[Stefan]

I joined soniccenter just today. I found myself trying to beat my own score toals and times on levfel and eventualyl stumbled across your site, which I've thought is great so far.

I am just curious, though, whatdo you generally look for when you time attack a level? Is there some general time attack strategy taht works with every level?

[douglas]

Hey stefan, welcome to TSC :)

General play strategy depends on the game.  There are various ways you can manipulate the gameplay to your advantage; for instance, in Sonic 2 if you're spinning when you go into midair you can go faster than the 'limit' so long as you don't press the d-pad in the direction you're going in (best example is Aquatic Ruin 2).

Strategy for finding routes varies; I tend to do ring attacking to explore a level, trying to figure out what's likely to be fastest, then time attack it constantly for a while to get a feel for it.  Tool-Assisted Speedruns can to show you the technically fastest route but often they're not humanly possible (http://tasvideos.org/ for TAS videos).  Of course, there's always the videos here too.

[Spinballwizard]

Classic game route planning is pretty easy if you use the maps found onsite.

There's also the guides. I'm actually planning on writing one (or maybe two) for Advance 2 soon.

Douglas, had it not been for the TAS, I'd still have IP2. :(

[Stefan]

Thanks for your replies everyone..

Unfortuantely, the only game I currently own is sonic adventure 2 battle - I once had sonic 1,2,3 and advance but gave them all away. :X Thanks, though.

[yse]

GAVE THEM ALL AWAY???

What on earth were you thinking?? At least I have the small consolation of, when I sold my MegaDrive and games, I got some money out of it. I think about $100 - which was promptly spent on Banjo-Kazooie, if I recall well. In hindsight, I'd much rather have kept my MegaDrive and got BK - because BK is awesome.

Right. Anyway, welcome, and if you're looking for SA2B strats consult:
a) the video page
b) the guide page
c) the IRC channel - look for either SuperSonic101, RPG or Zephyr, they're the best players and know all the tricks. I could fill in if none are available though.

[Bilan]

Hey there dude, welcome to TSC :D

[Stefan]

Yep.. gave - I was out of the gaming zone for a while and a friend wanted them.

I have decided, after watching these videos, that I am an absolutely horrendous time attacker.

[Bilan]

You didnt do so bad at Wild Canyon Mission 1 :D

[X-5]

hey there stefan, and welcome! I play SA2B occasionally, so if you want try to own all of my (pathetic for the most part) times then go for it!

and you say your a "terrible" time attacker, that's not really true because
it's all about practice, no one is gunna get a good time their first try.

a  good example is my city escape time, I had 2:57 on the first few tries which absolutely sucked, but after watching the 1:50 video and  5 days of practice at about 30 mins-1 hour a day I got it down to 1:59 which I feel is pretty good, only 9 seconds from the record.

if your determined for something, and you know you can do it you WILL eventually get it! just don't play for more than an hour at a time, or you'll probably get pissed off like I do and start performing worse.

[douglas]

You've also got to remember that the kind of people who join TSC are the kind who spend rididculous amounts of time practising, devising routes etc.  We ain't average gamers dude :)

[Taillow]

Well, try getting Sonic Mega Collection.  It has the genesis games.

And hello there.  I'm Quartz, self-proclaimed "Boss Tamer", at least for the Advance games with boss times.  Eh but no one cares about that.

And don't scare the guy, Douglas.  All it takes is a video to start to get the hang of things and learn tricks.

[douglas]

I wasn't trying to scare him, just say that being able to compete with us makes you pretty good :)

[PsyBorg]

hey, welcome to the site.



Some general SA2B tips to get you started, despite the fact that I'm lamer at it than other people:


-Spindash abuse will get you better times. If you go down a hill, quickly charge a spindash and release so you can move down the hill ASAP.
-Spindash-jump to reach far away places without much effort. Just charge a spindash, release, and immediately jump.
-Search for alternate ways to get to the next area in the stage rather than following the main path. Often, the main path isn't the fastest one, so experiment with everything.
-When you score attack, bear in mind that each second costs you 20 points (iirc). If you go after lots of rings, be sure that you're getting them as fast as possible, because although "the faster, the better" is true, remember that rings are worth 10 points each, too. Focus on more "direct" score (rings, enemies) than time, but don't completely ignore time altogether.
-Watch some videos of enemies/competitors/dark sides/friends with good skills. Familiarization with almost any game is spread by those who indirectly spread their stage knowledge and tricks through videos.
-Like Mike said, if you ever want some tips on a game, just contact the champions or main competitors of the game. Just check out the rankings to know who they are.


As they say in Starcraft, gl hf ka dd ds!