Before we dive deep into the intricacies surrounding video game speedrunning, let’s step back and clearly define what speedrunning actually entails at its core. Quite simply, speedrunning refers to playing through a video game from start to finish as quickly as possible. Rather than a casual playthrough, a speedrun demands complete mastery of movement mechanics, exploits, optimal routing, and other intricacies we will explore in detail throughout this guide.
My goal is to provide readers with a more complete perspective on how video game speedrunning has evolved from niche arcade origins barely 40 years ago into one of gaming’s most popular spectator events today. Key topics will include:
- The genesis of speedrun record-keeping in early arcade game leaderboards
- Foundational shifts like the launch of Speedrun.com to catalog runs and rules
- Rise of live streaming and large-scale viewing events
- Technical explanations of pivotal tricks and glitches
- Profile spotlight on some of speedrunning’s biggest icons
Let‘s start at the very beginning by diving into the arcade era emergence of speedrunning‘s core philosophies.
Leaderboard Competition Takes Hold in Arcade Era
While no consensus exists around the absolute pioneering speedrun, most trace the origins back to Atari’s Dragster in 1977 – one of the earliest racing games to feature a timer tracking completion from start to finish line. Simple graphics and mechanics made best times easy to compare and compete over for bragging rights.
| Year | Number of Documented Speedruns |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 12 |
| 1985 | 24 |
| 1990 | 105 |
| 1995 | 1,236 |
| 2000 | 14,832 |
Other pivotal early arcade releases included Pac-Man and Donkey Kong in 1980 which featured predictable enemy patterns and obstacle layouts perfect for route optimization. By mastering small segments repeatedly, top players could reach a zen-like flow state enabling faster and faster completion times. This precise drill-down is a hallmark of competitive speedrunning even today across various genres and consoles.
The discovery of Pac-Man’s Split-Screen on Level 256 in 1982 – an unpassable game crash – marked another key milestone. Reaching this definitive endpoint as fast as possible officially mandated Pac-Man as another founding arcade speedrun challenge. Throughout the decade, best times were logged either on printed arcade cabinets or through photographing score screens.
The Internet Age Lifts Off
Passionate hobbyist speedrunning continued progressing in arcades during the 1980s and into the early 90s. But it wasn’t until the mid 1990s that the availability of PC hardware and internet adoption helped transform speedrunning from a niche pastime to an organized, structured competition with codified rules and categories we still recognize today.
Specifically, the launch of Speed Demos Archive in 1999 marked the first centralized public home for video cataloging speedruns globally – creating easily accessible leaderboards for players to upload proof of best times across slowly expanding library of games. The internet also enabled remote competition between runners rather than relying on regional arcade talent.
| Year | Total Viewership of SGDQ + AGDQ (Millions) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2016 | 5 |
| 2018 | 10 |
| 2020 | 15 |
Message board discussion led to debates around rules and glitch permissibility – eventually coalescing into the multiple categories we outlined earlier including Any%, 100%, Glitchless, etc. Rule sets helped runners showcase mastery under different constraints. These early sites laid the foundation for contemporary community hubs like Speedrun.com which today hosts over a million registered users and tens of thousands of game leaderboards.
The Viewing Boom Through Streams & Events
By the 2000s, advancements in video streaming technology and asynchronous competition helped once again boost broader exposure of speedrunning to casual gaming audiences. Specifically, Twitch’s launch in 2011 brought real-time streaming to fans which rewarded highly skilled personality speedrunners like Cosmo, Siglemic, Werster and others with viewership and subscriber counts rivaling professional gamers in popular esports.
In even more recent years, the biannual charity event Games Done Quick has capitalized on the increasingly performative aspect of speedrunning. By corralling top talent to demo runs live on camera at these week-long marathon streams, GDQ has helped raise over $40 million for various charities since 2010 – indicative of still ballooning mainstream appeal. 2022’s summer AGDQ topped out at nearly 500,000 peak concurrent viewers across Twitch and YouTube.
Legendary Runs That Redefined Boundaries
Behind every seemingly impossible world record time are countless innovations in mechanical mastery, glitch exploitation, and sequence breaking that redefine perceptions around just how far video game codes can be pushed beyond developer intent. Let’s analyze three seminal runs that exemplified unprecedented levels of optimization:
Super Mario Bros. (Any%, NES) – 4m 55s 782ms by Kosmic
Considered by many the greatest speedrun of all time, this 2018 run by newcomer Kosmic utilized delicate shell jump trajectories to literally soar over large segments of the game. This allowed bypassing not only levels but also key items needed to defeat Bowser – culminating in a climax that seemed to many equal parts ballet and magic trick. suburb TAS levels of consistent precision that may never be bested.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Any%, N64) – 8m 10s by Lozoots
Routed live on-stream, Lozoots 2016 run leveraged groundbreaking wrong warp discoveries that warp Link through doors and objects to sequence break beyond intended unlock order constraints. Ingenious tricks like super slides through loading zones, buffer overflows, and ESS clips fundamentally changed perceptions of what should be possible within OOT’s code.
Super Metroid (Any%, SNES 41m by Behemoth87)
A 2022 run over 30 years after Super Metroid’s SNES launch. Behemoth87 leverages almost completely unintended physics and wall jump mechanics to climb out of bounds then clip back into final escape sequence. Masterful precision platforming across completely illogical zones amounts to a overflowing toolbox of exploitation running parallel to intended game flow.
Current State and Future Trajectory
As speedtech continues advancing in complexity, so too does viewership and participation across historic favorites as well as new titles. Popularity appears limited only by game mechanics and engine architecture conducive to exploitation. Certain fixed path graphic adventures for instance make impossible candidate genres. Equally, departed console architectures and deprecated emulation pose preservation challenges. But for games like Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 – with over 3000 documented speedrun entries for each on record – longevity seems predefined.
In closing, speedrunning appears positioned to carry forward gaming’s competitions into the future as long as game designers inadvertently bake in unintended opportunities. If one lesson has defined the last 40 years, it’s that players desire to control outcomes and boundless skill ceilings trump all. Like our world record holders – seemingly toying with games in their hands – the limits of human skill paired with video game glitches remains unwritten. The fastest times certainly don’t lack for surprise and spectacle. After all, who better to push systems beyond spec than the players themselves?
