When I took over moderation of the Fatal Fury Special game on SR.com, I would never think that a controversy would arise in the game, but yet, though internal, I wanted to write a few words on a potential controversy over a run that was third place, our investigation of said run, and why we ultimately rejected said run.
The SNES-ANY category of the game was a category since its inception, was intended to be a catch-all grandfather category for those who do play on SNES console or emulator and still want to have the benefits of a speedrunning category. I hold the current WR in that category, though it should be noted that I did so under the current rules of the category, which, translated to mean, there were no rules.
Since my stewardship of the game began, I implmented a number of changes to the game, up to and including timers being at the default 60 seconds, Timing using RTA methodology, and new timing rules. It is that part where the confusion began for this run. It is with this tradition in mind that similar rules were implmented in another game that I manage, King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match.
Backstory:
On the 18th of November (Pacific time), Felipe83 submitted a run to the SNES-ANY category to Fatal Fury Special. It was rejected outright due to a lack of timer. Then on the 25th of November, he submitted another run of the game, this time with a timer, that was accepted and verified on the 26th of November.
The Problem:
The problem arised when the person who verified the run in question came to me with a problem on a unrelated run. I then viewed the run in question and noticed that something was off with the timer. The start of the video displayed .20 on the timer. So I investigated further and noticed that the rejected run and the new run BOTH had the same play with the enemy selection screen - Both runs panned over to Big Bear before selecting Andy Bogard. After presenting the evidence that I had, the other moderator then presented something else - that the ending score was the same, 523600. This presents a major problem. It opens the door for splicing. And as we all know, splicing goes against the fundimentals of speedrunning, even if he added a timer to the splice.
Therefore:
I will be forced to reject the run in question, and ask that Felipe submit a clean run. If he can do so, then great, we will accept the new run at face value, though precautions will be taken that it is not the same run being submitted for the third time.
With that said, I wish you happy speedrunning.
