hopKid BIO

hopKid BIO

hop:
A slightly abstracted reference to the mechanic behind the majority of speed tricks in the Spyro series.

Kid:
I wish I was...
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I like to play PS1 games for the nostalgia. I also find glitch hunting very interesting. But in reality, I am a casual speedrunner, and my favorite games to run are the original Spyro trilogy, or the purple dragon games. My first ever speedrun was Spyro 2 Any%, which I ran in April 10, 2015, but I only did a few runs back at that time. I picked up speedrunning again a few years later and made my first recorded run on April 11, 2018. In 2020 I started running more, and a little more seriously, and I submitted my first run to src on Sept 25, 2020. Fittingly, that run was also Spyro 2 Any% — my roots.

My approach to speedrunning centers more around the experience. I do carry an element of competition and achievement, and I seek more than just proficiency. But mostly I care about learning about the games I love and facing them from a runners perspective, approaching the meta more than pushing it, and demonstrating that even someone like me who can’t dedicate tons of time to speedrunning can push the game, achieve goals, and become a good runner. I like to experience this for multiple games and categories, balancing my relative skills rather than continually grinding one or a few categories for flawless runs and chasing WR’s. I’m capable of even more than what I achieve in speedrunning. But I must put more time and energy into other things. Still I am proud of my achievements, and it is still impressive how good one can get even without being able to input more time than I have into speedrunning. Especially in the context of my main games, the Spyro trilogy, while I don’t seek to set the meta, I at least seek to set a certain form or precedent. I try to get comfortable with every main category and most CEs. Once I’m familiar with a category, I figure out what time barrier will require me to push a little further than just my natural capabilities, and I go for it. In achieving such goals, I’m able to get times over every category that go beyond proficiency and begin to approach advanced levels. To express it loosely, I want to set somewhat of a standard and get the kind of times over the entire trilogy that runners can look at any given category and say, “if I want to consider myself ‘good’ and this category, or more than just ‘decent’, I at least need to break the same time barrier as hopKid; or I at least need to get a time compatible with his.” Sometimes that will include approaching or applying the meta, but not always. In general, my goals are more oriented around getting times that are better than simply proficient, and that start to approach advanced times. Part of my desired contribution to the community is just to lay that kind of a template over the entire trilogy. I could get really good at fewer categories. But I’ve found that I enjoy more variety in speedrunning, and I’d prefer not to drain myself over a single very grinded category. Rather than just achieve a really really good time in one category, I like to get notably good times in every category.

My minimum goals (*and extended goals) for each of the main Spyro trilogy categories have been as follows:
Spyro 1 Any%         : 1.25xWR = 46m    : Sub 45m
•Spyro 1 120%        : 1.3xWR = 1h45m   : Sub 1h40m
Spyro 1 Cheat%       : 1.25xWR = 2m10s  : Sub 2m
     (Sub 1m50s/FWR*)
Spyro 1 80 Dragons   : 1.25xWR = 1h     : Sub 1h
•Spyro 1 Vortex      : 1.25xWR = 25m    : Sub 23m
•Spyro 1 Pseudo 120% : N/A              : Just sub 2h
Spyro 2 Any%         : 1.25xWR = 9m20s  : Sub 10
     (Sub 9m*)
-Spyro 2 14 Talisman : 1.25xWR = 28m45s : Sub 28
     (Sub 27m*)
-Spyro 2 40 Orb      : 1.25xWR = 55m    : Sub 55m
     (Sub 50m*)
Spyro 2 100%         : 1.3xWR = 2h      : Sub 2h
Spyro 2 40 Orb (BS)  : 1.25xWR = 43m30s : Sub 40m
Spyro 2 64 Orb       : 1.25xWR = 1h33m  : Sub 1h30m
Spyro 3 Any%         : 1.25xWR = 30m    : Sub 30m
•Spyro 3 100 Egg     : 1.25xWR = 1h2m   : Sub 1h
•Spyro 3 117%        : 1.35xWR = 3h50m  : Sub 3h50m
•Spyro 3 149 Egg     : 1.3xWR = 2h36m   : Sub 2h35m

(This puts my Trilogy Any% sum of PBs at sub 1h25m and my 337% sum of PBs at sub 7h40m.)

Each of these goals represent the general barriers I have desired to break, and are what I believe to be fairly representative of equivalent skill levels. These goals are arguably not great times, especially for the completion categories; but they’re at least decent times, or good starting goals. I still have a little bit of work to do in a few categories (•), but I've managed to reach at least the barriers set for most of these goals. I often use a general goal-time of about 1.25x the WR (or the closest minute barrier to that) in most categories; but I’ve settled for more like 1.3x WR in a few of the longer categories, and even slower than that in a couple others. I’ve pretty much managed to get those ratios in every main trilogy category. :^) Plus, in a few categories, I’ve pushed for some specific goals that I would consider more advanced than the rest (*).

For CE’s, my main goal is just to run all of them. But for several I have made more specific time goals, but for most, I don’t push them very far. I also try to run as many meme categories as I can, as I see them or think of them. In general, I just strive for a decent run and then move on. Maybe one day I’ll be done running all the categories I want to. Maybe not… ‾\_(ツ)_/‾
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Of all the runners that run pretty much the whole trilogy and most categories, these are the ones who I haven’t beaten in any categories:
Lewis
Burger*
Snake
Dact*
Nerf

And these are those who I’ve only beat in miscellaneous categories:
Ssbm
Jumpy
Dzh

A few of these I have times I’m close to beating (*), but they’re definitely not those players most competitive categories.

There’s also a few runners who are better than me in most categories but who I’ve beaten in one or two of their less competitive categories.

There’s also a few runners who are better than me but just don’t run the whole trilogy or at least not very many categories, like dayo, blunt, Jeremy, and absent (and probably future runners.)

But that list is still a cool visual.
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Most of the games I run I played as a kid, or at least in my past. I love the nostalgia. As far as Spyro goes, after I was about 8 years old, I stopped playing the games completely because we got rid of our playstation. When I was about 17 in 2014 I started playing again on a PSCX emulator, and I got into speedrunning towards the end of 2014 and early 2015. I started using ePSXe on a different computer at that point, but have no recordings of my runs from then. I just did them for fun, and I wasn’t very good anyway. After not speedrunning for a couple years, I started back up again in 2018, and have since picked up a lot of skill and managed to get many times I am proud of, although, I wouldn't consider myself a pro. For awhile I only had my hands on that old PC with PCSXR, so I couldn't submit my runs to speedrun.com. That was okay with me though, because I speedrun for love of the games, enjoyment of the hobby, and because I’m pretty good at it. I seek to discover how I can push limits and improve myself. I do like to compete a little, but my dominant motive for speedrunning is mostly just to push myself. I don’t do it for anyone but myself. However, in late 2020, I was able to start running the games on ePSXe on a Windows Surface pro, which allowed me to submit my runs. Because I was driven to beat all my previous pb's again and submit them, I realized how much potential I actually had, and it was at that point that my skill and my times began to really began to make me proud. After about 6 months, I broke down and just bought a PS2 and set up a stream, so now I run most of my runs with FDS, and you can find me on twitch rather than only on YouTube.

As far as my previous emulators go, PCSXR was fairly accurate with the games I’ve played. Load times seem to be the same as with ePSXe, but just buffers my comfort in saying that my runs were fair because my times could have been faster with FDS on PS2. I would also mention that I also generally used to start my runs at the load screen just before gaining control of Spyro rather than at the slot menu because that follows the rules I learned from back in 2014 and 2015, and it just saves time over completely resetting. It’s not like I couldn’t get the times I get without that tactic. It just made it a little easier to reach goals that I thought were indeed representative. Maybe it gave an advantage in that way, but PS2 FDS gives an  advantage over emu. There’s always give and take I guess. Since I couldn’t submit runs anyway, what’s the point of starting at the main menu? There’s little use in appealing to rules under which I can’t submit anyway; so I played under the rules I originally learned were acceptable because it was a little more convenient and still didn’t affect the legitimacy of my runs and actual game play. If anything, using that tactic proved my runs legitimacy because even though I start at the load screen, I suppose people can trust that I wouldn’t cheat by splicing in runs because it wouldn’t do me any good since I can’t submit anyway. And even if I did cheat, it wouldn’t have affected anyone for exactly the same reason: I couldn’t submit. So there’s no sense in worrying about it. My runs were accurate and representative of my skill at the time. I love the games, I was proud of my times, people can see my runs and credit my work on my YouTube channel and judge my skill and abilities as they will. At the end of the day, while I do admit speedrunning is fun and I love striving for goals, we’re still just talking about video games. So worrying about legitimacy and officiality is kind of pointless. Just have fun. I’m proud to reach my goals, contribute to the community, and archive my work. I’ve been able to do that without an "allowed" emulator.

However, I am very glad that I have been able to use methods that allow me to now submit my runs, and FDS is another bonus. Running the games with these better methods is a different experience, and I enjoy it more. It has allowed me to become more recognized in the community and contribute further. I’ve been able to find motivation to keep improving, and now that I run on ps2, I’ve managed to not only have the advantage of fds, but I’ve also managed to get pbs that are also better executed in every category that I’ve come back to with ps2 except for in 3any, which was close enough, with a Pb that was only about 5 seconds behind my best emu run in terms of execution.

I will say, however, I have several interesting thoughts regarding emulators. For one, PCSXR isn't as accurate as I thought it was. There are definitely a few inconsistencies that cause me to feel like even though my old runs were still fairly representative, indeed, it ought not to be allowed for sr.c submission. However, some people say that of ePSXe. While there are very few inconsistencies in how ePSXe emulated Spyro games, to me they seem far from what I would consider to affect speedrunning, and even after having run on official hardware, I still feel like ePSXe does more than good enough for speedrunning purposes. I love that it is so accessible. That needs to be a principle that carries more weight within communities. Really, it's only notable inaccuracy to PS1 is it's faster loads, which still are not even as good as FDS loads. I agree that emulators should be accurate. That’s not really a question in anyone’s mind in a general sense. What accurate means is the debate. I understand that PS1 emulators are meant to emulate PS1 consoles. Hence, the argument: if loads aren’t representative of actual PS1 loads, then what else might not be accurate or representative? Good concern, but if there were critical inaccuracies beyond loads, they would be noticed. Are they really inaccuracies? I would argue that a PS2 playing PS1 games is technically a form of emulation (not to mention Vita); but the validity of FDS is not in question. From a speedrunning perspective, the accuracy of physics of the emulated game are the most crucial factors. For the time being, it makes sense not to allow emulators faster than FDS, but perhaps not even forever. Consoles may die out one day, but that is less likely to happen to emulators. Emulators are the future in an unfortunate sort of way. And while speedrunning should continue on and runs should remain true to the original game, loads are arbitrary (however loadless is dumb; load times are arbitrary but loads are still part of the run). FDS has already demonstrated that to some degree. Emulators that simply load differently are simply a method of running the game just like different categories are different methods of beating the game. In speedrunning, the objective is speed. Why reject a system just because it loads faster, especially if it isn’t even the fastest loading system? In a perfect world, we would all run on PS2 FDS or PSTV. Plus, why base the argument around what the standard platform is. Even if it was widely accepted to elect PS1 as the standard platform, if FDS is accepted, then why not faster emus so long as the game functions and physics are accurate in accordance with all the necessary aspects for speedrunning? If that is the case then it serves more than is necessary for speedrunning validity. And if we all stopped worrying about it, we could even consider that if an emulator hypothetically gave the fastest loads, then why not just make that the desired platform? The playing field will never be perfectly level, although we should try to make it as close as we can realistically and fairly get. But we should all just strive to speedrun as fast as we can, whatever platform we use, and just keep the differences in mind. Speedrunning is about community vs game, and player vs time, not players against players or platforms against platforms.
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Now, the best way to explore my channel is to look at my playlists for related content and read the playlist descriptions. Lots of information is there, as well as in the descriptions of my individual videos (especially PB’s). You can also check out my other links, and my featured channels. All the channels I’ve featured are those of people who I have learned the most from observing, or those who I have followed and informally competed with most over the years in my journey to reaching all my speedrun goals.

My goals for each individual category are explained in the descriptions of each PB video. But I’ve managed to pretty much reach all of the goals I’ve set out for. Awhile ago, my goal for the Spyro Trilogy was to get a top 50 time AND fall within the cutoffs of Newan's Power Rankings chart in every official category except the full completion (100%) categories; and for those, to sub 2, 3 and 5 hours respectively for each of the 3 full completion categories (thus subbing 10 hours total), as well as getting one within a top 50 time and one within the Newan rankings; and finally, for each Spyro category, including each miscellaneous category, to reach a time faster than the world record of the "next alternate" category. (Next alternate categories constitute the next slowest official category. So for example, I wanted my 40 orb boss skips time to be better than the 40 WR, and I wanted my 149 egg time to be better than the 117% WR.) I also wanted to at least not be in last place in each miscellaneous category. And I’ve also had further specific goals for each category individually, including more specific times to be sub-ed and reached and in some cases, specific tricks I wanted to execute in the run.

While my first aim in every category is to just get good and clean runs that i don’t feel pressure to beat just because of mistakes, as I've gotten better, I've also tended to orient my goals mostly around specific times I've set out to get, or time barriers I've set out to sub. More recently, my general goals have been to get into the top 30 of Newan's Power Rankings over the trilogy, be ranked in the top 50 in most every category in the trilogy, and get most all of my trilogy times within Newan's cutoffs. I also wanted to achieve a top 20 time in an official category (2any%), get a world record in a main board category (cheat%), become a moderator within the series, post over 1K videos on my YT, get at least 100 subscribers, get 1K views on at least one of my videos, get at least 100 likes on one of my videos, and post at least 1 tutorial video for each of the three games. I also just wanted to get a good time in every OG Spyro category on SRC, including IL's, and there were also several specific peoples' times in various categories that I've wanted to beat for awhile. I have actually completed most of these goals to my surprise and satisfaction, and those that I haven't achieved yet, I am close.

In setting my more specific goal times for each category, I formed the following system and tried to push myself according to it:
-when referring to intervals of time over a measure of 10, 0-3 is low, 4-6 is mid, and 7-9 is high. So a “low thirty” is 30-33, while a “high thirty” is 37-39.
-when referring to intervals of time over a measure of 60, 0-19 is low, 20-39 is mid, and 40-59 is high.
-usually when setting my goals, often the hope is to get a “sub-x” of some type, which is pretty much always some form of a “high” whether it be trying to get an xx:x9 or better, or an x9:xx. This is a way to easily push myself to the next tier and get a good time. But sometimes, the goal needs to push me further. For example, rather than a mere sub-35, perhaps my goal is to get a “low 30”, or a 33:xx. However, that may also constitute a high in part, if my goal is simply a 33:59, or sub-34. Generally, I just don’t like 0’s. They can usually be taken lower unless your PB is fairly optimized (considering your skill). But if I come within sufficient range of a time barrier, I will almost always break it. The exception would be completion categories, where my goal is more just to get familiar with the run, and then have a clean run with minimal mistakes and time loss (aka, no big setbacks that make me feel like redoing run, and I may have general time goals, but goals are much more arbitrary for those longer runs because those categories aren't my focus) also may include getting a certain route or trick in my run cleanly like sub 15 hundo boss rush or cs run. Those longer categories are probably where I have the most improvement, because my ranks are better for shorter categories, but general trend illustrates that it's easier to come within a closer percent of the wr for longer categories, or at least mid-length categories, assuming you take time to learn them well, because they give more time to level the playing field. I don’t ever spend much time with and push longer categories, so that’s why my trends tend to be the opposite. I seek good or at least decent times in everything, but am better at or at least push more in shorter categories. My focus and strength in speedrunning is usually short and mid length categories. Another exception is chargeless any% because I exceded the barrier I intended to so much that even though the run wasn’t perfect, I don’t expect to beat it again. Even still, not only did I sub 40, but I got it past a high 30 all the way to a mid 30; so in that sense, even there I broke another barrier (reference 6=mid rule)
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In all my main categories of focus, I’ve been able to work my way up the leaderboards such that, in most categories, almost no one who I wouldn’t consider among the Spyro experts (usually og or long time great players since years ago) has beaten my time. In a few cases, one or two individuals are an exception, but not because they aren’t good; rather, their times for the respective categories are quite good and only barely better than mine. But I wouldn't consider them an og/long term expert of the games; and in those cases they have also put almost all their energy for speedrunning into those categories alone, rather than seeking mastery over the whole trilogy like I do, and like many of the top level Spyro runners do. In addition to that, most of those categories are the ones I’ve put less effort toward, namely, 120%, 100%, and 117%. But there are also just a few people who almost exclusively run 1any and 100 egg as well that fit into this. In addition, of the individuals ranked above me in Newan's power rankings, there are very few who don’t have at least one Spyro category Pb that I’ve beaten, especially of those who play the whole trilogy. That's not exactly a measure of my skill, but it's been a fun goal I’ve had to beat a lot of those peoples times over the years.

In addition to achieving all the goals I’ve set out for in the Spyro Trilogy, I’ve also been able to execute many of the tricks I’ve set out to get in runs. I got credits skip in my 120% PB. I’ve managed to get a useful example of pretty much every proxy in the trilogy that I would want to show off in a run, in a PB at some point, and most in my current PB’s even. I’ve also been able to perform many other notable tricks other than proxies in my runs. Some notable contributions that I’ve made through my speedruns are that I was the first person to complete an RTA run demonstrating each of the known methods to skip into Gnasty Gnorc in Spyro 1, including TH skip, rat proxy, and coveless. I was also the first person, to my knowledge, to run Spyro 3 any% proxiless. But that could have been done in the early days of any% by SSBMstuff of Touval. I’ve performed lots of good work in several meme categories as well and gotten some unofficial world records. My most notable contributions have probably been my work with vortex and finding new strats, as well as my work with making rat proxy a consistent trick rather than a mere legend. That also allowed me to get the Cheat% WR and set the meta for Spyro 1 any% and cheat%.

I’ve also contributed some strats for several categories in the trilogy, though, mostly just small time saves or easier alternate strats, including for vortex and 100 egg. I’ve contributed many category extensions to the trilogy as well.
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It's probably worth noting that there's tons of past speedruns that I’ve done on pcsxr that I probably won’t ever bother redoing on a legal emulator because they are meme categories that don’t and probably won’t ever get leaderboards. I’ve redone and submitted most of the categories that I actually care about; but if a run was simply for illustration or demonstrated purposes, pcsxr does that just fine. The tricks I’ve done and routes I've created are representational; submitting such runs just isn’t necessary and there’s no place for them anyway. For example, some categories are far too arbitrary to worry about redoing on ePSXe or PS2, like all flights; or they may become popular later and be easy enough to just redo later if that's the case, like pink gem or specific dragon categories; and some categories are technically impossible, like Spyro 3 chargeless any%; or impractical to run for more than demonstration, like gemless categories.

Like I said, I run any and every original Spyro trilogy category. I am also one of those runners than has a special emphasis in meme categories, which is a big reason I became a mod on the CE boards. But my main categories (or my favorites, and the ones I come back to most and probably have the best times in) are the Any%'s, Cheat%, and 14 Talisman. I wouldn't say I specialize in any specific game out of the three; but S2 is the one that holds my origins in speedrunning, and S1 is probably where I've contributed most to within the community, as well as the one I like to run memes of most. But I like to explore everything and get good at everything.

I think speedrunning should just be about balance, fun, self improvement, and achieving goals. I think in life in general, comparing to other is unhealthy. Competition can be good, but only when it’s oriented around the right things. I think it’s silly to want to be the best at anything. Perhaps those who are willing to work that hard can form that sort of mindset, but not unconditionally. Whether you hold a WR or not, you have no control over whether your times will be broken. All you have control over if your improvement and achieving your goals. I want to be content, loving what I do, and that being enough. Content in progress rather than perfection. Content in achieving goals rather than being the best. Even content in being bopped. I think a part of us all envies the man who is content in being bopped. I think passion as well as drive and improvement is key to balance in anything. There’s nothing wrong with getting better and better, or even being the best. But in life in general, I think ambitious dreams are bullshit. We’d all be happier if we could be satisfied in the journey, and not read too much into our desires to be the best. It’s those who set and achieve goals who are truly successful, and who are truly inspiring. That’s just how humans are motivated to improve. We can’t all be the best. But we can all have fun and be happy. People can always take your records away, or your place on a leaderboard. But no one can ever take away your time, nor yiur goals, nor your achievement. I love speedrunning, and I love Spyro.