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*sigh*
Look, I'm sorry if my somewhat hostile tone has sparked emotions and will soon culminate in a massive flamewar which will soon envelop the entire board.
I'm also sorry if I don't immediately recognize plain text in a table to be a link, or if I don't recognize the point of a 750x125 graphic that does nothing but look shiny, Flash or no Flash. I may be stupid, but so are a lot of people who may want to come and look at his site.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 375
Well, if nothing else the following message shows up at the top of the screen in Firefox:
Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/www/htdocs/speedruns.org/index.php:7) in /home/www/htdocs/speedruns.org/mainfile.php on line 171
I can't right click anywhere except on the flash graphic, which makes it a pain when I'm trying to copy the above message (have to hit ctrl+C to copy). A quick look at the source reveals right-clicking is explicitly disabled. Why?
Annoying music greets you on the front page. I heard that enough watching the LoZ speedrun, thank you very much. I suspect it's part of the flash graphic at the top, though I'm not quite sure.
Speaking of flash, I'm not sure what that thing up top is supposed to be, aside from a bit of buffer from the rest of the page, much less why it's in flash. I'm of the school of thought that thinks that if you can't do something useful in flash you probably shouldn't be using flash at all.
On the left side, the Speedruns.org graphic is covered up by the main menu. I'm not quite sure why this is the case, but the center column appears to be as wide as it would be if the right column wasn't there (as is the case on some pages but not others). This screws up the center table (there's a space between the right edge of the table and the right end of the column)
The main menu text is smaller than the rest of the text on the page. This is a bad idea for a main menu.
When I first came here I couldn't find where the speedruns. The table on the front page, with all the speedruns on it, has absolutely nothing to indicate that they're links and not just plain text listing everything that's available via the "downloads" link in the menu (which also looks like plain text). Links should look like links.
What's with those annoying scrolling forum message things? They're a bit down on the page, but if you really *must* show the last few forum messages in that much space, just show the last five or so messages and screw the scrolling.
I must have seen those entries at the bottom at least a dozen times before but until about a minute ago I never realized they were supposed to be news messages.
Remember, I'm using Firefox, and... A quick look at the page in IE... My goddess, it looks even worse, with text bunched together, the four links in the "links" part are scrolling, and... just ugh.
What's with "Registered Users Only," anyway? Are you intentionally trying to scare people off? Granted, it saves on bandwidth, but if you have flash animations at the top of every page I think you can spare the bandwidth for those who just want to see some speedruns and don't want to jump through registration hoops to do so.
Whew. That's the main page. I'll critique the rest of them in a little bit when I get back from the store.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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I haven't decided. I may take a crack at Earthworm Jim or maybe Toejam and Earl. Probably the latter.
But go right ahead and use whatever warps you feel like using. I just did it "warpless" to try and show as many levels as I could (51).
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Ech. I never really liked "secret" warps. It feels too much like cheating to me. I do have pretty much everything up to the "warp to Elsewhere A" part done, though.
I never thought of picking up Cyclone after busting through the ice in DM2. I was trying too hard to follow the icicles down. That'd actually save a minute or two (you'll notice I pick up Micromax and keep him through those levels in order to do Hoverboard Beach really fast).
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No, making backups (even if that means a transfer in medium such as from a cart to a computer hard drive) qualifies as "fair use" under U.S. law. As I recall, it's even legal to break copy protection schemes to do so if the original medium is obsolete.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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Truncated wrote:
I thought you could take more hits without looking sloppy, but that's just me. I know other people are more averse to taking damage in these runs. If it saves time, but not otherwise, I think it's OK.
You used the berzerker a lot against the bosses. Does the his headbutt do more than one jumping hit? I think there are samurai and axe masks lying around which possibly could be faster.
I know, this game is fawking long. When I played this game on a real console getting through it could take one to two hours. Mostly because I died a lot, of course :) The final levels are hell.
If you are using warps except for the end-level one, will you be using the one which leads to the level after Boomerang Bros? That takes some skill to do, after all. But perhaps it is more interesting to see the first half of the game done quick too.
First, I *am* one of those that hates taking damage. You'll notice in the final marathon I wait for a ram (though rams move considerably faster than, say, alien robots, and I already took a hit). I particularly hate the one in the Cliffs of Illusion because it *looks* like you can jump on his head but you can't.
Second, when I use Bezerker on Shishkaboss, it's for the shortcut two levels later that allows me to do a level in one second (I'm particularly proud of it). Picking up Bezerker on the Bagel Brothers was more of a "I hit the prize block while jumping on his head and I'm going to switch helmets next level, so I may as well use it to cause some extra damage." I don't like spending a few seconds to go out of my way to pick up a helmet that'll save a few seconds.
Third: I'm impressed you actually beat it. I usually got stuck somewhere around Devil's Marsh back when I was a kid.
Fourth: I'm not sure what warp you're talking about. I know there's one on Hoverboard Beach that lets you skip like a dozen levels as well as the Boomerang Bros, which I'll be using.
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Truncated wrote:
Looks very good! There is a huge shortcut in the level right before Bagel Brothers which you miss - after you take the cyclone helmet, you can go left and fly right up to the flag.
True, this saves a few seconds, but I would have to wait for the drill blocks that completely block the way to stop drilling, or take a hit. In my planned "medium version" which uses warps, just not the end-level one, I'd do that.
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Truncated wrote:
Why do you wait for the green boxes in the narrow hallways in Mexico castle? I think you can just plunger them and slide right through, no?
....No, I'm pretty sure they solidify like the rest of the blocks.
...*goes to check*
...
...AAAAaaaargggghhhh.... Damn you failed childhood memories....
*sigh*
Well, chalk up another way to improve v.3. Not that I expect to do it anytime real soon, but still.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Former player
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Posts: 375
Bisqwit wrote:
Is this a bug in my version Gens or does the Gens movie recording thing do something stupid when the recording is ended?
The Gens movie recording thing does something stupid, methinks. I just rewatched my movie at 8x speed and it pauses, even though it didn't pause in the same session that I recorded it in.
I just resubmitted my (now slightly longer) movie which waits until user input no longer matters, and will do the same with my Kid Chameleon run before I submit it.
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Haaaa....
Hahaha....
Haaaaahahahahahahaaaaaa....
It is aliiive! Aliiiiiive! Woooohooo!
Final time: 35:36
And it's 1:46 in the morning. Woooo.... I hear angels singing the hallelujah chorus... Or maybe that's just Winamp...
Pity the run degenerated into a warp-fest after that stupid stupid Diamond Edge level. Oh well. I'm still calling it "Warpless" because "As-few-warps-as-possible" doesn't sound nearly as good.
Um, you guys probably want to see the run, right? Right.
http://nifboy.keenspace.com/images/KidChameleonwarpless-nifboy.zip
I take two hits in the vid, mostly because, at the time, I felt more like saving time than being perfect.
I actually use a diamond power, too.
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I may still do that. It's really a matter of which is faster: The Hills have Eyes or Towers of Blood + Alien Twilight, as both paths lead to the same level. I could do Towers of Blood + The Crypt, but the Crypt is painfully slow.
And it seems the teleporter in Alien Twilight leads to a very bad spot in the next level, so the Hills are sounding better and better. They would sound even *better* if there was a flag there, but noooo, there's more ****ing teleporters...
Update: Decided to do the Hills. I'm very proud of my Bagel Brothers boss fight, too. I pick up a hidden Bezerker helmet midway through bouncing on a boss's head. And Skycutter sees some use in Diamond Edge, so there's only three helmets not used so far.
Update: Aaaargh! Ice God's Vengeance is another flagless level! Curse you, Sega, curse youuuuu!
While I was planning whatever I was going to do with these stupid flagless levels, I thought to myself, "Damn this game is long." The movie's nearly 31 minutes long. On the plus side, the total for the times given for speed bonus means they expected me to get this far in ~45 minutes, plus the times it takes to do Diamond Edge (about a minute) and Ice God's Vengeance (about another minute), the two levels I use warps in. So I knocked off about a third of the time it'd normally take to do each level fast.
Lessee, this, Beneath the Twisted Hills, Alien Isle, Sky Fortress, The Shimmering Caves, The Final Marathon, and finally Plethora. At least, that's what the GameFAQs guide says, and it's certainly not always right.
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Aw nooo....
You guys remember how I said I thought Forced Entry was flagless? Well, Diamond Edge, the level immediately after the Bagel Brothers boss, looks to be completely flagless.
However, there are five different paths I can take:
Path A: Scorpions Isle
Path B: Elsewhere L (according to GameFAQs guide)
Path C: The Hills Have Eyes
Path D: Towers of Blood
Path E: Elsewhere N
According to the GameFAQs guide, Elsewhere L leads to Towers of Blood, so that one's not worth doing. N leads to O leads to Scorpion's Isle, so neither of the elsewheres are worth doing.
So it comes down to Scorpion's Isle, The Hills have Eyes, or Towers of Blood. Decisions, decisions...
Well, it seems both teleporters in Scorpions Isle lead to The Hills Have Eyes, so now its down to Towers of Blood and the Hills.
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Oh, and I won't be submitting the short version because I consider the warp straight to the final boss a cheat. There's no hints of its existence anywhere in the game or the manual.
Onward, to the hell that is Forced Entry....
Update: Bah, I take a hit in the Cliffs of Illusion. It was either that or wait ~10 seconds for an alien robot to get to the bottom of the pit...
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...Hm....
Up through Woods of Despair 2. Boomerang Bosses went well. Currently using Cyclone helmet.
Quick list of helmets I haven't used yet:
Eyeclops (uncovering hidden items not very useful)
Maniaxe (Offensive powers aren't much use speedwise)
Juggernaut (See Maniaxe)
Skycutter (I shortcutted through Hoverboard Beach.)
Commentary on the rest of the helmets:
Iron Knight (slow climb, only used on parts of three levels.)
Red Stealth (Has an Awesome Shortcut (tm) on Devil's Marsh II, used through much of the early game because there isn't any real reason to switch back)
Berzerker (Has an Awesome Shortcut (tm) on Whispering Woods II, plows through enemies, used through much of the early game because he's needed.)
Micromax (Has an Awesome Shortcut (tm) on Hoverboard Beach, climbs fast, but runs slow)
Cyclone (Has a regular old shortcut on Woods of Despair II. Flies, also used as a glide at times. Looks female because of the pink)
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Cherry wrote:
I'd like to add 'Toki' on hardest mode to that impossible game list.
With major slowdown and loads of save/load states, I couldn't even get past the first few screens.
Oh goddess, I remember Toki. I actually think I got rather far in it (on the lowest difficulty) but damn if I can remember just how far.
Oh, wait.
There's an invincibility code. Okay. That's probably how I got so far.
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Sounds like an abuse of the attack animation stopping when you hit the ground. I can't guarantee it'll be used (nor can I guarantee I'll be using Maniaxe at all) but I'll keep it in mind.
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Whew. Up through Devil's Marsh II, a real pain to perfect. Then there's Shishkaboss, who I get a speed bonus on despite not having Maniaxe nor Red Stealth; I have Beserker so I can do The Whispering Woods II in a single second.
I actually do use a warp in Devil's Marsh I, which leads to a different part of the level. If there's a way to *not* use a warp to get to the flag there I'm open to suggestions.
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xebra wrote:
It is a procedural document, the copyright of which is strictly prohibited under copyright law.
I call BS.
Relevant quotes from the U.S. Copyright Office website:
computer programs ... may be registered as "literary works"
I would daresay computer programs are far more easily identified as a "procedural document" yet they're protected by copyright.
Mere listings of ingredients, as in recipes, labels, or formulas [are not protected by copyright]. When a recipe or formula is accompanied by explanation or directions, the text directions may be copyrightable, but the recipe or formula itself remains uncopyrightable.
(emphasis mine)
Sheet music tells someone both what's involved in doing something as well as how to do something; play X note at time Y. Recipes only tell you what's involved. Sheet music as a recipe would be a list of notes, each void of context of the others.
FMV's are more like sheet music than recipes: press X button at time Y. The button presses are arranged in a definite sequence as determined by the author. FMV-as-recipe would look something like this:
The A button is pressed for 467 frames.
The B button is pressed for 790 frames.
The Start button is pressed for 151 frames..
etc.
Such a list is all well and good but it doesn't tell you the thing that distinguishes an SMB3 FMV from a Maniac Mansion FMV: when each button is pressed.
Hypothetical situation: Suppose I were to acquire an NES rom where each button I pressed played a different note. If I were to make an FMV of me playing an original work, said FMV would be copyrighted because it's just a music sheet in a different format.
So no, there is no obvious difference between a music sheet and an FMV, while there is a difference between both of those and a recipe (defined as a mere list of ingredients, not the full set of directions that tell you how to put the ingredients together)
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Wow. Neato.
Quite an assortment of neat tricks you've pulled mostly by simply varying your jump height as you move along. I like the jump over the waterfall, the way you deal with clowns, and the way you find something to do all while moving as quickly as possible.
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Dan_ wrote:
On your version 3 movie, the guy wasn't in the right spot when you stopped the movie, so he just bounced up and down even though the flag was there. You should probably fix it so that he is actually on the flag :)
That's weird, it works just fine on mine... Hm. Oh well. Not gonna worry about it. Gonna worry about the warpless run instead.