ShikenNuggets' Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
"When's your next stream?"
Check the schedule! I try to stream at least two or three times a week, but I can't make any specific promises beyond what's listed there. Joining my Discord server is generally the best way to keep up with things.
"Are you gonna play/stream/speedrun Arkham Shadow (VR game)?" (!vr)
No. I don't own a VR headset, and I don't plan to buy one anytime soon.
"Are you gonna play/stream/speedrun any other upcoming superhero games?"
I am generally interested in anything superhero related, but we haven't seen gameplay for anything yet. Ask me again when we have.
As for speedrunning, regardless of whether a game is good or not, it could be a bad speedrun for other reasons (unskippable cutscenes/dialog, could be too long, the optimal strats could just be boring, online features and game updates often complicate things, etc). It usually takes at least 2-3 weeks after launch to get a sense of how good a speedrun is.
"What's your favourite game/movie/book/colour/cereal box design/etc?" (!fav)
I don't think too much about favourites, I just like what I like. I think that mentality causes people focus way too much on constantly comparing everything, instead of actually enjoying things and appreciating them for what they are.
"Why do you sometimes speedrun in a language other than English?" (!spanish, !french, etc)
For speedrunning, sometimes it's faster to play games in a certain language, usually because of shorter text or dialogue. Which language is best and exactly how much of a difference it makes depends on the game/category.
"How do you rank the Arkham games? Which one's your favourite?"
For a really long time my favourite was City, but nowadays I appreciate all four games for different reasons and honestly just don't really feel the need to compare them all the time. 7+ years of competitive speedrunning has also completely warped my perception of things, so I don't think it would make sense for me to rank them at this point anyway.
"Do you stream anything other than Batman?"
I'm almost exclusively focused on Arkham speedruns, but I occasionally run other games. You can see everything I've ever run on my speedrun.com profile. I only stream casual playthroughs on special occasions.
"Don't you get bored of playing Batman all the time?"
If I did, I wouldn't still be doing it! For me, speedrunning and having the goal of self-improvement breathes new life into games that I probably would never have a reason to play again otherwise. And if I do get tired of a particular game/category, there's lots of other categories to choose from to switch things up.
"Have you ever considered speedrunning [insert cool game/series here]?"
Probably not. I'm not really interested in learning any new speedruns right now.
"What do you think of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League? Are you gonna speedrun it?" (!ss or !suicidesquad)
Honestly, it's just terrible. I never want to play it again. The speedrun also looks pretty boring.
"How was Spider-Man 2? Are you gonna speedrun it" (!sm2 or spiderman2)
I really enjoyed my playthrough, but I think I have to wait a while and play through it again to have a more nuanced opinion of it. I was initially planning to run it but honestly I have no idea if I'll ever get around to it at this point.
How was Gotham Knights? Will you speedrun it again?
Overall I did mostly enjoy my first playthrough, but realistically it's a 6/10 at best and has almost zero replay value. There's no real speed tech and nobody cares about the game anymore. Was fun while it lasted but I doubt I'll ever play it again.
"Will you ever do Anthology 100%/All Achievements/other ridiculously long category?" (!12)
I am not attempting 12+ hour long runs anymore due to health concerns.
"Do you stream/make YouTube videos full-time?"
Absolutely not. In a good month I only make like 10% of what I'd need to even consider going full-time. Also not sure that I'd even want to anyway. It's not really a viable long-term career path, and while speedrunning is a fun hobby, I have much more that I want to do with my life.
"What are your PC specs/peripherals/stream gear"
PC:
- Ryzen 9 7950x (16 cores, 32 threads @ 4.5 GHz)
- RTX 3090 TI
- 64GB RAM
Peripherals:
- Corsair K57 RGB Wireless Keyboard (meh)
- Logitech G502 Lightspeed Mouse
- DualShock 4 Controller
- Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Monitor (32:9 ultrawide, 1440p, 240hz)
- Sennheiser GSP 600 headphones (meh)
- Rode PodMic + Wave XLR Interface
- Razer Kiyo webcam (has a ring light built into it, otherwise meh)
- Secondary ring light (random no-name brand)
- Stream Deck (15 button version)
Console Stuff
- PS2, PS3, PS5, OG XBOX, Xbox 360, Switch
- Elgato HD60 X capture card
- RetroTink 5X Pro uspcaler/deinterlacer
Chat Commands
!commands or !help
You are here.
!discord
Links my personal Discord server.
!batdiscord
Links the Batman Arkham Speedrunning Community Discord server.
!input or !inputdisplay or !overlay
Explains how my overlay switches between showing keyboard inputs and controller inputs using this program.
!kbm
Explains why I play on both keyboard/mouse AND controller.
!lastrun
Explains that the previous run died, and that runs die a lot, and that it doesn't matter why it died.
!no
"Please don't tell me what to do."
!pb
Posts my Personal Best for the category I'm currently running.
!pc or !specs
Tells you my PC specs (listed above in the FAQ section as well).
!playtime
Gives you an Extremely Precise™ and Perfectly Accurate™ number for how many hours I've spent playing Batman games.
!rules
Links to the speedrun.com leaderboard rules for the category I'm currently running.
!run
Answers the question "is the run good?" (just reads the current pace off the timer, green numbers good, red numbers bad)
!runs or !speedrun or !sr or !src
Links to my speedrun.com profile.
!sob or !sobs
Posts my Sum of Best Segments (basically the best time I can theoretically get) for the category I'm currently running.
!whatdidimiss
If you left the stream and came back, this will assure you that you didn't miss anything.
!wr
Posts the World Record for the category I'm currently running.
!youtube or !yt
Links to my YouTube channel.