SpeedGaming Live
2025 In-Person Event: FF1 Improved Vanilla
Rules & Guidance
Welcome to the 2025 SpeedGaming Live in-person event. This tournament is hosted by SpeedGaming, and while FFR is assisting with the running and overseeing of the event, do note that this is first and foremost SpeedGaming's tournament. It's a great outreach event for FFR, and a great way for us to show off the Randomizer to a wider audience.
The SGL FF1 Improved Vanilla event is a for-cash tournament. Any cash contributed to the pool by the end of the on-site tournament will be split among the winning players (based on how much money is in the pool and how many players are signed up. That said, while the event is for a cash prize, and you may contribute, FFR in no way is encouraging, or requiring, any players to contribute to the event's cash pool. You may play for free and are not limited, in any way, as to how much you can win other than your final placement in the tournament.
Please make sure to read the FFR General Rules & Guidance for Tournaments and Leagues, as well as these rules, before participating.
Note: FFR this year is hosting not only a Randomizer tournament at SGL but also an Improved Vanilla tournament as well. Please see the FFR tournament's page for details on the Randomizer side of the event.
ΒΆ In-Person Event
About the Tournament
The Improved Vanilla in-person event will be handled on site at the Hyatt Washington Dulles in Herndon, Virginia, from October 23rd to 26th. The Improved Vanilla tournament will be run at the same time as other tournaments (ALttPR, OoTR, etc.) and, as such, tournament space, and broadcast time, will be at a premium. Players will need to find their opponents, schedule their matches, and keep the schedule moving so that the tournament is completed within the four days of SGL.
Tournament Structure:
The tournament will be double-elim, best-of-one races, with the finals being best-of-three (with no bonus provided to the Winner's Bracket leader). Everyone will get at least two games to play before being eliminated.
Lower Bracket races likely will not be broadcast, up to and including Lower Semis. Upper Quarters, Upper Semis, both bracket Finals, and the Grand Finals will be broadcast.
Prize Split
Assuming 16 or less players, the split of the pot for the on-site event will be 60/40 for 1st place/2nd place. This could change with more participants in the tournament.
The Flags
So what is "Improved Vanilla"? It's a flagset for FFR that removes all the randomization from the Randomizer. It's the vanilla game, with vanilla enemies, vanilla progression, vanilla treasures, et al. The changes stem from Quality of Life and bug fixes. This is the NES game with all the little errors corrected, along with a few tiny quality of life changes added in to make the game play quickly in a tournament setting. It's fast, it's fun, and it's a great way to play the vanilla NES game in a whole new way..
- SG Live FF1 NES Improved Vanilla: Tournament Flags
Please note that the Improved Vanilla flagset corrects all the known errors in the game. We're playing on the U.S. NES ROM, so any thing that can be done on the U.S. ROM and isn't eliminated by the Randomizer is fair game. If you can pull off RNG tricks and manips, those are tournament legal. Come in with your best route, best knowledge, and best way to play as it's fair game.
Sign-Ups:
Any player may sign up for the FF1 Improved Vanilla tournament if they have paid to be at SpeedGaming Live 2025. If you have registered for the event, let the FFR tournament staff know and they will add you to the Challonge bracket.
Tournament Staff:
If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them at DarkmoonEX.