SA2 terminology

This is a list of terms that help speedrunners in Sonic Adventure 2.

Sticky Speed Shoe: This is a made-up alliterative term to describe a bug whereby a player that gets a second Speed Shoe power-up while the first is still in effect will have a Speed Shoe boost that lasts permanently, not just for the normal 15 seconds. It lasts even after dying, until the level is exited (by completion, running out of lives, or by the choice of Exit from the pause menu), and can be used multiple times in a row for a stacked effect. This tactic is banned from the main competition and relegated to a side competition. More information is available at [1].

Ledge jump: When you're climbing a wall and get to the top, an annoyingly long animation--almost a full second--plays to show you using the edge to lift yourself up to the top. If you jump just before that point, you can get enough height to glide forward and land at the top, without playing the animation. Except for one point in Aquatic Mine (where the ledge grab animation makes it possible to go up through a ceiling), this is universally useful.

Quick climb: Normally when you start climbing a wall, there's a delay of 17 frames (almost 0.3 seconds) before you can start moving. However, if you release A to stop gliding just as you would connect with the wall, that delay is skipped. Use it whenever possible.

Rapid pause: This is simply the act of pausing and unpausing the game very quickly. Some players find it useful for things such as simulating slow motion, getting more time to react fast to minor errors in their running line, and (as Knuckles and Rouge) cycling through the action list to get to Sunglasses/Treasure Scope with repetitive START-Y-START or A-Y-START faster (by the game clock) than they would be able to press Y alone the requisite four times.

Hover jump: As Tails or Eggman, jump and then hover. Outside of Cosmic Wall, hovering normally just slows your rate of descent, but if you do it while moving upwards from a jump you can use it to prolong your rising momentum. Normally, a jump covers a bit more than the height of one box. A maximal hover jump (pressing A the second time immediately after your jump) is able to clear obstacles that are the height of 2 stacked boxes, which occasionally comes in useful.

Super Bounce Attack: If you spindash into a wall as Sonic, then immediately jump and bounce, you'll occasionally be able to get a far higher bounce than normal. This can be used to make large ascents quickly.

Underwater glide: If you're standing on an elevated surface while holding both A and B, and walk off (do not jump off), you will fall for a while and then break into a glide--whether you're underwater or not. If you need to swim for long distances, try to set up an underwater glide instead since it'll be much faster. It's useful in Aquatic Mine's 2nd mission, Death Chamber's 3rd and 5th when not using the large out-of-bounds shortcut, and Knuckles' section of Cannon's Core.