If you feel like giving comments about the run, use the existing verification thread : http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,10691.0.html
If you want to share information related to speedrunning this game (tricks, strategies, ...), use this thread : http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,4842.0.html

First of all, sorry for not dancing around that much in this run. I have only one splitter, which is used for the video signal (for obvious reasons), and thus no sound to help me keep the rhythm...

This is my fourth speedrun (for my third game) to date and probably the one that agonized me the most. A run of this game requires pretty precise input in order not to mess up the execution. There are a couple of non-luck dependent tricks for which my rate of success is still not more than 25-50% (and it's not because I haven't practiced...). In the light of this, this speedrun is the one I'm the most happy with so far.

Thanks to everyone at sda (staff, runners and audience) for making the site what it is. Greetings also to klmz for a tas that I still can't find any imperfections in and for unconditionally having assisted me with useful information about how to perform some of the tricks in this run.

To understand some of the tactics employed in the run, it's important to be aware of how Jay's (the character, duh...) position on the screen works. Correctly used, changing Jay's screen position can help avoiding enemies/enemy shots, obstacles and set up a favorable timing for moving without stopping. Anyways, the screen will scroll at the same pace as Jay when he is moving (horisontally or vertically). However, if Jay gets hit, he will move without the screen scrolling horisontally. This allows you to "advance" or "reverse" on the screen, depending on if you take the hit upfront or in the back. Another way to manipulate the screen positioning is after leaving an elevator while the screen is still scrolling vertically.

Stage 1 (A deserted space colony in Space Age 0373)
===================================================
Level: Ok.
------

Pre-boss: Ok.
---------

Boss phase 1:
-------------
Freak luck against these very random enemies ! My strategy (small jump and spam) works against most things the "robo-grasshoppers" can do, but won't assure you a quick win. I would easily have settled for a 5 second slower fight. If #1 would have behaved like #2 and #3, maybe half a second more could have been shaved off, but that's just hypothetically. But by all means, #1 also behaved extremely well.

Boss phase 2: Nailed the chopper in 5 jumps (I would continue even if it took me 6 jumps, which was usually the case).
-------------

Riskier strategies:
-------------------
- I duck a couple of times to shoot mines. The last two mines can be bypassed without stopping, but it would drastically decrease the number of runs getting past this level. Maybe 1 second lost ?
- The hit I take from the cannon is avoidable, but very precise timing is required in order to shoot it first. A small time saver not worth the trouble if you ask me.
- With precise timing, it's possible to pick up the M immediately when the pre-boss goes down. Timing wise a difficult trick. Saves 0.5 seconds.

Stage 2 (Underground Concourse)
===============================
Level:
------
Ok. All hits are intentional. I wait for a second after the second elevator has arrived. The reason is to get the right screen positioning (preferably as close to the center as possible) in order to avoid the bullets from the rotating turret near the end and to give me the right position at the pre-boss fight.

Pre-boss: Sort of ok, but I can do it in one jump less. 1 second lost.
---------

Boss: Ok.
-----

Riskier strategies:
-------------------
- A small amount of time could have been saved by moving to the right while waiting for the second elevator. I would have had to turn back the same distance though in order not to wait the same amount of time on top instead. (thanks to one of the verifyers for pointing this out)
- It's possibly faster to fire off some missiles in order to exactly run out of weapon energy in the end (saves a weapon change at the start of level 3). The time gain is probably pretty insignificant though (the time refilling the energy at the end of the level has to be taken into account also). Not to mention that it's hard to pull off shooting two missiles at each jump that connect (I miss one in this run as an example).

Stage 3 (Terrorist Headquarters)
================================
The toughest and most random level. Every flame mine and wall-crawling spider can hit you at will without possibility of dodging. I take a couple of random hits, which is nothing remarkable. I prefer to see it as I got lucky if I didn't get hit rather than saying that I got bad luck if I got hit a few times.

Start-1st elevator: And there was a flame mine...
-------------------

1st elevator-2nd elevator:
--------------------------
It's debatable whether it would have been possible to avoid getting hit by the spider bullet by ducking. I judged it likely that I would then have been hit by the ceiling turret instead so I decided to take the hit. The two next hits are intentional since they allow Jay to bypass the laser barriers without stopping (by advancing his screen position).

2nd elevator-3rd elevator:
--------------------------
Everything goes according to plan until I miss a jump and get hit by one of those fork crushers. The last hit on the flame mine is incredibly cheap. Seriously, that's f-king bullshit... I have a no-hit level 3 run which is around 2 seconds faster up until the 3rd elevator. Since I take 4 unintentional hits this time around, I assume 0.5 seconds are on me and that I'm entitled to blame 1.5 seconds on a lack of luck.

3rd elevator-end:
-----------------
I get a little bit unlucky and have to wait for the first flame mine to calm down (0.5 seconds). The rest is probably the hardest part of the run. I can immediately say that there is no way a human can just run through the last corridor. Those flying enemies home in on you and will destroy any attempt if not taken out immediately. Most of the stops are to set up for an upcoming flying enemy, while taking into account the shots from the ceiling turrets. It's possible to save maybe 2 seconds with more luck on the last part with the laser barriers, but it was nothing wrong with the luck I got there either.

Pre-boss:
---------
Ok. While it was unintentional this time, I usually try to fire away an extra missile before picking up the L. The reason is that I want to completely deplete the weapon energy at the end and thus avoid a weapon change in level 4.

Boss: Ok.
-----

Riskier strategies:
-------------------
- On most jumps on the boss, you can fire away two missiles at once (like on the level 2 boss). The timing for getting both missiles to connect is tricky though and any miss would leave you with the normal gun for cleaning up the mess in the end. A perfect fight would save 4 seconds. Considering how hard it was for me to get here in the first place, I traded those risky 4 seconds for a fool-proof strategy instead.

Stage 4 (Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship)
==========================================
Long and tough, but not as random as level 3.

Start-1st elevator: Ok.
-------------------

1st elevator-2nd elevator: Ok.
--------------------------

2nd elevator-3rd elevator:
--------------------------
Pretty long and difficult part. Most of it goes ok, but I got stuck on some steps near the end and the traversing of the last set of falling blocks was not optimal (although surviving that part is the real priority). I'd say a second was lost.

3rd elevator-end:
-----------------
The first hit I take was intentional, because it sets up my screen position perfectly for getting under that piston thing later on. The second hit was also intentional, mostly because I haven't found a good way to avoid it... Before I jumped down the shaft, I ran back a bit for what seems to be an unexplicable reason. The answer lies in the screen scrolling. When the screen hasn't scrolled enough to the right, the vertical scrolling won't work and you will get stuck when jumping down. That's a pretty nasty programming bug if you ask me... The last stretch then went well, except that the game offered me a good example of bad hit detection (I shot three times right through the first flying enemy), which cost me a second.

Pre-boss:
---------
Ok. When watching it again, I'm actually not sure if it's faster to jump and take the G. Maybe it's faster just waiting for it to fall down ?

Boss: Ok.
-----

Riskier strategies:
-------------------
- The tas used missiles against the pre-boss, but I haven't found a way to get anything decent out of that.
- The G can be picked up in the same jump as the last shot, saving maybe half a second.
- Shooting two missiles every time on the boss would take him down in 5 cycles instead of 6 with grenades. This would save around 3 seconds, but the gain has to be offset also by an extra weapon change to grenades on level 5 (1.5 seconds). I'd say this is probably the easiest time saver to implement of the ones suggested.

Final stage (Inside the Terrorist's Spaceship Factory)
======================================================
Level: Ok.
------

Boss:
---------
The goal is to save as many grenades as possible for later use against the alien boss, but still take out both sides of the ship in one cycle. I got nervous and lost one second on the right side when starting to jump too early and then got hit by a bullet. I thank the tas for showing me the neat trick of shooting the vulnerable parts from the "inside".

Final boss:
-----------
I saved 6 grenades to use against Android and then needed 3 normal shots before he was history. I missed one normal shot, which had virtually no influence on the time since the last hit was actually an almost instantaneous double-hit. I admit that it looks a bit unfortunate though. By the way, Android is a "human metallic skeleton" and not a T-800 from Terminator, just in case you were wondering...

Riskier strategies:
-------------------
I tried all weapon combinations, but did not find anything that was faster than using grenades and normal gun (despite the long weapon change).

All in all, I can see around 4 seconds of glaring execution mistakes and maybe 5 seconds where luck could have been better (although I don't consider this time as lost due to bad luck, I just say that I could have been even luckier than I was). I'd say I chickened out on around 7-8 seconds on not using the riskiest, but still human, strategies that I'm aware of. On top of that, you could add the always present time savers like more precise turning skills, being better at spamming bullets etc. With the insane luck in level 1 (I've only had the same or better luck maybe 5 times) and no major mistakes, I'd say a potential competitor would be forced to go for the riskier strategies. As for me, I think this run is pretty close to my limit, so I don't really have any plans trying to improve it.

Fun facts
=========
- Jay looks much more manly with his helmet in the pal-version than with his dorky hair in the ntsc-version. I wonder if this had to do with the lost Terminator licence somehow ?

- One of the graphic designers in the credits is called "Hebereke". This is the Japanese name for Ufouria, another Sunsoft game for the nes (and an awesome one too !).

- Did you get anything of the ending ? Me neither. The space colony continues to travel through space. Mmmkay, so what ? Well, it appears that the text "Father, look! Our colony’s completed now!" is present in the rom code, but the programmers left out/forgot to make it appear in the ending. This refers to Jay continuing in his father's footsteps and finishing the work of the space colony.

- Japan, the land of video games. Have you ever wondered if those who scored most girls were the video game programmers ? Well, it hasn't really bothered me either, but the attentive viewer will find a hint to the answer in the credits ! Look in the right column, second from bottom in the "Special thanks" section. I won't give you the answer here, but go and have a look for yourself (around 15.12 in the video) for a good laugh. :-)