Parlor and Alcatraz

From A complete guide to Super Metroid speedrunning
Revision as of 10:32, 2 May 2020 by UNHchabo (talk | contribs) (Alcatraz Escape: change wording so it doesn't make the trick sound quite so easy)
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Terminator Room
Crateria Save Room
Final Missile Bombway
Adjacent rooms Landing Site
Flyway
Pre-Map Flyway
  Climb  


ParlorAndAlcatraz.png

Alcatraz Escape

The Alcatraz escape ("Alcatraz" being the smaller of the two areas pictured above) is one of the first tricks a player new to the game will need practice to learn. When coming back to the room after defeating Bomb Torizo, this strategy saves a minimum of eight seconds compared to going around the other side, and only requires Morphing Ball.

To perform the Alcatraz escape, walljump on the lower part of the first section to the left, then repeat on the next section. When you reach the narrow "bottleneck" above at the end, quickly walljump, morph (press down while continuing to hold jump) and hold left.

The nuance that many new runners miss about the trick is that after you do a walljump, if you hold jump then you just need to press down once to morph, instead of twice.

Early Game

For entering the morph tunnel, beginners can just run to the right and morph in time to avoid the Skree coming down. Runners only comfortable with full-jump mockballs can jump from the grass at the top of the hill and hit the hanging-down ceiling, while the optimal strat is to short-hop mockball.

Any%

Most routes for Any% will optimally use Speed Booster to break through the bomb blocks on the way to Tourian through Terminator Room. The optimal method for KPDR is to Space Jump through the blocks while retaining the Speed Booster blue state, but it's relatively tight without hitting the wall above the bomb blocks. A more reliable method is to morph into a speedball on the far side of the pit.

Randomizer

Several versions of the randomizer might give Speed Booster as a starting item, in which case you might be required to use it to break the bomb blocks in this room to progress. You can do this with a 1-tap Quick Charge, then jumping through the blocks with the blue suit.

Even in randomizers that don't have any sort of Short Charge or Quick Charge in logic, breaking these blocks with Speed Booster is still in logic, because of the shinespark shown in the video below. However, the Quick Charge shown above will be significantly easier, and costs no health.

Enemies

See also