I've amended the following to the rules for submitted runs:

• Game difficulty settings: Easy.

The reason is simple: there is no way for moderators to clearly verify how one's MAME emulator / arcade machine DIP switches are set unless the runner chooses to either show his MAME config, or show the physical DIP switches on the arcade booth. The first option can be annoying, especially if you reset a lot, and the second option is just plain ridiculous.

Furthermore, additional investigation on the actual WR (by wpginterceptor as of September 19th 2017) indicate that it's been done on easy difficulty. On normal difficulty, Insane Warrior takes 9 shoulder blocks before he will take two piledrivers in a row. No RNG of any kind influences this as it is directly related to the damage that has been dealt to him. Now, the current WR achieves this after only 7 shoulder blocks, which is exactly how many it takes on easy before he'll take two piledrivers in a row. The next 4 characters take respectively 8, 9, 9 and 10 shoulder blocks on wpginterceptor's run (the exact same it takes on easy), whereas on normal difficulty, the next 4 should take 10, 10, 11, and 11 shoulderblocks. This information can be tested AND counter-verified on any MAME / Mat Mania arcade machine by changing the proper DIP switch settings. Long story short: the victory time was shorter because the difficulty level was lower.

Now since no previous rule was set with regards to difficulty at that point in time, the WR stands as is. It wouldn't be right to invalidate it because of an omission on my part with regards to the rules. However, to level the playing field for everyone, the rules now state that the game's difficulty should be set to easy. Setting it higher will simply be detrimental to the runner.

If there is an interest in making categories for the other difficulty levels, this will be considered. However, this will require the runner to show his difficulty settings before starting the run, which can be a bother, especially if one ends up playing on the actual original hardware. But we'll cross that bridge **if** we ever get to it.

Hey guys, just wondering if any of you are using an Elgato Game Capture HD (USB 2.0) device with OBS. If so, I was wondering what the optimal timings would be in terms of delay so that the NES video stream can sync with the audio. The audio goes through the line jack of my sound card, as the Elgato software is a bit too funky in the way it handles the whole thing.

When I was with xSplit, it was set to 1200 ms flat, and it did the job. Doesn't work quite like that on OBS, from what I saw. Had to switch as my subscription with xsplit is done with for the time being.

Also, I was thinking about changing capture cards to one that would natively support composite/component capture at 60 fps. I found this one: https://www.sabrepc.com/yuan-sc542n1-l-hdv-single-channel-dvi-capture-card.html

Anyone got any experience with this one?

Thanks!

Menat as a joke, obviously. If these threads are prohibited, feel free to remove / infract.

http://imgur.com/a/gJ1Cy

This post will be a recap of useful info for anyone looking to speedrun this game. It is, by no means, a guide, as I honestly am not good at all at writing those. So just consider it as a list of pointers to consider, should you try to speedrun this game.

¤¤ US or JPN version? ¤¤

All runs are made on the US version. The key difference that would favor the US version is that running power shots (which are the bread and butter of SDB runs, namely Sam's power shot) are easier to perform. The JPN version requires you to throw exactly on the 7th step of a dash for your throw to be a power shot. The US version requires you to throw between the 3rd and 7th step on Easy, and between the 4th and 7th on Normal and Difficult, for your throw to be a power shot. This difference makes the US version the best version to perform speedruns on.

Another difference that could've favored the JPN version is that the Shadow team has the same resilience as your team, whereas in the US version, their resilience is pretty much doubled. That would've made Shadow team matches theoritically twice as short, but since power shots are less consistent in the JPN version, it wouldn't be worth it.

¤¤ Differences between difficulty levels ¤¤

There are two differences between difficulty levels:

• The AI's skill in catching the ball goes up from one difficulty level to another
• The number of steps required to do running power shots increases from Easy to Normal.

Therefore, you can do your power shots quicker on Easy, with the CPU being less likely to catch your shots. Normal would slightly raise the AI's ability to catch, while making your power shots a tad bit trickier to pull off. Difficult would make power shots as difficult to pull off as on Normal, but would also raise the AI's ability to catch tremendously.

This would make Easy runs easy to pull off, but incredibly hard to optimize once you reach times below 6:15. Normal runs reach that threshold at around times below 7:00. The optimization curve on Difficult is less steep, but is consistently hard to keep up with.

Strats to know:

• Sam's running power shot. This will be your bread and butter. His power shot, named the Blaster, litterally blasts through opponents, damaging everyone in its path. It basically is the only RELIABLE AoE shot in the game. Steve also has an AoE shot, the Uppercut, but it goes flying into the air, which is a huge time waster. Your defense will catch your Blaster, so you'll be able to pass back and set up another Blaster. Try to get strikes (ie: all currently living opponents) as much as you can! Other shots, such as what is used in TASes, are not worth it due to RNG being VERY difficult to manipulate.

• Know WHEN to use power shots and WHEN to use normal shots. While the concept of the powershot may seem to fit all situations, there are times when you'll save more time shooting normally than setting up a blaster. Let's say there's only one opponent left with one life bar. Instead of backing up and setting up the blaster, start a very quick dash and shoot normally. Barring india, your shot should at least do 4 damage, which is the amount of life points in a life bar. This will save you about a second or so. Also, if your back defensemen has the ball in front of a fallen opponent, you can move lower and then shoot for about 2-3 damage points. Be sure to calculate your shot properly, however, as it may or may not kill the guy. But if it does, you just saved about 2-3 seconds easily.

• Learn in which circumstances your opponents group up. This varies from one team to another. Some teams (like Iceland and Kenya) like to stay in the same pack. Other teams (like England) tend to spread out more. What you need to do to get them grouped varies, depending on the team's playstyle.

• The Swami skip. Once you'll get to India, you will notice that there's this one guy, Swami, who will only take one point of damage from all shots, save for a few air power shots (like the Compressor, which Randy has on your team... huge damage, but huge time waster as it sends the player looping through the screen twice) which will deal 2. This makes the india match waaaaay longer than it should be. What can be done to GREATLY offset that is choosing to change your alignment before the India match. This will get your opposing team to also reshuffle his alignment. There is a chance Swami will get set to the back. This is what you want to happen! If you see that Swami is still selected as one of the three "1"'s, press B to cancel your reshuffle and select "Yes" once again. The computer will then reshuffle again. Rinse and repeat until they put Swami in a non-1 position. This will make the India match much, MUCH shorter.

• Leave your offensive alignment to Sam, John and Mike. There was a belief that picking the least resilient players would be reflected onto the shadow team, but the defense stat doesn't scale the same way it usually does when it comes to the shadow team. Rather, it's a flat rate that's applied to the entire team. Therefore, you should focus on having players with as little HP as possible with Sam, and John/Mike fit the bill perfectly. John's defense stat won't be as much of an issue as Swami's or Sato's.

Pitfalls to avoid:

• Your opponents catching the ball. While you'll inevitably have that happen a lot on Difficult, it can be avoided somewhat consistently on Easy and Normal. Once your opponent catches your shot, he can then attack, or even worse, pass it to his defense in the back. This is one of the biggest time wasters, especially when India does it because they like to waste time passing the ball non-stop and then throw it to an unsuspecting team member.

• Have Sam too far from the middle line. When the opponent has the ball, always try to keep Sam as close to the middle line as possible. And yes, specifically SAM. The reason being that if another teammate catches the ball, chances are you'll try to pass it back to Sam. And the AI just LOVES to screw with you when you try to do that. Passing to the wrong player is a HUGE time waster. So is trying to align yourself so that Sam is the one you'll pass to. So Keep Sam as close to the middle line as possible in defensive scenarios, to avoid having him running to the back.

• Power shots in corners. This will cause your defensive players to run like headless chickens trying to get the ball. They will fumble. Badly. This will waste a lot of time, again.

So that covers the pointers every Super Dodge Ball speedrunners should know. If you have more, feel free to share them.

Hello,

I was just wondering if the English translation was allowed for this. The uneducated fool that I am can barely tell one kanji from another, sadly enough.

Thanks!

Hey there, everyone. I'm Marth, a gamer from Montreal, Quebec, Canehduh. I've decided to take on speedrunning after entering a friendly SMB1 warpless race tournament hosted by quebec streamer Benshowsly. I joined just for the hell of it, but quickly found out as I improved that I actually liked the concept. A lot! :)

Once again, just for the hell of it, I tried speedrunning a game I used to play an awful lot as a kid, which is Super Dodge Ball on the NES. And lo and behold, I've got a solid WR out of it.

I plan to taking on more of my childhood games in the months to come. Hope you'll enjoy my work! :)

Hello,

I was wondering: when it comes to glitchless, does the Parry+Attack trick (basically selecting Parry, going back by pressing B, and THEN selecting your move, in order to reduce incoming damage to the character while still attacking) count as a glitch?

Thank you.

Hello,

The rules seem to mention that this is a run geared towards max level players. Is this a mandatory requirement? Or would I be eligible to run it with a level 101 twink, for instance?

Thanks!

Hello,

I was wondering if there was any plans to add Beanball categories to this game. The runs would be shorter, but the dynamics would be much more interesting, as you can pick different characters and use different strats.

I'd definitely be willing to submit these sort of runs.