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I see some of the top speedrunners trying to minimize time in the air. For example, in the second room of Ceres station, and in the beginning of Parlor. Why do they do this?

I would assume that as long as you hold the direction after a running jump, the speed you were running at would be preserved, only you're now in the air. Is that not the case?

You might say, "Well, if the top runners do it, then of course," but another reason a speedrunner might minimize airtime is simply due to habit, especially after hundreds or thousands of ledgegrabs and downgrabs.

I'm looking for an exact answer supported by some well-known Super Metroid resource / speedrunner, or actual proof (e.g. via Ram Watch).

1 Answer 1

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No, running on the ground is faster because of a tech called Arm Pumping or Shoulder Pumping. While you are running, if you move Samus's arm cannon up and down it advances her forward by 1 pixel.

This is much faster than jumping and can be controlled anytime while Samus is on the ground or not in ball form.

Jumping in Super Metroid isn't entirely too difficult, but it's not about wanting to spend more time on the ground. It's about wanting to advance Samus forward as much as possible.

Here's a link to a video showcasing it

More info via OmnipotentEntity: Shoulder Pumping does not change the speed of Samus in memory, every time you pump you move Samus one pixel forward. Jumping conserves your speed when you leave the ground, but when you land your speed is reset to 0 (unless you land as a ball.) You can find more info about Samus's movement on the TASVideos page on Super Metroid: Here

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  • I see. Do you know if the two velocities are the same otherwise? I did know about arm pumping but forgot to clarify while asking... Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 16:02
  • I believe there is an acceleration while falling and a deceleration when jumping.
    – FoxMcCloud
    Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 16:25
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    Shoulder Pumping does not change the speed of Samus in memory, every time you pump you move Samus one pixel forward. Jumping conserves your speed when you leave the ground, but when you land your speed is reset to 0 (unless you land as a ball.) You can find more info about Samus's movement on the TASVideos page on Super Metroid: tasvideos.org/GameResources/SNES/SuperMetroid.html Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 17:08
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    @OmnipotentEntity Beautiful that should included in the answer as that's what Andrew is also looking for. I'm going to add that to the answer.
    – FoxMcCloud
    Commented Aug 22, 2017 at 17:38
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    @Gusdor Systems such as the SNES typically used pixels as measurement because the output was a fixed resolution. On a computer, we might see 640x480, 1280x1080, etc, but up until the widespread acceptance of digital signals, game console output was defined by NTSC/PAL standards. In fact, consoles were typically frame-locked by the standards as well; for example, Sonic the Hedgehog ran faster in American than he did in Europe because of the difference in frame rate.
    – phyrfox
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 14:32

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