After investigation it is imperative that the emualtor FCEUX version 2.2.3 be banned, and quite realistically all versions of FCEUX other than the latest as well, which is the 2.6.2 version.

The time submitted by muten_pizza had an exceptionally fast Stage 1 framecounted to 54.067 which is faster than all three of the Stage 1 times that are currently podium.

We looked into it and after having muten_pizza switch to mesenRTA and perform the identical route the timesave was immediately lost and he was achieving the expected times that the rest of us also get. The version of FCEUX that was being used, for whatever reason, is not accurate enough to lag correctly and will give the player an unfair advantage.

For the reason outlined above I and zarc0nis both strongly believe we should only allow FCEUX version 2.6.2 to be used.

Beard, we should test 2.6.2 and some versions before that before setting an official ban. Turns out I have 2.5.0 (2.6.2 came out in February), though I haven't tested 2.5.0 either. We should allow for a set minimum version. But for now, 2.2.3 and below should be banned. I can download a handful of versions, setup new splits for stage 1, and test out a route on stream and compare.

If somebody is willing to test other versions to confirm they do not provide an advantage that sounds great.

But without confirming they don't I believe it's best to assume they do given we've confirmed that one out-dated version does not lag correctly. There isn't a compelling reason to be using an out-dated emulator and with a game this optimized these slight inaccuracies can easily make the difference between 2nd place and a new WR.

If 2.5.0 does not provide an advantage then it would be safe to say all versions that come afterward are also viable emulators for accurate/legit runs.

True. Alright, I'll test with 2.5.0 tonight. I'll do like 10 "clean" runs to the end of Stage 1 and if I'm in low 54's, it's not legit. If it's regularly 54.5 to 55.0 for clean runs, then I agree we can say FCEUX 2.5.0 and above is allowed.

I look forward to seeing what the results are of these tests, thank you Beard & Zarc for your investigation into this. If you are satisfied with the results then we will set about making all the changes.

I was actually comparing my run to Muten's run earlier, transition speed doesn't seem to be different, so I am going to assume that it is a lag issue.

Yeah I deleted the run and currently have a new 4:10.516 with Mesen that I'l be submitting later today. As soon as I switched emulators I could FEEL more lag, there was definitely a noticeable difference.

Dang, at least this could be sorted out in good terms. I think that locking this forum for now and adding it to the rules is the best thing to do right now.

Hey all, I did like 6 or 7 clean runs of stage 1 with FCEUX 2.5.0 and best I could get was 54.52, which is around my best on Nestopia. So I think we can say FCEUX version 2.5 and above is allowed.

Thank you to everyone for their support in this, we will incorporate this to the upcoming rule changes (thread will be locked after this to allow for new threads should this come up again).