[finalrush7_]

Thanks, I'll give it my best
I hope you still play the stage for fun, because you could get a new record like this too! *looks at the 2:12 record*

[X-5]

hehe yeah. playing for fun definitely works better for me, without all that strain, pressure and frustration I can just be calm&concentrated and set a great time. Problem is most "fun" play quickly turn into "trying hard" play  and therefore the benefits are gone.. that is why it was cool that I got the 2:12 so fast before "switching over" 

I tried your 1:07 rail variation, and I bet it saves a second if not a little more! that is a definite noticeable time saver you have over me, I hope you can pull it off in a good run. I was shocked at how well it worked, instead of wasting so much air time it shoots you straight up pretty much perfectly on the platform right next to the rail, with mine sometimes you do not even make it up there.

just great, one step closer to maxing the level.. I think you are the real final rush expert.

[finalrush7_]

hehe yeah, my switch over is even faster, like after 3 lives or so..!

Really? I didn't know it the rail variation saves so much time. You could definitely go for a 2:11 with that on a rainy day!


I think you are the real final rush expert. Wow, hearing this form my idol really feels good. Thank you, but I still think you're a step above me.. ^_^

[X-5]

Nah I could get 2:10, and the run would not even have to be perfect. If I added in the tricky rail switch at the end(which is getting easier, thankfully) and had a beautiful run I could get sub 2:10, that should be our final target, who would of guessed a new sub was possible?

a step above you? well the only way I can think that I am above you is in practice, since I have gotten my time lower than yours and I have played enough to be able to do it without checkpoints. we seem to be equal in pretty much every other area, I find a cool trick, but you are able to optimize it by a whole second :P
and am I really one of your idols?? that is cool..! I will do my best to live up to your expectations. :)

as for me playing, I will try for 2:10 when you take that fabulous gold that you so desperately want :P competition is usually about trading back and forth, so far we have done none of that. :(

[finalrush7_]

Yeah, I wasted over 2000 lives on FR, but I still can't seem to get everything in one run :(

And don't worry, you're already living up to my expectations. For me, the hunting and shooting stages don't matter that much. Shadow and Sonic is what it's at, and you're definitely the best there. You have like over 50% of all these record!

..And it's time I take one away from you! *runs off to play*

[X-5]

well, one problem I can think of there is you are reliant on checkpoints. But that is okay, I was the same way until I told myself they suck and stopped using them. I started getting used to doing every level I played in 1 run, I think doing so made me a much more consistent, skillful player.. I would probably only be half as good as I am now had I kept on using checkpoints. Since it takes more skill do do a level in 1 run compared to splitting it into 3 parts, even more so if you use many lives(I used to never use more than the default 4) you will kind of automatically be better than someone who uses checkpoints, cause you're trained at a higher skill level, you know?

hmm, for me I think the some of the shooting stages are fun, and take a whole lot of effort to get the record.I recently played hidden base as you can see and I am 4 seconds from the record.. and my run felt nearly flawless! But for sure most of the hunting stages suck(especially mission 1.. its just luck and a few fast button presses) Sonic and shadow are by far my favorite though of course. I actually have 21 records last time I counted. It would be really cool to have every single record though.. maybe someday, I have been slowly playing and working at it. I am sure it is within my ability assuming some really crazy(and/or determined) newcomer does not come along.


..And it's time I take one away from you! *runs off to play*
by the way you say that.. could it possibly mean you are going to nail that record today!?

[finalrush7_]

Yeah, the checkpoints are killing me. I'm super inconsistent on the first and third level part. I play them like 50 times a day, but there's still no improvement compared to a month ago.

Yep, just counted it, you have 21/41 records! Hehe, more than 50%! I'm sure you could get every record, but that would require a lot of effort. At least you have the needed skill to do it.

Yes, yes I really tried it today, but I had to realize that after nearly 150 wasted lives, I couldn't get it much lower today. As you probably noticed, I improved my time by 0:28 seconds. I guess it just wasn't my day...took me nearly 30 lives to get to the first checkpoint!


I am sure it is within my ability assuming some really crazy(and/or determined) newcomer does not come along.
*is that determined newcomer* =D


Good thing I still have 1 week of holidays..!

[X-5]

odd.. I'd think by now most every part of the level is pretty consistent, it just takes a while(sometimes) to do everything without screwing up. I guess that is just me.. I told you it is amazing what happens when you lose the checkpoints!

50% huh? seems kind of high but I guess I did manage quite a few when I played every day. I recently lost 3 records in white jungle, 2 in green forest and 2 in skyrail so I must have had about 65% then! woah!

It is disappointing that you could not pull it off today, but hey a life span is extremely long, you have tons of time to do it. I was kinda wondering how you were able to play so much, vacation paradise huh?  most people this time of year have a lot to do and I am probably one of the few who always has a 7 day "weekend" all year :P

as for you being a newcomer.. you are finalrush7 right? I remember seeing some videos of yours over a year ago.. but I guess you are just new to this site? and if you are FR7, did you really get 1:45 on city escape? I remember you claiming you had that time a long time ago back when I had 1:39.

I hope this is your golden week ;) before you get trapped in whatever you have to do when you are not enjoying a holiday party :(

by the way speaking of %'s... 18 of your 22 posts are in this topic :P that is roughly 80%!

[finalrush7_]

Very true, I hope I'll soon be able to do it with only one CP. That's my next aim as of now.

I have enough time, yes . Thing is, as soon as school starts again, I'll gotta prepare for the final finals, as well as starting to search for a job. That's too much at once :'( !!
And not playing for weeks will not help me in any way <_<

Yep, I'm finalrush7. Could have guessed from my YT account name. 1:45? Nah, I have something around 1:55 on my save file now.  I don't know what I had on my old file, but I highly doubt that is was that fast..

Thank you, I hope so as well.

18/22? Yeah, I didn't come here to talk, I came to compete! I actually only lurk here, reading some interesting topics and stuff about SA2:B.

[finalrush7_]

AWWW my last run!! It was soo close :(
Only 0:97 away!

[X-5]

0.97..awesome man! when you are that close you should definitely have some extra motivation knowing a TINY bit of improvement and it is yours! 2:13 with 2 checks is also pretty crazy cause I do not think I can do that.. without checks that is definitely 2:11. did you pull off your new 1:07 rail trick? I will assume you did.

I now forbid you to use more than 1 check, so you must pick between 1:24(1:23?) and 0:45. I recommend the 1:24 check because you lose less time, and it splits the level exactly in half so once you have a good run you have many attempts to get the ending just right.

tests and jobs huh..thats gotta suck, they suck away your free time. :( I am glad to be retired so young, it gives me lots of time to play sonic or whatever else there is to do :P study hard, do something good with your talents and be wise with your earnings, maybe you can retire early too..then you're free!

oh yeah, I saw this on another site

I think you are the real final rush expert -Paragod, SA2(B)'s best speedrunner worldwide

wow..! thanks :) that definitely makes me feel special, all of the hard work I did is appreciated by a few people at least. that definitely gives me some extra encouragement to set 41/41 100% as my new goal... maybe it will be completely by 2010? :P

[finalrush7_]

Thanks! I've been trying for two hours today, and that's the result. I could of gotten the WR(maybe), but I(or the game?) messed up at the end where I had to light dash the ring chain, Sonic missed it and summersaulted >_<
I'm pretty sure you can do 2:13 with 2 CP, especially if you didn't use the 1:07 rail trick and the last rail bounce transition on your 2:12 run. (is not too sure..)
And yes, I used the 1:07 rail trick, it shot me to the end of the platform this time(!!)

It gets much harder with one CP, seeing as I'm still pretty inconsistent on the 1:07 rail trick, and the last part of the stage is still not very consistent. With the current tricks we have, plus the 2 CPs I'm using, I think I'm only half a second away from the max.

How did you get retired so early, if I might ask? I just checked your age, and it says you're 19. Yes, I'm studying hard, but we'll see what the future brings!


Yes, that qoute's is my new sig on GameFAQs.com.
A lot of my friends play this game, and I'm by far the best of them, so they keep telling me that as well. Of course, it doesn't mean as much considering they find a FR sub 3:00 time amazing <_<
As I said, it was very good to hear that. Motivation level up!

Your hard work is definitely appreciated by me! I hope and am positive that you will reach your goal of 41/41.
Well, at least 40/41   =D

[X-5]

oh you light dash the rings at the end? I wonder if that is faster.. I always use two spindashes. The rail trick could beat me so so very easily..I wish it worked for me, the very first two times I tried it worked perfectly, but it has not worked since :( I will have to figure it out if I ever want to permanently take the record from you. addition: played some this morning, still no luck. I never quite make it even to the spring platform for some reason.. it always shoots me to the left and I get stuck in the wall.


about the quote, it just made me feel great that you think I am the best SA2B sonic player. saying that definitely shot my motivation way up too! just like I shot yours up :) and you're funny with the 40/41 thing, you must think you are something! hahahe, well, we will see how it plays out. I know I can get 2:10(.5?) if I could get the trick to work, so.. if you can get an almost-perfect 2:09.9 then maybe you will have me stuck at 40/41 :P But that would still be fine.. heck I am happy with 50%, but it is fun to set a tough goal of 100.

my retirement...heh(calling it that sounds funny) well, lets just say I was fortunate enough to have smart and very caring parents that were able to set enough aside for my needs. So really..my job at the moment is to get 41/41 sonic records.. I am sure that will be more challenging and rewarding than a real job anyway, so if time attacking/trialing is the job I will have for my whole life so be it :P I have been playing all kinds of games for fast times and competition in the last 3 years, and it is usually fun. I am sure a few people in my position are just lazy their whole lives.. but not me...... I push myself to the limit everyday!

as for you, yes, you can do it! A great job, just like you will soon have the FR record! you are a determined being! Plus I am glad you do not live in the stupid usa like me.. things are pretty bad here apparently and it could get even worse, perhaps a doomsday even, I dunno.. I am not sure how things are where you live but I am hoping much better than the usa..we need help.. maybe a whole new set of "leaders" would be a good start. oh well.. life is supposed to be treacherous anyway, nothing can ever be guaranteed, not even your life!

[finalrush7_]

I just tried to spindash twice, and I think it is a little bit faster after all.
The rail trick works for around 10% of the time for me now, and it's not getting easier ... After having spindash-bounced on the rail, you have to hold A and jump as soon as the rail goes from vertical to horizontal. This is really difficult because of the high speed you have, you will reach that point in like 0.1 seconds!
Btw, does the last rail bounce transition work for you now? I can get it now pretty consistent..!

2:09 you say? Well, that sure is a tough one, but I think that this level is not maxed yet, even with a 2:09. The past record was 2:15 (2:18), and it was held for years! Many thought this level was maxed, until we found a way to save quite some seconds in just a month's time.

Unfortunately, I don't save such smart parents, so I'll have to look for myself in a few years..
But I'm in a very good school, so if I don't screw up there, I'll be alright ^_^

Yeah, I'm only 0:00:55 away (check my new time). On this run, I screw up pretty bad actually, but seeing as I didn't use the 0:46 CP, I could still get to the last CP at 1:24:27.
I had around 30 lives left, so I could keep trying and trying until I nailed it under my personal best. I also spindashed twice instead of light dashing.

As for my country, Switzerland, well, they're not at a very good state, either. The two biggest banks UBS and CS have a high chance of crashing... >_<

[X-5]

so you have to jump at the very last second. sounds like it is one of the toughest tricks in the game.. funny how it worked twice in a row, I was like WOAH this is fast, and extremely easy. then it decides to never work again :( I may get at least a decent consistency(50%) eventually though, I know a lot of tough tricks work easy at first for me(beginners luck?) then they never work, then eventually I figure them out and pull it off most of the time. Hope that is the case here, or I will never have a shot at 2:10.

The gold trophy you are so close to finally obtaining.. I locked it away at the moment! you have to beat final rush in 2:12.34 or faster, when you do, sonic will say "FINALLY #1 AT LAST" and you will receive an S-Rank then a screen will pop up saying "YOU GOT THE BIG GOLD KEY" which you can use to obtain the magical golden trophy! then you will make a big excited post, I will excitedly congratulate you for just simply being the best and hopefully other people around here will do so as well. 0.55 is..... SO CLOSE!

2:09.. yeah.. it would be a beautiful run. of course even something that crazy is not maxed.. nobody will max a level like this to the second. If one of us gets 2:09, we will see little micro-flaws and we'd then say 2:08 is possible if you are perfect. then if we somehow got 2:08(unlikely at the moment, strat-wise) we'd see 2:07, and so on. I put roughly 1000-2000 hours into city escape to get it down to 1:36, and I know 1:35 is possible.. but its not within my ability because I always make at least one tiny mistake.

point is.. you're right, 2:09 is not maxed :P and yeah, we are good at finding new stuff working together. I would have never found the rail variation, and you probably would have never risked spindashing that rail at all if I had not done it, teamwork rules!

And yes, the rail switch at the end is much easier now, I can do it about 75% of the time! I definitely will never leave it out in the future, even if it costs me the whole run.

checkpoints..they must really cost a second or even more like we suspected, I got to the last check at 1:24.9 to get 2:12.35 so I got the check (about) 0.6 slower than you, and I finished 0.55 faster.. so we're looking at probably 1.2 seconds lost, maybe even more cause I was too nervous to do the fast rail switch at the end...jeez... and we were both thinking 0.5s. heh. I think the average is only 0.5-0.8 on most levels though where you pass the check with an average speed, and maybe 0.1-0.2 on levels like city escape where check #1 has a boost pad you can roll right into fast. I just realized you pass the 1:24 check with tons of momentum compared to most checks so you lose a lot more.

I am glad to see you only using one check though, of course :) Now you need to take the last step and go for zero, but of course as before I will let you do that on your own pace, I only forced you to use less before when I felt it was just too big of a waste which is unnecessary.


sucks to hear that where you live is probably no better than here.. :( hopefully, things will be brighter in everyone's future someday..

[finalrush7_]

Yes, it definitely is. Well, I found an even more difficult one. It's explained below.

YES! I! GOLD TROPHY! NOW!! MUST HAVE!!
I will never forget that day I get the WR (if I get it at all. inb4 you sub2:11 >_<) of Final Rush. It will be just a epic as when I first got my 180th Emblem way back.
Although I must say that my time(1:24:27) at the last CP wasn't perfect. I know a made a little mistake which cost me around half a sec, but I still got my personal best at that CP. Before that, it was 1:25:05. CPs do cost a lot of time..!

Very true. No one will ever max this level, it's just too long. Only levels that can be maxed time-wise are something like Green Hill Zone in S1, or other very short stages. It's impossible to not make a mistake, because we're all human after all, no machines or stuff..<_<

Teamwork rules! I think we will at least bring this down to 2:10. And maybe some other guy will appear and and show us stuff we didn't think about. No one knows..

Rail switch is getting easier and easier, while the 1:07 rail trick isn't. I've been trying to master it for about an hour today. Nothing, can still only get it in maybe 1/10 times.

Yeah, the direct spindash after the rail at 1:24 CP makes you lose even more time if you get restored. I didn't think of that either.
I was very lucky seeing as I got that one CP run at my first try. I don't think I can do that again so fast.
What I meant to ask you: What was the fastest time you got to the 0:45-0:46 CP? I know I once got it down to 0:45:32, but I just can't go lower than 0:46:04 now. That's already more than half a second, and if I want to master the level, I should start from the first part, right? ^_^

I believe I can break your record even with one CP, but that would be only for a few milliseconds and then it will be broken again by you...

hopefully, things will be brighter in everyone's future someday..

Yes, I hope so as well.


Now about the even more difficult trick. You know the last rail you go upwards with the spring at the end that makes you land on the rail afterwards, right after the 1:07 check?
Now, I have been trying to reach the platform with the Chao Box and the two regular boxes from that rail, and with absolute max speed and the right momentum, I was able to do it. But seeing as I would have to spindash-jump-bounce on the rail that leads me to the 1:24 checkpoint, it would need more time for me to do this than to just let myself fly with the springs. Now, what I think might be a little faster is, that instead of landing on the platform itself, I would land on the yellow edge of it (VERY DIFFICULT). From there on, I could just spindash on the rail.
It should be faster in theory, but it still needs testing,as I haven't managed to do it even once, and I tried over 30 times.
It probably won't save much time, but I still thought I'd let you know :D

[Aitamen]

Has anyone bothered to TAS this? 

I mean, I know not very many people have AR, but I figure that if they do, learning a perfect strat might be beneficial to both of you getting far better times (perfection can yield discoveries, i.e. SL1-R).

Just a thought...

[Jawzunx]

How can you TAS with AR anyway?

[finalrush7_]

What's TAS? >_<

[flying fox]

TAS-Short for "tool assisted run", where a player completes a game using any means or methods necessary.

Got this from the TSC Glossary for you.

[finalrush7_]

Hmm, thank you.

[Aitamen]

I personally don't know, and I apologize for this ignorance, but I know that it was done with SSBM, TP(GC), and Mystic Heroes (just a couple levels in a topic that I don't remember where it was, but the SSBM one can be google'd/Youtube'd)

[Brian]

I know that I'm not a Final Rush expert(my time sucks), but I think this can help you two. PoT said that he sometimes somersault when he reachs the ground after the rail in about 1:50(game time), this happens to me sometimes too, but I've discovered something that can help you to save some time, when this happens, if you hold down the B or X button sonic will imediatly charge a spindash when he reaches the ground instead of do a somersault. I discovered this a lot of time ago, I call this technique "instant spindash", if one of you two can see my Green Forest videos, notice how some of my spindashes charge really fast. Hope I have helped :). see ya o/

[finalrush7_]

Oh THAT! Lol, I've known this for a looooong time, but I thought everyone knew about it. <_<

[finalrush7_]

Two days of practicing the 1:07 rail paid off. I got much more consistent on it now!

[finalrush7_]

I guess I can now go without the 0:45 checkpoint. Been try 4 hours now to perfect my way from the first to the third CP. We'll see...

[X-5]

been a few days.. I think your week is almost up :( you gotta get #1!

a better way to explain what a tas is.. basically you can save at any point in a level, and redo each part until it is perfect. screw the checkpoints, you can save at 8000 different points if you had to, and you'd never lose any time at all compared to restarting at checkpoints. you can use slow motion as well if you need to. In other words.. sub 2:05 would probably be possible with a TAS on FR :P

I messed with your new trick where you said you land by the chao box or something.. but I got nowhere with that. I have also made no progress with the 1:07 rail trick or FR in general..been waiting for you! on a brighter side though, thanks to brian explaining the instant spindash trick above I easily took my green forest mission 3 record back, bringing me up to 22/41 or about 52%!  Still a long ways to go

[finalrush7_]

been a while, yeah. I was like WTF  is he? :D

This TAS run could be helpful, but I don't have the AR for that, nor do I know anyone that has it...

I improved a lot on the 1:07 rail trick, I can do it every second time now! That's the only thing though..
Then again, without the 0:45 checkpoint, I was able to improve my time at the last checkpoint to 1:23:94! Too bad I missed the rail at the end again! <_<

With a perfect run, I think I could get a 1:23:00 at the last checkpoint...Only 2 days left, but I'm giving it my best.

And congrats for taking one of your records back!

[Brian]

...on a brighter side though, thanks to brian explaining the instant spindash trick above I easily took my green forest mission 3 record back, bringing me up to 22/41 or about 52%!  Still a long ways to go

Ha! Finally, I knew you could do this, the same goes to my mission 1 time, if you let me do this, after you finish your competition with PoT, I want you to beat 1:22 on Green Forest mission 1. I'm sure you can do this, and I don't want to see you with 1:29 and Jawzun with 1:26 when I have 1:24 ok?

About the TAS question: I really think that a TAS would be useful if not used to find new strategies, only to see what is the max with the current one, I like to see how we find new shortcuts by our own, please think about that, if one of you want to do this. see yall ^_^ o/

[finalrush7_]

I guess that's what you call tough luck <_<

Check out my new time..
Used 2 checkpoints (!)