I just reset, and was able to start at 8-1. Did we know that was possible?

You probably soft-resetted and used the continue code (A+Start)

I inagine you were in World 8 before resetting.

Yes, that must have been it. Didn’t know the continue code persisted through reset. Would that not create an issue with the current rules? Cause the current rules mandate a reset before every new run, so using that you could reset and start the run from 8-1, and it would be perfectly legal according to the regulations in place. So then the rules would need to be updated to mandate a hard reset before every run, which would invalidate tons of runs (including some high level runs) that only performed a soft reset before beginning their next attempt.

This is actually a very interesting find. With the current rules this is "technically" a viable strat because the rules do not clarify whether or not a hard reset must be preformed prior to the run. Now realistically there's no way the moderators would allow this as it would render all previous Any% strats/runs irrelevant, but I do think this warrants clarification from the rules.

I agree, it definitely shouldn’t be allowed, it would ruin the category.

Obviously this isn't allowed, but the rules specify "Timing starts when the 400 appears in the upper right corner." 8-1 starts at 300 lol

4-1 starts at 400. And yes this wouldn’t be allowed, but by the rules currently in place it technically would be viable.

Why would you invalidate a function that doesn't require you to perform an illegal skip in the run?

What you really should be asking here is not for a soft reset to be banned, but for the rules to specify that the run begins in 1-1.

That makes more sense.

The moderators aren't bots that are programmed to follow the exact text of the rules. They're obviously not going to accept a run that starts in World 8 (or World 4 or wherever that's not 1-1), regardless of whether the rules say anything about it.

Any% categories in most games are generally understood to begin with a clean slate. No continue codes, save files, etc. While that's not explicitly listed in our rules, it's a generally understood concept and isn't really a loophole.

We could document every single little nuance to the rules, but that would likely end up being excessively long that nobody will bother reading it all anyway.