Archive for the ‘Milestones’ Category

An Elite Milestone of Biblical Proportions!

Back in 2004 when Ilari Pekkala created the “Dark License to Kill” league for Goldeneye, players have slowly accomplished the incredible feats of beating each level one by one as strategies were optimized. Some of these completions when it was all said and done reached times beyond the one hour mark, showing that players need incredible patience to beat levels with these incredible guard statistics (maxed to 1000% on all four options).

With this information established, the last few levels to be beaten was Streets, Train, and Cradle in late 2009/early 2010. With 19 of 20 levels completed, the only one remaining was Silo. Silo was considered to be impossible by nearly every player almost exclusively because of the 8:30 timer that automatically starts on the 00 Agent/007 difficulty. Many players in the last 3 years have collaborated and worked the level to a science, optimizing the most out-of-this-world strategies to clear out 63 total guards in less than 9 minutes with limited ammo and space to work with.

3 years, 330 hours, and $175 USD in bounties later, Adam Bozon presented us with the following video; loaded with annotations and more information than one could ever imagine. One must note that this kind of run requires 3 grenades and incredible patience to get a remote chance at making the final lift intact. The utmost of congratulations go out to Adam for conquering the final frontier in Goldeneye DLTK; may this accomplishment be remembered forever by all of us as time goes on. Enjoy everyone!

Move over Michael Jordan, someone else owns the #23!

After standing for 3,217 days on the rankings (May 23, 2004), Bunker 2 Agent 0:24 has been dethroned as the 6th-longest standing tied record in Goldeneye history. Watch as Marc Rützou uses robotic perfection and a strat envisioned by Karl Jobst to nail 0:23 – perhaps the finest Agent record on the rankings right now.

Remember, 18 people had 0:24 before this (including Marc) after the recent surge of new 0:24s by several players. With this surge, Karl Jobst developed a new strategy utilizing that annoying “warping guard” while also showing great timing for the critical keycard guard kill. Karl might not have been the first one to actually execute 0:23, but he contributed greatly to its cause. Special credit also goes out to David Clemens who also participated in the race to 0:23.

Goldeneye’s longest-standing untied ever finally tied!

After 1,812 days – just a hair under 5 years – Bryan Bosshardt’s Statue 00 Agent 2:18 was finally tied, and althought it wasn’t actually used in Marc 00 Agent run, it yielded a new strat that might make that time the new standard for our top players. Marc Rutzou’s ingenious find of a small tweak in the route to and from the Trevelyan meeting has proven to save anywhere from 0.4-0.5 seconds if executed perfectly. Suddenly, a 2:18 sweep seems imminent with a possible 2:17 00 Agent on the horizon.

Side note: After tying 00 Agent, Marc promptly tied Jimmy Bauer’s only untied record with Secret Agent 2:18. The video linked is recorded live with all of Marc’s reactions out there for everyone to hear. He explains some of the facts behind finally achieving that coveted 2:18.

The February Update – Trimming the Fat, Cutting Back

Hello folks. Starting this month, I am going to update the front page monthly (and on time!) with the content that really matters – world records! I originally wanted to do a point rankings differential to track progress each month for the top 25 or so players, but I am unable to find an accurate listing of the rankings on exact days in the past. With that, I leave you with a list starting from the very top!

- Jim “Jimbo” Barrett

Rayan Isran: New Goldeneye points champion! Surface 2 SA 0:49, Aztec Agent 1:25 (untied!), Depot SA 0:40, Silo SA 1:09, Egypt 00 Agent 0:45 (untied!), Egypt SA 0:45 (untied!); Rescue SA 2:17 for Perfect Dark. (way to steal the show, unbelievable)

Karl Jobst: Archives SA 0:54 (Shaking off that rust, solid world record)

David Witten: Streets SA 1:55, Bunker 1 Agent 0:17 (Well done here!)

Ilari Pekkala: Surface 2 Agent 0:48 (So boring, but solid time!)

Greg “Funky Buddha” Lewis: Deep Sea PA 3:06 (untied!)

Guilherme Alberto: New player in the top 10! Egypt SA 0:46, Egypt 00 Agent 0:46 (They were great at the time)

Ryan White: Egypt SA 0:46 (It was great at the time)

Luke Szklarz: Surface 1 Agent 1:02, Bunker 1 Agent 0:17 (1:02 is boss, nice job!)

Marc Rutzou: Egypt Agent 0:45, Egypt SA 0:45, Egypt 00 Agent 0:45 (killer sweep!)

David Clemens: Extraction PA 1:29 (untied!)

Patrick “Neo” Johannessen: Duel PA 0:09 (Better late than never)

Jungle Love – It’s Driving Me Mad, It’s Making Me CRAZY!

OK, so the title seems a bit silly – it’s a 1977 song from the Steve Miller Band – but its title applies to recent events lately. Have you checked the rankings? One should note that only three days ago, there was only one untied sweep; now there are two!

Former champion and current #2 player Rayan Isran has historically owned Jungle, having 300 points on there for as long as one can remember. Rayan has had Jungle SA 0:53 untied since June 12, 2008 – the 2nd longest standing GoldenEye untied of all time – and an Agent tie of 0:51 complimented by a 00 Agent tie of 0:55.

Not anymore, however. Rayan has achieved an unreachable time on NTSC with Jungle Agent 0:50. Just because 0:50 was achieved on PAL does not mean this time is any less than perfect, however. With 8 boosts, and a PERFECT warp, Rayan nailed 0:50 and made 4 other players lose a record in the process. 0:54 00 Agent was just a perfectly smooth PAL run* with all the mines being blown up just before Xenia to reduce overall lag. Marc Rützou with 0:55 is the only player who loses a record there.

*PAL players can normally blow up the last 2 drones and the ammo dump no problem, whereas NTSC players will have grenades shoot through the floor after the ammo dump due to lag.

The December Update – Twitch is the Lifeblood

With the passing of November, a large chunk of the Elite was getting over a historical presidential election, and passing through to the month where Winter officially begins. Historically, the Winter months have proven to be the most dead time of the year within the Elite; with the recent addition of Twitch.tv and flurry of activity however, this will most certainly be the busiest December in years. Lets get right to the best of November!

Starting at the very top of the rankings, David Clemens is feeling the heat from his closest challengers. In just a few short days, Clemens posted an insane Control 00 Agent 4:08 – an untied that made the #2 ranked player Rayan Isran lose a precious 3 points in his own personal journey to perhaps regain the top spot.

Rayan “Ace” Isran wasn’t quiet this month either. Seemingly out of the blue, Ace posted a slick Caverns Secret Agent 1:19, becoming only the 3rd player to achieve this time. Along with that, Ace also posted a smooth Surface 1 Secret Agent 1:48 (also being the 3rd player to get this), and a very good Aztec Agent 1:28. The Aztec run was highlighted by a fairly lengthy stuck on the glass prior to the final mainframe, long enough to probably cost him the world record.

Marc Rützou, perhaps the most active and prolific player of the month, achieved a jumbled mess of records that has him on the heels of the podium. Marc is one of the Elite’s most popular streamers; combine that with his outrageous skill, ability to grind out records, and ridiculous amount of time available to play – suddenly you have a deadly combination ready to take it to the very top. Marc’s first record was Aztec 00 Agent 1:40, a tied record which features Marc’s 5 minute decision to go the “slow or the fast route” at the pause just before the final room. Marc also posted a pair of Egypt 0:46s, both world records, in route to getting 295 points there. Finally, he dominated Control by posting a slick Control Agent 3:58, claiming it was “relatively easy” and has failed a few 3:57s live on stream! Marc’s “regular PRs” would include Cradle 00A 0:37, Egypt Agent 0:46, Control SA 4:08, and Control 00A 4:11.

Next up on the December update is the promising Jimmy Bauer. Jimmy only posted 3 PRs this month, but they were still enough to take everyone by surprise. Firstly, Jimmy strut his stuff by posting a sick Bunker 2 Secret Agent 0:47. Although not a record, it’s a 4th place time highlighted by a 2-boost ending which got quite the response. His other times are featured by his first ever untied record – Statue Secret Agent 2:18 – breaking the heart of Statue superstar Bryan Bosshardt. The best part of that 2:18 was the sweet $45 bounty that went along with it, congrats on taking my money, JB! Jimmy wrapped up the month by posting Statue Agent 2:19, also a record.

Posting a pair of single records on the month, Ilari Pekkala posted a Cradle Agent 0:34 in an ultimate troll action to Marc Rutzou, who is currently struggling for the record; and yours truly Jimbo Barrett posted a pretty snazzy Bunker 2 Agent 0:24. Credit to all the top players for taking me by the hand in helping me getting my 25th career record; it certainly helped that 0:24 included the fastest warp of the 11 total players who have that record. I am currently about 25 points out of the legitimate top 15*, thanks in part to several streamed PRs this last month.

While not posting any records, Ryan White “Goose” and David Witten were not quiet this month either. David destroyed his former Train PRs and now has 1:04/1:31/1:59, a solid combination that puts him 9th on the Train leaderboard. Ryan posted a Caverns 00A 1:34, a 3rd place time on the legitimate rankings*, and Depot SA 0:43.

Rounding out the update, we have the only notable piece of news from the Perfect Dark world – the end of Attack Ship 3:12 being the longest standing untied of all time. Bryan tied this record when the bounties started encouraging other players to finally challenge the record.

Hopefully by the next update, we’ll all have made it through the December 21st doomsday, Marc will have finally gotten Cradle 0:34 and Control 3:57, Clemens will have safely made it back from his month-long stay in Indonesia, Ryan Koch’s stream will be up and running, and I will be in the top 15. Keep playing guys, because Twitch is the greatest thing to ever happen to the Elite.

*Legitimate rankings are stated because of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the indefinite banning of Henning Blom. All stated rankings are assumed that Henning is active and unbanned.

The November Update – Insane records, new podium player!

October has come and gone. For most of us, it was a time of foliage changing color and cooler temperatures, but boy did the world records stay hot! Not only did both games see some huge activity, but there was a significant change in the point rankings in Goldeneye, as well as some insane untieds by a potential high-profile player. Lets start with the most important stuff from October.

Henning Blom, Goldeneye’s highest-ranked Swede and top 5 overall player, has absolutely dominated the world record topic. Previously known for having sub-standard Depot times, he had suddenly risen to the top of the Depot leaderboards and is well on his way to an untied 300 point stage. Henning posted Depot Agent 0:25 back on October 7, then followed that up by tying David Monteith’s only untied record of Depot Secret Agent 0:40 on October 30; finally, he improved one of his worst times by posting an insane Depot 00 Agent 0:48, tying Bryan Bosshardt, and is well on his way to posting a 0:47 (he has 6 failed 0:48s as of this update). Along with this incredible Depot domination, Henning posted a smooth Streets 00 Agent 1:55. Overall, Henning launched himself over former champion Bryan Bosshardt to assume 3rd place and a spot on the podium for the first time in his career. Henning could easily challenge Rayan Isran‘s #2 spot and has already announced his intentions of getting there, could he perhaps one day challenge the seemingly untouchable David Clemens?

Speaking of the champ David Clemens, it’s worth noting that during a warm-up session in Minnesota just 2 short days ago as of this update, David failed a Frigate SA 1:00 by failing the engine bomb objective… the hostages completed! Henning was *that* close to losing his one and only precious yet insane untied world record to a guy who seems like he can turn it on at any moment. The featured video of David failing 1:00 is below with a live reaction recorded, it is absolutely priceless but heartbreaking to watch.

Next on the insanity list is a little-known player to most casual observers. Luke “Lucky P” Pettit has made himself known as the guy who has insane times, yet never had a world record. While rather interesting, it was a shame that he missed out on Runway Secret Agent 0:23 by a few hours or so after Bryan Bosshardt got 0:22. Luke absolutely smashed this reputation by posting an unexpected and insane Frigate 00 Agent 1:06! To add insult to injury to anyone who ever made fun of his lack of world records, he followed that up by posting a 1:05 on the very same difficulty! This is a bittersweet video to watch, because Luke took a safe strat at the end and waited for Objective A to complete at the boat, leaving it up for nearly a second and almost assuredly giving up 1:04 in the process. Regardless, Pettit did the rare feat of making champion David Clemens lose a record while establising himself as a real player and a threat to the top 10 (and possibly top 5!)

Never to be forgotten, PAL sensation and top 5 player Marc Rützou untied his own record by posting a smooth Train SA 1:23. This record was far out of reach already to NTSC players, but Marc made this record nearly out of reach for anyone by lowering his own record and proving he’s the greatest Train player of all time. Marc also finally got a Bunker 1 Agent 0:17, a record that was a glaring void in his times page up to this point. One must not look past his Aztec 00 Agent 1:41 as well, which was achieved on his way to possibly obliterating the current record of 1:40. This guy is clearly capable of setting any record he wants.

Lastly on the world record front, Perfect Dark saw it’s on share of the action. Bryan Bosshardt, never to be forgotten for his PD accomplishments (including being a former champion), blasted away a former Paragon record by posting a sweet Infiltration PA 1:40. The record likely isn’t quite as impressive as the former Paragon record of 1:52 only because a forgotten shield was left in the game in the Japanese version. Nevertheless, Bryan’s 1:40 gives him a 2 second advantage on his next competitor, Taka. Taka wasn’t completely forgotten this month; he posted a Rescue SA 2:17, tying a record set by David Clemens.

Moving onto the PR front, Jimmy Bauer takes the prize as the player of the month (in my humble opinion, anyway). Jimmy was always known as the guy who wasn’t always around, but when he posted, it was usually an insane PR or WR that took everyone by surprise. This time though, he posted a barrage of PRs that elevated him several ranks in overall time and boosted him solidly into the top 10 in points. Eddie Lovins now holds onto his top 10 spot by a mere 2 points over Dan Cervone! Bauer posted some great PRs like Jungle 00A 0:58, Frigate SA 1:03, Jungle A 0:52, as well as Aztec 00 Agent 1:48 – this being a 44 second cut and an 50 point gainer!

Ilari Pekkala posted a Silo Agent 1:04, Train Agent 1:04, Depot 00A 0:50, and even made the switch to PD for an Attack Ship PA 3:14 (during his chase for the bounty offered to take down the 6 year untied of 3:12). Ryan White has come back with a vengeance by posting some insane Statue times, as well as being the flagship streamer on the elite’s new pursuit of Goldeneye 100% world records (which is currently held by David Clemens). The streams feature Clemens, Ryan White, and Marc Rützou on a consistent basis. The viewer count at times has peaked at over 100!

Lastly, as a shout-out and thank you for hosting an epic meet in Minnesota, I must mention that Dan Edeen is slowly becoming good speedrunner. He spent countless hours for his precious Dam Agent 0:54 and Archives Agent 0:17, both taking a ridiculously long time, but it shows his persistence for these times as he strives to match his Minnesota brethren in skill at the games. This is a guy who buys and sells games on the side for some major extra cash, he’s also a guy who currently owns a Millennium 2000 controller, a Nintendo Power 100 controller, and a DK64 controller! Dan is projected to host a major midwest meet next spring at his new (big!) house, it would be the largest concentration of top-players in the history of the elite. (Hint, we could see 4 of Goldeneye’s top 5 players in one house!)

The September Update – Major Age Milestone!

On August 25, just one week ago, our beloved Goldeneye turned 15 years old. The fact that 15 years has passed by and new untied world records are still being achieved solidifies the status that Goldeneye is clearly one of the greatest and most well-designed games of all time. To this day, no major game-breaking glitches have truly been uncovered in an attempt to shave massive chunks of time off of the current overall time of 1:12:52.

Note: In the history of the official elite rankings, only 7 different players have ever held the title as points champion; 8 players have been time champions.

Continuing the trend of Goldeneye always dominating the front page updates, Denmark’s powerhouse Marc Rützou is slowly climbing the ranks – he currently sits at 5th in points and 3rd in time. After achieving Streets Agent 1:12 (see previous update), Marc completed the sweet with 1:55s on both Secret and 00 Agent. In addition to Streets, Marc finally provided a proof video for Surface 1 00 Agent 1:48 – a time which was achieved in August 2011 but never published on the rankings permanently due to a proof discrepancy.

Dan Cervone, always the sneaky speedrunner and well known for “sniping” easy world records out of nowhere, also achieved 1:55s on Streets Secret and 00 Agent. Joining the party was David Witten, who also got Streets 00 Agent 1:55. (I’m seeing a pattern here!) Finally, the last world record achieved since the previous update was Statue Agent 2:19 by Adam Bozon, who now has a 2:19 sweep of the level and is tied for 2nd on the leaderboard.

A few final notes:
- For our NFL fans out there, the elite continues the tradition of fantasy football, pigskin pick ‘em, and spread betting through one fairly large and active topic, which can be found here.

- Perfect Dark is not dead, but not very active either. Carathorn has gotten a few new times on Pelagic II, while David Clemens has been streaming his attempts at a new untied record (1:38/1:39) on Special Agent on the same level.

- Hopefully by this time next month, the Virginia 2012 compilation video will be complete and will be the primary topic of discussion for the next update assuming no major strats or untieds are found.

- Check the elite rankings to see new implementations by Your Eliteness. Not only are the rankings far more practical and efficient than they have ever been before, but now they are streamlined and look amazing! It can never be overstated as to how important YE’s contributions to the elite since last Christmas have been.

First it was Runway SA 0:22, now Streets?!

It was Saturday, June 25, 2005 – Wouter Jansen, the elite’s greatest 1.1 control style player and one of the most dominant speedrunners in the elite’s history, finally achieved an unheard-of record of 1:13 on Streets Agent. That record stood alone for a year and a half until Ryan White tied it on March 2, 2007. Since those two, 22 additional players claimed 1:13 as a record on their times page – including myself just 3 short days ago – only to see the record fall today by a player who is almost certainly the most persistent player since the days of Wouter Jansen himself; both players being so determined to get a record that many others would simply settle for less on.

That player is Marc Rützou, whom now is finally a top 5 player after a long period of time with an incomplete set of times. 1:12 was a figment of the imagination for a while until Ryan White had a 1:12.99 rounded up a few years back. Marc’s robot-perfect strafing, a cash offer of $100, the new addition of 2.2 control style, and hours upon hours of free time has contributed to a record that most certainly will not be tied by very many people in the long run.

As it stands, only 41 people currently hold a Goldeneye record, and only 33 people hold multiple records – an astoundingly low number in comparison to the BBWJ era or DCRI era.

Without further ado, here is the video. Once again, congrats to Marc for being a stubborn speedrunner who literally settles for nothing less than the very best.

On a horrible sidenote, David Clemens is the 2012 Elite Summer Contest winner! Clemens was victorious by a margin of 28-26 over his opponent, who had another solid showing in the contest for the 2nd time in 3 years. Dave’s win closes the book on possibly the most dominating month in elite history (see previous update for his Virginia results)

Legendary Goldeneye record destroyed by a legendary player!

June 20, 2012 – One of the most historic days in the history of the elite. It was just a few short days ago that former Goldeneye champion Bryan Bosshardt finally shattered the longest standing world record in the history of the elite. Runway Secret Agent 0:22 was achieved 4 years after Bryan’s first few serious attempts began in 2008.

Some facts about the history of Runway Secret Agent:

1. Karl Jobst got 0:23 on November 9, 2001. Since then it became the longest standing non-Duel record in the history of the Elite. The record stood for 3,876 days. 2nd in line is Dam Agent 0:53, achieved just under a year later.

2. 52 people in total lost a record – there are now only 42 total players with a Goldeneye world record.

3. David Monteith was the last player to get 0:23 as a record, Luke Pettit is the first player to get 0:23 as a regular personal record.

4. Often considered the token “easiest record” in the game, that title likely now belongs to Archives Agent 0:16 or Streets Agent 1:13 … depending on whom you ask.

5. 0:23 was achieved with the 1.2 control style with an original N64 controller, 0:22 was achieved with the dual-controller 2.x setup with a Superpad controller.

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