The Gold Split - Week #37: TAS Awards 2024
Week #37 (April 3): TAS Awards; Silent Hill 2; Speedrun.com Contests; Videos; Event News; New Records: Breath of the Wild, Vice City, Neon White, Half-Life 2, Diddy Kong Racing
Happy Week #37!
We’re now only two weeks away from Twitch enforcing their strict 100-hour limit for Highlights on their platform and straight up delete videos for users with a library that stretches above that threshold. Read the news, tell your crews, use the tools, save speedrunning history!
I have a few tumultuous months coming up and will be travelling a lot. It’s possible that issues of The Gold Split will become more irregular and/or more concise until mid-June and I’ll have much less time to work on stories that require a lot of research. If you have a story to tell, can fit it within ~500 and 1500 words, and would like it to be featured in this silly little newsletter, please reach out to me (Fatzke) on Discord!
Contents
Up to Speed ⚡️
Frame by Frame (TAS Awards 2024) 🔧
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! 📨
Up to Speed ⚡️
🛠️ Silent Hill 2 Remake Leaderboards Reworked (Leaderboard)
The Silent Hill 2 Remake community has decided to rework their leaderboards and disallow the use of the FPSA glitch within the main categories. This tech has now been relegated to miscellaneous, unrestricted categories. The main categories are now these, and neither allow FPSA:
Any%: NG with Glitches
Restricted: NG without Glitches
Any% NG+: NG+ with Glitches
Restricted NG+: NG+ without Glitches
Any% Melee: NG Melee Only with Glitches
Restricted Melee: NG Melee Only without Glitches
🏆 Super Mario Bros. Speedrunning Tournament at SOCAL Gaming Expo 2025 (30-second video)
Unfortunately the announcement is a little sparse on information, but there’s a large amount of high-tier players already confirmed to take part, including the current record holder in all main categories, Niftski. The tournament will be streamed online, but more information on that is yet to come. SOCAL Gaming Expo takes place at the Pasadena Convention Center between June 6th and June 8th. If you’re there, check it out!
Thank you to troyofathyns for sending this one in through Discord! 📨
💰 $500 Speedrun.com Contest: Alien vs. Predator 2 (2-minute read)
Speedrun.com has partnered with Indie Horror Speedruns (IHS) to host a contest for Alien vs. Predator 2, a classic PC FPS. The goal of the contest is to beat the Predator campaign as fast as possible and it will conclude on April 6th. At the time of writing, there are only four people on the leaderboard, so there’s a good chance you might still be able to place among the top three, who will take home at least $100 each. You’ll find more rules, infos about eligibility and even a link to download the game on speedrun.com.
💰 $1,000 Speedrun.com Contest: METAL EDEN (3-minute read)
METAL EDEN is an upcoming fast-paced FPS. The goal of the contest is to play through the free demo version of the game, which launches on April 8th, as fast as possible while clearing all arenas on the way. Prize money will be split between the top three players at the end of the contest on April 15th. You’ll find more rules and infos about eligibility on speedrun.com.
🔮 The Future of Super Mario Bros. Speedruns (32-minute video)
At the beginning of the year, Niftski brought the Any% record in Super Mario Bros. speedrun just a little bit closer to perfection. In this video, Kosmic explains in detail how this run was achieved, compares it to the theoretically best possible times and gives an outlook on future improvements and strategies that could push the record time even lower.
🔥💧 World Record Progression of Fireboy and Watergirl 1 - The Forest Temple (60-minute video)
Fireboy and Watergirl is a series of Flash games, designed primarily for cooperative play. And for the longest time, playing with two players was the fastest way to beat these games. In this video, Maximum turns back time to when solo players first started to master the multitasking necessary to control two characters at the same time, and how this quest for perfection eventually led two to players setting faster times by themselves than others managed cooperatively.
Thank you to the community for sending this one in through the form! 📨
🥊 How SummoningSalt beat Mike Tyson in 1:59 (45-minute video)
SummoningSalt goes into great detail about how he defeated Mike Tyson in under two minutes in Punch-Out!!, a time more than nine years in the making. Covered are the intricacies of the fight and the record run, the history as well as a future outlook on what it would take to beat the time.
Briefly
🚀 Nintendo Switch 2 launches June 5th, 2025 (63-minute video)
⚖️ YouTuber Karl Jobst loses court case against Billy Mitchell (6-minute read)
Event News 📅
Farewell to Switch is the next upcoming event, featuring several fan favourites from the Colosseum community, including but not limited to GrandPooBear, kelpsey, and Trihex. Over the course of three days they’ll entertain with showcases of exclusive Nintendo Switch games to give it a proper send-off while raising money for a good cause.
Starting on Saturday and running for a whole week after will be an event very near and dear to my heart: GTAMarathon 2025. Vice City was my first speedrun some… *checks notes* 12 years ago 👴🏻 and I considered myself part of that community for a long time. This year, they’re organising their first in-person event in the UK and raise money for War Child.
🏁 Finished
Really Really Lots Of Lore 6 raised $2,190 for the Transgender Law Center
Multithon 2025 raised $5,201+ for BluePath Service Dogs
🔜 Upcoming
Starts April 4th: Farewell to Switch (Schedule), benefiting Direct Relief
Starts April 5th: GTAMarathon 2025 (Schedule), benefiting War Child
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
🥇 First Place
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Any%: Normal Mode) in 00:22:58 by Player5
Video • Twitch • YouTubeGrand Theft Auto: Vice City (Any% (No SSU)) in 00:48:20 by Redopter (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeGetting Over It With Bennett Foddy (Snake) in 00:01:51.926 by xiaoWendy (Any/All)
VideoKirby and the Forgotten Land (Any%) in 01:33:28 by hirahira
VideoNeon White (Level Rush: White, Heaven, PC (Steam)) in 00:29:48.346 by marisaa77 (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeHalf-Life 2 (New Engine: Any% No Voidclip) in 00:37:20.054 by Buster12 (He/Him)
VideoDiddy Kong Racing (100%) in 01:42:23 by MrPonytale
Video • Twitch • YouTubeMetal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Any%: PC, Very Easy) in 01:00:08 by PlatonicGuy
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥈 Second Place
Resident Evil 4 (Steam) (New Game: Professional, Single Segment, 60 FPS) in 01:22:37.079 by Sawken
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Any%: Original, Console) in 00:32:52 by takae (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (Any% (No S+Q/WW/OoB)) in 00:51:56 by vlackSR
Video • Twitch • YouTubeDonkey Kong Country Returns (Any%: Console) in 01:17:57 by Leah (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place
Half-Life (WON: Scriptless) in 00:26:24.077 by Kisimov (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeStray (Any%: PC, Glitchless) in 01:15:58 by Lettuce_Seeds (She/Her, They/Them)
Video • YouTubeDevil May Cry (Any%: Normal, Dante) in 00:34:20 by Flennils (He/Him)
Video • TwitchShantae and the Pirate's Curse (Any%: Pirate Mode (No OoB)) in 00:50:12 by Tky619
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Frame by Frame 🔧
I completely forgot about the TAS Awards for 2024, but better late than never. I can only fit a selection of a few of the awards here, but you’ll find a full list on TASVideos.org!
First Edition TAS of 2024
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS) in 23:12.85 by benstephens56
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Glitchy TAS of 2024
Super Mario Bros. (NES) in 04:52.65 by OnehundredthCoin
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Arbitrary Code Execution
Lucky TAS of 2024
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) in 56:22.83 by DyllonStej
Video • Author Notes • Goal: The Subspace Emissary (1 Player)
DS/DSi/3DS TAS of 2024
Super Mario 64 DS in 05:37.23 by Migu, bobbybob, Sharkey91, Really_Tall, Adeal & Rupa
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Gameboy TAS of 2024
Wario Land 3 (GBC) in 22:59.62 by k80may
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Game End Glitch
GBA TAS of 2024
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) in 22:56.80 by iMathII & cstrakm
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Nintendo 3D TAS of 2024
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (GC) in 29:57.57 by Niczur
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game (Sonic)
PC TAS of 2024
Diablo (Windows) in 04:10.31 by staphen, AJenbo, ephphatha & dwangoAC
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Sega TAS of 2024
The Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis) in 36:22.34 by EZGames69
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game (1 Player)
SNES TAS of 2024
Mega Man 7 (SNES) in 41:13.33 by McBobX
Video • Author Notes • Goal: 100%
Reddit Choice 🔝
The r/speedrun choice of the week is… this thread, ranking speedrunning world records by their… prestigiousness. The consensus is pretty clear: Super Mario Bros. 1 (Any%) stands at the top and is the 100m dash of speedrunning.
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you (possibly) next Thursday, April 10th 2025, but maybe on Wednesday or Friday instead. 👋🏻
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