The Gold Split - Week #6: Quick Updates
Week #6 (August 8th): Elden Ring Competition; Sony's LiveSplit; 3D Zelda All Dungeons Relay; Marathon News; New World Records: Resident Evil 2, Splatoon, Metroid Prime, Pac-Man, Skyrim
Hello!
I’m still enjoying my board game retreat with a bunch of friends in Denmark, so you won’t be getting a full Story of the Week this time. But a vacation doesn’t stop the news cycle, so let’s get right into it.
Contents
I’d like to cover much more, but many great stories stay confined to the communities for a specific game or series and rarely get out. 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
💰 Two updates from the $10,000 Elden Ring DLC speedrun competition:
Update 1 | Update 2 (2x 2 minute read)
Two weeks ago the competition was part of the news, and we’re now getting the kinds of discoveries that we were hoping for. The first update is about a new and potentially extremely useful glitch, allowing players to walk through the air. The second update talks about a (disallowed) strategy to trivialise one of the boss fights. Shoutouts to gamesradar writer Catherine Lewis for following the competition closely!
📝 Sony files patent for a speedrun timer software on the PlayStation (3 minute read)
Speedrunners might get their own software to track and share their gold splits on Sony’s consoles. Built-in automation is a reason to get carefully excited, but it’s not even clear whether or not the software will be released to the public. It’ll be tough to get this right and requires intimate knowledge of the scene, so let’s see. But it would in any case make speedrunning on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 much more accessible to newcomers.
🗡️ Watch all 3D Zelda games’ “All Dungeons” speedruns live tomorrow
On August 9th, the first 3D Zelda All Dungeons relay will take place on the ZeldaSpeedRuns channel, featuring top runners from each game, and an expected runtime of 17 hours.
Thanks to Anorakkis for sending this in through the public form!
🙈 Bubzia accidentally sets a new blindfolded record in the 0 Star category of Super Mario 64 (22 minute video)
This category was once deemed impossible to complete blindfolded. But not only did Bubzia improve the previous record, he did so while attempting a run in the 1 Star category, which ended up dying.
🐱🏍 New exploit in Pokémon Ultra Sun allows payload injection (1 minute read)
As of now, this discovery has only a very niche usecase and allows the execution of injected code after an elaborate setup using two Nintendo 3DS consoles. Whether or not it will actually have an effect on speedruns remains to be seen.
🕹️ ‘If you do nothing, you can speedrun this game’ (3 minute read)
New waiting simulator “While Waiting” promises a rather different speedrunning experience. Not doing anything might be the fastest way to complete the game. Knowing speedrunners though… they’ll find a way. A trailer is available in the article.
What’s your favourite “do nothing” speedrun? Let me know! I’ll throw Barney’s Hide & Seek Game (Any% No Controller) into the ring.
Marathon News
Finished:
Gamers Against Suicide raised $1,750 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Running 4 Reels 2024 raised $2,542 for the Reel Hope Project
Upcoming:
Starts 9th August 2024: RTA in Japan Summer 2024, raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) (Schedule)
Starts 11th August 2024: BSG Annual 2024, raising money for MIND (Schedule)
Starts 13th August 2024: Completithon 2024, raising money for the Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund (Schedule)
This Week’s Top Times
I got these yesterday, so the list won’t include times set in the last 24 hours.
🥇 First Place:
Robot 64 (No Major Glitches: No BL) in 00:15:50.350 by sage211
Video • Twitch • YouTubeResident Evil 2 (PC: Leon A, Any%, Normal) in 00:48:33.000 by DeepStackDave (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeKirby and the Forgotten Land (Any%) in 01:34:57.000 by kikurage
VideoChained Together (Any% No Wings: 1 Player, Unrestricted, v1.7.3+) in 00:40:48.000 by Lockness06
Video • TwitchSplatoon (Any%: WiiU) in 00:27:31.000 by Ath_ (He/Him)
Video • YouTubeMetroid Prime (Any%: Normal) in 00:43:00.000 by T3
Video • Twitch • YouTubeClustertruck (Any%) in 00:11:00.183 by EmilySailor (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTubePac-Man (10,000 Points: NES) in 00:00:38.216 by RyuHayabusa89 (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeStar Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (Any% no Stablaunch) in 00:21:18.000 by l1f3l6sS
VideoThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Main Quest: PC) in 00:22:53.000 by DankSlushie (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeBanjo-Tooie (Any% No Bitclips: N64) in 00:42:04.000 by Falcon
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Any%: Unrestricted) in 00:17:14.000 by JTown2909
Video • YouTube
🥈 Second Place:
Super Meat Boy (Any%) in 00:17:27.549 by DrZytho
Video • TwitchSpyro the Dragon (Any%) in 00:37:13.000 by Ashriel (She/Her, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSonic the Hedgehog (Beat The Game: Glitchless) in 00:14:07.000 by SuperSonic (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeCeleste 64 (Any%) in 00:00:14.899 by Ellaquin (They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeDishonored: Death of the Outsider (Any%) in 00:08:49.000 by scufu (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place:
Celeste (Any%) in 00:25:53.630 by Isaactayy (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSpyro the Dragon (120%) in 01:21:56.000 by spora
Video • YouTubeStar Wars: Battlefront II (RotE Any%: Bonus) in 00:45:18.000 by Starfy_99 (She/Her)
Video
Fun Stat of the Week
📊 The series/franchise with the most amount of runs on speedrun.com is… Roblox! They’re claiming the #1 spot just ahead of the Super Mario franchise. The podium is completed by Minecraft (Custom Content), but even the addition of regular Minecraft wouldn’t improve its position.
Roblox speedrunning is something I am completely unfamiliar with. I wanted to learn about it ever since I realised how large it was, but it’s also a little scary.
Reddit Choice
🔝 The r/speedrun choice of the week is this thread inquiring about women holding world records in major games. It’s full of replies highlighting amazing women in the community, not just the ones that hold world records. The lack of diversity has always been an issue, but some of the best ways to combat that is supporting the women who are already here and create a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers.
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, August 15th 2024. 👋🏻
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Special shoutout to my incredible wife and co-conspirator Niamh for all the visuals. Let her know how awesome those dividers are!
Special shoutout to Sarim for supporting with some copywriting. Find the words he writes over at gameluster.com!