A while ago, I felt that speedruns were losing their edge. I felt that everything had been done (in most popular games) and runs were just down to executing a route perfectly to shave off a few frames. Besides, most runs were about skipping large portions of a game and the ones that weren't were far too long.
PJ and Coolkid were attempting high score runs of Mega Man 1. I thought of an idea for high score runs in Umihara Kawase. Many games on older consoles had a score that was tacked onto them that they took seriously, but players didn't. What if we did? We could start a new frontier for gaming on Twitch- high scores. It's a largely unexplored aspect of gaming that, outside of arcade games, has been dormant since after the 80s. A lot of high scores last seen in Nintendo Power magazines are probably incredibly outdated by now. We could improve them!
Upsides:
Doing high score runs means exploring a game more. Getting the most out of it. It would be like 100% runs, but more.
It's a very unoptimized and unexplored part of games that could yield its own struggles and success stories, as well as getting more mileage out of your favorite games.
It could lead to new games, previously thought unfit for speedrunning, getting more attention and competition again.
Downsides:
It would lead to lots of long and boring playthroughs. I can think of a few examples- the aforementioned Mega Man 1 requires you to complete the final levels (where most of the points are scored) over and over again to get the best scores. Lost Levels makes it possible to warp backwards and play levels over and over again. Or, players could just amass lots of lives and die at the end of the most point-lucrative level over and over again. Many games added them in as an afterthought, unaware of the ways players could milk points by finding ways to replay stages.
There might not be as many players willing to do it or games to do it in. Many newer games replace scores with experience points or eliminate them altogether. High Scores in non-arcade games might be a fad.
Conclusion
It's not like streamers don't have the time to do high score runs if they can do speedrun attempts and reset for 12 straight hours. What would the next frontier be after this one? Reviving old online games to achieve the most in them?
PJ and Coolkid were attempting high score runs of Mega Man 1. I thought of an idea for high score runs in Umihara Kawase. Many games on older consoles had a score that was tacked onto them that they took seriously, but players didn't. What if we did? We could start a new frontier for gaming on Twitch- high scores. It's a largely unexplored aspect of gaming that, outside of arcade games, has been dormant since after the 80s. A lot of high scores last seen in Nintendo Power magazines are probably incredibly outdated by now. We could improve them!
Upsides:
Doing high score runs means exploring a game more. Getting the most out of it. It would be like 100% runs, but more.
It's a very unoptimized and unexplored part of games that could yield its own struggles and success stories, as well as getting more mileage out of your favorite games.
It could lead to new games, previously thought unfit for speedrunning, getting more attention and competition again.
Downsides:
It would lead to lots of long and boring playthroughs. I can think of a few examples- the aforementioned Mega Man 1 requires you to complete the final levels (where most of the points are scored) over and over again to get the best scores. Lost Levels makes it possible to warp backwards and play levels over and over again. Or, players could just amass lots of lives and die at the end of the most point-lucrative level over and over again. Many games added them in as an afterthought, unaware of the ways players could milk points by finding ways to replay stages.
There might not be as many players willing to do it or games to do it in. Many newer games replace scores with experience points or eliminate them altogether. High Scores in non-arcade games might be a fad.
Conclusion
It's not like streamers don't have the time to do high score runs if they can do speedrun attempts and reset for 12 straight hours. What would the next frontier be after this one? Reviving old online games to achieve the most in them?
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