Contra III is a longtime favorite of mine since I was just a little kid. I started speed running around 2013 and was hooked on the hobby ever since. The major optimizations for this category are lag management throughout the entire run and a few movement improvements.
Reset City - Saving time in this stage is pretty tough. Only thing to improve would be some lag management.
Skyway – I get a 4 input bunker select which is not good. Can save at least a second or so with better luck. Centipede blocked the path before last bunker. Not a huge time loss. Other than that the Movement was really good and the boss went down without a fight as usual.
Steel Factory - First mini boss I shot a little too many shots and caused some lag. Can save at least a second with better lag management. The 2nd mid boss I took out in 1 cycle no problem. UFO I got the quick kill. No time saves there. The climb after UFO I missed the ledge skip which can save close to half a second or more. Luckily I didn't die missing it. The Twins give me a pretty good pattern which allowed me to kill them both at the same time. Terminator kill is free as usual.
Highway - This stage has some important quick kills than can make or break the run. First is acrobat. He gives me a really good pattern. He hardly jumps around at all. Second is the skater mid boss. I missed the quick kill but only lose maybe half a second. Last is the Battleship fight. I optimized the fight a little bit by adding some extra shots as you jump away from the exploding barriers and finish with a suicide kill. Overall I would say there is about a 1 second time save in this stage.
Nesting in the sands – I get a decent bunker select with only 1 input. I normally go left route but some people prefer right because you have a slight chance of getting crush on the last bunker. I like left route because you’re guaranteed a Flame or Laser on the last pod. I do the death warp (or ledge skip if you prefer) which allows you to skip the narrow zigzagging ledge on the top left of the map. The warp saves about 1 second with optimal movement and good RNG from the bugs. Shout outs to Tropical PWNch for finding it. No bugs got in the way so very good luck there and got a Flame on the last pod. Laser is a little better but Flame still gets the quick kill so very small time loss. Overall very good stage.
Red Falcons Lair – I get pretty good luck for most of the gauntlet but on the last ledge before the heart a random alien tries to end the run. I manage to avoid him and the alien behind me. I lose about 1 second there. Golden beast and Gargoyle both go down in 1 cycle no problem. The Queen gives me the slow double extended arm pattern making it easy to quick kill. The final fight on the brain I decide to go all in and hope I get an eye orb. The old strat was to get the red orb and use a bomb to clear them from the brain. With the eye orbs you don’t need a bomb but have to dodge the orbs as they fall while mashing into the brain. It’s risky but saves about 1 second. I get insanely lucky and get the eye orb sealing victory!
I know this run can be improved by at least 3 or 4 seconds with some better RNG and lag management and obviously good execution.
Special thanks to Tropical PWNch for teaching me the game and the whole contra crew for all the amazing support. Remember to attack aggressively!
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