Optimal Console Thread
3 years ago
United Kingdom

It's that exciting time yet again where, as the speedrun develops, it proposes the same old question of what version is optimal in an RTA run.

This thread is focusing on Any% Warpless. For 101% you want a 30/39k NTSC-U PS2, for All Cups the best is 30/39k NTSC-J PS2 (or is assumed).

So how do we identify how good a console is? CTR records your course time on each track, as you'd expect from a racing game. This is what we're calling "In-Game Time" (Or IGT for short). The problem with IGT is it is not 1:1 with real time. In fact, 1s on the timer in NTSC is about 1.04s in real life. For PAL 1s in game is around 1.05s. Despite this, both versions play almost all tracks similarly, in that your course time can be close on both versions. So what does this mean for a speedrun?

We can take this IGT component out, then determine how much "Non IGT" there is per run. This will cover hub movement, load times, cutscenes and lag all of which differ depending on what console you decide to use, as well as the RTA/IGT difference mentioned above. The theory is, the console with the lowest Non-IGT component, the more optimal it is for a speedrun. Obviously if you crash in the Hub it'll skew the results, but adjustments have been made where necessary.

So, first let's cover NTSC-U. The main factors for this version are lag, cutscenes, animations and pause glitches. NTSC is a laggier version than PAL, and has lag on most tracks in consistent places (the water on Crash Cove is a good example of this). The console has to work harder to keep a consistent 30fps, and unfortunately isn't capable of doing so (thanks Sony). As for gameplay, it is considered easier than PAL as NTSC plays more consistent. Higher hops reduces the chance of froggy chains being cut short so you keep SGs for longer, and some skips the extra froggy height is beneficial (Polar Pass).

For PAL, you have the language glitch option and almost no lag, bar some exceptions (under the bridges on Tiny Arena for example). A consistent 25fps is better than a laggy 30fps. The PAL language glitch swaps cutscene lengths around, and completely removes the Komodo Jo cutscene which saves 22s. However, Oxide for example is some 10s longer (I haven't done a full analysis on this). Another main part of language glitch is the trophy award speech. On 3 tracks per hub, when you win a trophy, the game doesn't play the line "Congratulations, you won a trophy" on PAL. This saves in the region of 2-3s and each time and can get this on all 4 Hubs, so 12 separate occasions in the run. NTSC can do this from Hub 3 onwards, so has 6 chances. However, on NTSC it is a 1-frame trick, and going from most runs, 0-2 pauses per run is an average, occasionally more.

So there's some important aspects of versions, now to console models.

For consoles you have 30/39/50k (Fat consoles), and 70-90k (Slim consoles). On NTSC, slim consoles lag a lot. In some cases lag loses 20-25s or more over the run, so we can rule out these as optimal versions to play NTSC. They are still viable until 48 level where these seconds really matter.

30-50k Fat NTSC models have less lag, and loads are good too. On average, the Non-IGT of these is somewhere from 14:55 - 15:05. There has been cases of Fat consoles reaching as low as 14:45, so if you were to get a brand new Fat console then you could save even more time.

For PAL, from testing I have done all consoles run very close to each other, so 90k won't lose you much time. We don't have a good sample of PAL 90k, but from my own experience it is close to a 50k. However, 30-39k consoles seem to be in the range of 14:40-14:55 Non-IGT. My own 39k console is closer to14:40 than 14:50 and a console from another runner is also close to this.

So what does this mean? The PAL tests we've done are for runs in the region of RTA 50 - 53mins (or so). If the IGT in a PAL run is to reduce, the Non-IGT reduces at a higher rate than NTSC. So, a theory I have is if a PAL run was to match the IGT of the current WR (49:06), the RTA could be into mid-low 48:4x. Better IGT = Better Non-IGT. At optimal play, a PAL console will have better RTA than an NTSC console.

Now of course, PS2 age and from the sample we have, only one NTSC console rivalled PAL, but that's not to say more don't exist. As consoles age, the loads get worse and this can lose 10-20s, or even more when the console is really starting to deteriorate. I don't think it's a sensible idea for someone in America to import PAL console, and vice versa, as you're playing a lottery in the hopes of scoring a good console. I do think people in Europe and other PAL regions should look to PAL as an option as replacement units are much easier to find. Americans can easily keep using Fat NTSC consoles, and again have an easier time finding a good console.

This hopefully sheds light on the console discussion, but please post your thoughts or let me know if I missed anything/wasn't clear in places.

tl;dr PAL on average is somewhere in the region 10-15s quicker than NTSC, assuming you can play well and your console isn't dying. PAL is better for optimal level using current data. If you can hit 6 1-frame trick NTSC pauses every run then you're a god.

Fuck Sony.

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