I'm very late to this but sorry for the confusion. VC and EMU used to be banned for some categories like All Cups, but that is no longer true. They are now accepted, but separated into their own categories as ProfessorJamal alluded to.
Hey, mod here. My apologies for you having to wait so long. I will watch & verify your runs tonight.
As Retro said, Switch Online runs can be submitted under the VC category. Just choose NSO as the platform when submitting as well.
If you're interested in Mario Tennis Aces Speedrunning, be sure to join the MTA Discord: https://discord.gg/7whmRHh
Also, if you're a fan of the Mario Tennis series and want to be a part of the general Mario Tennis fans and speedrunning community, be sure to join the series discord as well: https://discord.gg/KJznkRF
Unfortunately, graphical issues seem to plague most (possibly all) ROMs available for Mario Tennis 64. We aren't really supposed to discuss ROMs on SRC, but if you join the Discord there might be someone there who can help you find one that functions at least passably well.
Got questions, need help, or just want to talk about the Mario Tennis games? Join the MT series discord! https://discord.gg/KJznkRF
Got questions, need help, or just want to talk about the Mario Tennis games? Join the MT series discord! https://discord.gg/KJznkRF
Got questions, need help, or just want to talk about the Mario Tennis games? Join the MT series discord! https://discord.gg/KJznkRF
Mario Power Tennis also has its own dedicated Discord server, exclusively for Power Tennis discussion! https://discordapp.com/invite/kn3NFKq
If you're looking to get into running MPT, I'd suggest joining both :).
Got questions, need help, or just want to talk about the Mario Tennis games? Join the MT series discord! https://discord.gg/KJznkRF
Hi @UndertakerofSouls, sorry we missed your first post. Since no one has run this category yet, the rules haven't really been properly defined, so the runners are deciding on exact rules now (the rules listed under the category were put there a long time ago by mods who aren't really active in the community right now and as you can see they are way too vague). If you would like to discuss the rules with this game's runners, I'd suggest joining the Mario Tennis series discord, which is linked in a sticky forum thread. Again sorry about missing your initial post!
Hello again! Now that we've got a bit of a community together here, it's finally time to address the biggest issue on the board- the advantages of using an emulator or the Virtual Console. For those who are unaware, the VC has shorter load times (before cup presentations) and less (perhaps no) lag frames, which applies mostly to the replay cutscenes between points. I've determined that the only way to handle this that is fair to all runners is to make separate boards for each platform. Otherwise, VC will have an advantage that makes it the only way to play in a game where every second counts when it's supposed to be a convenient way to play the game, not a requirement for WR. While separate boards are not ideal for a game with a relatively small number of runs compared to other games that utilize a similar system (i.e. SM64), there unfortunately isn't really another option right now.
If anyone has any suggestions related to this issue or anything else about the board, feel free to post it here or mention it on discord. I'm stoked that a community for this game is beginning to develop. Happy running!
-KreatorKat
Thanks to TroubleClef, the Mario Tennis series now has a community discord! See you in the Mario Tennis 64 channel!
-KreatorKat
While that would be ideal, the unfortunate truth is that a set of rules that extends to all games isn't realistic at this point. I think that we may need to make a determination as to the rules of the MT64 board as it relates to emulators, Wii and WiiU VC, and N64 runs being timed.
I don't want to derail this thread with discussion about external leaderboard issues, so let's get to some in-game stuff.
I'll be back later with some more stuff but I wanted to get the question of "why baby Mario" out of the way first. While I chose him at first simply because he was fairly easy to control and many top runners on the board used him, there is defiantly a lot that baby Mario has going for him. I think it all comes down to versitility and the ability to end points quickly from all around the court. Baby Mario has a very direct serve that can score aces in Mushroom (and occasionally elsewhere), which many characters cannot do. Any character that can't get consistent aces on their serve in Mushroom isn't really a viable candidate to do runs with, which eliminates some of them. The thing about baby Mario is that he possesses enough power to get aces (and to make backcourt winners on occasion) while still having fast and fluid movement, unlike other strong characters like the power class (bowser, DK, etc.) Baby Mario can serve hard and still get to the net for volleys and make positioning adjustments. He also has a fairly good midcourt game if you get caught there and his power allows for passing shots on serve returns. His range or reach isn't ideal, but he possess many characteristics that seem to outweigh the cons.
Could there be a better character that I'm not seeing? For sure. But I think that baby Mario may be as good as we can do.
-KreatorKat
Hey TroubleClef! Glad you're coming back to MT64. I'm more than happy to contribute to a collection of strats we can use to get closer to dicedeus's 11:05. Perhaps it's finally time we make a discord for this game.
I'll try to post some strats I use and observations I've made in detail later today, but one thing I think needs to be mentioned is N64 vs VC. It appears to me and 0xwas that Geoff's 11:13 and dicedeus's run are done on VC despite being submitted years ago as N64 runs, possibly (probably) due to the fact that the game lacked a WiiVC option to go along with WiiUVC until recently. The problem that this causes is that the VC has fewer/no lag frames (i.e. while skipping the replay cutscene after each point) as well as shorter load times (for the cup presentation cutscenes).
I'm not sure what to do about this considering that Geoff and dicedeus haven't been active on the site in a while but I imagine neither would be happy about seeing their runs moved to a VC only board or removed entirely, but it's also unfair that original console players start at a disadvantage.
I know none of that was related in-game strats lol but it's something the community needs to think about. Don't worry, I'll be contributing actual strats too!
-KreatorKat
Hello everyone!
I've created a Twitch Community for the Mario Tennis series, so if you're streaming runs in the future, feel free to add your stream to the community so that the rest of us can see it.
At some point, I might get around to creating a discord for this particular game as well.
https://www.twitch.tv/communities/mario_tennis
-KreatorKat
Thanks for the info. I know VC load times (like in the trophy presentation) are better, but didn't know about the vs screen lag. I'll take a look at the submitted runs (like Geoff's) and see if any need to be changed to VC :)
Hey everyone, I've made/will be making a variety of changes now that I'm a moderator of this game. Don't worry, nothing crazy haha, just a few necessary things to make sure we are all playing on even footing and a few new exciting things.
First, I've made a few housekeeping changes:
-Wii VC was added as a platform (thanks to 0xwas for pointing out that was missing) -Proper release date (not that this is all that important...) -Some behind-the-scenes game info -Fixed broken Twitch links
The most important change is rules. All Cups lacked rules at all and Tournament Cups was vague on when to start and stop the timer. Now that this has been made easier to understand, I'll be adjusting past submitted runs accordingly. Don't worry, it's only by about a second if you started the timer on Cup selection and not "singles" selection. And if you stopped on cup presentation, you'll be getting time back :).
The exciting new part is categories. Now there is a place for Doubles runs to be submitted for all run types (and a separate leaderboard of course), as well as Star Cups only to go along with All Cups, which includes the Star Cups and Tournament Cups in one "marathon".
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask here in the forums, in the Mario Tennis series discord, or DM me on discord. Happy running!
-KreatorKat
Hey 0xwas, I've added Wii VC as a platform. Is your run done on Wii VC or N64? I'm not sure if you just wanted Wii VC added as a platform or if you needed it as a platform for your submitted run. If it's on VC I will change that for you.