Welcome to Sonic Wiki Zone's interview series: 12 Questions With! Today our interviewee is snrZora!. Zora is a Sonic Frontiers speedrunner who is currently second place in the any% and 100% categories, and has been a world record holder in several categories in the past. They are a moderator of the Sonic Frontiers leaderboard and regularly stream on Twitch.
Without further ado, here is 12 Questions With Zora!
How long have you been a Sonic fan?
- I've been a Sonic fan as long as I can remember. I got a Nintendo Wii as a kid for Christmas and got Sonic Colors with it. This was my first Sonic game I played and the game that really got me into the franchise. I did watch all kinds of let’s plays and playthroughs, though [sic], before I played any games. I remember watching many playthroughs of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.
What got you interested in speedrunning Sonic Frontiers?
- Originally I didn't even think I would start speedrunning Frontiers. I was a Kirby game speedrunner before Sonic, and obviously I was hyped about Frontiers releasing and thought "Maybe I'll start speedrunning it, only if it's any fun". Well Day 1 of the release of Frontiers I remember thinking to myself that yeah, this is the game for me. Year and a half later here we are.
- What about the game made you want to stick around?
- For me in a speedgame, I look for satisfying movement and cool skips. Frontiers had them all! [sic] I remember when I saw the Island skips for the first 2 Islands using the "Hedgehog Space Program" Glitch, that was the coolest thing for me. Also the community was really really welcoming and nice. It was a really huge part for me to want to stick around running the game.
- What about the game made you want to stick around?
Sonic Wiki Zone has a subpage for glitches in Sonic Frontiers. What are some major glitches/exploits that help during a speedrun?
- In the Any% run of this game, you might see Sonic flying from point A to point B almost every second! [sic] This flying is called the "Slingshot" It's really heavily used in the run since you can travel from the other side of the island to the other side in mere seconds. Also "Sidestepping" is used almost every time you run on ground. Holding side step after boosting makes you run faster, it keeps your momentum and refills your boost meter so you can run as long as you'd like.
- There's also the "Hedgehog Space Program" that I mentioned earlier. Basically, you can send Sonic flying REALLY high up if you do the HSP inputs frame perfectly. But since it’s frame perfect, we have routed out almost every HSP out of the fastest route to make the run more consistent.
How close-knit is the Sonic Frontiers speedrun community?
- I'd say very close. There are new people every now and then, but pretty much everybody knows everybody and gets along well,
- Do you help each other a lot, like sharing strategies?
- We do, if you ask help or ask about a strat, you almost always get someone to answer and help.
- Do you help each other a lot, like sharing strategies?
I saw that you have the world record in Splat%. What is that category, and how did it start?
- Splat% is a funny one! [sic] Basically in Frontiers, in the last cut scene just before beating the game, there's a sequence where Sage (Eggmans daughter) pilots a titan and throws Sonic towards the final boss (which in this game is a big planet) and after Sage throws Sonic there's 3 quick time events and if you fail them, Sonic splats onto the Planet. Thus Splat%. The community instantly started doing meme runs where you speedrun the game normally just to splat into the planet at the end and not beat the game.
- What is another "meme" run?
- There's this other "meme" run called "Get a Koco". In the game there are these new creatures called "Kocos" that you collect to power up Sonic's strength, etc. And when the game came out, people demanded that Koco% will be a thing someday! [sic] The whole run takes around 50 seconds to do, since there are Kocos at the very beginning of the game.
- What is another "meme" run?
You are currently second place in the any% and Another Story categories. What do you think it will take for you to break through to have the world record in those categories?
- In Any% I would need to sit down and learn all of the fastest stuff, I kind of do them already but there are many little things in the run that save up alot of time. But even if [sic] I would do all of that, it would need a huge grind to be on the same level as the current record holder is. And my current plans are to do that. In Another Story I could get the world record if id give myself the time to grind the category, maybe i will do that after i get an any% time that I'm happy with.
Are you interested in speedrunning Sonic X Shadow Generations?
- Yes! I plan on learning the speedrun of the new Shadow story and maybe even Sonic Gens Any%.
On Sonic Wiki Zone, we have documented the Homing Dash was first discovered by speedrunners. Do you think there are more techniques to discover in Sonic Frontiers?
- I'm sure there's something, even games that are +20 years old are getting things [techniques] discovered nowadays. We reroute Frontiers routes a lot still [sic] and new timesaves are discovered every now and then, so I'm sure there's a lot that haven't been found yet. For example, a while ago we discovered a way to skip the bridge free fall minigame in Chaos Island.
What are some of the physical and mental challenges of speedrunning?
- For me I really struggle mentally with keeping a grind going, for example grinding the same thing for months and months. I'm a person who if I lose motivation for something, I really quickly change the category or game. That is a big thing with speedrunning, that you need to be ready to do the same thing over and over even if you fail. For me, I need to get into a specific grind mentality to be able to grind a category for a long time. Physically, I can't say I’ve had many challenges, but I know speedrunning can have a toll on your hands really easily.
Has cheating ever been an issue in Sonic Frontiers speedrunning?
- I don't recall anybody cheating or splicing their runs. We try to keep the game as vanilla as possible (so no mods or anything), so that anybody cheating with mods doesn't happen.
- Do you allow mods for speedrunning purposes?
- [The] only mod that's allowed and that really helps us is the "Silent main menu" mod [sic]. Basically, when you boot up the game, there's the main menu music that lasts around 40 seconds, and if you start the run when the music is still playing you will somehow lose 1.5 seconds to loading screens. If you wait the 40 seconds and wait for the music to end then you don't get the time loss. Onaku made the mod so that you don't have to wait the 40 seconds every time you reset (I know 1.5 seconds doesn't sound like a lot but it is, and muting the music from settings doesn't do anything so he made the mod for it).
What do you enjoy the most about running Sonic Frontiers, or speedrunning in general?
- I'd say I enjoy seeing improvement and achieving your goals the most. I see that as the core of speedrunning for me, also the communities. [I enjoy] interacting with people and meeting new friends; [it] is really really nice.
- Do you agree community is the heart of speedrunning?
- Absolutely. 100%
- Do you agree community is the heart of speedrunning?
How can people support you and the Sonic Frontiers speedrunning community?
- You can find and support me on Twitch, I stream mostly Sonic stuff and speedruns! [sic] Also join the Sonic Frontiers Speedrunning Discord server and join the community! There's many cool people!
Zora, thank you for interviewing with us!
Be sure to join us in two weeks, where we have 12 Questions With TheWax, founder and leader of Sonic Paradox!
This interview was conducted by SilverPlays97
Credits[]
- SilverPlays97, Interviewer, Editor in Chief
- HeroesSquad, Editor
- Skooa, Logo and graphics
- Pictures provided by snrZora (excluding the GIF)
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