Leaderboard Submission Rules
The following are a list of guidelines with which to follow if you would wish to submit your speedruns of Super Metroid to a leaderboard such as Deer Tier.
Platforms
For ease of understanding, platforms are classified according to how they appear on the Speedrun.com leaderboard.
Allowed
The original Super Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems, as well as the New-Style Super NES clone systems, are classified as SNES (colloquially as 'console').
The Nintendo Wii, Wii U, and 3DS Virtual Consoles are classified as WiiVC, WiiUVC, and 3DSVC respectively.
The Super NES Classic Edition is classified as SNESClassic.
Permitted emulators such as Retroarch, SNES9x, bsnes, lsnes, and Bizhawk are classified as SNES[Emu]. The latter two are primarily used for tool-assisted speedrunning and are not recommended.
Unclassified clone consoles should be considered emulators until further notice.
Prohibited
All versions of Zsnes are banned.
All versions of SNES9x before 1.5 are banned. If you insist on using SNES9X, please use the most recent version.
Retroarch's "Run-Ahead to Reduce Latency" feature is banned.
Nakitek Game Saver and other third-party hardware additions, that alter the way in which the game is read by and written to the console, are banned. Exceptions to this include SD2SNES, Super UFO, Everdrive, and USB2SNES so long as adequate power is supplied to the console and the game functions as it would normally.
Modifications
The platform that the player chooses must not be altered in any meaningful or significant way, or change the interactions between system and game that exist or are emulated. Any changes must be entirely aesthetic - functional or practical changes to systems are not allowed. Therefore, S-Video, RGB, Component, and similar modifications to the signal outputted from the console are allowed. Disclaimer: although the dejitter mod designed by marqs85, source code seen here, alters the clock rate of the game and is as such subject to this rule, it does so at such a minute rate (less than 2 frames per hour LOST by the mod compared to original), that it has been deemed acceptable by the community at large for use.
Modifications to the game’s ROM — including but not limited to changes to the game’s code, the appearances of sprites within the game, or the game’s music — are prohibited.
Currently, permitted emulators and settings are not objectively superior to the original hardware for speedrunning purposes. Therefore, the native settings - or those preferred by other speedrunners - are approved.
Any sort of savestate feature is banned, including Virtual Console restore points, the SNES Classic's Rewind, and savestates of the SD2SNES/FXPAK. Observing the state of the console or emulator is allowed for the sake of functions like autosplitters or input display, but cannot be used in any way to gain an advantage.
Neither the CPU nor any other chip can be overclocked.
Controllers
Each button used on the controller must correspond one-to-one to a button on the SNES controller.
The use of macros or turbo is prohibited, even if the controller has this functionality built in. The use of a mouse scroll wheel is prohibited.
The use of left and right simultaneously on the directional pad is banned for all categories unless explicitly stated otherwise. On hardware that allows simultaneous left and right inputs, intentional abuse of the system used to prevent left+right (SOCD resolution) is not allowed.
External objects may be held by a runner for stability or comfort, however no external objects are allowed to physically make inputs for the player during the run, unless there is a valid accessibility reason for doing so.
Performing 30Hz Arm Pumps to execute Bomb Torizo skip on the NTSC version of the game is banned.
Proof
Currently, the community uses an 'honor system', essentially meaning that proof of the run's authenticity is not required for submitting runs to either of the leaderboards until a certain threshold is reached. The threshold will be listed in the rules for most categories, otherwise it is required at least for the World Record. That being said, moderators of those leaderboards reserve the right to review and remove submissions at their discretion.
Submitting visual evidence of the run, especially evidence that the run was performed live through a medium such as Twitch, and was performed while following all of the rules outlined previously, adds credence to both your run and your standing within the community.
Submitting an emulator movie file or a recording of an emulator movie file playing is not allowed. Video submissions must be of live gameplay recorded through software or through an actual camera pointed at a tv or monitor.
Additional steps you can take to add further credence to the video of your run include:
- Begin the run with a reset.
- Include the full credits sequence, up through the In Game Time and item percentage.
- Include game audio.
- Record at greater than 30 frames per second.
