Chronology

Here I'll list the descent methods in chronological order as best I can, repeating key links for convenience. For some of the methods whose origins seem hazy I've focused on the occurance of clear announcements or videos, though there may've been people who were aware of the method earlier in some form.

  • November 23rd 2001: (NTSC/PC) CanadianMonk3y mentions a player falling to the near left ledge, albeit done in co-op. But I think the significance of this fall soon got overlooked or forgotten, so it didn't get established until xbill showed the left ledge method on April 25th 2002.
  • February 19th 2002: (NTSC/PC/PAL) FrogBlast describes the Shade stop method, of getting stopped on the near right ledge by a Shade.
  • March 29th 2002: (PAL) Chris Corelli describes the right rock method, of bouncing off the near right ledge then a rock. Despite apparently being the first single-player method of descending just by good jumping, it didn't seem to get much attention - perhaps because there was no video, or pictures.
  • April 25th 2002: (NTSC/PC) xbill shows the left ledge method, of falling to the near left ledge. It was enthusiastically greeted and he elaborated on his technique shortly afterwards.
  • 2002 perhaps: (PAL) The right ledge method, of falling to the near right ledge. Origin unclear but there seems to be a passing mention of this method in December 2002, so I think it was known sometime before that.
  • 2002 perhaps: (PAL) The hog method, of bouncing off the far right ledge then the hog. Origin unclear. Certainly known about by August 2004, but 3rd Person thinks he saw it on an Xbox magazine disc sometime in 2002.
  • 2002 perhaps: (PAL) The hog rock method, of bouncing off the far right ledge then a rock near the hog. Origin unclear but I suspect it would've been found around the same time as the hog method because the rock is an obvious target in the same area. That doesn't mean to say anyone actually announced it though. 3rd Person showed video in March 2009.
  • January 2003 or earlier: (NTSC/PC) The right cliff base method, of bouncing off the near right ledge then the cliff base. Origin unclear but it featured in a co-op video on the Official Xbox Magazine UK demo disc 14, published January 2003.
  • April 3rd 2004: (PAL) Juggertrout shows his first movie footage of the standard Shade ride method, of riding a Shade down from the bridge. The movie was advertised in the HBO forum on April 3rd 2004, and in the same thread he mentioned that he'd documented the method earlier on various sites.
  • October 31st 2004: (NTSC/PC) Ms. Man shows the spectacular Pelican method, of getting Shade-launched onto the top of the incoming Pelican and riding it down. It was in his Game Over video, advertised in the High Impact Halo forum.
  • March 23rd 2005: (PAL) 3rd Person (aka WLT) shows the V-clip Shade ride method, of doing a Shade ride which clips the top of the V. It was in a speed run advertised in the High Impact Halo forum. But the general idea seems to've also been known of earlier in some form, to judge from a passing mention from zels in October 2004. In May 2016 I showed how to use precise grenading for surefire success.
  • March 24th 2005: (PAL) I post an article about the tree and rock method of bouncing off the far left ledge then a tree and a rock, having heard the general idea from fellow campaign enthusiast One One Seven in October 2004. Separately, Juggertrout read about the method in a forum and filmed it for his June 17th 2005 video Things to do on the first AotCR bridge when you're bored, advertised at High Impact Halo and now located in his video archive there.
  • April 2005: (PAL) Spotcheck shows the V-start Shade ride method of riding a Shade down from the top of the V. It was at 0:58 in his AotCR Speedrun video. On June 17th 2005 Juggertrout shows the variation in which you dismount onto the ledge; namely at 0:47 in his video Things to do on the first AotCR bridge when you're bored (see above for links).
  • July 11th 2005: (NTSC/PC) Gameovertime222 describes the grenade method, of getting slowed by a grenade on the near right ledge, to subsequently get cushioned below. A video demonstration was provided a few days later.
  • February 3rd 2011: (PAL) In BCM27 I show the gold Elite stop method, of getting stopped on the near right ledge by a gold Elite (plus I mention that you can do much the same with a Hunter).
  • February 10rd 2011: (PAL) In BCM28 I show the Hunter stop method, of getting stopped on the near right ledge by a Hunter, having earlier (Feb 3rd) mentioned doing it.
  • February 21st 2011: (PAL) In BCM29 and BCM30 I show the patrolling Elite method, of getting stopped on the near right ledge by a patrolling Elite.
  • November 3rd 2012: (PAL) In BCM57 I show the frozen Hunter method, involving a frozen mid-air Hunter and a gold Elite on the far ledge.
  • December 8th 2012: (PAL) Sligfantry shows the plateau base rock method, of bouncing off the near left ledge then the Shade plateau base and a rock.
  • December 19th 2012: (PAL) In BCM61 I show the plateau base method, of bouncing off the near left ledge then the Shade plateau base, having been alerted to the possibility by Sligfantry, who'd once experienced it by chance.
  • February 9th 2013: (PAL) Sligfantry shows the second plateau base rock method, of bouncing off the near left ledge then the Shade plateau base and a rock, using a lower run-off point than his earlier similar method, making things much easier.
  • February 9th 2013: (PAL) Sligfantry shows various long bounce methods - which I haven't covered in the guide yet.
  • March 7th 2016: (PAL) In BCM172 I show the second plateau base method.
  • April 3rd 2016: (NTSC/PC/PAL) Sligfantry shows a way of acquiring the bridge Banshee, which is one version of the Banshee grab method, and in BCM175 I show an alternative way. Both methods were subsequently improved or refined.