I'm making a forum post about this change before I go ahead and do it because it is a very tough decision to make. With such a small community here, I would much rather keep all runs on the same leaderboard, splitting them up just makes the community seem even smaller than it already is. However, after extensive testing it has come to my attention that the PAL version has a SIGNIFICANT advantage over the ntsc version, emulation or not.
In short, the PAL version runs about 20% slower than the ntsc version, which would seem like a disadvantage, however this also causes the AI to run slower without actually hindering the players movement. This allows for a lot more combos to be made before the AI has a chance to react, drastically lowering the difficulty of every stage. You can see my testing live here (start at 1:47:30)
I found that for every 20 in-game seconds of PAL and NTSC time, an enemy will drop the same number of blocks, however PAL time is MUCH slower, resulting in a worse overall AI.
If you have any questions or problems with this, please let me know ASAP. If nobody has any issues, I'll begin moving PAL runs into their own category. Thanks!
I think it's a fair decision. Just from casual observation, it did seem to me like PAL had advantages over NTSC besides just in-game timer—for example, it seems like the time frame for "cheat combos" (where you drop a block at the exact right time for it to count it as a combo, even though it wasn't actually a combo at all) is a lot looser in PAL, though I don't have specific proof of that. Though if the entire game is running slower, that would probably explain why.
Okay all the changes are done, feel free to comment here with any questions/concerns :)
Yeah, I see this little slowless on my gameplay but... If I want to play at the NTSC version on emulator, where can I download this version and on what emulator...? '^' (For info, it's not the emulator may the PAL slower because I got the game StarSweep on PS1 at home and I already play at the same "speed", so at the PAL version :3) For me, I use RomStation and the game Starsweep is on the PAL version so, but if the NTSC version is harder, I want to play it! :3 Thx for response! o/
Edit : I see your video on Twitch and don't worry, I gonna re-do the speedrun on NTSC ;p
Try here: http://coolrom.com.au/roms/psx/39980/Puzzle_Star_Sweep.php
Also there's a PS3 port, cheap and works well if you already have a PS3. Don't know if it's available on the EU store though.
Don't worry, I found one and it's work perfectly! Thx! ;3
But i've an other question : When you submit a run we need to put the Region, buuut... We put own Region (EUR/PAL for me) or the version of the game? 🤔
Seems logic but they are now the category of the speedrun (PAL or NTSC) so the Region is... Useless because we say already what's version we use with this? ^^'
