What's the 30 4 30 Challenge?

The "30 4 30" originated in 2019 in honor of sg4e's 30th birthday. During the 30 days of November leading up to his December 1st birthday, sg4e beat 30 different games.

The spirit of the original 30 4 30 continued on in a new form starting in 2020, with the creation of the first 30 4 30 Challenge: an endurance trial in which participants attempted to beat the 10 selected games before the end of November. The few who managed to complete the challenge have their names inscribed on this page in recognition of this achievement. And this year, the 30 4 30 Challenge begins once again, with an all-new gameslist. So... are you up for the challenge?

The 30 4 30 Challenge begins on November 1, 2024 at 12AM EDT (UTC-4) and ends on November 30, 2024 at 11:59PM EST (UTC-5) (Daylight Savings Time ends while the challenge is active). See rules below.

Revisions

Any revisions to this page after its initial publication will be listed here. Please check back periodically to become aware of any updates or clarifications of rules.

1. Guidelines for approving submissions have been added.

Games

Register to participate in the 30 4 30 Challenge here: challenge.maika.moe

This year, rather than a list of specific games, you are given a list of categories and must complete one game that fits into each category.

1. Beat a Mario game
• Must be officially licensed by Nintendo.
• Mario must make an appearance but does NOT have to be the main character.
2. Beat a game based on an animated TV show or movie
• It doesn't matter whether the game predates the animated series. It only needs to be a game that shares its Intellectual Property with an animated series.
3. Beat a game with a BANGER soundtrack
• Include your favorite song from the soundtrack in your submission notes!
4. Beat a game that Hakui Koyori or your favorite vtuber has streamed
• Hakui Koyori has streamed over 200 games. You're sure to find something you like on her list of games.
• You may choose to play the original version of a remake, but not vice versa. For example, Koyori played the Pixel Remaster versions of FF1-FF6, but you can play the (S)NES version of any of these games instead. Koyori played the Live A Live remake for Nintendo Switch, but you can play the SNES original instead. In the case of FF7, Koyori played both the original version and the modern remake, so either is eligible.
• Translation patches for games that don't have an English release are allowed.
• Even if you have a favorite vtuber, you may still choose to play a Hakui Koyori game, but if you choose to play a game your favorite vtuber has streamed, you must explain why they are your favorite vtuber in your submission notes. This is a stringent requirement, and it must be evident from your explanation that you are a real fan of the vtuber and not simply picking them because they streamed a game you'd like to play.
5. Beat a game where you control a non-human animal
• Your "control" of the animal doesn't necessarily have to be via your controller. Perhaps you play a game where the main character controls an animal by some plot device.
6. Enter your initials for the highest score
• This is the only category of the event where its completion doesn't necessarily imply beating a game. You're done as soon as your initials are 1st on the leaderboard.
• The leaderboard must have values entered by the developers (they don't have to be good).
• If the game has multiple leaderboards, you may pick any one to attempt.
• The leaderboard must have at least 3 slots/rankings.
• The values on the leaderboard have to be numeric but don't have to be "scores". Times in a Time-Trials mode would also work, for example.
• You may use a savefile or a cheat to unlock the ability to do attempts on the leaderboard, but the savefile or cheat may NOT give you any item, ability, advantage, etc. that you're not guaranteed to acquire by unlocking the leaderboard mode normally.
• Initials entry is required, but you can input any initials (can be a pseudonym). If the game puts your character on a podium or leaderboard but doesn't ask for your initials, it doesn't count.
• Although 3-letter-initials leaderboards are the most common in games, leaderboards that allow more characters or your full name are still eligible.
• It's required that the game ask for your initials immediately after your successful leaderboard attempt. Games that ask for your initials prior to the attempt don't count. For example, DKC3 puts your savefile name on a leaderboard after you beat the game, making it ineligible for this category. If it had instead asked for your name upon showing you the leaderboard, it would have been eligible.
7. Beat a game from your childhood
• If you didn't play videogames when you were little, play one of the first videogames you ever played instead.
8. Beat a game you never beat before
• Either a game you played before but never beat, or a game you never played before at all.
9. Beat your favorite game
• Deciding on an all-time favorite game can be hard. For this category, selecting one of your all-time favorite games is sufficient.

Elite Games

Choose to do 1 of the 3 elite categories below. Alternatively, you may choose to do 2 of the 3 elite categories below and 1 fewer of the regular categories above. Alternatively, you may choose to do all 3 elite categories below and 2 fewer of the regular categories above.

1. Beat a Nihon Falcom game
• The game must be published by Nihon Falcom but does not necessarily have to be developed by them.
• You may use translation patches for their older Japanese-only releases.
• If you own Ys I & II Complete or Ys I & II Chronicles, you can beat either Ys I or Ys II; you don't have to beat both.
2. Beat a game on the hardest difficulty
• The game must have at least 3 difficulties.
• The hardest difficulty doesn't have to be named "Hard", but it CANNOT be named "Casual", "Easy", or "Normal", or any variation thereof.
• You must play the whole game on the hardest difficulty. Games that dynamically adjust the difficulty are ineligible.
• Some games lock the hardest difficulty behind some requirement. You MUST play using whatever difficulty setting is the hardest, even if it is not available from the start. If you're unsure about all of a game's difficulty options, consider doing some research on the game to be sure of what its maximum difficulty setting is and how to acquire it.
• If the hardest difficulty is locked, you may use a savefile or cheat to unlock it as long as that savefile or cheat does NOT give you any item, ability, advantage, etc. that you're not guaranteed to acquire by unlocking the difficulty normally.
• If the hardest difficulty is DLC, you have to download it.
3. Beat an "adorable" NES game
• An adorable NES game is one that TheMexicanRunner rated as a 7 or higher difficulty level on his official NESMania spreadsheet.
• Go to his spreadsheet, right-click the "N" column header above the "Difficulty" cell and click "Sort Sheet Z to A". Any game between a 7 and 10 difficulty rating is eligible: TMR's NESMania spreadsheet
• You have to play the NES version. You CANNOT play any other releases of the game for another console. Emulation/Virtual Console is fine as long as it packages the NES version of the game.

New Rules

1. Each game you complete can count for only one category. You must decide what category to apply it for when you submit it.
2. Once you submit a game for a category, it is locked in. You may not submit the game for any other category, nor may you withdraw the submission to use the game for a different category.
3. You must submit your game as soon as you complete it and lock it in for a category. (Submitting it the following day is fine.) Consider planning your full gamelist before your first submission.

Register and Submit Your Completions!

This year's iteration of the 30 4 30 Challenge features a dedicated website for submitting games as you complete them and monitoring other participants' progress. A Twitch account is required to register, but you may submit your playthroughs from any video platform.

If streaming on Twitch, it's recommended to register with the account you plan on streaming most of the event games on, so that your stream may be featured when you go live. Include the number 30 anywhere in your stream title to be featured.

Participants are encouraged to register even if you don't intend to complete every game of the Challenge. You will still receive recognition for the games you do complete on the participants' progress page.

Register now at challenge.maika.moe!

Guidelines for Approving Submissions

The new format this year may lead to more subjective judgments about game eligibilty for each category and what's sufficient for a game to be considered "beaten". The approval process for submissions will be bound to the following guidelines, to help limit the subjectivity of the process.

Denials for submissions will be issued only for the following 3 cases. All other submissions will be approved.

1. Submission doesn't fit within the category and shows a blatant disregard for the rules

Here are some examples of submissions that would be denied:

• Submission for the Mario game where Mario never appears
• Submitting a game with sound effects only and no music for Banger OST
• Submitting Mario & Luigi Brothership (a game that's not even out yet) for Childhood game

The above examples demonstrate zero intention to comply with the category rules.

Here's an example of a submission that doesn't fit within the category but would still be accepted:

• Submitting a game with anime-style graphics but with an original IP that never was adapted into a TV series or movie for Game 2.

This submission aligns partially with the requirements for Game 2 and seems much more like a genuine misunderstanding of the category rather than a blatant disregard for the rules. Therefore, this hypothetical submission would still be accepted.

2. The submission doesn't beat the game (except for the Hi-Score category), even with the most charitable interpretation of what beating the game would be.

Here's an example of a submission that would be denied:

• Submission VoD ends immediately after beating Iggy, the 1st castle boss in Super Mario World.

Regardless of whether it took the player 10 minutes or 10 hours to get past Iggy, this is only the first area of SMW and even the most charitable interpretation would not be able to conclude that this is what beating SMW looks like.

3. Within sg4e's judgment, the submission doesn't beat the game (except for the Hi-Score category) and the submission VoD is a trivial length of time.

Here's an example of a submission that would be denied:

• Beating 1 game in Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics in less than 10 minutes. Sg4e thinks you should have to beat the other 50 games.

Here's an example that would still be accepted:

• Spending several hours beating what must be the most challenging game in Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics. Even though sg4e thinks you should have to beat the other 50 games, the submission would still be accepted because of the time commitment.

Crucially, a time commitment is NEVER a requirement for beating a game. There are many games that can be beaten quickly and unequivocally. Whatever the speedrun community considers as Any% is always a valid completion category for a game.

Challenge Champions

2023

• Thomatrix3d
• poptart_cat
• Flant
• Vandal00
• KrzyforBacon
• shoehorse
• DjiboutiWarrior
• riocoys

2022

• Yimmo_
• Thomatrix3d
• captainvwv
• halfbeasty
• shoehorse
• poptart_cat
• KrzyforBacon
• Flant
• Vandal00
• riocoys
• Skarm137

2021

• riocoys Twitch | Playlist
• tapioca Twitch | Playlist
• poptart_cat Twitch | Playlist
• Thatonenewtagerplayer Twitch | Playlist
• shoehorse Twitch | Playlist

2020

• poptart_cat Twitch | Playlist
• Halfbeasty Twitch | Playlist
• riocoys Twitch | Playlist

Past Challenge Event Pages

2023

2022

2021

2020

General Rules

1. Some games have more specific rules annotated as bullet points in the category listings above. Those rules override these more general rules.
2. The start time of the event is November 1, 2024 at 12:00AM EDT (UTC-4). You may not load any save file created before this time.
3. Cheats are NOT allowed. Cheats are hidden button-press combinations on the game's start menu, secret passwords, etc., intentionally coded into the game by its developers to give the player some type of powerful advantage when activated and are almost always labeled as "cheats". Conversely: glitches, out-of-bounds clips, integer overflow/underflow, arbitrary-code execution, and any and all speedtech are expressly allowed, provided that they are permitted in the speedrun category.
4. Event games must be streamed, or local-recorded and uploaded to Youtube/Dropbox/anywhere they can be publicly accessed. These videos must remain accessible at least until December 7, 2024. For Twitch, make sure you have enabled VoD storage and highlight the VoDs because non-Prime/Turbo accounts only have 14 days' storage.
5. You must submit your proof of completion via the event's website as you complete games. No proof may be submitted after November 30, 2024 at 11:59PM EST (UTC-5).
• Marathon-stream exception: If you are streaming an event game at the moment the submission window closes, that game remains eligible for submission under the following conditions (all must be met):
  1. You are livestreaming a 30 4 30 Challenge-eligible game on a livestreaming service (e.g. Twitch) without viewer restrictions (e.g. a subscriber-only stream). Local recordings are ineligible and must be completely uploaded and submitted before the submission window closes.
  2. Only the game you are streaming at the moment the submission window closes may remain eligible.
  3. You may take breaks while you attempt to complete the game past the closure of the submission window. Breaks are defined as any period of 15 or more seconds during which the player does not issue input to the game. However, no single break may exceed 30 minutes, and cumulative break time may not exceed 120 minutes.
  4. Internet outages or computer problems that cause the stream to become momentarily unavailable do not render the completion attempt as invalid per se, as long as no substantial gameplay occurs while the player's stream is offline. However, time for which the stream is offline shall be counted as break time, with all conditions for breaks in effect.
  5. If the player completes the game past the closure of the submission window with all of the above conditions met, the player has 60 minutes from the moment the clear condition is met to submit the VoD on the submissions website, after which it is no longer eligible.
6. You may complete any of the event games in multiple sittings as long as all of the gameplay is submitted.
7. You may NOT use any savestates or the rewind feature available in virtual-console re-releases such as those available on Nintendo Switch Online.
8. You may use an emulator to play any of the event games as long as the emulation behavior is close to console. However, you may NOT use any emulator capabilities that are not available in the original console release. This includes, for example, savestates and speedup.
9. Feel free to use or not use the official event logo anywhere in your 30 4 30 Challenge content: Download event logo. The event logo is original art commissioned by sg4e.