How Pausing Broke Sonic 2 Speedruns

Sonic 2 speedruns for many years have used the in-game timer as the main timing method. It's pretty accurate, except when you pause the game, since that also pauses the timer. Many new strats were found thanks to pause buffering. Uh oh.

Research help from:
JoeyBaby69: @JoeyBaby69
SegaJunkie/Mike89: @SegaJunkie
Shore05: @shore7154

#speedrun #sonic2 #SonicTheHedgehog

[meltingrocketyt]

I’ve always loved the fact pausing breaks this game so much to the point where speedrunners can create new level wraps that wouldn’t even exist without it it’s amazing

[bentleyvos]

It's official. Sonic invented Chaos Control.

[Drekal]

Eggman in the Wing Fortress: "Mwahaha, I'll trap that blasted hedgehog this time for -"
*sonic manifests in the ceiling and destroys the laser*
Eggman: "That's it, I'm getting off this plane-"
*sonic perches at the edge of a platform, body contorts, becomes the letter N in defiance of logic, physics or biology*

[stillprophet]

"the final minute barrier that will ever be broken"
I've heard that one before, how many times must we teach you this lesson old man :D

[Generalth]

10:09 Ah yes, my favorite Sonic the Hedgehog 2 speedrunner:

*PAUSING*

[ticron]

@10:44 "The final ingame minute barrier that will ever be broken."

Speedrunners: Challenge accepted

[shovelclaws]

im glad someone covered this topic! sonic runs always get super overshadowed despite their amazing stories, and S2 is one of those games that has a very unique history

[Koolee]

“Of course, a very long time is not forever” is way too motivational to be in a video about pausing. Lol

[hibnotix]

Can't believe the timing was changed to solely benefit JoeyBaby >:( fr tho this video is crack. good stuff!

[babyforestwhitaker]

I love that 2020 is a pivotal year for so many speedruns. It implies the hacks and time saves are out there we just need time to find them!

[Rainok]

Honestly, if I made the rule about pausing, I'd give a time penalty for collective frames paused. Idk if this sounds reasonable, but I am glad that they changed it to be RTA-TBC because it does feel like a more logical change especially since we have better methods for RTA if I'm correct about it

[gamingwithahandicapreviews]

Sonic speedruns are amazing! Sonic 2 and Sonic adventure 1 are some of the most incredible games to see speederan

[Milktube]

This seems like the perfect game candidate to be played on a hack/mod that makes the real time load after hitting the goalpost at the end of a stage be exactly the same before moving to the next stage, regardless of your in-game time, ring count, or any other bonuses. That would completely solve any concerns of people pausing for excessive lengths of time because all of that time is now frames that could've been saved instead.

[japhyriddle]

I'm surprised that there isn't a ROM hack that just gets rid of time bonuses.

[toblexson]

This is a great way to solve the problem, because pause buffering is still useful, but the less you use it, the better. If only all controversial/problem causing strats were this easy to fix.

[G.Aaron.Fisher]

15:39 That screenshot has me in stitches.

[Sccvsd]

14:11 Crazy only 30 votes changed the meta

[vjspectron]

8:10 is one of the funniest glitch moments I've ever seen! It looks like he gets splattered against invisible glass by Robotnik's machine taking off.

[shore]

Fantastic Video! Really glad I was able to help out. :)

[isocle]

I'm really glad the community decided to implement the new timing method. It makes perfect sense, and when speedgames live and die by their playerbases, changing the meta to "only pause if it saves you time" is much more appealing (for runners and viewers) and hopefully keeps the community lively.