Right cliff base method

In this method you bounce off the near right ledge from the V, then a protrusion at the cliff base. Suitable only for NTSC/PC.

Full description

Get to the bottom of the V and face right. Run up the V a short way then head off almost parallel to the cliff. Hit the chevron feature slightly closer than the middle, bouncing off smoothly with no shield damage, then start drifting into the cliff base, where it can cushion you enough to let you survive if you crouch as you hit.

Specifically there's a bulging protrusion there. If you can hit near the top of that (either on it or slightly above it), you're in with a chance and it's even possible to end up with no shield damage. Getting cushioned somewhere else in that general vicinity is also a possibility.

As another variation, you might like to try try hitting the ledge marginally to the left of the chevron. You'll probably need to crouch to survive the impact, and you can expect heavy health damage. Perhaps doing things this way will work better for you, or perhaps not; but it does seem to be viable for at least some people.

Checkpoint advice

To make things as easy as possible for repeat attempts, get a delayed checkpoint when ready to start your run off the V.

Difficulty and system differences

I suspect this method is impossible for PAL. At any rate, I've been unable to do it as I simply can't drift strongly enough to hit the base of the cliff after bouncing off the ledge. I'm several metres short. My power of drift seems far weaker than what I see in Scurty's video (see links below).

As for NTSC, Scurty considers this a rather hard method, though I don't know what that actually translates to in terms of success rate. On the PC eckosama reported a success rate of about 5% (see the YouTube comments for AotCR Bridge Fall Shortcut). I'm not sure where the difficulty lies. Hitting the ledge in the right area doesn't seem hard, so maybe the trouble lies in the drifting, and fickleness in being able to survive the rest of the fall.

History and links

The origin of this method is unclear to me but it seems to go back to at least January 2003. It can be seen in a few videos, among which are the following. It's performed by Scurty in AotCR Bridge Fall Shortcut (2) (starting from the bottom of the V). It's seen twice in the GNF highlight reel (mentioned here in the HBO news), performed by Sean Oehrle at 2:42, and by Mr. Nibbles at 6:57, who appears to get cushioned quite a way to the upper right of the protrusion I mentioned (it's like he's got turbo-charged powers of drift, compared to what I've got!). I believe Oehrle's descent is from the speed run mentioned here in the HBO news in July 2004, which would make that the earliest place I've seen the method shown or described in single-player.

However, there's a co-op video by Tim Windgate and Ian Sanderson on OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) UK demo disc 14, published January 2003, which features the method in the 'Top five Plays' section - winning first prize by the looks of it. The descending player gets reduced to one bar of health when hitting just to the left of the friendly chevron slope. The thing I'm slightly mystified about is that the players' location is given as Tyne and Wear in the UK, which suggests that PAL was being used. I've tried things with that heavy impact on the ledge and can survive it ok with a crouch, but I still don't seem to have sufficient power of drift to hit the cliff base.