The Misadventures of Tron Bonne is a fickle beast. I played this probably six or seven years back and thought little of it. It was a fair enough action adventure game with some RPG elements.

After I got a good time on MegaMan Legends, I started on Legends 2. But, a 2+ hour run (realtime) takes a lot out of you, and the emulator always crashed before I could see my final time, so I began looking for alternatives. Practicing on Console was fine, but I like optimizing little segments, boss strats, etc, so I found a relatively new emulator called Xebra, recommended from a friend. It worked great on Legends 2, but more importantly, it actually worked on The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. It wasn't perfect, and I didn't play much on it at first, but it proved to be the key component of this run...

I began practicing MoTB in my spare time, when I didn't have enough time for full runs of Legends on console, etc.

With Obdajr's help, I got my times down into the sub 40 range within a couple of days. Without his run or help, there's no way I would have even attempted this game at all! Using the Servbot Training Route (Getting attack up through a 3+ minute minigame) I broke the record and got a 33:23, a very solid run with a few minor mistakes. A lot of the tricks in this run are from his run.

Stutter Shot - Unlike MML1 and MML2, you have to be running to do this, and you simply go from running in a direction to tapping diagonal and that direction to cancel the cooldown animation for the buster. It makes firing a lot faster and takes out the need for speed upgrades on the buster. This does not work on weapons where you stop moving, so the bazooka gets no benefit.

Landing Animation Cancelling - By Firing something that would normally stop you (throwing, bazooka shot) in the air and landing right when that animation ends, you can mostly cancel the landing animation. I don't think it saves but a frame or two at best, but every time I need to jump I try my best to cancel it.

Dialogue and Cutscene skips - Most cutscenes can't be skipped until they've fully faded in, with one or two exceptions. Dialogue is skipped by mashing X and holding Triangle. If you aren't holding Triangle when the dialogue balloon pops up, it will not go away right away, as the voice files will get loaded.

Cubes - This is something new to my run, but you can find attack cubes, brain cubes, speed cubes and energy cubes. In Obdajr's run, he does the training mission to max out his servbot's attack. By getting a cube, I theoretically thought you could get out the whole training mission.

Then things got a bit crazy, Obdajr mentioned getting an attack cube from scouting, but thought that it may be impossible to get attack cubes at all this early. I'm not one to let this chance go lightly, so I got into experimenting with the game.

I'm not a programmer or anything like that, so I messed with scouting using savestates on the emulator. There were only a few things I found out, such as what you get is determined the moment the servbot is placed; you can't do anything during the missions to change what you're going to get. I also found out that different squares produce different items. I found out that the items they give change throughout the game, depending on how many missions completed, etc. It's absolutely insane how many factors there are! I doubt I'm using the best combination, but after forty hours of starting the game, placing servbots, doing a mission, checking what I get and loading state (which allowed me to skip intro at least) I was pretty burned out.

My goal starting out was to get the attack cube and hopefully a speedcube before Bank 3, which is when it saves a ton of time on the boss. Ruin 1 also saves a lot of time, but I didn't expect to get an attack cube before then. Several Bank 3 cubes got me times of 33:34, more 33s, and even a 32:54, which I played almost perfectly in! I got an attack cube and a speed cube, giving me double bazooka shots. I would have submitted that, but in the back of my head I knew it was technically possible to get an attack cube earlier. So, let me walk you through my mindset on this run as it unfolds.

Intro - You can use the lines between polygons on the walls to figure out where the triggers are for cutscenes. If I miss one and accidentally pause, it's a reset. There's not much to say other than the big reaverbot at the end needs a rock to the face, so I jump, throw a rock as I ascend, but land as the animation is finishing to cancel the landing animation. Saves almost no time, but has to be worth something.

Glyde 1 - I guess he goes okay? I've done better, but getting into a rhythm with the stutter shot this early in is hit or miss. It wasn't bad, but could be better.

Intermission 1 - Servbot 13 is sent to D2, Nakkai Desert. I choose him because he has 3 intelligence and 1 speed, meaning he's useless for missions. I don't want to reselect servbots twice and I already need Servbot 31 for bazooka development (Another Speed 1) so I get my use from him here. It costs some time scrolling, but it's my best chance. D2 is chosen because, I can get some items worth about 10k zenny, letting me skip some zenny during the run. He also has the very slightest possibility of getting me an attack cube or speed cube.

Bank 1 - I have a new route here that's normally faster than the old one, but somehow gets an extra house for more money. It also levels up Servbot 31 this mission, which means he doesn't slow me down in Bank 2 while he's scouting. I know I look slow here, but this is all servbot management, if they get desynchronized, one of them won't level up, and my chances at a cube dwindle further (as what happens in this run even!) This isn't horrible, but, the luck costs me more time later when I get confused over my servbot stats. I end up with a 2:05, which is about 5 seconds slower than my goal and 12 seconds slower than my best. There's a lot of luck involved with the car locations so it isn't all my fault., I end up letting the run go on because I'm curious what I'm going to get from the scouting.

The boss is an awesome joke.

Intermission 2 - The first two scouts were automatically sent, and always bring back the same, useless things. My scout on the other hand brings me back a refractor ore! That's worth 100k in this run, and gives me more money than I know what to do with. This also begins a bunch of mistakes because I've never had luck like this.

First mistake is that I send 14 out even though he didn't get 4 brains; I can't believe I didn't notice it. I even waste more time by catching it during the second servbot scroll and waste even more time! I have no excuse for that.

Bank 2 - I'm not that good at Bank 2, and I have to completely abandon my route because I don't need any money at all. In retrospect, I could have skipped the police cars too... but... there was no way I could have known that at this point of the run. Because the luck does get insaner after this. Probably cost me about 30 seconds, but, I'm not psychic so I don't count it against me.

After the loading screens, I do okay killing the kamikaze police cars. I follow Obdajr's route through the second bunch. Servbot 37 is way faster than normal because he grabs something, so, I end up getting through a lot faster. It's hard to manipulate it but when it works it's nice.

Bank 2 Boss. I lose like 10 seconds on this fight because I miss my first throw. This is one of the reasons I don't want to submit this run. The First throw is tricky and I miss it here, otherwise I can do the three throw strat without stopping.

Intermission 3 - I'm just hoping for any cube at all... when I see another refractor ore. I've never gotten one refractor ore in a run before, so to get two in one run... then an attack cube. I had a huge decision to make, an untested decision at that point, of whether to send more scouts for a speed cube chance or to roll the dice and go without it. Well, it turns out sending scouts takes more time than a speedcube saves, so I make the right decision.

My menus are very sloppy here, because I'm really not able to do the same things I do normally. I get the Red Top without incident, but, I'm nervous. I'm not sure where to go, etc, this is one of my first runs with this route. There is no backing out of a mission, so I'm very careful to select the right mission. I didn't realize how lucky I was at the time, but, I'm still very cautious.

Ruin 1 - I need to go in here and get the pipe. It saves so much time, including getting the 1 million zenny refractor later on, that I must get it.

I skip as many zenny drops as I can, because I'm set for money. The hardest part are the Nakel (Sand Snake things) because they can stay underground for too long if you miss shots. With an attack up, they're okay, and they don't troll me here. They go as perfectly as possible. The other rooms go well too, and the boss goes down as quickly as I'd expect. All the things need to be dead before the door opens, including the boss, so them lingering doesn't cost me much time at all. I skip the zenny to go straight to the door, but go down to grab it on the way back since it's still visible. Costs probably half a second, if not less, but it disappears anyway.

Intermission 4 - I'm an idiot. What happens when I have more money than I need? SHOPPING SPREE!!!! I'm serious, in middle of a speedrun, I realized I had too much money and started buying things I didn't need.

I'm nervous with the menus, have trouble giving 31 the pipe. The Tires save close to 80,000 zenny too, considering I want to take a hit. If I don't get refractor ore, I sometimes skip the health upgrades. The E-bottles are because the final boss kills you in two hits.

I thought I could get the armor even though I've never gotten it before, it would have saved time if I had actually bought it. I could have afforded it maybe, but, I didn't risk it. Just wasted seconds of indecision because I was going on a shopping spree.

By the way, so many runs have ended because I forgot to equip Bazooka during this intermission. The fact I remembered after that mess even surprises me.

Bank 3 - I've never had so much money that I'd purposefully skip 30k in money that's so easy to get, so I end up getting shot by the cannons. They're hard to dodge anyway and I normally get hit, still disappointing. The Boss Goes perfectly, as usual. There's nothing to say other than to hold fire the moment you skip the cutscene.

Intermission 5 - Less incidents that last time, just need to select the ruin.

Ruin 2 - Skipping Zenny saves a lot of time here. The Snake Reaver is hard to hit when standing on the ground so I jump to hit him. Costs time to save time I guess. I try to be fancy on the pincer boss and move across the screen while shooting him but fail. Costs a second or two at most.

Ruin Boss - This strategy was discovered by accident. I realized that if you fire the beacon bomb before it sneezes and opens its mouth, you can make the little blocker reaverbots jump up. Minimum Possible is a 5 cycles, and I get it by the skin of my teeth.

Intermission 6 - We hit the initial goal of 1 Million and then the game takes it away and we have to collect two million more. Luckily, we have close to 700,000 left and can just go to the farm.

Farm 1 - Ugh. Screwing up Pigs really annoys me, but the Servbots are just so dumb sometimes. I didn't know why it happened at the time, but if you walk too far away from a target or leave it too long, the servbots decide not to go after it. Just embarrassing that ALL 4 get hit... This is probably the biggest gameplay mistake of the run

Farm Boss 1 - This goes great. They keep together, let me hit them, it's fast. Bad stage, great boss.

Farm 2 - Cows is the easiest to do. Cows don't run when you shoot them, so it's not very random. It's a nice break. Have to get the quad kill though. I stomp the farmer for good measure. I enjoyed that, but he gets some revenge in the next stage.

Farm Boss 2 - Hold Lock on and fire away!

Farm 3 - Much like Obdajr, this is the bane of me running. Horse turning is random on some level, but you can influence those randoms. You'll never guarantee yourself a good pattern, or even get much above a 25% chance at one, but by firing at certain angles at certain parts of the horses you can get some results. Sometimes. At least I think. Honestly I have no idea what makes them turn one way over another.

Anyway, I have to head off the horses or the servbots don't get on, so the first area goes pretty much perfectly.

Farm 3 Second Area - My servbot is too fast and gets knocked over. Thus, I have to rehead him off and then shoot the blue bird bot. If he gets on first try, then I don't. This isn't catastrophic, because the next horse has the entire run on the line.

Horse Number 4 is where the entire run is on the line. You can lose minutes if he turns left and runs out the side. The Eggs respawn, and will go around and kill him, by getting him behind the fence, the eggs will go to the back of the fence giving the horse time to get to the vehicle and get out. This run... it works. I even get hit mid shot. I run to the right near the barn to lure the other bird bot machine.

Farm 3 Last Area - This is not that easy, but it goes perfect, both horses before the farmer gets up, amazing.

Farm 3 bosses - First part goes perfectly, but I miss a few shots on the second boss, still very, very good.

Final Mission - At this point, I don't realize how far ahead I am. I'm nervous that I could have a low 31 at best considering all the small mistakes I've had. That birdbot always does that to me, I know there are ways to lure him not to, but damn it, he got me. You have to jump or shoot the bulldozers, so I try to landing cancel as many of the shots as I can. I'm not very successful, but it doesn't cost time. For some reason there's a frame you can pause during the fade out to Tron being saved, I do it almost every time but didn't this time.

Glyde 2 - Went poorly, used an E-bottle. Then I saw my time and thought I was seeing things. Ignored it. Didn't need the e-bottle unfortunately, but I had no way of knowing that and it was too good of a run to risk. I did feel bad using the e-bottle, if it's any consolation.

Colossus 1 - I cheese this battle at the start. The Colossus has 12 big refractors and 4 small ones on its head, you have to pull them all out to power it down. The 4 on his head are problematic because, well, you have to rely on the servbots and there are four reaverbots around you trying to block the beacon bombs. And he fires green death spheres that kill you in two hits. I say "screw that" and just stand out of the trigger range and do it uinterrupted.

The first throw is disastrous, I'm supposed to get the one behind me and in front of me, but the sharukurusus block me. Then they hit me, costing even more time. After that the battle gets into its normal rhythm, but I tend to be a little careful.

Collossus 2 - This is where having a speedcube would save time. Basically, my goal is to keep him in the little depression at the center of the arena so when he does the ground pound, I can just pour him full of bazookas. Otherwise, it's just 5 bazookas per attack if I can.

I get hit once accidentally, just, bad timing on a bazooka shot. The last hit is intentional, but I chicken out and use an e-bottle because I have gotten hit twice before. It gives me another chance to see my time and be frustrated at one last mistake. But, it gives me extra motivation to mash as fast as I can through the ending cutscenes to see if I can sneak it under 29 minutes as well! I do, with a 29:43. An UGLY 29:43.

Aftermath - After this run was completed, there was a mix of disappointment and joy. The Sub 30 barrier was pretty impossible just a few days before, and now I had broken it completely out of nowhere. But at the same time, with the luck I had, it could have been a very low 29 or even a 28, especially if I knew about the second refractor ore. I thought this run was ugly, and did several more runs right after it, including getting a speed and attack cube before Bank 3, plus I played far better than this run except for a few more hitches in horses. 31:25. I've spent weeks playing this game since this run, probably 60 - 70 attempts (update, now over 200 with two months of tries), and never have I gotten an attack cube on the second turn since. And even when I get decent luck, there's a very good chance I mess up the Ruin 2 boss, or especially horses, where most of my runs end aside from the randoms of scouting.

I didn't want to submit this run because of Bank 1, Bank 2, Pigs and Shopping Spree, but at the same time when I look at Ruin 1, Ruin 2 and Farm 3, it's still a very solid run.

What is Possible? I think Sub 29 is possible with identical luck, and maybe if someone could possibly conjure up an attack cube on the very first turn with one servbot, it could go lower Even that seems unthinkable, considering I got two refractor ores that cut out a ton of zenny collecting. I just wasn't prepared for the luck and it shows.

I will continue trying to break this run's record, even if I get worse luck, I know there is more potential in this run.

Special Thanks!

Obdajr - My original route was based on his, I came into this not knowing much about MoTB at all. I probably wouldn't have pursued this game at all if he hadn't been streaming it. His commentary also taught me tricks that I didn't know coming into this.

Eric Chiz - During my insane nights of working on the scouting, he heard many theories and listened thoroughly, despite not giving a rat's ass. Good man.

'MaJoR' Roesch - Recommended me to Xebra in the first place, without that the run would not exist.

Xebra - For actually being a properly programmed Playstation Emulator.

MegaMan Legends Station - Without the good people there, I would have never gotten into the Legends Series at all.

All my viewers on Twitch TV - It's more fun to play when people can see me screw up!

And especially thanks to Speedrunslive, SDA, and everyone else associated with the speedrun community