Starmen.Net

Well, tonight on Radio PSI, we had an EarthBound Speedrun Race. It was loads of fun, and I feel with more advertising, this could be huge and even more amazing, and we have decided to make this a bi-weekly thing (twice a month)!

^{Radio PSI Presents…}

EarthBound Speedruns!

Wednesday Nights (every other week) at 8 PM EDT

Next Speedrun: August 20th, 2008

NEWS (updated 07/09/08):
Next week, July 16th, there will not be a Speedrun. HOWEVER, the next week on the 23rd, we will have one, and then instead of skipping a week, we will have one the week after on the 30th as well!

The rules were and are as follows:

EarthBound Speedrun RULES and PROCEDURES:

• 1. Get any unmodified copy of EarthBound. (MOTHER 2 Cart, EarthBound Cart, ROM, MOTHER 1+2, but no PK Hacked versions!)
  —1a. DO NOT USE FRAMESKIPS, SAVESTATES, GAME GENIE CODES, or HACKS! AT ALL! THAT IS CHEATING!
• 2. Hit “Start a New Game”, Select your Text Speed, and HOVER OVER YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR. Do not select it! This is where we will start.
• 3. Once the beginning time is reached, select your flavor, and begin naming your characters! The race has begun, good luck! Just play EB, and check into the #radiopsi channel every once and a while to update where you are, check out the competition, etc. Listen to radio for when it ends.
• 4. YOU CANNOT SKIP ANYTHING! That means you must get the sanctuaries, you must fight Mondo Mole, you must fight Everdred, anything and everything important to the story, you must do.

LEADERBOARDS

• 06/01/08 – 1.5 Hours
  -1st: Aquas (Level 19, 2nd bridge in PRV on the way back from Happy Happy after beating Mondo Mole with Paula)
  -2nd: Jeffman (Level 17, Just reaching Peaceful Rest after beating Mondo Mole with Paula)[/SIZE]

• 06/18/08 – 2 Hours
  -1st: Jeff7 (Ness at Level 19, in Threed with Jeff, on the way to Boogie Tent)
  -2nd: NoTalentJew (Ness at Level 17, in Threed with Jeff, on the way to Boogie Tent)

• 07/02/08 – 2 Hours
  -1st: Metakeyman (Ness at Level 20, in Grapefruit Falls right infront of cave to Saturn Valley)
  -2nd: Jeff7 (Ness at Level 16, engaging Mini-Barf)
  -3rd: Michael_Cayer (Ness at Level 18, in the room before Mini-Barf)
  -BONUS: Meer (Highest Level Ness at 21)

• 07/23/08 – 2 Hours
  -1st: Michael_Cayer (Ness at Level 19, after Saturn Valley, on the way to the Belch Base)
  -2nd: Metakeyman (Ness at Level 20, in the room with Mini-Barf)
  -3rd: Aquas (Ness at Level 18, ate the stew at Lake Tess)

• 08/06/08 – 2 Hours
  -1st: Michael_Cayer (Ness at level 20 — Cave to Saturn Valley direction Saturn Valley; N20, P16, J17)
  -2nd: Chris7 (Ness at level 16 — Chris7 Morning after Zombie Paper; N16, P12, J10)
  -3rd: Nightshade (Nessl at level 18 — Nightshade Boogey Tent fight; N18, P7, J7)

*08/20/08 – 2 Hours
-1st: Michael_Cayer (Graveyard to the Cavern;N18,P13,J12)
-2nd: Metalkeyman (Zombie Paper Cutscene ;N19,P14,J13)
-3rd: Aquas (Zombie Paper Cutscene ;NPJ??)

Basically, what we do is we all get copies of the game, people in IRC and people on air over Skype, and we set a time to start and a time to end. We played for one hour and 30 minutes (the first time; for 2 hours on most times after that), and whoever the was the farthest along in the game by the end of the time was the winner. (Time for the speedruns to come may vary, and it will be indicated).

Share some stories, express interest, give suggestions, anything! Check back often for potential updates/announcements!

i liked it it was fun i didn't get too far though

:O SORRY VYRE, where were you??? Did you beat Mondo Mole?

I'm interested, but for me to participate it would have to be on a day other than Saturday or Sunday. If the next one is not on one of those two days I'm in!

It was a really fun event. I played pretty well and was doing stuff effeciently. Only died when I first encountered the sharks. I prepared often and made sure I made the right stops to where I was going i.e. sleeping at hotels on the way, and gauging how much to withdraw... I guess more than you need is a good idea for surviving. I didn't buy a map which was fun, I tried to whip it out like 5 times untill I figured out what was going on. Bought hamburgers to at least have a few healing food items, they saved my butt and I had plenty of money to spend from kicking butt otherwise. Having a reserve for healing is important in the beginning of the game, and taking the time to fight the right amount of sharks and other enemies. After hitting level 5 (getting 60HP) I go and fight Franky and Frankystein Mark Bummer. And afterwards use Frank to heal HP/MP quickly.

I got the bike in twoson and forgot to use it! But it's a good thing to nab up to cut time, I thought. If anything, running through the game as fast as possible let me experience earthbound in a new way and I was pleasantly surprised that I did as well as I did, I suppose, especially against the man(Jeffman) who's on the M3 translation project. :lol:

When I got Paula after beating Carpainter, I bought 6 skip sanwiches but shouldve bought more, and used them to whip through the dungeon and get to Mondo Mole quickly and paralyze his butt. I then used an exit mouse to get out. That kind of stuff.

If I hadn't been busy, I'd have been there. Torturing bloopie was fun, but being in the speedrun would be infinitely better. Count me in for this Wednesday slot.

i missed it but yeah i'd be totally interested, I want to try to beat my old record of beating the Boogie Tent in 2 hours.

Yeah ok, it sounds kinda fun, though the odds of me winning are kinda slim. Im not a fast thinker or mover.

Back in the old days when this was starting up I remember when Cherriegal's Ness got mashroomized and then fed a hamburger to a mushroom. I was playing in Japanese, and so when Apple Kid asked for food I selected the Sound Stone by mistake. HE SHOULD HAVE JUST EAT IT.

Questions: The Peaceful Rest Valley sanctuary, is it required? There was that one time that i smoked you all because i skipped it. From now one, lets say you have to do it.

matilda_caboose wrote on Mon, 02 June 2008 01:51

I won the first speedrun we did months ago

I DEMAND COMPENSATION

Dude what about me?

What about Raven?

I GET NO COMPENSATION FOR ANYTHING.

Hmm. And whose idea was it the first time to do a group speedrun?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

I got a question!

Are we gonna plan to like start the speedrun at one location in particular once in while? Starting from the flavor selection is cool but over time, you start knowing by heart the first steps and it would add the challenge to have a different starting point... Of course there's the problem of synching everyone to the same place... mmm... let's say if we find something to fix that... what's your thoughts? o.o

The biggest problem I have with that idea is that it would be hard to get everyone who wanted to participate the same exact stats/level/equipment/everything as everyone else. It would take a very long time to prepare for that, while with starting at the beginning, even someone who heard about it a few minutes ago could jump in and start playing with us. It might get old after a while, but that's kind of why I set it up to be biweekly, so we wouldn't burn out on it TOO fast.

Also Treasure: Unfortunately, and while I know I had some people on Skype last time that didn't fall under these categories, I would like to keep the people in Skype narrowed down to DJs and past winners. :<

Carp: wah wah wah what do you want me to do? ;_;

Oh, if you guys wanted to skype on your own outside of being on radio, that's cool too. Go for it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: 2 HP OF MORTAL DAMAGE

In other words, I'm down for another one

First post edited with the times of these things.

DON'T FORGET, our first 2-hour event is THIS WEDNESDAY at 8 PM Eastern Time! Be there.

I know it's been awhile since I made a post in here, but Wednesday nights work out for me just fine. In fact they're the best night for me.

In this dramatic failure of a speed run for me, this is what happened. I owned the beginning so fast, making it through Night Onett well before others. Then the Japanese version went unfair (I swear it's harder) Frankystein kept critical hitting me to the point of aggravation. Died against it about 20 times, literally.

Next time I'm using the English ROM, it's much more fair. I suggest others heed my word, too.

I stopped myself from taking part in the actual speedruns at the last second, because I didn't think I'd have enough time to do them AND finish the EBFGP tasks for the day. But I'd like to participate in the next one. Any idea when it's going to be? I know it was mentioned on RadioPSI, but I didn't catch it at the time, and forgot to ask someone.

I have to say again that I was very pleased with my run tonight -- TWICE did I actually get through fights with 1 HP left, and one of them was against Strong. AWESOME! And on top of all that, this was probably THE best start I had in EB EVER. Way cool.

I was also happy to see the great turnout of people, and those who persevered despite difficulties. You guys and gals ROCK.

So tell your friends! The next speedrun will be taking place the evening of July 2nd! And it's gonna' be a lot of fun once again.

Ranger: I seem to be the only one to remember such. Curse you for still having your bottle rocket!

Remember some tips: Sell the Mr. Baseball Cap for money to gear you up at the start (thanks Aquas!) Make sure you save at new spots of progress - IE Twoson and having to go alll the way back to Onett 'cause you forgot. Skip sandwiches can actually be useful for getting past enemies (take a few with you from the store in HHV into the sacntuary cave to get past bears.)

Anyone else feel free to add more.

EDIT: Oh yeah. Good luck is always a huge plus.

Jeff7 wrote on Wed, 02 July 2008 12:39

EDIT: Oh yeah. Good luck is always a huge plus.

I recommend getting the luck capsule in PRV, it's not really out of the way and luck (I imagine) might be helpful to have. The beginning of the game is tough to deal with because you have to be really careful with keeping Ness healed and knowing what can kill you and when. This time through I played more conservatively (bought a lot of hamburgers in Onett for the trip to Giant Step, (though, I think this is mostly an issue if you didn't talk to Frank after beating him to get your health restored.))

I think the bike can help cut time in Twoson as well, I always forget to get it though when I get there.

Lots of people knew what they were doing for this speedrun! I'm impressed... and I want there secrets.

Speaking of Gruff Goats, I ended up running into one with a Lvl 1 Jeff. Made me use my cookie and boiled egg, but I managed to live in the end and grow to Lvl 3. I officially hate Gruff Goats now.