First of all, thanks to:

• All of the SDA staff; there personally wouldn't be much of a point in doing this run if it wasn't for their work for this site.
• Nate, for getting the DVD files and compressing the video (and another huge thanks for capturing my SMB:BB replays a while back).
• The Sonic Center, for competition and times to compare to (at least the times that are real).
• mike89 and stanski for their previous Sonic 1 runs.
• carretero, for the Marble 2 and Labyrinth 2 glitches; these glitches and the others he found are also the main reason I started time attacking Sonic 1 in the first place.
• ChaosControl for finding the Scrap Brain 2 glitch.

I started playing Sonic 1 at the beginning of February of this year; originally I had only planned on trying a few of the glitches carretero had found, though I ended up competing in the game for about a month. I then started playing the game again in June, and had the idea of attempting a speedrun. At first I didn't entirely think I'd be able to get a decent time, but as I played it more I was going faster far more consistently; after a lot of attempts I finished a run in 15:48, and because of the mistakes in the run, I had a goal of sub-15:30. In the end, I surpassed that goal by 25 seconds. :)

This was done using Sonic Mega Collection. I used the default Sonic 1 version, so you get to watch cooler scrolling backgrounds and wavy water. :P

(This was also done using the GC controller's analog stick... <_< I really should get a controller with a decent D-Pad.)

Level comments:

• Green Hill 1 (:25) - My goal here was to get as many rings as possible (50) with this specific path; I know I could have easily gotten more, but this is the strat I'm used to, and it seemed cooler to get exactly 50 (though I rarely succeeded...). Unfortunately, the level ended sooner than I was expecting, so I didn't jump towards the bonus ring at the end. :(

• Green Hill 2 (:20) - I barely missed :19 here, but I've only gotten that time about 5 times before (and have been barely off a lot more times), so it didn't really matter. I usually reset here if I got :21 or worse.

• Green Hill 3 (:35) - I don't get :35 too often, so this was nice. The only mistake was that I should have jumped later at :12, so that I would land on the rock and start running immediately, though it wouldn't have saved enough time to lower the time by a second. I also didn't get the invincibility at the end, but I usually never needed it anyway (and runs that did were usually too slow, so I reset).

• Marble 1 (1:01) - This is probably the level I'm worst at in the game. The beginning was bad, but because I'd need to wait for the moving platform at about :16 anyway, they don't matter. The rest was okay, but nothing amazing... If I improve the run, I'll probably focus on practicing this level the most.

• Marble 2 (:51) - This was good until :18, where I don't grab the three rings after the (unavoidable) spike; because of this, I either had to waste time grabbing the single ring I had after hitting the lava, or I had to waste time getting rings later. I then take two tries to pull off the glitch, which is unusual as the majority of the time I get it on either my first try or my fifth. >_> Afterwards I had to wait for the block so I could grab some rings, and I need them for the damage boost at :44. :51 was slightly disappointing, as I was hoping for :49 or better.

• Marble 3 (1:31) - I actually forgot about this stage during the run... I was fully prepared to start SY1, and the title card and Marble music couldn't persuade me otherwise. >_> This completely threw me off for the first 20 seconds, so I abused Sonic during the lava section for revenge. The rest of the level had some small mistakes, and as I usually got 1:28 here in my run attempts, this was personally a very disappointing time.

• Spring Yard 1 (:30) - The first 20 seconds were good. The last 10 seconds were, uh, not so good. At least the second enemy hit sent me down to the right and made it easy to jump into the gap. :\ Also, I occasionally mix the bonus locations at the end with SY2, but luckily that didn't happen here...

• Spring Yard 2 (:37) - This level went really well by my standards. I messed up the jump at :34 and didn't go to the goal at a ridiculous speed, which cost a second or two, but it's far preferable to not making the jump at all.

• Spring Yard 3 (1:10) - At the beginning, I went backwards on purpose as I need to wait for the spiked balls after the ring monitor; if I don't, I'll hit them and die as the ring monitor won't have taken effect yet (though even if it did, getting hit and losing your speed wouldn't be preferable). I then mess up at :11 and don't make it through the moving boxes, though I need to wait for the platform at :18 anyway (though, of course, making it through makes getting to the platform in time a lot easier). The rest of the level was also good; personally the only disappointing part was missing the capsule at the end and getting a 1:10 instead of a 1:09.

• Labyrinth 1 (:49) - Labyrinth is actually my favorite zone in the game; I'm sure I'm one of the very few people to think that. :P The only important mistake was getting hit at :38, which happens far more often than it should. At the end, I was fully expecting a :50, so :49 was a nice surprise. :) Also, feel free to laugh at my failure in getting the bonuses...

• Labyrinth 2 (:31) - This is by far the level I've spent the most time playing for time, so I was fully expecting a good run here. I did make a mistake at :20, where I didn't land on the ring monitor and had to spend several seconds to drop back down, but the rest of the level was great; I also managed to do the glitch and finish nearly perfectly. :)

• Labyrinth 3 (1:35) - This is here to show how one tiny mistake can completely throw you off. I slightly hit the small wall at :12, which then caused me to hit the spiked ball, then the enemy and object locations were different than usual and I had to improvise... Everything up to the water current could have been completed about five seconds faster. The rest was okay, except for some small mistakes on the boss.

• Star Light 1 (:26) - This went well. Not much else to say about it...

• Star Light 2 (:33) - Ouch.

• Star Light 3 (1:07) - There were a few small mistakes, but the boss fight completely made up for them. All of my previous attempts that got this far had horrible boss fights, but despite some mistakes I defeated it far more quickly this attempt. Overall I'm very happy with this time. :)

• Scrap Brain 1 (:50) - Honestly, the stress is starting to show here, as there are a lot of small mistakes... This is still a decent time regardless, though.

• Scrap Brain 2 (:35) - I was extremely worried about messing up here, as I blew a previous attempt at this point; it went well this time, though. :) At about :06, the trap door is close enough to start its opening/closing cycle, so I don't go as fast as possible for this part so that I hit it at the right time. The rest of the stage had some small mistakes, but :35 is still a great time.

• Scrap Brain 3 (:26) - This certainly could have gone better... Honestly I'm disappointed in the time here. :\

• Final (1:13) - I'm really not too consistent with the final hit here, but luckily I managed to pull it off and get barely get 1:13. And after all of that, he manages to escape anyway... :(

This run is improvable, but I'm not planning on improving it soon unless someone beats it; however, as stanski is working on a run, there's a good chance of that happening. :P If not, I'll come back and improve it eventually. If you want to ask me anything about the run, then PM me on the forums.