Solo Any% 1545 Reflection

So.....I did it. Solo 1545 was finally completed by me in 25 hours, 48 minutes, and 11 seconds. I wanted to write up a pastebin where I can collect my thoughts on how it went overall, how each game went, and how I feel I can best improve in the future.

Overall, my number one goal was just finishing, which I accomplished. After my first attempt failed 12 hours in, I knew that I needed to stop working on this after my second attempt, so I damn well better make sure it counted. My second goal was under 24 hours, which I completely missed. However, I know I can get sub 24 hours - I can save 50 minutes from Crash Bandicoot not crashing on Pinstripe, and I can likely save an hour on Super Mario Galaxy 2 from not being bad. There are other timesaves too, but I'll go more into them later.

Overall for those curious, food wise I was ok for the most part. I ate easy mac, a bag of chips, and a muffin throughout the event. Most of it was eaten during Sunshine, although the muffin I had during Galaxy 1 or 2 (I forget which at this point). Drink wise I had 1 bottle of soda, 1 gatorade, and 1 red bull. Looking back, I wish I drank more water and that may be something I do next time. I didn't really get tired at all until Galaxy 2, that is definitely when the exhaustion hit me. I did end up taking a two hour nap immediately after cutting stream, and by Monday I was back to feeling normal.

Alright, now I'll go into each game. I'll state my time for each game, as well as what my estimate was, and I can go into what I remember going well and poorly specifically. I'll bee going in the order I played the games.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon:
Estimate: 1:05:00
PB: 50:03
Time I Got: 1:10:10

Spyro 3 went ok for the most part, with only a few things being notable. My time loss is almost entirely due to helmet proxy sucking ass. I said it at the time but that is my second least favorite skip in the entire run, and for good reason. I do believe that with more practice, I can easily overcome my issues though. Another issue I had with Spyro 3 was the game freezing several times. Fortunately, opening and closing the disc tray solved these issues, but still they took time away. Looking back, I may have had FDS on for Spyro 3 which absolutely could explain the issues. I know better than that, so if I did then it was out of habit since it is on for the other Sprash games. Regardless, I am not too upset at how Spyro 3 went.

Banjo-Kazooie:
Estimate: 2:50:00
PB: 2:12:13
Time I Got: 2:36:45

Banjo-Kazooie was looking to be a fantastic run, and possibly even a PB for me. And then I choked the Gruntilda fight, hard. I spent almost half an hour on a fight which should not be taking over 4 minutes really. While under estimate, it could have been even better. Every single other thing in this run went beyond my expectations (Except for a death in Rusty Bucket Bay which cost me six minutes). Overall, BK is a game that I find can go really well, and also really shitty.

Super Mario 64:
Estimate: 1:45:00
PB: 1:43:21
Time I Got: 1:32:51

Super Mario 64 is a game I do not enjoy running much anymore. 70 Star was also a category I rarely ran, and as such I knew I had a shit PB, and just wanted to get this run over with. Then I got a ten minute PB. Wow. By far this was the game I did the best in compared to my estimate and expectations. Sure there were deaths and mistakes. Hell, I did TTM 100 coins for no reason whatsoever! All in all, I played dumb but evidently better than I expected still. Really happy with how this turned out.

Crash Bandicoot:
Estimate: 1:05:00
PB: 59:40
Time I Got: Including Crash - 1:53:49/Not Including Crash - 1:10:41

Oh boy. So, as many of you may know just last month I was a part of the team 1545 and Crash 1 was the game I ran in that. As such, I felt really prepared for this game, and had it early as a sort of break after the first three games. Leading into Pinstripe right before the crash, I was quite satisfied with my time (Looking back, I was only about 2 minutes behind PB, which was better pace than my team 11545 run I believe). Of course, the game crashed entering Pinstripe. So.....I restarted the run and for a few minutes contemplated calling it quits. But I dug in, and retreated to a happy place. I muted my mic for a bit and was listening to music for around 6 minutes when a good friend from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Speedrunning community cinderdog started voice chatting with me (more on that at the end). That helped boost my moral, and once I got back to Pinstripe I felt motivated again. Literally all I can say is next time, I won't mash the x button entering levels.

Donkey Kong 64:
Estimate: 1:20:00
PB: 1:17:59
Time I Got: 1:30:56

DK64 is a glitch filled mess in which plenty of things can go wrong. Mostly, things went well though. Biggest things that cost me time was getting fucked up near the beginning with the moon kick after talking to Lumsy (I still am unsure where that bomb dropped from, but from now on I will be careful I guess.) Also having a death in the K Rool fight on Diddy phase sucked. Overall, DK was meh. Could have been better.

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage:
Estimate: 25:00
PB: 20:00
Time I Got: 19:11

So, just now writing this, I realized HOLY FUCK I DID GET THE SUB 20 MINUTE! During the run I was comparing my final time of Spyro 2 to my final time of Crash 1, which made it look like I did not get a sub 20 minute time, but I did!!! Really solid Spyro 2 run, no complaints at all.

Super Mario Sunshine:
Estimate: 3:00:00???
PB: N/A
Time I Got: 2:43:39

So, in SMS it is much faster to not save the game, as saving costs like 4-5 seconds per shine. As such, in every practice run I attempted before this, I never saved. I got a Game Over in every single one, which lost me all of my progress. As such, I did not technically have a finished run before doing this, which prevented me from having an estimate, although I did have a very rough one of 3:00:00. Overall, I remember little of Sunshine. It went ok, but had some dumb shit. a 13 minute Gelato Skip is depressing, but I have had worse. I think more practice of SMS will make me better! So I guess technically this was a PB, but only because I did not have one before.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back:
Estimate: 1:05:00
PB: 1:05:35
Time I Got: 1:04:10

...Apparently I PB'ed in Crash 2? I think this is a case of me just not having an optimized PB for my skill level. I can sub hour Crash 2 any%, I know I can. Crash 2 choked a bit in hub 5, and I almost decided to get a gem in hub 5 as well, but otherwise I think it went ok. At least, I don't remember serious issues.

Banjo-Tooie:
Estimate: 1:05:00
PB: 56:01
Time I Got: 1:12:16

I really enjoyed Banjo-Tooie any% practice, more than most of the games in this event. Because of this, I decided to have BT near the end of the run in a way. That was Mistake number 1. Every practie attempt before, I had a short pastebin I would look at for reference to help me remember the order to do shit in. I thought I had the route memorized, so I didnt pull that up. Mistake number 2. I meant to practice BT two days prior to me doing the run, and failed to. Mistake Number 3. Even the day before, I said at least practice the Hag 1 fight. I did not. Mistake Number 4. All of this combined into BT being my worst of the rareware runs in an ironic twist of fate. Next time, I won't be so cocky about BT (and maybe put BT earlier when I am less tired).

Super Mario Galaxy:
Estimate: 4:00:00
PB: 3:55:10
Time I Got: 3:48:50

I had only done a couple of Galaxy runs before, and felt good about Galaxy seeing how well it went in my first 1545 attempt. I proceeded to destroy last attempts time by 11 minutes, and snagged a 7 minute PB! I think Galaxy is a run where if I put in serious work, I can get a much better time still. Overall, happy with this though.

Spyro the Dragon:
Estimate: 1:10:00
PB: 1:01:38
Time I Got: 1:03:54

This was my first Spyro run where I consistently stayed over the gem count of World Record, which was not what I am used to. I probably made some bad calls during the run, but overall I am fine with it. Having Spyro 1 as a late game was a great call, and it will likely remain as one of the last games I do.

Super Mario Galaxy 2:
Estimate: 4:30:00
PB: 4:44:02
Time I Got: 5:20:30

OOF. So, when I made my estimate, in my mind my PB was a 4:30:00 roughly.  Also, I knew my PB was atrocious and can save 20 minutes easily. I then proceeded to NOT PRACTICE SMG2.........so yeah :/ This was entirely my fault. I should have practiced this game much more, or even just a little. I think my issue is that every time I want to run SMG2 I first need to grind starbits up in my bank, which sucks ass. Still, next time I will likely practice the shit outta this game, and will also move it towards the beginning of the marathon (maybe swap it with SM64?) Having both galaxies so close to each other was a mistake.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped:
Estimate: 1:05:00
PB: 59:09
Time I Got: 1:05:07

Given how tired I was by this point, I am 100% satisfied with this run. Will probably end the next one with this game too as I love Crash 3 and will easily find myself motivated to finish once on this game.

So that is that. PB in SM64, Spyro 2, Crash 2, SMS (kind of), and SMG! 5/13 PB's isn't bad at all! Before I discuss future thoughts, i want to give a few shoutouts. First, shoutout to everyone who watched regardless of how long. You all are the ones who keep me going. Along that same vein, shoutouts to numerous members of the PMD speedrunning community (way too many to name them all), as well as HolySanctum and feranator115 for voice chatting with me throughout. It is insane that for a nearly 26 hour run, I was voice chatting with someone for all of it except for maybe half an hour total. Shoutouts to all of the speedrunners who have given me advice and helped me with various things regarding different games. Again, way too numerous to name them all (And I would feel terrible if I forgot to name someone!). Shoutouts to NachoBrado also, who gifted five subs at the end of my stream! Finally, shoutouts to everyone in the 1545 community. When I joined the organizers team back in January of 2017, I never expected the event to grow like it has. To finally have done a solo run (even if just an any% version) is incredible, and I never would have done it had the interest in the relay grown tremendously over the last three years. Here's to the future!

Speaking of which....future plans. I'm going to be brief as it is already past 3AM, but here it goes. I plan on participating in the SPrashfecta this winter, which will be my third. I also hope to compete in the Rareware 301 this winter for the first time, although that means I need to start preparing soon. As of now I hope to do the Mario 602 in June 2020, and then will attempt a full 1545 next summer. I know some of you will take that with a grain of salt given how many times I said before I was going to do it. Even I have my doubts on if it will happen. I guess all we can do is wait. As for any%, maybe I'll revisit this or any% restricted in a year, but if not I am at peace with how I did.

If anyone has any questions at all, feel free to dm me or ask in my discord. With that being said, I hope you all enjoyed.