Yes, we have finally come to this moment. Any form of manipulation is hereby banned. Every category will be merged together with it's appropriate category. The reason behind this are as follows.

First, As of August 3rd, 2024, the world record for both categories of any% do not use the manipulation. The other categories are not as optimized so it does not matter.

Second, over the last several months, there have been a lot more no manipulation submissions than manipulation submissions. To me it appears that most runners of the game prefer to not use it.

Third, the manipulation uses a save state for quick resets. This is not allowed under the rules of speedrun.com and therefore should have never been allowed in the speedrun.

Fourth, through findings by Exonym while he was working on a TAS for this game, it is absolutely possible to beat all the manipulation times on the leaderboard. Now is perhaps the best time to ban the strategy. Basically, preventing an impossible to beat run from appearing on the leaderboard because of the one second saved from the manipulation and all the new techs.

Fifth and final reason, this will keep the integrity of the speedrun by keeping the playing field the same for all runners.

The timing rules will remain the same as you are to show the previous runs conclusion or the start up. All runs submitted before August 3rd, 2024 will remain on the leaderboards. It's only fair because those runs were accepted during the time the manipulation was acceptable. I do have to note that a run can no longer be restarted from a game over screen. That is a new rule to prevent any inconsistency with the first level.

While I may be the Super Mod for this game, I am not at all qualified to be one. I have never speedrun the game nor have I ever planned to. I'm making this post because I want to hand over that responsibility. I have modded flower because he is the world record holder for multiple categories and has a lot more knowledge about this game than I do. The option is open to whomever else wants to do it. If you would like to be a mod, please let me know!

With that being said, I will no longer be reviewing runs for this game. It's not fair for any of you to have someone like me accept/reject them.

The rule is as follows: All submissions require video evidence which are to include the last few seconds of your previous attempt and the subsequent power on/reset. The performance must be included in its entirety.

I've already had a run not follow that rule. The objective of this post is to clarify what is to be expected going forward.

When you start your recording, you must include the power on or reset. You can't just start your recording at the title screen and start the run from there. You are not showing the last few seconds of your previous attempt, and you are not showing the powering on of the game. This will result in your run being rejected.

Powering on the game via emulator: Please include the loading of the rom in the emulator. Have the emulator screen in view while it loads. Should have a distinct clicking sound.

Powering on the game via flash cart: Please include starting the game from the flash cart menu.

Powering on the game via cart/repro cart: Have your video capture device showing the screen go from blank to copyright screen. May have a distinct clicking sound.

Resetting: You have to reset using the emulator functions or the reset button on the NES system. You can't reset by saying "yes" or "no" on the continue screen. You must include the last few seconds of that last attempt so that we mods know for sure that you reset the game. Otherwise, you the runner are the only one who knows that information. You can't use save states to reset.

Best ways to avoid run rejection? (My advice) -Once you start your recording, just do a soft reset immediately. That will satisfy the condition for this rule. A soft reset results in the same outcome as powering on the game. -It's best to include too much video of a run than not enough but don't get carried away with it. This applies to the "run." I don't need the set up or layout placement for your stream. I ask for 1-10 seconds of your previous attempt, and a run that satisfies all conditions. I always include credits in my runs, so I leave that up to you the runner to include that. We can always trim off extra footage if needed.

Now that this post has been made, we will not be accepting anymore runs that don't follow this rule. Good luck!

Hello. I have a question regarding a rule that we use for Flintstones 2 on NES. The rule is that a save state is allowed only if we are using a save state to set up a manipulation to be used in the first level of the game. It involves a game over which sends you back to the title screen which then leads to the start of a run. This manipulation can be done on console, but it takes two to three minutes to set up.

Before you post "ask the mods for the game." I am a mod for this game. I made this rule in an effort to cut time from setting each run up. I did this on console till I got an Everdrive. Pretty much every runner for this game has done runs on emulator so this rule hasn't been an issue. I've seen comments saying that this sort of thing provides an unfair advantage to non-console players and should not be allowed. The rules on the site say emulator functions are not allowed, but the same rules say that it can be allowed if mods explicitly say it's allowed. I don't like this answer because on one hand it sounds like we are cheating. On the other hand it sounds like we are fine only because I said so. I'd like information from other people not connected to this game. Do I continue to allow this rule to stand or should using a save state be banned?

A runner asked for a discord. There isn't one as far as I know, so I made one. Use this server to discuss strategies regarding Flintstones games. https://discord.gg/REhfHHd

Before I explain the rule change, please allow me to explain where I stand on the subject of completing a game. Completing a game is when the player does all that is required to see the ending or credits screen. Meaning that the very last input used in the game is what leads to the end.

We had the rule for time being when the text box appears after the mama dinosaur fight. I've come to find out, that text box will NEVER progress on it's own to the ending. Additional inputs are needed from the player to start the ending. Therefore, we cannot have time being when the text box appears.

This is the new timing rule. Stop the timer when the text box starts to disappear after the final input. This can be done by pressing the start button or pressing any button to skip through the text. I recommend pressing start because it is faster.

Obviously this isn't fair to all the current runners of the game because most times on the board have been going by the previous rule. I will be making an exception to the rule because of that. Any run that was submitted before December 2, 2018 is going to be exempt from this rule change. Any run submitted from now on must follow the new rule.

What are the timing rules for this game. Is it on first input to start or the moment you gain control of the character? Either way, a mod should add that information to the rules for the game.

So the game I was planning to run is Mario Party. The category I was going to start is credits%, which requires the player to obtain 100 stars throughout the course of the run. The dumb mechanic of this game is that it doesn't award stars that the computer players have picked up. The solution for this is to switch the computers to players so that the game gives you the stars. Which leads into my question. Is it considered cheating if I map all four to my one controller? Or can I just activate the controllers and use no input on three? Having four controllers reduces the run by several hours. Please let me know.