The Winter 2026 edition of the FFR Rando Marathon has been announced by FFR admin DarkmoonEX.
Says DarkmoonEX:
Hello Everyone!
December 3rd to 6th, the Final Fantasy Randomizer (FFR) community will be hosting the fifth annual Winter FFR Rando Marathon to raise money for the South Carolina Firefighters’ Burned Children’s Fund Foundation, a charity dedicated to easing the recovery process for pediatric burn patients and their families in South Carolina. 100% of all proceeds will go to the charity.
The marathon will run from December 3rd @ 10 AM EST to December 6th @ 11:59 EST.
Regarding the marathon format, DarkmoonEX continues:
All randomizers are welcome to submit runs. Every marathon has been a wonderful mix of amazing communities/randomizers that always show up to support the marathon and new ones that join us for their first time, and we can’t wait to see who will be helping us raise money for the BCF in December!
Over the last 5 years we have been so grateful to raise over $60,000 for charity, and hope that you can be a part of such an amazing event.
Submissions are open now through October 31st, 2026 @ 11:59 PM EDT.
For more info, see the resources below. If you have any questions, you can find an FFR rep on the FFVC Discord or on the FFR Discord. You can also reach out to clymax.
Resources
Volunteer form for submitting runs for the event [link]
For clymax’s projects, click here. You can also follow him on YouTube or Twitter.
Are you a competitive player?
Enjoy climbing leaderboards?
Want the leaderboard to link to your gameplay video?
Our Based Boards got you covered.
Nowhere to Play for High Score
Players to this day have a surprisingly dismal selection when it comes to climbing leaderboards for score in their favorite classic console games.
Although there are sites like Speedrun.com, the site does not support high-score rankings. The site does not support auto verification either.
Although Steam supports official auto leaderboards, it appears that the number of official emulated titles with Steam leaderboards is little to none.
Other sites like Retro Achievements support fan-made auto leaderboards. However, critical exploits such as emulator pausing remain unresolved (for more on this, see section VI of NeonHenchman’s post here). This undermines the integrity of any leaderboard on the site.1
This is where Based Boards come in.
We need not even delve into how Retro Achievements does not appear to be anti-censorship or anti-control, as our Clovergate coverage should show. See also Why Join FFV Central?here. ↩︎
Exploit Eliminated
Our community at FFV Central is pleased to announce elimination of the gameplay exploit of emulator pausing in our Based Boards and Based Badges offerings.
This feature is brought to you by clymax, who is the author of the controls improvement hack for Tetris on the Famicom. He is also the author of the modernization fork of Megatris on Uzebox. (He also holds the badge for ten all clears in forty lines on TETR.IO.)
In-game pausing remains allowed, of course.
For a demo clip using Tetris just as an example, see below.
Our growing list of games, both modded and unmodded, supports this feature.
Not just for scoring but for speedruns and achievements too.
So, what are you waiting for? Log a high score on one of our leaderboards today!
FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE comes to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch on Oct 22, 2026.
Imagine what classic FINAL FANTASY could have become if pixel art kept evolving. FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE is the first HD-2D FINAL FANTASY title blending pixel art with dynamic camera work.
Engage in classic turn-based combat refined with modern mechanics and call on legendary heroes from across the franchise as Visions to aid in battle.
Update on September 3: gameplay and demo trailers have been posted.
Update on September 4: let’s play the demo with Xynosaur:
Starting this year, playing in Fiesta mode is required for the event. This means Division III is not available this season except for players who wish to do more than a first run.
This year, invited communities get three prequalification slots each. Two mystery guests have been invited. In addition, there are two slots for “last-chance qualified” communities to appear as mystery guests. The mystery guests also get three prequalification slots each.
As with last year, a minimum of eight signups can be required for the event awards to be awardable.
Starting this year, of the bonus divisions, only Division IV-A is available, and only to members with the Crystal Warrior role.
Dragon Quest League
This season, a new league based on the Dragon Quest VI: Aflame respinner is eligible to be opened based on player interest.
Currently, eligible players can redeem just one mod per season, so choose between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
Playing in Fiesta mode is required for the event. Additional runs can be played in other modes.
Due to the difficult nature of the challenge, players are required to have completed vanilla Dragon Quest VI (SFC or DS version).
A minimum of eight signups can be required for this league to be opened or, alternatively, for the league of a new mod to be added next season.
A minimum of eight signups can be required for the event awards to be awardable.
As for the new mod eligible to be added, see the event roadmap near the end of this post for more details.
For more on the Aflame mod, see the related post below.
Aside from the badge/role awards, the Fiesta Champion of each season will be able to redeem the dev build of any mod from the Game Jolt collection, including all future updates. For more on the mods, click here.
Or, a three-time champion can redeem a commissioned respinner of a game of the champion’s choosing, where the game is of a supported system (NES, SNES, PCE, GB, GBC).
Other Rewards
Keep the mod for personal play after the event
Unlock postgame secrets in certain mods
Entry on our event leaderboard and Based Board
Discord roles for certain achievements
Web badges for certain achievements
Bonus division available to players with certain Discord roles in certain seasons
Eventual access to exclusive projects such as certain private translations
So, what are you waiting for? Come by our Discord, and we hope to see you in the game!
