I saw a thread against the rules on the speedrun subreddit for a game called Telly the TV released a few hours ago. I then checked to see it's actually on here and the News section is a pages long advertisement telling you to wishlist and buy the game.

How does an indie game with no media coverage get added the day it's released anyway? I thought hobbyist games have a level of scrutiny. Zero reviews on Steam as of now, where you need 10 reviews to get a rating and make it on the Discovery Queue. No proof it's above Steam shovelware.

There's not a ticket to request a page be removed. I think it is a fair discussion topic. Like if I released my first game, I'd request it to be added to get another social media link and help my SEO, but I'd think it needs to be some notability standard.

• I'm requesting that the page be deleted and @meteorwave receive an explanation. Then in the near future, be allowed to re-submit a request that receives scrutiny.

Other thing, I don't think it's a problem for the developers to control their game's page here or submit runs, in a vacuum. I think it's abuse of moderator power to promote your business by posting in the News or Forum every time the game goes on sale. Linking your own Discord on the game page is allowed though. Room for interpretation.

Everything is hard to read and the vomit green background doesn't look nice. Just so we're on the same page, this is how the Forum for every Bust-a-Move game but one looks to me:

I don't see a ticket option for a new platform so asking here. We have black & white Game Boy and Game Boy Color and the distinction for black & white Neo Geo Pocket is more significant. If you're colorblind, Bust-a-Move Pocket aka Puzzle Bobble Mini may not seem playable, until you play it on the black and white model with special graphics!

For those lacking the console, I see the ares multi-console emulator allows you to force load a game with the Pocket bios by choosing Load -> SNK -> Neo Geo Pocket ... -> All. The Switch/Steam Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 compilations also allow booting in either black & white or color, though this game isn't on them.

Sorry I got to watermark to keep bot reposters at bay:

I'm sure @zipmon didn't do it on purpose. Shows the settings and says in the YouTube video description:

Played on the default settings (普通/Level 3 difficulty, 早い/Level 3 speed), on Nintendo Switch 7.29.2020.

Default speed is 2 and in Japanese is ふつう futsū "normal". I see how this happened. The default settings aren't stated in the rules and if you change them, there is no revert to default option. Probably is slightly faster planning in Japanese for less dialogue.

I used a guest account on Switch to make sure I booted with the default settings. They also match the initial settings on both no-intro's good and bad dumps.

Here's what the default settings look like. Switching A and B would be fine:

Boss characters are usually but not always OP and some fighting games put them in a separate category. So what about Yuga? I would say they're not OP and no separation is needed. Can see my Easy no cards run is only 10 seconds faster than CesarD's no cards run with Charlotte. Plenty of my fights are slower. I'm only ahead due to being about 12 seconds faster on the chained monster fight with no mistakes.

I admit there is room to argue for a separation on Medium and Hard given the low likelihood that Charlotte's yellow triangle spam works. Yuga is super easy to play and can attack from any distance.

The counter argument to that is there's 15 playable characters, each with Bust and Slash sword types and I'm sure the majority of characters have never been tested. No attempt at AI manipulation and Yuga struggles in the mirror match. I lost the fight in my first two attempts on Hard, though I chose not to equip DEFENCE UP.

Separating just on Medium and Hard wouldn't be crazy but I don't think we have enough character research to do that in any case. I only tested with Yuga on Medium and Hard.

The difficulty setting is for Vs. Computer. I can crush Game-Level 1 but Game-Level 8 beat me 2-0. Existing run can be presumed to be Game-Level 1.

Let's keep the best of 3 default option. Looking at fighting games with 1-8 difficulty levels, they have categories for 1, 4 and 8. I think we should do the same.

What I'm not sure is if each opponent plays any differently. Each one you beat puts a crown on their head. I don't think beating them all makes sense as a category, unless it can be shown they do play differently.

I found a comment from an account created solely to promote a gambling website with stupid scam artist claims of profit while denying being a scam. Clubhouse Games on Switch mods just let this sit there since February 2022 at the top of the forum. They should delete the comment ask an admin to ban the account.

Other thing, what does someone do if they get harassing messages? No game mod to help with that. Should they directly DM an admin? Who are the admins?

Kid me didn't like this Normal Game Mode compared to Super Bomberman 1 with the scrolling stages and lack of co-op. Except by starting with Password 1111 of course. Is that not a category because no one has submitted a run for it, versus any other reason?

Bomb range is 1 if you start from Normal Mode but it's 2 if you start from Password. Works with all releases. Faster to enter hitting down since the numbers go from 0 to 7.

I don't think a superior starting strategy should be banned just because no one did it yet. Then the time lost from entering 5555 has to be made up. Or would this go in a separate category that plays slightly easier?

Super Bomberman 2 specifically does not allow starting from Password but that game with 1111 starts with max bombs, range, heart bomb and glove. Using 4361 to start does not give any advantage. Range is still 1.

I wanted to practice making a gif so we are:

Turns out 20 of the stages have a secret item that awards points - or a random power-up from the Question Mark - by meeting a special condition. Would such a category exist if someone submitted a run? I think reassurance would be motivational.

I like how the cake on 6-3 requires hitting yourself or the other player with a punched bombed and awards 10 MILLION points. Source is from LIJI who posted how to get them in 2013 and made a video:

The Question Mark awards Red Bomb the first time and Bonus Time the second. 100% category especially could take the gamble on (1-5) for early Red Bomb from (3-1) or Golden Flame Radius aka Full Fire from (3-3), else settle for Roller Skates or Flame Range. 1 in 24 odds on each and 3 minutes for each attempt. I love it. LIJI's post says rolling Exit, Skull or another Question Mark awards an extra life instead.

In typical GameFAQs fashion, cheat is posted without credit. There was a source given for cheats in the early 2000s.

I tested that GBC fixed the water can infinite egg glitch but it's otherwise the same game right? Shouldn't the forums be combined and the leaderboard if GBC had any runs? The 3 mods there also mod here so seems straight forward to me. Can create a new no glitch category if such a run ever appears to keep GBC viable.

What's funny is I loaded a GBC save state into GB. Advanced from late Spring right to Grandfather's Year 1 eval that I passed with almost nothing. Super Sickle and Super Hoe appeared without waiting out the necessary time, 2 chicks and the horse grew up and I went from 0 to 345 hay.

On real cart in the late 90s I failed the Year 1 GB eval. Maybe that's impossible on GBC but Any% requires Year 2 completion so no issue.

Easy to see the ordering is alphabetical in a popular game with no way to change other than altering the titles. This is obviously undesirable and even in obscure The Last Blade on NGPC the first guide is the least important. I shouldn't have to change the title to make it last.

I don't think a mod tool to allow custom ordering would be very difficult to code. Could go all out and instead make ordering based on a popularity system. I can't tell the views of the guides I wrote or if they're helpful or not.

On submitted platforms, I don't see an option for:

• NEOGEO MINI
• MVS Mini Home Arcade
• MVSX Arcade
• NEOGEO Arcade Stick Pro

All contain The Last Blade 2. They should be added as official releases. Some differences in display settings and the Arcade Stick Pro that I own lacks a built-in LCD screen. Internet tells me the NEOGEO MINI uses an Actions Single Core ATM7013 1.0-1.2 GHz CPU with 1 GB DDR3 RAM. The expensive MVSX Arcade is ARM Quad Core Cortex A7, 1 GHz with 256 MB DDR3 RAM. Arcade Stick Pro has Actions Quad Core ATM7031H 1.3 GHz with 256 GB DDR3 RAM. I guess the 1 GB RAM was overkill.

The loading times might vary a bit then. I think excessive to list them all as separate platforms. I'd go with "Neo Geo Mini" as the platform since it came first and ask to describe which one is being used in the submission like you do for emulators.

I seem to play obscure games that are expensive in console form but have official digital releases on a Nintendo VC or PC. If instead all you've played the game on is an inaccurate unofficial emulator, should you be judging all platforms? Is the situation game and community dependent? I'd like there to be at least one mod who owns the release I'm speedrunning on so that they're familiar with the load times and could reproduce a glitch to determine if the platform has too much of a glitch advantage or is the result of cheating.

I downloaded the VOD with TwitchDownloaderGUI since it freezes up on Twitch at 2:48.48 VOD timing and 2:41.06 in speedrun timing. Already had audio/video desync by that time.

From viewing the downloaded VOD (5.88 GB), here's what happens:

1. At 49:06 VOD timing and 47:24 speedrun timing, there's an audio glitch and video is frozen for 5 seconds. You see the speedrun timer jump from 47:25 to about 47:30. Video then lags behind audio for about 5 seconds from this point onward. Very jarring to me at least.
2. If you skip to 2:40:00 VOD timing and 2:37 speedrun timing, we're at the end of the 2nd battle of the semifinals. You see KEI's winning attack. Seems strange to block at all and waste time, but regardless, the music shuts off while sounds effects remain.
3. The 2nd trip to the semifinals begins at 2:42:42 VOD timing and 2:41:00 speedrun timing. Sound is completely muted by 2:42:51 VOD timing and 2:41.09 speedrun timing where the VOD freezes again. Speedrun timer jumps to about 2:41:14 for another 5 missing seconds.
4. Semifinals against KEI, COMET, NISHI and the finals against SHIN are played completely muted.

I didn't watch the whole 4 hours so there could be other video freezes. Just given the last 4 and arguably hardest battles are all muted, I think that's enough reason to reject the run. Had to be self-verified given it was the first submitted speedrun.

I didn't realize for a long time but you can view someone's profile then right there on the side are games followed with the number of visits to each game's page. I think there's a justification for site admins to see that or maybe be public if you mod the game. Inactive mod on top of few visits probably isn't what the community needs.

Else it's super creepy / stalker-y and I think we are all entitled to a basic level of privacy. Just seeing the games followed is one thing and helps build community and see what you have in common. Leave it at that.

90s kid Yu Yu Hakusho fan here, didn't know this game existed. Got a Japanese PS2 already.

Well, I wanted to watch what's out there and I can't hear anything in @DBcade's submissions. How can you verify it's not spliced or otherwise cheated if you can't hear anything? I'm not accusing him in the slightest, I just think there should be minimum standards for the video. Then people are less inclined to gain an unfair advantage and, to an outsider like me, the community looks better.

I wrote a strategy ideas thread in a forum post. No replies but the several hundred views were motivational. I subsequently went on to write more guides.

Anyway, the views column disappeared in 2022 or 2023. Can admins bring it back, at least for our own threads?

Or rather all others got nerfed. I was routing for higher Opinion Leader levels and noticed something: 53done's OP levels up in the Usar fight. This is impossible in English SNES unless you also kill a Wizard. Japanese TASer vibtration uses Lans in the Warren Fight and his OP still levels up against Usar.

I figured out why. In the original Super Famicom release, EXP gain is calculated as if the enemy is 2 levels higher than in all other releases: English SNES, both PSX, Saturn and Super Famicom Nintendo Power.

The implication for speedrunning is your characters get an automatic level up if the enemy is 4 levels higher in original Super Famicom, whereas it's 6 in the rest. Tarot kill EXP for OP is also not nerfed in the original.

You might like to know that the original Super Famicom has boosted enemy unit counts on all but 4 stages, making it badly designed since a causal playthrough will power level.

I played ran original Super Famicom through Island Avalon to confirm the leveling. Here's the breakdown for any% with identical routing:

I hijacked Dragondarch's formatting. Level in the box is level after the battle ends if the character survives. Gryphon also benefits. Can live or die in Usar fight, doesn't matter. Will gain 1 level for surviving Gilbert or Sirius and 2 if it survives both. In all other releases, Gryphon only gains 1 level if it survives both Gilbert and Sirius.

Is a faster Warren's Castle clear and a 1-2 level advantage significant enough to put original Super Famicom in its own category?

I'm not sure. There was always going to be a best version to run, Japanese text was always faster and Dragon's Haven/Heaven is unaffected. Game is much more popular in Japan and is very playable in Japanese.

But yeah, Tarot cards are more powerful, damage dealt is ticked up and damage taken is ticked down. Extra AGI on Tristan/Debonair is nice. I have no evidence of any change in damage formulas.

I'll wait a little longer for comments on the start of run thread before making rules changes and retiming. If you want to retime your own runs, go for it.

Before retiming, I have to wonder, what about the end of the run? As in, what does "final hit" mean?

• @Dragondarch ends at start of the death sound playing.
• @Krayzar ends very slightly earlier than the sound starting.
• @bizarreluck ends at start of death sound, however the rest of the Hermit animation continues to play. This saves 4 seconds.
• @Spockrocket on Ianuki ends after the final hit lands, before the feedback damage or death sound. This saves 1-2 seconds.

Everyone timed with the final rule correctly but in interpretations that were fastest. I realize it's hilarious to be all legalese here over a few seconds. Issue is 1-4 seconds is significant in a 1 stage map. I don't like the idea of an attack being better if it's the final hit either.

My proposal and open to other proposals: "final hit" means start of death sound and completion of attack animation. As in, if Chariot/Devil/Hermit is used, card has to finish animating.

If you time with damage number disappearing instead of death sound starting or however Krayzar did it, that's fine. Maybe a runner here one day is deaf or hard of hearing.