Let me first say that I'm brand new to the idea of speedrunning, but it's been a bit of a growing nag in the back of my head to give it a shot. NGB would definitely be the game that I am most familiar with, so it seemed like a decent place to start.
My questions though, is that I own it on both the original XBox as well as through backwards compatibility on the XBox 360. Is one valid or invalid for speed runs? Does it make a difference to the overall time, or is the run based off of the in game timer? If the run is based on actual time, does anyone know which is better from a load-time perspective?
I'm sorry if these are silly questions, but like I said, I'm new to the idea in general.
There shouldn't be a real difference between Xbox and Xbox 360. So you are free to run it on w/e platform you prefer. Most people run it on 360 tho I would assume.
The run is based on real time. Ingame time is actually shorter but it's kinda weird. Like it's off a lot from the actual time. I recommend putting the ingame time in your comment when you submit your run. Just to be save.
I think the loading times are faster on the downloaded Xbox 360 version. Plus the 360 version also has less frame lag. Original xbox version definitely has slowdowns during effect heavy UTs or during the Emperor fight.
Only reason to play the original xbox version would be for Eternal Legend mode. The 360 version has a graphical bug with the boundaries. There is a vision blocking blurring effect that happens when you touch the boundary of the arena.
And the Ingame time is shorter because it excludes cinematics, the loading and end of stage screens.
Also another plus for the 360 version, its much easier to capture hdmi. Just get a capture device that has hdmi passthrough. No need for fancy tricks trying to get component or svideo to work correctly.
Older ninja gaiden communities used IGT to time speedruns but that was before speedrunning became mainstream. Some runners like JTB will still always refer to their IGT only. But for the sake of staying consistent with modern speedrun norms, I suggest keeping real time.
