Rough transcript for crash 1 video

Hello everyone, my name is Tebt_W, and I’ve made this video as a place for beginners interested in picking up Crash Bandicoot 1 Speedrunning to start and hear some important tips before starting their full-game runs. I have been speedrunning Crash Bandicoot 1 as my main speedgame for a few years now and have been able to witness and contribute to the game’s changing strats, skips, and meta. Thanks to people such as myself, WhitePaaws, Kojiro, Rex, Cane, Whip, Zbm, and more, Crash 1 has become faster and faster with lots of different strats to do in many segments.

#1 Categories
First of all, I’m going to discuss the categories of this game and where to start. Crash 1’s category is pretty simple compared to some other speedgames with just the any% and 100% categories.
Any% is beating the game as fast as possible from start to finish, in other words, get from “Start” to landing the last hit on Cortex. An important segment of this run is The Lost City, which has the green gem that allows you to skip Castle Machinery almost entirely. At top and intermediate level, global cycles are carried through levels.
100% involves completing the game to 100% by collecting all 26 gems and 2 keys and then triggering the secret ending in The Great Hall. The game is played up to The Lab, and then the backtracking part of the run begins which involves cleaning up new levels available from keys, and also cleaning up previously visited levels with the now acquired coloured gems that allow accessing hidden boxes.
Due to the nature of how gems are collected in this game, with having to complete the level without dying past a checkpoint and all, you might assume that I would recommend trying any% first as it significantly less punishing than 100%. But, I firmly believe that a runner can do well picking up either category first. Naturally, however, a runner that played the game a lot casually will have less trouble starting with 100%. Also, one category will teach you some things that you may not learn in the other.

#2 Learning
Usually, the place where a runner first goes to learn how to run the game is by looking at the world record run and copying their strats. This isn’t a bad idea, however, the world records for both categories contain strats that may only be faster by combining certain cycle skips together and/or will not yet be consistently possible for a new runner to pull off. While their strats are fast which is good, it is wiser to start off with some easier strats to do in your runs while trying out the harder strats in practice and then implementing them in your runs as your skill improves.
An example of this is death abusing in any%. Death abusing in any%, assuming you are using the NTSC-U or PAL versions, makes the cutscene at the end of levels that tells you how many boxes you missed not load. Additionally, dying resets cycles so the death abuses in the world record are often done on checkpoints that reset the cycles to fast positions.  The problem here for new runners is that they most likely will not have fast enough movement or knowledge to be able to catch these cycles, which means no time is saved. As such, I recommend death abusing in these spots shown on screen, but adding harder ones you see in the world record or strat videos as you improve:___
Another example of this is in the 100% category, where four skips are done so that 4 levels can be beaten with all of the boxes without a second visit. The first two skips are Jungle Rollers and Great Gate skip, which can definitely be learned by new runners from the very start if they choose and both skips have their own tutorials. The other two skips are Upstream and Cortex Power skip, which are harder and require more time to learn. It is advised that runners only learn Upstream if they already have a 1:06 or better. Cortex Power skip used to be quite an inconsistent skip, but things have developed that have made is 100% execution-based. It is currently believed that a new runner *could* now pick up this skip from the start, but if they are struggling with other areas of the game, those areas should be improved first. Cortex Power skip also has its own tutorial.
A good way to learn stuff about the game is through watching marathon runs because they have live commentary informing viewers about the run. For any%, I recommend watching the SGDQ 2017 run by WhitePaaws, and for 100% I recommend watching my NoResetSpeedruns 2018 run. Both of these will be linked below. As for runs on the leaderboard, the top 2 runs in any% and the top 4 runs in 100% are definitely worth checking out for different strats and setups for things.
Finally, I have a work-in-progress guide for the 100% category which will be linked in the description. It also contains general useful info about the game, so it’s worth checking out even if you are just interested in any%.

#3 Regions/Platforms
Next, Crash 1 was released officially for three different regions: NTSC-U, PAL, and NTSC-J. NTSC-U, often referred to as “the american version”, is the fastest region for any% due to the fact that death abusing skips the cutscenes at the end of levels telling you how many boxes you missed while NTSC-J cannot, which also allows for strategically resetting cycles to fast positions. NTSC-J, often referred to as “the japanese version” is the fastest region for 100% because the red gem is placed BEFORE the level Road To Nowhere (which requires the red gem for all the boxes),  instead of after it which means one whole less visit is needed compared to the other two regions. Some people get turned off running 100% because they do not have access to the NTSC-J version, but the truth is that NTSC-J probably saves less than a minute over NTSC-U and a lot of the same strats used by NTSC-J runners can be used on NTSC-U. The reason it saves less than you’d think a whole revisit skip would save is because that timesave is decreased throughout the run by having worse cycles due to the fact you are resetting them less since you can’t use it to skip the box cutscenes on first passes to levels. PAL is the worst version and is also very different from the other two versions due to different movement speeds and jump heights, Cortex Power skip being different, and more. If you are stuck with the PAL version, it is advised that you switch to emulator.
Crash 1 was first released on the PS1, but is also officially playable on PS2, PS3, PSP,  and PSTV (though PSTV is PAL only so it won’t be talked about in detail). It is playable through emulator. PS2 is the fastest version due to the feature known as fast disc speed, which makes the PS1 disc spin at a PS2 speed, about 1m 40s in any%, and about 2 minutes in 100%. The only other platform that has this feature is PSP, but it for some reason it makes loads slower. PS1 is laggy and PS3 laggy and has poor emulation. You can still run the game just fine all these platforms though. The other platform is emulator, which has way less lag than consoles but no fast disc speed option, so it is the second fastest way to play. If you are going to use emulator, please check the rules section on the leaderboards and see the forum post detailing the emulators that are allowed so your run won’t get rejected for using a banned emulator such as psxfin or pcsx. The emulator I used before switching to PS2 was epsxe 2.0.0, which I would still recommend today.
Don’t worry too much if you are stuck with a slower version than PS2, as you can still get very respectable times with that version.

#4 Movement
The main movement technique in the game is zigzagging. While jumping in the air, if you alternate up-left and up-right while moving forward, or down-left and down-right while moving downward as another example, you get a boost of speed that you can use as the main form of movement tech and use it to clear jumps that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. Make sure you never do it while on the ground, as it only works while in the air. This technique takes a lot of time to get good at, so don’t be discouraged if your zigzag feels bad at first, everyone starts somewhere. You will most likely need to only do a little bit at first or else you may hurt your hands. As you play the game more over time, your hands will get used to it. This is another reason why it is advised that you go for easier cycles and death abuse spots for any%, as your zigzag may not yet be fast enough to catch the same cycles as the world record. There are a few different ways to zigzag: You can do it with your thumb OR with your wrist for example. And, some people can zigzag on certain controllers, for example, the analogless PS1 controller or the DualShock 2 controller. These things are all preference, though, so experiment! Note that when you have invincibility, you should walk on the ground as much as possible
Another important movement technique is called the submarine jump. If you fall from a ledge while spinning, you have 10 frames after the spin animation finishes to do a jump in the air. Beware that if you jump while the spin animation is playing, you will not be able to get a jump. This can allow for clearing big gaps and spinning boxes near ledges without fear. I recommend learning this technique early on because is just sooo useful.
Spinning, combined with jumping+zigzagging, is the general fastest way to move in this game. Beware of the spin timer, which is where Crash won’t spin after spinning too much and 1 spin out of 6 available spins recharges every 2 seconds. Spinning lasts 24 frames on the ground and 14 frames in the air, but if a landing is made and you jump immediately, 4 frames are continued. Note that you should avoid spin jumping down most slopes. and on platforms that fall after landing on them such as lily pads and the falling platforms in Generator Room and ruins levels because they will almost always eat your input. Also note that spinning in a jump can add a bit of height to your jump.
Finally, it’s worth noting that when you fall off a ledge, you have 10 frames to still jump.



#5 Cycles

Cycles are a very important part of crash bandicoot 1 speedrunning. If you wish to pursue running this game at a high or intermediate level, knowing all your cycles and what strats you can do to skip them will set you apart from other runners. Here, I will go over the different types of cycles that can be found in the game:

Global cycles are moving as long as the game is not paused or in a loading screen. These cycles (along with all the other cycles listed here) still reset when you die (see: respawn cycle). For example, the spikes in Native Fortress are moving while you are in Jungle Rollers.

Spawn cycles stars moving when you get close to it. As a result, these cycles are always consistent. Sometimes referred to as a proximity cycle. Examples: Rollers in Jungle Rollers and Rolling Stones, Hogs in bridge levels, and flames in ruins levels.

Level cycles are a rare type of cycle in the PS1 Crash Bandicoot trilogy. It is a cycle that begins moving when you first spawn in the level. Example: Castle Machinery ending rising cycle.