Today I'm pleased to announce that there is now a Category Extension leaderboard for SotN: https://speedrun.com/sotnce

What this means is that we now have a place for the less competitive and more obscure speedrun categories. Notable inclusions are all the categories that were once only tracked in the Cool categories forum post as well as PhotN Richter and DXC / Reqiuem Maria. I added and moved runs manually, so feel free to message me if any corrections need to be made.

Although short lived, I have decided that Richter Mobile runs can no longer be listed in the same category as the PSX build. The auto-bladedash button is not singularly a big enough factor to disqualify the run, however, the game allows the runner to buffer bladedashes out of doors.

While it remains to be seen whether or not this gives Android runners a significant time advantage (I doubt it does), it has added to the evidence that the Android build is too distinctly different from the PSX build to warrant it's inclusion in the original category.

The existing Android runs will be removed from the leaderboard and the rules will be updated. Unfortunately, there is so little competition on this platform that I do not feel that creating a new category is necessary at the moment, although that may change in the future.

Update: These runs have made their way to the Category Extension Leaderboard. This thread will no longer be maintained.

WR 31m32s by BenAuton 34m19s by mecharichter 36m09s by Desquall 54m09s by Narcissa 56m30s by romscout 1h01m03s by Metako

WR 2h22m32s by 3snow_p7im 2h34m20s by mecharichter 4h07m36s by Dr4gonBlitz 4h08m01s by romscout TAS by Desquall

WR 42m02s by Desquall

WR 1h09m15s by 3snow_p7im 1h09m35s by BenAuton 1h14m44s by Desqual 2h04m22s by Zexx TAS by ForgoneMoose

WR 8m52s by Narcissa, old route 10m19s by nathan7878, new route TAS by ForgoneMoose, old route

WR 25m28s by Dr4gonBlitz TAS by ForgoneMoose

WR 53m41s by romscout

WR 7m20s by 3snow_p7im 7m28s by BenAuton 13m36s by Zexx 14m31s by TalicZealot TAS by ForgoneMoose

I'd like to propose that we accept submissions of the mobile SotN port to the main Richter Any% and All Bosses categories. I know what most of you are thinking; That's stupid. The game is so different, it has touchscreen controls and continues and you can't buffer out of doors! Sure, that's all true, but what are we really worried about?

Putting the PhotN Richter run alongside the Playstation and Xbox runs actually has some benefits, and I think that if we enumerate them, they easily outweigh the drawbacks. So put aside your initial inclination to scoff at the idea, and let me attempt to convince you.

First, I will list the benefits. The biggest one is the added accessibility. PhotN is much easier for the general population to obtain, install, and play than any other release of SotN yet. Most smartphones even have screen capture built in, making it possibly the easiest platform for recording a run.

Speaking to this, there are already several PhotN Richter runners out there, so, we could presumably have more Richter runs right now if we expand submissions. I, for one, think this is a good thing. However, these runs are not optimized, and, as I will argue later, never will contend with tops runs on emu or xbox.

This is a minor point, but it would also be easier for the moderating team to implement this. We wouldn't have to create a new category on our leaderboards, just add Mobile as a platform and amend the rules where applicable.

Next, I will address the arguments against the proposal. Likely the first to spring to mind for most Richter runners is of course the "bladedash button". The very concept of such a thing has been a meme for years and then they went ahead and actually made one. But the thing is, it doesn't help you go any faster.

If you think the Richter runs are just bladedashing, you have a very cursory knowledge of Richter's mechanics. Sliding, uppercuts, and transitional movements are almost as, if not more-so, important to the run as consistent bladedashing. This is really where the argument against touchscreen falls apart.

Frankly, touchscreen controls in general are awful and PhotN's are no different. Richter's uppercut input will always be faster and more consistent on a gamepad or fight stick than on touchscreen. And have you ever tried to candle kick on a touchscreen? Lol. Whatever time is saved with optimal bladedashing is crushed by the time lost doing literally anything else.

Aside from the touchscreen controls, how much different is the PhotN Richter run from the Playstation version? I would argue that there is no difference, aside from not being able to buffer inputs through doors. If you connected an external controller to your phone and cropped the game window border, I would not be able to tell the difference between your run and a run on xbox (save for their distinctly different flavors of shitty audio). To me, this is the strongest argument in support of the proposal.

TL;DR: PhotN controls are trash and are disadvantaged to physical controllers, regardless of the bladedash button, however, we should allow submissions on the leaderboard because it's otherwise the same game as far as Richter is concerned, only it's much more accessible to newcomers.