Uploaded November 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In addition to my previous video on swimming on land, I've discovered another way to have Kate hover in the air besides just using the fine-view. If you continually cycle through your ammo using the scrollwheel as you move up from the water onto the ground, she'll continue her swimming animation as if she never left the water.
[ youtube.com/watch?v=6yia8W-Tu5E ]
Generally, it seemed to work best by quickly going in and out of fine-view and then cycling the ammo, since my previous video illustrates that fine-view by itself already works. This puts the camera further back and shows Kate actually kicking through the water. Also, using areas that slope out of the water onto land work better than harder transitions.
The camera is incredibly jerky when performing this glitch because it seems to think that Kate should be in the water underneath whatever ground she's standing on--so it continually shifts down toward the water.
Otherwise, I could be wrong, but Kate seems to fall slower while in this state than she does normally.
Again, it's just a fairly minor visual glitch that's funny and easy to do.
In addition to my previous video on swimming on land, I've discovered another way to have Kate hover in the air besides just using the fine-view. If you continually cycle through your ammo using the scrollwheel as you move up from the water onto the ground, she'll continue her swimming animation as if she never left the water.
[ youtube.com/watch?v=6yia8W-Tu5E ]
Generally, it seemed to work best by quickly going in and out of fine-view and then cycling the ammo, since my previous video illustrates that fine-view by itself already works. This puts the camera further back and shows Kate actually kicking through the water. Also, using areas that slope out of the water onto land work better than harder transitions.
The camera is incredibly jerky when performing this glitch because it seems to think that Kate should be in the water underneath whatever ground she's standing on--so it continually shifts down toward the water.
Otherwise, I could be wrong, but Kate seems to fall slower while in this state than she does normally.
Again, it's just a fairly minor visual glitch that's funny and easy to do.
![Alter Echo - Citadel: Ascent shortcut
A small shortcut in level 46 lets you bypass a fight and leap over a forcefield. Again, this uses the Morph Pounce. A second trick may be possible here.
Morph Pounce: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EqND43sh4M ]
After going up the stealth track from the very bottom of the map, you encounter a circular room with tentacles popping up from the ground. From the track, angle Nevin to the left and place yourself lower down near the floor. Perform a Morph Pounce with two solid jumps afterward to drop down into the open ceiling of the alcove that contains the barrier.
Because the fight contains fighting a few Hydras, its worth skipping just for the irritating they cause. Additionally, practically no time is lost in attempting the shortcut because the enemies will be triggered as you leap into the room. The trick is very hard to pull off, though.
After performing this trick, theres another potential skip above that stealth track. The angle is difficult and Im not even sure if its even possible to get high enough, but it would save a few seconds waiting for the Tickers to set off their explosion to open the door. In general, this latter trick is probably not worth it and definitely not as valuable as the first, but its worth noting. Alter Echo - Citadel: Ascent shortcut](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X542D3-6Hqk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Lift Drift [glitch] - RAGE
Theres a lift in the atrium of the Gearhead Vault that suffers from an amusing problem when you activate it twice. It mostly involves falling through it or getting stuck in it.
After you progress through a chunk of the Gearhead Vault, youll arrive back at the central plaza through a convenient elevator. Youll notice, though, the elevator lever can be pulled twice if done quickly, resulting in the lift moving slightly further than it should. If you pull it twice at the top of the lift, youll go lower and sink into the floor; if you pull it twice at the bottom of the lift, youll go higher and pass into the ceiling.
You can get permanently stuck by taking the lift higher, since the ceiling wont automatically kill you as you move into it it will simply keep trying until you unobstruct its pathway with your body. (Note that you can still die in numerous ways around certain elements, such as the ropes holding the elevator.) When you push the lift into the floor, its quite easy to reach a point where you can just crouch, pushing you beneath the ground and onto the elevator floor, and then walk off underneath the map to your death.
Theres also a variety of weird problems I show off, such as falling through the elevator floor, getting lifted up with the elevator by the head, and ending up stuck in position. Although I havent tested it much yet, I believe these specific problems are caused by the elevator lever having collision, and when its pulled, it can actually push your character with it.
All told, this is the game accidentally forcing the lift to perform the same action twice because the lever doesnt cut off player interaction immediately after the first pull. With the first activation, the lift begins moving, followed by another activation that thinks the lift is stopped. The second activation then pulls the lift for its entire distance as well, unaware that its not settling in the place it expected.
This is interesting because the lift has a pre-programmed speed and distance it moves instead of a mandated destination. In other words, theres no interpolation from the start and stop of the elevator. If there was, activating the switch twice would be meaningless. I imagine this was to prevent unexpected physics glitches like you might see in other games, though I imagine its more time-consuming to put together.
Obviously, this is largely an out-of-bounds trick that (as far as I can tell) serves no practical purpose. That being said, this is the only elevator Ive tested it on and there may be a few others with similar issues that use the same lever system, such as inside the Power Plant. Ive experimented with one or two other elevators, such as the one in the garage of Subway Town that leads to Marshall and Elizabeth, and Ive found they seem to have a few oversights. So far, nothing serious, though.
Check out the game on Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/9200/ ] Lift Drift [glitch] - RAGE](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XB14hY64H_Y/mqdefault.jpg)

![Crawlphin Dive [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions
By interrupting your Dolphine Dive, you can place yourself in a crawling position while gaining three times your standard crawling speed.
Any place where you have space to run, sprint forward and perform a Dolphine Dive (Ctrl). Before the dive finishes, perform a combat roll (space bar) to blend the two actions together. Youll land in a prone state, but youll move as if you were standing up and walking.
What likely happens here is that both actions finish and combine their effects together for this fast crawl: the Dolphine Dive places you in a prone position, but the combat roll places you in a standing position. Since the Dolphine Dive likely sets you in prone near the beginning of the animation, the combat roll momentarily interrupts it, but applies its own characteristics to the process, including standard walking speed.
This faster crawl is extremely useful, but also somewhat limited. While you still make the same noise as if you were walking. your profile is lower and youre harder to see. I could see this being used in specific sections of a speedrun since its a snap to perform.
Here are the results of the speedtest I only showed a selection of in the video:
1st: Running - 4:04
2nd (tie): Walking/Fast Crawl - 8:18
3rd: Crouch - 14:28
4th: Crawl - 21:22
These clips were recorded in Prototype 0.6.7.
Despite the video, I actually enjoy this game a lot even in this pretty glitchy state, and Id love to see it finished. If it looks interesting to you, be sure to check out the Kickstarter or download the demo on Steam and try it yourself.
Kickstarter: [ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1201252455/dark-storm-ascension ]
Steam: [ http://store.steampowered.com/app/395150/ ] Crawlphin Dive [glitch] - Dark Storm VR Missions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XRDkF8LnaII/mqdefault.jpg)


![Hydrophobia - Sequence break, Storage Depo
By using the trick that allows you to morph through ladders that I detailed in another video, I found that you can pass through this door in the second act that blocks your progress until you decode a cipher. (Of course I didnt discover this until the day after I uploaded the other video, dadgummit.)
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z41vFbtTTGM ]
Typically you have to use this ladder to climb up and go through a small set of rooms so that you can decode the door, but by pushing forward while grabbing the ladder and letting go repeatedly, you gradually push through and break this areas sequence.
This is extremely easy to do and takes no time at all, especially in comparison to the normal route. At the end of the video, I did a quick fast-forward to show how much time was saved under best conditions (including two new tricks to speed it up) and the new route saves at least 2m10s, possibly as high as 2m30s. Hydrophobia - Sequence break, Storage Depo](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y7956kB9BXM/mqdefault.jpg)



![Co-op 13m48s (any%) speedrun - Tobes Vertical Adventure
YouTube deleted all annotations so you can view this run with commentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5s3pfQblMQ
This speedrun has been verified by the members of Speed Demos Archive as a legitimate run with no cheating.
This is a segmented, any% speedrun through the sixteen levels of Tobes Vertical Adventures story mode in co-op. It contains lots of deaths and a variety of glitches to get in and out of the maps as fast as possible.
The run was recorded in a total of 17 segments (one for each level on both descent and ascent, and one for the title screen), and the players are Setz as Nana and Gumboman as Tobe. There was a recording error with 4-3 which was corrected by re-recording the segment via level select, but there was no advantage granted.
Gumbomans YouTube: [ http://www.youtube.com/user/NoMoGumbo?feature=watch ]
This is by no means a perfect run, but considering the difficulty in coordinating two people, Im quite happy with it!
Although there are some advantages to having two players in a map at the same time, you also have to deal with the fact that obstacles that slow down one player now slow down both players. For example, Nanas ability to double jump allows her to perform tricks and ascend much faster than Tobe can, meaning theres a lot of management of escape routes. Similarly, Nanas slow running speed forces Tobe to wait for her frequently.
Luckily, some of this is alleviated by dying. When one player dies, they respawn and teleport to the living player, so if someone is falling behind, they can kill themselves somehow to keep from causing problems. We used this extensively with the Over-And-Under trick [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlUg7SUaS4E ], which allows one player to drop down through the floor for as long as they want. Afterwards, the other player will typically kill themselves or wait for a teleport.
Nonetheless, one of the biggest obstacles to co-op play is fighting over the camera. If someone goes too far off-screen, theyll either take some damage or respawn next to the other player, and it favors the one whos moving the camera the least. Most of the run is managing the camera otherwise wed drop to the very bottom of the level almost every map, so its an interesting element of strategy.
Again, timing is a really important element to the run. There are set patterns in the level that can go out of sync if you take too long, and respawn times seem moderately random.
Of note, I have no idea what happened in 4-1. We thought we had ruined the run because the camera wasnt following Nana, but I pressed left after the game killed me and somehow grabbed the rope. Then the game scrolls up to the rope to show that no one is grabbing it. Kinda strange.
Playlist of Tobes Vertical Adventure tricks: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzYbDCWEe8&list=PL6250D516ECE298E5&feature=plpp_play_all ]
The major tricks used in this run (in order of appearance):
Over-And-Under [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlUg7SUaS4E ]
used in every act EXCEPT 2-4; 3-3
Loot & Scoot [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNxB5FYdriU ]
used in 1-1; 2-4; 3-3
The screenwrap glitch [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzYbDCWEe8 ]
used in 1-1, 1-4;
Floor Door [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Tadpo3S8M ]
used in 1-2; 2-4; 3-3; 4-4
Slick Pick [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v 240w0mNyms ]
used in 1-2, 1-3; 4-4
Wallrun ledge lift [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozw4Rfz0IWk ]
used in 2-4; 3-4
Crusher through floor [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQBj8OQLD6E ]
used in 4-2, 4-3
I time the run from the moment the first level becomes visible and Im given control until Nana grabs the last rope in 4-4. Compared to my Nana-only run, each world had the following amount of time saved: 19.333s, 15.400s, 16.200s, and 31.650s for a total of 1m22s.
Total times across the acts:
Mystic Caves: 3:08.150
Frozen Cavern: 2:58.600
Phoenix Caves: 3:15.917
Great Pyramid: 4:10.633
This run was recorded between 9-01-12 and 9-20-12. Co-op 13m48s (any%) speedrun - Tobes Vertical Adventure](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z97NgTFt3Uc/mqdefault.jpg)