[TAS] Spelunky 2 - $16,105,450 Chain Low% Cosmic Ocean 7-99 Score Run (Part 1)

This is a TAS, or tool-assisted speedrun/superplay. It was made using tools such as slowdown, frame advance, and savestates, and is not meant to compete with real runs but is solely for entertainment. Watch Part 2 of the TAS here:    • [TAS] Spelunky 2 - $16,105,450 Chain Low% ...   This is likely one of the longest TASes ever made, but admittedly, the TAS is not super optimized for speed; it’s more of a superplay. Optimizing the score took a much higher priority than optimizing speed. The camera is zoomed out because I think it makes for a better viewing experience. I am pleased that I was able to reach $16.1 million with this TAS, a score that far exceeds my initial expectations. For comparison, the current Score WR is $17.3 million, and the current Low% Score WR is ~$2.3 million. Special thanks to Cosine256 for direct help with this TAS and for creating the TAS tool that made this project possible: https://spelunky.fyi/mods/m/tas-wizard/ This run is a Chain Low% Cosmic Ocean Score Run. “Low%” means that the player can only use their starting 4 hearts, 4 bombs, and 4 ropes. Using extra resources or using items listed in the Journal is not allowed. “Chain” refers to the series of items that are intended to reach the secret ending, such as the Udjat Eye, Crown, Ankh, Scepter, Tablet of Destiny, and Qilin. When Chain is combined with Low%, the player is allowed to collect the items in the chain to reach the secret ending. The full rules can be viewed on the Aggregate Low% Score Leaderboard here: https://mossranking.com/cat.php?cat=395 Watch other cool TASes here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... The typical strategy in a Score Run is to destroy as many tiles as possible to uncover gold and gems. Score runners usually opt for the Plasma Cannon or True Crown to have a consistent method of destroying tiles. However, both of these items are banned in Low%. The last resort is an obscure item called the Ball & Chain, which is not listed in the Journal and therefore, not banned in Low%. The Ball & Chain is obtained by destroying at least 2 Kali Altars, and is intended as a punishment because it drastically slows down the player and will likely need to be carried. However, the Ball & Chain does have a unique mechanic in that it can destroy tiles, making it a viable candidate for a TAS-level Low% Score Run. Unfortunately, the Ball & Chain is not very powerful in pre-CO unless you have a way of getting from the bottom of the level back to the top of the level. This can be guaranteed with ropes, but you only have 4 ropes that you can use throughout the run. In turn, the Ball & Chain is really only viable in Cosmic Ocean, where you can loop from the bottom of the level to the top of the level. I really wanted to destroy the City of Gold with the Ball & Chain (and I actually did TAS this), but I realized I would be introducing a discontinuity into the TAS. Early into the project, I decided to TAS all of Cosmic Ocean before going back and TASing pre-CO. This turned out to be a very bad idea because you will likely introduce unforeseen continuity errors into the TAS, which will make the full TAS desync. Destroying the City of Gold with the Ball & Chain means that I have to destroy at least 3 Kali Altars throughout the run, which apparently causes completely different layouts in CO as long as you still have the Ball & Chain. Since I already TASed all of CO with only 2 Kali Altars destroyed, I couldn’t integrate the Ball & Chain in the City of Gold without having to re-TAS all of CO. There is a nonzero chance I may come back and do another TAS of this run, but it would definitely be done with another seed and probably after a long break. If anyone else ever does a TAS similar to this, I highly recommend avoiding TASing levels out of order. Doing all of CO before pre-CO caused some desync problems when I tried to run the full playback. For some reason, almost every single Volcana CO level desynced, plus a single Jungle CO level, which meant that I had to re-TAS them.