Analysis and Comparison of Temple Run Contestants

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I'm pretty sure TRJ was was going with Jay as the "screamer" for both scenarios he mentioned. I take it that it was just a typo on his part.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Why do people feel that Mitchell from "Moccasins of Geronimo" is an overrated contestant? I feel that he knew exactly where he was going and had every intention of taking the route he took. He did not hesitate at any point during his run, nor did he ever get delayed in any room (unless you count the 2 seconds it took him to slide the door open in the Pit to get to the Observatory). Not once did he get turned around or try a door that would lead him backwards. He was not phased or staggered in the least when he met the guard in the Observatory. That's a pretty good feat for a Season One run.

Even though all of the rooms he entered were rather simplistic, he still needed to clear seven rooms before reaching the Moccasins, and he got to the Moccasins in 1:16. That is pretty impressive, if you ask me. Mitchell's only "mistake" was his starting to assemble the statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, and that was most likely because the door to the Treasure Room from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey only barely slid ajar when the doors unlocked, so he didn't realize all the doors were open. (And you have to admit, he probably would have been pretty efficient at putting the monkey together at the rate he was going, even if he was doing it one-handed.) He still was able to get out of the temple with 1:06 left (a total of 48 seconds to get out of the temple from the opposite corner, and that is including his entire delay in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey). I don't know why people call this run overrated... I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Mitchell was the very best contestant of Season One, but I most definitely enjoy this run and I commend his performance.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, I meant Jay instead of Janeen.  As for Nate, I was trying to say that I am surprised that he didn't scream at Lissy at all since she was just as bad as Janeen in the temple. And I didn't mean to imply that Randy was sucky. She was fast and knew what she was doing, it was just her exit plan that was kind of bad and was why TJ was shouting at her.

I knew it was a matter of time before Mitchell was going to get mentioned. I honestly never thought that he was that great of a contestant. Every room of the temple he entered was just a "hit the actuator". In addition to the very easy rooms he entered, he also walked through every single one of them all the way to the Pirate's Cove. My favorite part is when people called him a "strategist" just because he used the Treasure Chest. I honestly think that he went down the Treasure Chest because that was the first thing in sight for him in the room. I mean you have a giant Treasure Chest in the middle of the room. Why not open it? He was just lucky that it wasn't locked for him like in other runs where it screws the team over, most notably "Zenobia" and "Silver Saddle Horn".

While winning with over a minute left looks impressive, it was mostly due to a very simple layout for him winning. Look at other season one runs where the teams had to enter the same amount of rooms as Mitchell, and most of those wins went down the wire. He just an average contestant that got stuck with an easy layout that I am sure other contestants could've waltzed through like him too. Oh yeah, he assembled the monkey after he acquired the artifact. No other contestant did that except Kimberly from "Brokent Trident".

[Red Jaguars Fan]

Kimberly never assembled the Monkey, Mr. Fogg-Up.

[The Red Jaguars]

I meant more along the lines that Kimberly was the only other contestant to complete an objective after grabbing the artifact. In her case, she was placing herself in the suits of armor in the Ancient Warriors. Sorry for the confusion. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah let's face it, Mitchell was just lucky. All he had to do was press a bunch of actuators, a task that requires no skill and takes almost no time. Even if he knew what he was doing, he was just an average skilled player at best. If he had a similar path in a Season 3 temple, he wouldn't make it out with 1:06 left on the clock. I always felt like some of those Season 1 winners (Mitchell, the Silk Ladder kids), would choke in a later season temple. And Mitchell would be no exception to that rule.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Yeah let's face it, Mitchell was just lucky. All he had to do was press a bunch of actuators, a task that requires no skill and takes almost no time. Even if he knew what he was doing, he was just an average skilled player at best. If he had a similar path in a Season 3 temple, he wouldn't make it out with 1:06 left on the clock. I always felt like some of those Season 1 winners (Mitchell, the Silk Ladder kids), would choke in a later season temple. And Mitchell would be no exception to that rule.

But at the same time, the contestants from Season One had less of an idea of what the show was about; by Season Three, the show was much more established. Comparing Season One runs to Season Three runs is kind of a low blow, since the layouts, room difficulties and general paths taken were so drastically different. If you were to compare him with a contestant who needed to contend with the Tomb of the Headless Kings, King's Storeroom, Jesters' Court, and Chamber of the Sacred Markers, clearly the difficulty for the latter was increased.

While it is pretty improbable that clearing seven rooms in a Season Three layout would only take 1:15, it is also impossible to directly compare Mitchell's route to a Season Three layout since the access from the Ancient Warriors to the Jesters' Court was cut off.
However, the objectives the Season Three player would have completed would have been the Ledges, Pit of the Pendulum, King's Storeroom, Room of the Ancient Warriors, Jesters' Court, Dark Forest, and Quicksand Bog. The King's Storeroom would have been more time consuming and the Jesters' Court would have required a bit more effort, but for the most part, the difficulty of the rooms would have been just about equivalent.

On the other hand, in comparing Season One contestants to one another, where the contestant pool had the same knowledge about the show and the layouts and room objectives were generally consistent, Mitchell did pretty well. He didn't get turned around or try to backtrack (like so many Season One runners did), and he didn't delay, hesitate, or get tripped up in any rooms (again, unlike most Season One runners). I'm not saying that Mitchell was the very best, but I think that people are too quick to disregard him, when in reality he cleared seven rooms and did so pretty efficiently. He just got lucky with the fact that the difficulty of his path was low (something he didn't necessarily control, but he seemed to know exactly where he wanted to go).

[The Red Jaguars]

It was nice that he finished with over a minute left and everything, but it still didn't impress me. The kid basically walked through the whole temple all the way to the Pirate's Cove. None of the rooms that he entered were time consuming in anyway. Look at other solo runs like "Sultan Saladin" where Leah rarely walked through the temple, but her win ended with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Even Jennifer from "Buddha" had a pretty long route through the temple, and she barely she finished with 10 seconds left. That's because their paths were filled with objectives. But Jennifer did move a little slower than Mitchell though...

I don't know, I feel that people excessively praise Mitchell, particularly on Youtube. Back during the Nick GaS days, everyone use to think this run was top 5 material. I was never impressed at all and I am sure many other slow season one contestants could've won if they took Mitchell's path.

Speaking of overrated players, I feel that Bobby is overrated. I don't see what is so accomplishing about traveling through four rooms with little to no objectives.

[The Ancient Warrior]

I dunno, I've never heard anyone say Bobby was a good player.  I suppose part of this is just the fact that these players made it out with more than a minute, which objectively seems like a great job when there's only three minutes to work through that kind of a labyrinth.

I think what makes it really hard to come down on either side as far as Mitchell's run is concerned is figuring out why he opened the treasure chest.  A lot of players either opened it out of instinct or passed it up for one of the actuators, and it's still hard for me to guess if it was instinct or part of a plan.  I'm thinking that either way, there was an alternate path which involved hitting a Temple Guard in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, then possibly having to climb up from the Pirate's Cove, so what kind of a player he was depends on whether or not he expected something like a Temple Guard there.  And based on the video alone and no comment on the strategy before, it's really hard for me to guess either way.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

So what exactly distinguishes an average player from an overrated player? Does it come down to how much praise the contestant gets on Youtube in comparison to how people on this site feel about that contestant?

I wouldn't consider Mitchell's performance one of the best Season One runs, but I would still call it slightly better than average. Even though he may not have had a difficult series of rooms to traverse and may not have been a very fast contestant, at least he knew what he was doing in every room and never got turned around. Most Season One runs didn't accomplish such a feat. That alone puts him just above the norm, in my opinion.   

[Purple Parrots Fan]

YouTube is never to be taken seriously. They're the ones who think Bobby "is the best player in the shows history." In fact, I think there's a video somewhere where Shaka Zulu is considered "the best temple in the shows history." Naturally, Mitchell gets just as much praise on YouTube as well. So basically, the likes of Bobby and Mitchell are overrated because people praise them too much. When really, all they had to was press a bunch of actuators. And I highly doubt Mitchell planned any of this. It was just dumb luck that the treasure chest just happened to open the day he tried it. Knowing what you're doing and not getting turned around is not enough to consider Mitchell above average and better than most Season 1 players.

But then again, someone claimed to be Mitchell on YouTube back when ChargerTheWolf still had his videos up. Who knows, maybe someone can get an interview from him and ask him what his real plan was.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

So basically, the likes of Bobby and Mitchell are overrated because people praise them too much. When really, all they had to was press a bunch of actuators. And I highly doubt Mitchell planned any of this. It was just dumb luck that the treasure chest just happened to open the day he tried it. Knowing what you're doing and not getting turned around is not enough to consider Mitchell above average and better than most Season 1 players.

Then what qualities would you give to a Season One contestant for them to be above the norm?

[The Red Jaguars]

To me, I don't see how walking through the whole temple with a really easy layout and temple guard placement is considered significant or noteworthy. Any season one contestant who was semi-competent could've done it given Mitchell's layout. Look how slow Jennifer from "Buddha" moved and she still won.

And for the Treasure Chest thing, I thought it was more luck on Mitchell's part rather than strategy. I mean the big Treasure Chest was the main feature of the room after all. Even dumb contestants like Kristen from "Amelia Earhart" and Gabby opened the Treasure Chest up because it was the first thing you see in the room. Even though it was not Mitchell's fault that it worked for him, but look how many times to screwed other teams over in the temple. Although I do think that there was a temple guard in the Shrine. But I don't think Mitchell avoided intentionally with the Treasure Chest.

A good season one team should be one that attempts to move fast at least. They should also be one that does not backtrack just because one door does not open. And they shouldn't be one that gets excessively confused i nthe temple. I will admit that Mitchell was better than more than half of the season one contestants, but that is not say much. And I don't count John, Tia, Kim, Sabrina, and Lisa since they are in a tier of their own.

[The Red Jaguars]

What do you guys think about Tony from "The Stone Head of the Evil King"? Do you think he was truly as bad as his performance was in the temple? Or do you think that he was better than that and didn't show his true potential due to the Medusa's Lair problem?

I am kind of filled with mixed emotions regarding Tony. On one hand, I think that he should've performed better in the temple than he really did. I think the Medusa's Lair objective frustrated him so much that he wasn't taking his time putting the snakes into her head. I have a little sympathy for him because four snakes was a bitch to put in, especially when racing against the clock. But then he goes onto punch the King's Storeroom pots like a moron. I am not sure if he did that out of frustration or if he was really incompetent. What do you guys think of Tony?

[PurpleParrot319]

He was incompetent. Next.