Colorado, USAIt's a shame that M1 is so slow here, because a lot of the rest of your stages were pretty good here! was fun to rewatch this run
3rd place: Polly_jean
TT Rank: 2 (Avg Finish: 3.46)
FLAP Rank: 5 (Avg Finish: 4.54)
IL Rank: 4 (Avg Finish: 3.85)
Series Rank: 3 (Avg Finish: 3.0)
Best Time: City 2 TT: 2:50.90 (WR)
Polly made some massive strides during XG League 2022 (as I was hoping for) and she propels herself way up the rankings. Last year I said she was a massive threat for WRs and predicted a top 5 placement. I wonder where she will go from here? This "speedrun ninja" always seems to disappear, sometimes for months or years at a time, and then show up to rapidly put up huge times. Polly is one of the most tenured XG1 runners and has been running since at least March 2014, according to posts on SpeedDemosArchive 
2nd place: Golg
TT Rank: 3 (Avg Finish: 3.85)
FLAP Rank: 2 (tie) (Avg Finish: 3.15)
IL Rank: 2 (Avg Finish: 3.50)
Series Rank: 2 (Avg Finish: 2.3)
Best Time: Desert 1 FLAP: 26.95 (WR)
Golg has not posted any runs in 2023, but this ranking sure speaks to the quality and longevity of their times! Golg has always been a highly skilled runner, starting out as an XG2 specialist that I somehow convinced to try out XG1 on stream in late 2020. Golg went on to finish top 3 in both XG League 2020 and 2022, with excellent times in all categories of the game. They have had multiple WRs in the modern era. Golg is one of the members of the community who is the harshest on their own times, and rarely stops to admire their own achievements. I suspect this is because Golg knows more time can always still be squeezed out (Golg usually manages to do so!)
1st place: r0ugar
TT Rank: 1 (Avg Finish: 1.31)
FLAP Rank: 1 (Avg Finish: 1.46)
IL Rank: 1 (Avg Finish: 1.38)
Series Rank: 1 (Avg Finish: 1.0)
Best Time: ???
I haven't been active much in 2023, but it seems like every time I post a run, they always energize others and spring them into action. Definitely one of my favorite parts about posting them -- you folks are hot on my tail. I've been a fan of the XG series since the initial release of the first game, and was always pretty decent at XG in a non-speedrun context. In March 2020, I discovered the speedrun community when looking for a place to share my music cover of Desert 1 and started trying my hand running after a few weeks or so. My initial runs were Atomic series runs, which I noticed were dangerously close to world record. I kept pushing and quickly managed to tie it. I've been addicted ever since. I want nothing more than to see amazing times posted regardless of player, and will always be open to assist anyone with strategies or detailed run analysis. I love this game and the community that helps keep it alive.
Join the Discord if you are interested in connecting and participating within the community! It's a great group of people: https://discord.com/invite/Nsuywrs
7th place: WMJ
TT Rank: 16 (Avg Finish: 9.54)
FLAP Rank: 7 (Avg Finish: 7.31)
IL Rank: 7 (Avg Finish: 8.42)
Series Rank: 24 (Avg Finish: NR)
Best Time: Space 2 FLAP 32.65 (4th place)
WMJ is one of the greatest F-Zero series players out there, so it's really no surprise he was so dominant at XG1 considering his familiarity with going fast. WMJ is the oldest known runner with video proof in XG1, dating back to 2010. However, he has been competing even longer than that, as seen in the oldest leaderboard dating to 2006 and back [[http://n64hs.speedrunwiki.com/ExtremeG.html CONTRAST WARNING - PREPARE YOUR EYES FOR BRIGHT RED]]. He is the first person to attempt to optimize FLAP times for XG1 with his set of "WMJ runs" (the initial FLAP WRs with video proof) and his S2 FLAP was a world record for over ten years.
6th place: Mr. Blonde
TT Rank: 6 (Avg Finish: 4.92)
FLAP Rank: 4 (Avg Finish: 4.38)
IL Rank: 6 (Avg Finish: 4.65)
Series Rank: 6 (Avg Finish: 6.0)
Best Time: Desert 3 FLAP: 32.20 (WR)
Every time Blonde thinks his best days are behind him, he shows up with a new XG1 world record, proving to both himself and the community that he is still a threat. However, this legend's activity continues to dwindle year after year. Mr. Blonde started running XG1 in 2018 and quickly became an XG1 Juggernaut. He pioneered many of the modern strategies we use today. Impressively, Blonde has now achieved XG1 WRs for six years in a row as of 2023, and has the second most WRs all-time. He is also known for excellent pop-offs when he achieves a new record. Despite being only one place above WMJ, the numbers show that there is clearly a huge skill gap between 7th place and the top 6 players.
5th place: hoot_64
TT Rank: 5 (Avg Finish: 4.23)
FLAP Rank: 6 (Avg Finish: 4.77)
IL Rank: 5 (Avg Finish: 4.50)
Series Rank: 4 (Avg Finish: 3.7)
Best Time: Desert 2 TT: 1:38.98 (WR)
Hoot has arguably one of the best and most underrated runs on the entire leaderboard in his Desert 2 TT time, skipping 1:39 to achieve an unreal 1:38. Hoot is quite an active and vocal community member and has occasionally participated in live XG1 races with other community members in the discord server. He got good extremely quickly -- Within a month of joining the community in 2021, he was already putting up top 3 series times, including a sub 20 Critical Mass time and a third place Meltdown run. I was a little surprised with his TT rank, I think he'll smash some of those times in the coming days, now that he has expressed interest in upping his activity level.
4th place: fushiro/Petra
TT Rank: 4 (Avg Finish: 4.00)
FLAP Rank: 2 (tie) (Avg Finish: 3.15)
IL Rank: 3 (Avg Finish: 3.58)
Series Rank: 5 (Avg Finish: 4.3)
Best Time: City 3 FLAP: 24.48 (WR)
Fushiro started running sometime in the mid 2010s, and competed with the famous "WMJ runs" strictly as a personal challenge, solo and unrecorded. In mid to late 2020, they joined the community and posted a video of an in-game timeroll showing off some very competitive FLAP times. Fushiro is somewhat of an FLAP specialist, regularly streaming FLAP attempts. However, they showed during League that they can compete in the other categories with the best of us. Fushiro is also one of the most dedicated and active players, streaming more in 2023 than any other community member.
2023 XG1 Player Rankings
Alright everyone, it's time for the 2023 XG1 Player Rankings! These rankings are only for fun, for fostering community engagement, and to drum up some motivation for good runs in the upcoming year. Margins between the top players are razor-thin, so there's plenty of room for movement in 2024.
Honorable Mention: Xelna
TT Rank: 16 (Avg Finish: 9.54)
FLAP Rank: 13 (Avg Finish: 9.85)
IL Rank: 15 (Avg Finish: 9.69)
Series Rank: 8 (Avg Finish: 8.3)
Best Time: Meltdown: 29:48 (8th place)
Xelna has dabbled in quite a few speedgames, most notably LTTP where he currentlyholds the world record for 100% No Major Glitches. Xelna visited XG1 along the way in 2017 and ran for a little over a year, setting the first group of Series WR times that many players use as a benchmark target today.
10th place: Dry-Pen
TT Rank: 8 (tie) (Avg Finish: 8.69)
FLAP Rank: 8 (tie) (Avg Finish: 9.31)
IL Rank: 9 (tie) (Avg Finish: 9.00)
Series Rank: 24 (Avg Finish: NR)
Best Time: Space 3 FLAP: 46.20 (6th place)
Dry-Pen is both our youngest and newest player to reach our top ten. He is also the only player who runs using the touchscreen of a mobile device (I can't imagine playing this game without controller feedback!). He hasn't been active this year, but his volume of competitive posted times means the data puts him narrowly ahead of Xelna for the tenth spot.
9th place: Neato
TT Rank: 7 (Avg Finish: 7.23)
FLAP Rank: 11 (Avg Finish: 9.69)
IL Rank: 8 (Avg Finish: 8.46)
Series Rank: 10 (Avg Finish: 11.0)
Best Time: Desert 1 TT: 1:47.63 (5th place)
Neato started running in late 2021 and was an honorable mention in last year's pre-league rankings. Welcome to the top ten! Neato participated in XG League 2022, finishing seventh place and putting up a variety of decent times including a 9:18 Atomic Series. Neato's skill is promising and I hope they come back from XG2 and XGRA soon to continue working on some missing times.
8th place: DaymanAAA
TT Rank: 8 (tie) (Avg Finish: 8.69)
FLAP Rank: 8 (tie) (Avg Finish: 9.31)
IL Rank: 9 (tie) (Avg Finish: 9.00)
Series Rank: 7 (Avg Finish: 7.0)
Best Time: Critical Mass 19:53 (6th place)
Dayman is the first player on this list who has dabbled in running all four Extreme-G games. He has beaten all 3 of the Series Run benchmark times set by Xelna and most recently improved his Critical Mass time to sub-20 during XG League 2022. He occasionally expresses interest in returning to fill out a few of the gaps in his times page, and I would love to see him take action. Fun fact: he is the only player who consistently takes the left loop during City 1 runs (what a weirdo! :) )
A valued member of the community, polly_jean, has decided to contribute a few prizes for the league! Here is what they have to say: "Hey guys and gals: with one week left to go until league, I wanted to share that I'm going to be offering some small prizes for this year's league 🎁 🥳 Nothing too crazy but I thought having some loot on the line would be fun. I have four items and will probably let 1st place choose an item first, then second place second, etc. In ascending order of value, I have: (1) an Extreme-G poster, originally found folded up in the game box; (2) Nintendo Power Issue 101 from October 1997, featuring an 8 page cover article about XG; (3) Extreme-G Official Game Secrets, featuring 3D map layouts, concept art, game lore, bios on the game's developers, and more; and (4) an Extreme-G(reen) OEM N64 Controller, thoroughly cleaned inside and out, with a tight joystick ready to break some world records. I hope this is fun and no one takes it too seriously! Good luck!"
Calling all XG fans and XG1 players! It's time for our next XG League event, which will begin on September 25 (in less than two weeks!)
For those not in the know, XG League is a friendly competition to shake things up in XG1, encourage some more participation, and optimize the level times for the game we all love. I personally encourage ANY new player to join - the event is low stakes and does not have any minimum threshold for skill or commitment to playtime, so you can choose your desired intensity whether high or low!
The event runs 2 months long and covers all of the tracks in the game at a rate of 2 tracks per week. The timeline is flexible - you can play at any day or time during the week (see the schedule tab on the spreadsheet below!), and may skip entire weeks if necessary.
XG league has a point system which awards points for reaching "target times". See the rules and schedule here, with the point system being on the first page of the sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WF9ahvWt1_5DVmrqNnRO36J4JJ6CUK8BdND6aRIUSiU/
You can also see the previous League event's sheet for some context on how the scoring actually looks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10qlUoFnQcAMvcdFfpGmVbJwCFLCyzar3-04dcGQxuZ4/view#gid=1540001734
Please join our discord (https://discord.gg/Nsuywrs) and DM me or post in the league-discussion channel if you are interested in participating!
Just a heads up that since XG1 starts the timer on bike spawn, you are losing 0.9 seconds going for the first triple from a dead start :) great run though, especially lap 2
Incredible run! I didn't realize my former WR lost so much time at the ending, I thought it was around 0.1, but after analyzing the runs, it looks like I lost closer to 0.2 or 0.3. Well played
I like the goomba stomp you pulled on Kaos at 6:35 in the run. Stylish!
For the record, I personally am not a fan of this solution.
A Super Mario 64 Super-Mod had a similar thread, seen here: https://www.speedrun.com/sm64/thread/jyeet/1#w6hv0
With all of the different emulator/core/settings combinations that cause load time variance I think we are better off just doing what they did and standardizing the core + settings. Remember, VI refresh rate isn't even the only emulator setting known to change load times.
It is what it is, but I don't think this is a problem we should pretend is just solved by a VI refresh rate ban without doing some more thinking and/or science.
Other options include switching to using "time without loads" or IGT, both of which are complicated solutions.
Just my two cents. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Just like last time, she comes out of nowhere with a magnificent run. Welcome back Polly!
