crash 4 trihex speedrun faq

CRASHTOBER:

I'm fully focusing on Crash 4 until PS5 releases on Nov 12. It'll be in 3 phases:

✅ Phase 1 — beat the game
❌ Phase 2 — get 100%
❌ Phase 3 — route/experiment
❌ Phase 4 — do speedruns in the category I'm most excited about  (in that order)

I hope to get to Phase 4 by Monday, Oct 12 to start runs! Let's get to some of the commonly asked questions:


////////////////// QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Q: whats the WR?
A: Check at https://www.speedrun.com/crash4 ; there's a 1 week embargo generally so everyone doesn't spam trash runs for "EZ WR" for a week straight rather than enjoying the game. :^)

Q: What's 100%? What's 106%? What's any%?
A: We're still learning at this time. But doing any% (only beating levels, no gems, and beating final boss) gives ~34%. Getting all gems results in 98%. And from there...

2% = All Platnium Time Trial Relics
2% = N Sane Relics (getting all boxes and 0 deaths) on every level
2% = Platinum Relic on All N Sane Tapes

So 100% technically isn't a static route. The community is still deciding whether to allow 100% with flexible tangibles or opt for requiring strict things. AFAIK, doing any of these 3 can result in the 100% ending. 106% requires getting everything outlined here.

Q: What category are you gonna run?
A: Honestly, it's a good q. Not sure yet. As of now, I don't care for any% and would be interested in breaking boxes. These come to mind as appealing at this time for me. But still deciding:

All Standard Gems (46%) ➡️➡️ (beat each level once --> final boss)
All Gems (98%) ➡️➡️ (beat each level twice)
100% ➡️➡️ (beat each level 1st visit --> final boss --> beat each level 2nd visit --> get n sane relics -or- platnium tt's -or- all n sane tapes)

Q: does crash feel good to play? Like does the controls cramp your fingers or anything like that?
A: Casually, Crash is fantastic to play. Hard, but fair. Took me 15hr to beat story mode, would take a less savy non-speedrunner probably double the time? :D

Speedrunning, due to fastest movement being slide-cancel-spinning, it can be intensive on the fingers. I use a Switch Pro Controller via an adapter instead of a Dual Shock 4 controller for my own comfort and preference.

Q: Why not use Triple Spins on speedruns?
A: They don't work like in Crash 3. You don't just spam Square. You have to press it rhythmically, and press 2nd time about 0.5 sec after 1st, then press 3rd about 0.25sec after that. it's awkward and missing it is bigger consequence than doing SCS a bunch IMO.

Q: Why double spins?
A: Easier, more consistent to do over Triple Spins. I go over what a Slide-canceled-Spin is below in SPEEDRUN TECH.

Q: Why are you missing box's by Nitro boxes?
A: Every level has a green "!" box that blows up all nitro. The nitro does break all boxes hugging the nitro directly. So those boxes can be skipped and still count towards completion at the end via "!" box.

Q: Does nitro switch blow up nitro in bonus rooms?
A: Surprisingly, yes. Even the bonus rooms that have a dedicated nitro switch - (which technically can be ignored if the level doesn't require them detonated for a puzzle).

Q: Can you hit TNT when entering bonus room to count?
A: Yes, but TNT will not auto-detonate. They explode on timer, in real-time. So if TNT is hit prior to checkpoint, only if it explodes and others in burst range break will checkpoint remember. It's fairly risky to go for those without thorough testing to insure it works.

Q: Why does this level look so weird
A: I'm playing on Nverted Mode. It's a gimmick where you have to revisit the level mirrored (not reversed) with a graphic filter applied. It's pretty distracting IMO. Unfortunately, I can't turn it off. But you'll only see it half the time.

Q: Do you need to complete  inverted levels for 100%?
A: Yes, Inverted levels contain Nverted Gems, which count towards ~48% of game completion.

Q: How does this compare to the difficulty of the original trilogy and the insane trilogy?
A: IMO, Crash 1 is still probably the hardest game, but that was hard for unintended/bad reasons (depth perception, wonky levels). Crash 4 is the hardest game that feels the fairest in its difficulty to me compared to Crash 2 and 3. I'd rank their difficulty as:

Crash 4 > Crash 2 > Crash 3 > [Crash 1 n/a]

It's hard, but very fun and feels super fulfilling once you achieve mastery of the masks and controls.






////////////////// SPEEDRUN TECH:

In Crash 4, the game only checks for valid ground beneath Crash at the start of a slide. Once sliding, the game doesn't check for anything beneath Crash - so you can slide at the very edge of platforms and extend your ground quite a bit. Also, Crash travels faster at the START of the slide animation than walking forward. The ending of the slide halts momentum, so if you can avoid that portion, its profitable.

Thankfully, you can cancel the endlag of a slide into a jump or spin:

- Into a jump gains height, but loses horizontal momentum.
- Into a spin keeps SOME momentum, but vulnerable to a ground check if above nothing once approx half the spin animation is over.

Thus it's optimal to slide, cancel the endlag of slide into a spin - spin will keep some momentum - then cancel the 2nd half of the spin into a jump to keep some of that momentum. And repeat to move as fast as possible in the game.

After beating the final boss, you unlock Triple Spinning, which is allows you to GAIN SPEED while in the air (unlike slide-cancel-spinning). Generally, I do SCS on ground and Super Spins in the air.

Fast movement options:
1️⃣ slide cancel spin
2️⃣ triple spin
3️⃣ slide cancel ---> triple spin

Best way to clear gaps:
1️⃣ slide jump
2️⃣ double jump
3️⃣ slide jump --> double jump
4️⃣ slide spin cancel double jumps
5️⃣ slide jump --> power mask spin
6️⃣ slide jump --> power mask spin --> double jump --> power mask spin

Best way to gain height:
1️⃣ jump
2️⃣ double jump
3️⃣ crouch jump
4️⃣ gravity mask double jump
5️⃣ crouch jump --> gravity spin + gravity jump