I played this classic game of my childhood these last weeks and decided to throw a speedrun before leaving it... surprised again no more runs float around since the inception of the leaderboard...
I think the categories can be updated to ask for different things, instead of two categories for the time factor, with deaths or deathless (which seems kinda possible but I doubt someone will put the grind to do it). So as this:
- Any%/100% ---> Actual recruits%, normal full run beating the game with or without deaths, with or without saves/passwords. Pure time rules. As the run of Anko or mine recently.
(never knew this game had saves, my cartridge back then and the one I emulated now both are with passwords)
-
Recruits% ---> Full normal run but wins he who beats the game with more recruits in his last phase screen, previous to beat the game. No passwords/loads allowed. Then just in case of draw, up the fastest.
-
Try again% ---> Full normal run but wins he who had less Try Agains during his run (doesn't matter if for death or surrender). Password/loads allowed if runner like it. Then in case of draw, up the fastest.
One same run can be used for various categories but it's up to the runner to declare it, attain to rules and put the data and/or time stamps to help the modding.
While the runs will still be long, I think this will give more options to run for at least.
Two categories of "Full game" have been added, the presence of which was initially suggested, based on the original version on the Amiga. Moreover, mission 13, and the overall decline in difficulty after mission 12, looks like the beginning of a new/different game. The run in the "Mission 13-24" category must begin with the LRYFA password (all passwords are given in the level rules).
There is also a separate discipline (Levels) for running each of the missions separately. But for several years, the sections in it are still empty, which indicates the general unpopularity of the game. There was some activity in the Amiga version, but there is no special progress beyond the third mission. The runs there last from one to several minutes, but there are still very few people who want to.
I'll say for myself that after playing with the mouse in the Amiga and SNES versions, I don't want to come back here yet :)
