All the things
I've been working on this and it doesn't seem like it will take too long to get a good run. Even so, it's good to document the tricks and things.
Rolling: This is the crux of pretty much every trick in the run. You can roll by holding down on a slope. Simple enough. When you start into a roll, you will gradually accelerate to a speed that is faster than normal running. You are also invincible, have an active hitbox around you, and gain the special property of scaling vertical walls while it's active. Several levels can be completed just by rolling at the beginning and letting the rest play out.
Instant Rolling: I found this trick accidentally and when I investigated it, I though it would be TAS-only. Turns out there are easier ways to set it up, so it has become a necessary addition to the run. I'm still not entirely sure of the requirements, but I can get it about 60% in real-time. To perform in real-time, you must be holding run while on a slope. Then, press back very briefly and roll to forward, then to down. With precision and some luck, Congo should immediately start into a roll at full speed, negating the time required to start it up and accelerate. Looks pretty slick, too.
Roll Storage: When you start sliding (don't even have to go into a full roll), a flag is set that basically declares that "wallclimbing" is enabled while you're rolling. Turns out that this flag is not unset unless you stand still or get hit. Even better, the game considers you to be "rolling" when you start to descend from a high jump. What this means is that jumping and colliding with a wall or ground will cause you to instantly start rolling provided that your inputs are correct (left or right for walls, and straight down for ground). So several of the more difficult tricks involve trying to preserve this property for as long as possible and set up rolls in areas that would otherwise not be possible. This involves a lot of precise movement since stopping for even one frame will cause you to lose the flag, and several of the locations to set up a roll are pretty unforgiving.
Floating: When you go into super mode, you can hover after a super jump by rapidly pressing jump. It's an intended mechanic in the game, but there's nowhere that teaches you this so it's worth mentioning. You can effectively "cape" through several of the levels this way.
I might go into detail on individual stage tricks later on, but they aren't too hard to figure out once the above tricks are understood. Boss strategies are also pretty simple for the most part, although there is some uncertainty to it. Hitboxes are ridiculous in some parts of the game, and a better understanding of them can go a long way to developing good strategies. In particular, the last boss can take a ton of time with the wrong patterns, and not knowing where you can be hit prohibits a lot of aggressive attacking. I will look into what seeds the bosses' patterns, but I know that part of it is based on your position relative to them when they start attacking.
My current PB is 22:11, and I expect a submittable run to be in the neighborhood of 21:30-21:45. The TAS (currently a WIP) will probably finish in just under 20 minutes.
Rolling: This is the crux of pretty much every trick in the run. You can roll by holding down on a slope. Simple enough. When you start into a roll, you will gradually accelerate to a speed that is faster than normal running. You are also invincible, have an active hitbox around you, and gain the special property of scaling vertical walls while it's active. Several levels can be completed just by rolling at the beginning and letting the rest play out.
Instant Rolling: I found this trick accidentally and when I investigated it, I though it would be TAS-only. Turns out there are easier ways to set it up, so it has become a necessary addition to the run. I'm still not entirely sure of the requirements, but I can get it about 60% in real-time. To perform in real-time, you must be holding run while on a slope. Then, press back very briefly and roll to forward, then to down. With precision and some luck, Congo should immediately start into a roll at full speed, negating the time required to start it up and accelerate. Looks pretty slick, too.
Roll Storage: When you start sliding (don't even have to go into a full roll), a flag is set that basically declares that "wallclimbing" is enabled while you're rolling. Turns out that this flag is not unset unless you stand still or get hit. Even better, the game considers you to be "rolling" when you start to descend from a high jump. What this means is that jumping and colliding with a wall or ground will cause you to instantly start rolling provided that your inputs are correct (left or right for walls, and straight down for ground). So several of the more difficult tricks involve trying to preserve this property for as long as possible and set up rolls in areas that would otherwise not be possible. This involves a lot of precise movement since stopping for even one frame will cause you to lose the flag, and several of the locations to set up a roll are pretty unforgiving.
Floating: When you go into super mode, you can hover after a super jump by rapidly pressing jump. It's an intended mechanic in the game, but there's nowhere that teaches you this so it's worth mentioning. You can effectively "cape" through several of the levels this way.
I might go into detail on individual stage tricks later on, but they aren't too hard to figure out once the above tricks are understood. Boss strategies are also pretty simple for the most part, although there is some uncertainty to it. Hitboxes are ridiculous in some parts of the game, and a better understanding of them can go a long way to developing good strategies. In particular, the last boss can take a ton of time with the wrong patterns, and not knowing where you can be hit prohibits a lot of aggressive attacking. I will look into what seeds the bosses' patterns, but I know that part of it is based on your position relative to them when they start attacking.
My current PB is 22:11, and I expect a submittable run to be in the neighborhood of 21:30-21:45. The TAS (currently a WIP) will probably finish in just under 20 minutes.
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