There doesn't seem to be an arcade version board from a cursory search. There might be one but I didn't find it.

If there was enough interest I'd be willing to make a category for the Arcade version, but I honestly believe the 2 games are different enough to warrant its' own leaderboard.

That's just my opinion; I'd love to hear your (and others') take(s). If I were you I'd run the game and then ask speedrun.com to create a new board which you could then cultivate a community around.

Awesome! I will verify it immediately!

Just a note: I'll change the "timer end" to the transition of the screen to the trophy screen as it is MUCH easier to frame-count it compared to timing the letter disappearing. It's a minor change, and I'm open to counterpoints or any discussion of it being on the last letter. (I figured this will be much easier to time in the future for us mods, and it won't change too much on how the run appears)

Upon further discussions, the mods and I have decided that the select feature (which is the equivalent of up+a in NES Zelda 1/2) is not to be allowed in speedruns going forward. It will be added to the rules as an outlawed strategy. Any runs that use select going forward will not be verified.

The reason behind our decision is simple = the real BS Zelda game does not use this feature. In the actual Satellaview game, select brings up a special submenu, and does not allow you to save or quit.

Since this was NOT explicitly in the ruleset before now, if any runs on the board have this feature utilized, they will be grandfathered in.

I like the idea! If someone does a run of this, post it here and I'll gladly set up a category!

OK I asked Kiddo and he graciously checked on the actual BS Zelda dump. It actually brings up a secondary subscreen (which I do recall seeing on mine now that I think about it).

That said, the patch does change a LOT of things as it is. I dunno, BS Zelda is such a strange case... would be an intriguing thing to discuss. Definitely would like to hear more takes on it.

KiddoCabbusses would be a wonderful person to ask as well.

There are dumps of the original files. I actually had them on a repro until about a month ago (I just sold it). I never knew there was a way to do that. Perhaps Ice or J? could chime in?

Honestly I have no problem allowing an "up+a" IF (and ONLY if) it's a feature the original BS Zelda has. I honestly was unaware of select = death (or up+A) so if that's a feature the OG game has, I would vote to add it.

I'd like to hear others' takes but I would think that a co-op run would be best played in the spirit of the game if both runners finished the run. Otherwise it's just a 1-player run with added steps, what's the point, right?

I ended up just frame-counting the final mission from end-of-melt (between missions 4 and 5) and the final frame before the screen melts away at the end of mission 5.

(I should note I prefer to run this game on a non-Windows 10 PC. I've been attempting to run it in 98, and in XP via DOS-Box, and it runs just fine minus the lack of the post-mission screen)

So I have 2 versions of this game in official CD-ROM releases: the original 1996 copy, and the Limited Run Games version. I've installed both versions and neither have the IGT/mission summary screen at the end of mission 5.

I've started downloading "abandonware" versions and haven't had any luck in finding any that work.

Is there anyone out there that can help? The sticky asks me to download an althub... I can't find those either! Where are they? How do I install one? Someone, anyone, can you help me?

I've never used a Demo recording to record a speedrun; since I intend to livestream my attempts, is a regular VOD ok for a submission?

Also I'll be playing on an original Chex Quest CD-ROM on an XP machine. I am very unfamiliar with other versions of the game and other source ports, so how would I submit this?

Without saying the runner's name (I'm not trying to put them on blast) but in case they see this and submit another run:

ANY and ALL speedruns are timed via the NTSC-U video standard. Basically, your NES (or emulator) must run at the proper frame rate. This frame rate is 60.09.

Since speedrunning is a competition, there are rules involved. To give runners an equal playing field, we all must abide by these rules.

ANY and ALL runs (regardless if ran on real hardware, an FPGA, a clone, emulator etc) MUST run at either 60 FPS flat or 60.09 FPS AND they must match the correct NES timing. Otherwise, I don't care if you beat the TAS, your run will NOT be on this board.

Thank you.

Oh this is no small glitch. That's a game changer! Well done man!

Lately, there's been an influx of newer runners of this game using emulators that do not run at the correct speed.

The NES runs at roughly 60.09 FPS. This is the correct frame rate.
Most clones, FPGAs, or other options (The NES classic or Switch, for example) run at 60 FPS on the money; this is acceptable as well.

Any frame rates that are faster or slower are not allowed, and any runs submitted henceforth which are not at the correct speed will NOT be verified.

I recommend NEStopia for speedrunning. To maximize your visibility and legitimacy, I suggest enabling an input reader in the emulator settings (So we can see your inputs) as well as displaying the frame rate of the emulation. FCEUX is also an acceptable emulator. Other emulators may be acceptable, but I HIGHLY suggest you ask here first, otherwise you may end up grinding out a run of one of the hardest games ever made... only to have your run denied

Here is a google doc of general NES speedrun rules to follow: https://goo.gl/pYN6AR

(I highly suggest you capture your entire emulator window in OBS as well, in fact anything you can add to your recordings/streams that show us info about your emulation setup will help!)

I have been informed that user Cejcai has created a community discord for this game! Now, you can discuss routes, strategies, glitches, or ask questions about your runs, or others' runs, and more! Connect with the Tingle's Balloon Fight community here:

https://discord.gg/cX2fwwCQwV

Awesome! Thank you very much for your help, everyone! I'm new to the game and so I'm learning as I go (your tutorial is helping a LOT btw!)

I do have another pair of questions: for runs, are passwords allowed in either:
-The scenario of a game over (also, would a controller pak on N64/Memory Card on PS1 save be allowed, provided it comes from the same run you game over'd on)?
-Using extra life codes (this one I assume is not allowed, but never hurts to ask)?

I'm getting better as I'm learning, but I'm 7 hours in and struggling to get through level 2 without a game over (the controls are not coming very naturally to me haha). I suspect this will not be an issue eventually, but I was hoping that, if I do game over, I could load a save and at least finish the run?

So I was going to run this for the AVGN Trials (and still am). Since the board wasn't created at the time I added this game to the 'Trials, I was going to make a category up and just run that. That category was "Gillman%".

In Gillman%, you start an RTA and begin with a new game. You can time travel using the Dreamcast's internal RTC, but basically the end is the first frame of the first dialogue a Gillman says to you.

Just an idea, I'll likely run the Freedom% category for the Trials when this comes up (I'll likely be learning this sometime in 2022, possibly very soon).

Title asks it for me.

This is a legitimate question, as I am very unfamiliar with this game, and I'm learning the speedrun starting today. I'm just curious as to what the reason is. Seems that any% would allow any difficulty, would it not?