(World Record) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 1 Speedrun - Any% v2 - 1:33:12 (GCN Emulator)
9Once again, I came back to Splinter Cell 1 speedruns! For now. But this time, on a completely different version of the game! You might be wondering to yourself why is it called v2 though? Well, here's a simple explanation. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 1, alongside Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory and Double Agent all have two separate versions. Version 1 (abbreviated as "v1") is the OG Xbox, PC and the PS3 HD port of the game, developed by Ubisoft Montreal, whereas Version 2 (aka "v2") is the GameCube and PS2 port of the game, which was made by Ubisoft Shanghai (same developers who also made Pandora Tomorrow).
Now onto a technical note, why is this speedrun performed on an emulator, and not real hardware? The answer is quite simple. For a couple of years, speedrunning Splinter Cell games on emulators was banned, main reasons being due to loading times not being accurate to the real hardware and the existence of save states. Very recently, there has been a complex discussion about allowing the use of emulation for SC games, and we simply came to a consensus where a lot of people are completely OK with using emulators for the speedruns themselves. The emulators have the option of simulating real hardware loading times. In addition, to make the use of emulators be allowed for speedruns, we had to establish a couple of ground rules such as:
-} Usage of save states is prohibited.
-} FPS Counter must be enabled and visible on screen within your emulator.
-} Dolphin: “Emulate Disc Speed” must be enabled.
-} PCSX2: “Enable Fast CDVD” must be disabled.
The rules established above, and the discussion simply led to the emulator runs now being allowed, which is great! Keep in mind, however, that the emulator runners must adhere to the general Any% v2 rules that apply for runners on real hardware as well. This game's version had unoptimized speedruns for years now, and I recently decided that since emulators are now fully allowed, I'll try my best to implement some new strats and optimizations and lower the time increasingly than it already is on real hardware. Keep in mind that the current World Record on real hardware is 1:42:27, performed by Chayden. You can check his run by accessing the following link: https://youtu.be/HDGSroArBMg
Another thing I'd like to talk about is this version as well. Despite its many flaws with the level design, downtime choices and the gameplay (sometimes), this version features a couple of exclusive skips which can simply not be recreated in v1.
Such examples are the following:
-} In Chinese Embassy 1: The gate skip with the diversion cameras to force spawn Coen at the truck.
-} In Chinese Embassy 2: Goa skip. Using the SC-20K and diversion cameras as a distraction to distract the Chinese guard named "Goa" who is called by one of his colleagues to check up on Kong Feirong because he's trying to commit suicide.
Furthermore, for v2 of the game, the GCN version is faster than the PS2 version simply because the PS2 version has an extra level called "Nuclear Power Plant", which is about 10 minutes long. In addition, the framerate and the loading times are slightly faster on GameCube.
As I have said with many speedgames before, this version of Splinter Cell 1 is quite fun to run but can also be frustrating especially when you choke a lot and when the RNG is awful. Additionally, the AI is slightly smarter in this version of the game, simply because it's made by Ubisoft Shanghai, who also made Pandora Tomorrow. And Pandora Tomorrow has smarter and sometimes jankier AI than the first game.
Onto a few final words about this run. It was quite solid for my standards, considering that I've been running this version for a few days, and despite the many time losses which involve some bad execution and RNG not being the greatest even in the slightest, I'm still pleased with it regardless. There's still lots of improvement to be done because my Personal Best is nearly 9 minutes slower than my Sum of Best, but to be perfectly honest.... this run could be done under an hour and 30 minutes easily, with great execution and good luck. But the most realistic time that can be achieved by a human being is probably a low 1:26 or 27 at this very moment, despite the Sum of Best saying otherwise by the time you see it at the end of this run. Remains to be seen, though!
This run has been achieved on September 4th, 2023.
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