Cerberus skip is an advanced speedrunning skip, requiring a high level of skill and extremely in-depth game knowledge to perform. It is notable for its unusually high success rate, despite the difficulty of its execution. This difficulty arises from the runner needing to combine multiple aspects of gameplay at a very high level in a short space of time, with almost no room for leniency, such as precise movement, fast menuing (often compared to the Esthar Menu in terms of difficulty), and some tricky counting.
Overview[edit | edit source]
Cerberus can be found in the centre of Galbadia Garden's main hall during the Battle of the Gardens at the end of Disc 2. In order to progress, the Lvl 3 Key Card must be acquired to gain access to Edea and Seifer, which means that the hall must be traversed twice: once to get the key card, and once to go to the elevator. This must be done while simultaneously avoiding Cerberus, who looms large at the centre of the room.
Skip Methods[edit | edit source]
There are several methods that can be employed to achieve a successful Cerberus skip, and whilst they are all of a similarly advanced difficulty, this does at least afford the runner some level of choice. It is advised for runners to carefully consider which method plays to their particular strengths in order to maximise the chance of success. It is also possible to combine multiple methods together to increase the likelihood of performing the skip, but this comes at a time cost for each extra method utilised.
Corner spins[edit | edit source]
One of the most widely used methods, this involves positioning the party at the corners of Cerberus' hitbox and doing small revolutions, which incurs a lot of risk due to the proximity to Cerberus himself. The number of spins required and the corners used can very from run to run, but there are some general rules that runners can follow:
- North-west (NW): Do 0 spins if more than 6 at SW, 1-2 otherwise. No more than 3 spins here. 4 at a push.
- North-east (NE): Always 2 spins. If there are no even digits in your current local time (HH:MM), leave the room and start again.
- South-west (SW): Start spinning until leftmost head looks at its angriest, then move on.
- South-east (SE): Do 1 spin if 0-1 at NE, and 2.5 spins if 3 spins or above at NE.
Important note: The order of the corners matters! Follow these 3 rules carefully:
- Always start from one of the north or south corners.
- Work in a clockwise direction around Cerberus if Irvine is in your party, or anti-clockwise if Squall is in your party.
- Crossing to an opposite corner is permissible ONLY if Enc-None is equipped.
Stutter stepping[edit | edit source]
This method uses a similar principle to how it is used in Final Fantasy IX speedruns: by only moving in small increments at a time the chance of avoiding Cerberus is greatly increased for each step taken. If possible, try to stutter in two different directions at the same time (e.g. up and right), as this confuses Cerberus.
Locked door[edit | edit source]
Important: this method is only possible on the first pass through the screen.
The hall exit to the right of Cerberus is locked by a Level 3 lock, requiring the Lvl 3 Key Card to pass. Another method involves walking into the trigger for this exit and prompting the "Lock [3]" dialogue box several times, tricking Cerberus into thinking that you're desperate to leave - if you're lucky, he may take pity on you. This method is not widely used as the right door is quite out the way so a lot of movement is wasted.
It is a commonly held belief that walking into the save point at the bottom of the screen and clearing the text box can give a similar result: do not do this under any circumstances. Save points are usually interacted with in preparation for an upcoming battle, so touching it will fail the skip immediately.
[edit | edit source]
Just like most runners, there's nothing the Cerberus likes more than watching a lightning fast menu, so performing a menu in his hall can serve to either distract or appease him for a brief moment. However, he doesn't know what menuing is actually for, and as such only cares about the speed of the inputs, not what is actually being done.
The following actions have proven to produce good results:
- Repeatedly junctioning and un-junctioning a GF
- Swapping the ability that a GF is learning many times (remember to swap it back again afterwards!)
- Switching the junctions of 2 characters back and forth
- Moving config sliders left and right
- Taking SeeD tests (you don't have to get them right so choose YES for every question)
Direct method[edit | edit source]
Hold down-left on the Dpad on the first pass, and hold up-right on the second pass. This method is generally not recommended.
Tail Swings[edit | edit source]
As well as performing one or more of the methods described above, there is an additional requirement for successfully completing the skip: counting Cerberus' tail swings. The total number of swings that Cerberus does while the skip is being performed (from both passes combined) must follow a strict set of rules.
Identifying a swing[edit | edit source]
The tail flicks to both the left and right, but it is important that one full swing is only counted when the tail flicks to the left. Be aware that there is both a "fast" and a "slow" version of this flick to the left, and both must be counted.
Rules[edit | edit source]
The total number of tail swings must be at least one of the following:
- Greater than 20
- A prime number
- A square number
- Even
- 15