Speed Running

I'll always be fascinated by him, wondering if anyone in his life was concerned when the sudden cowboy transformation wasn't just a phase, and criticizing him for not getting a job then realizing he makes decent enough money playing frickin NES in his house all week as if it were a 9-5 (Look I don't know how much he makes but streamers with that ~500 regular viewer count can apparently afford rent and food from what I hear. We'd all probably be a bit surprised by how much they actually make? I don't know. It's not something they talk about!).

i kinda like that guy, thanks for introducing me to him

Couldn't sleep so I watch this 60 minute one on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out also made by SummoningSalt. Great stuff too, with... a teeny bit of a twist ending. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBR9ypSOTGQ

Ok I'm finding this Ninja Gaiden video much more engrossing than expected.

It helps that I used to play this game all the time, I would get to the last boss (or just before) but never quite finished it. And also that the speed run doesn't involve any stupid glitches or zips, just familiar aspects of the game that I remember using just to get through.

Ha yeah "Oh cool we get to see how he gets pas- [zzzzzip!] ...whelp"

And yes omg @ pre-cowboy Arcus

for some reason the video Nhex posted 4 days ago isn't working for me. can someone post the name of the video so i can search it on youtube?

i think it was summoning salt's ninja gaiden video

hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u1tVD7UEqw

...shivering erotic king banana?

Om

i overthink things so much

i guess what arcus is doing is no more or less normal than anybody else in 2020, his life is no more or less normal than mine

it's not so much the cowboy hat or the bolo tie, but the cowboy hat and bolo tie open me up more to questioning things i guess? how does one get to a point where one says "you know what i'm just gonna play ninja gaiden 8 hours a day for a living" (i mean i assume he keeps a regular schedule, the video didn't mention it but he seems well-adjusted so i imagine he's got that part of it sorted)

i don't say that to judge him, i'm not gonna be some damn boomer complaining about the kids and their avocado toast. i don't think his career choice is any less worthwhile than mine. that's what i think about. it's so fucking absurd.

and i'm tying that into nancy this week where there's the storyline with the magnet school where everyone is The Best at something. that's the pressure everyone's under, right? you gotta be #1. it doesn't matter if the thing you're #1 at is meaningless and absurd, and i just think of milton, "better to reign in hell". and why not, after all? this is hell.

i would do what arcus was doing, if i was good enough. he's also one of the best streamers on twitch, not in terms of his skill but because he is a good guy and completely stands out among his screaming, loudmouthed, boring peers

i guess that's the other thing that makes me wonder about arcus, just the fact that he is a pretty professional, put-together guy. a lot of these streamers, i just figure they stream because they're not cut out for anything else (and, you know, fair enough). arcus just has such composure!

i watched that youtube documentary about ninja gaiden speedruns last night, it was great!!

arcus just has such composure!

i liked this youtube comment:

wwwaldo333
4 days ago
Arcus barely loses a 1/27,000 run to minor tail RNG after spending literal years in the attempt
Arcus: darn.

Turns out that Ninja Gaiden streamer is a pretty pandemic-proof job.

he probably doesn't even know what's happening in that world. and he may already have a bunch of masks, as i'm assuming at least some fans have sent him replica ninja gaiden Ryu costumes through the years

by "that world", i mean "this world"

hard to tell the difference sometimes

Ryukahr has that same vibe. mellow powerplay video game streamers are my jam

ooh, i don't know Ryukahr! i will check them out

oh lord, i am COMPLETELY hooked on Ryukahr.
Try here as a nice place to start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arV86_1iPC0

And here's a completely unbelievable mario world romhack speedrun from him for thread accuracy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8mLT9gM5EA

i've watched literally hundreds of his mario gameplay videos and still load them up the instant he posts a new one.

Big same, my youtube diet is 98% Bon Appetit and Ryukahr at this point. It's just very satisfying to see him working through these levels (without having to sit through every full attempt).

he's good!
what's the deal with that ROM hack, did he co-create it?

also one thing i keep wondering is how the runners are capturing the segment times during play. is it something in the PC or twitch software and they hit a physical button?

Super Ryu World 1 and 2 were made for him; both are loads of fun to watch.

xp it's a separate piece of software that lets them set up their splits and usually the streamers will either have it update when they hit a key like spacebar or if they're reeal fancy a footswitch

I made a big goofy post last year about some rom hacks i enjoyed (spectating!) if anyone's been getting into this stuff

which mario games are not easy?

I watched through the Punchout video then stumbled across this - apparently the only video footage of Matt Turk completing one of his many world records. Some nice comments from him about the speed run community in pre-streaming days

https://youtu.be/MZs4MCdVznw

Big same, my youtube diet is 98% Bon Appetit and Ryukahr at this point. It's just very satisfying to see him working through these levels (without having to sit through every full attempt).

― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, May 21, 2020 1:00 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well, I sure hope Ryukahr doesn't turn out to be a racist asshole.

oh god it would truly be the most milkshake'd of all ducks in my worlds

to be clear, there has been no suggestion whatsoever that he's problematic afaik

i know the feeling. any of these guys can be another pewdiepie at the flick of a switch...

the proverbial "heated gaming moment"

Heh, it only clicked with me right now that "speed running" is sort of redundant. I guess it needs the "speed" qualifier because "run" has so many definitions (top three number of definitions in English iirc).

Yeah in gaming a “run” really just means a repeat play through, so the qualifier is actually useful here.

"i'm going running now, talk to you later!"

*plays videogames for 12 hours straight without moving*

You know what's ironic is that despite how unhealthy the hobby of grinding video games for hours while being immobile can be, speedrunners seem very universally dedicated to the importance of staying hydrated. They all have bots that remind them to drink water and they fill up huge jugs/cups like they're doing intense workouts. So that's good, I guess!

in college I spent 2 days trying to speedrun Jaws for the NES before realizing that 1) someone already did it in half the time of my best run and 2) this guy understood the random encounter algorithm way better than I did

I spent a month learning Kid Kool. Maybe I'll try again some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVX6sctV3c
I found a Kirby Air Ride speedrunner on twitch. Having never seen this gamecube game before, I was surprised at how fast the powered up vehicles could move and how much the gameplay seemed like a more versatile version of Mario Kart battle mode. You're not just killing guys - mostly you're collecting things and performing obscure tasks to fill in checkboxes on a big grid (100/120 wins the game). I've watched his stream several times now. Learning the ins-n-outs is very compelling; but mostly, I enjoy the sleepy chill trance his streams put me in.

But you don't want to stay too hydrated, do you? Because it would stink to have to pee when you're on a record run.

OR WOULD IT

People on job interview panels should be required to hydrate heavily before each interview, and doubly so before the final selection decision.

kirby air ride looks fun

Boy, do I love SDQ. Watched a crazy super glitched backwards order run of Zelda II yesterday, as well as The Last of Us 1 on Grounded/HUDless mode.

There's an Ocarina of Time randomizer run tonight some of you may be interested in

The guy who streamed Alien:Isolation was a hoot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kDSVzyXhJw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_uRIyAgtpE
I love videos that go deep into game engine quirks.

Speedrun to eat a baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m19Py9K_yUI

I love the idea of making your own speedrun categories. That was a fun idea.

I liked this history of the high score for one specific Trackmania track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b67SC7Y4qA