I can't find any separate discussion topic for the "Recommended for newcomers" (hereafter "RFN") flag, so posting here.
It appears as if we are once again losing the functional purpose of all these different signs of differentiation and confusing them for regalia/badges of appreciation. Which they are not.
1. Inheritance.
I expressly disagree that any improvement should automatically inherit an RFN flag just because its predecessor had it. Even movies aiming for the exact same goal set may look nothing alike. Worse so when they have different goals to begin with (I will discuss the examples further below).
2. Obsoletion and the list of RFN movies.
This is mainly a continuation of the above, but an obsolete movie deemed RFN should retain its flag
unless it actually suits the new movie better than the old. If a new Ferrari comes out, it doesn't make your minivan worse at driving kids to school or hauling loads. Such movies, despite being obsolete, should still be present in the
Newcomer Corner. Or they should be improved in ways that don't sacrifice their newcomer-friendly values.
3. Goal choice.
RFN and Star-tier have a very strong overlap that tricks people into thinking of recommended movies as a secret better-than-Star 4th tier. I believe this isn't exactly a sensible, let alone desirable situation. They have to be high-quality, well-received, and show the advantages and benefits of employing tool-assistance, yes. But at the same time they have to cater to the circumstances, mindset, and behavior of
newcomers rather than your core audience.
Imagine a person who got here by following a link found on the first TAS they've watched, or just randomly on the internet. At this point they proceed in one of the two ways:
1) they search for one of their favorite games directly or watch whatever captures their immediate attention on the front page, in which case they will likely keep missing the Newcomer Corner list entirely until they're no longer newcomers (or until they leave the site for good);
2) they actually locate the Newcomers Corner first (which I don't believe happens all that often, and that is a problem for another discussion).
So let's assume the second scenario. There's a list of movies, and every one of them is a sort of an "
elevator pitch" for TASVideos. You can't arrange them in a playlist, so every item on the list has to serve its purpose as well as any other, as there might be no second chance. You want to impress them—but not overwhelm them. You want to surprise them—but not confuse them. You want to keep their interest throughout—rather than at any specific spots. You want the action to be varied without any particular strategy/trick/glitch overstaying its welcome. Finally, you want something that serves all of these purposes
without regard to the level of knowledge the audience possesses about the game. And your ultimate goal with all this is to
make the viewer want to see more.
This entails the following for the RFN flag candidates:
0)
they should be run past actual newcomers to see if the idea works at all;
1) game itself should be aesthetically pleasing or capitalizing on nostalgia value enough so that seeing or hearing it isn't a detriment to the experience;
2) they should be reasonably short to avoid boredom or fatigue (5–15 minutes is ideal, 15–30 okayish, anything over 30 minutes is seriously pushing it—you don't want any of the items on the list skipped due to not having enough free time to watch something they
don't yet know if they'll enjoy);
3) they should clearly identify as tool-assisted without having to make a second guess, and as such portray many TAS-only scenarios showcasing the required precision;
4) they should contain various
different strategies/tricks/glitches to avoid feeling like it's the same thing going on repeatedly;
5) they should contain fun/clever/impressive stylistic decisions wherever possible.
With these six criteria we move on to the current list. I have intentionally numbered them starting at 0 because #0 is the only criterion that I cannot discuss compliance with.
4. The current list.
[2320] SNES Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island "100%" by Baxter, Carl_Sagan & NxCy in 1:59:35.12
This is a great example of failing criterion #2 spectacularly. Even I had to finish it in two sittings because the action was so dense and there were so many things I had to pay attention to, despite being one of the most vocal supporters of the run during its creation. This run is as great as it is physically tiring to watch. I never had a chance to notice it from WIPs because the WIPs ended before I could be overwhelmed.
That being said, it should probably stay on the list exactly because the good things in it are non-area-specific and work even in small portions. The first 10-15 minutes fully convey the message, so whatever you think of them will likely extend to the rest of the run.
[2741] Genesis Sonic 3 & Knuckles by Aglar & marzojr in 26:53.06
There's a very good reason why my entertainment rating for this branch started at 10 with nitsuja's first attempt and gradually arrived at 9 by now: because every single trick is being gradually replaced by zipping and Tails-facilitated OOB travel. They are nowhere near as interesting to look at as good old TAS-precise platforming. In my opinion, this flag should either be moved to an earlier iteration of this branch or to some other run of S3&K or S2 entirely (although by this time all Sonic games are just one huge zip).
[1851] N64 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask by MrGrunz in 1:29:32.02
I haven't watched this run so I won't comment on it. My unwillingness to watch it is
probably not an indication of anything. But ratings and comments seem to suggest that the overwhelming positive response comes from the fans of the game, with the rest either not watching it at all or being subdued in their reaction.
[1649] NES Mega Man 2 by aglasscage, finalfighter, pirohiko & Shinryuu in 23:48.51
Nice pick. Glitches are sufficiently varied, length is good, there's nice music and many TAS-only tricks. I was never nostalgic about this game (I only played it very briefly before watching a TAS for the first time), but I was sufficiently entertained.
[2078] SNES Super Metroid "Reverse Boss Order" by Saturn in 46:42.38
Okay pick. The length is rather imposing, and the goal may be hard to comprehend without prior knowledge of the game, but every minute of the action is entertaining enough in its own right and screams TAS-level precision. I'd say it's one of the more newcomer-friendly runs of Metroid series made on arguably the best game in the series, on par with the in-game run.
[2016] N64 Super Mario 64 "0 stars" by snark, Kaylee, sonicpacker, MICKEY_Vis11189 & ToT in 05:02.25
Excellent pick. The action is fast, varied, there are many TAS-only tricks, and it ends before overstaying its welcome. I'm not a fan of this game at all, but this run is brilliant and worth every minute of my time.
[2995] GBA Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow "all souls" by Fz-Last, alkdc & Pike in 18:45.26
Compared to
its predecessor, I find it barely acceptable at best. It's very hard to follow without intimate knowledge of the game, boss fights take either too long or too short, much of the soul usage variety is gone, one of the best fights is skipped, and general character progression dynamics is all over the place. It's most certainly a TAS for the fans in the first place. It also contains at least two known unimplemented improvements as well as a couple more potential improvements. I believe the RFN flag should either remain at the previous movie or be transferred to the
warpless any% which has almost none of the problems while containing virtually all the same benefits as this and the warpless all-souls.
[1590] NES Super Mario Bros. 3 "warps" by Lord_Tom, Mitjitsu & Tompa in 10:25.60
Good pick. Crazy popular game, there is nice variety and a ton of TAS-only tricks in the run, and it's short enough.
[1917] Windows Cave Story "best ending" by nitsuja in 50:10.30
Okay pick. Again, the length is about to fail criterion #2, and the run only picks up pace upon reaching the machine gun 17 minutes in. Nothing really spectacular is going on before that. But the game is really well-designed and has incredibly good music, which helps alleviate the initial boredom, and it has author's commentary as well, so I believe it should stay so far.
[1248] SNES Family Feud "playaround" by Heisanevilgenius in 06:46.71
Decent pick. There's nothing TAS-exclusive aside from input speed, but it's a nice playaround that, in my opinion, is very good at making the audience want to see more.
[1546] NES Gimmick! "100%" by Aglar & Hotarubi in 07:44.45
Excellent pick. The game has a lot of room for tool-assisted precision to shine, and the run uses all of it spectacularly, the run is short, action-packed, the game has excellent music and cute graphics.
[2676] NES Super Mario Bros. "warpless, walkathon" by Mars608 & HappyLee in 25:19.23
Has any newcomer ever watched all of it? Not only the flag; the existence of this movie and the fact that a shorter branch was sacrificed for it confuses me. The warped version was a neat novelty run and was good because in the six minutes of its runtime it could show pretty much every known way to overcome the in-game obstacles without pressing B. What exactly is being accomplished by having a movie
four times its length escapes me. It doesn't contain four times the tricks.
It doesn't even contain four times the amount of situations previously considered impassable without B. It can't allure even all the people who love Mario, judging from the sheer number of rating votes on it and the fact that it has the poorest entertainment rating of all SMB movies at
7.2. 7.2 is barely above average and probably below median as far as site-wide rating statistics goes.
5. Movies absent from the current list.
Some movies, including a few obsolete ones, that I believe are quite fit for being recommended for newcomers.
[2715] Windows VVVVVV "20 trinkets, no death mode" by Masterjun in 17:33.77: although not always easily distinguishable from the current unassisted runs (they are actually very very good), it has everything a good newcomer movie should have: aesthetics, optimization, style, excellent music and visuals, and decent length.
[2994] GC Super Monkey Ball "Expert through Master" by byrz & CyclopsDragon in 12:55.18: I don't see why not. It's a good, reasonably short game, the challenge is immediately understandable, and solutions are extremely tight and surprising. Later on the flag could be given to a high score run when it's available.
[1438] SNES International Superstar Soccer Deluxe "playaround" by Marcokarty in 15:24.38: Amazing playaround. Zero game knowledge and only a very rudimentary understanding of soccer rules is necessary to enjoy it. My mother, a soccer fan, enjoyed it a lot—and I assure you, she never really played anything other than Minesweeper. If this isn't telling, I don't know what is.
[711] NES Gradius by adelikat in 10:52.35: Remember how this was among the first picks to show verified at AGDQ? For a good reason. It's short, extremely entertaining, shows unconventional TAS-only behavior and whatnot. It's also a popular game of an easy-to-understand genre.
[1103] NES Mega Man by Deign in 15:29.27: on par with the MM2 run, probably even better in terms of length and the tricks used. Not as broken as the newer one, and is better because of it.
[1595] Genesis Sonic 3 & Knuckles by nitsuja, upthorn & marzojr in 32:05.52: the last "perfect" S3&K run which somewhat maintained the balance between zips and everything else and kept all the best stylistics from the earlier movies in my opinion. Optimization-wise it has held up very well, at least for people not intimately familiar with S3&K TASing.
[1779] Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by FuzZerd, Sonikkustar, upthorn & Aglar in 18:42.37 or
[2037] Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by Aglar in 17:51.60: both are fun, reasonably short, and definitely easier to follow than S3&K run while retaining its pace and most of the WTF factor. I find #1779 to be the better of the two for the reasons already discussed.
Thoughts? Opinions? Pizza rolls?