A few years ago, an edit to the ruleset came about. Its intent was accessibility for runners who would be unable to play with RF off. Thanks to this we added four new runners to the board. My intent behind this rule addition was that a runner would change to Normal/RF off when ready. Originally the board had a firm rule against RF. When I first started speedrunning the game I found a run by HitSponge which used RF and was 8 seconds ahead of the WR at the time. It seemed reasonably clear to me after some play/experience that this feature makes Arcade Mode easier in a variety of ways, and top runners continued to keep RF off.

A run was submitted by GrayWarden, who currently holds second place on the board using Normal/RF OFF. The submission had Easy/RF ON with a time of 10:05. The runner is already capable of WR without using RF. I am disappointed not to have had the opportunity to discuss the options with you prior to your submission, as you so thoughtfully raised the use of Switch service to me recently in a separate thread. There is a post in the forums regarding precisely this from the time of the change. I am sorry for the lack of total clarity in the written rules however, and I'd be happy to discuss these with the community, as well as any other talking points.

Use of RF with grenade launcher can be a handicap against grunts at times, or an additional lag factor if misused. In my view however this is overridden by an overwhelming advantage on bosses and other stationary objects. This is reasonably clear, both from fights such as the panzer in stage 2, and because the run in question has several uncharacteristic errors for a top runner submission which do not lose time as expected. I invite readers to compare the runner's rejected run, and the 10:11 on the leaderboard.

Let us also look at a very old run by HitSponge using RF, of 10:07, which was for quite some time 8 seconds faster than fletchr's 10:15 wr, and was performed in 2013.

If I were applying the letter of the law alone, I would be forced to accept the new submission. However, with the points above considered, I judge that the runner has contravened the spirit of the ruleset in view of his existing second place time with RF off. The runner is at fault for failing to broach this before submission, however, I am also at fault for failing to make the ruleset crystal clear. For these reasons I reject this run. Please forgive the long nature of the post, but I should rather be transparent especially since as super, and wr holder, there may be seen a potential conflict of interest in my actions, which is not my intent.

I feel like the current ruleset suffices, perhaps we might add a rule recommending runners switch to Normal/RF OFF from approximately sub 10:50. All thoughts and feedback on the ruleset welcome.

Just to be clear, anyone who reads this thinking I tried to dupe the system, I didn't, I looked at the rules and in my eyes I followed them, I was running the game on easy with RF off to start but because I was running Marvel Land prior I ended up with a bit of thumb strain so I put RF on because I believe the rules allowed for the easy difficulty.

I'm not making a case for the decision to be reversed, what you are merely getting is my side and thoughts.

Having read peta's reasons for rejection I fully accept the reasons as I did have my doubts hence why I put Pending approval in the video

I would never, ever submit a false/fake run by any means as it is wrong and disrespectful to an amazing community.

This is a learning curve for me in the speedrunning industry and it is a lesson learned.

Peta, accept my apologies for any wrongdoing you feel I have done as it wasn't intended in any way

give us a shout if you wanna talk further, my door is always open

Hey Gray, ty for reading and responding! I wonder whether I could have DM'd you this discussion rather than forum-posted it. I can see it might give an unwanted impression of admonishment. I'm glad we can discuss the ruleset and boundaries for that, and I'm also glad it's come up so that someone who has a potential issue at the time, running without rf, has the best chance to enjoy the run :)

Do you think with these factors in mind, we should create a separated category of Easy+RF on? That way anyone can play at whatever level they prefer. Alternatively we could suggest a cutoff around 10:55/11:00 for runs to have RF on - I'd particularly welcome input from other runners on this. Do you think Easy, RF, force use of Rifle weapon would be sufficiently different? It would require runners to grab extra Power bricks to 9 to max the weapon. I wonder if this is a bit artificial.

We've had the board active for seven years now and in the three years of allowing Easy this is the first instance of an SRC runner who wants to push the category with RF to its limit as HitSponge before us. It's wonderful to see!

I'm stoked you and many other new runners are breathing life into this game, and besides these ideas I'd welcome others. I am unsure whether Arcade Mode is sufficiently deep to permit misc categories forcing other weapons and/or max pickups, but I know I have thought of such things for O Mode in the past. O Mode is easier to create 'unique' categories but while I was the only active runner I shied away from it since it would be an exercise in vanity. I'd LOVE to hear how O mode can be made more interesting to anyone who has ran A mode, including whether RF or other aspects of it are a turnoff.

I think an easy mode RF mode ON category is a great idea, my reason being is it gives a leaderboard for beginner runners and may show encouragement to challenge themselves on the other leaderboards listed, like a stepping stone of some sort.

In terms of breathing new life I have played this game for many many years on occasion but more since my involvement in speedrunning because it brings out the best in you as a player and it can determine how good we really are and how far we are willing to push ourselves in terms of skill and of course speed and with a beginners based leaderboard as mentioned above it will give a chance for new runners and those who require RF for accessibility reasons to be involved and included without any ill feeling or barriers.

We are 1 big family here afterall