I've been on this speedrun kick as of late, so I decided to write a beginner's guide to beating the one game that puts Battletoads and Ninja Gaiden to shame in terms of difficulty level.
The Steemit Trending Page.
Very few men are strong enough to beat this game. I, for one, would never go for a 100% completion, which is why I've settled with an Any% route.
For those unaware, the two main categories for speedruns are Any% and 100%; the latter obviously meaning 100% completion, while the former allows for shortcuts as long as the final boss is beaten.
The first thing you're going to notice is that my trending page probably looks a bit different from yours.
This is because I'm taking advantage of the "mute glitch" that completely bypasses certain bosses in the route, and speeds up the game significantly.
Skipping the @jerrybanfield fight alone saves at least 18,000 frames, though it can be more, as well, considering the length of the battle is so RNG-based.
The big reoccurring annoyance in this route are the bid bot enemies. I've been running a lot of tests, but I haven't been able to discover a route that completely skips the bid bots, so that's what we have to deal with. All you can do is really practice your button-mashing skills so you can scroll through them quickly.
What I do is I place the mouse cursor right about on that exact pixel, just above the arrow, and just mash for dear life. Be careful not to place the cursor on the arrow itself, though, it causes lag and makes the experience that much longer.
This is a speedrun, so we want to blaze through as quickly as possible.
I've seen some runs where people actually pick up the mouse in order to mash better, but it's a risky strategy since the cursor may move away from the sweet spot.
I advise to just placing your finger on the left mouse button, extending your elbow, which allows for better vibration on your arm, and then shaking your finger on the button. You never let go of the button, you need to practice your muscle memory on keeping the finger locked on the button while mashing.
It takes practice, but it can be done.
I recently did a run where I beat a @chbartist post in 2.02 seconds. But that's why they call me the speedrun master around these parts.
Though the mute glitch works on him, too, and is actually recommended.
Not because those bosses that tough, or anything, but because they're some of the most prosaic parts of the entire game.
Something to keep in mind - and this is VERY important - is that while you're button mashing the mouse, you do not want to go all the way to the very bottom.
Underneath the posts, you'll encounter the second most annoying enemies in the game: the "good post" sycophants.
These guys have an absolutely insane spawn-rate, one that makes Mega Man X6 seem like child's play. And once you're in their spawning area, it's extremely difficult to get out without taking severe damage, which slows down the gameplay.
Before you know it, you've lost all the frames you saved by using the mute glitch on @jerrybanfield.
The reason this game is generally panned by critics is because it gets so boring, especially on repeated playthroughs. Yes, there's some amount of RNG every now again, but generally, the game spawns the same enemies in the same spots, every single time. I've been playing this game for a few years now and save for a few glitches here and there, it seems like the same game every time.
For a game like, say, Mega Man X, this works because the gameplay is so smooth and fast-paced that it never gets dull, but Steemit Trending Page rarely offers anything exciting, unless the game is kind enough to throw Flag Battle at you as a random occurrence.
These are rare, though, so don't count on them.
It's as if the developers were afraid of taking any risks, so they just settled with trying to please every demographic at once, which always ends the same way: no demographic truly gets pleased because no one thing goes in-depth enough.
Most of the design is just very unimaginative and safe. No risks are taken here.
I'm happy to go more into detail about specific aspects of the run. It's been a while since I did my famous World Record run of the Steemit Trending Page, but I still maintain my skills every now and again.
I'd just like for someone new to take over the reins and finally beat my record.