Speed run of Metroid II: Return of Samus done in 3 segments, completed on January 18 2005. The displayed end time is ignored due to a flaw in the game's saving system which rounds the time down to whole minutes. The listed time is from the start of spawning until saving/the end.

Author's comments:
I actually had no intention of attempting an any% run at first, but tried anyway. My first few attempts were single-segment runs, since saving adds an extra 5 seconds to the final time due to the appearance sequence being included... so I thought if I could just go through well enough, it'd be beneficial.

First few attempts were in the 1:02-1:03 range, right around Radix' multi-segment run. I discovered it was theoretically possible to achieve a sub-hour single segment time by mere seconds if the run was perfect, so I kept trying. I finally managed to get a time of 1:01:26, but due to my crappy capture of it, didn't bother to post. A while later, I started thinking about ways to use the new trick brightstar discovered called "spider throwing", and it finally dawned on me that it was possible to easily make up for the time required to take it just by the first spider-throw trick. Everything after that just served to better the time.

So, I decided to do a 3-segment run using the spider throw. Only 3 segments, so the save time wouldn't be an issue. I separated it out to have the most difficult parts of each successive section first, so that they could be perfected without having to worry too much about finishing.

The 1st segment doesn't deviate from the standard route much. The only real difference is the order in which I tackle ruins 2, which allowed me to pick up the spring ball on the way out easily. The 2nd segment makes very good use of the spider throw, and although I did screw up some of the tricks, my luck in this segment was enough for me to keep it.

The 3rd segment actually took the most effort to finish. The first time I attempted it, I ended up with a final time of 1:01:22, which freaked me out by just how far it was from an hour... minutes aren't easy at all to make up. But after experimenting with new spider-throw techniques, and perfecting my omega fights, I managed to sneak it just under an hour.

This run is by no means perfect, and really should be treated as a baseline for future runs, since it's the first run (to my knowledge) to use the spider throw technique. So, there's probably a lot of new tricks to be discovered, and minor re-workings of the route. I honestly had no idea how much health or missiles I'd be needing for each section, so I had to take a few safety checks along the way which ate up time (like ruins 2). And of course, the platforming could be done better, but hey, I'm not a machine. ;-)

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