New (misc.) categories?
5 years ago
Germany

Hey there! SML2's 26th anniversary is drawing closer and with that it's been at least 1 year since I and a few others came up with a few fun speedrun categories. They'd be listed under a "Misc" tab, together with Small Mario only. Some of them are at least as interesting as some of the main ones, imo. It turns out that if there's no leaderboard for them, nobody's even aware that they exist and that's the reason for this thread. I'm gonna list a few candidates, including a short explanation for each and then you can vote here:

http://www.strawpoll.me/16578828

Jackpot% ...is a short and (arguably) fun category similar to Any%. The goal is to get to 99 lives as quickly as possible, utilizing the 999-coins pipe in the casino. Glitches are allowed.

999 Coins (no level repeat) ...is by far the most diverse category. The goal is to collect 999 coins as quickly as possible without entering levels more than once and without using glitches. What makes this particularly fun to attempt is the wide variety of possible routes. I am faily certain that the optimal route has not been found yet.

Low% Coins ...is another glitchless category (because it would be trivial otherwise). The goal is to beat the game while collecting as few (regular) coins as possible. It is not possible to avoid coins altogether which is why I think this category should be timed dynamically with a fixed penalty of 10 seconds per collected coin.

No Shoot/Run Button ...is rather self-explanatory. It's also intended as a glitchless category and assumes that you never press the button that lets you run and shoot until you defeat Wario.

All Bosses ...could also be called Beat Wario or Any%(no credits warp). The goal is - surprise: to beat Wario after having gained access to the castle by beating all 6 bosses. Glitches are allowed.

Pacifist ...is another self-explanatory and glitchless category. The goal is to beat the game with exactly 5 kills on the kill counter (killing the 5 floating faces in the castle cannot be avoided, boss kills don't add to the count). Whether this category should be fixed to that count or a per-kill penalty should be added, comparable to the Low% Coins category, is up for discussion.

Feel free to suggest your own ideas and/or comment on my suggestions! And, of course, don't forget to vote in the strawpoll!

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Pear, pianistman and 7 others like this
Texas, USA

Some other category ideas I had: Small Mario Max% Any% Fireless Any% Carrotless

Oh_DeeR likes this
Germany

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm just gonna point out a few things that come to mind about them. It's in no way meant to shoot ideas down; just some thoughts I have while mentally going through those runs.

[quote=Uvideo]Small Mario Max%[/quote] Interesting suggestion, but I see a few issues with this one:

  • It would extend the existing small Mario category by only 4 (possibly 5, see below) levels (Tree B, Tree secret, overworld autoscroller, Space secret)
  • 2 of those levels would be trivial/annoying ones (Space and overworld)
  • Generally, Macro, Pumpkin, Mario (and potentially Turtle, see below) Zone would remain completely unchanged
  • Finishing Turtle Zone secret would require a starman to traverse the last spike pit, which is perfectly doable via killing the turtle right before it as your 100th enemy, but can be seen as rather bothersome and make the category less attractive to some runners. Excluding this one would be a consideration, but then it just gets arbitrary and further lessens the already low distinctiveness of this category.

[quote=Uvideo]Any% Fireless[/quote]

  • I assume this is meant as a glitchless category.
  • The main distinctions of this would be slower boss kills and not being able to use the Macro Zone shortcut.
  • A minor distinction would be that managing the kill count would become more challenging - an interesting thought in theory.
  • It would involve a lot of carrot usage, which could be seen as trivializing the run.
  • Lag reduction via carrot usage might even outweight the potential time save via the 100th kill starman, which would invalidate my 2nd point and trivialize the run again.

[quote=Uvideo]Any% Carrotless[/quote]

  • Assuming glitchless again.
  • Let's go over where the carrot is actually (ab)used in the regular run and what the difference would be: · Tree 2, lower path (the upper path is actually a few seconds faster and not trivial) · Tree Left (would look similar to small Mario strats, just with the option to kill enemies in your way more easily) · Tree 5 (mostly small Mario strats would apply, except for having to wait at the first gap) · Pumpkin 4 (trivial differences, no witch "quick" kill setup) · Mario Zone would be done before Turtle Zone · Mario 3 (similar to small Mario strats, possible i-frame abuse trivializes the 1st part) · Turtle 1 (the biggest deviation from the regular run, fireflower trivializes the level, though, making swim speed manipulation the biggest factor in this one) · Turtle 2 (turtle stairs setup slightly different, 1 less i-frame abuse at the end, or none at all) · Turtle 3 (different setup for the gates, rest identical)

My verdict: the 1st suggestion doesn't seem distinct enough, the other 2 sound interesting.

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Uvideo likes this
Germany

After having let this sit for a few days, one thing is clear: the general (and unanimous) consensus is to add misc. categories. Out of the available options, each was supported by a majority of the total voters, respectively. Since there doesn't seem to be a clear bias towards particular ones, I'm just gonna add them all. Further categories might be added along the way if there's demand for them.

Germany

What about "Small Mario Glitchless Jackpot without running"

Germany

I'm eagerly awaiting your run submission. ^_^