Hey folks! Not sure how many people check this sub anymore, but I hope some of you are also fans of watching speedruns of video games. Maybe you even run yourself?
What is a "speedrun"?
A speedrun is a lot like it sounds: players attempt to clear a video game as fast as they can using any means necessary. Often this includes utilizing and exploiting glitches to skip large chunks of the game and circumvent intended obstacles, so there are usually multiple categories for a single game, if it's popular enough.
For example, Zelda Ocarina of time is a game that normally requires a player to collect 3 stones and six medallions before they can access the boss's tower and defeat him to complete the game. However, current runners have discovered a way to beat the game without collecting ANY of those items!
That would be considered an "Any%" run: a game completed by skipping as much content as possible. But there are many categories, such as "all dungeons", leading up to "100%" which requires all items, songs, etc. to also be collected. Some games even feature "glitchless" categories.
Each category calls for different strategies and runs, even of old games, are continuing to be improved all the time. So watching the same run by the same runner may look very different the next year if they take a different route or a new trick has been discovered.
Here's a good example of a speedrun and the kind of techniques required to perform them. I really like Cosmo's commentary since he explains everything as it happens:
Alternatively, I'd recommend the charity events AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) and the summer event SGDQ (Summer Games Done Quick). Those events host hundreds of talented runners who usually provide funny and interesting commentary while they play. Even better, they raise a lot of money for good causes! Here's their official Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesdonequick
Questions if you need them:
So, do you like speedruns? What got you into them? Do you run yourself? What runs do you like the best? Any recommendations? I'd love to hear from you!
AGDQ was so cool this year; the reverse boss order runs were nuts, especially the Link to the Past one. The idea of just doing Gannon's fight then clipping out to go kill the other bosses just tickles me, but to see it in action.
Not to mention this year's TASbot segment. How these people manage to put this stuff together just baffles me.
@Pkero: Oh yes, I loved that reverse boss run! I actually hadn't see the TASbot segment for 2016 yet until you mentioned it, but I agree it was crazy as usual.
Are there any runs in particular that are your favorite?
I mean, Narcissa Wright's Zelda: OoT run will always be a classic; but at AGDQ in particular I really loved the Majora's Mask run. I ended up catching about an hour of it before I had to sleep, but some of the techniques in that 100% run are just unreal.
My friend Hannah is pretty into running A Link to the Past, so I've seen some of the tricks there. I tend to just keep an eye on a few runners and see what they do, then watch whatever seems interesting at AGDQ. SwordlessLink is the person I watch the most as of late; his YouTube channel is really informative. He does a lot of series where he does run-throughs of games and does all the speedrunning techniques but without actually doing them quickly so he can explain the set-up and how they work. It's more of a lets play, just with a very distinct focus.
Oh, wow. I don't think I could do a serious run myself. But I have used a handful of tricks I've learned from watching runs, namely Pikmin and Super Mario World.
I saw that Majora's Mask run! I watched most of it live, although I had to take a few breaks, but I managed to see the last battle live at least. I agree it was pretty crazy!
I'll have to check out Swordless Link sometime. I haven't seen Narcissa Wright's OoT either. Most of the runs I saw were ZFG or Cosmo, not counting the blindfolded child dungeons run which was also super impressive.
Ah, Narcissa is Cosmo. She recently transitioned and hasn't been doing speedruns anymore due to some hand injuries.
I dunno if I've seen any of ZFG's runs? Is he the one who broke the original record?
Huh, I didn't know that but good for her. I hope her hands heal up soon though.
He might have been? ZFG stands for "Zelda Freak Glicha", if that helps. He did several runs and glitch demonstrations at the last few SGDQ and AGDQ events, I think.
While not so much a speedrun, I've been watching pannenkoek2012's videos on YouTube. He's the guy that does the TAS stuff by doing half A-presses and whatnot. In some of his videos, he gets into the really technical explanations of how his stuff works and as a sorta game programmer it's really interesting to me.
Ah, I think I've heard of that video! Someone was telling me to watch one that analyzed the timing of button presses for Mario 64 so that might be pannenkoek2012's videos. I'll check it out.
Recently I've watched a few for Dark Souls. It looks so cool when speedrunners play it, but I know it would be soul-crushing to play it myself because of the difficulty.
I've been watching ZFG's videos nonstop now, so thank you for that. The Max% child run was amazing. And yeah, that sounds like him.
While I'm not much of one for speedrunning myself, I do enjoy the Souls speedruns, and I love playing the games. As of today I'm nearing the end of Bloodborne; I think I only have a few bosses left.
I haven't seen Narcissa Wright's OoT either. Most of the runs I saw were ZFG or Cosmo, not counting the blindfolded child dungeons run which was also super impressive.
