Now that someone has finally given me a mod job to do, I've updated timing rules to what seems most sensible, and retimed the existing run.

Time starts on fadeout of title screen. Time ends when the baby counter shows x00 in the music stage.

I'd love to hear any thoughts/feedback on this in case it can be improved.

Secondly, I wondered does anyone have interest in a money category that involves actually playing skilfully in the bonus stages. If you successfully glitch the level one for baby grabs at the tube, and prevent damage, with perfect play it is possible to reach $20,000 before game end. However, that is inconsistent. $15,000 might then be a fairer goal.

Thoughts welcome!

I noticed from playing that the hostage count ticks down really quickly on a first pass and yet we've been waiting at the helipad at the end of levels. Checking this out, it turns out as soon as you despawn the hostages on screen, they'll count immediately and you can advance slightly faster.

With that in mind, I think it makes sense to change the run end point. I'd suggest the frame hostage remaining count reaches 0 as an unambiguous point. Thoughts welcome!

I was added as super due to previous mod inactivity. I'd like to appoint one other mod who's familiar with the NES board, and another who is familiar with one of the other boards if possible. It doesn't matter if you haven't done modding or aren't experienced, I can run you through it. Just reply here!

I've verified my pending run and encourage runners to point out any discrepancies they see, or discuss any improvements we might make, be that timing, or other things. Thanks!

Hiya, would like to run 30k punches, wanted to check before I attempt though: I'd be using a Genesis controller, so slightly larger button space. Would you guys be comfortable with that?

Following a close-call run on a second boundary I looked at the game and found some variability in the time to transition to black after selecting the game. I also found selecting new game via thumb and by the New Game option produce different results.

For these reasons I've edited the start point of the run to be the first black frame after the menu screen. All the old times remain the same and MSM's new run is a 42. This also raises the possibility of 40:xx being on the table if you frame-perfectly do everything, and/or if we find a way to get to the King animation faster.

I've found specific ways to get to the big jump in Antarctica fast enough to jump over between wind cycles.

1. For wind of back, forward, back:

Be aware that for this one, you have to be pretty reactive for the next jump to avoid the swordfish.

2. For wind of forward, back, back:

In both cases, the jumps you do are pushing your x-pos forward slightly enough that you can get past that yeti then stop moving for a beat. Note that back-back screws you either way.

This should hopefully make faster cycles a bit more consistent and give us more chance of lower times.

In the Castle, Sacrieon a while ago found a way to skip the final Knight spear cycle. After looking into it, it turns out the flame's fall trigger is slightly before the last spear set. So the most reliable setup is to do some comfortable movement that drops the flame early. That gives you far wider margin to jump forward without being hit.