Hi all,

I'm planning to run all of the Zapper games for the NES. I've already done two ("Barker Bill's Trick Shooting" and "Gotcha! The Sport!".) with the emulator Mesen 0.0.6. Mesen displays your crosshairs target on the screen so you know exactly where the player is pointing and shooting. It's clear in my experience so far that there are no advantages to mouse point-and-click, so I'm asking that emulator (at least those with visible crosshairs) be unbanned so that we can post speedrun times as well. If video proof of the size of the game on the PC screen is required also, then that is fine with me. You can either require webcam proof or a streamlabs scene that shows the full display of the monitor where the game is being played, either right before or after the run. Thanks for the consideration!

Hi all,

I've added milliseconds for Win% since the runs on the board are so tight, the new WR is a new second barrier, and there's no reason not to have the runs be timed to milliseconds. All existing runs will be re-timed.

Hi Ikki community,

I keep getting this guy twice in stage 3, and he sticks to me for about 4-5 seconds. I notice that the top 3 runners get a much slower guy that does not stick to you. What is the trick? Is there a Start Screen manipulation? I can't compete with this guy always getting me! Thanks!

would love to play it

See title. Two more games to choose from. Oh, the joy!

Hi all,

I've recently taken over mod responsibilities for this game. I've always had some concern with the wording of the rules, so I'm adding some clarity, particularly around the start and end frames. This will impact previously submitted times and I will be retiming the board. See notes below.

On 10/12/23, I added that a reset or power cycle is required for runs effective that date.

Milliseconds in Runs: For Hard, milliseconds will only be required for runs under 14 minutes. For Easy, milliseconds will only be required for runs under 3:10. All times will be updated accordingly in this process.

Start Frame: Will be changed from "starts the frame hit "start game"" to "the first frame of fadeout after pressing Start". This is a clear, objective signal that the game has begun.

End Frame: Will be changed from "ends the frame you lose control after destroying final boss" to "the first frame of fadeout after defeating the final boss". This is my biggest concern because if someone stands still, you cannot tell when they lose control. The first frame of fadeout is clear and objective.

This change in End Frame will ultimately impact a considerable number of top runs with milliseconds submitted. It appears to be around 100 milliseconds. However, I think it will set things right and make the timing more objective for me and future mods.

With this said, a recent submission of 2:59 came in, though it was actually a 2:59.9xx, which would be second to the current 2:59 WR. I reviewed both times under my planned frame count criteria. The new time is 3:00.067, and the current WR held by St4nzzz is 3:00.400. An accurate frame count with the old rules likely would've timed it around 3:00.300. The new submitted time was going to be the new WR anyway, but this will provide objective verification.

With all this said, in the coming week, I'll retime all 84 active and obsolete times on the board and make a comment in each applicable submission note mentioning the new rule and revised time with milliseconds, then will update the actual run time if needed.

Hey Aaron,

I'm planning to do a 100% run after I finished 25% and 50%. I see 75% is blank. I'm wondering if we need that category? 25% and 50% make sense because it allows people to dig into the game, get their taste, and move on without toiling with the later stages. From there, it seems like with 75%, you might as well finish the game. I know I specifically won't do a 75% only but instead do a 100%. But then I would submit my 75% time off that 100% run. I'm not looking for free WR's, and I don't think anyone will come in and do a pure 75% run, so I say we drop it. But open to your thoughts!

Hey UA runners,

After chatting with Beardstrength, I wanted to gather thoughts on the rule that states you can only use one credit. As far as I can tell, the times on the board are competitive enough that there is no strategic value in taking a death at any point in the runs.

The value I can theoretically see in taking a death would be at the very beginning of a stage (stage 4 after sprinting through the stage 3 slimes, stage 9 to rush through the final stage 8 slorb) so that you can get double jump back. For the current competitive times, it would be too much time spent to make the run competitive. Taking a death would be not applicable in Any%, and, again, non-advantageous in OOB% and 100% as far as I can tell.

Conversely, as a newer runner to this game, being required to finish a run deathless could demotivate people from posting runs. Allowing people to enter credits will encourage them to power through to the end and then learn how to beat it deathless.

Let me know if I'm missing a strategy that this will allow that makes the existing times non-competitive. Otherwise, we should remove the rule for 100% and OOB%.

Oh... and the worst thing that could happen is a successful run being nullified because someone chose 2 credits instead of 1 to start. Yikes!

Is it okay to reach the 100k after the white flash when you get bonus points, thus ending the run when you get 100k, or does it have to be 100k before the white flash?

I made some modifications to the timing and am going to refine them further, which has been okay'd by JKLoser.

Start Frame - Will now be the first frame the screen goes blank after pressing start on the start screen. This is because it is difficult to tell the first frame that the Start button was pressed.

Final Frame - Will now be the first frame the screen goes blank after time runs out on the final stage and the character does a celebratory jump. This is because additional stars can be collected if the character is in the air after time runs out, which should count toward the final time.

The runs on the board as of 5/4/23 will be retimed accordingly.

Howdy,

Recently, my nes run of the demo version was rejected with the statement that this os reserved for the full version. Unfortunately, there is no indication that there ever will be a full version. I know of at least one other person who has completed demo version runs and several others who would likely follow suit. The demo is fun, has 3 stages, and is lengthy enough to attract homebrew runners. Id be glad to mod the nes demo version. I think it will bring some energy to this board. Otherwise, i see the board standing as a single run on a single platform. Glad to be involved. Thanks for your time!

Hi Arborelia!

I know I have a legacy run and updated run pending, and I was thinking an update to the rules would be very helpful. There may be a few more runners in the future as I ran this as part of a DOSember event.

1. In the game rules, it would be good to add the link to Classicreload, as it's mentioned in the other thread posted here but not in the games rules stating it is eligible.

2. Currently, the rules state that the settings SHOULD be displayed. I'm thinking an update saying "effective 1/1/23, settings MUST be displayed (at the end of the run is acceptable)". That way, we can be sure the settings align with the category.

Thank you for the consideration! -Zarc

Note for future runners. Check your fps. I was having trouble getting a good time. I compared my run to others and the music was going much slower and i was leaving the first screen even a 1/2 second behind. Turns out mesen wqs set to default region, which this game translated as PAL (50 fps). Once i set it to ntsc instead of auto, i was all set. So check your emulator and the region setting (should be ntsc) and display your fps (should be 60) and you'll be in a level playing field.

I'm stumped! >D

Hey all,

Recently, I've been playing Balloon Fight, where you don't reset because of bad RNG on the first run post-reset. So you just start over after you die... well... I just found this in UA. I think we reconvene the rules so we SKIP THAT DAMN INTRO!!!!!!

Opening this thread for current runners to collaborate on categories. Here are my thoughts:

1. Any% - T1shero found a glitch on stage 1 where you fall through the ground, walk left while off screen, and the credits run. Its about 7 seconds.

2. NOOB% - If you glitch out of any stage (we've found it possible in at least stages 1, 2, and 3), then the run is dead. You have to complete the obstacles within bounds through the 9 stages.

3. OOB% - or some equivalent name. This allows you to go out of bounds (like the stages mentioned above) but you can only go right to proceed to the next stage. We've confirmed this saves at least 7 seconds through the first 3 stages and maybe more.

There's a case to combine 2 and 3 in the proposal above, but it will deter folks that may not be able to or want to glitch a run to beat it and submit a time, and they will never be near the top.

Thoughts?