The
gripping conclusion to the Conventional Trilogy…
TSC Fake Chat Act Three (or, Boss Stage)
Prologue: The TSC Convention has proved to be the most
anticipated event of the century… well, at least for our 24 chosen ones.
Rivalries have been forged, trash has been talked, and all the talk is about
just what Rolken’s plans are. He recently threw a
spanner in the works by saying that his marriage to flyby was on hold, leaving
the Convention to start on its originally planned date of July 7.
These chat
logs document the days in the lead up to the Convention…
*
Now talking in #soniccenter
*
Topic is “The Conventional Center – http://www.soniccenter.org/
- Where great trilogies come in threes. | CONVENTION IN TWO DAYS!!
*
Set by Rolken on Thu Jul 5
*
ChanServ sets mode: +o mike89
<CherryMay> hello mike!
<mike89>
hey cherry!
<Rolken> well if you can use it to your advantage then I
can’t see why it wouldn’t be allowed
<mike89> :o?
<Rolken> also hi mike :o
<SuperSonic101>
just discussing the latest tactics in SA2B
<SuperSonic101>
I think this might finally be what I need to get my total under 140 minutes :D
<SuperSonic101>
and maybe getting all those bastard S ranks too :o
<RPG>
I HAVE ALL S RANKS
<SuperSonic101>
dammit we KNOW
<RPG>
I can prove it too :o
<SuperSonic101>
we know that too :o
*
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<RPG>
eh, I feel like bragging a little, I’m in a bad mood D:
<Bonzi77>
what’s going on here?
<SuperSonic101>
we’re talking about S ranks in SA2B
<Bonzi77>
S ranks?
<Bonzi77>
aren’t those only in Sonic Rush (and SA2B with chao I
suppose?)
<RPG>
No, they’re in SA2B main mode as well.
<Bonzi77>
No they’re not, I’m certain of it
<RPG>
I’ll even get you proof pics, then will you be happy?
<RPG>
HERE, LOOK!
<RPG>
I HAVE TEH PROOF PICZORS
<RPG>
www.soniccenter.org/ARRPEEGEE/UberBomberEmeraldMan4D
<- THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR ALL S RANKS IN SA2B
<RPG>
I TOLD YOU THEY EXISTED!!
*
RPG was kicked by Sprint (YOU ALSO HAVE LOWERCASE LETTERS FOR A REASON)
<Bonzi77>
eh, I’m no longer needed here
*
Bonzi77 was kicked by mike89 (damn straight)
*
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<RPG>
aw, he’s not here any more
<Rolken> CAN I HAVE EVERYONE’S ATTENTION PLEASE
<Rolken> now, the Convention list has gone through a few
revisions in the last few months, what with players pulling out and being
banned and all that
<Rolken> but the final list is as follows:
<Rolken> CherryMay, CosmicFalcon, F-Man, gamersince93, Greham
Adelphis, magnum12, Marth,
mike89, NintenDan, oldskoolgamer101, PsyBorg, PsyKnux, PsyMar, Rayku, RPGnutter, SadisticMystic, Shadow
Jacky, shadowgamer196, smizzla, sonicam,
Spinballwizard, SprintGod,
SuperSonic101, yoshifan
<Rolken> and me and flyby of course X)
<mike89>
well I guess now is the best time to reveal it
<mike89>
*leaves you all in suspense*
<Rolken> :o?
<RPG>
:O
<Sprint>
…
<CherryMay> :o
<mike89>
smizzla = zac-a-maniac
<mike89>
do with him as you will
Okay, okay. Hold up.
Now far be it from me to put
commentary into the main part of the chat, but I really had no choice here.
The above statement is true. Mark did
indeed sign up again fairly recently, because he wanted another chance to prove
himself. (Most of his ambition was simply to beat me, but I have him covered in
most levels. It should be noted that he discovered the latest methods for Chaos
2 and
I know judgment is not up to me,
though I was initially against the idea. Ultimately, I give you, the TSC
community (or probably Rolken if it works out that
way), a final vote on whether to accept or reject him.
I’ve spoken my part – the rest is in
your hands.
<mike89>
but I sure as hell don’t want him coming to the convention
<Rolken> I’d have to pull the plug on him, and if all his
times are legit I’m not gonna do that
<mike89>
Rolken, there are ways I can stop him coming without
having anyone else know
<Rolken> not now there isn’t =P
<mike89>
…shit.
<AndrewJ> wait, cherry’s coming?
<AndrewJ> I thought this was a convention for time
attackers?
<Rolken> I have two answers to that
<Rolken> firstly I was running really low on actual
players to invite (the amount of players who had to be banned in March was
staggering)
<Rolken> and secondly cherry is awesome :D
<AndrewJ> …
*
AndrewJ was kicked by CherryMay
(you know it’s true)
*
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<AndrewJ> meh, I’m above all
this petty bullshit
<CherryMay> no you’re not
<AndrewJ> well, I’m still here, aren’t I?
*
AndrewJ was kicked by CherryMay
(no, you’re not)
*
AndrewJ has joined #soniccenter
<AndrewJ> well, no point in my staying around here any
longer
<AndrewJ> see you all at the convention ^_^
*
AndrewJ has quit IRC (Quit: )
<CosmicFalcon> aw, I was just about to kick him too
<CherryMay> …damn, just missed him
<CosmicFalcon> XD
<CherryMay> XD
*
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*
Quietust has joined #soniccenter
<_>
Now the authors of the Sonic 1, 2 and 3 TAS’s are in the same room!
<JXQ>
Not any more
<Rolken> :O
<JXQ>
I got beaten a couple of days ago
<JXQ>
so naturally, I’m trying to beat it back
<JXQ>
Sprint, you seem to have the best times at TSC, and in fact you even beat my
Labyrinth 3 time by a considerable amount
<Sprint>
Labyrinth 3 is a prime candidate for the screen wrapping glitch you see in my
S3&K run
<Sprint>
:D
<Sprint>
it works a lot quicker on Sonic 1, but it’s also far more difficult to execute
<JXQ>
I see…
<CosmicFalcon> dead people?
<Quietust> I’m also working on a Sonic 2 with Knuckles
run
<Quietust> I’ve seen the videos for Hill Top 1 and
Chemical Plant 2, and I’m confident that this run will be considerably faster
than the Sonic run
<mike89>
good luck with that
<mike89>
you too, JXQ, I quite enjoyed the first one
*
mike89 goes to watch the improved version
<Quietust> thanks
<JXQ>
I don’t suggest you do that…
<mike89>
why?
<JXQ>
it’s basically my run with only a few very minor improvements
<JXQ>
actually, I think the level times are exactly the same
<mike89>
then what makes you think you can beat yours and make it impressive to watch?
<JXQ>
because I’m convinced that the majority of the run is actually mine, but small
improvements have been copy/pasted in
<mike89>
who submitted it?
<JXQ>
a user by the name of Neutral Chaos Chao
<_>
that’s remarkably close to Mark Blackwell’s SN…
<RPG>
hang on, I know where he’s from
<RPG>
Chao Universe
<mike89>
oh bloody hell, not them again…
<JXQ>
why, what did they do?
<mike89>
meh, I don’t feel like going into it again
<mike89>
I’ll save it for the commentary
<JXQ>
commentary?
<mike89>
oh… nevermind. >_>
*
JXQ gets to work on Sonic 1 TAS v2
*
JXQ has quit IRC (Quit: )
*
Quietust is going to enjoy making this TAS
<Quietust> Sprint, perhaps you could do one with Tails or
Knuckles on Sonic 3?
<Sprint>
maybe…
*
Quietust has quit IRC (Quit: huzzah)
<Sprint>
…in a few years.
<Sprint>
:)
<RPG>
Well, the question remains
<RPG>
What the hell has Chao Universe got to do with Sonic 1, and NESvideos
for that matter?
<Rolken> I definitely wouldn’t put such a thing past HCC
<mike89>
nope, this guy’s definitely from CU
<mike89>
I’m fairly sure he’s the one that had me and RPG banned (well, the first time
at least XD)
<_> I
see no links.
<_>
The only ones from here who has submitted to NESvideos
are Cherry and Sprint, and neither of them were part of the attacks
<mike89>
So it’s just a coincidence?
<_>
sure, why not
*
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<mike89>
and you reckon that’s a coincidence, too?
<RPG>
Well, speak of the fucking devil.
<Marcus>
Speaking of fucking… YOU FUCKING PERVERTS!
<Marcus>
YOU MAKE ME SICK!
<RPG>
YOUR MOM MAKES ME SICK!
<F-Man>
wow, that was really lame X)
<mike89>
then why the hell are you here?
<Marcus>
because I’m getting my own back against you
<Marcus>
now that I’ve finally found where the attacks of January 2006 came from
<Marcus>
I traced ‘JesusofSuburbia’s IP down to a member in
here
<Marcus>
Show yourself!
<Rolken> it would be so easy to ban you from the site
right now.
<Rolken> why on earth would you tell us?
<Rolken> also why would said user do that?
<RPG>
Because he can?
*
RPG is now know as JesusofSuburbia
<Marcus>
Holy shit
*
JesusofSuburbia is now known as SaintJimmy
<Marcus>
…
<SaintJimmy> And the list goes on :) you gullible fuck
<Marcus>
God dammit! It was you all along! The guy that liked
fucking his dog.
*
SaintJimmy is now known as RPG
<RPG>
The one and only :D
<Rolken> also you didn’t answer my question.
<Marcus>
sorry
<Marcus>
because we know you weren’t involved, and that you wouldn’t condone these
actions as admin of a respectable community
<Rolken> wrong on both counts
<Rolken> I know exactly what happened, and given the
circumstances I see no problem
<Marcus>
you’re even worse than the rest of them!
<Rolken> b&
<Marcus>
YOU’RE ALL PERVERTS! I HAVE WITNESSES!
<RPG>
I’m not a pervert
<mike89>
That is SO topic’d.
*
RPG hides his wang
<Rolken> like who?
<RPG>
mike: D:
<Marcus>
like…
*
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<Rolken> :O?
<Taco>
:O
<Marcus>
no, not him
*
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<Marcus>
much better.
<Marcus>
okay, which one of these sleazeheads was it that
abused you on MSN?
<JerryTheFox> it was ARRPEEGEE or something like that
<RPG>
Damn straight.
<JerryTheFox> he was saying things like “you
dirty shitfucker” and “I had sex with my dog earlier, it was fucking great, he's gonna fuck you next week :)” and stuff like that
<mike89> pfft, you haven’t heard the full
RPG repertoire…
<mike89> it’s a lucky day when we don’t hear plenty worse than that
<JerryTheFox> rpg
is telling me in a pm that hes sexually touching up
his cat and that it is enjoying it
<RPG> mike, you’re not helping, you know X)
<mike89> sure I am
<mike89> o_0
<JerryTheFox> PLEASE STOP!!1
<Rolken> well I’ve heard enough
<Rolken> the two of you can get banned
from this IRC channel and the entire site
<RPG>
Laters you dirty shitfuckers.
<Marcus>
THIS ISN’T OVER!!
*
Rolken sets mode: +b Marcus!*@*.*
*
Marcus was kicked by Rolken (shut up, we don’t like
you)
*
Rolken sets mode: +b Jerry*!*@*.*
*
JerryTheFox was kicked by Rolken
(I have no idea who you are, but I’m fairly sure we don’t like you either)
<mike89>
okay, that solved nothing at all.
<RPG>
who cares? We hate them, they hate us. It’s like with SCD, KCG, and XBQ.
<mike89>
XBQ? Must’ve missed that one…
<RPG>
yep.
<RPG>
SBW, CF and I had a lot of fun with that one :(
*
mike89 changes the topic to “The Conventional Center – http://www.soniccenter.org/ - Screw
normality. | CONVENTION IN TWO DAYS!! | <RPG> I’m not a pervert
<Spinballwizard> Indeed
<mike89>
:D
<RPG>
Fork you mike :(
<mike89>
why are you complaining?
<RPG>
Iono? >_>
<RPG>
So
<RPG>
Like
<RPG>
I have something I want to say
<mike89>
:o?
<CosmicFalcon> :o?
<Spinballwizard> ?o:
<RPG>
KING
<RPG>
FOR
<RPG>
A
*
RPG was kicked by CherryMay (SHUT UP.)
<CherryMay> …
<CherryMay> Why has he not auto-rejoined? XD
<mike89>
he just signed out of MSN so I think its quite safe to assume his Internet asploded.
<CherryMay> D:
<CosmicFalcon> OMG! J00 KEELED RPG! YOU BASTARD!
*
CosmicFalcon was kicked by CherryMay
(You can shut up too.)
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*
ChanServ sets mode: +o CosmicFalcon
<CosmicFalcon> D:
<Rayku> What’s better, Skitty
on Wailord?
<Rayku> or*
<CosmicFalcon> HOT SKITTY ON WAILORD ACTION
*
CosmicFalcon shot
<Sprint>
…
*
mike89 reloads.
<Spinballwizard> Skitty sucks
:(
*
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<PsyMar> Hey
*
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<mike89>
:o
*
PsyBorg has joined #soniccenter
*
CherryMay blinks.
*
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<Psyduck> Y HALO THAR
<mike89>
wtf
<Psyduck> er
<Psyduck> I mean
<Psyduck> Psy………duck?
<supersonic101>
=D
*
supersonic101 is now known as Psyfuck
*
Psyfuck fucks Psyduck
<Psyduck> Duck. O.O
*
Psyduck evolves into…
*
Psyduck is now known as Golduck
<Golduck> WROAR. Ph43r m3!
<mike89>
…dont you mean ‘ph34r’?
<Golduck> No. Ph43r.
<Golduck> Its 9 times more awe inspiring than this measly
‘ph34r’!
*
Psyfuck is now known as SuperSonic101
<SuperSonic101>
>.>
<Rayku> wow, I never knew Psyduck
evolved so fast when you did that
*
Rayku tries this new evolution method
*
Golduck has quit IRC (
<CosmicFalcon> looks like it dies pretty quickly
afterwards though
<mike89>
o_O
<mike89>
moving on…
*
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<gbagcn> is anyone here
<Rolken> no
<gbagcn> but you’re here
<Rolken> no I’m not
<gbagcn> yes you are
*
gbagcn was kicked by Rolken
(no you’re not)
*
gbagcn has joined #soniccenter
<gbagcn> mod abuse
<Rolken> where?
<gbagcn> here
<Rolken> lies :(
*
theenglishman has joined #soniccenter
<theenglishman> is anyone here?
<theenglishman> guess not
<theenglishman> wow, it echoes… echoes…
<theenglishman> IS ANYBODY HERE… here… here?
*
theenglishman was kicked by Sprint (here’s your echo…
echo… echo…)
*
gbagcn was kicked by Sprint (oh, and nobody’s here.
really.)
*
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<mike89>
what’s the word on the final Convention attendee?
<Rolken> hm?
<mike89>
well my brother isn’t coming, nuff said.
<Rolken> eh, okay, I’ll think up someone who can get here
on pretty short notice
<Rolken> MK could come
<MK>
:O
<MK>
sure, I’ll come
<mike89>
:D
<Rayku> aww, it didn’t work
<RPG>
what didn’t?
<Rayku> SS’s alternate evolution technique
<mike89>
somehow I thought it wouldn’t work… >_>
<Spinballwizard> Well, it’s getting rather late
<Spinballwizard> better go, and prepare for the
Convention
<mike89>
seeya there
<RPG>
same :o
*
Spinballwizard has quit IRC (Quit: Convention in not
long now! :O)
<Rolken> wow, it’s not long at all
<Rolken> only 36 hours!
<mike89>
36 HOURS?!?
<_>
more like 35 hours, 57 minutes and 22 seconds
<mike89>
I’m gonna need most of that for travel time
<mike89>
guess I’ll be off then
<mike89>
see you all at the convention!
<RPG>
laters bro~
*
mike89 has quit IRC (Quit: I’d better not miss my flight…)
Now time to do something different.
Ever since I started on Fake Chat #1, I wanted
to write about what might happen at the Convention. Of course, it makes no
sense to have it in chat log style. (I contemplated doing this anyway, but
rejected it shortly after.) So this will be in a more conventional (get it? ahahaha… okay I’ll shut up now) format.
So, at long last, here it is… the TSC Convention!
The twenty-four chosen ones had all arrived by
now, at their chosen meeting point. Across the road was a car hire centre.
Rusty got everyone’s attention, and called Jay on his cell phone. He turned on
the loudspeaker and Jay revealed the first of the many challenges they would
undertake at the Convention.
“You are to split into six groups of four, get
a hire car from across the road, and make your way to the Convention as fast as
possible. There is one rule – if you break any road rules you are disqualified.
GO!”
In accordance with the overwhelming opinion
that there were far too many Dans and Mikes at TSC,
it was discovered that there were exactly four of each in the group. As such,
two groups were formed instantly. They rushed off and gained a headstart while the other groups organised
themselves.
The third group to form was later known as the Psy* group. It contained the users known as PsyBorg, Psyknux and PsyMar, as well as Jason (Rayku)
who had also gone under the name of Psyroclasm.
The fourth group was the Shadow group. Chris
(SJ) and Kev, who both had Shadow in their online
aliases, along with Stephen (yoshifan) and
“magnum12”, who were the top two Shadow the Hedgehog players of the day.
At this point choices were getting slim, and
the next group had no real association at all. Just Francis, Greham, Mark (Marth) and Rusty
made a dash across the road. By this time, the Mikes and Dans
had already made their way out, and it was looking somewhat like a two horse
race already.
Which left the most unlikely of groups. In the
red corner were Andy and Cameron, and in the blue corner, “Cherry” and Gavin.
All four could tell this was going to be a long trip, and that they were now in
with no chance of winning. Plenty of fighting over who would drive ensued, but
eventually Gavin was given the keys.
The other four teams got their cars, and the
race began…
Without directions from Jay as to which roads
to take, it became a scramble for the map and the best path. The Mike that had
taken the wheel was CosmicFalcon, while mike89 took
his place in the passenger seat with the map. The other two (SS101 and
gamersince93) were given the role of watching the goings-on behind them,
ensuring that no one was able to follow their lead.
The Dans had it a lot
easier – they were not far behind the Mikes and therefore just took whatever
path they did.
The other four teams were well behind the pace,
but quite evenly matched. In fact, at one particular set of traffic lights they
were all positioned within 20 metres. All four teams
were so keen to get a lead on the other three when the light went green that
the Shadow team actually crashed into the back of the Psy
team’s car while trying to overtake. They dropped back to last place, but were
able to continue.
Kev thought they were still in with a chance,
asking “Is that instant disqualification?”
Chris replied “It better not be,” and they
tried to work their way back into the race.
As they came within a few miles of their
destination, the Mikes spotted something.
“Hey, look, they’ve made a right turn!” cried
SS101 and gamersince93 in unison. Indeed, the Dans
had strayed off what appeared to be the beaten track. Both quickly implored
mike89 to check the map.
“Bad news, guys,” was his comment after a
period of thought. “If they know what they’re doing, that path is a touch
quicker, and probably doesn’t have the same traffic. This is going to be
close…”
The Dans’ strategising had almost paid off here. They drove through a
few back streets, going as close to the speed limit without going over, then
tried to turn back into the main street – but the Mikes just passed them on the
way back onto the road. However, they went unnoticed by the Mikes’ scouts.
And at just that moment, they made a right
turn, and there it was… there was the site of the Convention. The Dans put on the gas behind them, and moved to overtake –
but what caught their eye was the car that was about to pull in from the other
direction. It looked suspiciously like the Dans’ car…
“Oh no you don’t!” screamed CosmicFalcon,
and he made an unbelievably accurate turn at full speed into the house. The
other three Mikes were hanging on for dear life – but at least they’d won. The
two very similar looking cars followed them in much slower.
Everyone got out of their respective cars, looking
quite the worse for wear after the incident. In fact, the car they had tried to
beat in belonged to the hosts, Jay and Jennie.
After the formal introductions and the like,
Jay motioned towards the stairs: “If you go up to the second level you can see
the road where the other competitors will be arriving.”
All eight attendees rushed up the stairs and
tried to stake out the best vantage point.
As it were, it didn’t take long for the others
to arrive. Next to arrive was Gavin’s group, not a bad showing given they
started from the back of the pack and their trip was marred by in-fighting. The
hosts went to greet them, and showed them where the rest of the attendees were.
And then came the most incredible sequence of
events. The situation the Mikes had thought they were in had actually
developed, with the Psys and Shadows (with the battle
scars to boot) arriving in opposite directions at the same time. Both attempted
to make a quick turn into the driveway, but both failed and they only succeeded
in crashing into each other. At this point the final team arrived, and assuming
they were first, just parked outside the house and ran in, before they joined
everyone else back outside to inspect the damage, amid murmurs of “we did all
that for nothing?”.
No serious damage was done to the passengers,
just a few headaches here and there, but the cars were both written off. The
two teams began to wonder how to best explain this to the car hire crew when
they left…
When the dust had settled on the situation, Jay
showed everyone around the place, stopping in the kitchen where he asked the
four winners to raise their hands.
The four Mikes raised their hands in unison.
And Jay presented them with their prize for
first place – a plate of brownies. They were devoured before you could say
“make sure you enjoy them.”
Eventually they were all led into the main
gaming area. And the Convention had begun!
Somewhere in this room was every single gaming
system that Sonic had ever appeared on. There were not only Sonic games as far
as the eye could see, but many of the best multiplayer games ever, all here for
this one-off event.
The Convention had two main Sonic-based
objectives, however. Firstly, it would stage a tournament, over various Sonic
games, whittling the 26 players in attendance down to one TSC Champion.
The second was to compose the best Sonic
Adventure 2 run they could possibly muster. With all the best SA2 players in
the one place (with the exception of Cybrax) all the
skills of the top players would be on show. This incredible attempt was slated
for the second day of the four-day Convention. Anyone who was taking part was
then to use the first day to get used to the Dreamcast controller, for those
who were GameCube players. It had earlier been worked out that the Dreamcast
version had enough advantages to consider it faster.
And on that first day, and night, everyone
mingled, challenged each other to their favourite
multiplayer classics, and in general had the time of their lives. At the stroke
of
“At a time of my choosing, I will call on all
remaining players to take on the next challenge. Each challenge will be on a
different Sonic game, and it will hopefully span all platforms. About one
quarter of the current group gets eliminated in each challenge: for this first
one six will be knocked out.
The first challenge is thus: set up Sonic
Adventure 2 on either Dreamcast or GameCube, there’s a few TVs around so we
won’t take so long. Your challenge is to get the lowest score on
Only one, from Francis: “What happens if
there’s a tie?”
“In the event of a tie, time will be taken into
account. Record both on this sheet of paper,” Jay motioned to a pad of paper he
was holding up, “and importantly, get someone to verify it for you, either me
or someone watching you. Any more?”
There was silence.
“All right, let the tournament begin!”
Now, it is common knowledge that a score of 0
is in fact possible on
The end of the first round came, and Jay
collected the list and read the names of the unlucky ones to be eliminated.
“Eliminated are the following players: Cherry,
flyby, Marth, Psymar, Spinballwizard, and oldskoolgamer.
That is all.”
This came as a shock to many of the players.
Andy had proven to be one of the better SA2B players over the years, but he had
in fact lost a life during his attempt. Jay quickly addressed them once more:
“Now those of you participating in the SA2B
record attempt should probably get some sleep, seeing as how you probably want
to be in the best mental condition possible. The rest of you can keep gaming,
but try and keep it quiet.” And with that, he and the SA2B players left to sleep.
The seven players assigned to the task (Rayku, SuperSonic101, RPGnutter,
mike89, SadisticMystic, shadowgamer196 and F-Man)
woke up refreshed and ready to go at a record that would probably never be
beaten. But before that, Jay announced the second challenge.
“Sonic Advance 2,
Many groans were heard close to the end of any
given player’s minute as they invariably took a hit at about 45 seconds and
raced to pick up the few they may have missed. The four Dans
seemed to leave the event the most confident.
The results came in.
“The following five players are eliminated:
gamersince93, PsyBorg, Psyknux,
Greham and Rayku.”
This was not necessarily bad for Jason as if
SA2B players were called out for the third challenge, he could continue for as
long as needed. Jay promised to line the third event up with one of his favoured levels, such as
Then everyone gathered around the Dreamcast to
watch the attempt at history by the seven players. Francis would start things
off on City Escape, then Kev would take it for the
first boss, Big Foot, then it would be over to Rusty for
The run was progressing very smoothly until Dry
Lagoon ended – at that point Jay summoned all remaining competitors for the
third challenge. It would be a time-attack style challenge, so that the SA2B
players could go straight back to the task. Jason was the only player left, and
proceeded to play
The third challenge shifted the focus to the
Genesis for the first time. The challenge was Sonic 1, Green Hill 3. Rusty
proved the least rusty on his Sonic 1 skills and won the challenge out, while
many disappointed players came in at 50 seconds or over…
The SA2B players were the first to play and the
first to leave. Jason was just finishing
Jay read out the results: “The following four
players are eliminated: F-Man, CosmicFalcon, magnum12
and MK.”
F-Man was the only slight surprise exit, but to
this point the tournament had gone mostly as expected. Over half of the
attendees had been eliminated, and yet the majority of the big names were still
in the competition.
Back at the SA2B record attempt, the story
modes had just been completed and the missions were in full swing. They started
from the left side of the map and moved across. Dan was heard to mutter, “I
wouldn’t want to be the one to play Route 101 or 280…”
To which Jason replied, “Did I hear someone
volunteer for 101 and 280?”
Dan offered a swift “No!” but ended up doing
them anyway. He only got one death on Route 101 mission 4, other than that both
went smoothly.
The hunting levels would always provide their
incredible randomness, but an A was never a difficult task for these seven.
Only one genuinely difficult task remained after Routes 101 and 280, and that
was Crazy Gadget.
Crazy Gadget is the level furthest to the right
on the map, which meant it was the last level to be undertaken. Missions 2 and
3 were nothing difficult, but 4 and 5 (as they had already shown in 1) used a
suicidal jump so as to cross the finish line after the dying sequence began.
This technique was particularly necessary in 5, because the switch has moved
and it takes a lot longer to get around using this method. The problem is, of
course, if it doesn’t work points reset to 0, and quite likely restarting from
the last checkpoint. This jump, so close to the end of the run, required an ice
cool competitor… and the reigning champion, SuperSonic101, stepped up to the
plate.
He arrived in the block room in incredible
time… gravity switch… jump to red block… back onto purple… spindash
jump onto the box, jump in from behind… would it work?
And just as everyone thought he’d missed out,
the victory screen played. He’d done it!
This took the emblem count to 174 with a
relatively easy six to come. The other Mike took on the three kart races, with Sonic’s inferior car due to the lack of upgraded cars in
the Dreamcast version. He blitzed the competition to take the count to 177,
which left only the boss mode.
The controller was switching hands feverishly
as the bosses dropped in near-record or even record time. Hero, Dark, then Hero
and Dark again… just two bosses stood in the way of a record that would likely
never be broken. The Biolizard, being a long boss as
it is, is not one you would want to die on towards the end of such a run. Mike
stepped up when it mattered, delivering a time he would consider sub-par, of
3’19”97.
And then the FinalHazard.
Dan was given the honour of completing the run,
whilst the remainder of the Convention watched on.
One hit… yeah, that was easy.
Two hits… whoa, nearly got taken out already!
Three hits… another easy one.
Four hits… getting tense yet?
And when he landed a picture-perfect hit 5, it
was all falling into place.
Hit 6 is technically the same as hit 5, but the
lump has a tendency to be in a worse position. So it proved with it being right
next to a laser beam on this attempt. Dan tried to weave under it, and it followed
him – eventually he was hit by an egg and then the laser and thrown back to the
start. The second time he weaved successfully and landed the killer blow. The
time was a meager 2’07”72, but he didn’t care, and nor did anyone else in that
room. They had truly witnessed a piece of history here.
The reigning champion was given the license to
sign the run off by speeding through Green Hill. He pulled off a time of 31”42,
which is not bad for a first attempt. But all the pressure was off. They had
done it.
The game was saved and the time checked. The
conservative estimates of six hours were smashed, in fact the run came
incredibly close to the five-hour barrier, coming in at 5 hours, 6 minutes and
29 seconds. Jay chose to let the players take a rest instead of forcing another
challenge upon them, while he took the DVDs that the run was recorded on and
began the process to get this incredible run hosted.
As the players celebrated this incredible
achievement, Mike was heard to comment “And those Sonic Cage Dome fools thought
this time attacking business was hard? HA!”
And at that moment… everyone was silent.
Everyone stood or sat still, as they heard a banging outside increasing in
loudness. And the hairs on the back of the neck stood up on every Briton in the
room.
Cherry pointed out “I know that smell from
somewhere…”
Mike provided the solution by simply looking
out the window. “Oh dear god. Frenchies.”
About twenty Frenchmen had arrived at the door.
After everyone refused to answer, they proceeded to smash the door down. The
leader introduced himself with a very strong French accent: “Hello. My name is
Charles, but you may know me better as… Zizou.”
Jay exclaimed, “Zizou?
But how did you know where I lived – oh wait, the T-shirt. But that doesn’t
explain how you knew everyone would be here today!”
Charles replied, “Actually, I didn’t. I would
have much preferred if they weren’t here, so I only had you and your
‘girlfriend’ to deal with.”
“Fiancee, thank you
very much.”
“Whatever. Anyway, I’m asking for the T-shirt
back, and if I don’t get it we’ll have to fight you.”
“Meh. Just take it.”
This comment was met with a huge “WHAT?!?”
reverberating around the entire house.
“Yeah, you heard me, you can have it. If you’re
that serious about it I really don’t care. Besides, we know we were really the
winners.”
And the growing sentiment of the other
attendees was “yeah, he’s right” and “Screw you SCD!”
So Jay went to fetch the T-shirt, came back
down and handed it to Charles. And they left without a fuss.
Gavin was surprised. “I’d have thought that,
being French, they’d still want a fight.”
And one of them turned around and said to the
others, “Hey, they said they wanted a fight! Let’s have at ‘em!”
Rusty picked up a stray baseball bat and came
to the front of the TSC pack, just as the Frenchmen were beginning their
charge. He stood in front of them and said, holding the bat in a ready-to-swing
position, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
The Frenchmen muttered, “No… I guess not…” and
walked back off into the distance.
After ensuring they had indeed gone, they all
went back inside and settled back down to more gaming.
A couple of hours later, the fourth challenge
was announced, the last for the night.
“Sonic Drift 2 is the game, you’re to play the
Milky Way level. Pick up as many rings as you can, and finish in the quickest
time. Go!”
Milky Way is not a particularly hard level, but
many buckled in the pressure of the tournament setting. Some used boosts which
was a big mistake, as, with Sonic or Metal Sonic, they cost rings per use.
Jay changed things up a little and announced
the top eight players by name:
“The eight players who have reached the finals
stage of the tournament are: Stephen Chan!”
The crowd applauded – it was safe to assume
everyone would get their own little round of applause.
“Mike Erman!”
“Cameron Jones!”
“Rusty Jones!”
“Mike McKenzie!”
“Dan Siviter!”
“Gavin Ward!”
“and Dan Zurad!”
Applause followed the reading of each name.
“This means that Chris, Kev
and myself were knocked out of this round. That’s all for tonight, we’ll start
up again some time tomorrow, whenever I say so.”
The competitors spent the rest of the night
incredibly relieved that the SA2B run had been completed, but now they would
fight amongst each other for another prize…
The format of the tournament had been changed
slightly. This round was more of a quarter final – the eight competitors would
face off in pairs in…
“Sonic 3 Time Attack. You’ll play the Grand
Prix mode, all five levels in a row, monitors on. First to win three events
goes through to the semi finals. Now let me just put everyone’s name in a hat
so we can do the draw…”
The first match would see Gavin against
Stephen, then Mike McKenzie would play Dan Siviter,
the other Mike and Dan would face off third, and Rusty would complete
proceedings by playing his namesake, Cameron.
In the first match, both players chose Sonic,
and it began. Gavin got off to the early lead by taking Azure Lake, then stole
a thrilling Balloon Park match by spindashing up the
hill and taking Stephen’s second balloon away just as he was about to hit it on
the last lap. The task became too difficult, and one got the feeling he threw
Chrome Gadget away.
Again, both players picked Sonic for the second
match. Dan stole
A break of tradition as Dan opted for Tails. In
doing this he forfeited
Cameron, like Dan before him, opted for Tails,
and was obviously hoping for the same result. Not to be, as he threw away
So then there were four. Jay decided to take
the semi final straight away so that the rest of the day would be left for more
casual gaming.
“The semi final will take place on Sonic
Advance 3. As you know, in Sonic Advance 3 multiplayer, four players are split
into two teams, one leader, one partner. Now I think everyone here would agree
that Mike and Dan are the outstanding Sonic Advance 3 players here, so they
will lead their respective teams.”
He then wrote the names of Gavin and Rusty on
two pieces of paper, scrunched them up and held the hands behind his back.
“I’ll let Dan choose his partner. Pick one
hand.”
Dan chose the left hand and it revealed that he
would team up with Gavin. Mike was therefore teamed with Rusty.
At this point, he led the four finalists into a
separate room, whilst giving everyone else in the room a number. This number
was the level on which they would play (zone 1 act 1 would be 1, zone 2 act 3
would be 6, etc.)
Jay called the four players back. Since Dan had
chosen his teammate, he allowed Mike to choose the level.
“I’ll pick my bro, Dan. What’ve you got?”
And he said, “I’m number nine.”
Mike muttered, “That’s Ocean Base 3…” and Dan
suddenly looked more confident.
Jay gave the finalists the rules: “Nobody can
be Sonic, as that’s just unfair to all concerned.”
At this point, character selection took place.
Mike and Rusty took the Knuckles/Tails combination, while Dan and Gavin took
the remaining Cream/Amy.
“The winning team shall be pronounced the two
finalists, and will compete against each other for the title of TSC Grand
Champion,” were Jay’s last words before starting the game off.
“GO!”
And they were off.
Ocean Base 3 is a relatively easy level, but
without Sonic both leaders were confused as to where to go. Rusty and Gavin
quickly found out that they had to do very little and just relied on their
leaders to take them through to the final.
Mike took a slight lead, which was quickly
nullified due to the Knuckles/Tails team’s lack of R-tricks. Cream and Amy capitalised and led by half a second into the first tube.
Dan went for too much as he came out of the
tube, being hit by the enemy, and they were neck and neck up the slope. Both
players made a couple of slick jumps in an attempt to press home any advantage
they could possibly get. But as it were, they remained neck and neck until the
next speed booster, whereupon Dan missed the jump and was thrown into spikes,
while Mike picked up the all-important speed shoes.
Mike led by about a second into the second
tube, and from there he was never going to be headed. Mike and Rusty had made
the final of the TSC Championship!
The rest of day three was reserved for,
comparatively, the players letting their hair down a little. Competition
between players was still fierce, as is to be expected among players of such
high caliber, but the intensity of the tournament was obviously not there. One
more day of surprises awaited…
Those who had slept woke up on the final day to
see the two finalists playing like mad on every game they could get their hands
on. They were practicing anything and everything, in anticipation of what Jay
might pit them against each other on in the final. In fact, a few players
quizzed Mike and Rusty over this behaviour –
apparently they had both been up all night practicing everything like mad. Mike
claimed to have played every single level he could be asked to play – Rusty
claimed he couldn’t possibly have.
Jay called the four semi-finalists forward and
announced the challenge for the final of the tournament.
“The competitors will play all four levels of
Sonic 2, and the winner is whoever the game declares to be the winner. Dan and
Gavin will play first for third place…“
Neither of them knew of this arrangement, so
both were a little surprised.
“…followed by the championship match between
Mike and Rusty. Everyone crowd around, third place is on the line!”
Gavin would play as Sonic, and Dan as Tails.
Emerald Hill would start both events, and the loser of each would pick the next
level.
Dan’s Emerald Hill 1 strategy was to bolt to
the finish line with as much resource as possible. He crossed the line in 28
seconds with 45 rings.
Gavin had 52 rings and was headed for the
finish line when he bumped into the yellow spring and took a hit below. With
Total Ring locked up, he went for score and item boxes after that – however,
much to his dismay, the three item boxes in a row had already been taken. Dan
took act 1 out 3-2.
Act 2 was almost a carbon copy of the first.
Dan with the quick finish, and Gavin taking a late hit and not getting enough
resources in time. This time, it was score that cost him. Dan took out the zone
2-0.
Gavin selected the special stages and
hostilities resumed. This is where he made his fightback.
He had worked out the best ways to get rings efficiently on stages 5 and 6, and
thrashed Dan in both stages. 2-2, 2 levels to play.
Dan selected
Act 2, on the other hand, was a whitewash. Dan
lost all sense of direction at times in the level, and in fact fell into the
Spike Pit of Hell once. Gavin took an easy win to take the lead into Casino
Night. Jay reiterated a rule at that point: “No spring or lift traps.” Just in
case Gavin was considering it.
Act 1 saw Dan take the win quite comfortably,
leaving the players at 3 acts each. The next act had the potential to decide
this match… Gavin played the slots to build up a handy ring and score lead,
while Dan zoomed over to the final slot machine and tried to milk that for
rings, without a great deal of luck. He knew he would need rings to stay in the
match, but kept spinning up useless combinations, until finally… a Bar. ONE
BAR. Dan gave up and let Gavin have the win, leaving Dan requiring a special
stage victory to tie up third place.
Gavin took the first section 19-6 to put the
pressure on Dan. He’d now need the last two sections… thankfully the cards fell
his way in part 2 and Gavin took a hit near the end to give Dan that win. All
down to part 3… and Gavin took an early lead, before being pegged back by a
bomb… into the last set of rings now… 12-12! A tie! Assuming both made it
through the last set of bombs, which they did safely. Gavin wins a thriller of
a 3rd place playoff, 4 acts to 3. The two congratulated each other on their
efforts, and made way for the final match.
At this point, the flights back home were
getting perilously close to leaving, so they had to speed things up a little.
Mike, who was in a particular hurry, sped through Emerald Hill with the aid of
two Speed Shoe powerups, but neglecting plenty of
rings. Rusty caught him on rings, total rings and score and won the act 3-2.
Emerald Hill 2 set a similarly cracking pace.
Mike took the top path, again with the aid of a speed shoe, and took all the
rings up there. Rusty had to catch him up on rings, but failed, falling short
by just six rings to set up a Special Stage encounter.
Part 1 is a very simple part and fell Mike’s
way purely because he started in the lead and managed to stay there. Part 2 is
simple enough but Rusty managed to hit a bomb set after a long passage of
rings, dropping him back in rings and position, and was unable to catch up.
Part 3 was completely irrelevant, as Mike took the first zone out 2-1.
Rusty then picked Casino Night Zone, and got
off to a quick lead. Even without spring traps he proved his worth to crush
Mike in act 1, then back up his performance in act 2. 3-2 to Rusty.
Mike took
Both players arrived from opposite directions
into the final stretch at the same time. They spindashed
from the checkpoint platform simultaneously, but Mike made the crucial mistake
of holding right after moving off the edge. He stopped and attempted another spindash, but it was too late, Rusty had crossed the line…
for a 3-2 win and the title of TSC Grand Champion!
Everyone congratulated him on winning and a
mock medal ceremony was held, with Gavin getting a bronze “medal” (which was
just more brownies), Mike picking up the silver (twice as many as Gavin) and
Rusty won the gold (guess how many brownies he got?).
After the ceremony, the players contemplated
the past four days. Mostly the consensus was “it was a great event, but now I
feel as though I have no reason to game any more… I’ve played against the best
and performed admirably. Now where to go?”
Mike, the silver medalist, in particular was
circumspect about his future. “I think it’s time to move on with the next phase
of my life,” was his comment.
Many followed his lead and decided to take
their leave from TSC right then and there. They had all formed a great bond
over the past four years, but ironically, after that bond brought them to meet,
it withered away…
Then slowly they left, leaving just Jay and
Jennie left in the house. Jennie had a question for Jay: “With all the best
players gone, what’re you going to do?”
Jay replied: “I would just say ‘they’ll be
back,’ but they sounded serious… I can’t really say that with any authority.
That leaves just one more option…” and he prepared himself to apply the most
dramatic voice he could muster…
Jennie inquired “And what might that be?”
Jay made his dramatic statement: “As of this
moment, the
As if reflective of that comment, they went up
to the second storey and watched the six cars leave the way they had came. With
little thought as to how the three teams with smashed cars would explain the
situation, they cleaned up the house and packed away all the gaming systems.
Then, later that day, the
The next day…
<gbagcn> is anyone here
<gbagcn> no, really
<Rolken> nobody likes you~
<Rolken> everyone left you~
<Rolken> they’re all out without you~
<Rolken> having fun~
*
Rolken has quit IRC (Quit: thanks for the memories!)
FIN~
And that’s
it. Three fake chats and nearly fifty pages later, it’s all over.
I’ve had a
great deal of fun writing these, so you’d better enjoy reading them. :D
This is the
longest of the lot, weighing in at over 8000 words, which is about double the
length of #2 and almost three times the length of #1.
Click here
for the usual commentary.
See y’all
later!