How fast ARE videogame characters?

2005-10-09 04:16:46 pm

the heroic coward

I was just wondering how fast some of those videogame protagonists can run. You look at games like Doom and Half-Life and it seems they're going incredibly fast, but are they really going any faster than say Mario from the NES games? Is it possible to figure out how fast characters like Sonic travel?

If any of you have the ability and desire, I think it'd be very interesting to figure out approximations of how fast videogame characters go. Obviously, assumptions would likely have to be made (like say that Mario is 5'7" or something so some math could be thrown down on how much equivilant space he moves in a certain amount of time), out-of-game context would have to be used for more accurate results (using level editing programs for instance to figure out measurements), and there'd be multiple variables (how fast does Kyle Katarn in Jedi Knight go normally vs. when he has 4 stars in force speed? How much faster does Gordon go when using the bunny hop? Etc. etc.).

Hopefully, you all will be as interested as I would be, and more competant than me in how to figure it out.

Thread title:

I was just wondering how fast some of those videogame protagonists can run.  You look at games like Doom and Half-Life and it seems they're going incredibly fast, but are they really going any faster than say Mario from the NES games?  Is it possible to figure out how fast characters like Sonic travel?

If any of you have the ability and desire, I think it'd be very interesting to figure out approximations of how fast videogame characters go.  Obviously, assumptions would likely have to be made (like say that Mario is 5'7" or something so some math could be thrown down on how much equivilant space he moves in a certain amount of time), out-of-game context would have to be used for more accurate results (using level editing programs for instance to figure out measurements), and there'd be multiple variables (how fast does Kyle Katarn in Jedi Knight go normally vs. when he has 4 stars in force speed?  How much faster does Gordon go when using the bunny hop?  Etc. etc.).

Hopefully, you all will be as interested as I would be, and more competant than me in how to figure it out.

Bp_

2005-10-09 05:41:44 pm

best way would be like watching how much space the characer is big O.o? and see like how many space in 10sec. at full speed he can do.

but still i dont think sonic have a challenger for that :\

NintenDan

2005-10-09 05:56:32 pm

You find a game where the character can travel faster then the camera can keep up with him, and you've got a character faster then sonic in Sonic Advance 2!

FIERCELINKMASTER

Edit history:

FIERCELINKMASTER: 2005-10-09 06:06:54 pm

2005-10-09 06:03:20 pm

No the Quail is not riding the Q

Mario swims the fastest with an object (or yoshi :)) in his hands..though... In Super Mario Sunshine he swims slower with any fruit in his hands..
So he most of put on some weight... Shocked

Link runs faster backwards in OoT & MM then becomes slow in the windwaker...

Alot of things happened to Link in that situation... Shocked

Ever notice in starfox how it advances so many years in the sequel?
Fox is going to be to old to run... Shocked

Kibbo

2005-10-09 06:08:18 pm

TIOLET!

Well, I guess someone could try to measure how many pixels per second the character move. I don't know how accurate that would be.

Tompa

2005-10-09 06:27:32 pm

Link is jumping faster diagonally in Link's Awakening than in Oracle of Seasons/Ages...

mjf314

2005-10-09 08:41:54 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I just tested a few things in SMB. Big Mario is 30 or 31 pixels tall (depends on which frame you measure it at) from the bottom of his shoes to the top of his hat, so that's about 2 inches per pixel. He runs 2.5 pixels per frame, which would be 150 pixels per second, or 300 inches per second. Divide by 63360 to convert to miles, and multiply by 3600 to convert to hours, and you get 17 mph. If you assume Mario is a little taller like 67 inches for example, then it would be about 19 mph.

InsipidMuckyWater

Edit history:

InsipidMuckyWater: 2005-10-09 10:49:09 pm

2005-10-09 10:42:14 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

I honestly don't know why I'm responding to that, because I utterly have no idea what I should even say.

Um.... good show of diligence?

InsaneB4st4rd

2005-10-09 10:46:42 pm

Still alive...

Just wow. I'm speechless.....

Paused

Edit history:

Paused: 2005-10-10 12:14:28 am

2005-10-10 12:12:50 am

I feel sad, replying to this but anyway...

I seem to remember that there was a prototype "game" for showing what the DS could do awhile back, probably at E3 or something similar, which featured Sonic. Something like the faster you rub the touch screen the faster Sonic runs. Every now and again the game would tell you when you broke a certain speed barier. I believe with in the 30 sec time limit some one got him to run at mach5.

Im not really sure how fast that is. Probably faster than a man in a green tunic walking backwards.

NintenDan

Edit history:

NintenDan: 2005-10-10 01:03:28 am

2005-10-10 01:00:54 am

It was a tech demo showing what Sonic could do on the DS

Lots of people thought the gameplay would be based off of this however, and it sort of turned em off (sounds wrong, but meh)

Sonic Rush is looking really kick-ass though. With a touch of sonic advance 2 speediness, and classic genesis sonic level design, Sonic Rush looks really promising, and really fast Shocked

Quote:

Im not really sure how fast that is. Probably faster than a man in a green tunic walking backwards.

This is true >_>

It'd be cool if someone could make a little chart that has sprites of various video game characters lined up on the left, ready to race. Then when you hit the "Go" button, you can see how fast the characters go compared to others as their sprite shifts from left to right.

superninja

2005-10-10 01:26:12 am

IIRC in doom you can run at 50mph and in quake around 25mph. Doom was fast Smiley

Mkt2015

2005-10-10 10:08:40 am

MGS for PS1 forever.

What the hell down IIRC stand for? If I recall??

I know most all of the terms used in the forums, but not this one.

Psychochild

2005-10-10 12:35:57 pm

If I Remember Correctly is how I see it.

But If I ReCall works too, I suppose.

Pweisger

2005-10-10 01:13:30 pm

PwNzRd!

True, I would say the fastest PC runner is the Original Doom, hands down. You can move so incredibly fast in that game.

NinjaNerd

Edit history:

NinjaNerd: 2005-10-11 03:12:14 am

2005-10-11 03:11:47 am

Quote:

I just tested a few things in SMB. Big Mario is 30 or 31 pixels tall (depends on which frame you measure it at) from the bottom of his shoes to the top of his hat, so that's about 2 inches per pixel. He runs 2.5 pixels per frame, which would be 150 pixels per second, or 300 inches per second. Divide by 63360 to convert to miles, and multiply by 3600 to convert to hours, and you get 17 mph. If you assume Mario is a little taller like 67 inches for example, then it would be about 19 mph.

How are you converting pixels into miles? Pixels change size depending on the size and resolution of the screen.

Another problem is different resoultions. For example, a Nes can't compute as many pixels as a SNES, so a SNES mario would have an unfair advantage over a Nes mario because SNES mario would cover more pixels per frame than a Nes mario even though they cover the same amount of the screen. To make it fair you would have to divide the PPF (pisels per frame) by the length of the screen (in pixels). In the end speed would have to be measured in PPFD (pixels per frame distance).

I love math, dont you?;D

[quote]I just tested a few things in SMB.  Big Mario is 30 or 31 pixels tall (depends on which frame you measure it at) from the bottom of his shoes to the top of his hat, so that's about 2 inches per pixel.  He runs 2.5 pixels per frame, which would be 150 pixels per second, or 300 inches per second.  Divide by 63360 to convert to miles, and multiply by 3600 to convert to hours, and you get 17 mph.  If you assume Mario is a little taller like 67 inches for example, then it would be about 19 mph.[/quote]

How are you converting pixels into miles?  Pixels change size depending on the size and resolution of the screen.

Another problem is different resoultions.  For example, a Nes can't compute as many pixels as a SNES, so a SNES mario would have an unfair advantage over a Nes mario because SNES mario would cover more pixels per frame than a Nes mario even though they cover the same amount of the screen.  To make it fair you would have to divide the PPF (pisels per frame) by the length of the screen (in pixels). In the end speed would have to be measured in PPFD (pixels per frame distance).

I love math, dont you?;D

slYnki

2005-10-11 03:37:42 am

XXY

No <_<;

Yoshi348

2005-10-11 03:40:07 am

dinosaur from the past

Ah, but he skirts that problem... you see he measures Mario's height in pixels, then estimates his feet and inches height. He's talking mph as in if Mario were life-sized.

It brings up the wierd fact that Mario was a midget until he got perma-shroomed or something in the N64 era. Either that or Peach is freakishly tall, but I'm leaning more towards the former.

InsipidMuckyWater

2005-10-11 08:01:12 am

Visit my profile to see my runs!

Quote:

perma-shroomed

Splendid.

Psychochild

2005-10-11 12:56:51 pm

Quote:

It brings up the wierd fact that Mario was a midget until he got perma-shroomed or something in the N64 era. Either that or Peach is freakishly tall, but I'm leaning more towards the former.

I'm leaning more towards "Gameplay Mechanic," but if you're willing to argue, in Super Mario Bros 2, Toadstool, Mario, Luigi, and Toad shrink when down to one heart. Therefore Princess Peach obviously is ingesting them too.

7 0 x 7

2005-10-11 03:25:11 pm

ouch!

Quote:

True, I would say the fastest PC runner is the Original Doom, hands down. You can move so incredibly fast in that game.

but you can't strafe jump! Wink

Pweisger

Edit history:

Pweisger: 2005-10-11 05:54:47 pm

2005-10-11 05:54:07 pm

PwNzRd!

Oh whoop de shit, so you can't strafe jump, you really don't need to in that game do you? Wink

Now that I think about it, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight might be a close one too; because in that one, force speed can send you flying through levels, just watch the speed-run of it.

7 0 x 7

2005-10-11 06:21:50 pm

ouch!

Gokuh can teleport...

NinjaNerd

2005-10-12 02:03:00 pm

In Deus Ex if you have lv 4 leg enhancements you can go insanely fast too

7 0 x 7

2005-10-12 02:54:08 pm

ouch!

a lot of DBZ characters can go faster than the speed of light, so i think they win Tongue