ZELLLOOO here with my lovely wife Haru-kaze, hello and welcome to this co-op speedrun of Pump It Up NX2's WorldMAX! We'll be running 100% completion for WorldMAX which involves completing every mission in the mode.

(For reference and if anyone actually cares, we are running V1.54 [3/10/2008] for NX2)

For anyone who would like to look at our run notes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tPrAwZSQnifz-jMMJ2oDpcJ-8WRRP-BnGkjDKtxSNVs/edit?usp=sharing

And here's the full map (minus Phantomia) if anybody would like to see (courtesy of Bemaniacs.com): http://bemaniacs.com/wp_custom/soft/WorldMAX.jpg

Special thanks are in order first:

- Haru-kaze for being an amazing co-op partner (and wife for that matter!), setting up a lot of the art and layout stuff, and helping a TON with planning this beast of a project.

- mrkimchinim for helping with art and research, he looked into some of the stranger WorldMAX things for us and helped clarify my questions so I could stop pulling my hair out.

- Gyo*, LogosPump, and GremmyWhite for graphic sources to use during promotion of this run.

- TurkeySlam and the Pump Haven community, Sudocho, BlueAndys, Max Angel, GremmyWhite, and 4yvak for the boatloads of threads and information about this mode which helped so much with planning this run, especially the giant world map with all the missions listed and the WorldMAX guide booklets!

- Andamiro for making this game and still continuing this excellent music game series to this day, with the current mix being Pump It Up Prime 2.

- You for watching this and (hopefully) being entertained by our suffering!

General Q&A

- Why 100% completion? Why not any%?

    -- Any% gets too messy due to a bunch of issues (timing out every song individually and somehow piecing a route from that, time unlocks on the barriers being unclear and potentially making over 70% of the missions skippable), 100% is a very clearly defined metric and was much more fun to route out since we get to explore everything the game has to offer!

- How many missions are in 100%?

    -- Exactly 333 missions in NX2, so each mission will be worth roughly .3% on the stat screen.

- How does the mileage work?

    -- Every completed credit on your profile earns you some mileage which is basically the in-game currency. We can either buy unlockable charts in Special Zone or use them in WorldMAX to enable or disable certain mods for step charts (reading speeds, arrow path changes, etc.)

- What's the logic behind the route for this category?

    -- As different colored barriers block access into new lands and different missions, we need to clear a boss mission in every land up to Cryomiston to break a different color barrier leading into the next zone. Near the end of the run, I will also be inputing some special codes in a couple of places to break the remaining barriers, allowing us to clear the remaining barriers and reach the remaining missions (and the credits!). The routing for each land is carefully done to minimize backtracking as much as possible and easily keep track of the mission order so please don't fret if it looks like we skip a mission, we will definitely get back to it at some point!

    -- For anyone not familiar with the life system in WorldMAX, you get three lives per credit. Normal length songs take 1 life to play, slightly longer songs such as Remix-category songs or some of the shorter Full Version songs take two lives, and the longer Full Versions take three lives. You do not gain or lose any additional life for passing or failing any mission, so the routing was crafted to be able to play multi-life missions when we are able to.


- Wait, that barrier wasn't there like it says it is on the map!

    -- This game has some strange time unlock system that saves onto the hard drive in addition to the USB profile unlocks, so some barriers are already gone. With it being a pain to try and figure out how to reset this feature, it was just easier to plan around the barriers still being up since we're completing everything anyways and I'm not quite sure how far our time unlock process is barrier-wise.

- Time estimate for this run?

    -- Roughly 20 hours, during our testing it was taking us roughly 2 hours per split, and then probably an extra hour or two for buffer from failing missions if we're playing poorly.

- What are these time bombs that seem to appear on a mission?

    -- The bombs have a small chance of forcefully pulling you into a stepmaker mission (such as *Overdeath or *Hidden Parts) or a Mine Zone mission in Harena, losing some time.

Mission-specific:

Rootinia

- Gatekeeper (So) - What is X?

    -- X is used for a few objectives to hide the real objectives because the developers were assholes. For this mission, the objective is simply get an F Rank with Stage Break Off, so just ignore everything for a free clear.

- Quattro - What did you just do with those Actions?

    -- This mission actually has four separate charts that can complete a different objective and unlock a new path. Since one mission can only be accessed through this method, I simply hit three Action steps to trigger a special chart with Hearts and open the path to Alteration.

Shantomia

- Fork of a Road (Deux Remix) - Why are you playing this multiple times? Do you get extra completion percentage each time?

    -- No, I only get percentage credit for the first pass. Depending on which chart I play (I can select using the hearts in the first parts of the song), I end the mission with a different number of arrows which (supposedly) opens separate paths to the other missions. Unfortunately, the mission seems a bit buggy and doesn't open the paths consistently, so the only thing we've been able to route it is playing through each condition once and then one extra time after that to guarantee all the paths are open. If we could figure out why the path unlocking is particularly buggy then we could cut several minutes out of the run since we only need the NW path for new missions.

- Perplexity 3 (Bee) - What is even going on?

    -- WE HAVE NO IDEA. Even looking at game data hasn't helped us figure out why this chart doesn't play like it looks, so we just mash wherever there are arrows and pray we stay under the required 200 misses.

Mirtain

- Meteor (Fire) - No chart appeared?

    -- This mission has a chance of the chart simply not loading and you auto-clear the condition (no mines hit), why this happens we have no idea.

- Dead End (Greenhorn) - What is X here?

    -- Get a 5 miss combo, 3 hidden steps, and 1 hidden heart. It's a pain but you can find a video of how to do this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYLXwRpTuAo

- Red! (Red Remix) - How did you access that?

    -- After completing Mir, highlight Mir again and push both Up-Left and Up-Right on the same frame. If you did it right, the cutscene happens with the volcano activating and Red is revealed.

Harena

- Miss S (Miss'S Story) - 0 Bad + Good + Great + Perfect?

    -- Yes, you simply miss the hold on 1P Down-Left the entire time and hit all the potions to offset the life loss.

- Non-Powerful 6 (Witch Doctor) - X condition for this one?

    -- Simply lifebar clear with a D grade or less.

Barharn

- D (Canon-D Full) - Why do you use a prerecorded video for this?

    -- This chart is always the same, but the speed mod given and the vanish or sudden effects are randomized each playthrough and some combinations of these are pretty much impossible to read. I could attempt to memorize a four minute chart but it's just way safer to use a prerecorded video to guarantee I finish first try.

- Fork of a Road 2 (Essa Maniera) - Why all the mashing at the beginning?

    -- This mission is like Fork of a Road 1 where you can choose different charts, but this time only one chart fulfills the objective. The correct chart is selected by mashing a LOT of hidden steps at the very beginning (we're talking probably 50+ in the span of a couple seconds).

Morigin

- Item War (Novarash Remix) - Hidden conditions for this mission?

    -- The path to May Remix is only unlocked if we finish the mission with 1.6% lifebar or less and exactly a B grade (yes, it's that specific to unlock), which is why we decided to co-op this mission for a bit of consistency.

    -- On the note of May Remix, even though we unlock the path, a purple barrier still blocks the way to it until we get to the Mystery Box later in the run.

Cryomiston

- Blue Light (Moonlight Alt.) - What are you doing here to hit steps?

    -- The hidden steps to hit are actually timed with the blue bass neon lights on the machine! Not very important since the mission is an auto-clear as far as I know, but amusing nonetheless.

Revisits

- Born of Earth 5 (Chicago Club Mix) - Why co-op for this?

    -- This mission is originally from NX1, but during the porting process to NX2 somebody screwed up the lifebar mechanics for the mission and made it basically impossible to clear on your own without breakdancing during the long item drill. I will have no energy for that by the time we get here, so it's just easier for one person to jump on the drill while the other continues to hit notes.

- Block Game (Pumptris 8-bit) - What?

    -- It's a giant game of Tetris, the full lines will eventually clear and you hit the steps that are changing in order to get the hearts.

- Eraser (Beethoven Virus) - Again, what?

	-- Worst mission in the game right here. It is simply the D8 / Freestyle chart for Beethoven Virus with 0x speed, meaning the entire chart must be memorized. This is the second and final mission where I use a pre-recorded video to play since it's near the end of the run and I need ways to be consistent.


Phantomia

- Passing Step (Turkey March) - This mission sucks.

    -- That's not a question but yes it does. The game randomly selects one chart from several and only a few of which have enough hitable steps to complete the objective, so don't be surprised if this mission takes several tries. No, there's no hidden timing window for the ghost steps, they are completely unhitable.

- Necropolis (It's My Business Full) - More hidden steps?

    -- Yes, mashing hidden steps at the beginning increases the tick of the final hold, so I need enough mashing for the last hold to push me above the step requirement.