Early unlocking of Firefight

Firefight (Super Hvy Blaster) is a quite powerful Mini-Con located in Amazon that was intended by the developers to be unlocked after Slipstream (Hang Glider) was unlocked in Mid-Atlantic (which is well after the Amazon level is completed). However, it is possible to unlock Firefight without using Slipstream via a glitch; it can be unlocked before the Amazon level is completed. If the Mini-Con is approached after Amazon is completed, the player will find three spider tanks in the area that are quite an annoyance, but if it is approached before Amazon is completed, there are no enemies in the area, making the area easy to navigate quickly. Though the Mini-Con is out of the general route's way, this sequence breaker is actually quite vital to speedruns due to the Mini-Con's power and thus its importance throughout most of the runs.

History
The glitch is believed to have been discovered by Ready Steady Yeti in the summer of 2012. It was first used in a speedrun on 22 July 2016, the date of the first ever speedrun of the game. The glitch has been used in every speedrun of the game by RSY since.