The Gold Split - Week #16: Quick Updates Pt. 2
Week #16 (October 17th): Mirror's Edge TAS; Splits.io saved; Portal tie broken; Marathon News; New World Records: A Link to the Past, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Ratchet & Clank, Kingdom Hearts
Happy Week #16!
I recently included TASVideos.org in my weekly research and started thinking about dedicating a (bi-)weekly section to new tool-assisted speedruns. It’s been getting harder to come up with interesting stats and it would allow me to take a breather from that section, while also giving TAS some love it definitely deserves. That’s why I wanted to bring you a simple TAS 101 in this week’s main story, while also highlighting some of the best ones out there.
However, time wasn’t on my side this week and I didn’t manage to do nearly enough research to do the topic justice. To make up for it, the Up to Speed ⚡️ section will have a bunch of long-form video productions that’ll make sure you still spend a lot of time consuming speedrunning content. I’ll keep working on the TAS article and plan on shipping it on October 31st.
Next week’s Gold Split will be published on Friday, October 25th! I’ll be attending and doing a speedrun at HEKathon. The event starts on Thursday, and I’d like to soak up the vibes for a bit before reporting from there.
Contents
If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should cover in communities you are a part of, go ahead and submit them here or in the Gold Split Discord! 📨
Up to Speed
🏃♂️ Tool-Assisted Speedrun beats Mirror’s Edge in 15:44 (22-minute video)
The first TAS for the popular parkour game made by community members Tacos and Req pushes the speedrun to its absolute limits, improving the time by almost seven minutes over the last segmented speedrun.
🎉 Splits.io will not be shutting down (Tweet)
Last week, the popular statistics and analytics platform announced that it would cease active operations at the end of the year. Going forward, GamesDoneQuick will be providing ongoing financial support and help keeping Splits.io operational.
💥 Portal speedrunner breaks 144-way tie for Level 14 (Out of Bounds) (Reddit Thread)
Using an updated route, SiDiouS managed to improve the time that was assumed to be the limit for the individual level by 11 ticks or 165 milliseconds. A video of the 16-second-long speedrun can be found in the original post.
🍄 TAS Explained: Super Mario Bros. 3 in 0.2 seconds (20-minute video)
Tool-assisted speedruns are somehow just meant to be this week’s theme. In this video, content creator 100th Coin explains their Super Mario Bros. 3 TAS, completing the game in less than a quarter of a second.
🔍 How one person completely broke Chrono Trigger speedrunning (25-minute video)
In this long-form video, DoctorSwellman explains in great detail how one person revolutionised Chrono Trigger speedruns through various glitch discoveries.
🔄 Speedruns of nine games that were revived by new findings (58-minute video)
Certain discoveries can make some speedrun categories undesirable to run. Xem explains the story of nine of them that got resurrected after being considered dead. The list includes Super Mario 64, Sonic Frontiers, Quake, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Spyro the Dragon, among others.
Marathon News
🏁 Finished:
Disaster Relief Done Quick raised $45,191 for Direct Relief, helping victims impacted by hurricanes Helene & Milton
UKSG Blue 2024 raised $3,595 for Crisis
USC - Ultimate Speedrun Championship raised $4,236 for AbleGamers
Time Tick 2024 raised $775+ for Safe In Our World
⏱️ Running:
Until October 21st: Running Through Wonderland (Schedule)
🔜 Upcoming:
Starts October 24th: HEKathon Offline 2024 (Schedule)
Starts October 24th: Prevent-A-Thon 4 (Schedule), raising money for Little Warriors
This Week’s Top Times
🥇 First Place:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (No Major Glitches: Any%) in 01:22:31.000 by QQNola (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeMario Kart 8 Deluxe (48 Tracks: 200cc, No Items) in 01:24:17.319 by ZitroNino
Video • Twitch • YouTubePaper Mario (Glitchless: N64) in 03:40:29.000 by realblopez (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeRatchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (NG+ No QE) in 00:19:48.000 by Scottobozo (He/Him)
Video • TwitchTetris (Game Boy) (100 Lines, Level 0 Start) in 00:04:21.906 by Zwippie
Video • Twitch • YouTubeLEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (Any%: Console, Solo) in 00:58:07.000 by coolestto
Video • Twitch • YouTubeStar Wars: Battlefront II (RotE Any%: Bonus) in 00:44:58.034 by Starfy_99 (She/Her)
VideoKingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD (Any%: PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X, Aqua, Critical/Level 1) in 00:40:42.000 by Sonicshadowsilver2 (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥈 Second Place:
Super Mario 64 (120 Star: N64) in 01:36:21.000 by ikori_o (He/Him)
VideoJak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (No LTS) in 00:52:48.000 by HillaryPuff
VideoNoita (Any%: 1.0, Random) in 00:02:01.090 by hardpossession (He/Him)
VideoBilly Hatcher and the Giant Egg (Any%: Console) in 01:03:54.000 by Kyrrone
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Any%: Normal Mode) in 00:23:39.000 by MoldyMeatballs
Video • Twitch • YouTubeMafia: The City of Lost Heaven (Any%: PC) in 02:28:14.000 by anton523
Video • TwitchJak 3 (Any% No OoB: Original) in 00:28:26.000 by Bintendo (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeFable: The Lost Chapters (Any%) in 01:05:17.000 by Pantoufle (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Fun Stat of the Week
📊 Each week, there are on average about 45 new records in the games, categories and leaderboards I’m tracking for This Week’s Top Times 🏆. Because there would never be enough space to feature all of them, I’m manually selecting about eight to ten based on top secret and completely objective criteria. 👀
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Friday, October 25th 2024. 👋🏻
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