Twin Shot runs at 25 frames per second. This creates a problem, which is explained in detail in this post, along with a solution.
The problem
Some time ago, it was found out that Flash handles unusual framerates like Red Ball's 31fps (or this game's 25fps) very strangely. For some time, it was believed that it essentially aligns all frames to 60fps frames; so Red Ball, for example, would have most frames be 1/30th of a second (two 60fps frames) while some frames would be 1/60th of a second, even on a theoretical perfect scenario with no lag, which really sucked for a frame-perfects based game like Red Ball (this also affects some strategies in Twin Shot, mainly having to do with the reliability of buffered inputs). Later on, it was figured out that the behavior is a bit more complex than that, but the gist of it is similar.
The solution
As Red Ball is a popular speed game, there was pressure to make a Flash player without those problems, so Maximum took it upon himself to look at the assembly code of the Flash player and eventually found one jump instruction which could be changed so that it jumps over the "terrible code" that creates this problem, and thus, the fixed framerate patch was born. It was accepted pretty much without discussion in the Red Ball community, both due to Maximum's status as a trusted long-time runner of the game, and the community's general acceptance of various modifications of the game before that. It has also been accepted in the Super Mario 63 community after a one-week period of testing whether there would be any weird side effects.
It's not known if there are any other communities that would allow or ban this modified version of Flash; it's more likely that most Flash game communities don't know about it, and for 30fps or 60fps games—which most Flash games probably fall under—the patch isn't really needed anyway.
Verdict
Although the patch is an unofficial modification of the Flash player, the communities of the two most major Flash speed games have accepted it, and we don't know about any precedent of disallowing it, so we have decided to allow its usage in runs of Twin Shot. Of course, runs done on other Flash versions will still be accepted.
The modification should be minor and only affect the frametime stability, although there's little way of telling if there aren't any unnoticed side-effects.
(most of the contents of this post are copied from an explanation dimusnail shared on the Nitrome Speedrunning Discord server)
If you're active on the Nitrome Speedrunning Discord server, you'll know that some mods of the game have recently been created by dimusnail.
IL Practice Mod
This version makes the following changes to the game:
- An in-game timer for individual levels has been added: it starts when gaining control of the character and ends as the level is completed.
- Pressing R will instantly reset a level. It will also reset the cycle for the disappearing platforms.
- Pressing 1, 2 and 3 will equip player 1 with Wings, Speed Up and Invincibility respectively. Pressing Shift in addition to those will give the powerup to player 2. Pressing 0 (or Shift + 0) will remove the powerup.
- All levels are unlocked by default.
This version is obviously banned from being used in full game runs.
IGT Mod
This version features the IL timer from the practice mod without any other modifications. It also has some text on the menu screen that says "IL timer v1".
This version is allowed for full game runs. However, any runs that feature an in-game timer without the version text in the main menu will be rejected.
As of 2025-01-17, all new runs will need to be performed on the IGT mod.
EDIT: The migration has been completed.
Hello all,
This leaderboard currently houses runs for both Twin Shot and its sequel Twin Shot 2. This is obviously not ideal, so we have taken the decision to create a new leaderboard for Twin Shot 2 and move its runs over.
What will happen to existing runs of Twin Shot 2?
They will remain accessible in the leaderboard associated with the new game entry. All Twin Shot 2 categories on this current leaderboard will be archived.
What about new runs of Twin Shot 2?
This board will no longer accept Twin Shot 2 submissions; any runs of it should be submitted to the newly created leaderboard instead.
Will the Twin Shot 2 categories stay the same?
No. Here are the upcoming changes:
- Good% and Evil% will remain unchanged
- TS2 will be renamed to All Levels
- 200% will be removed
- NG and NG+ will stay as a subcategory variable
- No Cheats will be added to the NG/+ variable rather than remain as a miscellaneous category
What about runs of Twin Shot? (TS1 category)
The TS1 category will be unaffected, apart from its name being changed to "Any%".
Are there any other changes in store for this leaderboard?
Yes. An IGT mod has recently been created, along with an IL practice mod. They will soon be added to the resources, as well as details on which versions of Flash are allowed for this game (hint: an unofficial framerate patch is among them). Individual Level categories will also soon be set up.
All of the above changes will be covered in greater detail in their respective upcoming news posts.
Twin Shot runs at 25 frames per second. This creates a problem, which is explained in detail in this post, along with a solution.
Some time ago, it was found out that Flash handles unusual framerates like Red Ball's 31fps (or this game's 25fps) very strangely. For some time, it was b
