I will attempt to place the comparison of the two runs in some perspective. Well, my perspective, but I'm sure you can guess what I mean.
The 20 minute glitched run aims to beat the game as soon as possible, using an SRAM corrupting mid-save reset. Through use of an improved set of tools (lsnes), an exact timing of this reset can be chosen. This run, having the same goal as the 20 minute run as pointed out, gets through much quicker due to an evolution in emulation.
By all
technical standards, this run should obsolete the old one. Better emulation (
in theory), faster time, and equivalent goals (
primary goal being speed, and allowing SRAM corruption). What here says not to?
On the other hand, the 20 minute run shows more of the game, more numerous apparently senseless actions, and the wafers of the known game universe being blasted through. A lot is seen, the unexpected and nonsensical is frequent, and there's enough intact that the unengaged viewer might know what should happen, or at least what shouldn't be. This new run goes through very little of the game, and the grand mess of the 20 minute run is entirely absent.
By most
artistic standards (
or at least my artistic standards, considering how subjective it is), so little is offered by this run, that compared to the older run, looks like a largely uneventful morning stroll. Sure, I still enjoyed watching it, but it had nothing like the old run.
The technical and the artistic have rarely been in conflict, but this run, and the presence of the older 20 minute run, puts the two squarely on opposing sides. Probably why there's a few pages of debate all of a sudden.
If we had something like lsnes back then, and the submitted run was this one, then it would likely be published. Without the technical reason pushing for it, no one would have sought to produce the 20 minute glitchfest.
And honestly, I believe artistic TASes are rare. That is, one that aims more for artistry than speed. Yes, the glitchfest did aim for speed as a primary goal, but it has lost in that goal with this run now submitted. This leaves only the art it provides, and I would hate to see that obsoleted by this run, as this has almost none of it.
So, obsoletion? No, not without an accompanying run that provides equal or better quality entertainment, even at cost of speed. We now have the speed to beat the run. We don't have a fascinating enough run to beat the entertainment side, however.
Even so, the fact remains: This run has incredible speed. The goal is the same as before, there's a clear way to obsolete it (
go faster... If that's possible), and on its own, is still entertaining. We also have
another published movie that glitches straight to the end screen, forget the final boss or even the credits. To reject this one would fly in the face of another movie's acceptance. The difference between corruption of RAM or SRAM in the Super Mario World run and this one is only technical, and not what most viewers would pay attention to.
Acceptance? Yes. An example of speed at all costs, but still not a boring run to watch. The flavorful 20 minute run may make this one feel bland, but anything that bright would make other stuff look dim.
There's probably a few problems that do crop up from my thoughts, though.
For one thing, how do you obsolete entertainment? What entertainment run could beat the 20 minute run without a significant number of people disagreeing? Does the order they're even submitted in become important (
would there be a bias towards the earlier submitted run, for example)?
I say it is possible to obsolete entertainment, but it is difficult to do so. If it were so easy, a far larger portion of the published movies here would be silly movies for entertainment's sake rather than speed. At least, that is my belief. How does one obsolete entertainment? I say again, it is difficult, and I can't really say I know how. Just that I believe it's possible.
Even so, the old run invokes a number of glitches only possible with SRAM corruption. I still want to see the numerous visible glitches in some run, so the only room I see left for that would be in a playaround.
Another problem is categorization of these runs. The glitchfest may be placed in a different category, perhaps a playaround, but the fact remains that it wasn't originally intended to be just a playaround. In fact, the goals of each run are similar, if not identical. Regardless, it does have enough quirks that it is as good as any other playaround, by my thoughts.
Regardless of the intention of each run, the results really differentiate the two. Both should stand. You probably can't easily tell they have the same goal by watching the two runs.
Finally, we'd break the site's (
TASVideos) structure by having one movie taking two movies to obsolete it. There are publications that obsolete more than one movie, but no publication that took more than one movie to obsolete it. Should a better playaround come along, should it be the one to obsolete the 20 minute run, or should this movie do it?
These are my lengthy thoughts. I'm sure there are still plenty that disagree with my sentiments, but I wanted to give the greatest clarity that I can give about the situation I see and what I would like to see from this situation.
