Now that I have some more time, let me add my 0.02 $ about a few of the current newcomer TASes:
Majoras Mask
In my opinion, it's the strongest 3D Zelda run submitted to this site, so it was the right decision to add it to this tier. But as good as it may was back then, we can't deny that it's massively outdated. I'd still suggest to keep it in the tier until the improvement, that is currently being worked on, gets submitted. If that new version is just as entertaining, replace it, if not, make room for another 3D title.
SM64
0 star is one of those categories that is ideal to show off to people that are unfamiliar with TASing and I guess that's what this tier is all about. The problem is that the category itself gets old quickly once you're past that moment of "WTF did they just skip straight to Bowser?!". 120 or 70 star are offering much more variety. It's a weird example of a category that is technically perfect to show off TASing to newcomers, but isn't that popular among the community. Kind of a dilemma...
Super Metroid
I think RBO is actually an ideal category for this tier. The name alone catches your interest, "How the hell do they beat the game backwards?". It's obviously not as crazy as Hyper Princess Pitch with its "impossible" difficulty, but to anyone who isn't already an SM runner, this concept will come off just as interesting.
SMB1
Another type of challenge run, but this one is the least interesting, in my opinion. It definitely has cool stuff, but it's not enough compared to its length. So if you're looking for a TAS to drop from the tier, this one would be my first suggestion.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
Samsara, I have to disagree with you about Mario Kart 64 being another Mario. I wouldn't count a spin-off series as part of the main series and use the number of existing runs of that main series as an argument against the spin-off title.
Mario Kart 64 represents the racing genre and the funracer subgenre in particular. As of now, there are only 4 true racing games published in the star tier, including Mario Kart 64 (007 Nightfire also has the tag, but that's really just an FPS with a few vehicle stages). The newcomer tier has no racing games at all.
I know I'm a bit biased here as someone who, in RTA, almost exclusively runs racing games, including Mario Kart 64. But I do think the racing genre is underrepresented on this site.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
Does this run really qualify for the 100% tag? Sure, it does show all the cups instead of just aiming to reach the credits as fast as possible by only doing Special Cup, but that doesn't actually unlock everything there is. Winning all cups in 150cc displays four gold trophies and unlocks extra mode, but the game also keeps track of your trophies in all the other difficulties. Additionally, there are three course ghosts in time trial mode that can be unlocked by beating specific times. There's even a 100% category for all of this among the RTA runners.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
It looks like the Goblin would make for a much more entertaining run, since Spidey's movement looks so sluggish in this game. I guess the characters would make enough of a difference for separate categories.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
I'll bump this just to give you guys an idea how a God of War 1 TAS would look like.
Any% NG+ (which means you can use bonus costumes)
Link to video
Any% newgame
Link to video
A TAS could do a lot more, many tricks are never seen in RTA runs. As for potential categories to TAS, I'd suggest doing a NG+ run on the easiest difficulty like RTA does, so we can push the time as low as possible. A second TAS could be done without any bonus costume on the highest difficulty, so we can also have a more traditional TAS that has to deal with the hardest conditions. I believe the categories would be different enough to justify separate publications.
Either way, a verification movie would be required to have access to the bonus costumes or the hardest difficulty.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
Voting meh on this one. The TAS itself was decent and short enough to not get boring, but I just don't find this game very appealing, there's something really generic about it.
If there's a better port, that one should be used, unless this version is actually unique.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
I don't know this game and the length is quite intimidating, I have to admit. The question is, if this category is different enough for a separate publication. It's not a vaultable goal, so it needs to be entertaining.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
TAS of the year.
This TAS has everything: It's fast paced, it uses a wide variety of crazy glitches and it constantly manipulates RNG in ridiculous ways. Every race has something new to show off, there is no part that wasn't entertaining to me. It shows how far this game has been pushed by one of the oldest speedrunning communities, the time trial runners, as well as the RTA players that joined in later. Thanks to everyone who has made this amazing TAS possible, it was more than worth the wait!
Again, TAS of the year.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
This could have been a total disaster for one simple reason. The PU stuff so often causes crash on console. That the team avoided abusing emulator to ignore such crashes was a brilliant decision. Well done on getting the TAS verified on console! Some day I hope the OoT community will follow the great example you guys have set with this TAS. As I have observed the trend in OoT speedrunning, I must admit I was skeptical when you, the authors were so secretive about this TAS in the Super Mario 64 Thread on the forum here. I feared it would be because the run would not play on console. I am happy to be proven wrong. Congratulations on this great run! MOAT DOOR HYPE!
You can't console verify OoT, otherwise it would have been done already. So what are you talking about?
There's a difference between an actual console verification and using a trick that is known to always crash on console (at least in the way that is used for any%).
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
I think it will be quite a challenge to make an interesting TAS of a modern football game, especially if you don't have a variety of crazy glitches to show off. I looked at the examples that were linked here, they just didn't do it for me. The gameplay didn't come off as "superhuman", something that is crucial for a TAS like this.
Some ideas:
- Use the worst team available and pit it against the best one, on the highest difficulty of course.
- Play in the most weird formation available, so you will see some unusual strategies
- Only use your worst players to make it even harder, you could even move them around to different positions (like, all the strikers in the defense and vice versa)
- Deliberately play weird football and still dominate: Terrible passes that still somehow find their goal, attacks that no sane player would attempt but still score goals.
- Abuse the rules as much as possible: What's the nastiest foul you can commit without getting a card? What's the most obvious offside that still counts?
- Show spectacular goals: Impossible free kicks, hilarious own goals, goal keeper goals, whatever is possible.
- And obviously: If there are glitches, show them off!
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
This is not a RTA run. The RTA record of this game is 12 minutes slower than this run. I suppose you never actually watched the run, because you vote no when you see my name, but that's all fine for me. There's plenty of other people who will watch it and give me some real suggestions.
Beating the RTA record alone doesn't mean that a TAS is optimal, especially in a hack that doesn't look to be very competitive (there are four any% runs on speedrun.com, with times that are significantly apart from each other). But still, you're on a good way. I have a feeling that the hack itself is publishable, so all it needs is an even more polished run.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
If someone ever wants to go for an improvement, make sure to use the "Fixed Warps" ROM. It's pretty much a 1.1 version of this hack, with the huge benefit of putting Mario in front of the level entrances after he exits a level, just like in the original SM64. This saves minutes in a 151 and makes the run much more entertaining!
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
I finally got to watch the TAS and it did not disappoint. Listing all the highlights would be impossible, so all I can say is that it was one of the best TASes I've seen this year.
Thank you for making this amazing TAS!
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
The main difference is that the NG+ glitch in BK is widely accepted and used by the games community, while the 5 minute DKR run is mostly seen as a novelty thing that can be used to show off how broken the game is, but not a serious category.
From a technical perspective, both runs are the same, but the BK one is obviously much more interesting. If I was to decide, I would allow such a run to be published, if the audience likes it.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.