As a way to keep the categories competitive I have added the milliseconds counter to prevent any ties at higher ranks. While it is still technically possible to have a tie, this will make it much less likely to happen.

Runs already submitted before this ruling was made will be "grandfathered" in, meaning we will not be altering them EXCEPT in the event that someone submits a time that could potentially alter ranks. These will be handled on a case by case basis.

Milliseconds will be required only when a run needs a tie breaker, or if the run qualifies for a time indicated in the category specific rules. Mods will handle the frame counting of these runs as the situation calls for it (mods frame count all runs even before this).

Just wanted to congratulate everyone who has joined us from the Big 20. I hope some of you will keep grinding down this game and hopefully we can keep finding new secrets.

Speaking of secrets, FairySimple has been a central part of collecting all the information she can to compile it all into one convenient location.

I am looking forward to more activity on this board.

I have made a very basic walkthrough for new runners to get to understand what this game is, how the mechanics & enemies operate, and a basic explanation of the any% run. Please let me know what you all think if you check it out, I'm hoping we can attract some new runners.

Also, hoping to check out the Commodore 64 version so we can add that to the site as well.

There has been a lot of interest in the Low% and Pacifist runs. I plan on tackling these challenges myself (and hopefully completing them!), but was wondering if the rules could be updated for those categories to answer a few of the questions.

I am happy to have a full discussion of the wording unless you all are happy to come up with something on your own. I'm glad this game is getting a lot of attention lately & more love than it did when it came out!

Hello! The current link in the rules no longer works, though there is still a link for the information on the site, they just updated it. Now it should read https://www.speedrunslive.com/rules-faq/faq#caniemulate

Hopefully I will start posting some runs soon, thanks for your time!

Started up a game this morning (Raspberry Pi v2, lr-nestopia) and mashed through to the game as I usually do.

Immediately, the screen was flashing as if I had cleared 4 lines and it just kept flashing for about 20 seconds. I tried to open my OBS as fast I could to record it, but before I could it was over.

Not sure if this is known, or even useful. Maybe it's interesting at least, just wondering if anyone else has encountered this before in emulation or actual hardware.

Aside from mashing through the start/option screens like I always do, I'm not sure what could have caused this. My best guess is maybe I pressed start on a frame during the demo when the computer had just completed a Tetris and the game got "stuck" flashing? Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you for doing this Chard!

I will be trying again. I hadn't even considered the boss projectiles as being part of the challenge but it makes enough sense to me. I probably would have noticed if they had some point value attached to them, guess I was just excited to make it through the game. Hope everyone enjoys the new category. Updated my video title to reflect the almost ending.

If anyone is interested here is the run I did offline yesterday. I will be doing more attempts live now that I know for certain this can be done.

I have completed a run without killing any enemies (other than the bosses, of course). Would you mind adding a category so I may submit the run? I am more than happy to talk about my strats, and I look forward to other people running this category as well.

I appreciate the honest reply. I definitely believe I can at least complete a single loop, and with a little luck maybe the 2 loop. I also just wanted to know as much as possible for when I run this game next week for a friends Halloween event.

Do the categories allow for you to use the A+Start command to pick up from the level where you game over? Sorry if I missed this information elsewhere, though I did look and could not find any reference to 1cc or anything like it. Thanks, and I look forward to running this mega-classic!

Thank you all for your patience! The board is now live with each ending being tracked as Individual Levels, and a full run category for those who want to find the fastest way to get All Endings. We look forward to watching your runs, have a great time and a Happy Halloween!

Hey everyone! We will be getting the categories set up very soon, just nailing down a few details over the busy weekend. We will update the board ASAP, thank you for showing so much interest already. We look forward to watching/verifying your runs, and appreciate the suggestions!

This is pulled directly from the SpeedDemosArchive KnowledgeBase, which I feel deserves to be distinctly posted here in the forum. My own thoughts on the matter are presented after.

"There are several differences between the ntsc-u and ntsc-j versions. The difficulty of this game (without a walkthrough) is absolutely ludicrous. My guess is that someone tried to tone down the difficulty a notch or two before releasing the game in the US (it's still ridiculous though). Anyways, some items have been moved around, some blocks take more jumps to destroy in the Japanese version etc. For the best ending category, this means that it's meaningless to compare the two versions. For the normal ending, you have to make five block breaking jumps more in the j-version. These extra jumps also mean that an extra mighty coin is needed in the j-version. This equals roughly an additional 3 seconds or so (depending on how fast one is to break blocks). On the other hand, there is a chest in round 17 (room 17-2 to be more exact) that is visible in the j-version but not in the u-version. That room is roughly 1 second faster on the j-version. So overall, the u-version has a few seconds advantage over the j-version, but one should probably not compare the two versions down to the second."

Although the difference in time seems negligible I feel this is enough to cause runners to alter their approach to each version of the game, thereby necessitating a split in the NES & Japan releases. From what I understand there is a possibility that the Europe releases have even more variables so this is being further explored after the NES/Japan category split is finished.

Hello! Stepping in to clean up this board and make it an inviting place for new & returning runners.

Immediate updates include: adding Switch to the platforms as previously requested, and considering new categories specific to the Famicom version as there are significant differences in performance (numbers of jumps to reveal hidden blocks, etc.) which will be further explained in another post here and/or in another section as appropriate.

I will also be adding another mod as I believe every game should have a minimum of two active mods at all times. Let's get this game some more love and everyone have a great time playing it!

Hey all, something I should have done when I added Cauldron% was to update the wording for any% rules.

Some may be confused as to the final text screen, so to clarify: you must "beat the boss" by using an Apply jellybean on the glitched boss room screen. After the Blob transforms back to normal form the final message is displayed and you may stop your timer.

Any other questions or concerns may be directed towards myself :)

The category is Cauldron% with two sub-categories. [credit:Polsvoice]

Based on the any% run except you run right after falling into the credits instead of going left.

As you proceed to the right you will pass through glitch screens that exist solely as continuity for the games mapping. Much exploring could probably be done if anyone is interested, though I currently have no clues.

Keep running right, there is a story that repeats as you proceed that builds on itself as you go further. It is supposed to be a joke though it seems to be translated strangely and is said to be possibly dirty?

As you approach the Cauldron you can either:

Death Warp: Run into the flames and respawn up near the switch.

No Death Warp: Use the Trampoline (or whatever?) to reach the switch without dying.

There is hopefully at least one more category in mind for the future, though it is going to take a fair amount of experimenting/exploring. But for now, please enjoy Cauldron%

I agree with that ruling, and I appreciate you letting it fly for now. I think we will have to get together on a more well-tested emulator and hopefully crack the sub20 mark.

Hello everyone! I am here to breathe some life into this fantastic game, and to do that I will be looking into a possibly new start timing. This game has a similar questionable start timing so I may have to measure the timing from start press to character appearance/control and recommend runners use a delay on their timers. In any case I plan on frame-counting runs just to stay on top of things in the event that the podium becomes a tight race.

Other than the possible new start timing (and the retimes to follow) I would like to try and introduce a new category. Either 100% or All Water Cans, or possibly both? The bonus rounds after the levels/boss fights would be up for debate in 100% because the presents seemed randomized and may possibly make it impossible in certain instances to grab every item.

I would also like to introduce DarthTyrael as a mod. as well, he is someone who can be trusted to uphold the rules and perform timely run verifications to the same golden standard as myself.