Animal Crossing - Debt% FAQ

Q: What is the goal of this speedrun?

A: To pay off all the debts to Nook as quickly as possible.

Q: What is the world record for this category?

A: 38m18s by Totalled.

Q: What is your PB?

A: 39m28s.

Q: Why are your splits different from your PB?

A: One significant timesave in this run depends on the kind of memory card used. The options are 59 block, 251 block, and 1019 block. The latter saves ~40 secs over the traditional 59 block card (for example, the card packaged with the game). My PB used a 59 block card, but my splits are from an unrecorded run I did last March using a 1019 block card, before it was considered legal for competition. Now that it has been okayed, I am using these splits to run against because they are accurate to my memory card. And for reference, the current record does use a 1019 block card--such a time would be near-impossible with a 59 block.

Q: What is your goal time for this category?

A: Ideally I would like to take the record. If I achieved 38:0x, I would probably not return to the game, although sub-38 is possible (though extremely unlikely/difficult).

Q: Where are your biggest timesaves in the run?

A: I can save around 40 seconds on Introductions, 20 seconds on Chores, and with first-try walk-on-table, I can save about 15 seconds on Debt 1. The remaining splits are either very good or have just a few seconds here and there to save.

Q: What are you resetting for?

A: A good time requires optimal town layout to minimize travel distance. More specifically, I will be traveling between Nook's shop and the post office a number of times, and the closest they can be to one another is 2 acres, which requires them to be placed in acres A-2 and A-4. It is also faster for Nook's to be the one in A-2 as it's closest to the house I'll be buying. As for the rest of the town, it's optimal for the six starting villagers to be in a few clusters and to be situated as close to Nook's as possible because Nook's chores involve delivering things to them. This is especially important because my biggest timesave is in the first few splits, where villager placement is very important. However, even with a somewhat bad villager layout, I will probably play out the run as long as I get A-2 Nook's and A-4 post office, if only for practice, and to see if I can eke out a PB by a few seconds.

Q: What is the walk-on-table glitch?

A: The run utilizes a trick which allows the player to climb onto a table inside the house. This is accomplished by running and opening the pause menu/inventory when passing between two tiles on the grid that makes up the floorplan of the house, and by dropping the table from this menu, the player will in effect by teleported to a different plane, from which walking back down slightly will place him on top of the table. From my understanding, this is because the player model is situated directly in between two tiles when placing the table, confusing the game in some way and forcing them to overlap. It is a frame-precise trick, but easier than it sounds. Generally runners use shirts placed as furniture along the rightside wall of the house to space these attempts, as well as lining up a certain row of pixels in the back wall with the top of the menu to know whether an attempt will succeed or fail.

Q: What is the item duplication glitch?

A: Because the table consists of two tiles, the player can drop an item on the table on the tile on which he is not standing, and if the player then picks up the table itself, he himself will return to the ground, but the item placed on the table will be left floating in midair. For reasons unknown, this item now seems to take on certain properties of the table, including that items may be placed on top of it. If the player places a tape deck on top of the floating item and then leaves the house, upon reentry the tape deck and the floating item will have switched places, the tape deck on the floor, and the other item floating high above view. This item can now be removed and, if the house is exited and then reentered, the item will regenerate ad infinitum. It is believed that this has something to do with the tape deck's ability to hold items (i.e. K.K. Slider tunes), but beyond this I don't believe there's a good understanding of the mechanics behind the glitch. In any case, we use this trick to duplicate spring or autumn medals, as they are the highest selling item that can be obtained easily and placed on a table, and we use a predetermined code to obtain a modern table from Tom Nook to set up the glitch.

Q: What date and time do you set the game to?

A: The date must always coincide with either the Spring Sports Fair or the Fall Sports Fair, which, depending on the year, take place on March 20th or 21st and September 23rd or 24th respectively. In addition, according to Forstride, the textbox you receive when speaking to Tortimer to obtain the medal is shorter at the autumn festival than the spring one, so that's what we'll be setting it to. I set this on the Gamecube timer itself so that when Rover asks to confirm the date, there's no need to change it. And again, this is so that a spring or autumn medal can be obtained simply by speaking to Tortimer on the day of this festival.

Q: Why do you get the basement first?

A: After the first house upgrade, Nook gives you the choice to first expand your ground floor further, or build a basement. It is faster to upgrade to the basement first, as the order doesn't impact the total amount of Bells due, and having the basement allows the player to reset the duplication of the medals by simply walking downstairs then upstairs again, rather than exiting the house completely.

Q: If it takes a whole day to complete each house upgrade, how can you complete the run in under an hour?

A: The category allows for "time travel", meaning that upon completely paying off each debt, I save and quit, then set the time forward a whole month before reloading the file. This finishes each house upgrade quickly so that we have access to the next debt to be paid. On the last debt I set the date forward by 2 days, because putting it forward a month would make it January of the same year, which is technically earlier than December and as such the remodel won't be finished. And since December 23rd is a holiday on which the shop is closed, I set it to Christmas Eve instead.