Doom GBA has finally been finished in under 9 minutes (8:59.97). World's first 8 minute run without codes!

[Alexo]

I'm back again, for possibly the final any% update for the GBA port's Any% speedrun for a long time:

 

 

8:59.97 was played October 11th, in the wee hours of the morning (3AM) Eastern Standard Timezone.

 

14,300+ resets.

Thats enough attempts to have 13 attempts everyday for the last 3 years. Ofcourse somedays held hundreds of attempts in the span of a few hours. The statistics pointed to the 14,500 range in possibility, and the math was nearly on the spot (save some new discoveries over the last few months lowering some IL times drastically).

 

The largest mistake was caco demons trolling in limbo, lossing 6 seconds. Heart jitters after being ahead of the previous record (9:06) by 13 seconds, lead to very minor mistakes in a few sections. But I said 8:XX was the last one, and I meant it, I can't go lower willingly. I'm finally happy with it.

 

9:06 was set October 10th, so this is also the first time in quite a while that 2 records for this category have been set within a 48 hour window of each other. 

 

I finally have a speedrun for Doom GBA that landed in the final physically barrier for minutes (with currently known strategies). Without further developments, 8:4X is the lowest humanly possible range (and the movement, glitches, and RNG has to be godly).

 

I'd like to thank everyone in the speedrunning side of the community for the support, the encouragement the kept going for all this time after a few years of playing the game. I finally have a time I'm happy to step away from the category with. 

 

I'll be working to create an updated tutorial for future players who want to take on the challenge. Also going to run nightmare again when nearing the end of November-December. But I think I have squeezed the last milestones I really wanted to see with Any%. Nightmare sub 15 is the last goal for the game in my eyes.

 

Hope you guys get a kick out of this crazy run!

 

GBA Speedruns leaderboard

[orangefire222]

Just curious what kind of gameboy you were using? the original one or the SP, or the gbplayer on the 'cube?

 

I can't even begin to imagine playing so fast. Really incredible to watch, congrats man.

[Alexo]

On 10/13/2020 at 1:20 AM, orangefire222 said:

Just curious what kind of gameboy you were using? the original one or the SP, or the gbplayer on the 'cube?

 

I can't even begin to imagine playing so fast. Really incredible to watch, congrats man.

Thanks! It took many hours of practice over the last 3 years to become adjusted to the way the game runs, and how doom guy moves about with full SR50 speeds, and lag management strategy. Similar to golden eye, Less on the screen = a much faster run in many sections!

I used the GBA player for the Game Cube for the run, and a standard game cube controller that I've had for nearly 20 years. I have a program called Game Boy Interface that plays back from the GCN memory card, and serves as a much higher accuracy for controls compared to the official Nintendo GBA Disc. It also provides the input display seen through out the run! So very useful for science over the years for certain.

The controller being so old, and the dpad not being as stiff as the common GCN controller helped also. Having a Dpad that had clear wear and tear after so many attempts, ended up being better to use in the long run. I used to use a GBA SP hooked up to the game cube... but the strafing with L and R killed the buttons on the gameboy very quickly. I went through 2 SP's in under 6 months... LOL.

[orangefire222]

4 minutes ago, Alexo said:

 the strafing with L and R killed the buttons on the gameboy very quickly. I went through 2 SP's in under 6 months... LOL.

 

Hah! This is precisely why I asked. I was thinking to myself "this dude must've destroyed a few gba's to achieve this.." considering the shoulder buttons wear out pretty quickly even under casual play.

[Teedre]

Congrats on the 9 sub! Makes me believe 8 sub could be possible (with the current route)? The sum of best is quite close to it :O Maybe its too much to ask. The run looks flawless anyways. 

[Roebloz]

Congratulations! I wonder if its possible to break my favorite port GBA Doom 2 the same way?

[Alexo]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:52 PM, TomatoTom said:

Congrats on the 9 sub! Makes me believe 8 sub could be possible (with the current route)? The sum of best is quite close to it :O Maybe its too much to ask. The run looks flawless anyways. 

Tom thank you! You and many other folks in the console Doom scene kept the energy and good vibes flowing for this run to become a possibility. I hope to see you pull off your own sub 10 any% one day, in this broken mess of a port! I believe! :D

 

On 10/15/2020 at 3:16 PM, Roebloz said:

Congratulations! I wonder if its possible to break my favorite port GBA Doom 2 the same way?

Ah yes, Doom II GBA. While some may argue its superior qualities compared to Doom 1 GBA. A glitch heavy speedrun it is not. I have to do more science still, but nothing in terms of Out Of Bounds, or level skips in any large fashion of difference from a standard run of Doom II, have been discovered. There are however, a few quirks that make it unlike any version of Doom II!

- You can walk on top of enemies, They dont have infinite height. This can be useful in some sections, like walking on top of the invisible pinkies in the catacombs. Walking form the center platform, on top of the enemies heads, can save waiting for 2 different elevators in the level.

- Chasm and Industrial Zone both have 2 parts, Part A and Part B. Chasm B has the infamous tight rope section, but the space is increased for an easier time walking through. The final section is also more forgiving, as the developers added teleported for if you fall into the acid.

Doom II GBA is just over 40 minutes long with the current world record. I can't imagine sub 30 being possible without some drastic discoveries happening. I never say never, but who knows whats left to find?