If you pause the game you can enter various codes that can be useful. When I started running the game, without thinking, I entered UUDDLRLRBA to change character. I later researched and found other codes including health restore, suicide, etc. And one that beginners will find VERY useful for practice!

Pause the game, press Ax5 Bx5 times Xx5 Yx5 Lx5 Rx5 <LR shoulder buttons> and unpause. Now, hold Start to pause the game and while holding, press the directional keys to move anywhere on the stage map. If you wish, press R to remove the map from the screen.

What does everyone feel about exclusively using the character change code for runs?

I think it makes the game a tad more accessible, it's still an RTA cost. My use at Metalbee costs me approx. 10 seconds RTA, and it's very clear you can't do it much without haemorrhaging time you wanted to save. By analogy we already have a very easy method to get powerups back both in natural gameplay and by return to exits: and whenever we do that, we cost ourselves 6 seconds RTA of animation.

If the game had a character select between stages, I'd be less tolerant of this idea, but I can see new runners finding it very useful due to Winbee's twitchy control: the very last notched jumps in Factory 1 for example, or mis-charges of rocketboost. Having to die just to change seems a tad unfair.

As a followup, what do runners prefer the board to be tracked by primarily: IGT, or RTA? We may get a scenario one day where a significant run has a discrepancy between the two.

first, i think that cheat codes should not be allowed in the run since they are not intended as a game mechanic, hence the name "cheat code". Metalbee fight can be manipulated to some point and which enemy you can hit is always the same, so the fight is not that hard to learn.

For RTA vs IGT, RTA has always been the priority and IGT is there just for reference, maybe we can metion that in the rules to clarify.

Hey man :) Do you have contact with our other two runners? I would like to have some idea what they think as well.

Thanks for letting me know RTA has been a priority. I wonder about switching to using IGT? As it stands, we have to wait 4-5 seconds sometimes to finish a stage 'faster' rta by barely any time, and we then end up without powerups going forward - a tricky dance. If we were to rank by IGT, we could encourage new runners to go for more aggressive strats as a means to an end, and gives them way more room to get a PB on a bad run. It prevents the idling at the end of so many stages which increases the skill ceiling. That would also give newer runners far more outs in difficult stages as they aren't fighting without shield etc. And if we used IGT as the sort, I'd definitely favour banning char-change, since it is no longer a time-cost but an aid.

engi and i are retired from speedruns, i have contact with him but he probably doesn't care about this. About DjMaka, that was the only run that countdown could find in internet almost 10 years ago, so no one knows anything about them, that only leaves you and me to take the decision.

As for IGT vs RTA, i think RTA is fine, since as far i remember in the run you only need to wait in like 2 or 3 stages and you still keep the power ups from previus levels if played right, and you can get a lot of the power ups just from killing enemies.

In the end i don't think there is a need to change rules since the game it's fine as is it.

Thanks for letting me know! I think we can keep the rules as they have always been then. I'll add the no cheats codes to the ruleset and reject my previous runs, I've managed a new pb with a proper metalbee since.

I'll be running the game for Obscurathon on 2nd April: https://oengus.io/en-GB/marathon/obsc2/schedule so hopefully we get even more new runners this year!