The Gold Split - Week #22: What's New?
Week #22 (Nov 28): Hot New Speedruns; Final Fantasy X; SMB Glitches; Competitions; Event News; TAS Movies; New World Records: Celeste, Cuphead, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Breath of the Wild, Spyro
Good Day!
It’s Week #22, and the days are getting very very short. Last week’s story was relatively high effort, and that combined with just having less time available this week means we’re going to take a relatively low-effort look at some of the hot new speedgames that were released in the last few months. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those, and it will be more of a summary than a deep dive. Hope you find it interesting!
Contents
Up to Speed ⚡️
Frame by Frame (TAS Movies) 🔧
I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should cover, go ahead and submit them here or in the Gold Split Discord! 📨
Quick Poll: Who are you? 📊
It’s about time I got to know you, the person reading this, a little better. Specifically, I’m curious about your speedrunning background. I’ve been trying to cater to veterans as well as people who are simply curious about this hobby and happy to remain spectators. Some stories might lean more towards either side and it’s impossible to bridge the gap completely, but I hope I did a decent job so far.
And if you know somebody who’d love this hobby as much as we do and would fit into the first group, share this!
Story of the Week ✨
This week, let’s take a (very) brief look at each of the hottest new speedgames that were released in the last three months, according to speedrun.com:
Sonic X Shadow Generations
Main Category (Shadow Generations): Any% (PC) | Time: 01:07:48.650 | Video
Main Category (Sonic Generations): Any% | Time: 01:00:59 | Video
This bundle is both the most recent and most popular on the list. It includes a remaster of 2011’s Sonic Generations and the brand-new Shadow Generations. Combined, they lead the list with 425 active players by a large margin.
Interestingly though, most of the players don’t speedrun the full game, but instead prefer individual levels. Only 11 out of 274 total runs for Sonic Generations belong to the full game. In Shadow Generations the ratio is more favourable, but also here more than 90% of runs are individual level runs. And within the individual levels, popularity peaks at the beginning of the game. Later levels are played far less often.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies
Main Category: Libery Falls (Main Quest) | Time: 00:13:58.000 | Video
The horde mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 comes in at a strong second place with 293 active players. It includes two maps: Liberty Falls and Terminus Island. Each has their own main quest as its main category, but the community came up with all sorts of different goals, that can each be modified with a different amount of players, different minor rulesets, and more. In total, combining all possibilities of subcategories, there are 1656 leaderboards.
Due to being so much shorter and more like the multiplayer mode that many people play Call of Duty for these days, the zombie modes of the recent installments in the series are vastly more popular than speedrunning the story campaign. Only 14 players have done that in Black Ops 6.
UFO 50
“Main Category”: Barbuta (Individual Level) | Time: 00:04:33.500 | Video
UFO 50 is a collection of 50 completely different games. It’s a very cool concept and it makes me happy to see it 135 players actively speedrunning it.
Naturally, every game gets their own “individual level” leaderboard, and it’s fun to see people compete across multiple, even if the games are completely different. The shortest ones take players just a few minutes to complete, while the longest one takes up to one hour.
If you’d like to attempt speedrunning the full game from a fresh file you are allowed to take breaks as long as you finish your run within 14 days. Only one person has accomplished this task so far. Their time: 27:46:20.933
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Main Category: Any% (Unrestricted) | Time: 00:34:22 | Video
I expected Zelda’s first main adventure to place higher here, especially considering that it was released in August. I wrote about Echoes of Wisdom in Week #15 and since then, not much has changed. The 99 active players still use a wrong warp to the final dungeon and the current Any% (Unrestricted) record was set on October 17th.
There are more developments in the Any% (Restricted) category that bans the use of random wrong warps as well as in All Dungeons, requiring all of the seven dungeons to be completed.
Astro Bot
Main Category: Any% | Time: 02:08:57 | Video
Astro Bot is Sony’s answer to Mario. Despite being lower in terms of active players than some of the others, the Astro Bot community has put in far more runs than any other game in this list.
Similar to the Sonic games, individual levels get a lot of love here. This is positively impacted by the developers giving a lot of it back to the community through the release of free speedrunning levels over the last few weeks.
The full game leaderboard also looks incredibly healthy though, and I’m curious to see if the level of movement tech can reach that of modern 3D Mario games.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Main Category: Any% (Party-Planner Trek) | Time: 01:00:37 | Video
The latest installments in the Mario Party series comes with a nice and speedrun-able single-player mode called the Party Planner Trek, and that’s what most of the 65 active players chose to focus on. The leaderboard is incredibly tight and active, with the Top 5 times being only one minute apart. The record stands for 21 days already, but the first run below the 1-hour mark is only a matter of time.
Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Main Category: Any% (New Game, PC, Light) | Time: 01:52:49 | Video
The remake of 2001’s Silent Hill 2 was really well received everywhere. And this is mirrored on the leaderboards: 60 players already finished 180 full game runs. The easiest difficulty might be the first that appears when loading the board, but Standard and Hard difficulties are equally popular.
My favourite? Only using melee weapons on the hardest difficulty:
Up to Speed ⚡️
💫 How FFX speedrunners keep breaking world records in 2024 (13-minute video)
The 9-hour marathon run that is Final Fantasy X (Any%) on PlayStation 2 has recently seen its first two new records since November 2023. DoctorSwellman’s latest video explores the new levels of optimisation, RNG manipulation and skips that made these possible and might soon lead to the 9-hour 30-minute barrier being broken.
🍄 The craziest glitches in Super Mario Bros. (34-minute video)
In this glitch showcase video, Super Mario Bros. legend Kosmic features mind-blowing glitches and other obscure mechanics. These aren’t necessarily useful for speedruns, but it shows why games in this scene never truly fade away. Even decades later, there is always new quirks to be found.
🏆 Speedrun.com’s Black Ops 6 Zombies challenge finishes (Challenge Results)
Kingman | Time: 21:26 | Prize: $250
Freckleston | Time: 21:46 | Prize: $150
SmartGuy | Time: 21:50 | Prize: $100
💰 $2,200 CAD speedrun competition for “Get To Work” announced (3-minute video)
Get To Work is a… rollerblade platformer (?) to be released on December 2nd. The competition will be running for ten days following the release and is separated into three legs. At the end of each leg, prize money will be awarded to the fastest time.
Briefly
📖 Why is a 30 Year old Mario game still the most popular speedrun? (11-minute video)
⚔️ Dark Souls (All Bosses) Segmented Speedrun in 57:50 (58-minute video)
Event News 📅
We’ve got a small but dense selection this week. Both, Souls Charity Marathon as well as Really Really Long a Thon, are absolutely stellar events that have been around for a long time. The former focusses on games like Dark Souls and others by FromSoftware, while the latter showcases (really really) long speedrun categories that rarely make it into shorter events. It stays true to its name and will run all the way until Christmas.
My suggestion: watch Souls Charity Marathon on the weekend and then continously enjoy Really Really Long a Thon on your second screen!
🏁 Finished
Fastest Furs Fall Fest 2024 raised $20,110 for Trans Lifeline
🔜 Upcoming
Starts November 30th: Souls Charity Marathon 2024 (Schedule), benefitting Save The Children
Starts December 1st: Really Really Long a Thon 8 (Schedule), benefitting The Open Medicine Foundation
Starts December 4th: No Holidays Allowed 2024 (Schedule), benefitting the Go Rescue Pet Adoption Center
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
🥇 First Place
Celeste (Any%) in 00:24:51.494 by secureaccount (He/Him)
Video • TwitchCuphead (Version 1.1+: Any%, Regular) in 00:27:32.509 by Grondious (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Any%: Normal Mode) in 00:23:09.000 by Player5
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSuper Mario Galaxy 2 (Any%) in 02:54:42.000 by Jhay (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSpyro the Dragon (120%) in 01:20:23.000 by Dayoman (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeTy the Tasmanian Tiger (Any%: PC) in 00:27:39.000 by KamaCrimson (Any/All)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeMultiple Spyro and Crash Games (Spyro Trilogy: 337%) in 06:12:48.000 by notvanni
Video • Twitch • YouTubeNintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Legendary Trial) in 00:20:24.519 by ramunesakusan
Video
🥈 Second Place
Undertale (Genocide: 1.00-1.001) in 01:03:42.000 by Shayy (He/Him, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeFinal Fantasy XIII (Any%: PC) in 04:25:20.000 by Kayarune (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubePaper Mario (Any% (No ACE): N64) in 01:38:42.000 by JCog (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeLittle Kitty, Big City (Glitchless Any%) in 00:04:35.766 by KikiSenchou (She/Her)
Video • Twitch
🥉 Third Place
Super Mario 64 (16 Star: EMU) in 00:15:07.000 by Sunnard
Video • TwitchTitanfall 2 (Any%: Standard) in 01:14:16.000 by Darkwin
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Frame by Frame 🔧
Two weeks have passed since I last featured the latest tool-assisted speedruns. New publications include a five-frame improvement in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe over the previous TAS, the very first Professor Layton game, as well as a Batman arcade game rich in variety. Enjoy!
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (GBC) in 04:57.45 by KingKappa & Denial140
Video | Author Notes | Goal: Warps
Super Mario Bros. 2 (FDS) in 35:01.61 by web2000 & Kzwbz
Video | Author Notes | Goal: All Levels (Mario)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) in 1:15:50.31 by StarrlightSims
Video | Author Notes | Goal: Any%
Batman (Arcade) in 06:04.95 by Induviel
Video | Author Notes | Goal: Any%
Little Ninja Brothers (NES) in 33:24.55 by Acmlm
Video | Author Notes | Goal: Any%
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure (GBC) in 20:47.23 by jlun2
Video | Author Notes | Goal: Save Glitch
Reddit Choice 🔝
The r/speedrun choice of the week is… this discussion about games that play completely different as a speedrun compared to a first playthrough. Exploration and puzzle games come up a lot. When all challenges are known and can be memorised, the main factor is then just execution. But also…
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, December 5th 2024. 👋🏻
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