Nintendo 64 Triathlon Speedruns

Nintendo 64 Triathlon

***OVERVIEW***

The goal of this triathlon speedrun (three-game speedrun) is to beat the three best selling* Nintendo 64 games in their traditional “short” categories, as quickly as possible.  The games included in this triathlon are Super Mario 64 (11.62 million copies sold,) GoldenEye 007 (8 million copies sold,) and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (7.6 million copies sold.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Nintendo_64_video_games

The three of these games have commonly speedrun categories which take roughly ~20 minutes to complete, therefore giving a total time of what could go as low as around 1 hour – a great challenge for the consummate speedrunner!  These categories are:

● Super Mario 64 – 16 Star (WR 15:22 by あきかん) (sanctioned by marioruns.com)
● GoldenEye 007 – Agent (WR 21:51 by perfectace) (sanctioned by the-elite.net)
● The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – any% (WR 18:32 by CosmoWright) (sanctioned by zeldaspeedruns.com)

***RULES AND TIMING***

The rules are simple.  Beat these three games in the assigned categories as quickly as possible.  You can play the games in any order.  To be clear, timing will start when you begin the first of the three games, according to the rules of that game; and timing will end when you finish the last of the three games, according to the rules of that game.

If starting with Super Mario 64, timing begins on reset.  If ending with Super Mario 64, timing ends when Mario jumps into the big star after defeating Bowser in the Sky.

If starting with GoldenEye 007, timing begins when you select the empty file.  If ending with GoldenEye 007, timing ends when the game begins to fade to black after completing Cradle Agent.

If starting with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, timing begins when you select “YES” on a new file. If ending with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, timing ends when Link delivers the final blow to Ganon.

The time in between transitioning games counts in your total time.  Once you have jumped into the big star, completed Cradle Agent, or delivered the final blow to Ganon, you can turn off the console or emulator and start the next game.  This “transition” time is similar to real triathlons where the time athletes spend transitioning from swimgear to bicycle, or bicycle to running gear, counts towards their total time.

You are allowed to set up your games before starting the timer.  In other words, you can delete a file and prepare a 0 star new file on Super Mario 64, edit your settings in a clean file in GoldenEye 007, and prepare a new file in Ocarina of Time, all before you begin the speedrun and speedrun timer.

In addition, a further timing specification can be ruled if games are played simultaneously.  Again in this case, time begins when the first game is initiated (according to that games' rules) and time ends when the last game is completed.  For instance, one could start Ocarina of Time AND Super Mario 64 at the same time, have their opening cutscenes play in succession, all while playing GoldenEye 007; so on and so forth.

If playing simultaneously, the run will be categorized as "Simultaneous."  If playing the games one after another, with transitions between them, the run will be categorized as "Sequence."

***CLASSIFICATIONS***

There will be three main classifications or “categories” of the Nintendo 64 Triathlon.

Purist – This classification plays through the games on the Nintendo 64 console.  Any versions (PAL or NTSC) and languages (EN or JP) are acceptable so long as all three games are played on original Nintendo 64 console with original Nintendo or Nintendo sanctioned controllers.

Accepted - This classification plays through the games on consoles accepted by the governing communities of each game.  Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007 remain on original Nintendo 64, while Ocarina of Time can be played on any of Nintendo 64, iQue or Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.

Illegitimate – This classification allows any console for any game, as well as emulator.  As emulator is no longer acceptable in any of the three games, this category is strictly for those who want to learn the games and it is expected anyone in this category will switch to one of the other categories shortly thereafter.  Do not expect anyone to want to race nor compare times with any record set in this classification.

In total, there are 4 possible ways to rank Triathlon Runs, with 2 more "Illegitimate" methods : Purist Sequence, Purist Simultaneous, Accepted Sequence, Accepted Simultaneous, Illegitimate Sequence and Illegitimate Simultaneous.  If racing this event, be sure to clarify which of these 6 you are allowing in your race.

If you have completed a run, feel free to submit your time to the leaderboards here! http://speedrunrecords.com/Multi-Game_Runs#Nintendo_64_Triathlon

*The reason for not including Mario Kart 64, which sold more copies than either GoldenEye or Ocarina of Time, in this speedrun triathlon, is because it was designed as a racing game with all courses already unlocked and playable.  There is no natural speedrun progression through the game.  (One doesn't beat levels or areas to progress further to ultimately “beat” the game.)