignment work depends on the stats you are using, so experimenting with different things in-game is really the only way such setups are discovered.

Super Jumping in Crawl Spaces
Performing a super jump in a crawl space allows you to lift yourself into the air for a brief moment. This can allow you to speed up your crawl or launch yourself upwards as you exit a crawl space.

Super Jumping in Crawl Spaces - Examples

1. Brave the Storm by nincel (6492613)
The player performs a super jump in the icy crawl space to lift them up temporarily, allowing them to accelerate much more quickly.

2. Ocaso by Ezmeralda (6490387)
I charge up a super jump on the Arrows and release it at the very end, allowing me to boost myself up and skip a few jumps. Despite releasing my super jump in the crawl space, my high speed meant that I was already out of the crawl space by the time my super jump began. Super jumping in crawl spaces also give you one frame of upwards movement before you bump your head, so this trick is still possible although more difficult with slower speed crawls.

 

[Master Raiden]

Landing on Safety Nets
You can access unintended parts of levels by landing on blocks covered with Safety Nets.
Surprisingly, it is possible to fall onto blocks under Safety Nets without actually touching the Safety Nets since they are non-solid blocks. The same applies to Water Blocks.

To fall through Safety Nets and Water Blocks, your position in the current frame must be above it, and your position in the next frame must be on the block beneath it.
To achieve this, you must be positioned correctly and be falling fast enough.
Vertical alignment is therefore necessary to execute this consistently.

Landing on Safety Nets - Example

Precision SJump by The Duck (6513760)
As I descend to the Item Block, I bump my head on the block to the left of it to align myself vertically so that I can hold Down and fall onto the Safety Net below. This allows me to avoid dropping down into the area to the left of the Safety Net which saves me some time.

Snapping Onto Blocks
Snapping is when you are immediately placed on top of a block as you approach and touch it from the side. This can allow you to jump and reach blocks that you wouldn't normally be able to and perform multiple jumps in quick succession.

To execute block snaps, you must be moving quickly enough and positioned precisely so that your position in the next frame is within the block by a significant amount. The faster you are moving, the easier it is to snap onto blocks. With lower speeds, you will require some form of alignment to pull it off consistently. Note that snapping onto blocks causes you to lose all your upwards speed.

Snapping Onto Blocks - Examples 1

1. Dark Forest by makie98 (5846178)
After grabbing another Speed Burst, I slow down briefly to get myself in position for the upcoming block snap. Then I begin my charge towards the block, snapping onto it to give me the height I need to jump up the next wall as quickly as possible.

In this scenario, the block was 9 blocks high, but I only had 90 jump which is enough to jump up 8.4 blocks. Snapping onto it meant I was able to pass this section without needing to slow down and perform extra jumps. 

2. ~Fantasy World~ by gerben (6134067)
I charge up a super jump and release it just before the Right Arrow Block staircase, allowing me to snap up the blocks and remain in contact with them for longer, maximizing my speed.

 

Snapping Onto Blocks - Examples 2

1. Ice Land by justinbob100 (6115141)
As I speed towards the Ice Blocks, I hold Up to snap onto them, grabbing a Jetpack on the way and carrying my speed for longer on the slippery ice. This allows me to pass the section without needing to slow down to navigate the uneven terrain.

2. Midas by Ezmeralda (6479831)
As the player is jumping up the Arrow Blocks, they move into the next Arrow Block, snapping onto it and allowing them to perform another jump instantly. This shaves off a significant amount of time from their ascent.

 

[Master Raiden]

Routing Levels

Finding the best route through a level is a big part of speedrunning, and can sometimes be more important than optimization and execution. A perfect run on a suboptimal route could potentially be beaten by an average run on the ideal route. In this section, I will share some tips and the different things you should consider when routing levels to make sure you're not leaving valuable seconds on the table.

Overview
The two key ingredients to routing are finding a good path and choosing the right stats for the path.
The question is, how do you know if the path you have chosen is the best? And how do you know the stats you chose for that path are the best? What if there is a different path and stat combination that is faster?

There is really no quick and easy solution. Finding the best route requires a lot of time, experimentation and creativity.

Generally, it is a good idea to remain open minded and not become fixed to one particular path or set of stats. While you may find yourself getting good times as you become familiar with the path and stats you chose, you could be leaving a lot on the table if your route is not optimal.

Finding the ideal route is therefore an iterative process. Experimentation and refinement of numerous routes and stat combos is often required to identify the optimal setup.

There are different levels of refinement you should aim to achieve when you are routing. Unless you have a huge amount of time at your disposal, you will need to be smart with how you go about routing so that you can test multiple setups without having to pull an all-nighter. 

The following sections are listed in order of increasing refinement.

Viewing Levels
Before you begin devising a route, you need to get a detailed understanding of a level's structure. I recommend using the PR2 Block Editor since it comes with a whole lot of different features that allow you to understand all the elements of a level.

One of its most useful features is the ability to zoom out really far. This makes it a lot easier to visualize the overall layout of a level, helping you come up with new ideas, evaluate different paths and identify shortcuts more easily.
It also allows you to view block options. With the introduction of Custom Item Blocks, Custom Stat Blocks and Teleport Blocks, finding the best route becomes more difficult since each block can impact you in a different way. The Block Editor removes all this uncertainty.

Try it yourself

-Lunar Rush- by Genius77 (6506871)
This level contains many different paths. See if you can figure out which is the fastest, and if you notice anything interesting about the items in this level.

Jumping and Landing
Knowing which blocks to land on and jump from is one of the core essentials of routing. Picking the right blocks will allow you to conserve speed and reduce the number of motions required to get to where you need to be. This is one of the first things you should aim to discover when routing levels, and can be done by looking over the level or simply playing it a few times.

If you always find yourself slowing down or making mistakes at a particular section, it can help to look over the level again and try landing and jumping from different blocks.

Choosing Stats
Using the right stats can make a huge difference when speedrunning. Generally, having high speed, moderate acceleration and moderate jump will yield decent results, but depending on the level, you will need to spend your stat points differently to get the best result. 

Speed should be prioritized on levels where there are long periods of running involved. If there are many sections where you can reach top speed, maximizing your top speed will benefit you in all those sections. In a large majority of cases, it is better to have a higher speed at the expense of acceleration and jump.

Higher acceleration should be used on levels where there are regular changes of direction, or a lot of crawling and swimming involved. In these cases, you do not have the chance to utilize your top speed, so it can be better to trade some speed for acceleration so that you can maximize your average speed in these areas.

The amount of jump you choose to use depends on the height of blocks you will be required to regularly jump up and which blocks you want to land on and jump off. You also want to avoid super jumping since it is quite costly to perform. Inspecting the level and counting blocks is often enough to know how much jump you will need.

Keep in mind that your stats can change during the course of the level from Happy Blocks and Sad Blocks, so selecting your stats based on how many of these you will bump can help you take advantage of those blocks while also having the right stats at the right time.
For example, if you plan on using 96, 60, 46 stats in a level where there is a Happy Block at the beginning, you can opt to enter the level with 91, 70, 41 stats instead.

Stat Blocks and Time Blocks
Being selective about the Stat Blocks and Time Blocks you bump in a level can save you a significant amount of time, but it's often difficult to find out how to achieve the best outcome.

Happy Blocks are sometimes placed away from the natural route of the level, requiring you to sacrifice a little bit of time to collect the extra stats. It can be difficult to determine whether it is worth making the sacrifice to bump a Happy Block, but generally, collecting Happy Blocks earlier means you will carry the stat advantage for longer. So it may be worth giving up a little more time to bump a Happy Block at the start of a level compared to bumping one near the end of a level. But ultimately, identifying the best option comes from rigorous trial and error.

Some levels also require you to bump Time Blocks to stay alive. While you may instinctively try to collect every Time Block available, this can slow you down. In most cases, the more Time Blocks you bump, the more time it will cost you. In contrast, the fewer Time Blocks you bump, the faster you will be and as a result, you can get away with bumping even fewer Time Blocks which will save you even more time.
Knowing how many Time Blocks and exactly which ones to bump can be achieved by inspecting the level and thoroughly testing your route to understand your pace and how much time you require.

Test yourself:

Stats - Quick Quiz

Toast by Beta Tester (6286003)
There are 9 Happy Blocks in this level. Which ones will you bump and which ones will you skip?
And if you had 195 stat points to spend, what stats would you use?

My Solution

Video: https://www.sendvid.com/2gxc1x6m

This level contains a lot of jumps and changes in direction. Most of the jumps are 4 block jumps, however, there are many places where a higher jump value can save some time.

High acceleration is helpful when changing direction, however, there are very few crawl spaces and water blocks, so I will still be spending a lot of time running.

The stats I ended up choosing were 86, 45, 64. While I would have liked to have a bit more acceleration, the importance of having a high jump outweighed having 10-20 more acceleration.

Out of the 9 Happy Blocks, I only bumped 3:

1. The first Happy Block I bump is the one at the beginning. It is located away from the route, so it is quite expensive to collect, but it is important since it increases my jump to 69, allowing me to jump up 6 blocks. At this point, my top speed has not changed which is not exactly ideal. This is a small sacrifice I made to have slightly more acceleration, and fortunately, I only had to live with these stats for 15 seconds.

2. The second Happy Block does not cost me much time to bump since it is directly above the Push Blocks I am standing on. At this point, my speed has increased to 96, so I am able to move slightly faster. My Jump also increased to 74 which does not achieve much, but it is enough for now.
I skip a Happy Block at 0:40 in the video since it is very costly to collect and the extra stats are not yet required.

3. The third and final Happy Block I bump is very conveniently placed. After bumping it, my stats end up as 100, 60, 79 which are fairly good stats to work with. While my top speed did not increase, my acceleration has gotten to the point where more acceleration would yield nearly insignificant gains. My jump has also risen to 79, so I am now able to jump up 7 blocks which will benefit me in the remainder of this level.

I skip all the other Happy Blocks since having more acceleration and jump would be unnecessary, and none of them can be bumped without slowing down.

Identifying Reference Points
As you practice a level, you will soon discover optimizations that require some degree of precision. Having reference points can help you time your movements and make the optimizations work.

These reference points can be blocks or art. Finding and taking advantage of reference points can be achieved with thorough testing of your route.

Reference Points - Example

'Dream Walker' by PooZy (1506804)
Due to the high speed in this section, it can be tricky to time the release of the super jump, so I use the special effects in the background as a reference point. Releasing the super jump when the second line of purple dots reaches the Arrow Blocks allows me to reach the highest platform without bumping into any other blocks along the way.

Playing to Your Skill Level
Unless you are aiming to set the absolute fastest time possible, it can be better to refrain from attempting difficult maneuvers. Most of the time, an excellent speedrun is achieved with the successful execution of multiple consecutive precise optimizations, and throwing away such a run with an unreasonably risky move can mean that you spend another few hours grinding away.

Each optimization has its risks and rewards. You should be selective about which optimizations you attempt depending on your ability. You may be better off becoming fluent in a slightly suboptimal route than trying to brute-force more optimizations than you can handle, only to realize that you missed an easy timesaver along the way.

Playing to your ability also applies to the stat blocks that you bump along the way. This primarily pertains to your jump stat, since it becomes increasingly difficult to perform small, precise jumps when you have a high jump value. Depending on the level, you may be better off avoiding a few Happy Blocks to keep your movements easy to control.

If you find yourself constantly failing at a particular point in a level, it may be worth simplifying your route to increase your success rate.

Playing to Your Skill Level - Example

Rage 2! by good job man (6500659)
There are 7 Happy Blocks in this level.
The image below shows the final section of the level. Having too much jump could make this section very difficult to navigate.

When speedrunning this level (with 65, 65, 65 stats), I only bumped 1 Happy Block and went through this section cautiously to avoid making any costly mistakes.

Further Experimentation
Once you are comfortable with your stats and route, you can take some time to uncover ways to make your run even faster and easier to execute. This is the time to experiment with alignment, snapping onto blocks and other less obvious optimizations that you would never come across when practicing a level normally. You may be surprised to find how much extra time you can save with your set of stats.

Practicing with Test Levels
You can easily practice navigating difficult parts of a level by creating your own level focusing on sections that you are having trouble with.

This can allow you to practice and test different ideas after you have already established which stats you plan to use and thoroughly tested a few routes. Practicing on test levels will help you discover easy or consistent ways to perform optimizations, as well as experiment with different items.

Recreating a section of a level can also help you compare different routes by allowing you to time yourself from the beginning of the section to the end. Testing and timing yourself on each route means you will be able to determine with certainty which one is faster.

General Tips

• Test Thoroughly
  Spend an even amount of time testing each route so that you can make a fair comparison between them. But don't spend too little time on each one. Give the routes time to show their true potential before deciding which one you want to go with.
  
• Practice More
  The more time you spend practicing, the faster you will become. I have often surprised myself with how much time I was able to save just by practicing the same route over and over again. Small optimizations will become second nature once you are familiar with the level you are speedrunning, and they will add up to make a huge difference.
  
• Don't Quit Early
  If you make a mistake during a practice run, don't forfeit. Continue playing until the end so that you can practice the remainder of the level. You do not want to ruin a good speedrun simply because you didn't get enough practice near the end.
  

[Master Raiden]

Speedrun Analysis

Let's put everything we have learnt into practice! In this section, I am going to analyze a speedrun of mine and explain the techniques I applied to help shave off every last bit of time.

Video: https://www.sendvid.com/imivplv4

This is a speedrun of Lost Dragon by Sothal (6356180) from Goliathe Grand Prix Deluxe.
In GGP Deluxe, my stats are set to 65, 65, 65. These are not ideal, but as you will see, there are ways to make these stats easier to work with.

This level is mainly comprised of Ice Blocks, so speed conservation will be very important. There are no stat blocks and plenty of time available which reduces the complexity of routing, so I focus on finding the single fastest route and experimenting with ways to optimize each section of the level.

The level begins with a lot of Ice Blocks. I perform a small jump at the start to stay off the ice a little longer, keeping my acceleration high in case I had not reached top speed yet.

The first optimization opportunity comes at the Crumble Blocks. To pass through them as quickly as possible, I need to destroy the Crumble Blocks in a single hit. I also need to avoid bumping into an adjacent Crumble Block during my fall by following the trajectory depicted by the Green arrow instead of the Red arrow.

With a little bit of experimentation, I discovered that I can easily achieve this by holding Down while walking off the platform of ice.

As I fall into the water, I hold Up to minimize the time I spend walking, and jump out of the water as early as possible to maximize my speed.

In the next section, I spam Up and Space to teleport rapidly. As I jump onto the Left Arrow Blocks, I hold Down to begin charging my super jump as early as possible. With the right timing, I am able to jump up to next platform with minimal charging.

I make a minor mistake at the next obstacle. By jumping too much, I bump into the upper Vanish Block which costs me a bit of time. Since I had 65 jump, I could have jumped through the gap by holding Up and Down. That would have allowed me to jump about 2.8 blocks high, enough to pass through the gap without touching either Vanish Block.

After climbing the Up Arrow Blocks that follow, I make a leap from one collection of Ice Blocks to another. The second collection of Ice Blocks does not offer much room for error on the landing. I could easily run into a block and lose momentum if I don't land precisely, so I limit my jump so that some blocks remain visible in the bottom right corner of my screen which acts as a reference point for my landing.

After falling down to the Ice Blocks, I approach this tricky cave. There is a crawl space towards the end of it, so I want to maximize my speed in that section.

If I were to land at the very bottom of the cave, I would be too close and too far down from the crawl space to slide in there at full speed. I would need to slow myself down momentarily to avoid bumping into the blocks.

I need to land and jump off a different block so that I can slide in there without slowing down. This block is the lowest block of the Ice Block staircase, and it can be tricky to land on it. So I bump my head at the entrance of the cave to help increase my falling speed so that I can land precisely on that block and pass through the section without slowing down.

 

The next important optimization happens at the fall down to the white dragon. It is possible to fall down this area without slowing down or bumping into the wall on the right, and I achieve this by jumping high and falling as close to the Crumble Blocks as possible to maximize my falling speed early (Red arrow).

There may be a faster way though. If I jump earlier, I could possibly avoid bumping into any blocks and begin accelerating to the right earlier. But the jump is quite tight. With 65 jump, I can barely make it over the top Crumble Block while also maintaining a trajectory that allows me to begin falling early enough to avoid the wall (Green arrow).

The following water section is where timing your acceleration can save you some time. In this section, I swim extremely close to all the clipping points, allowing me to begin changing direction and swim towards the next clipping point as early as possible.

The White arrow is my path through this section, the Red dots are the clipping points and the Green dots are the points where I begin accelerating hard towards the next clipping point.

I also position myself high before the first and third clipping points so I can begin moving downwards earlier and maximize my downwards speed.
Due to my high falling speed past these clipping points, I am able to change direction extremely early, allowing me to maximize my horizontal speed past the second and fourth clipping points.

After the water section, I jump out of the water as early as possible to begin my out-of-water acceleration as soon as possible. Note that with 65 speed, I will receive a 1 pixel/frame speed boost after running for about 4 seconds.
I then jump and position my landing on the left edge of the Arrow Block to avoid bumping into the Ice Block next to it.

The next Crumble Block section can be tricky with the Mines above them. Jumping from the right Crumble Block can make this section easier and save you some time.

It's important to realize that small jumps are more difficult to execute with high jump stats. So if you try to jump as high as possible on your first jump, you will be required to follow up with a precise 2-block jump which puts you at risk of hitting the Mines above.
So instead, I perform a small jump first and follow that with a 5-block jump which is much easier to execute with 65 jump.

Looking at the shape of the terrain and identifying exactly which block to land and jump on can also save you a bit of time. The image on the left shows a jump from the lowest Crumble Block while the one on the right shows a jump from the second-lowest Crumble Block.

The Red line shows the part of the trajectory where no horizontal movement is possible. The height of the wall directly next to you determines how soon you can begin moving horizontally. In this case, jumping from the lowest Crumble Block is fastest.

 

Taking advantage of the Arrow Blocks at the end of this Crumble section requires some precision due to the height of the blocks that follow. It is ideal to carry as much speed from the Arrow Blocks for as long as possible, especially when using speeds ending in 5. To achieve this, I need to be travelling slowly enough on the Arrows so that I can make the jump up the wall of blocks without slowing down.

Luckily, this can be easily done by sticking to the Crumble Block just before the Arrows, then holding Right and Up. The speed I gain on the Arrow Blocks is perfect and I am able to jump up the blocks without needing to slow down, but also with no room for any additional speed.
But is this the fastest way? Could it be faster to zoom across the Arrows and sacrifice a little bit of speed as I approach the wall? A balance needs to be made here, and a good way to find the perfect combo is through experimentation.

At the next big drop, I bump my head on the ceiling to maximize my falling speed and land in a position far away enough from the crawl space so that I can carry as much speed into it without needing to delay my jump. This is not the ideal route though. It is faster to fall directly into the crawl space, but such a maneuver would be very difficult to pull off.

Having the right positioning when falling through the Vanish Blocks can save a bit of time. The icy section below heads towards the right, so maximizing speed to the right will allow me to pass through it more quickly and avoid the need to accelerate on ice.

By falling through the Vanish Block on the left, I am able to fall through the small gap without bumping into any blocks simply by holding Down and Right. My high falling speed allows me to instantly destroy two Crumble Blocks at the bottom which enables me to take a trajectory that falls through the gap perfectly.

The following section contains a few Item Blocks and Happy Blocks. Knowing where to use the Teleport item and which Happy Blocks to bump can help save some time.

Since my stats are 65, 65, 65, it is preferable to bump one or three Happy Block. Bumping only two Happy Blocks would leave me with 75, 75, 75 stats which is not ideal since it does not offer an immediate speed boost, nor does it allow me to jump an extra block higher compared to 70, 70, 70 stats.

I figured that it would be too costly to bump three Happy Blocks, so I decided to go with one. I chose to collect the last Happy Block since it is lowest to the ground which means I can break the Brick and bump it a lot more quickly.

At this point, I lose a little bit of time. Since I can only teleport while under the Crumble Block, it is best to perform a small jump and head glitch into the crawl space to keep my speed high as I teleport to the icy part to the right. This requires some precision since the ceiling is quite low. Unfortunately in this case, I bumped my head into the Crumble Block which meant I wasn't able to build up the speed I wanted. After hastily jumping off the ice on the other side to recover my speed, I land poorly and run into a block.

The final optimization in this level is at the next two icy crawl spaces. In this section, it is possible to slide from one crawl space to the other without falling down into the space between, but it requires me to carry a lot of speed into the first crawl space. This would be easier with 80, 80, 80 stats, but I manage to make it work with 70, 70, 70 stats by head glitching into the first crawl space. This allows me to keep my speed just high enough to make it to the next crawl space.

After this point, all the difficult parts are done. I lower myself into the water just enough so that I can build up the upwards speed needed to reach the Ice Block, then I run towards the finish, making sure I don't bump into any blocks along the way.

[Master Raiden]

External Factors

Apart from skillful execution, there are other factors that can affect the time you achieve in a speedrun. In this section, I am going to go over some things that you should keep in mind to make sure you aren't putting yourself at an unfair disadvantage.

PC Performance
A powerful PC is often not required to run PR2 smoothly since it is a fairly old flash game. However, there are some cases that can introduce lag which will cost you time.

Breaking through multiple Crumble Blocks in succession can slow down the game. Try to avoid destroying multiple Crumble Blocks at once if you have a slow PC.

Rotating with art turned on can also slow you down. The more art a level has, the more lag you may experience when rotating. It is advised you play with art off if you have a slow PC, especially if there is rotating involved.

Window Size and Quality
Reducing the size of the PR2 window and setting the graphics quality to Low can help improve performance.

Finish Lag
The time shown at the end of your speedrun is determined by the time it took for the PR2 server to realize that you have bumped the Finish Block.

Finish lag is primarily affected by your distance from the PR2 servers.
The servers are located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (near Chicago). Finish lag typically ranges from 0.15 - 0.30 seconds for players living in the United States and Canada, but it can rise up to 1 second if you are located in a country on the other side of the planet.

Having a high speed internet connection can limit how much finish lag you experience. If your connection is slow or unreliable, you could potentially lose several seconds as you bump the Finish Block.

Strangely, playing with other players can sometimes reduce your finish lag. My finish lag is consistently 0.05-0.15 seconds lower in 3-4 player races.

You can test your finish lag on Finish Lag Test by bi3liu (6490464)
This level is designed for you to finish in 1 frame (0.04 seconds)
Subtract 2.04 seconds from your final time to calculate your finish lag. If you are wearing a Jump Start Hat, subtract 0.04 seconds from your final time.

[J m i]

I didn't read whole thread, but i will for sure.
You took your time on this which is nice

Very well done, man!

[Vipa]

This is insane, this is like a whole bachelor's thesis on PR2 knowledge. Good work dude. How long did it take to make this?

[EpicMidget]

My initial reaction after opening this thread without reading too closely is WOW. Raiden, this looks to be exactly what this game needed for people like myself who don't know the technical depth of the game. Breaking each section down, then giving examples is a fantastic way to do it, and I cannot believe how much effort you put into this (and honestly, in such little time!?). Will give this a read later today but I didn't want to delay my first ounce of gratitude at all, lol. the goat

[EpicMidget]

Just finished my full readthrough, and I can tell you put a ton of love, care, and time into this guide. Combining all the words with consistent visual examples made it very easy to read and understand. Topping it all off with a full-level breakdown was super fun too, since it tied everything together nicely. I consider this to be a necessary and very important piece of PR2 history (an artifact, perhaps ) and think you've done something incredible here, making this game more accessible to anyone who is considering playing or may consider in the future. Due to the small playerbase, knowledge is accidentally gatekept, since there are very few lively places for discussion, and people rarely log the data in a digestible format like this.

I read through this and took notes about everything that I thought was confusing or could have been improved to increase the overall clarity and effectiveness. I wanted it to be a demonstration of how important I think this guide is for the game, and to show you that the hard work isn't going unnoticed and the guide is being read and appreciated. Also, maybe you are interested in polishing it up as much as possible for your own purposes. I'm just going to copy paste my log since I don't feel like formatting it all fancy like you did. I'll do that when I make my own artifacts for pr2 history ;p

Here's that feedback, organized by the names of the headers you used:

-[speed] In the example, phrasing it 'your actual speed will not be 95' sounds a bit confusing, and maybe should be wordedby saying 'max speed 95 could be expected to achieve', or something like that.
-[jump] Is there an equation to describe how many pixels we will rise at a particular jump stat, if up is held? Also, how long up must be held to reach that? Will every jump reach its peak at the same time regardless of the stat?
-[falling] I think it is very important to include the acceleration impact made by holding down (change in pixels/frame, accel) and the maximum vertical descent pixels per frame. ties into crumble damage
-[sj item] maybe include an example of the moment someones upward speed is 2 pixels/frame, since this can be hard to visualize (demonstrate going up 32 blocks?)
-[teleport] maybe discuss how holding space is allowed when the teleporter is already being held (after obtaining it) which will use it at the first possible moment afterwards
-[laser gun] The best way to shoot the laser backwards while mantaining forward momentum isnt discussed (and left v right discrepencies)
-[ice wave] how does the wave propogate? (angle, distance, speed)
-[mine] you say that glitches arent discussed, but it feels important to mention that in the example, the recovery time after hitting the mine is reduced from what it normally should be (because we jumped into the net? Im not sure)
-[crumble] in my opinion, describing the amount of speed needed to destroy a crumble block does not describe to the reader the amount of damage they are dealing very accurately, since our speed is in pixels/second, but the speed here is just a number. reading this I ask myself, is that number the speed stat needed? Is that only if I have reached top speed? How long does it take to reach that top speed at that speed stat since my acceleration can vary? 62 jump is required but, how many blocks/pixels is that? Must I hold down at the absolute frame perfect apex of my jump? Maybe more information on the 'stopping your falling speed' phenomena if jump is held while passing through (what jump stat requried to stop, if held for various amounts of time, etc). I think this section needs clarification (i.e upwards speed is capped at 28pixels/frame, how much damage is that?). We also saw we can destroy a crumble in two jumps on that starter steps maps, did you find out why? Could be described in fundamentals/movement -> pixels/frame speed -> damage
-[safety net] you say your speed is reset, but your acceleration to top speed is not. What does this mean? You described 'max speed' earlier and 'max allowed speed', how does this work with those in mind?
-[ice blocks] maybe include the overarching friction values that are relevant in the speed/accel calculation, and what ice does to those. I think ice is quite involved
-[water block] talk about jumping out of water into more water and how you can gain extra height (:
-[arrow block] will my acceleration to top speed be increased/decreased if I chose to move left/right on them, and is it a linear increase/decrease relative to my max speed / current max speed?
-[perfect storm ex in diagonal movement] In the crawling section above, players are doing short hops to clear more distance with more speed vs being forced to crawl early. In the perfect storm example, a reader might think it would make more sense to drop, then hop through the crawl. Is this not the case? I recall this map giving ample time to move right before the crawl, so we probably carry enough speed to not require a stop-and-jump situation. Maybe a combo of the two with a different fall angle? Maybe clarify.
-[running over gaps] another confusing area where speed is described by the stat and not by the pixels/frame, so it becomes confusing. for example, if my acceleration is very slow but I have 56 speed, I may never be able tog et over the gap. How does acceleration tie in here? Describing things in pixels/frame will help a lot, and elaborating heavily in the fundamentals of how we calculate or visually determine our pixel/frame
-[head bumping] When a player hits their head, there is a sound and a visual where the block visibly bumps upward. If the player chooses to manually press down as they hit the block, at what visual/audio queue should they hold down?
-[jumping in and oput of water example] in ex. 2, it should probably be noted that the player is performing a glitch, since these were said to not be included
-[positioning after rotating] small tidbit on confusing double negatives, 'dont want to avoid' -> 'want to be near'
-[crawling on up arrow blocks] maybe clarify why you dont get stuck in a crawl if you hold up?
-[defying down arrow blocks] you should probably mention that if you run off of down arrow blocks, you can hold up to get a jump out of them
-[superjumping in crawl spaces] maybe more information can be included like earlier for what speed (pixels/frame) is required to make this possible, and how much frame wiggle room there is at certain speeds
-[landing o safety nets] I think this one is complicated and maybe should have an example included
-[snapping onto blocks] This is what I believe to be one of the more difficult-to-master techniques of this game, but also one of the most significant. I think the technicals should be broken down in much more depth, in terms of the minimum current height, speed, and acceleration required to snap onto blocks of varying heights. Without knowing the details, players may try for this technique when it isnt possible. i.e Is horizontal speed more or less significant than vertical?
-[practicing with test levels] Maybe include the use of blockeditor to load maps, change spawns, add teleporters and happy blocks for stats, etc


overarching feedback:
-speed and acceleration sections are described with pixels/frame. This should be used throughout for consistency. This may be difficult considering the necessary technical understanding needed. Yes this is a speedrunning guide not a complete breakdown of the game, but some parts of the guide have depth and others dont have as much!
-I was shown a cool picture that visualized the players hitboxes for blocks vs nets/water. I think this would be great to include to help players visualize how they can maneuver around spaces.


nitpicking the lost dragon speedrun for fun and to test my newly gained knowledge
-after the waterfall, it seems possible to head clip through the ice crawl all the way to the other side so we dont land at all?
-At the white dragon art section, I have been able to conserve my speed from the cave above to the bottom of the dragon drop by jumping lightly onto the 2nd elevation on the hill, then jumping to barely snap onto the first crumble block, then immediately jumping to barely scrape over the top of the crumbles and falling quickly down. bit different than your described better method
-You can break the brick in the last happy/teleport section quicker if you jump and teleport with proper timing. .1 seconds, oo aah


This is very much just a dump of my thoughts for you to consider, so sorry if its difficult to read.


tldr: you're cool as heck and everyone should try to be as cool as you B-) + feedback

[EpicMidget]

also its worth noting that using up + down with a 2 frame jump actually gets you further down a crawl gap than a 1 frame no down press (:

[Levente77]

Impressive stuff Raiden! You should start a course in a college somewhere.

Introducing:
"Platform Racing 2 physics, and speedrunning science"