Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
When speedrunning games for older gaming consoles with more limited processing power, one concept that you'll often end up dealing with is Slowdown, more commonly referred to as Lag. Knowing how to reduce Lag can help save a significant of time in some games, despite the fact that Lag reduction techniques may be difficult to notice.
Games featured are: Cuphead, Dragon's Lair (NES), Donkey Kong Country 2, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Magical Pop'n, Castlevania (NES), Goldeneye 007, Mega Man 3, Drakkhen (SNES), The Lion King (SNES), Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Super Pitfall
Background Music: Kid Icarus - Underworld
Sources for console framerates:
forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/important_analog_capture_frame_rates_and_mysterious_gained_seconds.html
tasvideos.org/PlatformFramerates
Credits to Mister Mike for the Kid Icarus sprites.
Twitch channel: twitch.tv/sbdwolf
When speedrunning games for older gaming consoles with more limited processing power, one concept that you'll often end up dealing with is Slowdown, more commonly referred to as Lag. Knowing how to reduce Lag can help save a significant of time in some games, despite the fact that Lag reduction techniques may be difficult to notice.
Games featured are: Cuphead, Dragon's Lair (NES), Donkey Kong Country 2, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Magical Pop'n, Castlevania (NES), Goldeneye 007, Mega Man 3, Drakkhen (SNES), The Lion King (SNES), Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Super Pitfall
Background Music: Kid Icarus - Underworld
Sources for console framerates:
forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/important_analog_capture_frame_rates_and_mysterious_gained_seconds.html
tasvideos.org/PlatformFramerates
Credits to Mister Mike for the Kid Icarus sprites.
Twitch channel: twitch.tv/sbdwolf
![[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 30:29 - Current Patch, Regular, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YWiZUxYeuTs/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 30:29 - Current Patch, Regular, Solo - Cuphead
Still not entirely satisfied with the run, I have a close to 30 seconds time save on Beppi due to getting a Glitch-less fight. Plus a few time losses sprinkled here and there. I honestly feel like there are enough optimizations and strategies at this point to make a Sub-30 run extremely plausible.
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[Former World Record] All Bosses - 22:09 - Current Patch, Simple, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YzDp_Ms_HjM/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses - 22:09 - Current Patch, Simple, Solo - Cuphead
Note: as of the 12th of May 2018 the All Bosses - Glitchless category has become simply All Bosses (which as a consequence now allows glitches to be performed during the run).
The title has been updated to reflect that but the layout remains outdated.
Could be pushed a lot more.")
![[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 17:33 - Legacy, Simple, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZKrdhyvzSxs/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 17:33 - Legacy, Simple, Solo - Cuphead
Decent run. The time could still go a bit lower though
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 17:45 - Legacy, Simple, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZY5A3iom6bo/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 17:45 - Legacy, Simple, Solo - Cuphead
Improved upon my PB by 4 seconds. Up to 15 seconds can most likely still be saved but I dont know if I wanna keep going with this category.
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[Former World Record] All Bosses - 24:23 - Legacy, Regular, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZfsjR_uAWpM/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses - 24:23 - Legacy, Regular, Solo - Cuphead
Bad isle 2 (Baroness in particular) but the whole run was overall very good. Though no bee RNG cost me 8 seconds.
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[Former World Record] Low% - 32:47 - Current Patch, Regular, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_BxY9GSj5GU/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] Low% - 32:47 - Current Patch, Regular, Solo - Cuphead
1 second world record!
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: X
Ex Shoot: Left Trigger
Switch Weapon: A
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
![[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 23:45 - Legacy, Regular, Solo - Cuphead](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_HezAxQjJfU/mqdefault.jpg "[Former World Record] All Bosses Speedrun - 23:45 - Legacy, Regular, Solo - Cuphead
Hell yeah!
Really good run indeed. A few not-so-great fights (0:35 Werner, 0:58 train and a few more) but the whole run is really solid everywhere else. Got bee RNG too. I dont know how much time this run will last, but Im sure itll be very hard to beat regardless, bar new big discoveries.
Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/sbdwolf
My controls:
Jump: Right Bumper
Shoot: Left Trigger
Ex Shoot: A
Switch Weapon: X
Lock: Left Bumper
Dash: Y")
