Speed runs are a strangely popular aspect of gaming culture where people try to complete popular games as fast as is humanly possible.
This started out as a casual hobby where gamers would share their times online. Over time this evolved into what we have today, where people compete with video evidence and live stream their practice sessions to beat games quickly.
Holding the World Record for a popular game like a Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda game is a big accomplishment. When a new major franchise game comes out, it doesn’t take long for the speed runs to start.
I even saw a music video featuring a real speed runner (although the “game” is fake) the other day, one of my favorite bands actually lol:
Why I Watch Speed Runs
I got sucked into speed runs on one of my Saturdays. I try not to work on Saturday. It’s a free day to “waste” time and do whatever I want, so that I can work all the harder on the other six days of the week.
One Saturday I was poking around YouTube. You know how it is, you end up watching increasingly esoteric videos that somehow hook your attention.
I watched this:
The video is simple, but it hit me in the nostalgia. I loved this game, even if it has been critically panned in the last decade due to too large a focus on collectables. The point was more that these old video games were so much fun and made up such a big part of my childhood.
I went down the rabbit hole. Here’s another series of speed run related videos that has been fun to watch:
Top 10s for a variety of speed running things. I don’t know why it is so interesting. Most of the actual speed runners seem very awkward to be honest, their responses to getting records are often… weird. But the overall theme is just fascinating!
Full Speed Run Mania
Now I am taking down entire speed runs. At first you do the faster ones, the 30 minute or less runs, like Super Mario World type stuff… but then it gets worse.
Luckily I work from home and put on some light noise in the background pretty often. A light distraction helps me to keep working as opposed to getting fully distracted later on and missing a few hours of work.
In the background? Long-ass video game speed runs. Literally right now I am watching Super Mario RPG get ran and it’s thoroughly entertaining me:
These runs from Games Done Quick, a yearly charity drive, are awesome because they were done live in front of a real audience with donations coming in from the internet the whole time. It’s entertaining.
Do You Watch Speed Runs?
If so, what’s your favorite game to watch - or even better, favorite game to run?
Hahahah i totally do.. i was a huge fan of thief gaming franchise.. i still am. And i am talking about the original thief frnachise that had 4 series (the dark project, gold, the metal age and deadly shadows).. so one day i thought it would be fun to see who completed the game the fastest.. and voila, the entire youtube was filled with it.
And it was actually funny because many gamers had used glitches to complete the levels in under 3 minutes...
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I am quite a keen gamer but I’ve never really heard of this before. I’m more into persistent universe MMO type games or strategy games so I suppose this wouldn’t really feature.
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I've gotten sucked into watching some Minecraft speed runs in the past. One kid managed to mine diamonds, make a portal to the nether, locate a stronghold, get the ender eyes to open the portal to the end, and defeat the Ender-dragon in something like four minutes.
It's surreal, because they have to load the same algorithmically generated world and memorize where the key resources are, and then refine their run through by practicing hundreds of times. I can't imagine having the patience for that, but most folks need a lot less sleep than I do.
I guess it's a lot like practicing the same musical piece over and over again, and refining it a little more each time.
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You should watch " The King of Kong" documentary!
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That’s fantastic. It’s so unreal. Wasn’t on Netflix last I saw sadly...
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It is a great one! I saw that ages ago.
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I wouldn't say that I'm addicted to them, but I find speed runs quite fun to watch.
The main reason that I like speedruns is that it adds more gameplay/gamehours to a game as anyone can get in on the fun. You just need to see xyz youtuber or streamer do their speed run, and then it's down to you to beat their time, either casually or recorded. As you're never going to beat their time in the first go, you've got to go back in the game and do it again and again.
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If you can compete with speed runners you are amazing. My skills aren't even in the ballpark for that stuff. They go so fast.
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That's what makes them really awesome! I tried it with South Park The Stick of Truth and I ended up replaying that game several times (and actually enjoying it). It's great for the players and the publishers!
I wasn't able to get anywhere near the time I was chasing, but it was a respectful attempt!
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Unluckily for me, I don’t fancy games, maybe I could have commented better if you’d talked music 🎶 🎼 🎵
Nice post.
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Love 100% runs instead of glitch runs. Always amused by something like Morrowind being done in 7 minutes though.
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Yea long runs are the best because I can put them on in the background while I am doing work or playing games myself. You can learn a lot of new tricks watching those.
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