Tool-Assisted Speed Runs - Yay Or Nay?
Over at MTV News, Stephen Totilo has posted a fun piece exploring the controversy of using emulators for game speed runs, and neatly summing up the two sides of the speedrunning coin.
On the one hand, there's Joel Yliluoma, who runs NESVideos, and comments of his stored runs, which use multiple (sometimes hundreds or thousands!) of constant saves and reloads on an emulator, that "...the main goal of the runs isn't speed but aesthetics. The FAQ on his site states: "Although most of our movies intend to play games as fast as possible, with respect to art, our main goal is to create movies that are beautiful to watch." The site champions movies that exhibit surprising moves, deftly chosen shortcuts and innovative play."
On the other hand: "Nevertheless, some gamers can't come to peace with TAS. "My basic thought is 'don't like them, haven't made them, don't watch them,' " said Nolan Pflug, who oversees Speed Demos Archive, a Web site that houses traditional runs. One sore point for some traditional speed-runners is that an impressive TAS of a game can spoil the interest in slower, regular speed runs of the same title." Personally, we dig the non-emulator approach, but the battle still rages.
[Oh, and MTV also just posted a fun article about this year's IGF which quotes the writer of this post, and checks out highlights from the IGF finalists, including Cloud and Dodgeball Source.]
Comments
I trace the recent general interest in gaming speed runs back to the ultra-fast, 11-minute Super Mario Bros. 3 video that was going through blogspace about a year ago (which a search for now suggests might have been fake). If it *was* possible, it was only with tools.
Certainly, a tool assisted speed run can be interesting if there is a significant asthetic appeal. The Mario 3 video certainly had that. But I'm not sure that all games would, I think it was the combination of Mario 3's wide-ranging appeal, coupled with the game's high degree of challenge in the last levels, along with the game's vulnerability to emulator-based tactics, that made it interesting to see. If someone were to shave another minute off the TA run's time, I'm not really sure it'd be as interesting now. At least with a non-tool-assisted run, there's some degree of appreciation there for the player's skill.
Posted by: John H. | April 20, 2006 6:29 PM
I'm for Tool Assisted Speed Runs. I always have been, and always will. I watch both kinds of speed runs (Tool Assisted and regular) -- I don't really see the big deal and why people get all bent out of shape over them. A speed run is a speed run.
Unfortunately, the majority of the runs on "Speed Demos Archive" are poorly made -- I've seen far better traditional runs. Additionally, I think the owner is a huge ass.
Posted by: 573 | April 20, 2006 8:23 PM
Isn't this whole issue about as important as discovering who can do the longest wheelie during the Tour de France?
Sheesh.
Posted by: Plugh Plover | April 22, 2006 2:56 PM
Actually both have their sides. I've seen amazing examples of both.
For some reason, I prefer to watch mostly the tool-assisted ones, though there are games where you've really got to see a "real human" doing the stuff. Metroid games, for example. The emulator runs of Metroid Zero Mission tend to look, shall we say, mechanical, while console runs seem to be like "oh, wow, I could do this myself if I weren't so utterly clumsy." Just some skill. =)
Posted by: WWWWolf | April 25, 2006 1:57 PM