I once got to see Summoning Salt fight Tyson blindfolded live. I can't remember if he won. I was just really impressed he could do a decent job without seeing. It's weird to me that people can...
I once got to see Summoning Salt fight Tyson blindfolded live. I can't remember if he won. I was just really impressed he could do a decent job without seeing.
It's weird to me that people can play a game so much that they learn it that well. I get bored with most games rather quickly, and even games I really enjoy only get a couple hundred hours at most. I'm glad I get to see what comes of thousands of hours on a decades old game, though.
Yeah, that's what impresses me the most about speedrunners in general... but especially ones that play really, objectively horrible games for thousands of hours. I also get bored with most good...
Yeah, that's what impresses me the most about speedrunners in general... but especially ones that play really, objectively horrible games for thousands of hours. I also get bored with most good games after a relatively short time, unless it really strikes a chord with me (e.g. Rocket League, EU4) ... so I can't even imagine playing anything in the awful block long enough to get that good at them. Their tolerance for tedium and frustration is seemingly inhuman. :P
You may enjoy the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night blindfolded speedruns by romscout. A much longer game than Punchout, and not without its hilarity, but all the more impressive for it. cc...
You may enjoy the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night blindfolded speedruns by romscout. A much longer game than Punchout, and not without its hilarity, but all the more impressive for it.
I have actually beaten SotN a few times myself over the years and doing that normally was hard enough to begin with. I can't imagine how it's even possible to do it blindfolded, so I will...
I have actually beaten SotN a few times myself over the years and doing that normally was hard enough to begin with. I can't imagine how it's even possible to do it blindfolded, so I will definitely be checking that out. I'm actually suprised I missed it when it aired, too. Thanks!
p.s. Ocarina of Time blindfolded run is also insanely impressive and fun to watch as well, especially since they are trying to navigate in 3D space and have so many other variables they have to account for as well. Some of the techniques the community has come up with to orient themselves is really interesting.
p.p.s. One of my favorite, hilarious, glitchy moments in an Ocarina blindfolded run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf31vbZO8yo (NSFW language and LOUD warning)
And for reference, he was not expecting to accidentally glitch through the ceiling so was completely disoriented and stuck trying to figure out where the hell he was. :P
Early in the video, I was wondering whether the players are able to even play the game blindfolded because of the audio design. See, in some games, audio design doesn't get much. It's there, and...
Early in the video, I was wondering whether the players are able to even play the game blindfolded because of the audio design.
See, in some games, audio design doesn't get much. It's there, and it reflects the goings-on rather well, but the audiofeedback is non-informative, meaning one is unable to extract viable information from the sound alone. These games tend to be visual, maybe even graphic – good-looking, for sure – and that's where they put most of their stake in, as far as sensory output is concerned.
I'm thinking of things like Call of Duty multiplayer, where knowing the layout of the map is much more important than the sound. Audio cues are obvious: sniper rifles sound like sniper rifles, and when the enemy helicopter approaches, the narrator says so. (I use this example because it's something I know personally: I'd spent a year or two playing CoD:MW2 and its sequel's multiplayer a lot.)
In others, sound design is impecable. It's on-point, precise, and very distinct. You may be able to orient yourself around the game with sound as at least a third of your sensory input. One of the more-fascinating examples is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, which made it a selling point to have as little HUD as possible. Instead, the game orients the player around the enemies by giving vocal cues ("Behind you!"). From what little gameplay I've seen, it's done well – enough to make HUD unnecessary. (Also, playing Dota 2 with music on becomes noticably more difficult. Every single interaction's sound design is uniquely-distinguishable.)
It sounds like sound cues were an important, though not major, part of the skill developed to beat Punch-Out. The narrator talks about listening to 10-count beeps, for example. It seems, though, that the main skill base for Punch-Out is more about memorizing the patterns and learning the simple mechanics.
It really depends upon the game. Even for non-blindfolded players, sometimes the only way you can judge when to make a critical input is based on a sound cue. This is why you'll hear folks call...
It really depends upon the game. Even for non-blindfolded players, sometimes the only way you can judge when to make a critical input is based on a sound cue. This is why you'll hear folks call for quiet time during certain runs. Good commentators ("couch" as it's called at GDQ events because of the eponymous couch that commentators sit on), or the runner themselves, will point out that kind of thing before it comes up, so folks are ready for it.
The important detail here that you'll find in just about every speedrun discussion is the RNG. Minimizing the RNG (or at least manipulating it into a predictable, reproducible state) is one of the most important elements of any speedrun. Certain Chrono Trigger speedruns, specifically what's called any% (beat the game as quickly as possible, using any trick you can come up with), for example, manipulate the RNG by hard-resetting the console and pressing Start at the main title screen after a certain amount of time because that's when the game seeds the RNG. This then affects damage rolls for combats in a way that allows for some razor-thin margins required in order to win some fights at much earlier levels than you'd otherwise be at.
While not about the speedrun itself, one of the things I loved most about this particular episode was seeing the videos of GDQ through the years. I only started watching it in 2014 so there was...
While not about the speedrun itself, one of the things I loved most about this particular episode was seeing the videos of GDQ through the years. I only started watching it in 2014 so there was already a sizeable crowd in the hotel convention room they rented... but seeing it basically taking place in someone's basement before that was pretty funny/interesting. Pretty crazy how far they have come, and especially cool to think about how much money they have raised over the years.
I once got to see Summoning Salt fight Tyson blindfolded live. I can't remember if he won. I was just really impressed he could do a decent job without seeing.
It's weird to me that people can play a game so much that they learn it that well. I get bored with most games rather quickly, and even games I really enjoy only get a couple hundred hours at most. I'm glad I get to see what comes of thousands of hours on a decades old game, though.
Yeah, that's what impresses me the most about speedrunners in general... but especially ones that play really, objectively horrible games for thousands of hours. I also get bored with most good games after a relatively short time, unless it really strikes a chord with me (e.g. Rocket League, EU4) ... so I can't even imagine playing anything in the awful block long enough to get that good at them. Their tolerance for tedium and frustration is seemingly inhuman. :P
You may enjoy the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night blindfolded speedruns by romscout. A much longer game than Punchout, and not without its hilarity, but all the more impressive for it.
cc @teaearlgreycold
I have actually beaten SotN a few times myself over the years and doing that normally was hard enough to begin with. I can't imagine how it's even possible to do it blindfolded, so I will definitely be checking that out. I'm actually suprised I missed it when it aired, too. Thanks!
p.s. Ocarina of Time blindfolded run is also insanely impressive and fun to watch as well, especially since they are trying to navigate in 3D space and have so many other variables they have to account for as well. Some of the techniques the community has come up with to orient themselves is really interesting.
p.p.s. One of my favorite, hilarious, glitchy moments in an Ocarina blindfolded run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf31vbZO8yo (NSFW language and LOUD warning)
And for reference, he was not expecting to accidentally glitch through the ceiling so was completely disoriented and stuck trying to figure out where the hell he was. :P
There's a similar hilarious event in the blindfolded SotN run. I'm not going to spoil it, but do watch it if you want a facepalmy laugh. :D
Early in the video, I was wondering whether the players are able to even play the game blindfolded because of the audio design.
See, in some games, audio design doesn't get much. It's there, and it reflects the goings-on rather well, but the audiofeedback is non-informative, meaning one is unable to extract viable information from the sound alone. These games tend to be visual, maybe even graphic – good-looking, for sure – and that's where they put most of their stake in, as far as sensory output is concerned.
I'm thinking of things like Call of Duty multiplayer, where knowing the layout of the map is much more important than the sound. Audio cues are obvious: sniper rifles sound like sniper rifles, and when the enemy helicopter approaches, the narrator says so. (I use this example because it's something I know personally: I'd spent a year or two playing CoD:MW2 and its sequel's multiplayer a lot.)
In others, sound design is impecable. It's on-point, precise, and very distinct. You may be able to orient yourself around the game with sound as at least a third of your sensory input. One of the more-fascinating examples is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, which made it a selling point to have as little HUD as possible. Instead, the game orients the player around the enemies by giving vocal cues ("Behind you!"). From what little gameplay I've seen, it's done well – enough to make HUD unnecessary. (Also, playing Dota 2 with music on becomes noticably more difficult. Every single interaction's sound design is uniquely-distinguishable.)
It sounds like sound cues were an important, though not major, part of the skill developed to beat Punch-Out. The narrator talks about listening to 10-count beeps, for example. It seems, though, that the main skill base for Punch-Out is more about memorizing the patterns and learning the simple mechanics.
It really depends upon the game. Even for non-blindfolded players, sometimes the only way you can judge when to make a critical input is based on a sound cue. This is why you'll hear folks call for quiet time during certain runs. Good commentators ("couch" as it's called at GDQ events because of the eponymous couch that commentators sit on), or the runner themselves, will point out that kind of thing before it comes up, so folks are ready for it.
The important detail here that you'll find in just about every speedrun discussion is the RNG. Minimizing the RNG (or at least manipulating it into a predictable, reproducible state) is one of the most important elements of any speedrun. Certain Chrono Trigger speedruns, specifically what's called any% (beat the game as quickly as possible, using any trick you can come up with), for example, manipulate the RNG by hard-resetting the console and pressing Start at the main title screen after a certain amount of time because that's when the game seeds the RNG. This then affects damage rolls for combats in a way that allows for some razor-thin margins required in order to win some fights at much earlier levels than you'd otherwise be at.
While not about the speedrun itself, one of the things I loved most about this particular episode was seeing the videos of GDQ through the years. I only started watching it in 2014 so there was already a sizeable crowd in the hotel convention room they rented... but seeing it basically taking place in someone's basement before that was pretty funny/interesting. Pretty crazy how far they have come, and especially cool to think about how much money they have raised over the years.