I don't speak for the other players, but I welcome the interest, questions and competition. As you can see, Zoop isn't a very actively played speedrun category.

I think your 2 questions are basically:

1. How do I record my gameplay/hardware?
2. Can I play with a worn/broken controller?

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1. Yes, I would recommend taking a few seconds at the start of your video to show your Sega Genesis console, and power it on with the cartridge and controller already connected. Then move the camera back to show the TV screen/gameplay. There are capture cards and devices that allow you to connect the yellow/red/white RCA composite video cables to a computer to record gameplay. Their quality varies widely. I think according to the rules, you would still need video of the console hardware and the TV.

RetroTINK is a well respected upscaler (converter from multiple inputs to HDMI). Most capture cards accept HDMI, but you could look for a cheaper capture card that accepts RCA composite inputs.

2. Short answer: yes. Now if you start breaking all of the records and the d-pad movement seems suspect, then I might get generous and send you a controller. :D

Now I've finished the baseline! ;)

I guess based on times alone, I'll say Genesis is the hardest version.

Hardest to easiest: Genesis Playstation Gameboy SNES

Next I'll be checking out the PC version, just to post a high score in most platforms for Zoop on Twin Galaxies. I would love to play the Jaguar version. I could never get it to run in any emulator, and those consoles are SUPER expensive. I'm looking for a cheap genesis, already have the cartridge.

Well, 5 months later and the baselines are complete. They're all difficulty 4, which I'm proud of. There's certainly room for improvement, but at least anyone in the future has a time to run against.

Look out stormcrow56k, I'm coming for the last #1 leaderboard spot in SNES Continual. :D

I had uploaded those videos to my Youtube back in September, but forgot to make them public, edit the titles, descriptions and submit as runs.

I felt weird "auto" approving them, so sorry for the extra work

Wow, this Genesis Zoop game is no joke. I've spent most of the day on it. I've been close. More to come hopefully... :)

"Considering the difficulty, I doubt any gamer would be able to get to level 99 anyways."

Why would you say that Evan...

Ok, highest level you've achieved? At least level 23 for me. I'll set a personal goal of 30.

edit Level 25 reached - 2020-01-17 (check twitch vods)

This prototype locked up several times while I played...

Pieces to zoop per level: Level 1 - 20 Level 2 - 50 Level 3 - 90 Level 4 - 100 Level 5 - 110 Level 6 - 120 Level 7 - 110 Level 8 - 90 Level 9 - 80 Level 10 - 70 Level 11 - 75 Level 12 - 80 Level 13 - 70 Level 14 - 75 Level 15 - 80 Level 16 - 85 Level 17 - 90 Level 18 - 95 Level 19 - 100 Level 20 - 105 Level 21 - 110

bump I just beat Levels 1-10 on Difficulty 4 on Level Mode. Timestamps 12:56-22:50 = 9m54s

The RNG really helped! Baseline accomplished, I'll time it and submit later. I guess getting Jaguar emulator to work is my next challenge, or possibly Continual mode, which feels so so much harder. :(

*edit 1 day later I've just beat Levels 1-10 on Difficulty 4 on Continual Mode! :) Timestamps 1:01-14:23 = 13m22s

Zoop is fun.

Ok, so some more differences (that's why we're here right...) and a small achievement. The PS1 version has distracting flipping shiny pieces everywhere, it's hard to take in the rest of the pieces/colors when they're constantly flipping, spinning and bouncing across the screen. Does anyone know the names of all the special pieces, center box, center piece, is it in the manual?

I definitely had a piece enter the center box (ending the game) and I zooped my 5th spring really after the piece entered the center box. It played the spring animation sequence, cleared the board, and I kept playing. :) (ttps://www.twitch.tv/videos/479389761?t=45m01s)

Required zoops per level. This is different than all other versions, but probably closest to GameBoy, which in my opinion is similarly difficult. Level 1 - 40 Level 2 - 60 Level 3 - 90 Level 4 - 100 Level 5 - 110 Level 6 - 120 Level 7 - 140 Level 8 - 160 Level 9 - 180 Level 10 - 200

Oh yeah, and I finally beat levels 1-10 on difficulty 0. It took over 15 minutes. I'll have difficulty 4 beat soon. I think I'm going to give my controller a thorough cleaning first.

The difficulty reminds me of GameBoy. I just came pretty close with 15 zoop pieces away on Level 10 Difficulty 0.

There seems to be much fewer special pieces (springs, spinning wheels, etc). Also, I don't hear a sound when the pieces reach the center edge/box. I had a spring touch the center edge/box and it didn't disappear.

Thanks for the challenge. I know what I'm doing tonight. :) I couldn't get the Jaguar version to run on an emu, real disappointing.

There's multiple threads going on here, for what appears to be the same basic conversation.

Regardless, I'd first like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has posted a run on this game. Competition makes it so much fun! Irie thanks for your moderation and enthusiasm for this game. Stormcrow56k thanks for pushing to expand this to other consoles and stepping up to moderate those submissions and scores.

I'll try to help out as well by submitting some emulator runs on each platform. Stormcrow56k is clearly the best ;) but I'll try to at least give us a rough baseline on each emulated console version.

So...I wasn't aware emulators are banned. I thought I saw emu times on some runs for other games. Regardless, for the past 3 days I've been cranking out Zoop speedruns on a GameBoy emulator to at least check or set a reasonable expected speedrun for Zoop on GameBoy. The times are 30 seconds and almost 4 minutes faster!

Level - Continual -

In my opinion, we should keep different leaderboards for each platform. Level transitions are instant, plus clearing the screen with 5 springs will subtract/carry over any extra pieces into the next level.

@sto1crose Thanks for giving me something to do for the past few days. Zoop on GameBoy difficulty 4 seems harder than SNES. It was fun!

I'm trying to get a full 10 levels completed on GB for a rough baseline time. The higher levels are more difficult on GB, I think mostly because they require more pieces. I'll post the GB run/time/video soon hopefully.

@sto1crose Are you able to complete Levels 1-10 on difficulty 4? Here's my closest attempt so far, game starts around 49:43.

That's a great question. I would need some input from other people on how platform differences are handled for other games. I just now compared a few differences between SNES, Genesis, and GameBoy. In my opinion, the list of differences below would almost certainly effect the time it takes to complete 10 levels.

Differences in Genesis

1. Vertical columns in SNES have 5 pieces, 4 in Genesis.
2. Transition screens between levels seems quicker in Genesis.
3. Zooping the 5th squiggly spring appears to clear the screen quicker in Genesis.
4. The number of pieces required for the upper level is different as noted below.

Differences in GameBoy

1. Horizontal rows in SNES have 7 pieces, 6 in GB.
2. Transition screens between levels is instant in GB.
3. Springs also appear to clear the screen faster.
4. The number of pieces required is different for levels 1 and 2, and levels above 6.

Pieces required to pass each level SNES - GB - Genesis - Playstation 1 Level 1 - 40 - 30 - 40 - 40 Level 2 - 60 - 50 - 60 - 60 Level 3 - 90 - 90 - 90 - 90 Level 4 - 100 - 100 - 100 - 100 Level 5 - 110 - 110 - 110 - 110 Level 6 - 120 - 120 - 120 - 120 Level 7 - 110 - 140 - 130 - 140 Level 8 - 130 - 160 - 140 - 160 Level 9 - 140 - 180 - 150 - 180 Level 10 - 150 - 200 - 175 - 200