I'm eagerly awaiting your run submission. ^_^

Only now saw this. Here's your answer: https://github.com/LiveSplit/LiveSplit/issues/1071

I'm necroing this one to point out some potentially relevant changes in the most recent version of BGB: http://bgb.bircd.org/manual.html#speedruns. That said, afaik, it's not convenient to capture the full BGB window in OBS.

After having let this sit for a few days, one thing is clear: the general (and unanimous) consensus is to add misc. categories. Out of the available options, each was supported by a majority of the total voters, respectively. Since there doesn't seem to be a clear bias towards particular ones, I'm just gonna add them all. Further categories might be added along the way if there's demand for them.

stickying this and adding my own video tutorial for completeness: https://www.speedrun.com/sml1/guide/x1fhh

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm just gonna point out a few things that come to mind about them. It's in no way meant to shoot ideas down; just some thoughts I have while mentally going through those runs.

[quote=Uvideo]Small Mario Max%[/quote] Interesting suggestion, but I see a few issues with this one:

• It would extend the existing small Mario category by only 4 (possibly 5, see below) levels (Tree B, Tree secret, overworld autoscroller, Space secret)
• 2 of those levels would be trivial/annoying ones (Space and overworld)
• Generally, Macro, Pumpkin, Mario (and potentially Turtle, see below) Zone would remain completely unchanged
• Finishing Turtle Zone secret would require a starman to traverse the last spike pit, which is perfectly doable via killing the turtle right before it as your 100th enemy, but can be seen as rather bothersome and make the category less attractive to some runners. Excluding this one would be a consideration, but then it just gets arbitrary and further lessens the already low distinctiveness of this category.

[quote=Uvideo]Any% Fireless[/quote]

• I assume this is meant as a glitchless category.
• The main distinctions of this would be slower boss kills and not being able to use the Macro Zone shortcut.
• A minor distinction would be that managing the kill count would become more challenging - an interesting thought in theory.
• It would involve a lot of carrot usage, which could be seen as trivializing the run.
• Lag reduction via carrot usage might even outweight the potential time save via the 100th kill starman, which would invalidate my 2nd point and trivialize the run again.

[quote=Uvideo]Any% Carrotless[/quote]

• Assuming glitchless again.
• Let's go over where the carrot is actually (ab)used in the regular run and what the difference would be: · Tree 2, lower path (the upper path is actually a few seconds faster and not trivial) · Tree Left (would look similar to small Mario strats, just with the option to kill enemies in your way more easily) · Tree 5 (mostly small Mario strats would apply, except for having to wait at the first gap) · Pumpkin 4 (trivial differences, no witch "quick" kill setup) · Mario Zone would be done before Turtle Zone · Mario 3 (similar to small Mario strats, possible i-frame abuse trivializes the 1st part) · Turtle 1 (the biggest deviation from the regular run, fireflower trivializes the level, though, making swim speed manipulation the biggest factor in this one) · Turtle 2 (turtle stairs setup slightly different, 1 less i-frame abuse at the end, or none at all) · Turtle 3 (different setup for the gates, rest identical)

My verdict: the 1st suggestion doesn't seem distinct enough, the other 2 sound interesting.

Hey there! SML2's 26th anniversary is drawing closer and with that it's been at least 1 year since I and a few others came up with a few fun speedrun categories. They'd be listed under a "Misc" tab, together with Small Mario only. Some of them are at least as interesting as some of the main ones, imo. It turns out that if there's no leaderboard for them, nobody's even aware that they exist and that's the reason for this thread. I'm gonna list a few candidates, including a short explanation for each and then you can vote here:

http://www.strawpoll.me/16578828

Jackpot% ...is a short and (arguably) fun category similar to Any%. The goal is to get to 99 lives as quickly as possible, utilizing the 999-coins pipe in the casino. Glitches are allowed.

999 Coins (no level repeat) ...is by far the most diverse category. The goal is to collect 999 coins as quickly as possible without entering levels more than once and without using glitches. What makes this particularly fun to attempt is the wide variety of possible routes. I am faily certain that the optimal route has not been found yet.

Low% Coins ...is another glitchless category (because it would be trivial otherwise). The goal is to beat the game while collecting as few (regular) coins as possible. It is not possible to avoid coins altogether which is why I think this category should be timed dynamically with a fixed penalty of 10 seconds per collected coin.

No Shoot/Run Button ...is rather self-explanatory. It's also intended as a glitchless category and assumes that you never press the button that lets you run and shoot until you defeat Wario.

All Bosses ...could also be called Beat Wario or Any%(no credits warp). The goal is - surprise: to beat Wario after having gained access to the castle by beating all 6 bosses. Glitches are allowed.

Pacifist ...is another self-explanatory and glitchless category. The goal is to beat the game with exactly 5 kills on the kill counter (killing the 5 floating faces in the castle cannot be avoided, boss kills don't add to the count). Whether this category should be fixed to that count or a per-kill penalty should be added, comparable to the Low% Coins category, is up for discussion.

Feel free to suggest your own ideas and/or comment on my suggestions! And, of course, don't forget to vote in the strawpoll!

The definite answer to the question is...

it depends.

I've said this on the forums before: it's no automated process and it's done by people who can be in all kinds of circumstances/moods/motivational states. And those circumstances/moods/motivational states can be different, depending on the game request and the info provided. Is that a sufficient explanation for why this question has an obvious answer in having no obvious exact answer?

Since they're different games (even though the content is very similar), the runs from the classic category should be moved over to the newly created board at https://www.speedrun.com/Tom_and_Jerry_GB/full_game

@Totalled @NoirVenom3 @Pantsi @r3dninjajosh any objections?

Thanks! I took the liberty to assign the right starting levels to the individual runs and remove the default to level 9 option. Now everything is shown side by side as it should be. (I also renamed the options from <3 to ♥ for a nicer display.) If anything went wrong, I am the one to blame now. ;-) I hope you don't mind me messing with the board, but I think we have the same idea of how it should look and I had some free time on my hands.

Hi, following up on my other post, I wanted to ask what the community thinks about adding the starting level as an extra column for the 100 lines category (and possibly the 300k category). I think it would be informative and provide a better overview of the board.

Well, since the 100 lines categories are entirely about speed and not about score, it does actually matter a lot. Thanks for the reply! At my own (very poor) level of gameplay, just completing the 100 lines at L9♥ is already faster than going for tetrisses at a lower speed. A good player could get sub 4 with it, easily, I suppose.

Hi there, I was wondering why I don't see any L9♥ runs on the board. I saw that the rules state "Player can start from any level 0-9." Is that on purpose or an oversight? If it's on purpose, what's the justification for excluding ♥ level starts? It should clearly be allowed, right?

longer answer:

"Well-known users or moderators of other games in a series may request unreleased games two weeks prior to launch." (quoted from the game request page)

gives you an idea how such situations are usually approached. If there are multiple concurrent requests for the same game we try to ascertain who's best suited to moderate it, If the game in question can be related to an existing series, we try to favor established runners/moderators from that. Of course, there are always factors that we could miss in the process, especially in cases of lesser-known games.

short answer:

It is not "first come, first served". Game request approval is not an automated process and we actually look into every submission.

Not sure about that. In WhiteHat's run, Sabretooth seems to be 1 pixel higher on other respective frames before he disappears, too. I know virtually nothing about NES, though, so I'll leave the deeper analysis to those who know their stuff.

This sparked my interest when I read about it on the speedrun.com Discord. I hope you don't mind me getting involved.

Here's my very chaotic approach: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Fw2rlDW18ncI7vnP03Tf2-tkaBmyIokCh2sFFEnxDHI/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know if I missed something.

Summary:

6:29.926 WhiteHat94 6:29.909 Overswarm

(Note: Interestingly, Sabretooth stays on screen for 1 frame longer with 2 pixels of his face for WhiteHat. My admittedly untrained eye can't detect a missing line in the emulator render of Overswarm's recording, though, so that's for those more familiar with the game to figure out. Taking the rules literally, that seems to give a 1-frame advantage to Overswarm in this case.))

(Note 2: There are several uncertain factors in play here, most prominently, possible encoding artifacts and rounding inaccuracies when calculating the frame count. Without raw video footage there's no point in claiming absolute accuracy.)

(Note 3: @WhiteHat94, seeing that there are 5 moderators for this game, self-verification is probably not the best approach.)

(Note 4: @ViruseReturns, interesting that your findings contravene mine. May I ask how you retrieved the VODs? There are several browser extensions and standalone apps out there that seem to reencode videos while downloading them, e.g. Twitch Leecher, leading to inaccurate timing information)

Apologies, @sticky18! I'll get to it when I get home tomorrow.

Hi there,

we've just added a series page for V-Rally: https://www.speedrun.com/v-rally

@thebpg13, @CoopeZz, are you okay with adding the game to the series? Are you alright with bangerra as a series mod? One of you could be added as a series mod, too, if you desire.

The introduction of new staff (myself included) happened 1 month ago. Only one of the threads you linked falls into that time span. The issue in that one thread has been resolved. EVEN IF... you dug up 8 threads over 4 months. Let's go with a carefully low number of 5 rejected games a day (that's a really low number, trust me!), that's 5 times 120 days equals 600 rejected game requests and 8 complaints/appeals. I'd say the system is already working well and I already ensured you that there will be further improvement of the process. Not sure what else I can say. Don't try to make this bigger than it is.

I understand where you're coming from, @ResolutionSSB. I think I had already addressed most points from your recent 2 posts. Let's stay factual though: there are currently not many forum posts with people complaining about rejections. Game requests are also handled in a more timely manner than used to be the case when there was a staff shortage. Whenever I reject a request, I try to give a reasonable explanation. "Reasonable" is highly subjective though and depends on context. If someone submits a downloadable browser game with 7 downloads or if a Google search brings up a single hit, then "not notable" would also be perfectly reasonable. You (general you) have the forum as a means of appeal and you have the request form to point out why you think your game is worth adding.

I didn't see your submission of SMKR so I can't really comment on that part.

(Edit: I just downloaded and played the game. Seems decent for a fan game. Let's wait for more opinions.)