Hey I don't have to do this test now!(it's been on my to do list for a while) I'm going to say it doesn't need a new leaderboard for a few reasons.

1. Text differences is always a thing in speedruns (shout out for the non-JP being faster this time). Well I guess it's audio this time but same thing here.

2. It doesn't fundamentally change the game in any way.

3. Perk and myself are the only ones who play this game with original hardware. Everyone else uses emulator so everyone has access to the faster version. If you don't have the game, don't MESSAGE ME IF YOU NEED THE GAME ;)

If needed I'd say it'd be better to just subtract the 32 seconds from the JP version rather than a new board since this isn't a very active game. Although I don't personally like the idea of this as there could be other minor timing differences in the versions that's hard to parse.

EDIT: The more I think about it the less I like the idea of adjusting time. (Quickly i need to point out the tweet is missing some of the cutscenes with audio) IF we feel we really need to change something to make it fair, then I'd think we'd have to make use of IGT that's on the board due to master mode, and calculate IGT based of the time left on all the stages. That sounds miserable for me as I know I'll be the one to do it but that would be the way I'd want it done. Plus new runs don't come in often so it wouldn't be too much of a problem after a changeover. It'd just delay verifications a bit.

Re-timed to 39:24.62

Retimed to 55:26.xx. Great first run. Love the story that you just wanted to speedrun your favorite game; that's how I got started (Saturn Bomberman in my case).

Retimed to 41:07 (.81 to be almost exact). Amazing run!

I play this game via official PC release (via Microsoft Store on Win 10/11), I was wondering if PC could be added to platform.

And I guess while we're at it, for completionists sake/accuracy, also add PS3 and PSP since the game was released on those (even though I assume no one will ever run on those platforms).

The stopping of the timer has been changed from last hit on the final boss, to when you lose control of Bomberman. This happens when you hear the victory chime (and when Bomberman does his victory pose) after beating the final boss. This adds just north of 8 seconds to the run, so I have added 8 seconds to all Normal Mode runs.

So the question then is, why? Well it's never quite sat right with me that time stops on last hit, because unlike most other Bomberman games, you still have control of your character for a while. Worst case you could still die and then the question is "does it count?" Under the current (well old now) rule, because of the way the rule was worded, technically yes, but I feel like that's against the spirit of beating the game.

Luckily it's never come up for me but it's something I've always thought about. Once I have gotten hit after/as I killed the final boss but luckily I had a heart. I later learned that Super Bomberman 5 also is set to stop time when you lose control of your character so there is precedent. So I brought this up in the Bomberman discord and did not have anyone disagree so I went ahead and made the change.

So color of the Dino is determined when you touch/hatch the egg. You can use this info to plan a 1-1 route for a specific dino.

Although I don't plan on doing further testing in regards to this, there may be bias for specific colors depending on the layout (depending on your level RNG I mean). I wasn't doing frame perfect testing this time, but when touching the egg at different times (loading save states) I would regularly get pink, yellow, or purple. I would only get blue a couple of times, and never saw green. This is only an example for my testing and I am not saying it is like this for all 1-1 layouts, or I just got real unlucky and like I said this isn't what I would call scientific testing the way I was doing it, so take this part with a grain of salt. This bias (if there is one) may also just be determined when you start the game (I only thing up this hypothetical because I've played this game so much) because I've noticed during a Normal Mode session, you seem to get the same 1 or 2 color dinos a lot (i.e. If i get a pink and then lose it, it seems like I have a high chance to get a pink when I find another egg). Again, this whole paragraph is hypothetical and I have no way to test this.

So going for a specific dino is more realistic if you can get it down to getting the same 1 or 2 layouts that you know the powerups for (I have 2 common ones I get the way I've been doing it). Finally for new people reading this, know that this is like "endgame" speedrunning, meaning don't focus on this if you're still learning the run. This is just information I am finding fun to try to figure out.

Everything is tied to time (measured in frames from game boot). As far as you talking about 10ish different layout possibilities, that's only because of different frame timings. If you start on the same frame (at both instances of RNG that were dealing with) you will always get the same stage. Now doing this is pretty hard for most so it is best to memorize several levels.

As far as other stages, I am going to assume it is also tied to frame rates, but it is NOT the case that "all stages are set in stone" from the beginning. The frame you end the first stage on (or more likely the frame that the second stage loads after you select it on the map) will determine the layout of the second stage.

Also as an aside the color of Tirra's coming out of the egg isn't determined on level load, it is determined based on timing as soon as you touch it (or maybe it's when you reveal the egg, no way to say for sure), as I've gotten the same level layout with different color Tirra's.

Anyway back to the original point, if you happen to beat the same 1-1 in the exact same time multiple times, I imagine your 1-2 layout will be the same. This strat is used in NES Bomberman to max out your firepower on the first stage quickly (well you die on the same frame instead of finishing the level but similar situation). For the purposes of this game, it is theoretically possible, but not likely able to do consistently.

So the tl;dr is basically what Fisel already said. Hold start on Saturn reset until you get to main menu. Let go to let the Title screen animation play. Then mash start + A + C after you hear Saturn Bomberman (Mash the buttons alternatively, not all at the same time) until you get the loading message before the first level. This is the best possible way to get the same 1-1 layouts over time.

Some things I learned while testing: Using C instead of start at menu didn’t change anything Extra inputs do not change RNG (previous two are why mashing buttons works) RNG starts at game boot, not Saturn boot. So you can skip Saturn boot sequence but don't have to. Skipping the opening cutscene at different times affects RNG (but it doesn't matter because you can hold start to skip it totally for 100% consistent times). Skipping title screen animation DOES affect RNG. RNG is NOT affected by when you select “Game Mode” and “Normal Game” (but for the purposes of “mashing” it doesn’t matter). Surprisingly, going into options DOES NOT change RNG as far as I could tell. So the only things that affect RNG: Time that title screen animation finishes (which is a non-issue if you let it play all the way). Time since game boot that you press start when the title screen says "Press Start Button" Time since game boot (or time since you pressed start at "Press Start Button" but for our purposes it doesn't matter) when the Story cutscene ends and the game starts loading the first level.

I didn't test but I assume this means if you press start at "Press start button" on the same frame every time, then let the cutscene play out, you would always get the same stage with relative easy consistency. However of course due to the rules of the speedrun, this is a moot point since you need to save time by skipping the cutscene.

Also as a final word, this sucks for me in particular because I like using "Option B" control scheme, which while possible to still get a consistent level layout, is much harder to do then "just mash buttons."

Also....also, the In-game reset (You can reset in game by pressing A + B + C + Start and it will take you back to the main menu) does not work for this strat, you must reset the Saturn/emulator. The RNG seems to be tied to the "time from game boot."

You basically smash start button once you reset the console/emulator. The thought process is if you start the game on the same frame after startup (I mean the same frame every time you play) you will get the same level layout. This works on NES and at least 1 of the SNES Bomberman games, but I've never got it to work on Mega or Saturn Bomberman, but I didn't do any scientific testing. Also I generally don't like RNG manipulation for speed running myself so that's why I personally didn't delve too much into it myself.

Nevermind, they work. Some odd issue with my phone trying to use drive and can't. Opening them as a new tab works though. I'll also see what I come up with by using the in game reset rather than the console reset as well. I tried this in the past but could never get any consistent stage but the again I'm bad at this kind of stuff.

I can check on console sometime this weekend. But one thing Fisel, is your Google Drive document set to allow anyone with the link to look at it? Because I cannot access the link you posted. Or is it an issue with me? I can access Enbyzee's document.

I have talked with another mod and the runs without proper slowdown we're removed due to being inaccurate to real hardware. Also, I was given mod status for this game and have added the leaderboard's game rules which have allowed emulators listed on there for clarification in the future (which I found from a forum post and I believe has basically been copy/pasted for use on several Genesis boards as said emulators seem most accurate to real hardware).

Also something to mention for the future in case there is an issue with it for some reason.....Senis's now current run on the leaderboard (time of 42:25) looks like it is using the same emulator as he was using in the now removed runs, which I was able to figure due to the same load state message (which also is now explicitly explained as against the rules going forward), but since the run has proper slowdown and seems mostly accurate to real hardware, it seems ok to keep up since rules weren't clearly defined before; but I'd say to use one of the listed emulators on the rules page going forward.

I use Beetle PSX via retroarch (or beetlePSX HW, I don't remember)

So to the best of my not-scientific testing (meaning I was just doing my best to compare with my eyes) Beetle Saturn seems to have the same load times as a real Saturn.

I use beetle Saturn as I read that was the best Saturn emulator. I haven't done official testing and figure I should but yeah, not too helpful. I have the game on Saturn so I guess I could compare the two in regards to load times.