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Monday, November 16, 2009 by Enhasa
Majora's Mask; Multiplayer Mayhem with Mark, Michael, and Marcus
It's the triumphant return of the acclaimed Twilight Princess runner, Daniel 'Jiano' Hart. He's taken on the normal category for The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, for which Peter 'pyh189' Yeh's time of 3:37 in 18 segments has stood since the middle of 2005. With the benefit of many new discoveries and Daniel's renowned dedication, it was eventually realized that a high-level run including all the tricks was indeed possible. So it was that this run — originally targeted at two and a half hours — ended up pushing two hours flat, with a final time of 2:03:04. And oh yeah, that's single-segmented. Check it out for yourself and be amazed! It's remarkable that so many advancements could be occurring all at once nearly ten years after its original release, but the Majora's Mask community isn't done yet, and perhaps sub-two hours is in the future.
It's also the triumphant return of 3/4 of the four-piece motley crew that previously speedran Tales of Symphonia. Their breakup was not fueled by drug addiction or solo careers but by Mark 'Peebs97' Peebles and Michael 'Flip714' Dix going off to college during the making of this Tales of Vesperia run, with Marcus 'DaBlueDragoon' Dix and Tyler 'ukm101' McDaniel still in high school. After having to restart the run twice due to unfortunate miscues, with a different lineup each retry, the final roster for this 43-segment New Game Plus 7:34 was just 3M. Once again, the group tag-teamed to write both informative summaries for each segment and some extremely entertaining off-beat comments too. This game isn't even built for dual-play, but Michael decided to play with one controller in each hand anyway. So not only is this a multiplayer run, but SDA's first ever dual-play run as well!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Enhasa
Pochi and Nyaa
It's too bad there isn't a character named Nyaa in Sunsoft's Journey to Silius. Yes, I looked. This is even the case in the original Japanese version, Raf World, and in the unreleased prototype that was created before Sunsoft lost the Terminator license for the game. No matter. We'll make due with Jay McCray, the protagonist. Jay is masterfully controlled by Dag 'ktwo' Cato, whose run on the European version finishes in just 0:13:48. That's more than enough time to format a floppy disc containing evidence that terrorists were behind an "accident" that destroyed an entire space colony. Don't forget to scroll your screen for advantageous sprite limits!
Saturday, November 7, 2009 by dex
The keeper of tombs
Shaun 'MMAN' Friend made an improvement to one of his old runs - and by old I do mean old, after all, 2005 was a while ago. It seems it was in dire need of improvement, as the new, 2009 run of Tomb Raider III is over 24 minutes faster. Shaun speeds through the third installment of the series about the Indiana Jones inspired adventurer and her bountiful bosom in 2:04:10. This palpable upgrade is done at a slight price - the number of segments increased from 19 to 27, but that's hardly a crime when the time saved reaches levels this significant. The runner mentions his plan for improving another of his Tomb Raider runs from 2005 - lets hope his work will keep being this entertaining.
Saturday, October 31, 2009 by Enhasa
The Old New Thing
First off, we have old Sonic the Hedgehog, brought to us by the Awesome Australian himself, Mike 'mike89' McKenzie. He once held the Sonic the Hedgehog record on SDA, and once again he holds the Sonic the Hedgehog record. Particularly clever readers will notice what I did there with the hyperlinks. That's right, Mike did not take back his Genesis Sonic record but instead staked out a new one on the Sega Master System and Game Gear game. This run will look quite different to those of you who have only played the Genesis version. It's also a bit shorter, as demonstrated by Mike's 0:11:08 with deaths. I know I'm highly impressed.
Then we have new Super Mario Bros. Actually, the game is matter-of-factly titled New Super Mario Bros.. But what happens when the game is no longer so new? Will it then be a misnomer? Also, will Nintendo follow up with a Newer Super Mario Bros.? You've got questions; Jordan 'Greenalink' Greener has the answers. Here is a 45-segment 100% 2:26:20 to prove the point, produced naturally on his trusty DS. This uncontroversial work was inspired by a very controversial work by someone else at another site. By the way, Nintendo has already pulled out all the creative stops with the title of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Trust me, Jordan is ready.
Monday, October 26, 2009 by Enhasa
It's on like Donkey Kong
David 'marshmallow' Gibbons has been under some real fire as of late. Another of his speedruns from 2004 goes down today, as newcomer Austinn 'Davis' Hallman has beaten his Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble Hard 100% in 1:51 by fifteen minutes. Hard mode has one key advantage, incidentally: you start each stage with both monkeys, which saves you the trouble of finding a DK barrel. Whereas David's run uses 11 segments, Austinn's 1:36 uses 58. The astute reader might notice that this equates to one segment per stage. If all this segmentation makes you dizzy, don't worry, Austinn also provides a Hard single-segment any% in 0:51. At SDA, you can have your cake and eat it too.
The other Donkey Kong game in this update is Donkey Kong Jr.. (The first period is part of the game's title, while the second one marks the end of a declarative sentence.) Did you know? This is the only game in history in which Mario is the bad guy. I was overjoyed to learn that this speedrun was done by Ray 'Croc-Doc' Cullen, who delivers with some of his trademarked awesome text commentary — if you want solid information, you'll just have to listen to the audio commentary. Ray chronicles the tale of a wee ape youngling in diapers who is endlessly ravaged by thoughts of revenge. It'll take you longer to read this harrowing tale than it will to watch the run, which clocks in at a svelte 0:01:28.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 by Enhasa
Banjoband
Today's other featured runner will have to rely solely on his nickname, as 'sinister1' has requested that we remove his true identity from the game page. So all I am at liberty to say is that this man has beaten his own Double Dragon II: The Revenge run. Thirty-nine seconds shorter, and still with deaths, this 0:11:22 is filled with an even larger number of flying knees per second. But that's not all! He brought along a best friend, Joe 'jprophet22' Corbin, and they churned out this two-player 0:12:13, also with deaths. Now, you may be wondering why this run is slower than the other one, but after watching just a bit of the added lag, you'll see.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 by Enhasa
Contraband
Needless to say, this update is dedicated to the popular run 'n gun series. First we have Contra III: The Alien Wars, which has been attacked by more than one runner. Neither of them took down Mike Uyama but instead added new categories. Fresh face Kyle Halversen has a Hard difficulty 0:05:24 with deaths. Percentage-wise, this has to be the run on SDA that cuts the most time through death abuse, and it's all due to a peculiar exploit that will be very familiar to fans of Battle Garegga. News mainstay Jeremy 'DK28' Doll continues his relentless assault with two low% runs: 0:15:59 with deaths and 0:16:11 without. Simple arithmetic will show you that deaths save much less time in this case.
As you can see, low% is a popular Contra category because truly nothing is more manly than taking on hordes of baddies with no shirt and only your trusty peashooter to keep you company. And no man is more manly than the Swede of Speed, Freddy 'Frezy_man' Andersson! He has improved the low% time previously held by the aforementioned Jeremy 'DK28' Doll. It's a big one too, as 0:12:48 is now 0:11:34. Do you remember the any% Contra audio commentary, produced by a band of merry miscreants? Did you wish sometimes that everyone else would just shut up for a moment so Freddy could actually give insight into the game itself? Too bad, Mike Uyama traveled all the way to Europe just to ruin your day.
Friday, October 16, 2009 by Enhasa
Super Deadly Boy
Here's another familiar name. Give a warm welcome back to Jeff Feasel! Tom 'rdrunner' Votava's Deadly Towers 0:43:10 was long held to be a speedrun that might stand forever. It wasn't that the run was unbeatably optimized, but rather that the game is considered so bad that nobody would ever want to put in the time or effort or mental status to beat it. I suppose after you've conquered only good games such as Bionic Commando, Gauntlet, Adventures of Lolo, and River City Ransom, you too might give in to your sicker perversions and come away with the long, dark 0:33:56 of the soul.
Let's lighten things up with some Paperboy. Oh wait, this is the most twisted of all today's games. It's the inaugural speedrun for Yadir 'Riskbreaker Y' Osornio, who will soon be a familiar name in the news. Extra! Extra! Read all about how he intentionally crashes his bike, vandalizes homes, and generally acts like an all-around Johnny Knoxville. Yadir brakes for no man, canine, grandma, reaper, or graveling in his 0:10:50. This speedy recklessness is sure to earn him a promotion, demotion, or some other type of motion altogether. Watch the run and see what all the commotion is about.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 by dex
The dark night
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast is one of Bioware's most known RPG games. It's also a game containing a lot of bugs. And if there's anything speedrunners like, it's bugs that dramatically speed gameplay up. With the application of some refinements to the earlier runs, both the single segment and the multi segment categories have been improved. Curiously enough, not by one person - Julien Langer submitted a self improvement to the segmented run on normal difficulty (0:14:36 in 12 segments, knocking off almost 2 minutes), and Benjamin 'Beenman500' Culley applied Julien's tricks in a risky single segment run on the normal difficulty, finished in 0:18:29, 6 minutes better than before. Torrents: segmented, single segment.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 by Enhasa
Here's my mega plan
The second of these would require more explanation, but it was Chris 'Satoryu' Kirk who did this run of Mega Man Maverick Hunter X. So you can just listen to his fabulous audio commentary instead. Gone is his old 0:42:52 in 13 segments from 2006, and in its place is this shiny new 100% 0:37:01 in 15 segments. This is the fourth iteration of this run for Chris, so one could say he is a wily old veteran.
Saturday, October 3, 2009 by Enhasa
Mario the Plumber
What kind of party is it? A Mario Party. Who's invited? Everybody! That's right, before Nintendo became the undisputed party game company, they started it all off with the also fittingly-named Mario Party. And unlike WarioWare, these mini-games can be completed at different speeds by different people. Kevin 'neskamikaze' LaLonde took advantage of this circumstance and pumped out a 100% Mini-Game Island run in 0:45:45 and nine segments. Cower in fear as Mr. LaLonde valiantly fights through assorted mini-games in order to set up an ultimate showdown with none other than... Toad.
Thursday, October 1, 2009 by Enhasa
Baby ate my dingoes!
And then we have the seminal Bonk's Adventure, starring the titular cavebaby who bonks enemies with his massive forehead. PC Engine fans everywhere will be saddened to learn that this is a run on the Game Boy port. Don't put away your winky smiles just yet, because this version displays its own brand of charm. Rob 'Mickey Mage' Whitener is back with a one-minute improvement over a previously rejected run. After adjusting for Super Game Boy usage, this one rescues Princess Za in 0:18:53. Incidentally, I have learned that "za" is not a valid word in Scrabble, but I suppose that's why you need to challenge that sort of thing.
Monday, September 28, 2009 by Enhasa
Mike on the Mic
Mike's only getting warmed up too with the commentating. A beat 'em up aficionado, he was the perfect candidate to run Behemoth's Castle Crashers. This marks the first current-generation speedrun for SDA's most prolific active runner. Mike takes the Blue Knight and puts him through an intensive workout regimen involving lots and lots of steroids and protein sandwiches. Thousands of dead bodies, one beach volleyball match, and 1:14:34 later, he finally gets to kiss the princess. He's in for a real treat. In the meantime, Mike has gotten himself hopelessly addicted to Xbox Live Arcade games, so perhaps we'll be seeing more from him on this platform.
Castle Crashers' title screen bills it as a "four player adventure." Nintendo takes the co-op advertisement a couple of steps further and places it directly in the subtitle of the game itself for The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. Philippe 'Wak' Brisson, who has been making himself comfortable in the news lately, strikes again with a 0:04:09 of Lake Hylia, the first level. This replaces Mike 'TSA' Damiani's 0:04:17 from 2005. I haven't asked him, so I don't know if Philippe just got bored or what, but that's it for now. But this question does lead directly into...
Public service announcement! Do you own that most awesome of games: E.V.O.: Search for Eden? Do you know where your cartridge is? Would you like to see a speedrun of this incredibly underrated gem on SDA? Would you help out a fellow speedrunning enthusiast in need by lending him your cartridge? If you answered yes to all of these questions, please post in this thread and help a brother out. Philippe and I and many others will all thank you dearly.
Thursday, September 24, 2009 by dex
A change of pace
As addictive as WoG is, it rarely creates a dependence as deep as one of Blizzard's masterpieces tends to. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is infamous for drawing the player into it for weeks at a time. Ignoring that sinister capability for possessing humans is Laszlo 'bimanc' Seta, who finished the game in just 1:15:02. It's a segmented run, and the character used to hack and slash through the evil hordes is Assassin. You can grab the Medium Quality and High Quality torrent for what is bound to be an extremely popular run.
Monday, September 21, 2009 by Enhasa
Sierpinski triforce
Our other game today is none other than The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Philippe 'Wak' Brisson decided that he'd finally had enough of seeing anyone else's name on the page, so he completes his clean sweep with a single-segment 1:35:45. This bests Mike 'TSA' Damiani's 2005 run by four minutes and two seconds, representing remarkable advancements both in route and quality. It is also a mere six minutes slower than the segmented run. Philippe confirms that, yes, it is nice to have a supportive girlfriend when dealing with speedrunning frustrations.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by Enhasa
Don't call it a comeback
We do have a couple of new boards on the forum though. First is the Trading Post, where you can buy, sell, or trade games with trustworthy people without getting ripped off by chain stores or online auction sites. Please check it out! The second addition has been sorely missing since SDA's conception and is what I feel to be the most important initiative possible for long-term site success: Casual Speedrunning. Speedrunning at SDA has developed into an environment where a select few churn out incredible times and the rest just watch and don't really contribute. But speedrunning is fun, and even if you're not the world's greatest, you can still take a favorite game and see how fast you can go through it. After all, isn't that why we all came here in the first place? Share your speedrunning experiences and help strengthen our community.
As for this update, I waited a bit until we had two games ready that I particularly love. The first of these is the highly underappreciated Metal Storm for the NES by Irem. The game's defining feature is the ability to reverse gravity at any time with the push of a button. This is as ahead of its time as you would imagine, and it leads to great speedrunning opportunities. Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler is no stranger to great speedrunning, and if you don't believe me, you can witness this short and sweet 0:12:44, single segment. Ben is working on Expert Mode, which is enough to send pangs of yearning down the metallic spine.
The other game is no real surprise if you know me: Valkyrie Profile. It comes courtesy of Moka (もか), a respected Japanese tri-Ace runner. These games are popular RPGs to run, both on SDA and elsewhere; the segmented B-ending category at Ultima Garden (no videos, alas) is particularly ruthless, with eventual improvements dropping to one mere second each. This speedrun is not nearly on that level of optimization, but I love it just as much. It's a 100% (all dungeons) in 4:29... single-segmented. It's wildly different from all other Valkyrie Profile runs on SDA, because the game gives you the flexibility to skip whatever you want. This fulfills a $50 bounty from me, but I'm upping it to $100 out of guilt since my absence delayed the posting of the run. Sorry, man.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by dex
The Cool War
Elsewhere on the NES front, Jeff Feasel crafted a run of The Adventures of Lolo. This run on the first game completes the trilogy of runs for Lolo games on SDA (Lolo 2 and 3 have runs by mister Votava). Picking up lots of hearts and pushing lots of crates, Jeff manages to finish this game in just 0:23:01. Collecting hearts to save a woman, can that be qualified as 'profound' as well?
The NES content of the site has increased significantly in the last 2 weeks, it would seem.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by dex
Mega-Megalomania
You ready to get spooked? Well, if you can get spooked by 2D NES graphics, you might be in for a treat. Apparently, the controls and the hit detection alone can spook you in this game. However, Dag 'ktwo' Cato has a high tolerance for fear and bad programming. So he made a run on the European version of Addams Family (NES), with deaths, in 0:15:11. Then, just to show the game how much he's not afraid of it, he did a run without deaths (European version still) 0:16:46. Now that is insanity!
Sunday, August 30, 2009 by dex
Megalomania
Another aptly named game in this update is Super Star Wars. What exactly makes it super? The gameplay? The characters? The missions? The license? Or perhaps the mundane fact of this being a Super NES game? In any case, Chris 'Pootrain' Ferguson trusts the Force and manages to avoid being killed in this quite difficult rendition of Star Wars: A New Hope. Specifically, he trusts the European version of the Force (and the game). And that is why he doesn't fail, finishing his single segment after just 0:30:36 of lightsaber swinging, jumping and sliding around. And some vehicle sections.
Also, still remember the incredibly useful Knowledge Base? Well, a fresh addition has recently come to life, specifically the SDA Strategy Wiki, a compendium of tricks, tips and strategies for speedrunning different games. As outlined here, you're encouraged to add your own pages or tips to the plethora of existing ones.
Friday, August 28, 2009 by mikwuyma
Blue Suicide Bomber
WARNING: Ghosh's language when interviewed is just as strong and genitalia-focused as ever, so those of you who are easily offended have been warned.
If that interview isn't enough Sattik for you, then you can enjoy his new Mega Man X run in 33:48, 21 seconds faster than the Swede of Speed's record. Included with the run is audio commentary that Ghosh recorded live as he was doing the run. You can hear about a new Maverick, Ghosh's relationship with the f-word, and complete silence during the final boss fight, proof of how focused Ghosh was during this run. Get the Medium Quality torrent here.
Seth Glass is a name many associate with Mega Man 2, and this next run is no exception. Glass's new run, unlike his previous run, does not employ any zip glitches, which means it's actually 26 seconds slower than his current glitched run, clocking in at 0:29:28. This will probably be popular, so here's another Medium Quality torrent. Zip glitches are now considered a separate category for Mega Man 2 because they change the boss route and save a significant amount of time.
While a 26 second difference might not seem significant enough to warrant separate categories, it's possible to shave more time off the current glitched run. Rumor has it that even sub-28 minutes is possible!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by dex
A Number Of Primes
We have a new Frigate Escape run on Metroid Prime. The new run is done on the PAL version by Besmir 'Zoid' Sheqi and is almost two seconds faster than the older run. A palpable improvement, so to speak. The time remaining is 0:04:25.40 - remember that the timer counts down.
That was the starter, now it's time for the main course. It might be a little stale - because it's from 2006 and hasn't been posted yet - but it's still a very edible meal. Cooked by the aforementioned chef Alastair 'DJGrenola' Campbell, it's a brand new addition to the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes menu. This low% time entering secret worlds is 1:55, done in 21 segments. In a true Grenola fashion, he supplied an extensive commentary, this time adding an audio commentary to his already impressively sized comments. Since this is bound to be a tremendously popular piece of Metroid cuisine, I've made a torrent of the Medium Quality, also for convenience when downloading.
Also, I have to mention that Arkarian put in some effort into making a runners list on his website. If you want to check what runs some player did, that's definitely gonna be useful to you before we add this and some other features to the SDA site.
Friday, August 14, 2009 by DJGrenola
Duress
SDA already lists an entry for Pokémon Gold, but if you have been waiting to see something on its souped-up Game Boy Color adaptation, today is the day. The great Mike 'mike89' McKenzie powers through Pokémon Crystal in under four hours — 3:52, to be precise — and he does it single-segment, all in one take. "This run goes start-to-finish with one solitary Pokemon doing all the fighting - Feraligatr," boasts Mike in his comments. Anticipating popularity, I am providing a torrent.
Another popular series frequently associated with Nintendo hardware is the ghoulish Castlevania. Wayne 'soteos' Frank was until today the Magician mode record holder of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, but his long-standing run from 2005 has finally been visited by Death. The new Lord of the Castle is Richard 'Belmont' Jasionowski, who cuts the old time listed in this category for this GBA game almost in half — from 0:41:14 down to just 0:22:14 in 12 segments. Since there are twelve files to download, I made a torrent of the medium quality encode of this run, too.
Another fantasy-themed run from 2005 also bites the dust in this update. Tom 'rdrunner' Votava is the victim this time, as his run on NES Gauntlet falls foul of a faster contribution from Jeff Feasel. Like Tom, Jeff exploits the predictability of the Vault code to avoid having to collect the clues normally required to open it. Jeff's 0:17:51 as Elf is over two minutes faster than its predecessor, which has to be worth a watch.
Japanese action RPG series Ys may remain largely undiscovered by most Western gamers, but that has not stopped it from achieving a cult following amongst some. The situation regarding remakes of the Ys games is rather confusing, but the 9-segment run provided here by Jeff 'Korzic' David on Ys Eternal: Ancient Ys Vanished Omen (Ys I) was performed on the Ys I&II Complete edition, and on Easy difficulty, in a time of 0:38:35.
I apologise to Nathaniel Stalberg, whose run of Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity Nova has been in the queue for a while, having been completed at the start of March. Nathaniel tackles the Pirate storyline and uses 40 segments in this luck-manipulating quest for glory, zipping around the Milky Way in just 0:14:31.
You can put that gun away now, Sir.
Thursday, August 6, 2009 by DJGrenola
Me Again
Before the infamous WoW claimed the social lives of so many young, promising individuals, there were some other, less societally dangerous Warcraft games. Our attention today turns to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, which is the subject of a run by the rather strangely monickered Philipp 'Stupid' H.
Wait, though — this is a "run bomb", so Philipp actually has five runs for you on the various campaign modes offered by this title. All campaigns were played on hard mode, so quickly: 2-segment Prologue in 0:08:14; 9-segment Human in 1:01:35; 8-segment Undead in 1:08:30; 8-segment Orc in 0:54:22; and 7-segment Night Elf in 1:21:37. Full details are on the game page, of course.
Psygnosis' early Wipeout games will always be quite dear to my heart, with their pulsating soundtracks, futuristic design and high-speed visuals. Many is the guilty hour I spent zooming smoothly round curves when I should have been studying the results of Fourier, Maxwell, Karnaugh and Faraday.
Of course, since only about three Europeans in total bought a Nintendo 64, my experiences had always been limited to the PlayStation releases of this popular racing game. Now, Wouter M. 'WMJ' Jansen has arrived to educate me, serving up lap records on the seven tracks of Wipeout 64. The details are all on the page, but you can also grab a ZIP file of the high quality encodes from all seven tracks here (40 MB). Other qualities may be found in the usual place.
Friday, July 31, 2009 by DJGrenola
Cameo Appearance
Now, let's see some action. I am adding four new games to the game list on this sunny summer afternoon.
Long-time SDA forum lurker Paul 'Lag.Com' Davies opens an account on Arcomage, the standalone PC adaptation of the Might & Magic card-based tavern minigame. Paul gives us a pair of runs depicting two ways of winning this game: a Destruction victory in 0:00:20, and a Building victory in 0:00:24. These runs are very short indeed, but the times seem to mirror the fact of life that it is easier to destroy things than it is to create them.
The first part of Robert Zemeckis' time-travelling trilogy is a film well-loved by many, me included. Unfortunately, I suspect that the NES adaptation of Back to the Future is rather less roundly revered by people than its silver screen counterpart. Anyway, Ray 'Croc-Doc' Cullen is the man playing his Gibson behind his head this time — he sends Marty home in 0:17:11.
Robbie 'lightningx' Shintaku, meanwhile, gives us a 37-segment treatment of PC hack-and-slash RPG Dungeon Siege, which was released back in 2002. "The most frustrating thing about running this game was the camera," explains Robbie in his comments. This is not the first time I have read such an opinion in the comments for a speed run, nor will it be the last. He also declares that this run "was an experiment to see if the game could be completed in seven hours or less". Robbie did very well, then, since he stormed through in just 2:38 on Easy difficulty.
Lastly, Jason 'honorableJay' Feeney dashes through another video game comic book adaptation in the form of X-Men for the Genesis. Jason uses Nightcrawler for much of the run, but you can read his run comments to learn why this mutant is generally superior for speed purposes (or just listen to the audio commentary). Six months of courageous effort on Jason's part have been condensed down to a mere 0:08:46, so you'd better appreciate it.
Friday, July 24, 2009 by Radix
A smashing good time
On Super Smash Bros for N64, Jeremy 'DK28' Doll improved both of his previous times. The time with deaths drops to 0:03:01, an improvement of 15 seconds. The time without any deaths drops to 0:03:09, an improvement of 17 seconds.
On Super Smash Bros Melee for GameCube, we now have two runs on Classic Mode. Philippe 'Wak' Brisson finished in 39.74 seconds using a sleeping Pokémon. No, not Snorlax - it's Jigglypuff. Andrew 'Pokemonmaster888' D. used Ganondorf for an even faster time of 32.77 seconds.
On Super Smash Bros Brawl for Wii, there is a new category for "100 man melee 2 player". Only one player is credited though, because apparently Adam 'No1 Inparticular' Young has no problem controlling two pikachus at once. After a mere 0:01:14.68, all 100 opponents go flying off the screen.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 by Radix
Take three down, pass them around
Next up is a tile swapper run on Panel de Pon
Tetris Attack for Super Nintendo. The time of
0:05:12
is by someone who apparently has very mean parents and called him Darkwing Duck. This is one minute and 7 seconds faster than the time from 2007.
If you play North & South, you might learn a little history about the U.S - or you might blink and miss the game. The previous run from January was on "level 1" AI difficulty and finished in a mere one minute and one second. Daniel 'Kareshi' Brown has done "level 2" and "level 3" as well. Level 2 is only 0:00:56 and three is 0:00:50. I'm not sure why these apparently higher numbered levels are faster without obsoleting the lower levels, and the "comments" from the runner certainly dont explain either.
Friday, July 10, 2009 by Radix
I Am Not Enhasa, Either
Next we have three wicked runs of two bodacious action games.
When people think NES, they might not think Kid Niki: Radical Ninja, but that's because they've never played this warped game! The game has Marcel Marceau lookalikes constantly chasing you, and an old man who drops F bombs, what's not to like?
Jim Hanson wields Niki's mullet with expert precision and destroys that tard, the stone wizard, in 0:11:39. Jim said that his goal is to get at least one run posted on SDA a year, and with this run he succeeds. Atta boy, Hanson!
The next two runs might not have the word radical in the title, but that doesn't make them any less so.
First is Freddy 'Frezy_man' Andersson's 40-second improvement of Jim Hanson's Super C. Freddy furiously mashes and destroys everything in a fractions of a second to accomplish his 0:13:26.
Hanson's response: No Mullets? Doesn't count. Kid Niki is the truth. While Probotector 2 might not have Bill and Lance, that doesn't mean Marko 'Master-88' Vanhanen's 14-second improvement is bogus. His 0:16:44 still features the same gnarly shooting action, just with robots instead of humans.
P.S. Marko would like to say that all three of these runs "look like TAS".
The preceding was actually written by Mike Uyama, who is currently traveling through Europe. Could you tell?
Now for one more run in this update, since we're having a bit of a summer drought. Jeremy 'DK28' Doll did a run to finally bring Super Castlevania IV into the Archive's game list. His initial submission for this game was rejected but the end result is a much better run I'm sure. Its time is 0:39:17.