3 ms·

It depends on the game and category. Category rules are established by the community and the top priority is runs being fun to watch and play. Usually, any glit

by ATsch 8y ago

It depends on the game and category. Category rules are established by the community and the top priority is runs being fun to watch and play. Usually, any glitches are fair game. However, if any game-breaking glitches are found, the category will usually be split into one that allows and one that disallows the glitch. For example, Portal speedruns were split into "out of bounds" and "inbounds" categories once glitches were discovered that allowed you to beat the game mostly without interacting with the actual game at all.

danso 8y ago
Same situation for Super Metroid, which seems to be one of the most popular games for speedrunning. The "anything goes" category seems to be "Any% Glitched" [0], which allows for techniques that modify in-game memory values -- the current record is 12m19s. The most popular category, and fun to watch (IMO) is "Any%" [1], which does not allow for such memory tricks and has a current record of 41m18s. But the latter is still not quite a "glitchless" run, based on the average person's definition of "glitch". For example, I doubt it was intended behavior for Kraid to die after 4 missiles [2] based on the player shooting him during a specific animation. I never played SM much beyond beating it as a kid, but I enjoy its speedruns because besides the variety of techniques and clutch moments required, there's at least one boss who behaves randomly, and requires the player to improvise. Also, in the course of new records being set, there have been a variety of strategies (e.g. different decisions on which path to take) employed, and there still seems to be room to discover more optimal strategies. [0] https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25_Glitched https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25_Glitched [1] https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25 https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25 [2] https://youtu.be/ezFcybTLOOE?t=27m29s https://youtu.be/ezFcybTLOOE?t=27m29s
- danharaj 8y ago
  > there's at least one boss who behaves randomly Phantoon, bane of speedrunners.

by ATsch 8y ago

danso 8y ago

Same situation for Super Metroid, which seems to be one of the most popular games for speedrunning. The "anything goes" category seems to be "Any% Glitched" [0], which allows for techniques that modify in-game memory values -- the current record is 12m19s. The most popular category, and fun to watch (IMO) is "Any%" [1], which does not allow for such memory tricks and has a current record of 41m18s. But the latter is still not quite a "glitchless" run, based on the average person's definition of "glitch". For example, I doubt it was intended behavior for Kraid to die after 4 missiles [2] based on the player shooting him during a specific animation. I never played SM much beyond beating it as a kid, but I enjoy its speedruns because besides the variety of techniques and clutch moments required, there's at least one boss who behaves randomly, and requires the player to improvise. Also, in the course of new records being set, there have been a variety of strategies (e.g. different decisions on which path to take) employed, and there still seems to be room to discover more optimal strategies. [0] https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25_Glitched https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25_Glitched [1] https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25 https://wiki.supermetroid.run/Any%25 [2] https://youtu.be/ezFcybTLOOE?t=27m29s https://youtu.be/ezFcybTLOOE?t=27m29s

danharaj 8y ago
> there's at least one boss who behaves randomly Phantoon, bane of speedrunners.