This is possibly a very stupid question but I'd rather ask and be sure. Based on the timing rules currently shown I appear to have a run without pauses that comes to 9.84, and as an example, if I frame advance 16bitpanda's run it appears to end earlier than his notes state which would corroborate that. Is there some software I can use that will retain 50fps recording as opposed to 30 with vlc? I by no means doubt what has been said about the timings but I can't explain the difference. I can try to replicate it with inputs showing but as I speak any attempt to record that is killing the 50fps on bizhawk. I hope I'm not missing something very obvious.

Frame 770 for the start and frame 1262 for the blue screen. I imagine one of you who mods can sync this up with a 9.84 if need be.

Just wondering if anyone had a similar experience, and can give any advice, not necessarily from speedrunning. A month ago I was running and a tiny break in the side of my thumbnail grew out and turned out to be the beginning of a separation of the nail from the bed, so I had to mostly stop gaming for a while. I was recommended to get a cushioned thumb cover. I can't be certain the problem came from thumb on d-pad, but I have noticed that my thumb stays nail-up when moving left and then rolls over when I have to switch to right, which I doubt would be fixable really. Has anyone got any experience of buying such covers, can they recommend a particular product?

They both seem entirely legit. I attempted to contact someone who knows the player to get permission to add the runs to the site, and to find out whether they were done on an actual bike, or via MAME. Site rules say that a top time can generally be listed without permission. Does anyone have any objection or point of order to raise about the validity of these runs besides the method?

Did anyone who has a time on the leaderboard do it with an actual bike? I would greatly value any feedback on whether that makes it a bit easier to react on such a fine level as you see above without shintysix squillion resets.

To streamline the board and avoid confusion I have created a Variable to show the romset/track layout that runs were done on. Sitdown/Upright is the default, to view Limited Edition/Mini Ride-On you can use the Filter. By doing this we can group all runs across arcade and modern console conversions in the same place without overcomplication. Please do not worry about selecting the right option in your submissions, I will always double check everything.

Limited Edition/Mini Ride-On is the same track layouts that are present on the Genesis version. LE is generally considered the easier option as it has a longer time limit and tends to have less traffic of AI riders. Sitdown/upright has a more challenging beginner's course and tends to be more ubiquitous and popular. The console ports for PS, Xbox, and Wii all have the option to use either set of track layouts, and you are not restricted in what you choose! The Asia course is the same in all layouts, personally I think it's the best one as it's short enough that you can push hard without having to play a long tactical game or avoid risk. Or am I just saying that cos I stink at weaving in traffic 😂

On timing: Super Hang-On has a bug in the In-Game timer, present in: -Genesis (Rev 00 and 01) -Arcade (all versions) -PS3 -Xbox -WiiVC

across both real and emulated runs.

The second part shows a comparison on the Arcade version with a slower sector 1 against a faster. Both runs follow precisely the same path with speed locked, yet end up with different sector 2 times. I have also verified this bug by syncing playback of different runs' sectors where IGT says run A will reach checkpoint first, but the real time and visual evidence show run B reached it first.

Here are a couple of quick clips of the PS3 and Xbox versions. The timer goes from 31.9 to 32.88 in one frame.

The timer goes from 1:26.29 to 1:26.55 in one frame.

When a checkpoint is passed, the clock is zeroed and that time is written to memory. But then the timer starts counting from whatever fraction of a second was left over.

Due to this, all runs' times have been corrected. It's very simple to work that out: just remove the fractions of a second from each sector time that shows up, except the last sector of a race which doesn't show anyways. Add these up, and subtract them from the IGT. Then you have your True Time. I will always double check these. You may in future wish to complete any run which is close to your PB or a WR: typically an IGT is off by 2-3 seconds in Africa, increasing to 7-8 seconds in Europe.

Here's an example of how to do this from a race in Africa:

S1 35.93 S2 33.1 S3 34.8 S4 31.93 S5 35.8 (S6 time not shown on screen)

IGT showed 3'29"59. 0.93 + 0.1 + 0.8 +0.93 +0.8 = 3.56 3:29.59 - 3.56 = 3:26.03

Thanks very much for reading!

Super Hang-On has a bug in the In-Game timer, present in both Rev 00 and Rev 01, in both console and emulator.

The first part of the video shows a playthrough of identical runs at 265 km/h (Left) and 263 km/h (Right). Notice the sector times look alright at first, but then start to make no sense, as the slower run gets faster splits and a faster IGT overall.

When a checkpoint is passed, the clock is zeroed and that time is written to memory. But then the timer starts counting from whatever fraction of a second was left over. For example, sectors in the first 265km/h run start from 00.80 each time, accounting for the mess.

I have now edited all runs current and obsolete on the leaderboard to show the true times. Only a couple of minor places have changed hands and all times are now totally accurate. One item of note is that Mc166's Expert run was never actually the WR, but since it spurred Dev to pull out a bonkers fast time, I don't think he will mind ;) Also let me just congratulate Seymour whose Beginner run was 3.5 seconds faster than it appeared, giving him a corrected and well-deserved 8th place!

So, how do you work out your actual time from a race? It's not so hard.

Write down the fractions of a second that show when you passed each sector, except the last sector of a race which doesn't show anyways. Add these up, and subtract them from the IGT. Then you have your True Time. I will always double check these. You may in future wish to complete any run which is close to your PB or a WR: typically an IGT is off by 2-3 seconds in Africa, increasing to 7-8 seconds in Europe.

Here's an example of how to do this from a race in Africa:

S1 35.93 S2 33.1 S3 34.8 S4 31.93 S5 35.8 (S6 time not shown on screen)

IGT showed 3'29"59. 0.93 + 0.1 + 0.8 +0.93 +0.8 = 3.56 3:29.59 - 3.56 = 3:26.03

Thanks for reading!

I did my last any% run with a mega drive controller, wanted to check whether runs need to be done like this as opposed to mapping controls to a keyboard. Don't know whether all leaderboard runs were controller and I'm not pushing for keyboard to be allowed - I feel like it'd be an unfair advantage actually since I would be way faster on it. Thanks

As you all likely know c.h.e.a.t is not the only hidden thing in Robocod: in the sports level you can spell l.i.v.e.s after the first spike pit to get, well, infinite lives.

I have absolutely no idea whether that might be useful for WR level in an Any% run, it will take a long time to work out though there may well be a good use of it in order to get lots of damage boosts through areas. I'm already finding it useful because of the star at the left pole giving me enough health to do 2 damage boosts in teddy land.

Do you think this should be permitted? I feel like it should - it's legitimately part of the game's intended play. It may well speed things up or at the very least it will make the horrible hitboxes a bit better ;)

Just wanted to check something - Legs's run has him exit cashier then move the cursor before going back in. I'm using Bizhawk and I don't have to move that cursor at all to get back in to the cashier, is there a requirement to do so or is that just free time to improve the record? EDIT: When timing a run do I divide frames by 60 or by 59.73 or what? :)

I've set up a Discord for tutorial/guide/general discussion about Mercs Genesis, so if any of you guys want to join us in playing that you'd be most welcome! Fletchr is the expert at Arcade but Original is great fun too. The link is https:/​/​discord.​gg/​756aUuT

I was advised to ask the SMB community for help or perhaps point me towards another community on an issue related to frame based timing, in this case with Genesis games running on Bizhawk. My original post can be read at https://www.speedrun.com/Speedrunning/thread/4t04l so any advice would be great.

Has anyone else reliably used frame count to time runs where that precision was needed?

Situation is that I mod/run Mercs Genesis. In the real world the Genny's max frame rate is tied to 59.92274 but emulation puts it at much closer to 60 with occasional drops to 59. On past occasions where I've had a very obvious time (in the middle of a second for example), I've found that doing (Frame count/60) + 1 second has always matched the real timing for full runs.

What I would love to know is whether anyone else has reliably used such a method or whether it is flawed. My stopwatch timing was synced from the first frame, but I ended manually with reaction time in play, which showed 13:39.03. If I do F/60+1 I get 13:38.73, and if I do F/59.92274 I get 13:38.75, but since this is supremely close I just want to be as sure as I can that I'm not making a mistake.

So I use a Genesis pad for running, and in the last couple of days I've had to stop because all of a sudden I'm having co-ordination issues with it. When I switch L/R direction, my thumb is often going into the void where the diagonals are.

-Has anyone ever had a similar experience with a Genesis pad?

-Has anyone ever had a similar experience with a NES/SNES pad? I figure that these incidences might be less since the pad is both smaller and actually indented into the controller with no voids around cardinals.

I'm not too worried that it's just me, but it would be nice to know I'm not the only one. Would love some feedback before I gamble on switching to a Nintendo controller.

I'm just curious about this one. Rules currently state time ends on loss of character control, and that only comes a couple of seconds after the last hit on Mizrabel. I had a run the other day where I got the final hit in, but died before she fell to the ground, so I had to redo the fight. That wouldn't count, right?

Following issues in the past with self-verified times and an inconsistent approach to timing, You do not need to show any timer on screen as I will always double-check runs.

For Mayhem Mode, run time starts when you press X to select your first character.

Time ends when "Player Victory" has appeared on the screen. Note that you can hold X at the end of a run to speed this up a little:

For Strategy Mode, run time starts when you press X on the final pre-amble screen before loading Crater Lake:

Time ends when "Teknos/Arcane Victory!" has appeared on the screen. Note that you can hold X at the end of a run to speed this up a little:

For extra clarity, runs using an emulator are fine so long as it is a PS1 ONE emulator. Do not submit runs if they were performed using a PS2/3 emulator since it is known that PSX games loading times are often much quicker on later PS systems.

Be aware that RNG for map movements in Strategy Mode will sometimes change depending on how a previous map or fight played out. That is, if you practice a Map in isolation, you may get a different enemy movement in an actual run. RNG for enemy movements seems to be related to your health following battles, and will also change depending on your precise hex movements. I have not yet encountered any possible manipulation of this RNG relating to starting a new run in Crater Lake after doing another map and quitting, and if you find a way to alter enemy movements in Crater Lake by this method, please let me know. It would be best if all runs started from the same RNG for now.

I am curious whether other runners have ever had a game which sort of haunted them for a while. I'm running Castle of Illusion SMS, and I have the skill and practice to finish runs without deaths since I've practiced each stage and its tripping points very much. Despite this, somehow in pretty much every run, something ridiculous creeps in out of absolutely nowhere. Ridiculous as in something I haven't consciously changed, but which goes slightly wrong and is utterly basic - accidentally jumping too soft and landing in a pit, mis timing something inexplicably. Often, one death seems to chain other deaths in with it too, and to my knowledge I'm not flooding emotionally, I'm not overwhelmed with what needs to be done on a game level, and I'm not second guessing the techniques I have worked on. I am not sure where the problem begins so I don't yet know how to work on it, it doesn't seem to be purely technical and reminds me of when I used to play horribly at blitz chess. Any advice or perspectives would be welcome.

Part of post removed because of wrong information

I developed a good way for a beginner to handle the first anvil in the castle: you can damage boost off the Knight using i-frames to get through without being frozen in place. NOTE: you can see my button inputs top-left, you have to register two jumps because the game swallows the first input every time.

Obviously pinball games are high-score affairs but the site has tables for Pro Pinball among others. Is anyone interested in starting a community for Psycho runs? I did a semi-casual run in October for time to 100million, thinking we could have categories for score barriers and jackpots, and maybe highest score in x minutes or something.

Hi btrim, it was a shame I didn't hear back from you about testing the AKIMW hack. Anyways, thinking of picking COI up after many years away. Got the hang of preserving slope speed, having some issues with Leaf strat. When I boost on to the caterpillar leaf, the next one never seems to be in sync, not sure why since it doesn't seem that I'm activating the loading zone early. Here's an example:

As a mere mortal of speedrunning I've never touched on a game like NES Tetris and nor do I intend to 😂 But I've come to a point where to better a time in one of my runs to WR level I need to hypertap with my middle finger for short intense bursts, so the more windows of runs I can have per day the better my chances. I'm doing really good at it and eating more helps a bit (as in Xmas levels of sugary stuff, I'm being careful about that) but I am curious whether anyone much more used to constant hypertapping or mashing has any specific exercises they do to maintain or increase their finger stamina/power. At the moment I am not able to run as many times a day as I want to because I lose power.

I've compiled a report explaining a bug I've found with SHO's game timer for Genesis and MAME Arcade. You can find the report including video proof explaining this, in this document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nacQxW7NjZH69N_BUHT3QWxEFGUY7RqAtx3-WWDVeu4/edit?usp=sharing

Please note this is NOT based on different frame rates and is a bug in the program itself. Jesse, I added you on Discord so if you need to discuss anywhere, let me know.