How to Hell Speed Run Under 3 Minutes

Alright folks. You are here because you have beaten Hell at least once. Congrats. Beating Hell itself is an achievement.
But you are here because you are not done yet.
You are here to get to the lowest time for Hell.
Why?
Because you want White aka King's Theme menu or Safty with Jukebox mode enabled.
So with that purpose in mind, I will tell you. I will teach you my secrets...
The way that I have managed to get a record of 2:02.8 in Hell.

Are you ready for some speed?
Then let's go.

Disclaimer

I am not responsible for any keyboard break, mental break down, finger muscle buff, chewing on the computer, and rage quitting. Follow this guide at your own risk.

Tips and Tricks

Before we start discussing the paths, you need to know and master executing some speed running tricks. Here are few. If not, all.

Booster Sliding

Booster Sliding is to boost on to a ground with your feet perfectly on the ground level or your footing is 1~3 pixels under the ground. If done correctly, you should be sliding on a platform with near booster speed for short, but nice distance. This trick is very easy to pull off at hills and equal leveled platforms apart from each other. This trick boils down to timing.

Booster Slide Jump

This trick is basically combining booster sliding and jumping. As you perform the booster sliding correctly and touch down the platform, jump immediately to jump with near booster speed over the long distance. This is very handy to cover long distances without using too much booster. Again, this is all about timing.

Menu Weapon Switch

Now this may sound simple, but it’s very important for some people and probably some other situations. As you blaze through the Hell, you have to keep switching some weapons for right use for right locations. Sure. A and S keys are there to switch, but some people have slower reaction time to do so. This is when the menu comes into play. When you open up the menu, the timer PAUSES. With this, you can take a breather, think ahead, and switch your weapon without costing any precious seconds.

Shoot Through Deletes

Now this is the part where I think Snake is overrated. While Snake has the ability to shoot through the walls, it lacks the ability to shoot through unactivated Deletes. However, Spur Lvl 3 (not MAX level) and Nemesis Lvl 1 can shoot through the unactivated Deleted by standing right next to it and firing it. Super Missiles Lvl 3 can hit the stuffs past the Delete, but it has to be in the count down mode to do it. As well as Quote/Curly needs to be one block under the Delete and standing right next to it.

Skip Waiting for Heavy Press

This is well known speed running trick in Hell, but it is still important to know. After you defeated Heavy Press, immediately get hit by a Bute and stand under the Press. Thanks to your new invincibility seconds, you can get crushed by Heavy Press and not taking damage. Ultimately going under the hole before Heavy Press can finish going down first.

Weapon Combo

What do you mean (wombo)combo? This ain't Melee. No it isn't. However, while you wait for Boss hitbox to be available, you can shoot some projectiles such as Firebal, switch to your main gun, and then hitting the boss with it. While it may not sound much, combined power of few on screen projectiles and your main gun, the boss health will go down a bit quicker. Combine with Menu Weapon Switching trick, and you can probably squeeze in more shots if timed correctly. This is more devastating if combined with Spur's MAX charge shot.

Boosting

Simple trick right? But it can make a difference.
Always boost, Boost, BOOST! I don't care if you have to chew down 10 bowls of hot chillies and fart your way to your victory. Always BOOST!
And don't stay in the air or walk too long!

What Weapons to Bring

Now many Cave Story community will tell you to go for Snake, Super Missiles, and Nemesis.
Snake to hit the Deletes through the wall, Super Missiles for damage, and Nemesis for quick fire power as well as other neat tricks.

My loadout choice is the following.

Spur
Super Missiles
Fireball (Since you can't trade it away)
Blade (Or if you wish, Nemesis)

You can see they are all power house weapons. How this will help you achieve the 3 minutes under record? Well since they all deal heavy damage, most of the mobs will go down within seconds. And those mobs will block your very important shortcuts and other important areas.

Now that we are all set, let's go.

*Nikumaru Counter Activated*

Floor 1

Welcome to Hell!
....that's what it says on the sign anyway...

Ok. As soon as you close the text box saying your weapon level dropping to 1, immediately press down and tab your jump button to boost down quickly.
This may sound much, but it actually saves 0.1 second!
Now proceed to the first 2 exp tanks while you are booster sliding on both platforms before them.
Again, boost down and boost left and get the exp tank with Super Missile. Do it again for the second tank as well.
Now for the drop down zone, switch to your Spur, or perhaps Snake and go down in straight line.
Fire your gun and then switch to your Missile immediately so you don't waste your Missile ammos.
If done correctly, you should have total of 28 missiles with you.
Grab the life tank, boost down and then immediately left for just a little bit.
Now for a bit risky part.
Wait until Quote/Curly's foot is on the same level as the floor ahead and boost to gain the booster sliding speed. Pick up Curly/Quote and enter the door.

With this method, I managed to enter the door at 15.5 seconds.

Floor 2

Ugh. The second floor. This room is pretty much all about luck.
Anyhow, take out your Spur and charge up.
The trick in this room is when the Butes swarm toward you from behind, aim up and fire your Lvl 3 or Max charged Spur for a long line of death for them to run into. This will get rid of those annoying pests quickly.
As for the boulders... Well... They are luck based when it comes down to where it lands.
One thing however, the large block's top parts don't have collision pixels. With this, you can safely pass through the top of it without taking damage.
At the last half of this hall way, there are plenty oppertunities of booster slide jumping, so use those.
Heads up on the blocks however.

I managed to clock the total of 32~33 seconds combined with floor 1 and the hp of 40~55.
If you get around 35 seconds total, that's ok. However past that, then you may want to restart.
Especially if your hp is lower than 30.

Floor 3

Now for Floor 3. Gun up and let's move. And bring a can of soda. This section is long as hell.

Boost to the second block from where you land. From there, boost straight and perform booster slide jump. Here's a tricky part. Switch to your Super Missiles, and fire 2 shots just over Mesa's head. You have to shoot them before Mesas throws a block. Otherwise, your missiles will hit the bricks instead, wasting your precious ammos and time.



This part here. This is ALL ABOUT LUCK now.
These 2 Mesas and at least one Bute NEEDS to drop EXPs. Otherwise, you won't have enough EXPs before Heavy Press. Well you can technically get the EXPs before Heavy Press, but these 2 Mesas and a Bute can REALLY save time when they drop the EXPs. When they don't drop enough EXPs for me to level up my missiles, I restart the whole run.
So you hit the Delete that's behind these mobs with your missiles. Great. Now immediately if you have Nemesis, quickly switch into it and destroy the mobs.
If you brought Blade with you, turn around, and let Curly/Quote do the dirty work for you.
After killing them and dropping enough EXPs for Super Missiles Lvl 3, switch to Spur, and boost down to the middle hall. As you boost down there, you should have Spur Lvl 3 charged up.
Aim forward and shoot through the blocks and hit the second Delete.
As the count down goes down, destroy the top blocks to reveal 2 hearts. Since you are waiting for it, might as well grab some free hps. They will help.
Now do the same for the third Delete. After hitting it, charge up your Spur to Max.
In the next room, you should see 2 Butes standing and waiting for you as you boost through the blown up door. Jump and boost, but land right in front of the second Bute. Jump again and boost forward and land between 2 Mesas. Better boost down to land quickly. Otherwise, you will be hit by their bricks.



See that third Mesa? Wait until it's thrown block touches the roof of the small hall way and fire your MAX Spur.
The first 2 Mesas should go down. Boost forward and grab those 2 hearts.
Now for the short cut. You have to go through the spikes. However, the top spikes are small ones and will deal you 10 damage while the bottom one is the instant kill 127 damage spikes.
Sacrificing 10 hps to skip the top Delete is very worth it. If your Spur shot doesn't kill the third Mesa, don't worry. Just boost above it's head.
One thing however, Mesa's physical damage will deal you 6 damage. With this, you can try using that invincibility seconds to go through the spikes, thus saving 4 hps. If you can do this, then props to you.
Just before you go through the spikes, charge up your Spur to Lvl 3. Once reaching to the next Delete, jump slightly and fire. If done correctly, you should also hit the Delete that's at the very bottom level.



If you hit the Deletes, back away and watch out for the arrows. Arrows will deal 8 damage and exploding Delete will deal 12 damage to you. Which they aren't pretty to think about.

After the explosion, charge up your Spur while boosting forward.
Just as you go throught the second opening, fire your Spur to obliterate the majority of Butes.
Jump again while moving forward and boost ahead. For some reason, I hit that spike just above the opening, but you can avoide it. If you can, then good job. You saved your 10 hps.
While you are boosting, charge up your Spur to Lvl 3 again and hit the last 2 Deletes. Immediately go up and grab the Missile Expansion Tank.
After grabbing it, charge up the Spur and go down. The Deletes should be blown up, so boost in to Heavy Press room.

Heavy Press

Remember that charged Spur of yours? Make sure you MAX the charge before the fight starts.
As soon as you reach the middle, aim up, and release your charge shot. Immediately switch to your Super Missiles and spam them to death.
Sometimes, Heavy Press won't fire it's lighting shot when the fight starts. If it doesn't, great! Time to break this machine into a scrap.
If not, fire your Spur and get the hell away form the middle. After it fires, return to middle and start spamming.
You can see a Rolling rolling toward to you. If you have more than 20 hp, then switch your Super Missiles to something else, get hit by it, and switch back to Super Missile and continue firing. This is when Menu Weapon Switching trick comes in handy.
After defeating it, skip waiting for Heavy Press as I mentioned at Tips and Tricks section.
Make sure you equip with something other than Super Missiles to prevent Level Down.

With this way, I managed to reach the Passage? at around 1:20~30.

Another tricky part here. Boost the very narrow hall way to the door. It's very hard to time the boosting, but it is needed. If you can't, then just walk. Keep in mind that this will eat up at least 2~3 seconds.
The corridor will have Booster Slide Jumping oppertunities, so use those to reach the door.

Ballos

Ok. You are finally here. Get ready for a speedy showdown.
But first, charge your Spur and talk to Ballos and get ready to fight. Oh and if you have more than 4 hp, then don't use the life pot yet.

First Form

As you finish the talking, your Spur should be charged to MAX. Get into Ballos' hitbox and wait for it to activate. You know it's activated when you take 3 damage. Fire it and switch to your Blade/Nemesis with or without Weapon Menu Switching, aim up and start spamming your fire button.
Keep on track of Ballos' movement. You do not want to miss any shots. Always aim up for maximum damage.
Ballos' damage methods are the following.

Idle: 3 dmg.
Rushing: 10 dmg.
Shockwave: 8 dmg.
Bones: 4 dmg.

In short, charge up, shoot, switch to Blade/Nemesis, aim up, spam fire.

Second Form

As soon as the first form is dead, kill few Devils that flies by for some free hearts, missile ammos and some EXPs, but charge up your Spur when Ballos flies to the top. Now, position yourself to very right. When Ballos falls down, climb up to his eye and wait for them to open. As soon as they open, fire your Spur and switch to Super Missiles to unleash a massive damage. He should go down just before he finishes his first jump.
*NOTE*
Opening menu during phase change is disabled, so you can't use Menu Weapon Change trick. Better think fast during this time.

Third Form

Again, charge up Spur and wait for the eyes to spawn and starts moving. Try to position yourself so if you aim up, you can hit 2~3 eyes at the same time with Spur. Fire it upward, switch to Blade/Nemesis while still looking up and running to left. You can use some Super Missiles when Ballos climbs to the ceiling to kill the remaining eyes. If done correctly, you can kill his third form before he finishes the first loop. If not, finish him before finishing his second loop.

Fourth Form

Hopefully you have more than 12 missile ammos. If not, quickly kills some Devils for possible ammo drops. Now charge your Spur to MAX one last time, wait for spike to come up. When you get hit by it, immediately boost into Ballos' eye like you did in his second form. As soon as his final form is revealed, release your charge shot and finish him off with Super Missiles to wreck him in 1 second.

Closing Notes

Whoo hoo! You did it! If everything is done correctly, you should be able to go below at least 3 minutes, thus unlocking Safety menu theme as well as Jukebox mode!
If you are confused about some part of my guide, then do check out my record run for how they are done.

Thank you for reading this guide everyone. I hope this helped to achieve Hell speed run record under 3 minutes!
If you have any more questions or if some part of a section is confusing, just leave a comment!

Oh and do check this video out when you have free 50 minutes.

Make sure to have closed caption turned on to understand what's going on.

Again, thank you for reading my guide!
Until then, goodbye!

Don't forget to leave a comment and share your progress with the others!

[opcastlecrasher]

i wanted to try this then i realised im really bad and i play it on switch so thats not gonna happen :(

[Zamorman]

I feel like its much more difficult to get the achievement for a sub 3 minute run now that you can only get the achievement through the time attack challenge, which doesn't allow you to have the super missiles. This is making the bosses take way longer than necessary.

[Dr. Dead Bones TTV]

you are an absolute fucking mad lad

Get help. I love you

[arecsNWOOW]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2308664691

[MasterLuigi452]

Beat it under 3 minutes.

[cooldragon1990]

Does getting 3:10 Count toward an S Rank or for the 4 minutes. Is there a loophole somewhere in this challenge where you can get before 4 minutes and counts toward S rank or do you have to beat it within the 2 minutes!

[AntonSFMs]

Damn, that TAS speedrun was crazy

[高山流水]

WOW.Thank you very much for your work......though my skill dosen't go far enough......sad

[403shot]

That sucks, thanks for the reply tho!

[MasterLuigi452]

You mean the Challenge mode of Sanctuary Time Attack? Unfortunately no. You have to go through that special mode to unlock the achievement.