A "Native PS3 Timing" patch was created for God of War 1 and God of War 2 runs on the PS3 Emulator. This patch solves the long standing problem of inconsistent emulation speed in these games, making them both run approximately the same as on the PS3. The game's physics on emulator is also improved with this patch, making high jumps and other glitches (such as the Minotaur skip on GoW1 Any%) work the same as on PS3.

This patch will now be required for runs on the PS3 emulator. To make the patch work properly, the VBlank NTSC Fixup option (on the Advanced tab) must be on. There is no need anymore to change the VBlank Frequency, which can be left at 60 Hz.

Credits to Dobrido for creating the patch.

The PS2 Emulator rules have updated. The changes are:

• On PCSX2, old versions (before 2.0) are now banned. • NetherSX2 (an alternative version of the AetherSX2 emulator for phones) is now allowed. • Showing FPS on screen is now required. (On PCSX2, turn on the the Graphics->OSD->Show FPS option.)

Over the last few weeks, we've added a new region setting for all God of War 1 runs. This is shown as a small flag next to the run's platform--representing either USA/NTSC, EUR/PAL, or JPN/NTSC versions. This is an important information to have because of GoW1's recent rule regarding retiming runs made on versions with censored cutscenes.

All runs in the leaderboard have already been checked and edited to display their respective versions. Some runs with lost videos or unknown versions were not changed.

How to identify each version:

• USA/NTSC: The original version, it is the only version with the uncensored sacrifice (with a human soldier) in the Challenge of Poseidon.
• PAL: This version has the censored sacrifice (with an undead enemy), but is otherwise the same. It also has the option to change languages.
• JPN/NTSC: The Japanese version has all text and voicelines in Japanese, uses different buttons on menus, and has extensive censorship in many cutscenes, including but going beyond the censored sacrifice.

See this previous post for more information on the retiming rules and a list of censored cutscenes: https://www.speedrun.com/gow/news/0xrpgl6y

GoW1/GoW2 PS2 Emulator and PS3 Emulator runs are now each divided into two subcategories—one with the original game, and another with cutscene skips allowed. In practice, this means you can now play on PS2 Emulator with cutscene skips, and on PS3 Emulator with cutscenes.

This change standardizes emulator rules and gives runners more liberty to choose their preferred mode to play. On GoW1 Any% and GoW2 Any% NG categories specifically, cutscene skips modify the run's route and so this change has extra importance as it effectively gives each emulator new ways to play the game. As the original games include cutscenes, the subcategories with cutscenes are simply called PS2 Emulator and PS3 Emulator. The subcategories with cutscene skips are called PS2 Emulator (Cutscene Skips) and PS2 Emulator (Cutscene Skips). GoW2 NG+ categories, which natively support cutscene skips, will remain unchanged. All current emulator runs have been placed in their correct categories.

This change also applies to the Category Extensions page. Due to technical limitations, all GoW1 and GoW2 categories in that page will receive the new subcategories. GoW2 NG+ runs made on emulator will be included in the default PS2/PS3 Emulator subcategories.

As it is known, God of War 1 on PAL (European) and NTSC-J (Japanese) versions has some cutscenes that are censored. These censored cutscenes are shorter than the ones on the original NTSC (American) version, which means runners playing on these versions are at an advantage. Specifically, glitchless runs on the PAL version gain 4.1 seconds compared to the NTSC version, while glitchless runs on the NTSC-J version gain 28.1 seconds. A full list of affected cutscenes is given below.

If you don't know what is the version of your game, the PAL version replaces the human soldier with a monster in the Poseidon's Sacrifice level. The NTSC-J version has all text and voicelines in Japanese, censors all nudity in cutscenes and in the game, has the same censorship on Poseidon's Sacrifice level as the PAL version, and also has a number of other cutscenes that are censored due to violence.

While it is common on many speedrun communities to have a preferred version to play the game, the PAL and NTSC-J versions of GoW1 don't affect gameplay at all and only gain time due to the censored cutscenes. The existence of these versions creates an accessibility challenge, where runners are forced to play on a different version (which often requires jailbreaking their console and downloading illegal copies of the game) just to acquire a seemingly artificial advantage that doesn't change at all the way the run is played.

Therefore, we have decided to compensate for this difference by adding to the final run time the amount of time that was gained by using a censored version of the game. This way all runners are at an equal playing field and no one gains any advantage due to having a different version of the game.

The affected cutscenes are:

• Boat cutscene: 4.75s gained on NTSC-J
• Minotaur introduction: 0.26s gained on NTSC-J
• Saving the Oracle: 1.21s gained on NTSC-J
• End of Challenge of Atlas: 2.64s gained on NTSC-J
• Sacrifice: 4.13s gained on both PAL and NTSC-J
• Harpy cutscene on Cliffs of Madness: 14.68s gained on NTSC-J
• Death of Kratos: 0.51s gained on NTSC-J

The total time gained in each category:

• All full-game glitchless categories: 4.13s on PAL, 28.18s on NTSC-J
• Any% NG+: 19.43s on NTSC-J
• Any% NG+ Swimless: 19.69s on NTSC-J (with Oracle skip)
• Cronos%: 6.22s on NTSC-J
• Any% NG+ Magicless: 22.07s on NTSC-J

Note that depending on which skips you perform on the run, these sums may be different.

All existing runs have been checked and corrected for any time gained due to censored versions. For future runs, when submitting a run made on a censored version, please add to the final run time according to the list above. This new rule also applies to Category Extensions and Trilogy runs.

AetherSX2, a PS2 emulator for Android devices, is now allowed in speedruns. Runs made with it will be included in the PS2 Emulator categories. Similar to other emulators, to have your run accepted you will need to show the emulator's settings after the run is finished.

Recently a game patch for God of War 1 and 2 has been released on the PS3 Emulator (RPCS3), allowing to skip any pre-rendered cutscene by pressing X. After some discussion, there is unanimous consensus in favor of allowing this patch to be used in runs. Since PS3 emulator runs already have their own category, no changes to the leaderboard have to be made. You can simply submit your runs made with the patch on the existing PS3 emulator category.

To install the patch, you first need to update the game to version 1.01. Then, on RPCS3, simply go to "Manage Game Patches" and activate the patch to skip cutscenes. We may create a guide or tutorial on how to configure RPCS3 soon.

Timing rules are the same, and there is no need to correct the final time of the run (ie to add a fixed amount of time to the run to account for the fact that cutscenes were skipped). This is primarily because we don't want to directly compare old runs to runs made with the new patch, as it's now much easier to get a good run as you can reset more often. Additionally, in the case of glitched runs, there are some skips and strategies that are made obsolete with the new patch (reverse CoA, some cutscenes skips), so there is no way to compare them directly to runs that didn't skip cutscenes. However, if you really want to make the comparison, we calculate that there are 44min29s of skippable cutscenes on glitchless runs, and 21min27s on the Any% NG+ run (including just the cutscenes that are watched in the current PS3 route).

For now, the patch will be banned for runs made on Category Extensions, as there is no division of platforms there.

Agora é permitido skipar cutscenes no Emulador de PS3.

Recentemente um patch para God of War 1 e 2 foi lançado no Emulador de PS3 (RPCS3), permitindo skipar qualquer cutscene pré-renderizada apertando X. Após algumas discussões, existe consenso unânime para permitir que esse patch seja usado nas runs. Como as runs de emulador de PS3 já têm sua categoria própria, nenhuma mudança para o leaderboard será feita. Você pode simplesmente enviar suas runs feitas com o patch na categoria existente de emulador de PS3.

Para instalar o patch, você deve primeiro atualizar o jogo para a versão 1.01. Então, no RPCS3, é só ir em "Manage Game Patches" e ativar o patch para skipar cutscenes. Talvez um tutorial de como configurar o RPCS3 para runs será criado em breve.

As regras de tempo serão as mesmas, e não será preciso corrigir o tempo final da run (ou seja, adicionar um tempo fixo no final da run para compensar o fato de as cutscenes terem sido skipadas). Isso é principalmente porque nós não queremos comparar diretamente runs antigas com runs feitas com o patch novo, porque é muito mais fácil conseguir uma run boa agora que é possível resetar com mais frequência. Além disso, no caso das runs com glitches, existem alguns skips e estratégias que ficaram obsoletos com o novo patch (CoA reverso, alguns skips de cutscenes), então não tem como compará-las diretamente com runs que não skipam cutscenes. Mas, se você realmente quiser fazer a comparação, nós calculamos que existem 44min29s de cenas skipáveis no glitchless agora, e 21min27s na categoria Any% NG+ (incluindo apenas as cenas que são assistidas na rota PS3 atual).

Por enquanto, o patch será banido em runs das categorias do Category Extensions, já que não existe divisão de plataformas lá.

The Tycoonius Hard Glitchless category has been moved from the Category Extensions page to the main God of War leaderboard, along with all existing runs.

This is because this category is approaching the time of the NG+ Hard Glitchless category, which if surpassed would make a Tycoonius run valid on the NG+ Hard Glitchless category (since the latter has no requirement on costume). To preserve the current NG+ Hard Glitchless category, it has been renamed and now only accepts runs made with the Cow costume. To avoid having a category for one skin on the main board, and another skin on another board, both categories are now found on the main God of War page.

A categoria Tycoonius Hard Glitchless foi movida do Category Extensions para a página principal do God of War, junto com todas as runs existentes.

O motivo é essa categoria estar aproximando o tempo do NG+ Hard Glitchless, que se superado significaria que uma run Tycoonius seria válida para o NG+ Hard Glitchless (já que ele não tem requisitos de skin). Para preservar a categoria NG+ Hard Glitchless atual, ela foi renomeada e agora só aceita runs feitas com a skin da Vaca. Para evitar ter uma categoria na página principal, e outra no Category Extensions, ambas as categorias agora encontram-se na página principal do God of War.