United StatesI'm glad there is interest for additional Balloon Trip categories, if only 100K for now. Thanks for all the quick responses.
It's a relief to hear that resetting after every run isn't -required- outright, for Balloon Trip specifically. If game resets after every run were required, most of the runs under 55s would be invalidated, because the RNG is very very similar after a game reset, and it's almost impossible to achieve a time less than 55s unless you keep trying again after deaths.
I'm aware of the general NES speedrunning rules, and understand the need for provable legitimacy. I would be willing to highlight two videos for my Balloon Trip PBs - one video which is the PB by itself, and another that shows the last game reset, so it can be proven that there were no save states used in between.
Improved my 100K time significantly! And I kept that run going - 999,999 points looks quite reasonable, and speedrun times could vary IMMENSELY based on luck, and how aggressively people play...could be interesting!!!
(I talk about my uncertainty regarding the Rank 1 category rules in this VoD, and there is 0% aggressive intent here - I will defer to what the community deems best. I'm working to improve my Rank 1 PB anyway)
Hey all,
I'm interested to see what people think about adding some more categories for Balloon Trip mode. Last night I completed a couple of 100,000 Points runs, and I plan to do more, because I find the category very engaging and surprisingly dynamic.
This category does benefit greatly from a very fast Rank 1 start, because the earlier you get the 10K "got all balloons" bonuses, the more giant chunks of time you can save by reaching points milestones before balloon-free survival segments. It's a friendly category for anyone who just wants to finish as safely as possible while enjoying some extended Balloon Trip. To get the best times possible, there's the additional challenge of getting -every single balloon- for an extended period of time, along with seeing good spawning luck. All the while, you have to be very nimble in avoiding the death sparks. I found it to be a very cool midpoint category for potential runners.
The higher extreme would be 999,999/1 Mil Points - which, I assume, is a maxout. Points accumulate quickly enough that this would likely occur in less than 30 minutes, but that's quite a challenge for maintaining focus and ability, and I'm curious about the speedrunning aspect of it! I haven't given this a serious attempt yet, but I hope to soon.
I'm curious what you all make of this, or if you have other ideas for intuitive Balloon Trip speedrun categories that haven't occurred to me.
I think yesterday's session cleared a lot up for me -
10 out of 12 of my paces exiting the final bonus level were -0.0. Despite me entering that bonus level an all sorts of paces, ranging from -4 to +1.5.
Also, I found that if Phases 1-3 go really well, but not TOO well, I get the best pace I've ever seen by a full 4 seconds after the first bonus phase.
So basically, the only way to get the best framerules we can get is to play almost TAS-level the whole time? Otherwise, the game utterly equalizes every run you do, regardless of how well you play?
S-sign me up.
