The Greatest EarthBound World Record Just Happened

Octopuscal just got an unbeatable EarthBound world record in the Glitchless No Manipulation Category. Let's talk about it
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Special Thanks to Octopuscal
‪@octopuscal428‬
Check out Chris Doerksen's music! I consulted on several tracks which debuted in his new album, 'Looking For Light':
chrisdoerksen....
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Resources:
EarthBound Speedrunning Leaderboard: www.speedrun.c...
EB Speedrunning Discord: / discord
EB Formulas and Equations: starmen.net/mo...
EB RNG Manip info: www.rpgspeedrun...
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Music:
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team - Buried Relic
Axium Waves - Above All
CrossCode - Glitch
Digimon World 3 - Main Lobby
FFX - Hopeless Desire
Lufia II - Tower
Chris Doerksen - Hitchhike
FFX - Luca
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Chaos Within The Silence
Waterworld - Diving
CrossCode - Ba'kii Kum
Chris Doerksen - RPG Store (Interlude)
Parasite Eve - Out of Phase
Syphon Filter - Expo Center Reception
Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door - X-Naut Fortress
Super Monkey Ball 2 - Monkey Soccer
Pokemon R/S/E - Route 113
CrossCode - Temple of the Grand Tree
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - Amala Temple
Chris Doerksen - Time Trial

[@DoctorSwellman]

Note: Some of the enemy names are not quite right. Also, @ 1:21 the date is supposed to say March 21st, 2023. Thanks for understanding Please check out Octopuscal's content. He's an excellent EarthBound speedrunner: www.twitch.tv/octopuscal

[@piriri1162]

Next chrono cross speed run

[@Lumiesfinetoo]

Fellow CrossCode enjoyer i see

[@DoctorSwellman]

@@Lumiesfinetoo Easily one of my favorite indie experiences of all time tbh

[@Mordecai02]

"Manny-manny statue"

[@LilacMonarch]

Ah my favorite story about A, A, A and A who finally were able to defeat Giygas with the help of the player A

[@fravonzonbonn]

dont forget abt A tthey were a very good dog

[@Mordecai02]

@@fravonzonbonn And A's signature technique, PK A

[@true_nights_edge]

I loved when A went to A’s house and had A’s mom, A make A some delicious A

[@Mordecai02]

@@true_nights_edge You don't get to name your mom tho (Is she ever even _called_ by name, actually? I forget lol)

[@ShadowAngle]

A

[@megadriveleo]

The fact that I used stutter stepping strats and Enemy despawning on my first playthrough just goes to show how desperate I was not to lose any health

[@Drooploop]

Me too lmao earthbound is just so annoying to play but it’s fun

[@viper26k]

I didn't know that stutter stepping was a thing, but I thought that enemy despawning was actually a feature and not a glitch lol I found that accidentally when just trying to flee from the encounter.

[@SuperSomieStuff]

@@viper26k I’m pretty sure the devs intended for you to do that lol there’s no way they didn’t do it themselves

[@polyplayer]

Same

[@Zippo_Squeeze]

Bro literally I feel like everyone accidentally learns these starts and uses them to hell cause let's be honest, earthbound can be very unforgiving. Especially when you're 5 and can hardly read what's on your tiny ass tv lol.

[@yvendous]

Somebody mentioned the video editing and i gotta say the audio levels are very nice as well, not a lot of people have a good ear for it but this was easy to listen to

[@etherraichu]

Peaceful Rest Valley is one of the most awful places in the game, for everyone, not just speedrunners. I hate that place so much. The worst part about it is that its layout and its colors and just its whole atmosphere is really nice. Without the enemies that place would be awesome.

[@drackovicks]

The name of “peaceful rest valley” doesn’t help, that place is a hellhole

[@someone___1240]

I think it’s a really fun early game roadblock, managing your resources just right to barely squeeze out is fun

[@LazarusIsBackBaby]

I love this game so much, what a classic. Everything is so charming and odd, the fact that "Car Painter" is a boss and "slimy little piles" are scary enemies makes me so happy. Time for a replay :)

[@GamerNym]

Speedrunning as a hobby has never really interested me, but everything that goes into it and all the different factors that make a run what it is are very interesting to me. Thank you for making all of this so easily digestible for us laypeople. Also +1 for Crosscode music.

[@TheREALTyreeSneed2]

If there was 60 hours in a day I might do it 😂😂

[@THEFRISKIESTDINGO]

HER NAME IS LARDNA!? HOW DID I MISS THAT?

[@zephyr1741]

Lardna and Aloysius minch

[@StageCraftBeast]

Your game analysis videos are so awesome. Especially when theyre on games like Earthbound and Super Mario RPG that I love and you explain the inner workings of them that even I didn't know. Thanks for the great content and good luck with your channel.

[@AltimaMantoid]

What an incredible video. So in-depth for such an incredible run. Crazy to see how much the RNG favored him, it was like winning the lotto for Earthbound speedruns. Great stuff

[@RingoBuns]

I really appreciated the use of the Final Fantasy X soundtrack. It gave me a BUNCH of nostalgia and surprisingly fit right in with your editing.

[@Sheam5523]

Thank you for enriching our lives with the world of speedrunning.

[@quinn1756]

Before now Ness merely occupied a very specific space in my memory to trigger the words "PK Fire" and "PK Thunder" every time I see him. Lots of smash 64 growing up.

[@thetophatguyandroid5959]

I just finished the game on the switch emulator Apperantly based on the video in the ness dream I maybe got a semi perfect run of the place I went through everything pretty fast by manipulating the game to despawn enemies since it worked so well for me in all the cave stuff at the start of the game I fought one kraken killing it with 1 lucky ahh critical damage hit losing half of my life in the process Avoided the two others (I didn't even know they existed) And then threw every bag of Dragonite on the nightmare statue surviving with 1hp because the game text was faster than my health I didn't realize the statue was actually hard I thought I wasted my good items on it since it died so fast and since the game had no saves all that time Probably the luckiest I've ever been in a game that whole section I was saying to myself there is no way I'm beating this and I was just spamming stuff in fights in order to save my health with the "you win" text Also i respect earthbound for somehow making future emulator save states useless The only time I used them was to leave the game whenever and before the last fight with gyigas since I got really good luck with the "run away" option in the past grey world Ness was lvl 71 and Paula lvl 69 before the battle with gyigas idk about the others

[@0xwas_]

I can provide further information why manipulation is impossible after mondo mole (to be exact, after paula calling jeff cutscene) as current RNG manipulation router. Not only anyone hasn't routed yet but also frame level precise movement is required because of bubble monkey. As doc mentioned in the video, walking NPCs change RNG. As long as just one NPC appears on screen at a time (or multiple but you can just walk without turning at all) and you can despawn by walking, manipulation can still be consistent enough human can manage and that's why current manipulation lasts over 30 minutes. Monkey changes RNG like walking NPC but more aggressively. Even worse part is he chases you for quite long. If you lose some frames by bad movement like stuck in geometry, it can end manipulation instantly. Winters manipulation will be really inconsistent (or not practically feasible to execute) for human speedrun even if the route exists. I won't bother to try routing either. New manipulation has been slowly routed by octo (+ I'm occasionally helping him). Hopefully new route will complete until mondo in the future. We are at whole onett done so far (subject to change since routing takes account of countless inputs combinations). We've been routing in variety of other categories for nearly 3 years but I personally feel none of manipulations are fully optimized. I'm gonna mention a few outside of manipulation part. (I'm saying SNES classic as classic, SNES console as console to avoid confusion because they both have "SNES" in their names) Octo used classic for the run while console is most common platform for top players because classic is seemingly fastest in glitchless. He uploaded console timings comparison video if anyone is curious (Sorry if linking is banned but no malicious content included) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaSTopuhlpqlnJI Console will still be fastest in categories where save and reset is allowed for having fastest reset among other consoles. But no one has tested thoroughly yet. I could be wrong but he first started buying Skip Sandwich in Twoson for EarthBound (that's been a thing way before in Mother 2 speedruns) for enemy dodging and green swirl strat in threed tunnel (He used once in his 3:45 run too). I'm thinking to make a guide of swirl strat because I don't think it's shared in english and I'm sure it'll save more runs. I'll do it when motivated for sure. Stutter step is more lenient than 4 frames usually. This post has more detailed info. www.speedrun.com/earthbound/thread/vzhza Actual elemental PSI damage modifiers are 100%, 70%, 40% and 5% respectively so Ness's nightmare has 70% resistance not 75%. Great video btw. I was sidetracked by other games right after getting my first WR in this game until recently so I didn't know what's going on glitchless much. You summed up very well and it's really interesting watch! (I'm 0xwas doc mentioned around 6:30, I have so many aliases lol)

[@FrosHandle]

gotta have popcorn for the new swelly!

[@MarlowPreston]

Octopuscal hold so many records for both Earthbound and Mother 2. Impressive.

[@napkin8920]

46:25 shoutouts to the silliest typo in earthbound

[@Wieprzek]

Yooo hour of Swellman content

[@johndoeyop]

thx for this vid was wondering what has been going in eb speedrun community for a minute. Shoutout Andy Perfect love that dude

[@aquaglow1]

Great video, very informative

[@soupand2sticks921]

Woah. This video was fantastic. Thanks to the algorithm

[@cyrus8671]

God I miss watching the EB speedrum community. I feel stupid for not realizing who made this video until 10 minutes in 😅

[@brawltrailmonX]

nice video dude good shit

[@hansonkerman7286]

this is a wonderfully made and extremely well edited video but i am legally obligated to tell you for future reference: giygas is pronounced GEE-gas, lumine is pronounced lu-MIN-ey and PSI is pronounced like the letter.

[@TeeTiro]

the editing in this is so bazar

[@alyssamuckway4663]

#1 BEST GAME, EVER, MADE

[@deathblowringo4168]

What is the worst Giygas RNG? instantly killing all 4 party members?

[@froghole1]

Why is PSI no pronounced like it would be in the first three letters of psionic? I've always read it like cy in cycle.

[@SilentVinyl]

cool

[@TrillNye69]

CrossCode soundtrack goes so crazy

[@francisryangonzales6201]

Please tell me the bgm at around 6:12 plsss

[@francisryangonzales6201]

Omg i knew it!!! Digimon world 3. This brings me back omg

[@ThePerfectKiosk]

Twoson. As in Tucscon. One day someone will say it that way.

[@joseph_arrow]

The speedrunning furry posted again. Cool.

[@bmeht]

I'm confused. Title says this "just happened" but it was 3 months ago? Also your video says the record happened March 21, 2022 instead of 2023... Sigh.

[@ItsJabo]

Your editing always amazes me, you can tell you poured so many hours into this video

[@camwyn256]

Doctor sure is swell, man

[@1dfr33]

Enjoyed the modded fallout video, good stuff.

[@cartervaill3043]

Oh hey jabo, didn't expect to see you here lol, was just coming to the comments to say the same thing, excellent video and I'm looking forward to more!!

[@wickedwhispers595]

Shut up Norbit

[@LanEXHikari]

It's pretty entertaining how you manage to stay friendly to newcomers while little by little getting more technical as the run attempts happen. Thanks for the video Doc, keep shaving those seconds ✌🏼

[@BlueserStream]

came for the urfbound, stayed for the swellman

[@idontwantahandlethough]

oh god, it's an EARTHSWELL!!

[@ModdingNewbie]

@@idontwantahandlethough ROFL!!

[@octopuscal428]

Thank you for nice video! It was fun.

[@DoctorSwellman]

Thank you so much for your help, and congratulations again on your run!

[@protodad1]

It cannot be stressed how hard the department store climb is even in a casual run. Impossible to avoid encounters from enemies that one shot you and you are down a key party member. It’s very easy to power level in the desert prior to this section. I’ve seen level 40 teams go down in a single turn due to bad RNG. Hardest part of the game in my opinion if you aren’t prepared.

[@whirligig12]

those fucking coffee cups

[@SuperSomieStuff]

Somehow I didn’t get any encounters until the very top on my first playthrough and only had to fight one encounter total there, so it was easy for me

[@cyberneticpotato3]

@@SuperSomieStuff the same thing happened to me on my second playthrough.

[@tonyandonuts]

The way you combine entertaining edits with clean and concise infographics makes your content so much fun to watch. And also congrats to Octo on their crazy record sweep!

[@goblinbutler1313]

first omfg I cannot believe it's finally here 🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉

[@Falexxx1]

I just wanted to add what Doc accidentally forgot. I was the first person in world history to break the 4 hour barrier in the non manip category. Surely this was just lost to history. Now, they are serving hashbrowns in the nursing home cafeteria so I have to go back inside.

[@KarmaJolt]

PRETTY UNIQUE GAME

[@nisbahmumtaz909]

and it's a japanese runner too, which is rather uncommon but really cool to see intermixed in the community

[@Zzzlol94]

Having done one full game speedrun of the game, I know how extremely painful most of the game is. Having almost no major time loss after reaching Threed is just insane. Extremely impressive to be able to have such good execution to get such a near perfect run.

[@novelezra]

Earthbound is my favorite game. I can't wait to play it one day.

[@franciscomendez8314]

What are you a persona fan???

[@novelezra]

@@franciscomendez8314 I am a person yes

[@oriondx72]

how does it become your favorite game without playing it? Earthbound is a classic i didnt think i would like it at first but it grows on you you and you have to keep playing.

[@novelezra]

@@oriondx72 I heard that Earthbound was inspired by Undertale and Undertale is my favorite game so Earthbound is also my favorite games. Thanks for commenting.

[@JillofTrades]

If you have a Nintendo Switch or SNES classic you can.

[@isocle]

I'm really glad that you used Octopuscal's actual interview audio instead of reading it for him, it feels much more personal as a result. Great video!

[@clarafedde8674]

Earthbound will always be one of my favorite rpgs. Great graphics, nice music, wacky and zany characters and just a great time. I watched most of his speedrun and it is just mind blowing.

[@TheREALTyreeSneed2]

❤ I know man, as a kid I always wished there was more Earthbound games. Another SNES iteration would have been so nice. But I think the fan-made Cognitive Dissonance game is pretty good in that respect. I like Mother 3 but I just couldnt get into it. I dont like the setting. I loved Earthbound's cities. I'll try it again maybe but I've started 3 files already & never finished

[@ukoid]

Very entertaining video, Doc! Super fun to watch a professional video a la Lowest Percent and other channels like that going through the route and strategies of our favorite game in detail. Also really convenient, since I haven't been able to find the time to sit down and watch Octo's run in full. The time he saved is just insane, but it's also a good lesson for us as a community--the glitchless manipulated record is far from dead, and it's up to anyone to step up to the task of bringing it down into time ranges that were once thought out of the question. It's not even gonna take anything special... just the hard work, hours, and dedication.

[@dr4gonblitz]

ANOTHER BANGER LETS GOOOOOOOOOO!

[@HonkeyKongLive]

JRPG speedruns always baffle me. Whether or not they use tons of skips.

[@RocksInMyDryer]

Love the content. The editing and general aesthetic of your vids just keeps getting better, too.

[@Chazkuangshi]

Thank you so much for this analysis, I never would have known anything that was going on to make this run so special. It's really cool that you got Octopuscal's input on this run as well!

[@ArmadisRock]

Hot damn... now im homesick

[@ArispeMatt]

Remember to try and find a non-pay phone to save money.

[@_thejuicebox]

Great work buddy! Editing is looking great.

[@DoctorSwellman]

Appreciate it, homie!

[@IDESTROYER236]

"This uniqueNESS" I see what you did there.

[@SonicBahasa]

So happy that this dude got so much screentime, I literally adore him. Thank you so much for making this, its amazing! Must've taken a while too lol. Now, time to binge watch this movie length video of my favorite silly :)

[@pyrotictiger9930]

Gets recommended video, "This may stand for a **very** long time" Checks... Huh, he beat himself by another 8 minutes a month ago. Cool story.

[@WingedMourner]

Is it odd that i just realized carbon dog becomes diamond dog through the pressure of the fight?

[@DoctorSwellman]

what is this cursed knowledge you have bestowed upon me?

[@lazypaladin]

_KZbin Recommended knows when I'm high._ _Earthbound Speedrun? _*_My guy!_*

[@theSato]

Your patreon sponsors are obscured by the "next video suggestion" thumbnail at the end , I would suggest you try to rework the patreon screen around it (or remove the video suggestion ) just to be nice to the people whose names are covered up lol great video btw, was good to eat to for a few nights in a row

[@deantammam]

Very, very clean animation and production quality

[@ness6714]

I'm fast as fuck boi.

[@hainesonmeow6517]

I think you mean March 21, 2023, not 2022.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

Mehh.. *WHAT'SUP, DOC!?* 🐰 🥕

[@Rhexyn]

Heck yeah, the Doc is on call and dropping great video 😎

[@MageSkeleton]

i remember my first time dealing with the boss magicant fight. at first i was just decimated and had no idea what else to do other than go back and literally farm. My second attempt i used the dragonite and the fight went for a while until i was defeated. Then without changing anything i decided to just let the auto fight thing do it. After about five turns of just "swing bat" i won.

[@LRXC1]

Awesome video!!! The editing is beautifully simplistic

[@viniciusfranca278]

Nice Digimon World 3 music, mate

[@maristelli]

I miss my homie Ceriam. He was the EB GOAT.

[@DaleStrife]

What happened to him?

[@maristelli]

@@DaleStrife He had almost every (possibly every one? It's been a few years so my memory may be hazy) WR at once, then lost a few two days later, and retired shortly after. His streams were consistent and chill and his voice was amazingly nice to listen to, so he's definitely missed.

[@gavenmorgan9145]

Better than an episode from a Netflix original series. Great run, fantastic and approachable breakdown.

[@evanmckeel5495]

Idk if you intended this (you may have), but this video doubles as a great overview of the EB speedrun for someone who has never seen it. Best overview explanation since Andy's

[@DefinitivNichtSascha]

Not only is the video interesting and informative, the editing is also superb. Great kudos to you, Doc.

[@braveherogreenleaf6256]

death note explanation music

[@tubebluefish]

let's go! Love earthbound

[@SirJoelsuf1]

41:40 Isn't still a tradition to name the player BUTTSBUTTSBUTTSBUTTSBUTT if you're on a PB pace tho? haha

[@princesspumpkinpanty]

No link to the original run...

[@rowandoyle7]

Such a good video! You taught my friend a lot about how to run this game, so I've learned a lot just by proxy over the years. Mad respect for anyone who runs this game😊

[@Siinory]

I felt like I watch a collaboration between Summoning Salt and Doc, it was just amazing!

[@andr0sra-0h52]

E stands for earthbound

[@happyboy07685]

guys is playing this on your switch and being able to rewind allowed? cause there are emulators of old consoles on the switch (kinda) that let you rewind time so that would be game changing if it was allowed

[@kieraaaaaaaaaa]

No, this stuff isn't allowed. There's a category that does employ rewind and it's all Tool Assisted Speedrun (TAS)

[@chanwantai6125]

Mom: last video and you are going to sleep after Me: (open this 57mins video) alright!

[@Skoobzzzz]

I wanted to watch this video but I just started playing Earth Bound and I don’t want to ruin it for myself. I’ll be back in a day or two.

[@RogueAgent007]

Dude, it's been ages since I saw you stream and now you put out a SS-level video for EB? Thank you.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

All these nerds are right; the production value is amazing on this channel.

[@andrescube64]

That’s crazy!!!!

[@RetroPokemonDepot]

great video!

[@tarragon112]

9 minute gap between octo and 2nd holy fuck on another note this editing is really good gj

[@Kyoslilmonster]

Another certified Swelly BANGER

[@IDESTROYER236]

I tried using the teleport for faster running speed once. It didn't go as planned.

[@ChronoSquare]

Mass dubs for using Lufia 2 music in this video. Hell yes.

[@Dragonsbeard.]

Man I'm so out of the loop on this. great video My dude, And grats to the guy with the world record on it that's impressive.

[@vibingone101]

Almost 1 hour video about earthbound? Know what I'm doing

[@bot-kj2cs]

love watching your videos even though i don't understand anything..🤣

[@ethansvault4574]

Amazing video man really loved it.... but the buzzing of you mic was kinda disctracting otherwise great voice editing and music

[@Ness199X]

Buzz buzz

[@tofalosgamer9947]

i used enemy despawning all the time cus those zombies were tough as heck.

[@Mateus-pd6hl]

2:26 Fart 1

[@Soundhound101]

Great video and explanation for the layman. Thanks for sharing!

[@dankmeats-kfpspeedrunner7139]

dude big pog