GermanyAm I missing something or are you describing the first part of this: http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/GBx/SuperMarioLand.html#PlatformJumping ?
Nice comparison. You want to land on the switch as early as possible anyway so this is the logical consequence of the obviously optimal strats. Although I'm pretty sure that some people might not have been aware.
Well, would it be hard for that person to just remove that portion from the logo themselves, hypothetically speaking? Maybe you can try to see it from their perspective. OpieOP
I also would like to see Super Gameboy 2 (SGB2) and Game Boy Player (GBP) added to the list.
Since Mugg already brought up my example I might as well add my 2 cents to the discussion.
About the claimed WR in SML1:
The case seems obvious. No real need to go into further detail. The TASer seems to be very young. Maybe he'll learn his lesson. At least he seems to show some general interest in the matter, right?
About speedruns on emulator:
Now this is where I'm a little conflicted about how to phrase things. I had been running SML2 on emulator (BGB 1.4 & 1.5.1) for almost a year and had managed to get competitive times after a while. I'm a competitive person. Speedrunning in general has a strong competitive aspect. It is fun to compete against one's own personal best as well as against other's records. And if it hadn't been for the fact that runs on certain emulators are currently accepted by the majority of the small SML2 community I am not sure if I would have had the motivation to keep going. If a person is willing to put in hundreds of hours into this hobby then they are much more likely to walk the extra mile and get "proper" equipment, eventually. So one important thing is to make it easier for people to stick around for a longer time.
While the financial hurdle is not that high for a GB/SFC/SNES setup (my numbers: SFC: €40, SGB2: €20, Game: €3, CRT: €20, Dazzle: €4, Cables: ~€20) it is still an effort that most people wouldn't take easily - most likely not when starting out! On top of that individual cases might differ significantly (availability of hardware in certain countries, personal financial situation, no/too bad internet connection for streaming, certain cartridges are rare/expensive, etc.)
This is where I think that we - as a community - should welcome ANY new runner and try to carefully give leads into the right direction. Once someone feels welcome they might be more open to advice, anyway.
That said, I DO recommend playing on original hardware for very pragmatic reasons:
- significantly lower input delay on CRT
- potentially lower input delay with original input devices compared to adapter combinations
- usually better quality of original input devices (this might be subjective) (- accuracy/better comparability)
Practice on emulator is very convenient. For some games savestates make practice so much more worthwhile. However, I got to the point where I felt that playing on emulator actually crippled my progress; so to me switching to my new setup came quite naturally, but mind you, this was after almost 1 year of playing on emulator! Not everyone will or will be able to choose that path - and that is perfectly fine in my opinion.
This is where I think we as a community should put in some effort by analyzing and evaluating emulator accuracy with hard numbers (Mugg already put in some effort and I'm willing to help as much as I can). New runners usually don't have the knowledge and understanding of the matter so we should make things as easy as possible to grasp and not scare them away. If we find BGB and/or Gambatte to be accurate (within a few frames, mind you that there are different revisions of chipsets in original hardware, too. Do we ever question those?) then there is no issue, to begin with. If we find inaccuracies we should try to find a way to quantify them (compare: https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Super_Game_Boy_timing , where a coefficient is determined that is used to recalculate run times).
In my opinion community growth is very important so we shouldn't just take the easy way out by demonizing emulators in general. Different people might share the same passion, but simply not have the possibility to adhere to all of the recommended factors - at least not immediately (personal experience).
So, to summarize my standpoint:
Allow emulator runs, but evaluate accuracy and point out possible issues generally & individually. No separate emulator category as that would divide the community and create tension. Be open as a community. Be considerate of different individual circumstances. Don't be elitist.
I roam Twitch and visit basically every casual SML2 stream hoping to find people who share the same passion and I'm sure many others do the same for their respective games. I've been welcomed to the community very warmly and I think being open and welcoming is more important, initially, than to immediately list the "do"s and "don't"s and potentially scare someone away with a load of specifications, version numbers, coefficients, etc., but we should have those handy if someone is interested and wants to look into the matter more seriously.
Since I am bad at finding an appropriate ending to this article I will just stop here.
