Hello there. I have recently taken over as a content moderator, and as such my focus lies particularly on the GB library.

Now, it's no secret that this leaderboard, in particular, is not easy to handle. There's the issue with the different platforms running at different speeds, there are runs potentially done on VBA, etc., many mislabelled runs and, last but not least, many runs without video proof.

The latter point is a philosophical one. I am aware that you require runs under 12 minutes to have video proof these days (which, however, is not universally applied to the current runs on the board). Personally, I find it rather outdated to not require video proof for ANY submission, since almost nobody should have trouble with at least pointing a webcam or a phone camera at a screen. Submissions without proof just carry less meaning and water down the integrity of the board overall. All that said, this is completely up to you as a community, though.

The other points are less ambiguous:

1. I'd like to ask of you to discuss time conversions to a common standard (preferrably, the standard that virtually every other GB game community uses, which is the GB's refresh rate of ~59.7275 Hz, which is universal to all official hardware releases - except SGB - and the accurate emulators). I have provided you with a raw conversion model for how to potentially deal with certain emulator runs (Dream Collection and 3DSVC), based on swordsmankirby's video footage, but have yet not seen a lot of response to that. As a runner, I want to be able to compare my own achievement to the others on the leaderboard on an even ground. Everything else just creates needless tension. It is unfortunate for us that Nintendo's focus is not on accuracy for their emulators, but that's how it is. We, as a speedrun community, have our own priorities and are able to fix the issue for our purposes.

2. I shouldn't even have to mention that runs done on VBA should not appear on a GB leaderboard.

3. The integration of platforms is not exactly well-done on speedrun.com, even at this point in time. On top of that, many GB games were labelled as GBC by default, initially. So the mess we see here is mostly due to that. We're not stuck with this, though, and it's also not the sole reason of mislabelled runs. For Super Mario Land 2, I use a workaround with a custom variable to at least differentiate between the emulators used. It's still not pretty, but it clears up things a lot more. The original platform variable was meant to show the platform the game was released for. Naturally, it was later used to specify which platform the run was PLAYED on, which lead to confusion and to missing options for emulator submissions. A few examples of misnomers:

• GBC[Emu]: should probably be GB[Emu]. It's arguable whether Gambatte could be labelled GBC[Emu], since it uses the GBC palette by default. Going back to the initial point, the platform variable was intended to specify the release platform and both Gambatte and BGB, of course, use their respective GB core to emulate GB games. 2 strong points to support GB[Emu]. Too many words for this almost trivial point, sorry.

• GBP[Emu]: doesn't make any sense

• Wii/WiiU/3DSVC: should be Wii[Emu]/WiiU[Emu]/3DSVC[Emu]. It's software emulation. Period. Doesn't matter if official or something else.

• GBA[Emu]: that would make me think of VBA, probably not what was intended during the submission

• GBC: most of the time probably just left on the default option and/or forgot to tick the [Emu] flag.

So, now it's your turn as moderators and as a community to make this leaderboard a place where people can find accurate information and compare their own efforts against other's. I will help where I can and if you want me to do the cleanup myself instead, I will. Before that, though, I'd like to see an open discussion about the points I brought up above. Moderators, active and inactive runners, people from other communities: anyone's participation is very much appreciated.

I think with VBA we should take a similar approach to what the mega man leaderboards did. Moving forward reject all runs on VBA for this game, but instead of deleting the old runs, just retro-actively going and converting the times to be correct and make a mod note on that run. I think this would reduce some push back even though I THINK all sub12 runs are done on correct emus.

I agree and want to help anyway I can with this. I know a while back (month or so ago) I went through and converted times to what they should or would be pending platform ran on: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13dyKDQbsXdxk5MTHP16HGF8Tctn-IEKYZn9hnQyD5pk/edit

I believe the 3dsvc and Kirby Dream Collection still needs further research but I have a time convert up there as a baseline conversion.

First off, I'm glad the KDL leaderboards are getting some much needed attention. I know that a lot of people dismiss KDL as a serious speedgame, but there are a few of us who do take it seriously and would like to compete on a level playing field.

Regarding video proof: I am for requiring video proof for all runs. In my opinion, if you want to submit a time to the leaderboard, I don't think it's too much trouble to ask you to put in a little effort to provide video proof of your time. There are plenty of free or low cost ways to record your run, including using a cheap webcam/phone camera or playing on an approved emulator (how I got started in speedrunning).

Regarding VBA runs: I think it would be best to delete existing VBA runs. It's fairly common knowledge that VBA is not allowed for GB speedruns, even if a game's rules don't explicitly ban it. For people who might get upset about having their VBA run removed, I don't think it's too much trouble to ask them to submit a run using one of the acceptable emulators. Overall though, dealing with existing VBA runs is a minor issue. If the rest of the community is against deleting them, I won't stand in the way. I think there are much bigger issues to focus our efforts on, and I don't want to see us waste too much energy arguing over VBA.

Regarding KDC/3DSVC: There's not a perfect solution here. Having played KDL1 using both GBP and KDC, I feel like the inaccuracies in emulation extend beyond load times and framerate. I know Oh_DeeR is working on getting some video examples to see how DC/VC handle lag, so we'll hopefully know something more definite soon.

I'm not a huge fan of allowing inaccurate emulators on the leaderboard, regardless of if they're official releases or not (just a thought: from a commercial standpoint, it actually makes sense for Nintendo to focus on performance over accuracy when it comes to emulating their VC titles. Most of the people who purchase VC games are playing in a casual setting and would value a smooth, lag-free playing experience over accuracy). On the other hand, I can't say that I would support an outright ban on KDC/3DSVC, and I don't really like the idea of having separate leaderboards that no one cares about. I certainly don't like the idea of leaving DC/VC times unconverted. As Oh_DeeR said in his other post, speedrunning should be about comparing skill with others, not about who is playing on the fastest platform.

Unless some profound inaccuracy is found, I think applying a conversion factor to runs on DC/VC is the fairest way to handle platform differences.

Finally, thank you Oh_DeeR, eBloodyCandy, swordsmankirby, and everyone else who is putting effort into this. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.