Oh, great updates! Thanks very much. I agree with removing the Any%, since I never felt like "Leave Pass" was actually beating the game... felt closer to a death run.

Starting timer at console start makes sense. Starting with movement doesn't really work with the tutorial very well.

Ending at the Samurai Index is easy to see, hear, and hit. Sounds perfect to me.

I did an easy Ending1 run starting from Character Selection screen until Samurai Index. Is this the first ever New Game run of this game? I'm not aware of any other runs made public as of right now?

But if we decide here on Console Start to Samurai Index I'll do future runs like that.

Is there a reason for this?

Banning emulators solves a problem Way of the Samurai doesn't have (cheating), and exacerbates the only problem it does have (nobody plays it).

I am doing runs of this game in 2018, with someone I know who is also running it. We run New Game Any% (i.e. Leave Pass) and New Game Ending#1. I just submitted a New Game Any%, 3mins 19 seconds: . Admittedly, it's far from optimized, but it's an initial benchmark, and I submitted partly just to see if a New Game Ending1 run (which I do in about 45mins) recorded on emulator would be accepted.

Speedrun rules are run by the community, right? So it makes sense to listen to the only folks active in the game... especially given that there are a grand total of five submissions across three categories.

My suggestion: let us submit to a separate EMU category. I'll mod that category and even write more explicit rules for the console categories, i.e. distinguishing NG and NG+, clarifying start/stop parameters, require audio, etc..

It makes sense to have a mod who is an active runner and I would be able to setup the EMU categories (NG/NG+, Difficulty, Ending, kinda like how WotS3 does it). We are also thinking of challenging each other in "Harvest Samurai" a run where you race to see who can eat all items on the map and Leave the Pass first. Gotta hunt all the mushrooms etc... I wouldn't bother making the category until there are runs to submit to it, but it would be fun to add that if it happens, and it would be convenient if I were a mod and could easily accomplish that.

Sounds good?

I think he's asking for a new category to be created where you must win with "all factions", and I guess he counts four factions. Not sure why United China is included but Co-Prosperity Sphere and all the others are not.

The EQ glitch is disallowed and you must play in version 1.4.2...

I cannot decode "viable segment?" Two possible interpretations occur to me. It might mean, "Do you think this is a good idea for a new category?" or it might have something to do with the logistics of such a category - would it need to be done all at once as a real-time attack, or could it be done in segments? But since he is inventing this category, it would be strange for him to ask this question... so I assume he's asking if this is a good idea for a new category.

I don't speak for the moderators, but I assume a good category is whatever enough people are interested in running.

Got it! I should have looked through the rules more carefully, but I appreciate the quick replies. Thanks very much!

Proposal for New Game rules:

• New Game: Start the run immediately after a hard reset with no memory card inserted.
• Begin recording: from the first prompt warning "memory card is not inserted".
• Begin timer: at audio cue when confirming "YES" to start without save data; this is after character selection and the last thing before the tutorial.
• End timer: at the audio cue for the "Samurai Index" at the game over screen.
• Recording must include audible game sound and music.
• No cheats allowed (i.e. restore health, unlock swords, etc...)

Also, The Rules for the existing runs could be clarified a little. Nothing distinguishes TrueAny% from Ending#1, for instance. And nothing indicates the New Game Plus runs are Plus. That might help newcomers and passersby understand the categories better.

I would gladly write out the rules & organize the categories if you like. I dunno the process for adding mods, though.

The rules don't clarify whether the run can be segmented or not. Can a moderator clarify? Must a run be made without breaks to be legitimate? Or can I save, go to sleep, and pickup later from that save-point? The runs seem pretty brutal if segmentation is not acceptable...

If all runs must be single-segment, maybe add that to the rules?