Shinespark techniques...

HUDD:

registered on 2007-05-08 06:42:37 pm.

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HUDD

2007-05-12 06:29:49 pm

I been playing SM and I'm not very good at the shinespark. :x I've seen a few speed runs now and I'm wondering if anyone here can share some expert techniques? Some how I think that in the speed runs that they can have speed boost for longer than I can. Is there a way to keep it ready for longer?

Any tips on early shinespark would be very helpful.

Any tips on lateral shinesparking. I can't seem to do this very well at all. I need the basics...I can do it sometimes but I don't really know how to do it(If that makes any sense).

I've learned some other techniques but just haven't been doing very well with this one...and any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, This is my first post and would like to thank who ever made this site...It's great and very helpful. You're doing a terrific job! Thanks!!!

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ducknerd:

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ducknerd

2007-05-12 08:34:47 pm

Eschews avatars

Yeah, the shinespark controls can be REALLY unintuitive. Here are the six different kinds of sparks:

NOTE: All of these assume you're facing right. If you're facing left, just replace "right" with "left".

Horizontal, ground: Tap jump, then immediately hit right.
Diagonal, ground: Hit jump and the R button at the same time.
Vertical, ground: Just hit jump while standing perfectly still.

The ground sparks can be irritating sometimes, because you can be trying to do an ordinary jump and accidentally shinespark. A good rule of thumb is to be running when you normal jump and still when you shinespark.

NOTE about the aerial shinesparks: these can ONLY be executed from a spin jump. Doing a straight-up jump will just send you into a vertical shinespark, and it doesn't work if you just fall off an edge.

Horizontal, air: Tap up, then immediately press jump and right simultaneously.
Diagonal, air: Tap jump and R at the same time.
Vertical, air: Tap up.

There's no way to keep a charge longer, but if you get a good running start, you can cover quite a bit of ground in the short time that you're given.

I'm not sure what you mean by "early" shinespark, but if you're talking about the short charge, it's done by walking for about two steps and then pressing the run button. It takes the same amount of time to charge up, but since you were walking for part of it, you need less space to charge. There are more complicated versions of this trick that make the charge even shorter, but they can be very irritating to get right.

Hopefully that should clear things up. Welcome to the boards!

Yeah, the shinespark controls can be REALLY unintuitive. Here are the six different kinds of sparks:

NOTE: All of these assume you're facing right. If you're facing left, just replace "right" with "left".

Horizontal, ground: Tap jump, then immediately hit right. 
Diagonal, ground: Hit jump and the R button at the same time.
Vertical, ground: Just hit jump while standing perfectly still.

The ground sparks can be irritating sometimes, because you can be trying to do an ordinary jump and accidentally shinespark. A good rule of thumb is to be running when you normal jump and still when you shinespark.

NOTE about the aerial shinesparks: these can ONLY be executed from a spin jump. Doing a straight-up jump will just send you into a vertical shinespark, and it doesn't work if you just fall off an edge.

Horizontal, air: Tap up, then immediately press jump and right simultaneously.
Diagonal, air: Tap jump and R at the same time.
Vertical, air: Tap up.

There's no way to keep a charge longer, but if you get a good running start, you can cover quite a bit of ground in the short time that you're given.

I'm not sure what you mean by "early" shinespark, but if you're talking about the short charge, it's done by walking for about two steps and then pressing the run button. It takes the same amount of time to charge up, but since you were walking for part of it, you need less space to charge. There are more complicated versions of this trick that make the charge even shorter, but they can be very irritating to get right.

Hopefully that should clear things up. Welcome to the boards!

nate:

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nate

2007-05-12 08:44:05 pm

君だけの

光になると

welcome to the forum; i am honored to serve you.

this is sufficiently specific that i think it needs to remain split from the general help topic.

072:

registered on 2007-04-16 11:23:38 pm.

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072

2007-05-12 09:21:09 pm

coral to complement blue

You need to be holding in jump when you press any of the directions (besides up, but you can do a faster vertical shinespark by holding up when you jump.)

You actually don't have to be spin jumping to do a mid-air shinespark. If you hold in the Angle Down button and then jump, you can get into mid-air with the charge without moving left or right, and then you can press jump+direction to do the spark. Not particularly useful, but an interesting tidbit nonetheless.

HUDD:

registered on 2007-05-08 06:42:37 pm.

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HUDD

2007-05-12 09:27:59 pm

ducknerd thanks a bunch...you gave me the basics and its exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

You described the "early spark" exactly with running regularly for a few steps and then hitting the run. I also read on the net (wikipedia I think) about hitting run or a direction (left or right) on a specific frame in the game which is really complicated. This is supposed to give the boost in almost no time at all.

Anyway time to practice, practice, practice...

Thanks again for the help!

JaggerG:

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JaggerG

2007-05-13 02:38:41 am

Shifty Leader

That M2k2 guy

Quote from HUDD:

I also read on the net (wikipedia I think) about hitting run or a direction (left or right) on a specific frame in the game which is really complicated. This is supposed to give the boost in almost no time at all.

IIRC, run must be held for every frame that the foot "behind" her sprite touches the ground, and also IIRC it still depends on the amount of frames she's running for, so your comment should read closer to "almost no distance at all," since it still takes the same amount of time.

But I'm not 100% sure. I've played SM only like...four or so times in my life. Also, had I said the previous sentence in real life, people might laugh thinking I'm joking about four playthroughs not making me an expert. Oh, the comparative simplicity in astounding a random group of people offline....

mooseproduce:

registered on 2006-06-10 06:18:56 pm.

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mooseproduce

2007-05-13 12:47:26 pm

Quote from HUDD:

ducknerd I also read on the net (wikipedia I think) about hitting run or a direction (left or right) on a specific frame in the game which is really complicated. This is supposed to give the boost in almost no time at all.

You're talking about tool-assisted stuff. Basically, the way the game charges the speed booster is by making 3 (I think) checks. Each check takes place on a certain frame after you start moving, so a tool-assisted speedrunner can just hit the Dash button on those 3 frames.

This is all off the top of my head, but if you read further into it (tasvideos.org) you can find specifics and frame numbers and such.

Edit: Hurr's a link to the specific article.

P.JMan:

registered on 2005-11-30 10:52:21 am.

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P.JMan

2007-05-13 02:10:24 pm

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

4 frames, IIRC it's every time Samus' front hits the ground.

yeah, sparking.

Ground
Up: Tap jump.
Left: Face left. Tap jump, hold left and tap jump again.
Right: Face right. Tap jump, hold right and tap jump again.
Up-Left: Face left. Hold aim-up and tap jump.
Up-Right: Face right. Hold aim-up and tap jump.

Mid-air
Up: While spinning, hit up.
Left: While spinning leftwards, unspin, hold left and tap jump.
Right While Spinning rightwards, unspin, holf right and tap jump.
Up-Left: While spinning leftwards, unspin, hold aim-up and tap jump (using aim-up to unspin helps Wink

)
Up-Right: While spinning rightwards, unspin, hold aim-up and tap jump (using aim-up to unspin helps Wink

)

You can also spark by enemy knockback by holding jump and releasing left/right

Tonski:

registered on 2007-02-15 01:16:13 pm.

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Tonski

2007-05-13 02:44:54 pm

What does IIRC stand for?

I wonder why can't people write "in my opinion" or "as far as I know" but instead they go like IMO AFAIK IIRC. Think about future writing being like that with no actual words. grin new

BlueGlass:

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BlueGlass

2007-05-13 02:53:43 pm

If I recall correctly.

leafgreen386:

registered on 2006-07-30 04:26:33 pm.

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leafgreen386

2007-05-13 03:02:36 pm

Heh, this is actually really useful for me. I was told that you can't diagonal shinespark in sm. Left and right shinesparking weren't too hard to figure out, though, having played fusion and zm.

@Tonski, it's because afaik (that was done just because I can =P) most people understand it, and as such, when posting longer, common phrases, it's easier to just abbreviate it. Think of it like saying NBA or WWC, as opposed to saying the whole thing out. People understand what they mean, and it's a whole lot easier than saying (or in this case typing) it all out.

JaggerG:

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JaggerG

2007-05-14 12:21:29 am

Shifty Leader

That M2k2 guy

Quote from P.JMan:

4 frames, IIRC it's every time Samus' front hits the ground.

Ah, at least I had been correct in thinking it involved one foot touching the ground. Close enough. :^P

And about the abbreviations, I used to avoid them almost all the time, but IIRC, IMO, lol and OMK have been so commonly accepted here that I got used to it (because it's clearly much more trouble than typing out "you" or "to/too"). I think I'm gonna join you and stop abbreviating those longer ones.

Tonski:

registered on 2007-02-15 01:16:13 pm.

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Tonski

2007-05-14 06:46:02 am

To the shinespark thingie: 4 times, everytime Samus's front foot hits the ground or very close to that. You may wanna press just a bit before it happens. The front foot is always the one closer to you: walking to the left, left is the front foot and vice versa. I always do it like this: Strutter walking in the beginning, press only for a while for the first two frames and for the 2 final steps I hold dash down. Believe it or not if you do it this way properly it's very small, the room where you can load the shine. Indeed smaller than pressing 4 separate times. At least I got this pointed out in my testings. :)

Yeah Jagger! Let's all get against "IMO AFAIK LOL IIRC". :P

moozooh:

registered on 2006-01-11 12:51:46 pm.

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moozooh

2007-05-14 07:40:52 am

Since pretty much the only thing this topic lacks now is the illustration of the "magic frame", here it is:

To put it shortly, the shinespark-able boost activates when the run button is held for 4 times you see this sprite. If you miss it once, you can still do it next time she's looking like that.

Anything else isn't significant, unless you're up for the stutter walk (the prerequisite for the shortest charge). Stutter walk is a pain in the ass to do consistently without stopping or wasting time, though.

And yes, the counter is bound to her sprite, since it changes accordingly in both NTSC and PAL versions -- but since Samus's sprite has a shorter running animation cycle on PAL, it's possible to charge a spark in even less distance (which is, however, harder to do in realtime).

Since pretty much the only thing this topic lacks now is the illustration of the "magic frame", here it is:

[img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img] [img]http://moozooh.weirdwire.ru/magicframe.png[/img]

To put it shortly, the shinespark-able boost activates when the run button is held for 4 times you see this sprite. If you miss it once, you can still do it next time she's looking like that.

Anything else isn't significant, unless you're up for the stutter walk (the prerequisite for the shortest charge). Stutter walk is a pain in the ass to do consistently without stopping or wasting time, though.

And yes, the counter is bound to her sprite, since it changes accordingly in both NTSC and PAL versions -- but since Samus's sprite has a shorter running animation cycle on PAL, it's possible to charge a spark in even less distance (which is, however, harder to do in realtime).

Jweb Guru:

registered on 2007-04-09 10:16:40 am.

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Jweb Guru

2007-05-14 08:28:46 pm

My only advice here is to practice the hell out of short charging. It may take many hours, but you WILL get better.