Western Station
Western Station has plenty of tricks as well as 2 TV cancels. Optimizing the chickens in this level fast is one of the hardest things to do in this level so I'll be very specific on explaining what to do. You can only TV Cancel on the donkey with the NTSC PS version. If you have some other version, then you can look at my 3:19:52 100% run, but it is quite outdated.
https://youtu.be/53lY_q5QV18?t=1h14m45s
You can also do this TV cancel that doesn't involve the donkey.
https://youtu.be/xAwfLc_JudM?t=28m19s
If you TV cancel with the donkey after you cancel off of any TV, you have to stay on the donkey. If not, then Gex will go in the TV that you cancelled off but if you travel too far away from the TV, it will softlock the game. Making Gex die will turn that effect off. That is why I death abuse 2 times in this level. This level video includes annotation commentary since there is too much information to fit in the video description.
Most of the following tricks to hitting all 25 chickens fast can be used on any other critters in the game. So keep these in mind when playing other levels. Now we will go over almost all of the tricks that I use.
In most cases when trying to whack two or more chickens in a group in this level, you should ignore getting any fly coins until you hit the last chicken in the group that drops the last fly coin because it is likely that you will collect the fly coin while chasing the chickens. An example would be collecting the fly coins from the huge group on the top of the mountain. But when certain chickens stay in a certain place and not go where others go that proceeds through the 100% route, hit them first. An example would be at 00:20, where I hit the chicken to the left first because that chicken doesn't go to the right.
When hitting the chickens inside the crates, avoid hitting the crate on its side and hit the crate on the middle. Leave the chickens inside crates alone when dealing with the free rooming chickens because if you hit the chickens inside the crates first, it will only add more chickens in to the area of free chickens. An exception would be if the crate is in the way of hitting the free rooming chickens, like when I hit the 1 crate first in the huge group on the top of the mountain. Another exception would be when you find consistent ways of hitting the last chicken (that also has to be the chicken in the group that is near the area you would go after hitting all of the chickens) mostly every time. An example of this would be at 1:05.
Sometimes, avoid trying to go where any chickens go when they are bound to go back in the middle of the group because you could get an easy hit on them when they go back to the middle if you stay at your spot. A perfect example would be in my 2:25:47 run where I hit the 2 chickens at the beginning.
https://youtu.be/DlJ1Q_LsfZ8?t=47m22s
At 00:10 when dealing with the 3 chickens when they are near me, I tend to stop and try to hit them. That is because their path is limited and they could only go up and down which means that if you chase them without stopping, there is a greater chance of them passing by you.
That is it with the chickens. I know that some tips are sort of confusing and counter-intuitive with other tips but it just takes practice on what to do in certain situations.
https://youtu.be/53lY_q5QV18?t=1h14m45s
You can also do this TV cancel that doesn't involve the donkey.
https://youtu.be/xAwfLc_JudM?t=28m19s
If you TV cancel with the donkey after you cancel off of any TV, you have to stay on the donkey. If not, then Gex will go in the TV that you cancelled off but if you travel too far away from the TV, it will softlock the game. Making Gex die will turn that effect off. That is why I death abuse 2 times in this level. This level video includes annotation commentary since there is too much information to fit in the video description.
Most of the following tricks to hitting all 25 chickens fast can be used on any other critters in the game. So keep these in mind when playing other levels. Now we will go over almost all of the tricks that I use.
In most cases when trying to whack two or more chickens in a group in this level, you should ignore getting any fly coins until you hit the last chicken in the group that drops the last fly coin because it is likely that you will collect the fly coin while chasing the chickens. An example would be collecting the fly coins from the huge group on the top of the mountain. But when certain chickens stay in a certain place and not go where others go that proceeds through the 100% route, hit them first. An example would be at 00:20, where I hit the chicken to the left first because that chicken doesn't go to the right.
When hitting the chickens inside the crates, avoid hitting the crate on its side and hit the crate on the middle. Leave the chickens inside crates alone when dealing with the free rooming chickens because if you hit the chickens inside the crates first, it will only add more chickens in to the area of free chickens. An exception would be if the crate is in the way of hitting the free rooming chickens, like when I hit the 1 crate first in the huge group on the top of the mountain. Another exception would be when you find consistent ways of hitting the last chicken (that also has to be the chicken in the group that is near the area you would go after hitting all of the chickens) mostly every time. An example of this would be at 1:05.
Sometimes, avoid trying to go where any chickens go when they are bound to go back in the middle of the group because you could get an easy hit on them when they go back to the middle if you stay at your spot. A perfect example would be in my 2:25:47 run where I hit the 2 chickens at the beginning.
https://youtu.be/DlJ1Q_LsfZ8?t=47m22s
At 00:10 when dealing with the 3 chickens when they are near me, I tend to stop and try to hit them. That is because their path is limited and they could only go up and down which means that if you chase them without stopping, there is a greater chance of them passing by you.
That is it with the chickens. I know that some tips are sort of confusing and counter-intuitive with other tips but it just takes practice on what to do in certain situations.
Annotation Commentary Text
This level is one of the few levels with annotation commentary with it because there is too much information to fit in the video description.
00:00 to 00:14
Check the description to deal with hitting the chickens fast.
00:18 to 00:28
To get on top of the railroad tracks, I start jumping from a green plant that is on the ground and do a tailbounce. After the tailbounce, I turn right and when Gex is near the tracks, I turn him to the left a little bit.
00:32 to 00:42
To do the following jump, make sure you have momentum and go up to the ground that is higher. Tailbounce right at the borderline of the wall that connects to the floor and you should make the jump.
01:14 to 01:24
Do not hit the checkpoint yet.
01:24 to 01:28
For this skip with the donkey, I turn the camera angle diagonally and I keep switching having the donkey face the wall to keep him from falling and turning left a little bit for the donkey to move to the left.
01:28 to 01:38
Get hit throughout the level to get a quicker death abuse when you hit a checkpoint TV later on.
02:05 to 02:15
There is a chance that these enemies could be manipulated in spawning in certain spots but I still have yet to see if it is caused by certain things.
02:20 to 02:30
It seems that maybe they each have a lot of set paths if that is the case. Or maybe there is some way of making them spawn in certain places that you want them to spawn, like with the camera.
02:30 to 02:40
Like I did tests on the cowboy at 02:55, and if he spawns on the following 2 spots, there’s like a 90% chance that he goes to the third spot in the video. This is because on how I was playing, rotating the camera and everything.
02:40 to 02:50
But I don’t know for sure and there still has to be a lot of tests with this because a lot of variables (just like the horrible Rainbow TV Cancel Skip in Mythology Network).
02:50 to 03:00
Still don’t hit the checkpoint TV yet. If you do this mistake in the future then make Gex kill himself fast by jumping over the ledge or so.
03:28 to 03:34
As you may or may not know, moments later when you TV cancel off to the camel/donkey, anything that is in front of the camera could disappear so to be on the safe side, jump off the opposite side to avoid having a chance that the bonus coin could disappear.
03:45 to 03:58
If you don’t have one health point left after hitting the checkpoint tv, then I would fall off the edge and die that way.
04:10 to 04:20
I collect every collectable first before TV cancelling because of the same reason. To make a collectable appear again if it disappears when you TV cancel, have Gex kill himself.
04:38 to 04:50
Hit the checkpoint after this room if you want to play it safe.
05:23 to 05:30
Manipulating these moving platforms is based on the camera. To reset them to their initial position, all you have to do is to rotate the camera so that they are off screen. So be careful with the camera and where you are jumping to when doing this last part.
05:35 to 05:48
So yeah, the next level is the Buccaneer Program in this guide. Thanks for watching :)
06:18 to 06:28
00:00 to 00:14
Check the description to deal with hitting the chickens fast.
00:18 to 00:28
To get on top of the railroad tracks, I start jumping from a green plant that is on the ground and do a tailbounce. After the tailbounce, I turn right and when Gex is near the tracks, I turn him to the left a little bit.
00:32 to 00:42
To do the following jump, make sure you have momentum and go up to the ground that is higher. Tailbounce right at the borderline of the wall that connects to the floor and you should make the jump.
01:14 to 01:24
Do not hit the checkpoint yet.
01:24 to 01:28
For this skip with the donkey, I turn the camera angle diagonally and I keep switching having the donkey face the wall to keep him from falling and turning left a little bit for the donkey to move to the left.
01:28 to 01:38
Get hit throughout the level to get a quicker death abuse when you hit a checkpoint TV later on.
02:05 to 02:15
There is a chance that these enemies could be manipulated in spawning in certain spots but I still have yet to see if it is caused by certain things.
02:20 to 02:30
It seems that maybe they each have a lot of set paths if that is the case. Or maybe there is some way of making them spawn in certain places that you want them to spawn, like with the camera.
02:30 to 02:40
Like I did tests on the cowboy at 02:55, and if he spawns on the following 2 spots, there’s like a 90% chance that he goes to the third spot in the video. This is because on how I was playing, rotating the camera and everything.
02:40 to 02:50
But I don’t know for sure and there still has to be a lot of tests with this because a lot of variables (just like the horrible Rainbow TV Cancel Skip in Mythology Network).
02:50 to 03:00
Still don’t hit the checkpoint TV yet. If you do this mistake in the future then make Gex kill himself fast by jumping over the ledge or so.
03:28 to 03:34
As you may or may not know, moments later when you TV cancel off to the camel/donkey, anything that is in front of the camera could disappear so to be on the safe side, jump off the opposite side to avoid having a chance that the bonus coin could disappear.
03:45 to 03:58
If you don’t have one health point left after hitting the checkpoint tv, then I would fall off the edge and die that way.
04:10 to 04:20
I collect every collectable first before TV cancelling because of the same reason. To make a collectable appear again if it disappears when you TV cancel, have Gex kill himself.
04:38 to 04:50
Hit the checkpoint after this room if you want to play it safe.
05:23 to 05:30
Manipulating these moving platforms is based on the camera. To reset them to their initial position, all you have to do is to rotate the camera so that they are off screen. So be careful with the camera and where you are jumping to when doing this last part.
05:35 to 05:48
So yeah, the next level is the Buccaneer Program in this guide. Thanks for watching :)
06:18 to 06:28