1-Up!
Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/BatmanNES.html
Batman (Any %) (Single Segment)
Verifier Responses
After a warning like that, no, I didn't click it.
Decision: Holy Accept, Batman!
Congratulations to Josh 'funkdoc' Ballard!
Batman (Any %) (Single Segment)
Verifier Responses
Quote from dxtr:
Hi, dxtr here.
Just give him the Key to the City already.
Accept.
Just give him the Key to the City already.
Accept.
Quote from UraniumAnchor:
If I can get the Joker glitch first try after not having played the game for 12 years, clearly funkdoc can too. Reject.
Quote:
Yeah Flip, I love Batman Arkham City! I'm playing through the armored edition right now... wait, what? Oh, okay, this is the NES version starring Prince? Okay, good enough.
What happened to you Batman?! You used to be one of the hardest NES titles out there. Now runs are coming in so fast that they obsolete obsoletions before the first obsoletion is even published. I only ACCEPT this if no more improvements are coming for at least a couple weeks...
What happened to you Batman?! You used to be one of the hardest NES titles out there. Now runs are coming in so fast that they obsolete obsoletions before the first obsoletion is even published. I only ACCEPT this if no more improvements are coming for at least a couple weeks...
Quote:
I am truly truly sorry.
https://soundcloud.com/jameshartley-2/batman-verification
To save Flip's ears, this is an accept.
https://soundcloud.com/jameshartley-2/batman-verification
To save Flip's ears, this is an accept.
After a warning like that, no, I didn't click it.
Quote:
A/V great, no cheating.
This run is the product of community effort, intense competition, and force of will. After an exciting back and forth heavy weight bout with Dxtr, only the doctor of funk was left standing.
I thought it would be interested to share my perspective on this run because I was involved to a degree and it is an interesting story imo.
On to the run comments:
1-1: I actually have this discovery to my credit. Drop manipulation. I showed Funkdoc at some point and then he and others pushed it to a totally new level to allow for 71 weapons leaving this stage which is beyond absurd. It really sets you up for quite a few fast strats later in the run since you do not have to rely on luck to fire off dirks like they are goin out of style.
1-2: This stage normally would have been a reset due to a minor error that cost less than 1 second (yes, the run is that optimized) but runner was getting frustrated with not getting out of the first level and pressed on. The rest was just well executed new tech for lag reduction and saving frames on movement.
Killer Moth: The fastest pattern and a one cycle means we are moving on. A recent discovery by BadBrakes means you can kill this boss by just throwing batarangs and not even jumping!!
2-1: A few new techs and perfect execution = a fast as hell stage
2-2: Another perfect stage with innovative new tech. Where do you guys come up with this stuff?? Gutsy strats too, no risks were spared in the making of this run. Intentional hits in a game that limits your health severely and does not even refill it all the way is a double edged sword, but we all know which edge won out in this run. Super precise movement to save frames will go unnoticed by the casual viewer, but take it from me, there are tons of subtle movement tricks scattered all over this run.
2-3: For what the runner is going for, everything is perfect. However, this is one of the improvable stages regarding strats and optimizations have already been discovered by Cygfher.
Machine Intelligence System: This is probably one of the weaker points of the run, but is still really fast. It is a surprisingly difficult boss to execute on and there are luck factors. The important thing is one cycling the final part or you lose 1-2 seconds which would be a reset.
3-1: Now is where the real fun starts. A bit of bad luck can't even slow runner down that much as he handles this stage with grace under fire. Really nice strat upgrades and better understanding of enemy AI make for some nice time gains.
3-2: A bit of a safe (but reliable) strat is used on the Yumpers, but I can't hate. That is one of the most annoying sections of the game and I would say runner gives up no more that 1 second to ensure a good stage.
3-3: From playing it safe to balls out audacious strats! The climb section is done perfectly, which it has to be, because otherwise your run is over. So damn precise and gutsy for totally worth it time savings, I love it!
Electrocutioner: New strat can kill in one less cycle, but runner was just one punch short. This is probably the hardest boss strat to pull off consistently and I commend runner for even trying it.
4-1: Great luck in the first section means time saved. Great strats in the next section means time saved. Handling the Yumpers with dirk? You guessed it, time saved.
4-2: Oh man, what happened here? Things get ugly for a bit, I guess those runners were Olympic level and could not be hurdled. Never mind, Dirk to the rescue yet again, and some sexy damage strats mean time is still saved over the old run.
4-3: Dat tank skip Kreygasm. A late gaffe costs a precious health and the speedrun almost gets cancelled but a generous spikecar provides a heart to save the day.
Dual Containtment Alarm: Killing half the DCA before it hits the ground on the right side is pretty sweet. Runners strat could actually get a faster kill sometimes, but hey, he gets the amazing luck on the second half which saves a nice chunk of time and all of a sudden we got a shot at a crazy time!!
5-1: Man talk about intense. All the strats in this stage are ridiculous to pull off and runner goes all out for the glory. All is well but two unintentional hits in this stage means he need a lucky heart drop of he probably gets burnt to a crisp by firebug. Sometimes the RNG gods shine down upon a worthy runner and when it happens, it is glorious! Last enemy before Firebug gives up the much needed heart drop and hope is alive once again!
Firebug: Gets stepped on. Next!
The Joker: Gets a bit out of position here, but overall a great fight with some nice manipulation to keep him from running away.
Overall, this run is a great success for not only the runner, but a small community that contributed strat after strat to keep this war of attrition between dxtr and funkdoc going until we finally got this amazing finish to it all. A note to all fledgling speedrunners, if you need a role model, this is your guy. No one is more competitive and works harder than Funkdoc. His will and determination are what propel him to greatness in speedgaming. Lesser men would have folded under the pressure dxtr put on him but not this guy.
Congratulations on a truly, truly epic run Josh.
Accept!
Epilogue: Even though Funkdoc was victorious on this day, Dxtr would get up a brush himself off. He would not let it end like this and eventually would come within less than one second of this run. A fitting end to the most intense and memorable back and forth speedrun competition in recent memory.
This run is the product of community effort, intense competition, and force of will. After an exciting back and forth heavy weight bout with Dxtr, only the doctor of funk was left standing.
I thought it would be interested to share my perspective on this run because I was involved to a degree and it is an interesting story imo.
January, 2012:
I am at the Bonus stream of AGDQ 2012, and I suggest to Uyama that Batman be in the next marathon and I will run it. He asks the bonus stream chat what they think and they are overwhelmingly in favor of this, and it is the start of my part of this journey. A few months later I speak to Funkdoc, who suggests that we do a Batman race. I am all for it and thrilled to hear he wants to get to work on this then under-appreciated game. He follows with the statement that he plans to crush the SDA run which was 11:44. Never make the mistake of underestimating Funkdoc, you will feel foolish. I did not quite make this mistake, but I did not anticipate him crushing the run the way he did. The 11:44 looked improvable but overall was a very tight run and well executed.
Summer, 2012: Funkdoc is grinding the game, and would go on to beat Liger's run by less than 1 second getting a high 11:43 to his streams viewers' amazement and joy. He had no intention of stopping there and continued on striving for greatness. He eventually smashed the run as he said he would by 30 seconds in September and was satisfied for the time being.
Funkdoc's 11:11 looked nearly unbeatable back then, and sub 11 was a pipe dream. At that point I was thinking of just dropping out of the race and letting the good doctor handle his business. My PB was only just under 13 minutes which was good enough to beat the original SDA run, but I needed to get low 12's to be competitive. I eventually got motivated enough to start practicing the game again and managed to get just decent enough (sub 12 a few times) to make the AGDQ race a donation incentive instead of dropping out altogether.
January, 2013:
Almost a full year later my random suggestion comes to fruition and Funkdoc handily beats me in the Batman race as expected. Neither of us really think there is much more after this, but I say I want to beat Liger's old time of 11:44 which I had not done yet. Funkdoc gives me some coaching at the marathon and I eventually beat Liger's time. Funkdoc stopped playing and moved on to other projects since the marathon was done. Dxtr had asked me which game he should learn, Batman, or Ninja Gaiden II. I am pretty sure I told him Ninja Gaiden II since he was already pro at part 1 and Batman was stupid hard. Luckily he ignored my advice and started on Batman. Dxtr picked up the game insanely quickly and before long we were racing because I had kept on with the game trying to get a respectable time.
January 19, 2013. Funkdoc decides to join me in a few races and I win 3 in a row against him (mainly because I have been grinding the game and he is out of practice). I am pretty sure at that point he decided he would never lose a race to me again and he got back into the game. Meanwhile, Dxtr continued to improve and surpassed my PB of 11:26, he was gunning for the 11:11 which he would eventually beat. Now Funkdoc had no excuse and had to go full force back at the game. What ensued was an unbelievable back and forth between Dxtr and Funkdoc with new records being set by each on what seemed like a weekly basis. The two titans pushed each other to the limit and eventually past it as neither man thought sub 10:30 was possible until the very end. I faded into the background and became a spectator. Honestly, I was just happy to be witness to such competition and will never forget it.
I am at the Bonus stream of AGDQ 2012, and I suggest to Uyama that Batman be in the next marathon and I will run it. He asks the bonus stream chat what they think and they are overwhelmingly in favor of this, and it is the start of my part of this journey. A few months later I speak to Funkdoc, who suggests that we do a Batman race. I am all for it and thrilled to hear he wants to get to work on this then under-appreciated game. He follows with the statement that he plans to crush the SDA run which was 11:44. Never make the mistake of underestimating Funkdoc, you will feel foolish. I did not quite make this mistake, but I did not anticipate him crushing the run the way he did. The 11:44 looked improvable but overall was a very tight run and well executed.
Summer, 2012: Funkdoc is grinding the game, and would go on to beat Liger's run by less than 1 second getting a high 11:43 to his streams viewers' amazement and joy. He had no intention of stopping there and continued on striving for greatness. He eventually smashed the run as he said he would by 30 seconds in September and was satisfied for the time being.
Funkdoc's 11:11 looked nearly unbeatable back then, and sub 11 was a pipe dream. At that point I was thinking of just dropping out of the race and letting the good doctor handle his business. My PB was only just under 13 minutes which was good enough to beat the original SDA run, but I needed to get low 12's to be competitive. I eventually got motivated enough to start practicing the game again and managed to get just decent enough (sub 12 a few times) to make the AGDQ race a donation incentive instead of dropping out altogether.
January, 2013:
Almost a full year later my random suggestion comes to fruition and Funkdoc handily beats me in the Batman race as expected. Neither of us really think there is much more after this, but I say I want to beat Liger's old time of 11:44 which I had not done yet. Funkdoc gives me some coaching at the marathon and I eventually beat Liger's time. Funkdoc stopped playing and moved on to other projects since the marathon was done. Dxtr had asked me which game he should learn, Batman, or Ninja Gaiden II. I am pretty sure I told him Ninja Gaiden II since he was already pro at part 1 and Batman was stupid hard. Luckily he ignored my advice and started on Batman. Dxtr picked up the game insanely quickly and before long we were racing because I had kept on with the game trying to get a respectable time.
January 19, 2013. Funkdoc decides to join me in a few races and I win 3 in a row against him (mainly because I have been grinding the game and he is out of practice). I am pretty sure at that point he decided he would never lose a race to me again and he got back into the game. Meanwhile, Dxtr continued to improve and surpassed my PB of 11:26, he was gunning for the 11:11 which he would eventually beat. Now Funkdoc had no excuse and had to go full force back at the game. What ensued was an unbelievable back and forth between Dxtr and Funkdoc with new records being set by each on what seemed like a weekly basis. The two titans pushed each other to the limit and eventually past it as neither man thought sub 10:30 was possible until the very end. I faded into the background and became a spectator. Honestly, I was just happy to be witness to such competition and will never forget it.
On to the run comments:
1-1: I actually have this discovery to my credit. Drop manipulation. I showed Funkdoc at some point and then he and others pushed it to a totally new level to allow for 71 weapons leaving this stage which is beyond absurd. It really sets you up for quite a few fast strats later in the run since you do not have to rely on luck to fire off dirks like they are goin out of style.
1-2: This stage normally would have been a reset due to a minor error that cost less than 1 second (yes, the run is that optimized) but runner was getting frustrated with not getting out of the first level and pressed on. The rest was just well executed new tech for lag reduction and saving frames on movement.
Killer Moth: The fastest pattern and a one cycle means we are moving on. A recent discovery by BadBrakes means you can kill this boss by just throwing batarangs and not even jumping!!
2-1: A few new techs and perfect execution = a fast as hell stage
2-2: Another perfect stage with innovative new tech. Where do you guys come up with this stuff?? Gutsy strats too, no risks were spared in the making of this run. Intentional hits in a game that limits your health severely and does not even refill it all the way is a double edged sword, but we all know which edge won out in this run. Super precise movement to save frames will go unnoticed by the casual viewer, but take it from me, there are tons of subtle movement tricks scattered all over this run.
2-3: For what the runner is going for, everything is perfect. However, this is one of the improvable stages regarding strats and optimizations have already been discovered by Cygfher.
Machine Intelligence System: This is probably one of the weaker points of the run, but is still really fast. It is a surprisingly difficult boss to execute on and there are luck factors. The important thing is one cycling the final part or you lose 1-2 seconds which would be a reset.
3-1: Now is where the real fun starts. A bit of bad luck can't even slow runner down that much as he handles this stage with grace under fire. Really nice strat upgrades and better understanding of enemy AI make for some nice time gains.
3-2: A bit of a safe (but reliable) strat is used on the Yumpers, but I can't hate. That is one of the most annoying sections of the game and I would say runner gives up no more that 1 second to ensure a good stage.
3-3: From playing it safe to balls out audacious strats! The climb section is done perfectly, which it has to be, because otherwise your run is over. So damn precise and gutsy for totally worth it time savings, I love it!
Electrocutioner: New strat can kill in one less cycle, but runner was just one punch short. This is probably the hardest boss strat to pull off consistently and I commend runner for even trying it.
4-1: Great luck in the first section means time saved. Great strats in the next section means time saved. Handling the Yumpers with dirk? You guessed it, time saved.
4-2: Oh man, what happened here? Things get ugly for a bit, I guess those runners were Olympic level and could not be hurdled. Never mind, Dirk to the rescue yet again, and some sexy damage strats mean time is still saved over the old run.
4-3: Dat tank skip Kreygasm. A late gaffe costs a precious health and the speedrun almost gets cancelled but a generous spikecar provides a heart to save the day.
Dual Containtment Alarm: Killing half the DCA before it hits the ground on the right side is pretty sweet. Runners strat could actually get a faster kill sometimes, but hey, he gets the amazing luck on the second half which saves a nice chunk of time and all of a sudden we got a shot at a crazy time!!
5-1: Man talk about intense. All the strats in this stage are ridiculous to pull off and runner goes all out for the glory. All is well but two unintentional hits in this stage means he need a lucky heart drop of he probably gets burnt to a crisp by firebug. Sometimes the RNG gods shine down upon a worthy runner and when it happens, it is glorious! Last enemy before Firebug gives up the much needed heart drop and hope is alive once again!
Firebug: Gets stepped on. Next!
The Joker: Gets a bit out of position here, but overall a great fight with some nice manipulation to keep him from running away.
Overall, this run is a great success for not only the runner, but a small community that contributed strat after strat to keep this war of attrition between dxtr and funkdoc going until we finally got this amazing finish to it all. A note to all fledgling speedrunners, if you need a role model, this is your guy. No one is more competitive and works harder than Funkdoc. His will and determination are what propel him to greatness in speedgaming. Lesser men would have folded under the pressure dxtr put on him but not this guy.
Congratulations on a truly, truly epic run Josh.
Accept!
Epilogue: Even though Funkdoc was victorious on this day, Dxtr would get up a brush himself off. He would not let it end like this and eventually would come within less than one second of this run. A fitting end to the most intense and memorable back and forth speedrun competition in recent memory.
Decision: Holy Accept, Batman!
Congratulations to Josh 'funkdoc' Ballard!
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