The difficulty setting is for Vs. Computer. I can crush Game-Level 1 but Game-Level 8 beat me 2-0. Existing run can be presumed to be Game-Level 1.

Let's keep the best of 3 default option. Looking at fighting games with 1-8 difficulty levels, they have categories for 1, 4 and 8. I think we should do the same.

What I'm not sure is if each opponent plays any differently. Each one you beat puts a crown on their head. I don't think beating them all makes sense as a category, unless it can be shown they do play differently.

Yeah if anyone wants to submit individual level times, that's cool with me. Making this game more accessible to get more players is what we should be about.

If no video footage, I wouldn't want to see emulator runs due to ease of cheating. I think real console would be okay. The cart I bought has a bunch of good times. Someone cheating on emulator then writing to real cart (or flash cart), that is a possibility so requiring video is defendable.

On the other hand, the original cart owner had no reason to cheat against themselves.

I found a comment from an account created solely to promote a gambling website with stupid scam artist claims of profit while denying being a scam. Clubhouse Games on Switch mods just let this sit there since February 2022 at the top of the forum. They should delete the comment ask an admin to ban the account.

Other thing, what does someone do if they get harassing messages? No game mod to help with that. Should they directly DM an admin? Who are the admins?

You're asking how to TAS PC on a speedrunning forum? Is helping you not encouraging cheating? You did say TAS and would still be relevant for game research so I'll answer.

The earliest TASes played the games slowed down on emulators. There's a how to TAS video that states as much. Can take that idea and hack the PC games to run slow then speed them back up in editing. Karl Jobst has popular videos for speedrun cheating in Doom, Trackmania and Guitar Hero/Clone Hero, where runners were caught playing in slow motion. He says Cheat Engine can be easily used to slow down games. Sorry I never used it but maybe you can ask on a TAS forum for game-specific help.

I see Hourglass is meant for Windows XP with 32-bit games and does not support mouse input. Every game released today is 64-bit. Not sure if it will run under a Windows XP virtual machine but the OS can be uhh found online and mid-2000s laptops running genuine XP are cheap and plentiful on eBay.

Thanks for taking care of both points!

Maybe I can ask here to avoid a whole other thread.

1. I practiced Any% with everyone and Final Boss character can hang with Yuri. Would that character (avoiding spoiler language for a game released in 2000 lol) or Whip be on a separate leaderboard? I think all characters should stay combined. Unlocking is fast and easy and neither is OP.
2. Can a user selected box be added on the leaderboards for the character used? Really nice to see who's popular and compare runs to the same character without opening every video.

That run was great! I used my Prime sub. Bomberman chat emotes! I was most interested in seeing the 3 hit combo on 1-3 with limited range and no heart bomb, 4-3/4-4 and the super fast arachnid fight. I didn't think of punching or kicking a bomb to a corner to save time. Funny hitting black bomber on 6-2 as soon as the invincibility wore off. The 20 points condition worked out as well as it could have.

That's interesting you didn't get Roller Skates at the end of gold mecha bomber. I see 3rd place on Any% got a Flame instead. I like not moving black bomber being judged as a 1 player run. Dropping to 0 lives on player 1, twice, and losing heart/remote bomb is not entertaining.

Thanks so the mystery item spawns at the start of 4-4 for whatever is done on 4-3 and I see it happen in the video. I still can't get it to spawn at the start no matter how many times I try from the same 4-3 save state, that started from password to 2-1. Video proves I don't need to bomb 3 enemies at once or kick them. Glitch being glitchy, fair enough.

The [12 Hz] speed limit was set based on what other games have allowed

You mean Metroid Dread. Why aren't runners required in the submission to state if they're using a turbo controller? I didn't find turbo discussed on the Discord. As if the rule came out of thin air.

I think is 12 Hz is an optimal number for Switch turbo controllers, unobtainable for SNES and unknown for autofire on BizHawk and Game Boy Interface.

Can see at the end of this thread that for SNES, Hudson Soft's Super Joy Card has 7.5 Hz and 15 Hz turbo and Hori's Fighting Commander has 15 Hz and 30 Hz. Only option is too slow for anyone to use 7.5 Hz on Super Game Boy 2? That platform has added lag frames from the special border and enhanced palette, so I don't think 15 Hz is unreasonable.

I think most players are capable and content to button mash faster than 12 Hz. I'm faster but I've gotten a sore wrist from A or B spam in another game. That'd be cool if we had turbo options on SNES and emulator. I already own two Switch controllers and am not buying a third just for 12 Hz turbo on NSO.

To be completely clear, I always got the mystery item to spawn on 4-4 but never on 4-3. Bomb kicking 3 enemies to death spawned it once I detonated a bomb to trigger the >= 3 check. Can detonate bombs to weaken enemies or kick for all hits. No more detonating once you defeat an enemy by kicking until you're at 3.

Maybe you're experiencing a glitch, of unknown means, that switches the >= 3 check from 4-4 to 4-3. I presume 4-4 is the intended stage due to LIJI's notes. Maybe it matters that I didn't start on the leaderboard frame. I held A to enter password 3535 on frame 1230.

I played the Japanese version on BizHawk 2.9.1 with BSNESv115+ core. Here's a save state pack, in case that's helpful to reproduce. The "two out of three" means two enemies have already been kicked to the curb.

What a cool name for a newsletter. Zombie Hover, I'll pass. Feel like I'd have to pay a starving artist, I mean, young piano player to do that for me. I got wrist pain for a day after spamming A just to scroll through text.

Right, the RNG system explains so much when we have working knowledge of it! I had ideas but I wasn't putting together the x-y coordinate not being available causing another 2 numbers to be generated.

Spawn all secret items versus collect, cool with me. You're the one attempting the category so you should decide. I think any game lucky to get 5 runs a year should give runners latitude to encourage them.

I didn't even think about optimizing the boss movement patterns. The author notes mention the mecha bomber map as being easy to manip on. Can cover the first and/or second locations of the Roller Skates after defeating the golden bomber for 2 or 4 RNG calls. Collecting a Skull makes 1 call like the Question Mark and safe to do when the stage is clear. Only ways to get an odd number.

I tested the mystery item spawn on 4-3 and 4-4. I think the programmers, forced to use assembly, took another lazy way out. They only intended it to spawn from killing 3+ enemies with one bomb but the way they coded it was to check for the kill count between explosions. Would be harder to check all the kills from the complete bomb explosion since enemies can walk into it after it has started. More so for every bomb when multiple explosions are animating at once. You'd need an array or an int added a struct for each bomb.

So once an explosion starts, count enemy kills. Once another explosion starts, check the counter for >= 3 and if not, reset the count and try again. This lets kicking work. Can lay down more bombs if you want, just don't detonate any. Killing an enemy by punching a bomb onto them doesn't work though. There must be special code that checks for that, given the two conditions that require punching.

I couldn't get the mystery item to spawn on 4-3 or at the start of 4-4 or however it works and I tried both killing 3 enemies with 1 bomb and kicking bombs into them. Maybe because I started with a password, or more likely, triggering on 4-3 is a glitch and doesn't always work.

Phew glad you're willing to do the routing!

I looked at the tasvideos TAS on a whim thinking it wouldn't help because I'd seen it years ago. Actually, on January 16, 2023, gentleman and scholar LIJI submitted an improved "co-op" TAS and explained the RNG in good though not complete detail in the author notes:

Fast generator must determine the mecha bomber direction and the enemy difference you saw. We knew the stages were deterministic based on starting frame, except when a secret item is generated that forks the stage generator. I assume the initial state is the frame counter. I'll come back to N. I interpret bitwise OR means to always set the most significant bit to 1, given SNES is Little Endian.

This is the good part. Each secret item triggered makes two slow generator RNG calls: X position and Y position but if that location is blocked, such as with a block or heart/remote bomb or a player standing there, another two calls are made. Lazy coding. LIJI later states that picking up the Question Mark calls the slow generator once to determine the power-up.

We have a bit more opportunity for Any% and 100% to test different branching stages beyond the (4-4) "mystery item" and (6-4) "ice cream" routes. What surprised me is pausing on (2-2) generates the item even while sliding down the exit tunnel and playing the ending jingle. This "pause" doesn't actually pause the game. Too late on (6-7) when it's the last generated stage.

I wanted to see the branching for myself so I password-ed to (1-5) with save state to preserve the starting frame. I checked for the (2-1) layout with testing the Question Mark on (1-5) and Heart on (1-7):

• Triggering the Question Mark generated the same stage as both collecting the Question Mark and triggering the Heart. Also the same stage for triggering nothing.
• Triggering and collecting the Question Mark generated a distinct (2-1) stage.
• Both triggering the Question Mark and the Heart generated the same stage as only triggering the Heart.

Logically, we'd expect triggering either the Question Mark or Heart to give the same stage for 2x calls each. The way this makes sense is if the first two locations for the Heart are already taken and there's only 3 stages possible for N = 3 and (N - 1) = 2. Then 0 calls = 3 calls = 6 calls = 9 calls, 1 = 4 = 7 and 2 = 5 = 8, using operator %. First case is 0 calls = 6 calls = 9 calls with %3 = 0. Second case is 7 calls with %3 = 1. Third case is 2 calls = 8 calls with %3 = 2.

I was able to get different (2-1) stages from the above 3 using different starting frames, including the existing speedrun route, meaning each starting frame has a different, small set of possibilities for each stage.

That you're saying there's real overlap with the Any% despite advancing the RNG supports this theory of very limited granularity once the starting seed is set. That more than 3 possibilities for the random Question Mark power are possible means N = 25, for (N - 1) = 24 = 0x18 in that case, which otherwise uses the same slow formula.

Anyway, I'm excited you've done all this work for a new category no one saw coming and that there's room for strat improvement in Any% and 100%! Early Red Bomb or Full Fire from (1-5) or (2-4) can be guaranteed, hopefully with the easy Japanese starting seed.

That's such a smart take, thank you! I've tried a countdown timer trying to nail the exact frame to start in Ogre Battle and succeeded a little better than 1 in 10. That with password entry is annoying, as is scouting out the whole game to find a better starting seed. LIJI the researcher said the RNG is 15 bits, implying 2^15 / 60 = over 9 hours of waiting to for the current seed to loop back around. I'll pass!

I thought about playing as black bomber with controller slot 2 for a setup with the exit mostly on the right side. Super Bomberman 4 specifically doesn't allow that. Maybe it's best not to ask for too many things.

I'm sorry I thought you were a mod. I don't know why I did. There's no conflict of interest. You have an interest for holding the oldest unbeaten record since you posted on Twitter about it. I think anyone would.

You have the in-game time record. That's fair. Never been tied or beaten. I see Twin Galaxies uses it and Goldeneye and rest of games here moved to RTA. That's also fair that you probably did get a faster RTA run with slower IGT that you immediately taped over.

The counterpoint is Metroidmcfly stopped playing when he beat your RTA time. If the time had been adjusted or IGT had been the standard, he would have tried to beat that instead. He was #1 on this leaderboard at least in 2017, which the run history doesn't show ever existed. I guess because he deleted his account. Pic at the bottom to save a click.

I messaged mods with the comparison video asking to add the run back. Mods can submit runs on behalf of others. Now if Metroidmcfly asked to have runs removed, that's different. The mod then, RantronBomb, hasn't logged in for over 4 years to ask. You're fine with him having the faster RTA anyway.

I think the VCR difference is more interesting:

Adjusting for VCR delay, I can't find that done in a single game. I can believe it was done in SMB1, maybe the most competitive game in existence, which times to the frame with Bowser's pattern as you mentioned. I can barely even find a discussion. This Twin Galaxies thread from 2004 is interesting:

• Users rdrunner, The_Pro and sdkess NES show a 6 second delay per hour from VCR recording with a total of 7 different VCRs. sdkess found the same thing with SNES. This can be calculated with 60.10/60.00 * 3600. As in, all 7 VCRs recorded at 60 Hz. Recording at 59.94 Hz would be almost a 10 second delay.
• The_Pro and rdrunner showed PS1 has an advantage recording with VCR. PS1 is 59.94 Hz, which would make a VCR recording faster than real console if the VCR tapes at 60 Hz or faster.
• LucidFaia stated their Super Mario World time of 11:21 is the same down to a tenth of a second with their VCR. We know NES and SNES run at the same ~60.1 Hz.
• MKM stated their VCR is dead on accurate with stopwatch timing. Consoles not stated. VCR is a Toshiba VCR from the late 90s.
• One person found GameCube on VCR to be the same speed as the live play, another slower like NES, another faster. Not sure how to interpret that when it's a 60.0 Hz console.

I'm curious if you had a 59.94 Hz VCR when they all seem to be 60 Hz, or even contained time-based correction circuitry (TBC) that correctly handled NTSC NES/SNES.

Kid me didn't like this Normal Game Mode compared to Super Bomberman 1 with the scrolling stages and lack of co-op. Except by starting with Password 1111 of course. Is that not a category because no one has submitted a run for it, versus any other reason?

No one answered so I'll try. I don't think there's any good reason. Just using the version that the record holder has used since 2020 just in case it is faster.

In Super Bomberman 1 the soft blocks, exit tile and power-up locations are altered based on what frame you start the game on. They should be predictable the whole game. Most people run Japanese since the early speedrun guides plotted the paths using it. Both PAL and North American releases have a 10 second or so delay from starting the game compared to Japanese. Doesn't count for the run timing but you'd have to roll your own routing.

Bomb range is 1 if you start from Normal Mode but it's 2 if you start from Password. Works with all releases. Faster to enter hitting down since the numbers go from 0 to 7.

I don't think a superior starting strategy should be banned just because no one did it yet. Then the time lost from entering 5555 has to be made up. Or would this go in a separate category that plays slightly easier?

Super Bomberman 2 specifically does not allow starting from Password but that game with 1111 starts with max bombs, range, heart bomb and glove. Using 4361 to start does not give any advantage. Range is still 1.

I wanted to practice making a gif so we are:

I did notice the branching paths in AugusTitan's and your guide based on whether the mystery item appears or not. Glad that's solved. LIJI has video comment saying, "It will also trigger if the last combo you had in the previous level [4-3] was a ≥ 3 combo. :)" The random power-up is fixed once the stage starts. Therefore is tied to the stage's pattern and manipulatable if someone wanted to re-route most of the game.

I checked to see if either player can trigger the secret items and that is the case. I even had Player 2 bomb one corner and Player 1 bomb the other three on (1-5) and got the mystery item. Then on (1-7) I got the heart early and was puzzled. Turns out GameFAQs is wrong. You can stand on any tile for that heart. LIJI actually says as much at 2:15 in the first video but it's not bookmarked so easy to miss.

I think the pro move for single player is summon the other player on (1-5) to bomb the corner, do nothing on (1-7), get down to last life for (2-4), bomb another corner on (4-1), stay on last life for (4-5) and get hit by a bomb on (6-2). If Player 2 doesn't move the whole game and isn't bombing any enemies, seems like single player to me!

I made a diss track, I mean, demonstration video of Player 2 triggering the heart on (1-7) with different patterns:

Another argument to combine is I can verify that Japanese GB Revision 1, English USA GB and German GBC can all trade with each other. Surely Japanese Revision 1 and English Europe can too. It's not some huge issue to me. Just would be a QoL change to have the Leaderboards in one place and share the Forum.

Turns out 20 of the stages have a secret item that awards points - or a random power-up from the Question Mark - by meeting a special condition. Would such a category exist if someone submitted a run? I think reassurance would be motivational.

I like how the cake on 6-3 requires hitting yourself or the other player with a punched bombed and awards 10 MILLION points. Source is from LIJI who posted how to get them in 2013 and made a video:

The Question Mark awards Red Bomb the first time and Bonus Time the second. 100% category especially could take the gamble on (1-5) for early Red Bomb from (3-1) or Golden Flame Radius aka Full Fire from (3-3), else settle for Roller Skates or Flame Range. 1 in 24 odds on each and 3 minutes for each attempt. I love it. LIJI's post says rolling Exit, Skull or another Question Mark awards an extra life instead.

In typical GameFAQs fashion, cheat is posted without credit. There was a source given for cheats in the early 2000s.

Thanks, the link worked this time. Seems I had to confirm my email and reset my password. Else all links were failing.