The thing is this game only has a very small number of runners and I think it'll be easy to find out which runner has the best run even in the case that 2 runs have the same IGT. If this game was more popular and had a bunch of runners, then I could see the IGT being more of an issue.

People will be less motivated to run the game if they own the game but only on a console with slower loading times and to get more runners interested I think IGT is preferrable to RTA despite only rounding to the nearest minute. I'm fine with going the route of Super Metroid. If the game gets very optimized at some point in the future, we can switch back to RTA

Yeah the one problem I see with this is that it only rounds to the nearest minute. I still think it should be added.

The thing is, you could calculate in-game time in a run quite easily because the loading between missions seems to be quite consistent for each player between missions i.e. Star Falco's runs have around 15-16 seconds between missions (which includes loading screens and time of the mission select screen) and in the Any% category there are 39 missions so his in-game time should be about 10 minutes lower than his RTA. My run and Weapon Lord's runs have 22-23 seconds between missions so our in-game times should be about 15 minutes lower than our RTA

IGT could be used as the main sorting method but then in cases where runners tie, the IGT of the 2 runs could be calculated quite easily. It's not ideal but I don't think RTA is ideal either when loading times are so different and certain runners are given an advantage over others.

I think IGT should definitely be a variable. Whether it's the main variable? I guess we'll just have to wait and see

Another strat for the missions Claws of Fury (only done on All Character Missions) , Blazing Speed (also only done on All Character Missions category) and part of Seek and Devour where you get enemies to jump to their deaths. More info in the video descriptions

I haven't found any more missions where this is worth doing because either the character you play as doesn't have the necessary air or wall mobility, the enemies don't get baited or it's simply not worth doing

So I've been testing the timer out

The timer includes

• Any gameplay time (including gameplay prior to quitting to main menu, failed mission attempts and successful mission attempts)

The timer excludes

• Any time on the mission select menu
• Any time on the pause menu
• Any loading times

So with this information in mind, I see no reason not to add it as a variable on the leaderboards. In order to add in-game time, runners will have to save the game after the run and look at the in-game time on the load menu

There is an in-game timer that shows on the loading menu that tells you how much time you've spent on the current playthrough of your game. So if you were to start a new game from the last mission it would reset to 0:00:00

Idk exactly how it works, if it includes load times or if it includes failed attempts but if it excludes load times, then this could be a way of getting times without loads, which I feel would be extremely helpful because load times appear to be a lot faster for @StarFalco64 on the gamecube than for my run or @WeaponLord.

The only problem with this is that the timer only tells you the time played in days, hours and minutes but doesn't tell us in seconds

This could be added as a variable on the leaderboards and it could be made a rule that future runs should save the game after the run and check the in-game timer. Of course, real time will still be recorded. It could also be a way to ensure runs aren't spliced

What do you guys think? @f1 As moderator, I'd appreciate your take on this

So I've just found another very interesting strat for the Death By Fire mission

There is a fire pit in this mission which will do no damage to Solara and severe damage to Daredevil in seconds. Lure Daredevil into the fire. Once you get him into the fire, he will make little to no attempt to get out of the fire. It can be tricky to lure him in, but you can use your throws to throw him into the fire

This strat is much faster than trying to beat him regularly by using Solara's projectiles and throwing cars at him (which was the previous strat). I'll look and see if this strat could be used in any other mission

@WeaponLord I know you're taking a break but I think you'll be interested in this

EDIT: I've also just recorded an Any% speedrun with the new strats so once I upload it to YouTube, I'll submit it here. I think I played well but some horrific RNG at points

I mentioned in the Character Information thread a new mechanic for Magneto's super grab which makes him much better to play as. As such, it makes his missions much easier and much faster, most notably Master of Magnetism and Death Incarnate.

I uploaded videos of these 2 missions demonstrating this new strat.

Death Incarnate has some other strategies as well which you can see in the video and the description

Should try it for yourself if you haven't already. It makes Magneto a much better character to play as

So for Magneto, I've discovered a new pretty broken mechanic for Magneto. When you play against Magneto, the AI also uses this mechanic against you. After super grabbing items from a far distance, you can press the attack button to throw them before they reach you, allowing you to do severe damage to opponents quickly. This is useful in not just versus but also in Magneto's missions (Master of Magnetism and Death Incarnate).

It could also help with the fast kill strat in Poisoned Steel if you opt for that strat over the ring out manipulation strat

So I have some new strats for missions

This is an optional Imperfect mission but if you choose to do this one, this is a good strat for it. I've gotten good at playing as The Wink and can do this mission quite quickly but most other Imperfect missions are ones where you can ring out your opponents so this might not be worth doing.

This mission is only required in All Character Missions category but this is the best strat for this mission as Wolverine can't fly, swing or teleport

The strat for the mission Daredevil! where you fight Daredevil as Elektra also has some new backup strats too. Instead of throwing Daredevil off the map, you can uppercut him in the air (regular attack combo ends in uppercut) and grab him while he's in the air to ring him out

So a few days ago I tested some things out with all the different characters including the amount of time characters have rage, the amount of time characters can super block with a full super meter and how long characters can sprint, fly, teleport, swing or wall climb. This could be helpful for speedrunners but also for just playing the game casually

RAGE TIME (To the nearest half second) 23 seconds - Thing 22.5 seconds - Wolverine, Fault Zone 22 seconds - Elektra 21.5 seconds - Wink, Daredevil 17.5 seconds - Venom 17 seconds - Storm, Magneto 16.5 seconds - Spider-Man 16 seconds - Johnny Ohm 12.5 seconds - Solara, Brigade, Hazmat 12 seconds - Human Torch 11.5 seconds - Paragon, Niles Van Roekel 11 seconds - Iron Man

SUPER BLOCK TIME 6s - Wolverine, Wink, Elektra, Daredevil 4.3s - The Thing, Spider-Man, Solara 3.6s - Johnny Ohm, Storm, Fault Zone, Venom, Human Torch, Magneto, Hazmat, Paragon 2.9s - Brigade, Niles Van Roekel 2.7s - Iron Man

It appears lower tier characters with no projectiles, lower strength and/or less mobility have longer rages and can use the super block for longer as compensation.

Here is how long each character can sprint/teleport/fly/swing/wall climb with a full super meter

SPRINT TIME (Incl. wall running) Thing - 12s Wolverine - 28s Elektra - 28s Daredevil - 28s Fault Zone - 28s Brigade - 28s Hazmat - 28s

TELEPORT TIME Wink - 19s Paragon - 48s

• Both characters can use their dodge alternatively to teleport without using any of their super meter

FLYING TIME All flying characters can hover for 1 minute 7 seconds with a full super meter. Ascending quickly can deplete your super in just 7 seconds.

WALL CLIMBING All wall climbing characters can wall climb for 1:35

SWINGING TIME Daredevil - 0:44 Hazmat - 0:48 Spider-Man - 1:20 (Venom can only swing for a few seconds at a time because he loses height with each swing. Spider-Man also loses some height but slower)

It takes 5 minutes 30 seconds for Wolverine to regenerate his entire health bar. Wolverine's regeneration pauses whenever his claws are out. So basically if you're doing any super moves or holding down the right trigger, his healing will stop

I've also been thinking of doing tutorials on a bunch of characters outlining their move sets, the various pros and cons of each character, and how I'd recommend playing as them

I've uploaded a bunch of other videos of certain strats I've come up with. You can find them on my channel. Read the video descriptions for information on the strats

https://www.youtube.com/user/MysticManiac100

These strats include the ring out manipulations as well as strats for Paragon's missions

Well you've done a lot so I think you've earned a break. I might do a recorded any% run real soon, not sure yet. There's still some missions I'm not entirely confident with

The game does have an in-game timer on the load/save screen so that could be used if load times are an issue between consoles. But there are some issues with that

1. It only includes hours and minutes, not seconds
2. Idk if that includes just gameplay or loading screens
3. Idk if it includes all gameplay or excludes failed mission attempts etc

Comparing my load times with yours, I think my load times are just slightly faster, like 1-2 seconds per loading screen. Star Falco's loads seem to be faster than both of ours though

I actually timed the shield skip for Street Fight and it was still worth it. It saved 30 seconds as opposed to the regular strat. I think once you get past the shield, you only have to fight all enemies that are currently spawned + the few other ones that spawn once you get past the shield, but it prevents enemies from spawning earlier. Trust me, it's worth doing. And it's easier to skip the shield in this one than in Elektra's mission, at least for me

Yeah I've spent a lot of time practicing Femme Fatale. Some of the time save is from learning these "strats", more of it is just from practicing the fight.

Also worth noting, The Wink teleports onto the platforms 3 times at most. I think Wolverine's finisher (even though it's quite long) is worth using if you get Wink in danger after she does her teleporting on the platforms for the 2nd time, but before she does it for the 3rd time. It's unlikely that this will happen though but just something you should know

So the mission Street Fight which also has a green shield can also skip this shield by using Wolverine's super grab on an enemy. It's actually a lot easier to get through this shield than the one in Death From Afar as you can use Wolverine's super grab on an enemy from a further distance than you can Elektra's throw

And this is a better version of the strat where an enemy throws an item at you and gets you through the shield faster

Here's me practicing and testing the new strat

And here's some other strats I've come up with that I thought would be worth making videos for

So I'm testing this new strat right now. Throwing isn't the only way to get past the shield. You can super throw them but as Elektra's super throw moves backwards when doing her super throw instead of forwards as she does you have to throw the enemy while your back is to the shield.

Enemies can also hit you past the shield, and thrown items can push you past the shield too.

However, all of these strats can fail. None are completely consistent. Sometimes the enemies just won't get into the right position. I do think it's worth doing though because I'm sure it saves a decent chunk of time

You can also die pretty easily from this. I've died a few times already

Your strat of doing the regular throw on the enemy is probably the most consistent strat for getting past the shield

I'm currently uploading videos for this mission as well as other early missions (Femme Fatale, Top of the World, Daredevil)

I just did a run for the 9 Lives category (Ring outs allowed). Even though I think it's a bad category, it's short and easy

Yeah the Ring out category is exactly how I imagined it. Just repetitive, baiting the AI into the pit. A bad category. The No ring out one is much better because it actually requires some skill in going fast.

As for which character you should choose to be, or to be against I'm unsure. While Niles Van Roekel is good and Brigade is also good (who you used in your previous Versus run), I think Iron Man or Paragon might be best to use. Iron Man's lock on flying projectiles and spamming his jump projectile can be really damaging

Also, Wolverine might not necessarily be the best choice for you to be against. Yes, he has no ranged attacks but his health does heal slowly over time (not that noticeable but could result in time being lost) and he seems to super block more than anyone else. Maybe The Wink would be better to be against. She's not durable at all. I think her teleporting would make it harder and she does have some mid-long range attacks but she should be killable very fast and she has no projectiles