[Eis Makai]

You are right douglas...But i need to practice S2 before i think of getting to the end without GO'ing.

Also Judging from the times people have been getting lately. Here are my predictions REAL-TIME-wise.

Sonic 1: Leader will finish within 20 minutes
             Pack will finish between 20-32 minutes
             Last Will finish within 35 minutes

Sonic 2: Leader will finish within 60 of starting marathon
              Pack will finish between 65-95 minutes
              Last will finish within 100 minutes

Sonic 3&K : Leader will finish within 120 minutes of starting marathon
                   Top 5 will finish within 130 minutes
                   Pack will finish between 130-160 minutes
                   Last Will finish within 165 minutes.

As for my other predictions:

1st: mike89 - I haven't seen him race but i know of his capabilities
2nd: RPG - Shows loads of promise with winning S1 and S2 races recently
3rd: Miles - Has been consistent with keeping up or ahead of RPG
4th: SJ - His performance in S1 and S2 tonight has actually made me thin he has potential
5th: wersterlobe - Providing he does not game over, werster stands to be a threat to everyone. S3&K will be his strength whereas in S1 and S2 he will sit nice and high within the pack.

Others:
flyby: Will give it her all in S1 and S2.
DsS: Our champion has to good at these old games right?
SonicAD: MY choice for Underdog.
Thorn: I've only heard good about him
FuzZerd: He will seriously catch up in S3&K
Upthorn: Has the capabilities of NOT game overing thus putting him high up.
Myself: I am trying my best to not game over in any level. I feel i'll sit nice and firmly within the pack in S1 and S2 and then blast away at S3&K. I';ll need at least one continue for S2 and S3&K to stay in the top 10.
Iceman: He finished Sonic 1 thrice without gameover once, he gameovered once for Sonic 2 at Death Egg, he gameovered once at Sonic 3 on the Last boss there, and once on the last boss of Sonic and Knuckles (not Doomsday).  So I belive he can do it!

Ahh, thanks for the compliment! I may start putting in stats for the Gens Sonic games instead of just SA2B, so I will be better.

[douglas]

Well douglas, you have to remember Miles is competing, who's the current SDA record holder. I think we may also have stanski on board, whose record speaks for itself. The first two games aren't going to be a cakewalk :P

I'm very well aware of that and fully expect to be destroyed everywhere; my point merely was that I'm going to suck sufficiently badly at S3&K that to be anywhere I have to be out front to start with and as such I have to attack S1 and S2 hard (although a slow-and-steady don't-GO-at-any-cost approach might actually bring me back into play . . . hmm, what to do . . .).

[Thorn]

I think that giving sitewide points as a prize is not a good idea. TSC's charts measure how good are players when they play a level, circuit or mini-game over and over again. Races measure how consistent are players when they play a whole game or games.

Although I'm not too much for the concept of Sitewide Points for these races, since it would partly boil down to having free time right when TSC wants you to, I think you've kind of missed the mark on that one. Nowhere in the TSC Rules or Constitution or the like is it written that this arbitrary measure called "skill" is based on who's got the gall to mindlessly play a level over and over until it's perfect... that's just how it plays out 99.9% of the time. Who's to say that there's not as much "skill" to be found in a solid performance over 30 zones or so as there is in a perfect run of one level? Who's to say there's not more "skill" in one type than the other?

What I do agree with, though, is

A player can compete on a game now or in the future.

because that would nullify my big concern about this whole idea. The races could count towards Sitewide totals provided that people who can't be there when it happens still have a chance to compete. One idea would be to still have our "everybody attempts this stuff at once" race for the lulz, but leave the competition open for a week or so after it starts. Another is to introduce the challenges over time and leave them open eternally... come to think of it, sort of like the Emerald Challenges, only without silly pics and arbitrary rules that the player is forced to adhere to, and without ending in batshit crazy, difficult challenges. If we wanted any sort of arbitrary rule in Sonic 1 or 2, we could always hack a ROM pretty easily for comeptition use that would keep it enforced automatically.

[Telnaior]

Although I'm not in it (thanks to me FAILING to smuggle Mega Collection into the 'Sonic-Free Zone), I agree with the custom awards idea. Having sitewide points as rewards is unfair for people who can't make the time. Having a set of challenges like Thorn proposed could be interesting though...

[Jawzunx]

I disagree with the idea of giving Sitewide Points to the winners.

Several reasons:
 -1st (most obvious and already posted): I thought Charts is what was supossed to give sitewide points to the players, not eventual competitions very similar to the well-known Emerald Challenges.

-2nd: At least, if you want to give Site Points, make marathons for all games. I mean, not everyone has those old games or they aren't very good at them, so you're giving advantage to the best players of those Genesis games.

-3rd: Give another price, an Award title, or a 'Emerald badge thing' to put in your signature

-4th: Time. Not every country has the same hour so maybe some players might not be able to compete on it cause of the time difference.

[P.P.A.]

This is stupid because for once since it's a one time only event the points will eternally given to that person with other people unable to challenge and win them from said person, while additionally with it being a timed event, some people might not be able to attend to the competition and will not have a chance to do it later, as would be the case with normal TAing where you can just submit your times and play any time you like.

[Thorn]

I thought Charts is what was supossed to give sitewide points to the players...

Let me reiterate that nowhere on the site does it say that only our best-record charts should have any value. Consistency over multiple games is rewarded just as well as proficiency over a select few... see my Sitewide position for reference.

I mean, not everyone has those old games or they are'nt very good at them, so you're giving adavntage to the best players of those Genesis games.

Not having the games is a silly argument: we're using ROMs and an emulator for recording, which are free. If you feel bad about having the game without owning a legal copy, I'm sure your local used games store has a copy of Mega Collection for less than $20 or equivalent.

Also who's to say that in the future this competition wouldn't open up to more games, or even mods of the original games?

Give another price, an Award title, or a 'Emerald badge thing' to punt in your signature

Sig prizes were banned long ago because RPG certain people couldn't keep their sigs to a respectable size.

Not every country has the same hour so maybe some players might not be able to compete on it cause of the time difference.

Eurpoeans have it the worst, running the marathon late at night... yet most all interested Europeans have found a way to compete.


The above rebuttal can be aimed at PPA's post too.

I'm against Sitewide Points too, at least without some modifications to the rules, but all of the points you raised were proven to be moot before you even mentioned them. I maintain what I stated in my previous post, but I'm not going to fight the majority alone. If you feel that strongly on the subject, approach Rolken with a coherent argument.

[Phantom the Hedgehog]

j3s a Sonic Race,at least its not like Sonic R

[Selphos]

Er, what the hell?

[Thorn]

j3s a Sonic Race,at least its not like Sonic R

Do clarify, please, just in case I'm misinterpreting.

[Crowbar]

I feel compelled to warn you all that, due to the fact that I really can't be bothered practicing routes beyond Metropolis 1, I will suck.

Yeah, you better be ready.

[Bilan]

I was going to counterpoint all of Jawzuns points but it looks like Thorn already did that for me!

[Luxray]

I do hope everyone knows to /join #sonicmarathon We will not be using the TSC channel as people will be flooding it with 20s-40s on GH1. Just a heads up if you haven't caught that information yet.

j3s a Sonic Race,at least its not like Sonic R

Do clarify, please, just in case I'm misinterpreting.

i think he said (de-1337ified) "yes a Sonic Race, at least it isn't Sonic R"

[Bilan]

IIRC we are using #soniccenter anyway <_<

[Luxray]

Wait what?

[Groudon]

Okay, I am, without a doubt, in for the marathon tonight.  Even though I'm most likely going to suck at the whole thing (especially S3K), I might as well do something to occupy a few hours of my time.

edit: Since reporting level times are mandatory, I'm using gens 10 to record.  Gens+ won't work properly if the "auto pause when lose focus" box is unchecked (permanently paused when unchecked).  The start of the marathon will be exactly 10 seconds into the S1 .gmv I post (don't want to include a savestate for starting at a specific spot).

[Luxray]

About 35 minutes till start. Everyone join the chat now.

[yse]

I won! I'm going to leave pretty soon so for the sake of posterity, at this point Thorn, yoshifan and werster are neck and neck going into Death Egg.

EDIT: posted the wrong S2, fixed

[Thorn]

stfu :(

EDIT: Oh, hey, look what I dredged up from the depths of my hard drive! Sig pic, yay!

[Shadow Jacky]

fun, but I wouldn't do this again

I fail at lr2 massively allowing werster and fuzzerd to catch up and pass me.

[SonicAD]

And I fall to 7th, but still had fun.

[Selphos]

If anyone wants to see me dick around in S1 while never even beating the damn game after an hour or so, go ahead and watch mine!

[Groudon]

Meh, whatever.

Recorded with Gens 10.  Exactly 10 seconds into the S1 .gmv, the marathon officially began.

Did horrid on Sonic 2, so watch at your own risk.

[Luxray]

......

Edit: just in case that last one doesn't fit in i've added that last zone.

[yoshifan]

Looks like I managed 4th; I did quite well in Sonic 1 and 2 by my standards, and fairly well in 3.  I need work on S&K though.

I hope we can hold another marathon, especially for those who didn't get to participate in this one.

[FuzZerd]

placed 5th, which is about where I thought I would be, but I did slightly worse in s1 and s2 then I thought I would.
I was really worried that I would GO but I didn't.

[Stefan]

player in red indicates a gameover at some point in the game

RANKINGS AFTER S1: 1-mike89, 2-yoshifan (-0:16), 3-SJ (-0:59), 4-Fuzzerd (-1:53), 5-Thorn (-2:02), 6-SkyL (-2:34), 7-Douglas (-4:21), 8-Groudon (-5:43), 9-SonicAD (-6:15), 10-Crowbar (-9:38), 11-werster (-9:57), 12-Achlys (-11:49), 13-Cruiz3r (-20:48), 14-DsS (-22:34), 15-RPG (-67:47)

RANKINGS AFTER S2: 1-yoshifan, 2-mike89 (-0:55), 3-SJ (-2:53), 4-Thorn (-4:35), 5-Fuzzerd (-8:40), 6-Sonicad (-11:21), 7-werster (-12:09), 8-Crowbar (-18:21), 9-douglas (-21:17), 10-Cruiz3r (-40:47), 11-DSS (-46:52), 12-RPG (-69:48)

notes: skyl's finish time is unknown

RANKINGS AFTER S3: 1-mike89, 2-yoshifan (-3:01), 3-thorn (-4:40), 4-SJ (-5:14), 5-werster (-12:10), 6-fuzzerd (-15:02), 7-SONICAD (-21:19), 8-Crowbar (-25:43), 9-Douglas: (-41:32), 10-DSS (-59:04), 11-Cruiz3r (-60:32), 12-RPG (-83.40)

notes: skyl's finish time is unknown

FINAL RANKINGS: 1-mike89, 2-Thorn (-9:51), 3-werster (-11:19) 4-yoshifan (-12:37), 5-fuzzerd (-17:03), 6-SJ (-20:29), 7-Sonicad (-35:32), 8-Skyl (-37:08), 9-Crowbar (-41:29), 10-Douglas (-78:46), 11-DsS (-84:11), 12-RPG (-92:25), 13-Cruiz3r (-107:49)


And the finish times for all finishers:
1. Mike89 2h10:24
2. Thorn 2h20:17
3. werster 2h21:45
4. yoshifan 2h23:03
5. FuzZerd 2h27:19
6. Shadow Jacky 2h30:47
7. SonicAD 2h45:50
8. SkyL 2h47:26
9. Crowbar 2h51:47
10. Douglas 3h29:04
11. DSS 3h34:29
12. RPG 3h42:43
13. Cruiz3r 3h58:07

[DsSaster]

I did what I intended to do, didn't game over or finish last. :D

Here goes my massive 2D failure.

[Bilan]

Started about 62 minutes after everyone else and got stuck in a wall in ~30 seconds in CN1 and had to wait for time over

Other than that Im pretty pleased with my run

[Crowbar]

Unless we count Cruizer as having properly GO'd, I think I'm the only person who did so and went on to finish, lol (I did so somewhere in S1, SB maybe? Can't remember). It's a real shame so many people quit when they did, I would've liked some closer competition. Nonetheless, here's my shit.

I also recorded HILARIOUS AUDIO COMMENTARY. The marathon starts about 5 minutes in (though I talk enough in that time that it might be worth listening to). For bizarre reasons I can't work out it won't actually sync with the giz's playing in Gens, it's a bit slower, so you'll have to pause the emulation occasionally. You can hear the game sounds though so it's probably not too difficult to keep it roughly in line.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=WnBUc0wzcVh5UkZMWEE9PQ