First Speed Run Attempt
6 years ago
England

Hi! I'm completely new to the world of speed running, and live streaming for that matter, and I thought Alex Kidd would be a good place to start. I'm nearly at a point where I should start recording my runs, as I'm getting quite good now (so long as I make it past that blooming glitch on Lv 11).

I choose to do the run on my Master System console, as I prefer the clunkyness of the control pad; it makes a few jumps a bit easier, plus, when I press Down+Right while swimming on an emulator, I can't punch for some reason, which ruins my Lv 1 attempts.

So, I've just bought (and waiting to arrive) a modded RGB Master System which also has a 50/60hz toggle switch (Alex Kidd bios). I've also bought a Dazzle Avid DVC100 capture recording device. I'm hoping this will be enough to capture my footage? I'm also guessing that I should upload my runs as NTSC, seeing as I'll be running on 60hz (even though it's a PAL console).

Any advice for a noob would be appreciated :)

Edited by the author 6 years ago
United States

That all sounds just about right.

As far as the capture goes, you'll need to be able to capture composite or S-video for your dazzle to work. Capturing RGB is a huge money and time sink I wouldn't approach if you're new and not sure if it's the thing to you.

As for submissions, yes, you'd want to submit as NTSC-US as I assume you're playing the BIOS version. There may be some minor differences (aside from the Hamburger and button swap) but unless there's a major discrepancy all the 60Hz versions go together.

This site doesn't really handle PAL/NTSC/50/60Hz the way I'd like it to, so for now, don't worry about it and submit as NTSC-U.

England

Cheers for the reply.

If I can't find a way to stream directly from my SMS, then I'll have to go with the emu route, which I don't mind, I just need to find a way around the fact that I cannot punch while swimming and pushing down+right. Any ideas?

I guess I'll just have to wait until my modded sms arrives then take it from there. I have the time to learn how to get everything set up, and I have an amount of cash I can throw at this thing, especially seeing as live-streaming is something I want to get into, and streaming directly from my retro consoles would be much more preferable than from emu's.

Today I'll be setting up Wsplit and a few other tools. The youtube vids I've watched do not seem too complicated.

United States

What emulator are you using? Kega Fusion is a well-accepted emulator for SMS games.

If you're using keyboard then you might not have enough of a key rollover (how many keys you can have register at a time).

England

I've tried using Regen and Fusion, although I stick with Fusion as it is more stable.

Annoyingly, my modded SMS has come with an intermittent Pause button, which means I cannot rely on it for my speed runs (the last dungeon skip requires a frame perfect pause), so I guess I'll stick to using an emulator. Now I know why it was cheap. There are more professional mods out there for more than twice the price (I paid £40). My SMS also has bad sound quality, like it isn;t earthed; there is a low level humming noise in the background.

I am using a keyboard at the min, so I guess my next step would be to buy a PC Control Pad? The thing is, I can punch if holding Down+Left+Punch, plus Up+Left+Punch, plus Up+Right+Punch. It's only Down+Right+Punch that doesn't work, which is really annoying as I need those buttons to work on the first level. I lose too much time otherwise. All other levels are fine, it's just the 1st

Edited by the author 6 years ago
United States

The pause button is on console for Master System.

You won't get any sympathy from me for not wanting to use original equipment ;p

England

I know lol. I have to sit with the console on my lap to be able to pause the game when I need to haha

France

Haha indeed i remember that this pause button is the worst ever made GL For your runs Dyna !

England

Well, I came back to this about four days ago, and I finally finished a run :) :) 3rd place on glitches.

Quick question regarding the timer though, I've used Real Time instead of in-game time, does that means that I am supposed to knock 3.5 seconds from my end-time? This is the first run I have submitted, so I'm still a bit of a noob. My final time was 11:06.11.

I can definitely improve on that time, but for now I'm gonna learn the two levels for glitchless and give myself a break from frame perfect bs lol.