There is perfect consensus on what constitutes a glitch, the source code is public information and most of it has comments from hackers now. The issue is that there's dozens of things you can do that are not glitches, such as spindashing through doors or jumping through stairs. If you want to ban those, you have to be very specific about what you mean since there's instances where it's completely intentional. To use your example of Hydrocity we can conclude that jumping through some solid objects are completely intentional as evidenced by a spring that cannot be reached in any other way other than jumping through the blue dry waterslides. Doing that works exactly in the same way as jumping through stairs in other places.

Also speaking of hydrocity there's a handful of places where subpixels make you clip through quarterpipes unintentionally (which technically is not a glitch either btw), so how should a glitchless category handle that happening?

As it stands, if we were to add a glitchless category it most likely wouldn't be like anything you currently have in mind.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a very deep and complex game with lots of neat tricks. It is also a very buggy game. For the past few years it's been a personal desire of mine and several others to have a glitchless category for speedrunning, but no matter how much we try we can not come up with a concise and meaningful definition which in turn means it can not be added as a category.

If we define glitches as errors in the execution of the code then glitchless still leaves all the zips and wraps which is not what most people would think of with this category.

If we make a list of glitches and tricks that are not allowed, we would first need to agree on what to include and not to include (and there is no such consensus at the moment). Then if we could agree we would most likely end up with a large and confusing list full of very specific cases.

Additionally, glitches and similar issues just sort of happen in this game on a regular basis and there's currently no protocol for handling rare or edge-cases. Also it would royally suck to void a good run because of a random occurence that ruin it.

With all this said, please don't feel discouraged from doing runs of glitchless as you see fit. Glitchless run submissions are perfectly valid for the existing categories and the main issue here is agreeing on how to define the category to make as many as possible happy. If eventually a true category starts to form, we might reconsider.

Regards, TimpZ.

I've done runs of just S3 before but I don't have a video of it anymore.

Some categories for this game has pretty few submissions and part of the reason might be the length and difficulty of both games together. But to add just S3 could mean adding S&K as well as potentially 100% meaning 8 new categories...

If enough people do competitive runs we can add it, but we need genuine interest first.

DS has version differences so I don't think it would fall under any existing categories.

Speaking of, there is only 1 accepted version and that is the original on Genesis in unedited form. You can play on PAL or emulator or even the Steam release if you choose however. You can refer to the list of consoles on the left to see what alternatives exist.

Since EMU's are allowed Everdrives with ROMs are too.

Very happy with these rules, well done :). And I see you added an IL board despite saying here you wouldn't, I think this is a good choice.

Now all we can do is hope any patched glitches are offset with skippable cutscenes ;).

Wow I've never seen that before.

My best guess would be that you accidentally jumped just before hitting him and him unloading the very next frame so that him dying was delayed until he came back.

Alternatively some really funky stuff happened which made you airborne just before hitting him and again him storing the hit somehow.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

I made an amendment to the rule regarding emulators today. Technically all the rereleases on Wii VC, Gamecube, PS3, XBOX collections, Steam etc are emulators as well but I don't think anyone is arguing to ban the official ways of playing the game. Therefore I added the word "unofficial" when referring to legal emulators to use for competition. Official versions of the game are all fine provided they are unaltered.

I sat down with an emulator to test some things out.

TL;DR for speed you want to: hold right always jump for 1 frame release as quickly as possible on the frame you land you need to hold jump but just holding it while you land is fine. (for a 1 frame jump the frame you land will be the 21st frame) 5 frames after you land you're allowed to jump again and you can repeat 1 frame jumps like this

Another tidbit is that you can cancel your bark animation on the 2nd (or 3rd?) frame after landing with a crouch and then do a new jump on the 5th frame after landing and continue to jump without loosing any speed.

Here's a graph of your current speed in subpixels (sp) against the time (f) in frames: http://imgur.com/xs0ihkB

From what I can gather the halfword in $C80 in the WRAM is your pixel speed on that frame and the halfword in $C27 is your subpixel speed. In the graph these two are added together assuming a pixel has 256 subdivisions and then plotted against the frame count during jumps.

To gather the distance traveled you need to calculate the area that the trapezoid covers but I have not bothered to do that since I feel it's obvious that the red covers a larger area than the blue although the difference isn't huge. The difference is much larger when you compare them from standstill: http://imgur.com/fgKvoSS . In this graph you can also see that whenever you're falling you're accelerating towards your aerial horizontal max speed (~$400-$410 or $200 or 500 sp/f). If you exceed it you'll decelerate at the same pace. Jumping usually gives a large speed boost unless you're close to certain objects which will reset your speed to 0 if you jump. Also if you fail to hold jump when landing your speed will lower significantly.

Some other interesting addresses found: $177E - X position? $17D8 - Y position $17DE - first enemy slot Y position? $1F5C - Seem to work as a timer for a gravity switch when jumping $1628 - HP $15C6 - Lives $1F92 - Bark Charge (starts at 0, +1 for every frame held, infinite?) $162A - Timer for water powerup until evaporation (720 f) $1654 - Timer count $1656 - Frames until next decrease of Timer (180 f) $15B6 - Current level in order, $7 triggers credits, higher values crashes game after some nice glitchyness. If you can find a way to alter this value you could wrong warp between levels and to the credits ;).

Here's a quick TAS of the first level:

That's all for now.

Tompa; The hero we don't deserve!

My plan is to brush up on some Sonic and submit but I wonder if I should get some practice and perhaps even PB's before submitting or if I should just submit and then try to opt out as early as possible if I don't feel up to the task. Like Eagle I'm also planning to attend the Melee event but hopefully it won't be a problem considering the game is only 20 minutes.

There is no consensus on how to time "all emeralds" (although real-time seems to be the standard) and other categories like "no zips" are arbitrary with no clear preferred categories by the community.

I think that category inflation is bad for a game so I wouldn't agree to any restriction categories until it's decided by the community to be the de-facto "glitchless" category. "All emeralds" I'm fine with adding if enough people can agree on a timing method.

EDIT: The rules have changed since this was posted and therefore it's not up to date anymore.

I clarified the rule regarding captured emulator footage to be "For runs using emulators the entire screen of the emulator used, including the window border, must be captured and the game must be visibly hard resetted before a run."

The reason for the existence of this rule is to weed out fake runs with less effort. You can still crop your video and put on YT or anywhere else if you'd like as long as you have an original containing what is asked of by this rule.

If anyone wants to know more or have a better suggestion then feel free to tell.

I clarified the rule regarding captured emulator footage to be "For runs using emulators the entire screen of the emulator used, including the window border, must be captured and the game must be visibly hard resetted before a run."

The reason for the existence of this rule is to weed out fake runs with less effort. You can still crop your video and put on YT or anywhere else if you'd like as long as you have an original containing what is asked of by this rule.

If anyone wants to know more or have a better suggestion then feel free to tell.

EDIT: The rules have since been changed and this post is not up to date anymore.

I clarified the rule regarding captured emulator footage to be "For runs using emulators the entire screen of the emulator used, including the window border, must be captured and the game must be visibly hard resetted before a run."

The reason for the existence of this rule is to weed out fake runs with less effort. You can still crop your video and put on YT or anywhere else if you'd like as long as you have an original containing what is asked of by this rule.

If anyone wants to know more or have a better suggestion then feel free to tell.

While I do think Air Ride 100 checkboxes and Top Ride all tracks TA could be added to keep consistency, most of the categories you suggested would be dead from any real competition and seem very arbitrary.

I've never seen absinthe when I was at Systembolaget and I've heard from various people that took it into the country that they had to sneak it in. In any case I might be wrong as of recent since I haven't tried :p.

Rought, quick translation of Alko's link:

Absinthe was the fashion drink in France in the late 1800's. Blablabla sugar and "wormwood/absint" makes it taste ok. It's also green. Around the year 1900 consumption increased and few cared about the health implications. Some even thought it was a cure for alcoholism.

Absinthe was said to tickle the inspiration and many artists took it since it was deemed unharmful such as Gogh, Gauguin, Munch, Strindberg and Picasso. The actor Falander said "it minimises your pain, slow your thoughts, take away memories and suppresses honest feelings which invites people to act upon lunatic ideas and ends with extinguishing the light of reason."

Blablabla the devils advocate and wormwood causes insanity and makes you see things.

Blablabla absinthe is toxic and was ultimately banned in France. An alcohol-anti-lobby was formed in France and other countries followed.

The myth about the green fairy has captivated people since it was forbidden but since thujone was removed in the drink it has started to become legal again. Even if it wasn't sold in Sweden it wasn't sold here for many years. Nowadays you can buy it at Systembolaget, a symbol since 19th century decadent France.

Never been to Sweden? Visiting from a country with true freedom? This is the guide for you!

First off, don't buy any tourist guides or tourist translation books. You can get guides for free in the town centers or on the webpages of the towns and Swedes are very good at English. Many might not be very well versed in speaking it due to lack of practice but they understand damn near everything. In fact, if you try to translate for us it will be harder for us to understand 99% of the time. We're pretty bad at most languages other than Swedish or English though.

Swedes are friendly and helpful, but shy and passive depressive. If you're being ignored, you're doing something right. If you're doing something bad you'll get bad looks but few if anyone is going to confront you about it. Just leave quickly and all will be fine. If you want to talk or get help with directions or where to get things, you need to go up and start the conversation yourself.

If you're a smoker, try to bring what you need before travelling. A pack of cigarettes is about 5-6 € although available in every corner and general store. If you roll yourself, papers are quite common but the selection often scarce, filters and rolling tobacco can be quite hard to find.

In Sweden we also have "Snus" which is a form of wet tobacco powder you roll up and put in your upper gums. It can be likened to smoking 5-10 cigarettes at once for the stronger varieties. If you want to try it's recommended to use the variant in pouches first called "portion".

Alcohol is controlled by a state monopoly called "Systembolaget". 3.5% and down can be found in normal stores but for anything stronger you need to visit this shop usually open mon-wed 10-18, thu-fri 10-20 and sat 11-15. Times do vary a bit but only by an hour or so. They are also far and few between. A box of wine typically cost 15-25€, bottled wine the same but with less content, beer about 1-3€ a can for ½L, liqueur maybe 20€ and up. Absinthe and other very strong beverages are illegal to buy and import. Nothing else is sold here except non-alcoholic beverages. Age is restricted to 18 for 3,5% and in bars while 20 in Systembolaget. Expect to show ID if you're under 30.

Being drunk in public is totally fine but if you behave badly or is having trouble walking you can be taken care of by police and put in a cell for the night to sleep it off. Drinking in public is illegal but at worst the alcohol will be confiscated or poured out unless you have very large amounts. Police presence is also pretty scarce so be smart and you'll be fine as people in general won't care much. Bring change in the case of having to go to the toilet, public free toilets barely exist anymore if at all.

Fast food is generally expensive. In the southern part a pizza usually costs 5-8 € and further north 7-10 €. McDonalds, Burger King and the Swedes own Max can be cheaper but for a full meal it's usually not. Frozen varieties are more recommended if you want to eat cheap without cooking.

Don't throw cans and PET-bottles! In Sweden we have "Pant" which is basically you paying extra when buying a can and then getting the money back when returning it. If you don't care enough about the money put them in the pant-bins/bags in the venue.

Finally there's a law in Sweden called "allemansrätten" loosely translated as "every mans right". It means that if you want to you can camp on public or privately owned land for 1 day & night as long as it's not close to buildings and you clean up after yourself, don't make fires or otherwise damage the land. It's also restricted by farm land and parks etc. You can also pick some fruits or berries if you find it for yourself to eat, but don't enter someones garden or farm to do it.

you can add the ones listed here that aren't added yet http://www.reddit.com/r/freedomplanet/comments/2kep9b/speedruns_and_individual_level_times/