TAS: Metroid Prime - Any% in

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This is a tool-assisted speedrun of Metroid Prime completed with an in-game time of 0:37:37.000. (The in-game timer does count milliseconds, I just so happened to end with .000).
Created using Dolphin 4.0-4222 and the original North American (0-00) release of Metroid Prime.
Rerecord count is supposedly 128,969. Dolphin's rerecord counter is a little weird though, using read-only in certain ways seems to sometimes undo rerecords from your movie.
The in-game timer counts upwards any time you have control of Samus. Cutscenes, item collection text, and elevators between areas are some examples of things that do not contribute to in-game time. An argument can be made that a TAS should have the goal of the lowest possible real-time, but the vast majority of people from the Metroid Prime community will agree that real-time strats make for a less interesting watch, as well as a considerably slower in-game time on the mission final screen.
I started this TAS back in March of 2015. Up until around that point, loading times were a huge issue for this game on emulator. Certain tricks just plain don't work if the game loads too fast, things that are consistently console viable weren't an option on older builds of Dolphin. Once I'd done some testing and confirming that this revision did in fact have console-like load time, I dedicated my Spring Break to TASing Frigate. It was about a 60 hour “work week”, streaming almost 10 hours a day for 7 days. ( • TAS: Metroid Prime - P... )
Shortly after Frigate, RNG started to become an issue and I had dropped the TAS for quite a while. Upon playback, enemies occasionally acted different, sometimes getting in the way or causing a dash angle to be inconsistent, which lead to desyncs. I don't fully understand the what causes the RNG variation, but I found out it could be avoided by making savestates mid-movie and playing back from them, as opposed to playing the movie back from power-on. This recording method is the reason this video isn't in some crazy 1440p 60fps quality like most other major TASes I've done. Being unable to record everything all at once made it much more of a chore to dump in 1440p with all the enhancements on. It's also the reason for some sections being 30FPS and the audio levels being weird. I'm sorry about that.
Anywho, progress up until recently was quite slow and spaced out. I spent a lot of time thinking about route improvements and looking for new glitches instead of actually working on this. In the end, most of my theory routes had issues, some seem potentially solvable, but currently have yet to be. I personally don't believe this route will be optimal in a few years, assuming this game keeps evolving as rapidly as it has been lately. Maybe by then we'll have a Dolphin build with perfect-to-console emulation and no RNG or syncing issues and a more optimized TAS can be made. For now, this is more than good enough for me.
I'd like to thank:
Claris, for helping find addresses and making a user friendly address viewing script. The optimization level on some bosses and even general movement would never have been possible without her help.
Edzan, for sharing his 100% TAS timings and input on various bosses to give me something to compare to and try and improve on.
Venick, for willing to sit on Discord with me for hours on end while I complain and rant as I grind rooms and timed things.
The Onion Bros as a whole, for also letting me hang out with them while I worked on this project.
Kirbymastah, for giving Edzan a shoutout at SGDQ2016 for something that I did.
Aruki, for his amazing Prime World Editor which allowed me to view load triggers and collision and opened a whole new world of optimization and understanding of the inner workings of this game.
The Metroid Prime community as a whole for being there to bounce ideas of off and always be willing to help look for new strats and optimizations.
And df for being df.

[@huntergman8338]

And to this day, the space pirates were still processing what just happened.

[@itsPersonnal]

I can't wait to read about this TAS in their lore.

[@huntergman8338]

+Hazel Elaine Cogan Hehehehe. "This attack was an odd one. The attacker has the same colors as the hunter, but moved so fast, no one could see who it was clearly. If it is the hunter, she must have gained a speed upgrade. We must find a way to combat this or copy it." "Our scouts have noticed that the some of creatures appear confused. At least we are not the only ones" Space Pirate: "there is another world out there. it has given the hunter the speed!" Space Pirate 2: "Steve is off is meds again. I swear he will ether die by the ventures or by himself if we didn't look after him."

[@jennytalia6724]

The accursed hunt- *shot dead by Samus while recording message*

[@huntergman8338]

"Our recovery team was dispatched to our base at Tallon. During their job, they came back with data showing that the mysterious blur stuck again. What was stranger still was that all the dead looked like they were hit by a train, but their records made it out to be a surprise. Bobs being the shortest. This must be top priority if we want to make any progress in our trips".

[@huntergman8338]

After reading my comments after a year, I could make a book about the space pirate and their battle with a samus that is controlled by a speedrunner. I am tempted, but my skills are not in story writing.

[@riaco3056]

At 2:29, you gotta love that breakdancing pirate

[@rairb]

R Iaco Ikr

[@LedYouAshtray]

R Iaco lol

[@drone306]

I scrolled down to make this comment only to see it had already been made.

[@kirby6281]

@@drone306 lol same

[@adrianhdz138]

@@firestormsentry80 XD

[@ukemi-]

this isnt a TAS, it's Samus actually playing

[@ukemi-]

TAS stands for The Actual Samus

[@VYScuti]

Fucking genius

[@Strakester]

I've never seen that many bombless boost jumps before. I've never seen that Flaahgra fight before. I've never seen someone collect Newborn like that. This video felt like a wonderful culmination of my teenage years when I was a part of the Metroid community, searching for "secret worlds". Seeing all the wallcrawling and the boosting so perfectly optimized blew my mind. Thank you very much for working on this! Maybe one day this time will be improved, or maybe the run will sync with Dolphin, but I don't think any further videos could ever have the impact on me that this one had on me. Wow.

[@itsPersonnal]

Early Newborn was probably my favourite part to make.

[@RobinBaggett]

When Samus got the Boost Ball, this turned into a Sonic run

[@systemsadministrator6514]

You guys are Amazing !

[@systemsadministrator6514]

It did end up being another sonic run. Cool.

[@Shadocat_Real]

*Sunset hill act 2 Intensifies*

[@nickb8755]

At 19:53 he aims at the door and reflects the shot off the blast shield to hit a Chozo Ghost after it spawns

[@itsPersonnal]

she

[@intothevoid3605]

Explain what the fucking fuck happened there please.

[@wingnutmcspazatron3957]

@@itsPersonnal Baddest ass response 😂 got a good laugh outta me.

[@Espartanica]

​@@intothevoid3605she

[@JazzyAnasazi]

you know you're a fucking savage if you go into Phazon Mine's with 8 health and survive

[@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry]

as somebody who played the metroid prime trilogy. i agree with you

[@JazzyAnasazi]

@@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry i also agree with "me 5 years ago" he was very correct

[@DeletedUser662]

@@JazzyAnasazi I also agree with you 5 years ago and 1 month ago, those mines are hard

[@JazzyAnasazi]

@@DeletedUser662 i also agree with all 4 of you, and I hope future me agrees with me

[@tenishiatanyani121]

@@JazzyAnasazi even in remastered i cower from those damn mines.

[@CarryLarry]

7:17 This is the most cathartic Metroid thing I have ever seen. Those horrible goddamn ghosts and their terrifying music try to ruin your day, and you just NOPE on out and get *power bombs*

[@GoodGamer360]

Agree, fucking ghosts

[@BashPrime]

That door ricochet at 19:53 to force the Chozo ghost out of its spawn animation was disgusting

[@MAYOFORCE]

At first from the early frigate I thought this would just be a normal run but more precise, but it ended up being one of the most entertaining TASes I've seen in a very long time. Also, POWER BOMBS BEFORE BOMBS HOLY SHIT

[@kieranmaxson5269]

And space jump boots instantly when on talon overworld and missiles and charge beam just afterwards 😂

[@dialedinGandC]

Who else was stressed the whole time with him being at super low health/energy going through most of the video? That hazard music used to raise my blood pressure whenever I played this game. Great memories though and great vid.

[@dtc7014]

MrMiguel211 it’s a fucking tas dude

[@TheBanishedWind]

@@dtc7014 TAS or no, having low health is always stressful.

[@itsmewhitewalker]

somewhere miles is crying

[@ShirakoriMio]

Graphazon suit acquired.

[@TerrorWinds]

I know this is TAS, but it still amazes me how much time people are willing to put into games just to try to shave a second or two off of a record. The amount of patience and technical knowledge that goes into these is astounding. Keep up the amazing work!

[@MasterVash]

Breakdancing Space Pirates, wonderful loading door management, Power Bombs before normal Bombs, a beautiful early Space Jump break, and you make every boss look like a joke. I love it.

[@The_Metroid]

"Nintendo, Samus is breaking her games again!" "Samus, you get right back on the developer's track or I'll release Metroid Other M: Adam's Tale!"

[@transientwaveform1475]

breakdancing space pirate

[@ChristopherFossMusic]

42:00 That's what Samus calls Metroid Surfing.

[@victormelendez6972]

She never got to do so with the Baby

[@kieranmaxson5269]

So she didn’t jump off it, but flew up there with it?

[@animelib]

Most speed runs have at least some monotonous grinding. This, on the other hand, is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end. The amount of precision, planning, and insane sequence breaking makes this one of the best speed runs I've seen. Kudos.

[@komorebi_dayo]

I love your name, Hazel Elaine! The volume of work you've put into this is evident from the level of optimization you've attained. I'm consistently elated as I watch. Thank you so much.

[@NoraTSS2077]

4:24 be like "Game are you okay ?" Game : Black void wheeeeeee

[@samharrison9017]

what's going on at this point in the run?

[@LegoLad659]

Because of the way he skipped through the rooms, the outside of the station was never loaded. So all that was there was a black void, but since Samus technically reached the ship, the game played the cutscene anyway even though none of the assets used in it were loaded

[@TomLube]

Thumbs up if you're watching in 2002

[@ProlificGlueEnjoyer]

I rated this video 5 stars.

[@megamegaO]

But KZbin was created in 2005....

[@ProlificGlueEnjoyer]

Madara Uchiha

[@megamegaO]

***** lol

[@Wtahc]

Jack ­ Right back at you!

[@JazzyAnasazi]

29:13 that feeling when you have every gun in the game but one little poke will kill you

[@DoublemanFM]

26:25 WHAT?!?

[@XxInf3ctedxX]

The runner could explain it better, I'm sure, but as far as I've gathered from hearing commentary from GDQ runs, basically what's happening is the player is gaining momentum somehow by rolling into the same specific spot on the wall for a period of time. Eventually, the speed of the momentum is enough to break the boundary walls which causes samus to (I think) instantaneously speed through every room in the local map, which is the player was able to collect the beam upgrade All I know for sure is that the glitch seriously fucks with samus' momentum and it effected how she entered the room of the upgrade. lol

[@MAYOFORCE]

Parallel Universes Metroid Prime Edition You can break the speed cap which fucks up your model, and when you boost after that the game assumes you are in literally every coordinate at once, which could give you heavy damage, but also lets you acquire things that are normally impossible, like early power bombs or in this case the Artifact of Sun and the Wave Beam in a room that wasn't even fully loaded.

[@romaingrasser400]

I still can't understand why, if she's in all coordinates at once, she doesn't get hit by the ice creatures that climb walls earlier in the room

[@radrus7096]

Probability is that the coordinate for the upgrade was hit before many others, therefore allowing the item event to stop the potential of imminent damage. Still, damn that's crazy.

[@coolguy02536]

DOUBLE SAMUS!

[@lilith10182]

I love how the artifact pillars that weren't even destroyed become ghost pillars

[@Penzuh]

Really awesome TAS, thank you for making this.

[@Zaitann]

My favorite game. Ever. And the TAS is so amazing! I'm happy to watch that! Great Job!

[@DeSinc]

dear lord this is almost on the same level as the half life 1 20 minute speedrun. which by the way is my favourite speedrun of all time because of how fucking ridiculous it is

[@VYScuti]

LINK

[@RedIAmNot]

oh hey its desinc

[@ReeferFatness]

@@RedIAmNot Hello there!

[@venmissa]

Most incredible TAS I've ever seen.

[@PerhapsGuy]

36:40 Did you seriously just use a fucking Metroid to get up there?!

[@f45411]

yep, exploit every inch of the game is how TAS works, beautiful isn't it?

[@f45411]

***** both of us are right? getting there as fast as possible by exploiting everything in your path

[@f45411]

***** i never mentioned other TAS's, even then my point remains the same

[@jennytalia6724]

41:55 uses THREE metroids

[@ddnava96]

Unless it's a glitchless run :P But there's a fine line between a glitch and a non-glitch

[@Retrogamer1246]

I recently beat Metroid Prime for the first time and watching this TAS makes me question why I haven't been trying this myself.

[@theronianquad637]

The Omega Pirate fight was the best part! I like how Samus waits in Morph Ball and before the Omega Pirate calls his troops, he changes his mind and teleports and Samus justs boosts to his next location just ready to end this fight! Such a savage play! Especially the part where you fire missiles to the beat of the song!!

[@rabidtf]

absolutely sick, well done man!

[@sbm.4]

You went so fast that I think You came to my house, made a grilled cheese, left then and I didn’t even notice. I am shooketh

[@xmarksthespot1372]

Lol Samus moving at full speed!

[@ExsanguinatedEgo]

LMAOO at the flaahgra battle. That was amazing. I've been waiting for this for years and I am not disappointed

[@ExsanguinatedEgo]

smh at geothermal core. wow.

[@PugBurgler711]

Still one of the best TAS out there!

[@itsPersonnal]

Just wait until I make another one with all the modern developments 😇

[@TheBoomersooner3]

you beat metroid prime faster than my computer could finish updating, and I started this video after the updating started and even scrolled back in the video a few times to watch a few tricks again. my computer update is sitting at 91%

[@Zeldara109]

Enemy damage boosts, the speed of the frequent out of bounds navigation, a very early power bomb, instant unmorphs everywhere, those 5BJs on the way to X-Ray, glitched (and faster!) Flaaghra... A shame about the syncing, but still a highly entertaining TAS.

[@ANAXOS_]

there is absolutely no explanation or visual evidence to probably more than half of the ridiculous tricks here. in awe. 10/10

[@alanhaupert]

One of my favorite TASs for sure. It's been a strong month with the WW TAS too!

[@zelos1826]

Metroid Prime's phase 1 battle theme remains one of my all time favorite OST tracks to this day. It's SO ominous and badass, and I LOVE it. ... sadly, most speedruns of this game skip the 2nd phase's music. But it's all good.

[@mastershake886]

Rewatched this at least over 100 times

[@ddnava96]

Maybe the RNG variation comes from the internal clock of the Gamecube. That's why the Dolphin devs created an option to set a specific date/hour within the emulator, precisely to make TAS plays play exactly the same every single time Loading a savestate makes the clock match exactly how it was when the savestate was first created

[@kieranmaxson5269]

29:00 I was expecting you to jump on the little ledge around the side of the room first to climb up using the parts sticking out of the spider ball section 41:59 I was not aware that you could fly a metroid 43:59 that ice beam shot was ridiculously fast 46:50 lots of momentum still while transforming

[@GrinNBarrett134]

2:28 daaaamn son that pirate has got some mad break-dancing skills, just look at him gettin down!!

[@Clod15]

Damn. Didn't know that Space Pirates knew how to breakdance. xD

[@jawanpetty2725]

This gonna be wild, I’m calling it now

[@atha1rus]

run was ok i guess

[@k.morris231]

athairus I could do better

[@ggman3798]

Kiara Morris You couldn't obviosly, you're bad AF (We all are)

[@k.morris231]

@@ggman3798 bruh i could do this in 1 sec. 1v1 me on fortnite

[@ggman3798]

Kiara Morris Nah, i don't 1v1 thrash talkers. Don't you know what a TAS is child?

[@k.morris231]

yeah tas is he dude who did this run , he sucks

[@istvanfodor9749]

I knew this was going to be god tier the second the pirate started smashing his head into the door at 2:24, and then proceeds to break dance on top pf samus' morphball.

[@bjorginson]

Dude you are the best speedrunner in metroid prime, hands down!!!

[@RKS92101]

These people put so much effort developing this game, it shows easily just by how far beyond its time Metroid Prime really was.

[@Woomy-Nine]

Why do I still coming back to this speed run;-;

[@coolguy02536]

Dang, not even 20k views after 2 1/2 months? Well, this was still amazing nonetheless.

[@jennytalia6724]

considering the franchise has been on life support...

[@VibeFGC]

That life support might be gone next year

[@Luigirox10]

Illurion even with the announcement of 4?

[@thefaceofpppwhenhisguntabs5292]

Been to long. most fans simply don't care anymore. I'm sure as hell not buying a switch...

[@tjp7154]

Beautiful. DF!

[@Mrhellslayerz]

Has anyone ever wanted to eat a magmoor as a kid? they look kind of delicious.

[@stonethemason12]

Huh. They do look pretty tasty. I want to fry them on a skillet On second thought they survive in lava to begin with

[@yerman0564]

@@stonethemason12 but somehow die from two charged plasma beams.

[@Nikkiflausch]

This is the best. TAS. Ever. Good job.

[@jakelittle3322]

The best part is when he rides a Metroid

[@element1192]

“Hey Samus, the world needs saving, so-“ “give me 40 minutes”

[@shi11tenshi]

Samus the intergalactic super ninja great skill dude I am thoroughly impressed

[@victoraguirre7486]

After the omega pirate, the game was so confused that it showed the phazon suit into varia suit morph ball while having showed the gravity suit after the battle.

[@wanamakern]

Gratz Hazel! I don't play metroid but this looks impressive

[@cakemaphoneige]

That is so awesome man. TY for making this.

[@MasahiroSanturai]

I know this has been said so many times, but wow does this game look amazing. I forget sometimes that it was on the GameCube since I’m playing the Trilogy version.

[@thinkingfubuki]

This video is what is what 2D Metroid would look like in first person.

[@redbandet]

and I thought my 10hr 100% console run was good when I was a kid, shouldn't have watched this aha

[@marcelogarcia8326]

pues mira.. te falto el traje acuático y te faltaron los misiles elementales te faltaron varios misiles y tanques de energía... así que no está al 100% Sin embargo... es por lejos... lo más impresionante, impactante, asombroso y genial que he visto de este juego... la palabra hackear se queda corta a lo que acabas de hacer... literalmente rompiste el juego... lo destrozaste... rompiste toda la lógica y años de trabajo que hicieron los creadores y programadores del juego... y acabaste todo el juego en una hora... no me imagino cuántas veces jugaste este juego... y me cuesta imaginarme cómo trazaste y planeaste de forma tan maquiavélico y fría toda la ruta que hiciste, los Bugs, los saltos de habitaciones, el orden de como conseguiste los ítems, el como memorizaste los lugares de los artefactos chozo y del resto de los objetos... los años de práctica.... Este video está infravaloradisimo... debería tener millones y millones de vistas... eres un héroe, una leyenda... pero muy poca gente conoce tu existencia... de echo yo apenas te conocí literalmente hace unos días con los Speedruns del Sonic Adventure, porque es de los juegos que más cariño le tengo... que de verdad muchas gracias, están todos geniales Espero que algún día todos conozcan el trabajo que haces... porque nadie haría de esa forma lo que acabas de hacer...

[@austinyun]

This is one of the greatest things I've ever seen

[@Kaztalek]

HOLY SHIT

[@zaldbathar4866]

I dont even understand wtf is going on most of the time lmao your a god

[@f45411]

congrats on doing this TAS

[@cousincorps]

Super Metroid TAS Samus: I am a demon within your walls, fear the inch of space I let you have before I mow you down Metroid Prime Samus: Yea, I know you laid out this cleverly made dungeon for me, but I'm gonna take a scenery pic and just kill your boss and get my shit, peace. and you know what, I am not sure which would be more broke all things considered, both sound terrifying...

[@magma9999]

"Hey, just got back from lunch break, wtf happened!"

[@xTygrs]

Imagine your entire race and planet that you have spent your whole life trying to protect gets saved by a zipping samus in under an hour

[@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry]

i would fell proud to know the warriors we trained gived such great show of skill

[@Duncan-fc2cu]

7:23 TAS? Still slower than 10 year old me running away from the ghosts the first time I met them. 13:37 Oh wow, the timing with laying and cooldown on those 5 (maybe 6?) bombs.

[@toonmariorpg]

At the Phazon Mines: Me: "How are you not dead?" Samus: "I have no idea!"

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

Don't blink on Omega Pirate.

[@xmarksthespot1372]

Chrozo Ghost: STOP HER SHE'S GETTING AWAY!!! Samus: Nope, Nope, Nope!

[@zyighzag4050]

That's what happens when your mom is calling you for dinner but you really want to finish the game

[@MozyOnIn]

2:29 I love the breakdancing space pirate!!!

[@thelastpanda01]

I am really confused about how he was able to use power bombs before he collected the power bomb, and I am impressed with the scanner jumps. Seems like the only thing that slows this dude down are: waiting for doors to open, elevators to lift, and creature cutscenes. Amazing.

[@ladyofthewinds8267]

samus on meth is what it is, saving the galaxy one glitch at a time.

[@romaingrasser400]

Best moments : from 0:01 to 1:01:08

[@unknownunknownseries2098]

It means entire video!?

[@auedax6880]

Hey, what about 0:00?

[@allooutrick8266]

0:00 was terrible, too. Worst first impression ever.

[@tracesosebee5485]

I may or may not have started feeling motion sickness watching this

[@sashasaffron1630]

Who knew it only took 2 morph ball bombs to kill that plant boss. This TAS is insane

[@SomeGuy234]

46:53 Getting some odd classic sonic vibes right here.

[@b_sway]

The Space Pirate logs about Samus weren’t lying when they talked about how unstoppable she was

[@moonberrypie1749]

That Omega Pirate fight was incredible

[@MiniOmegaKing]

Greetings from Germany DF

[@BashPrime]

Apparently 46:51 led Hazel to discover Boost Jumping in Metroid Prime 2 which is really really cool

[@kerbslice923]

*gets infected with alien space matter from giant alien* "I'll just strike a cheesy pose..."

[@mobron3099]

25:37 “You’re going to phase through the wall, Barry. Vibrate your particles so fast that you can pass through it dodging the molecules in the wall. Might take a minute tho”

[@fotozero]

The music in this game is perfect

[@lucash5003]

Hands down the God of metroid. Having space pirates mind fucked when they bring up what samus did to them on tallon

[@fanboy1148]

This guy used shinespark a lot, even though it actually isn't in the game.

[@betchaos7383]

25:35 - 26:33 is my favorite part Infinite speed is just one of the sickest glitches in all gaming.

[@betchaos7383]

Deload the room Something something, broken physics, something something, build up so much speed that you're basically everywhere at once including the location of the wave beam Or something like that

[@thuperr2017]

Best part has to be every part where you jump on the metroids, it's soo funny

[@MrHitchslap]

duuuude you didn't even spend 10 minutes in phazon mines LMAOO I'm definitely rewatching this like..a ton of times

[@Versaam]

coming into the omega pirate fight with 05 health is one hell of a flex

[@MrGamer8000]

What a woman! That was mind blowing what you did there! xD

[@LosN209]

Even though I'm not into TAS runs. The tricks pulled off in some areas are fuckin cool