PAL Category
4 years ago
Hesse, Germany

Hello, since im new to DuckTales NES speedrunning i read though the rules (obviously) and saw that the PAL version is forbidden, because of different game behavior. That really discouraged me because i have an original NES with Ducktales but its PAL so i cant play with that and would be nonsense to play with an emulator then if i have an original cardridge and NES. So im asking if this can be a new category, i mean it would make sense not only because of the different behavior, but because not everyone has a NTSC NES or DuckTales Cardridge (especially europeans for obvious reasons xD).

I wonder if this has been asked before! So, would be a PAL category under Miscellaneous possible?

Crescendo2020 likes this
United States

PAL would be much slower, even much slower than emulator, and your run would probably be the only one. We’ll see what everyone else says, but I would recommend acquiring a NA version or simply running it on emu. (Hemmy has second place on emu, and he’s European; also Endy is European as well, but has a NA version for console).

Please don’t be discouraged. We have a good community of retro guys who will root you on and help you in any way possible.

Edited by the author 4 years ago
United States

Perhaps if you can get a couple of guys to optimize that version, you may be able to make a better case for it.

Hesse, Germany

Well i know now that you can jump over the Helicopter cliff without a bee or you know, the helicopter XD

United States

Hehe Yeah, you can jump that gap without the heli skip. When Purjo first started running DT, he didn’t know about PAL differences. I like to give him a hard time about that every so often. :P I don’t know exactly how they differ, but PAL runs slower, so even though the heli skip is not necessary, you lose quite a bit of time in general movement.

Hesse, Germany

Just completed my first PAL run, its with one death but after 3 hours i didnt care anymore xDvery mediocre but i think i can work from there I already noticed one thing i REALLY struggle with the bosses wich brought me with one death to a time of 11min. 34sec.

Link:

Crescendo2020 likes this
Stockholm, Sweden

This kind of feel like a question about accessibility. Not everyone can get a hold of a NTSC console or people might not be able to have the proper setup to play on emu etc.

Considering there are other categories with barely any runs in them I don't see why PAL, which is in-fact quite a popular version casually, would not be included. With that said though, not sure if it should be added as a separate category or just included in the main category under "Platform" since the PAL runs will never be in the top of the leaderboard anyway.

Would find it a bit weird to combine Easy and Difficult into one board when it in fact differs a bit (taking extra damage on bosses etc.) when not looking at the top runs, but not allowing PAL at all.

Just my 2c.

Crescendo2020 likes this
United States

While I wouldn’t have have combined the easy and difficult categories myself, for the same reasons you mentioned, I don’t think a PAL any% is comparative to the other unpopular runs. The reason being that they show off parts of the game and speed tech that’s not present in the any% category. So they do have a practical function outside of the popularity of the run.

I don’t like the idea of having PAL runs alongside NTSC runs, because they differ so greatly. I would be willing to tip my hat as a long-time DT runner to a miscellaneous PAL category, if at least a couple of people showed interest, or at the very least, one person optimized the route.

When I added the bad ending and pacifist runs, I spent a lot of time optimizing the routes to further legitimize their presence on the leaderboards.

I hope a couple other mods will chime in on this subject so we can delve a little deeper into this discussion.

Edited by the author 4 years ago
Hesse, Germany

I think a new category would be better, because if the PAL version gets explored more im certain that maybe there will be time saving glitches or tricks that are impossible in NTSC, because of the differences of PAL and NTSC.

i don't have much DT knowledge yet but still ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Italy

Adding PAL doesn't make much sense. It's Just a slower a floaty version of the game. I Will do some research about It anyway. About the other categories: 1p2c Is a main category simply because it's the fastest , although not being as popular as any% of course. 7:06, even 7:05 are definitely possible. And if i find a way to zip consistently It can even go lower.

United States

That’s a good point. Would you be open to it if there was any new speed tech to show off, or if someone fully optimized it as a miscellaneous category?

Hesse, Germany

I think i found something maybe if you do it just right you can jump over louie in the african mines and skip the key from transilvania.

i thought about this because you dont really use the key you just make louie dissapear and walk through the wall.

has anyone thought about this or tried this?

United States

You can get through the wall, but the bottom section does not load until you have the key. Nudua TASed it a couple of years ago.

United States

I’ve added the Any% PAL category in the miscellaneous section. Please resubmit your PBs to that category, Rudi. I will likely update the rules for better clarity. (I did it with my cellphone).

Hesse, Germany

submitted my run :D

Game stats
Followers
357
Runs
1,091
Players
390
Latest threads
Posted 4 years ago
29 replies
Posted 4 months ago
6 replies
Posted 4 months ago
6 replies
Posted 7 months ago
4 replies
Posted 9 months ago
2 replies