[Stefan]

So, I'm a kid who likes arbitrary statistics and rankings. I'm sure I've wasted hours of my life looking at musical "top 100 lists". I've wasted years of my life devising algorithms to determine the best baseball players of all time. Lists and statistics are innately compelling to me. I've noticed, however, that in my time at TSC, there have been relatively few lists. Sure, there are the biannual top ten lists, but those rarely deal with competition and are limited to the thoughts of RPG and mike (and lately genus and douglas). There's the sitewide rankings formula, but that has worn its novelty off for me.

What I want to do, is construct a "best-of" list that deals with one of the most important aspects of competition. I want to rank the best records on this website. Records are the -heart- of a competition website. I want to start a personal project to recognize those records that are the most "untouchable".

What makes a record great? Is it the distance between the record and second place? Is it the popularity of a chart? Is it odds-defying luck or strategy? Is it a TAS strategy someone managed in real life? Is it a slim, .01 victory that took years to work up? Is it how long a record has been standing?

My idea is to determine the top records on this website. That is easy to decide.

Much more difficult to decide, however, is the process by which I'll do that.

I could rank the records algorithmically, but what factors would go into that algorithm? I could base it off of public opinion, but how do I know a certain record won't be forgotten? I could take suggestions from the bulk of TSC, and subjectively pick the best, but why is that more productive than the top tens? I could rank 100, but that could just get trivial. I could rank 20, but that makes the project fairly useless.

Basically, I need input. There are a few of ways you can help me with this:

a.) You can name records that you hold in high respect. These give me both a starting point for records that I should rank highly, and also examples of the criteria that make a record great. They also give me a list of well-respected records, should I base my list off public opinion.
b.) You can tell me the most important criteria in determining a record. What makes a record great in your opinion? What separates a great record from a mediocre one?
c.) You can give me ideas on the factors that would go into an algorithm. Should I mathematically choose some records that are large distances from second place? Should I hold polls? Should I form a committee to subjectively decide?

This project (should I keep up with it) will be entirely dependent on user input. So, go ahead and give me ideas. Tell me what you think the best records are! Tell me what makes a record great!

[Bilan]

I will post some of the record I think are epic sometime when I am not really tired :(

[Aitamen]

As this is just looking at records, I'd have to say that Jawzun's EC certainly deserves to do in there... 

Eredani's annihilation of AI2K should probably go in there...

Most of what a record's goodness is, to me, in perhaps too many cases, is how close humans are to "perfect"

GH1, anyone?

[Shadowfan]

Wow...You sound way to much like me...(I too often spend way too much time looking up statistics)

Anyways, if it is any help to you, I'd like to give my opinion on what makes some records better than others. I'll list them in order of the ones I think are most important.

1. Competition on the ranking.( The more players in a chart, the more impressive the record. Also, beating a few very talented players(DsS) is more impressive than beating some not as talented players(Me).

2. Margin of victory(Beating someone by 10 seconds is more impressive than beating someone by 5 seconds).

3. Difficultly of strategy(The route one takes on a level could be much more complicated and require more amazing tricks than in another level).

4. Difficulty of level(This one is kind of repetitive, but, some levels are much harder to beat than others).

5. Reign of record(How long the record has lasted. A record that has reigned for many years is more impressive than a record that hasn't been around as long.)

6. Margin of error(Records that can be made only while making no mistakes are more impressive than records that can be made with many mistakes). 

7. "Use of restarts/deaths"(Normally restarting hurts you in pretty much everything but in the "find the emerald" levels in SA2(B), for example, restarting is the only reason the records are so low. So, 1:36:89 in CE1 is more impressive than 0:01:39 in WC1.)

8. Ties(Records held by multiple people are not as impressive as records held by only one player).

9. Its better to be lucky than good, or is it?( Runs that require more luck than skill are not as impressive as runs that require pure skill. Although sometimes luck-based things can be really annoying.) 

10. Glitches(Using glitches to beat or shorten the level takes away from the skill needed to get the record).

11. Consoles(Some consols have advantages over other consols on the same level. Getting the record on a "disadvantaged" consol is more impressive than getting the record on an "advantaged consol")

[finalrush7_]

Hmm, my suggestions are:

a) EC1 from Jawzun. Absolutely awesome time. If he only would get it under a minute..

b) CE1 from Paragod. How this is a record! There's so many luck based things in this level, and he has found a way to work all of them into skill! Also, he's like 8-9 seconds away from the second place.

c) Final Rush 1, held by Paragod. Here I can go specifically into detail because I'm competing there as well. I'll show you through Shadowfan's 11 points:




1. The prior record was held by Zealous(a well known SA2 player) for like 4 years. Then Paragod came and beat it by 2-3 seconds after a lot of effort.

2. If you look at the chart, my and his times are over 6 seconds away from the others.

3. Final Rush is the second longest Sonic/Shadow level in SA2, and there's almost nothing luck based in this level. There's a good amount of platforming that allows for cool tricks.

4. It has its easy, but also its very hard parts.

5. His record has lasted for around 1.5 years or so. I'm not taking into account that he didn't play for a few weeks while I took the record from him during that time.

6. If you just take a loot at my topic called "How much time do you lose when being restored from a checkpoint in SA2:B" in the competition central, you will see that this is over 200 posts of discussion of the Final Rush level.
I know from experience that pretty much every mistake screws your run. Not only do you lose time for the mistake, but you're also in wrong position in order to fulfill the next trick.

7. Paragod and me have driven ourselves into perfection on that level. Well, he's got a bit further, but it's completely impossible to break his record now with even one checkpoint being used.

8. No tie in that case. Although we were tied twice (see timemachine at some time around October)

9. There is only one part of the level I consider luck based, and we still found a way to make it work 7/10 times.

10. There's only one glitch being used, the CWS, but that cuts you like 3 seconds, and the area that it cuts is pretty easy actually.

11. On Final Rush, the DC has nothing over the GC and vice versa. (At least that I know of..)

[Zeupar]

Stef, I highly approve of this idea. :D I think that the best way to start this is making categories; it makes no sense comparing time, score, ring, boss and special records between them. Times and freestyle records could be comparead but... who cares about freestyle records? I think it would be a good idea making game categories too: 2D, 3D, handheld, race, isometric-3D and Jam. <_< That or making a top five for each category for each single game. Or top ten, or top twenty. I would say this should depend on the number of charts: SA2's best records list should be a top twenty for each category while Sonic Jam's should be a top three.

Now it's time for me to enumerate the records I have a healthy respect for (I will use my guidelines to list them):

Sonic Advance

Times (in no particular order)
- Secret Base Act 1 - Amy: 0:43:08 by NintenDan <- Longest standing Sonic Advance record. More than four seconds between his time and the second place time. There are nine player on this chart whose times are between 0:47:XX and 0:49:XX. 
- Secret Base Act 2 - Knuckles - 1:09:12 by truesonic53 <- This is the kind of crazy times the best Sonic Advance player achieves.
- Egg Rocket Act 1 - Knuckles - 2:25:92 by Quartz <- Watch Ninty's video and you will realize why this time is so good. That video was ranked 8th in the top ten videos written two years ago.
- Angel Island Act 1 - Sonic: 1:05:72 by SkyLights <- This is the stage where I have spent more time time attacking (and I have time attacked this game many hours) and that is why SkyLights' time amuses me.

Rings
All luck-based. But there is one that deserves a place here:
- Neo Green Hill 1 - Sonic - 359 rings by NintenDan <- He figured out a way to reach the hidden island as Sonic, being able to get another random box. I have tried figuring it out what he did, but I couldn't.

Scores
- Neo Green Hill 2 - Knuckles - 63100 points by truesonic53 <- And he said it was not that hard. >_>
- Ice Mountain 1 - Sonic - 58100 points by truesonic53 <- Almost 20000 points between his score and the second place score. Simply awesome. It involves finishing the stage under 50 seconds and only two players have managed to do this.

Special
- Special Stage 7 - 232 rings by Sonic62 <- This stage is annoying and he got many rings.


Sonic Advance 2

Times (in no particular order)
- Leaf Forest 1 - Sonic - 0:28:88 by Judgement - Insanely insane. Awesome players like Douglas or Ninty sweat blood to get sub-30. Sub-30 was too easy for Judgy, so he got sub 29.
- Leaf Forest 2 - Tails - 0:41:75 by NintenDan <- Longest standing Sonic Advance 2 record. 'Nuff said.
- Ice Paradise 2 - Sonic - 0:38:95 by Judgement <- Another insane time. Watch douglas' video and you will see why.
- Music Plant 1 - Knuckles - 0:51:80 by douglas <- Almost 10 seconds between his time and second place time. On a short stage... WTF?
- Techno Base 1 - Tails - 1:28:63 by Spinballwizard <- He doesn't like ties. That's the reason why he is the only one who break 1:30 barrier in such a long and annoying level.
- Techno Base 2 - Sonic - 0:39:52 by Judgement <- This time is amazing. Just trust me.

Rings
All luck-based.

Scores
All spam-based. <_<

Bosses (in no particular order)
- Egg Bomber Tank - Amy - 0:14:37 by myself <- This record will remain untouchable for years. It is that good. Seriously. Too bad it isn't 0:13:37. :(
- Egg Totem - Sonic - 0:05:50 by SadisticMystic <- Simply perfect.
- Egg Saucer - Sonic - 0:16:67 by Judgement <- Judgy commented this record saying: "Close to max!!". And I'm sure it is.
- Egg-Go-Round - Tails - 0:09:97 by Judgement <- Sub 10! Impressive.
- Egg Frog - Sonic - 0:08:87 by SprintGod <- ...TAS time is 0:08:52... Just watch the video and be amazed.
- True Area 53 - 0:55:52 by truesonic53 <- It is his favourite stage of all Sonic games (:s), so he had to rape it. A TAS of this stage by nitsuja would prove how good is this time .
- XX Zone - Cream - 0:59:93 by RPGnutter <- Three years old record. And sub-1 minute! Second place time is 1:12:63 (by douglas, no less). Many people think that this is a very hard stage. Not me. <_<

Special
- Special Stage 3 - 999 rings by RPGnutter <- He is the only one who managed to max this annoying stage.


Sonic Advance 3

Times (in no particular order)
- Route 99 2 - 0:41:62 by Quartz <- His time is crazy.
- Sunset Hill 1 - 0:28:87 by Quartz <- He breaks the 30 seconds barrier... by a full second... Amazing.
- Ocean Base 1 - 0:36:99 by Quartz <- TAS time for this stage is 0:34:68. o_O
- Ocean Base 2 - 1:03:60 by Quartz <- To get sub 1:10 on this stage you need to do an annoying and very hard one-frame jump of a moving platform. He did it at least six times to get an impressive time on this stage.
- Twinkle Snow 2 - 1:01:97 by Quartz <- An amazing flow from start to finish! Quartz is an expert at doing things a cycle earlier than you.
- Twinkle Snow 3 - 0:50:83 by Quartz <- Smooth and fine-tunned, like he likes.
- Toy Kingdom 1 - 0:33:52 by Quartz <- smizzla challenged Quartz, and this is what he got!
- Chaos Angel 1 - 1:12:62 by Quartz <- I have no words to describe how good is this record.
- Chaos Angel 3 - 0:32:23 by guess who? <- What? Are you kidding me? This is more than a second faster than TAS time. <_< >_>
Right now you could be thinking: "Nine awesome times? You are overrating Quartz". No, I'm not, Quartz has pushed this game to its limits. I remember him saying it had been done for him.

Rings
All luck-based.

Bosses (in no particular order)
- Ocean Base Boss <- 0:39:82 by Quartz <- TAS time is 0:39:13...
- Twinkle Snow Boss <- 0:37:42 by Quartz <- ...TAS time is 0:36:73.
- Route 99 Boss <- 0:58:57 by Quartz <- In the words of Quartz: "Do you know how INSANE this is to get!?!". TAS time is 0:57:33.
- Nonaggression - 0:39:43 by TBF Bri 10 <- This record is so good that I wonder if it is even possible.

Special
- Special Stage 7 - 339 rings by DarkspinesSonic <- Everybody hate this special stage. The statistic of the players ranked second is 329 rings.


Sonic 3D Blast

Times (in no particular order)
- Spring Stadium 3 - 0:18 by DarkspinesSonic <- Insane like him.
- Panic Puppet 1 - 1:01 by SprintGod <- Yeah, Sprint is definitely a robot (...).
- Panic Puppet 3 - 1:39 by SprintGod <- ^
- Gene Gadget 1 - 1:19 by Shadow Jacky <- He is the only one who can match and even improve SprintGod's awesomeness on this stage.

Rings
<_<

Scores
- Diamond Dust 1 - 54000 by Shadow Jacky and DarkspinesSonic <- I tried to tie this record three weeks ago. It was impossible. It is too tight.


Sonic 1

Times
- Star Light 3 - 0:53 by maggot <- He is simply maggot. He is five seconds ahead the players ranked second. In a game like Sonic 1 this is a huge difference.

Rings
- Scrap Brain 3 - 162 rings by douglas <- We are still waiting for his promised video of a 163 rings run. But this is still crazy.

Scores (in no particular order)
- Spring Yard 2 - 66489 points by maggot <- Mike is second on this chart with 42110 points. Why? Well, maggot "just" got sub 30 seconds on his run and got a huge time bonus.
- Green Hill 1 - 75230 points by stanski <- He says this is perfect for the route he took, and I'm sure he took the optimum route.
- Green HIll 3 - 48800 points by maggot <- This score is incredible.

Special
...


That's all folks!

[Bilan]

- Leaf Forest 2 - Tails - 0:41:75 by NintenDan <- Longest standing Sonic Advance 2 record. 'Nuff said.

http://www.soniccenter.org/rankings/sonic_advance_2/bosses/egg-go-round/amy

[Zeupar]

I meant longest standing stage record. My bad. :P

Now it is your turn.

[Bilan]

Ill get round to it <_<

[Spinballwizard]

- Techno Base 1 - Tails - 1:28:63 by Spinballwizard <- He doesn't like ties. That's the reason why he is the only one who break 1:30 barrier in such a long and annoying level.

For the record, I don't consider TB1 to be annoying. >_>

[Luxray]

Well there is really only one game i pay attention to and its Rush Adventure *shot*

There are still a couple of records that I hold in high regard:

Rush Adventure:

Ghost Kraken - Blaze -> 44.23 => sonicandamy
(23 and a half seconds ahead of 2nd place and the record has been there for over a year)

Deep Core - Sonic -> 1:09.02 => Myself
(3 months on and still not beaten. About 19 or so seconds till the next place)

Unleashed (Wii-PS2):

Holoska - Night 2 -> 1:38.365 => DarkspinesSonic
( to make it sound good it was the first submission for the game and it has been at number one since. 1.5 minutes till the next place.)

Adabat - Night 2 -> 1:27.932 => DarkspinesSonic
This one impressed me after beating my flawless time. He must've skipped something.

Egg Lancer -> Bosses -> 1:28.598 => Dhaos again >_>
http://www.soniccenter.org/rankings/sonic_unleashed_wii-ps2/bosses/egg_lancer/bosses I was convinced my time couldn't be beaten.

Dark Gaia -> Bosses -> 4'06"802 => Guess Who? D:
Just waiting for him to break 4 mins now.

These are the ones i really look up to and always keep trying to beat.

[Jawzunx]

Ok, here is another record to be considered great:

SA(DX) - Speed Highway - Sonic - 1:03.81

I know it's mine and there's no video, but it's one of the most 'close to prefect' ones in the game and on a 'decent' stage and of course no restarts were used on it. There is a difference of more than a second to the second place (1:05.10 Paragod) which looked perfect to me when he submitted it :P

There's still a video of 1:04.95 if you guys want to check how amazing might be a whole second faster (1:03.81)

[Bilan]

Egg Lancer -> Bosses -> 1:28.598 => Dhaos again >_>
http://www.soniccenter.org/rankings/sonic_unleashed_wii-ps2/bosses/egg_lancer/bosses I was convinced my time couldn't be beaten.

The games been out like a month of course all the current records are gonna be smashed to pieces

[Zeupar]

Egg Lancer -> Bosses -> 1:28.598 => Dhaos again >_>
http://www.soniccenter.org/rankings/sonic_unleashed_wii-ps2/bosses/egg_lancer/bosses I was convinced my time couldn't be beaten.

The games been out like a month of course all the current records are gonna be smashed to pieces

Like this one?

[Bilan]

Exceptions to every rule

[truesonic53]

I think that the best way to start this is making categories; it makes no sense comparing time, score, ring, boss and special records between them.

Good point. I will also emphasize some of the records on this site and make my own top ten best records. I won't enumerate the criterias which help to determine a great record because I think they have already been mentioned. But at first I will comment some of Zeupar's statements because he pointed out some of my unappreciable records.

- Secret Base Act 2 - Knuckles - 1:09:12 by truesonic53 <- This is the kind of crazy times the best Sonic Advance player achieves.

Thanks. But the only record that I consider to be really great is Neo Green Hill 2 Knuckles. I'm sure this record will remain unbeatable, since I used a new boss strategy which I'll tell about when I get back to competing in Advance and make the competition grow.

I will also mention Angel Island 1 as Amy by Quartz (Sonic Advance). In his video of this level he makes only one minor mistake at the end, which makes even more questions about how he managed to do almost 4 seconds better.

- Neo Green Hill 2 - Knuckles - 63100 points by truesonic53 <- And he said it was not that hard. >_>

Yes that wasn't. Just finish under 50 seconds and get 40 from the random ring box. <_<

- Special Stage 7 - 232 rings by Sonic62 <- This stage is annoying and he got many rings.

I've got about 235 rings long time ago, but I don't remember exactly so I won't submit that until I beat this record again.

- True Area 53 - 0:55:52 by truesonic53 <- It is his favourite stage of all Sonic games (:s), so he had to rape it. A TAS of this stage by nitsuja would prove how good is this time .

Ehh, Zeupar, it is not so hard. I've repeated this record many times. And first time I did it when I didn't know what TSC record was. In fact, I can't quite understand why nobody repeated my time yet.

- Nonaggression - 0:39:43 by TBF Bri 10 <- This record is so good that I wonder if it is even possible.

Haven't you find it on Youtube yet?

Now I will make my own top ten TSC records.
10) RPGnutter - XX zone Cream (Sonic Advance 2)
9) Zeupar - Egg Bomber Tank Amy (Sonic Advance 2)
8) TBF Bri 10 - Nonaggression (Sonic Advance 3)
7) Quartz - Ocean Base 1 (Sonic Advance 3)
6) Shadow Jacky - Mystic Mansion Team Dark (Sonic Heroes)
5) Paragod - City Escape 1 (SA2B)
4) Judgement - Leaf Forest Sonic (Sonic Advance 2)
3) NintenDan - Neo Green Hill 1 Sonic 359 rings (Sonic Advance)
2) Jawzun - Emerald Coast Sonic (SADX)
1) Paragod - Green Hill (SA2B)

[Shadow Jacky]

MM-D...really truesonic?

man, I should knock it down some more then :(

[truesonic53]

MM-D...really truesonic?

man, I should knock it down some more then :(

You have many awesome records in Sonic Heroes, but this one is my favourite. That's why I put it into my own top ten. I don't say it's the best one, but at least I'm 100% sure that one of your records should take place in the final top ten.

Also I don't know if this record can be improved, I'm sure it is almost perfect...

[Shadow Jacky]

well I'm working on it now, and so far I think I can knock off 10 sec.

[flying fox]

I don't think these will get mentioned since there are Sonic 06 records but I'll give it a shot. Here  are my top records:

Solaris 2'40"521 - Not only did I beat the pros (PsyBorg, DarkspinesSonic and Paraxade) but I beat the previous record by 16 seconds. Not to mention it looks unbeatable.

Flame Core 295 rings (Silver) - The previous record was 133 rings which is all the rings in section 2. I'm the only one who has done a full RA on this stage. I found a way around those nasty fireballs.

Solaris 49 rings - Only the pros have got 48 rings. To cut a long story short, this is very hard to pull this off.

[Zeupar]

- Neo Green Hill 2 - Knuckles - 63100 points by truesonic53 <- And he said it was not that hard. >_>

Yes that wasn't. Just finish under 50 seconds and get 40 from the random ring box. <_<

Oh, forgot about that random ring box at the very beginning of the stage. >_< So we have another luck-based score attack. :( Anyway, that box refuses to give you 40 rings on Game Start mode. Did you get your record on Game Start mode or on Time Attack mode?

- True Area 53 - 0:55:52 by truesonic53 <- It is his favourite stage of all Sonic games (:s), so he had to rape it. A TAS of this stage by nitsuja would prove how good is this time .

Ehh, Zeupar, it is not so hard. I've repeated this record many times. And first time I did it when I didn't know what TSC record was. In fact, I can't quite understand why nobody repeated my time yet.

That's because it is insane. <_< The fact that you have tied you own record many times proves my point; it is almost perfect. By the way, check your video at YouTube, you will notice something odd. xD

I had not seen that Nonaggression video. :O

MM-D...really truesonic?

man, I should knock it down some more then :(

I don't know if this record can be improved, I'm sure it is almost perfect...

xD

[truesonic53]

- Neo Green Hill 2 - Knuckles - 63100 points by truesonic53 <- And he said it was not that hard. >_>

Yes that wasn't. Just finish under 50 seconds and get 40 from the random ring box. <_<

Oh, forgot about that random ring box at the very beginning of the stage. >_< So we have another luck-based score attack. :( Anyway, that box refuses to give you 40 rings on Game Start mode. Did you get your record on Game Start mode or on Time Attack mode?

Well, I had the similar problem with the random box and so I decided to try a new thing. I noticed that if I start the game from the first level, the box in the second starts giving me a good amount of rings. Since I got the score record just after I got the time record, it wasn't a problem for me to get under 50 seconds and it didn't take many attempts to do. And of course that was happening in Game start mode.

By the way, speaking about this topic and more "generous" random boxes in Time Attack mode, I see that you got all your rings and scores in Game Start mode and want anyone else to do it just to put everyone into the same conditions. I don't understand why not to create these conditions in TA mode just to make score attacking more comfortable and more attractive to those players who are tired to press A+B+Start+Select every time they fail.

By the way, check your video at YouTube, you will notice something odd. xD

Damn, had to remove that. Hope this won't happen with my other videos. Anyway I will make another video of this, since it seems to me that like the perfect time on Aero Egg is 5:50, the perfect time on TA53 must be 55:50. Once uploading it, I will use some new tags <_<

MM-D...really truesonic?

man, I should knock it down some more then :(

I don't know if this record can be improved, I'm sure it is almost perfect...

xD

I should keep myself quiet instead of saying that Shadow Jacky cannot improve any SH record D:

[Shadow Jacky]

oh don't worry, I'm not done yet :)

[Zeupar]

This topic needs more attention. :P

- Leaf Forest 2 - Tails - 0:41:75 by NintenDan <- Longest standing Sonic Advance 2 record. 'Nuff said.

http://www.soniccenter.org/rankings/sonic_advance_2/bosses/egg-go-round/amy

lol

[Combo]

Yes, more like this!

I can't really think of many records to put down in here, but one I can think of is Romulo's 18 seconds with Knuckles in Emerald Hill 1.

[Pokemonmaster888]

This topic is interesting, I like to organize and make best lists of things as well, so this should be fun to compile. I am only doing Sonic Heroes so far as that is the game I have the most experience in, and it will take me a bit more time to find records for other games that I think would be worthy of a list like this. I didn't find a whole lot of records, but I have listed the ones I think deserve to be on such a list. These records are just numbered for organization, they are not in any specific order or rank. Let's dive into it.

Sonic Heroes

Times

1. Hang Castle, Team Rose - 0:38.28 by Sonicspeedruner - This stage is so short yet very difficult to get right. The door clip is annoying and various parts of the stage are tough to pull off correctly. I have spent a lot of time in the past on my 0:43.64 and am I bit hesitant to try to improve it due to the length of time it would take to possibly improve. This is a great time.

Extra

1. Grand Metropolis, Team Rose - 1:24.34 by ShadowJacky - This is a tough one to get right. There are a lot of stops and quick jumps to make that can slow you down a lot, as Team Rose is slower than the other teams. It just is a technically difficult level, one that I have had trouble pulling off a good time successfully. Current record by more than 5 years, and he says it can go below 1:20.00 as well. :O

Rings

1. Ocean Palace, Team Rose - 432 Rings by chainchumper - This is the max it seems for this stage, and he is the first and only person in 1st place so far. You have to do the power formation flight glitch to be able to make it behind the start to get rings there, and then use the thundershoot gauge trick to make it past the goal ring. That is difficult as the camera does not cooperate with you during the big expedition over the ocean past the goal ring, and making it over to the other side of the stage takes time, patience, and effort. An overall test of skill, and a good record to try to get if you want to show off your ring attacking prowess.

2. Grand Metropolis, Team Sonic (Extra) - 499 Rings by 5 players - I have tried this 5 minute timed ring attack before and it gets really close to the time limit. It is a tough one to do as you have to go a lot of places around the stage to get rings, and by the nature of the stage you just don't have that much time to get the old max of 499. This level is just a flat out tough one, and you need to have skill to get 499 rings within the time limit. I'm sure all 5 players who have this record can attest to that.

3. Rail Canyon, Team Dark - 539 Rings by Pokemonmaster888 and OmegaDJ - This ring attack is a hard one that requires an imagination and thinking for the 539 rings to be gotten. The first set of trick rings is the hardest, while the other ones are not as difficult. I'm not going into detail here about the strategies; you can refer to my guide I wrote about it years ago: http://www.soniccenter.org/guides/sonic_heroes/guide289 I personally thought it wasn't too difficult, but as the test of time has shown (and also the fact my guide is out there), only two players have this score after almost 7 years. I encourage you guys to try it and see what you can do with this level. Maybe a lot of people haven't seen my guide; I just know that if you take the time to analyze this level and think of the possible moves you can do, you might be able to pull off this score.

Bosses

1. Egg Hawk, Team Sonic - 0:16.36 by Sonicspeedruner - This boss is a quick one, the strategy to get it done though is a bit tricky. You have to either button mash very fast to get the fire dunks to go quick enough to defeat him, or you have to time the button presses to get them done quick enough. For some reason on my controller/game the more I restart the level, the slower the fire dunks become. Sometimes the fire dunks don't hit the cockpit either, which seems to be random. It's just an awesome time that beat bertin's record of 0:17.11 by close to a full second.

2. Egg Emperor, Team Sonic - 0:15.98 by Sonicspeedruner - This is his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caED9mx6bts The Egg Emperor strategies have been improved numerous times in the past, and now the first Egg Emperor time to be under 16 seconds has a sick strategy. You don't even have to leave the first platform anymore! This is just a solid time, especially due to the fact that getting your teammates to stick to the Egg Emperor's weak spot is a bit difficult. I have been going back and forth with Sonicspeedruner for all of the Egg Emperor times, and with this new strategy, I look forward to keep battling with him for the Egg Emperor bosses. This is a flat out impressive time.

Well, that's all for this list. I'll post sometime in the future when I research more games/stats that could be on my next list. I'll try to research games I am not familiar with as well to include more stats that could be informative to other people.

[Diamond]

Meh, might as well add my two cents to this.
Given that the times for most SG3DS levels are much better on the wi-fi rankings because there are NO VIDEOS, the only levels I can think of here are:

Big Arm: 20.77 by Diamond.
Yes, this record is EXTREMELY solid.... Not only is this boss partially luck-based (I think) and has a very inconsistent trick at the very end of the fight, but you have to do EVERYTHING right to get close to the record.
Plus it took me 6 uninterrupted hours, so yeah.

Mushroom Hill Modern times: 1:01.86 by Platformer.
This level is REALLY irritating and is very hard to pull off a reallly good run on. I can't even get close, so this is a very solid record.

For SCDS, I have:
Termimal Velocity Boss: 1:28.77 by Cruizer.
It comes within 30 or so centiseconds of the TAS. What else can I say?

Orcan: 22.71 by Diamond.
Damn this is optimized... I spent probably in total over 7 hours perfecting this boss, and it shows, beating  the previous record by nearly half a second.

Admiral Jelly: 20.45 by Diamond.
...Completely by accident, but unless somebody figures our a way to do the TAS strats RTA, this will stay for a while.

Sweet Mountain 2 (Times) 1:25.81 by 49infinity.
This level is hard to speedrun, and even I haven't been able to come within 10 seconds of this time. Plus, this man is a master.

Sweet Mountain 3: Extra 100,133 by Diamond.
Given how much work and how many times I rerouted this monster, it would be really hard to improve this record. Also, when I first got the record, I didn't think in my wildest dreams it could go up to 100k. But it has....
There are probably a few more for this game, but I can't think of them right now.
Finally, the aformentioned Ghost Kraken Blaze record and the Final Egg Sonic Ring  record. Both are luck based, but one of them is ungodly luck based. ...Lucky bastard.
Oh, and the Iblis Phase 3 time record. Good job Tony.

Either way, that's all I have to say.

[Chimaru98]

Sonic 2 (2013) has some really good records, if I may say so myself.

Flying Fox getting 368 rings on Chemical Plant 1 as Sonic? It's impressive.
...My time of 28.81 (EDIT: 28.46) (DOUBLE EDIT: 28.16) on Casino Night 1? I'd hope it's good, I worked on that one for a while ._.
Most of all though, Gvozdevik somehow getting sub-40 seconds on Chemical Plant 2 as Sonic alone? I haven't worked out how that's even possible. I've got to try and find that out, by the way...

And plenty of others. Wish I could list more. :/

[Token]

This necromancy right now...you are all going to hell.

[InferSaime]

I'll pick a record from the 4 games I'm most familiar with.

SADX: Red Mountain - Sonic 49.45 by Gamepro011
Well gpro was the only one, as far as I know, that subbed 50 seconds on this stage. He also beat an old TAS of the stage.

Sonic Heroes: Grand Metropolis - Team Sonic 2:23:58 by Gamepro011

Well I saw gpro doing attempts for this stage live for a very long time. I'm not sure wether it was the current record or a previous but nonetheless he put a lot of effort into this one, this is also my favourite stage.

Sonic 06: Flame Core - Silver 2'50"619 by Otonyshi

I love all of the tricks he used in this run, even if it drained a lot of his attempts I like the final run he got and especially the final trick. He also beat the second place by 2 minutes.

Sonic Colours DS: Aquarium Park Mission 2 - Sonic  53185 by InferSaime

This record took me a lot of tries to get it back multipe times as it went between me and Diamond. I also love how far the score has come from 31k to 53k that's quite a lot.

That's it for now.