Hey everyone!

I have had some runs submitted recently that utilize an in-game glitch called stat boosting. The short version of what this glitch is, is that the game forgets to reset your stats when you equip/unequip items, which allows you to max out your stats for that level (though it does reset once you enter the next level). This allows for the player to one-shot very difficult bosses in new game runs, which can allow the player to shave major amounts of time off their run as they don't have to level up to be able to beat the bosses.

Personally, I think this is a very cool glitch that is technically legal since it is in-game. It allows the player to maximize their runs in ways that would not be possible without using it. However, as I have researched how other communities handle glitches like this, the consensus I have found seems to be that these types of glitches should not be allowed in new or full game runs. This is due to them not being in line with how the developers intended the game to be run, as well as preventing the full game experience from being played out. That being said, most other games do allow for category extensions, such as the "Wrong Warp" in Mario 3, where well-known glitches are used to get extremely low times since they can be executed in-game without cheats. As such, I would like to propose the following:

1. I recommend that we create a category extension that allows for stat boosting in each of the new game characters. This will both preserve the integrity of the New Game category while also recognizing the hard work of community members who have optimized runs using this glitch, and will allow for some very cool runs to be verified in this community.

2. Once the category extensions have been created, any currently pending runs that use stat boosting and have been submitted to the New Game category will be rejected, while the player will be encouraged to resubmit the run under the new correct category. This is not meant to exclude anyone, but rather to ensure we keep New Game runs vs Stat Boosting runs in separate categories. So please do not feel bad if your run gets rejected as we would love for you to resubmit under the correct category!

If anyone has any thoughts/concerns, please feel free to let me know and I'm happy to address them. Please also feel free to comment here if you agree with this proposition. I will give the community about a week to post any thoughts/concerns and, as long as the community agrees, I will look at this next weekend (4/15/24 at the very latest) to have the new categories created, pending runs addressed, and messages sent to players encouraging them to resubmit their runs under the new correct category.

Thanks!

~Nick

Hey everyone! Since I have not received any concerns or comments on this issue, I will go ahead and get started on updating this category to add the revised rules I listed in my last post. I will try to get this done as quickly as possible, though we did just end up closing on our house so life got a bit busier than expected this past week. I will get them updated as soon as possible, and look forward to all the new runs that will hopefully be submitted under the new rules!

Good morning everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that as of this morning, a new category has been created for NG Any% runs that allows for stat boosting - it can be found under miscellaneous categories. If you have had a run rejected due to the use of stat boosting on the regular NG Any% category, please resubmit it under the new category and I'll be happy to review and hopefully verify it ASAP. Thanks everyone and happy speed running!

to me it would make more sense making the existing category "Any% glitchless" and allow "Any%" to use any strategies available, including stat boosting

this could make it more futureproof, in case new cool tech is found in the future that is deemed a glitch

This is a great idea - I will get the category names changed to this right away! Thanks!

~Nick