Apologies for the time it took to reach a decision on this, but there were many things to consider. Unlike other submissions there were three outstanding issues to resolve in judging this. Firstly, whether this run is of sufficient quality to be published. Secondly, if the game is sufficiently different from Resident Evil Deadly Silence to be published alongside it. Thirdly, which version should be preferred if this is not the case. It should be noted that I do not necessarily intend this judgment to set a precedent for original version vs. remakes. I believe these issues should be resolved on a case by case basis by considering the comparative merits of each version for tool-assisted speedrunning. The first issue is relatively straight forward. The run was entertaining, the play was precise and the route was fast. This run is certainly of publishable quality. Next. On to the second issue. If an original title and a remake are to be published alongside each other the differences between them must be considerable. There is little point in publishing two virtually identical TASes. On this particular issue I don't find differences in graphics and music to be a compelling reason to have an extra publication. I see no reason to publish a run of game X and then a run of game X remade with different graphics/music. There will naturally be differences between different versions, but in my opinion considerable differences in gameplay (and, as a result, the actual substance of the TAS) would be required to have both the original and the remake published on the site. This may take the form of a commonly occurring glitch or a vastly different route with new challenges. The gameplay of Deadly Silence is different to the PSX version in a few respects, however, one cannot ignore that a Resident Evil TAS is composed largely, if not mainly, of running through corridors. That one run avoids zombies in a slightly different way to the other run is not a large enough difference when considering what these TASes actually involve. Some of you considered the ability to skip cutscenes as a large difference. I find cutscenes to be a difference in the aesthetic viewing experience, rather than something separate about the substance of the TAS itself. This point will be considered in respect of the final issue. I see no reason to publish two TASes that are virtually identical in substance, where the only difference is that one run has cutscenes and the other does not. Anyway, to summarise, while these games have some differences I didn't find that any of them affected the TAS itself in a large enough way to merit separate publications. Therefore, one version will be favoured over the other. Because both games allow for virtually identical runs it is on the game aesthetics that one shall be favoured. As to the sound I noticed no difference between sound quality of the two games beyond the superficial. Also, the DS version has a slightly modified soundtrack, whether one prefers this or the original is purely subjective and not a good enough reason to distinguish between these games. Now to consider the cutscenes. I strongly dislike judging runs on reasons extraneous to the submitted input file and on this rationale the DS version clearly has an advantage. However, I think that one must be realistic and consider the issue holistically in this case. It is completely feasible that an accompanying encode can be published along with the PSX version that removes the cutscenes and door transitions. There are many version differences that cannot be easily dealt with (sound, graphics, gameplay etc.), but I don't believe that cutscenes are one of them. It would be irrational to favour the DS version for this reason as the unique appeal of the cutscene skip can, and probably will, be included along with a PSX publication. Furthermore, the absence of cutscenes and door transitions can also be seen as a negative aspect. Having played the original and the Gamecube remake the suspense of the door transitions is something I enjoy and find it integral part of the playing experience. I found that this translated well into the TAS. The same applies for the questionable voice acting. The point is that some people love it and some people hate it, but at least the PSX version has the potential to satisfy everyone whereas only the haters are served by the DS run. Therefore, I find the cutscenes to be to the advantage of the PSX version as opposed to the contrary. While I found the difference in sfx to be comparatively superficial, the difference in gfx is quite substantial in my opinion. The graphics of the DS version are rather bland by comparison to the PSX version throughout, and some parts of the DS version are particularly bad. For example, the U-shaped corridor on the second floor of the mansion looks horrible in the DS version as does the room to the east that leads the player down to the Tiger statue. I found that areas where the colour brown clashes with bad lighting tended to look reddish and unappealing. Towards the end the laboratory looks far worse and the boiler room with the chimeras suffers from the same brown/lighting problem. Furthermore, one needs only to look at the 'blood' of Wesker in the DS version to see which version is more true to the franchise. Therefore I am of the opinion that the PSX version of Resident Evil is to be favoured over the DS version. In short, the gameplay differences are too trivial to have both runs published and the ability to skip cutscenes in the DS version is not a good enough reason to disregard the superior visuals of the PSX version. I am accepting this submission as an obsoletion of the currently published Resident Evil Deadly Silence run. Notes: - I deliberately avoided commenting on the status of the Gamecube version. My intuitive impression is that the a run of the GC version is different enough in style and substance to warrant a separate run, but that is a decision to be made when such a run is submitted. - I also realise that there are three 'Original' PSX Resident Evil games; the Original, Director's Cut and Dual Shock. This judgment does not claim that the Original is the best of the three, only that the Original is superior to Deadly Silence. The others have aspects that may make them faster/more entertaining. I am not necessarily of the opinion that the original is the best version, merely that the DS version is the worst.