Before we start, a few notes about my thought process in creating this list:

- There are SO many amazing games on the games list that if I wanted to include every single one of them in this list it would be far too long - so we’re gonna keep it pretty limited and [I suggest you comb over the list yourself](https://gamesdonequick.com/games) to know what runs to look out for!

- This is of course all personal opinion, completely biased by my own experiences - so keep that in mind!

- Runs will be listed in alphabetical order because I don’t think prioritizing any of them is particularly fair prior to the event - and you should form your own opinions regardless, this list is just recommending some runs for you to keep an eye out for :)

Also, each game and runner will be hyperlinked :) Alright, let's dig in!

## **[Chibi-Robo](https://www.speedrun.com/cr) | 1v1 Lockout Bingo by [Jaxler](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Jaxler) & [Kobazco](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Kobazco)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/GWQ4l41e8P-qA_dp2vchMGVTeSzqyHyRKPY-EdIY8D4HOdkKc67M356cvD6q804jZplqjAn7PAwAO-Ja42a5H77Sz2HkmnAqGtMVVoibBbkiaRyp7GG7KqSLwInGY0Zksv0rmpM9S4Xy7QoNLFt1pGc)

So I know next to nothing about Chibi-Robo - but I do know Jaxler & Kobazco make a hell of a commentary duo. I also know that Jaxler was absolutely HYPING up this category to me at AGDQ earlier this year, and let me tell you that man is convincing. I guarantee this will be a good show, so make sure you tune in!

## **[Elden Ring](https://www.speedrun.com/eldenring) | Any% Glitchless by [blanxz](https://www.speedrun.com/users/blanxz)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/AFssv36C7dJrVKQo30pKtAzQl4MtBoLTlTMUpyQfHcBytu7Eo3F6n8wqfmhPCXgo0N0cUAHbAFL-AFNGnJDPXR-6KhRrZm-b_syXSEI8fYOASB_Fet8H5iBiicqjH2FL6JOGP0OeMu_w9mzazL_nx6k)

If you’re familiar with Elden Ring or Souls games in general you’ll know just how difficult they can be. Well, blanxz is a master - with world records in *6 different Souls* games (depending on your definition, but that's a whole can of worms lol.) Considering Glitchless does what looks to be most (maybe all?) of the mainline bosses in Elden Ring and yet the time estimate is under *90 minutes* - yeah I’m sure this will be a good time (no pun intended)

## **[Half-Life 2](https://www.speedrun.com/hl2) | New Engine Any% (No Voidclip) Race between [Eold](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Eold) & [Dirtch](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Dirtch)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/-AyOM4h_cySw6Dxj17N8DaPUoZxVMFtrW3e2H1fCRBb3QFdPNeN7R_B98EfzDPFp3AH9Nb60mdi--147GZe8ujXVXyKYCobhMhUUdSnQm8dBp4GraSmyd4eFELkBl2qH8cLAdrrchCg003s6m9sFDpM)

The last time Half-Life 2 (HL2) was shown at GDQ was just 2 years ago, and yet the World Record has dropped **MULTIPLE** minutes since then, and the community sum of best even further than that. HL2 has seriously gone through some major routing revelations in these last years and definitely deserves its spot on the games list. With 2 runners on stage/screen at the same time, that's just double the goodness being fed directly into my eyeballs and I’m here for it.

## **[Halo 3](https://haloruns.com/leaderboards/h3/coop/fullgame/Easy) | 4P Co-Op Legendary w/ [adef](https://www.speedrun.com/users/adefgames), [bryonato](https://www.speedrun.com/users/bryonato), [Chronos_R](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Chronos), & [NervyDestroyer](https://www.speedrun.com/users/NervyDestroyer)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/EMIfuJPg61HfuaCWZGGnQfTmwPeAALMG98aPiO6lENANFJ0WNeJJESBAMUxtk7RbJrTR7BNdc2TxNx7zrY2sW3N0g9jMTPNhx1T69Vh03tKalelAIUXxPi2rdfOrWtaEdA0LjjpB15grAGOatijvMXg)

Helllll yeah gamers. We’ve got four GDQ all-stars in this submission running an amazing game on the hardest difficulty - is there anything else I need to add here? Yes, there is - watch the run.

## **[Mirror’s Edge](https://www.speedrun.com/me) | Any% by [BlackbeltGingaNinja](https://www.speedrun.com/users/BlackbeltGingaNinja)**![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/OHX05Xa5ic6vvf4hWsQmgXBK0mwcBI9nPLV3KMJ0l7ciA9ViiXxGCiTluIj_bOiyx0ZrBkmV7waEEPdPWjaVluLe-jRloAjWwy0FGTy9hN57BekElRRPrWvHt-7PweVO2K3yjjHrDU5bZfM4Eki8EJI)

Mirror’s Edge is an ABSOLUTE classic. Top-notch high-skill movement that’s incredibly satisfying to watch, and some tricks/skips that will totally blow your mind. Even if you’ve seen this run before, it’s satisfying enough you should absolutely be tuning in again.

## **[NecroVisioN Lost Company](https://www.speedrun.com/nvnlc) | Any% by [Gulch2](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Gulch2)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/T4UtustiQqxdudHS-xDbZZOa_UgxL-trnFzpz0-N6A9fQZCACfwlCaoCvC75a_zUMhCOeq-fo-s9uoM0LZyeh9bCC4oXiTY_8K8xjhgsRJxAxV32jIQDchq8amqDlyYmMIGMAMEPWxxorr4nTWo82MM)

Okay so I’m 99% sure every single one of you reading this article has never even heard of this game - that’s okay! Let me break it down for you. You run into sloped objects, you go **NYOOM** up into the air. Gulch recently came in and absolutely tore BOTH of the NecroVisioN games apart, and I’m super excited to be seeing this hit the big stage.

## **[Outlast 2](https://www.speedrun.com/outlast2) | Any% No Checkpoint Killing (Cutscene Skip Mod) by [Sharkhat](https://www.speedrun.com/users/sharkhat)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/9CZwbL2B38zxxctt807oQwo-NSouqypzF9HCuNVHge9Xz-TSiQrzEF881dzmr4lPfd72qDIlvRiTdIbNSMdM4EPYcIC3TiNLm-SlsV6ph_FEJn6k9l7zrpw_oUI-gyEljgfvzbR6MKUyGc5zcpyFbbE)

This may be a controversial take, I don’t know - but this category is a true diamond in the rough for speedrunners who love glitches. The vanilla version of Outlast 2 will kill the player if any of the game's checkpoints are skipped, but for this category that’s no longer a concern - allowing for ALL KINDS of wacky glitches/skips to be used in the route. Not to mention this run will also be using the Cutscene Skip mod which removes the icky downtime in the run. I’m all for prioritizing entertainment over “purity” in speedrunning, and while using 2 mods might be non-traditional - it makes for a hell of a speedrun!

## **[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time](https://www.speedrun.com/oot) | Defeat Ganon (No SRM) by [dannyb](https://www.speedrun.com/users/dannyb)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/8Jc3ojG9dWL13jYEj6U0ZZF1XETdC_yRx8qlkQ_jbolhPkTTazuKmFmvlC60zuQAEAIvlrBxO87Kyzy1b9NdTpTWTli50rexj58kH8fAbTAEGcExLg1C9EHDYVo22q0Nl1XluXFafktth_qoTqw7ThI)

You may have seen Ocarina of Time (OOT) speedrunning before, but unless you’ve been following along for the last few months - you haven’t seen it like this. I’m not even sure I want to spoil the route changes this game has seen in this article - but trust me you have to watch this run. If you want to catch up prior to the run, I also recommend checking out [this video from DannyB himself breaking down the new discoveries!](https://youtu.be/0B095eHBrCg?si=-1nKApqu-dkjkzeK) 

## **[Powerwash Simulator](https://www.speedrun.com/powerwash_simulator) | 6P Spongebob DLC by [Acadiel](https://www.speedrun.com/users/AcadielDragon), [amyrlinn](https://www.speedrun.com/users/amyrlinn), [AngelicKnight](https://www.speedrun.com/users/AngelicKnight), [Biglaw](https://www.speedrun.com/users/biglaw), [enbee](https://www.speedrun.com/users/enbee) & [EnigmaRequiem](https://www.speedrun.com/users/EnigmaRequiem)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/uwDUSkywYExguyJWQJ7x3SJATJJ4I2CkQ9hS38Znu7S_U1607uyRLHDpXFDrvYdCV5nCL_c0f6ozApgM4VPvn-nSUoNDJBB1xaat60Qo42AfLrVp4wZK0KMHokv17x2sNDtKX0wBPHwB_ZZjeJ8Os7Y)

The most efficient cleaning crew I’ve ever witnessed is **BACK** at GDQ once again, tackling the Spongebob DLC! Prepare for some electric commentary, and some very squeaky clean sponges (I assume?)

## **[Tomb Raider (2013)](https://www.speedrun.com/tr2013) | Any% by [spicee](https://www.speedrun.com/users/spicee)**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/m1M4sJYxrpYZL1zbmZiNY7XoPVOaJ_-Se6tPyFEqMXr35kEeoz1yShySnu2OGzCsawhkrGbvbR3GJ4Q40ddYxZd8UoVfUIZPVpirJPViZwhDvO2dllzrz87OS6k9vM0XbpsoNPA-RcKpvMEp_Flb-aQ)

Spicee went on an absolute **TEAR** earlier this year, snatching first place in all 3 modern Tomb Raider games within 10 days and I’m so happy he’s able to show off one of them on the GDQ stage! TR2013 is yet another one for you glitch-hungry watchers, filled to the brim with lots of clipping through walls and walking on air - you know typical Lara Croft stuff right?

## Conclusion

That’s it for now - once again I definitely recommend you go check out the games list for yourself, there’s lots of amazing stuff on there!

The games list for SGDQ 2024 is now live! Let’s dive in. https://gamesdonequick.com/games

SGDQ 2024 Games List is now out!

Between December 7th and December 9th, Epic Games unveiled three new titles from studios it has acquired in recent years. The lineup includes Lego Fortnite, a remarkably well-executed survival adventure game developed by Epic Games, Rocket Racing, an arcade-style racing game created by Psyonix (the minds behind Rocket League), and Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game crafted by Harmonix (the developers of Rock Band).

While Fortnite Festival hasn’t really attracted any kind of speedrunning audience (perhaps for obvious reasons, I mean the run would be mostly autoscroller) the community for speedrunning both Rocket Racing and Lego Fortnite is growing *fast*. I wanted to learn some more about these runs, so I spoke with some runners for each game to hear their thoughts.

# Rocket Racing

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/HrTnfr2Yw-mmZ_TyvKBQIT1dPJxOSIlr8HBUj4JCPCiJGaUUezoXjAKGngn_EvLfoTOa5sVMS5lhFAbwbbrsP_0T48nlXXj_7oRVfK2qcTCfVLko0cImVjfaGWbFSuaYiHdHndeNWP2wFrlc5vvXiqk)

There’s something so beautiful about the simplicity of speedrunning racing games, it’s really as pure as speedrunning gets - just *go fast.* With this simplicity of course comes little variation between games, at least in comparison to other genres. So what makes Rocket Racing stand out? Well according to @nathan_uwp, it mainly comes down to the Boost Management:

> “The drifting makes it so much fun for running too. Like how you can drift more and then use those to plan when to do ur boosts.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhK73hKWcDQ

For some context, the way you increase the charge in your boost meter in this game is by drifting. You’ll notice speedrunners like Nathan drifting almost non-stop, switching directions to still keep a relatively straight line while also ensuring the boost is charged as often as possible.

![](/static/blob/5ngvx6nq.png)

As far as my own opinion, the addition of certain Rocket League elements into a racing game is honestly kind of genius. You can air dodge in specific directions to stick to walls or ceilings (which makes for some pretty sweet level design might I add), and you can also fly a little bit into the air which lets you cut corners much tighter than you normally would be able to - and even “cut corners” on certain hills.

# **Lego Fortnite**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/T0JVt9ZS4-5GWmZYxQxQAhOI62W4-fJdPWkC33b-YJbMAHqDxzOGa1hbC3uNJn6ke0cKHiziOWnpkHGIcn_Dwg5QETBv3PDfIQNrHtZnE44Aukellp5imDqKWsflcVCftUEz0csJW3-eUs14lZ23ZNg)

Speedrunning an open-world survival adventure game without (as far as I’m aware) a proper ending may not seem like an obvious choice to some of you, but in cases like these, it really comes down to the category structure. In this case, it’s quite similar to what you may have seen before on the Minecraft or Valheim leaderboards, with categories focused on completing specific Builds or killing specific bosses, with sub-categories for number of players, random or set seed, and starting biome.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/TY6xgErzYvcgV3D3LyF27RNnwDeOtUXzKqRg8SKu04UCDtwMTighZRe5SRFkBLMQ8yRTBT1M1O5ZzOwWss0CT0IYbbUzr00c5rxGU2ltqaAXLXg7Errj8olHVcFLtWa--zhkGYWDm_tKkhG3rVB2hPE)

To learn some more about what makes Lego Fortnite speedrunning interesting, I spoke with @shovelclaws who has been grinding both Solo & Co-op for the default category, Common Village (Grasslands).

> “The default category is really simple, it’s collecting the necessary resources and building things. In my mind there are 2 big "skills." 1) Positioning: getting your village in a nice place to reduce travel time, and 2) Decision Making - deciding where to go and when. There’s also 3 big skill checks 1) building the shack, 2) getting lumber mill for planks, and 3) getting your "village level" up high enough which there are a variety of strats for”

The relationship between village level and biome is quite complex and interesting, but I don’t want to get bogged down in the details during this article - however if you’d like to learn some more about that you can follow this link into the conversation inside the [Fortnite Speedrunning Discord](https://discord.com/channels/1005846129470083142/1182732735312306247/1183158808567095338).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ald2WqnAc_w

As an example, the fastest strategy for Common Village in the Grasslands biome is to [spam the candle decoration](https://youtu.be/Ald2WqnAc_w?si=_RFaP-ivTCkjTJFJ&t=398) all over the ground because they require 1 vine which is a very common resource, making it the most efficient decoration for leveling your village in the short term. Shovelclaws mentioned that it believes in the longer categories (ie. Epic Village) it may be more efficient to invest in beds, which are 10 wood each - too expensive for a short category like Common Village but potentially worth the timesave in a 1 hour+ speedrun.

# ![](/static/blob/3ekv5kzx.jpg)Conclusion

After researching and playing some myself for this article, I can definitely see the speedrunning appeal for these two games - Rocket Racing for its clever integration of Rocket League movement mechanics for a new spin on the racing genre, and for Lego Fortnite (who would have thought) for its satisfying collect/build gameplay loop and Candle strats (of all things) - not to mention up to 8 Player co-op. I personally would LOVE to see a 4-8 person speedrun of Epic Village up on a marathon stage some day.

Epic Games released three new games INSIDE of Fortnite, two of which turned out to be pretty neat for speedrunning - let's take a look.

Rocket Racing & Lego Fortnite Speedrunning

Before beginning, I should mention I already covered some important discoveries from the demo period of the game which will be referenced in this article - if you want to read up on that first you can do so [here!](https://www.speedrun.com/news/wo83ee5m-ghostrunner-community-tackles-new-demo) Also, obvious spoiler warning for Ghostrunner 2.

The Ghostrunner 2 $10,000 Speedrun Challenge lasted two weeks, from October 26th to November 9th. In that time, the run time for the best runners has gone from around 1.5 hours to under an hour.

### The First Night (October 24th)

GR2 was first released around 11 am Eastern on October 24th, 2023, and over the next 11 hours a whopping 34 strats were shared amongst the community, with 200+ threads in the strats channel to date - let’s go over some of the larger discoveries and highlights from day one and beyond.

**Speedtech: Jump Start**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMHs6PSS3p4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166395624841818224/1166395624841818224](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166395624841818224/1166395624841818224)

Bike movement was pretty fun before with rhythmic boost management, but the addition of new levels that allow you to dismount the bike led to the discovery of the Jump Start speedtech. To Jump Start, all you need to do is dismount the bike, and grapple back to it. There is a timing to it, and it works better when leaving certain geometry/ramps which brings a new interesting skill to master.

**Pillars of Creation: Pillars Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc5tfs1z_bw

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166435088276406282/1166435088276406282](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166435088276406282/1166435088276406282)

Pillars is the largest skip to date, bringing a 20+ minute level down to just 50 seconds. Very simple, but satisfying.

**Elevator Maintenance: Initial OOB Route**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPXL3mwHi90

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166439007970934784/1166439007970934784](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166439007970934784/1166439007970934784)

First draft for an OOB route of Elevator Maintenance, routing in the Tempest Boost tech which becomes possible after collecting enough Memory Shards throughout the game and purchasing the Pressure Booster upgrade after Danse Macabre.

**Too Close To The Sun: Initial OOB Route**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0n7nReBB8

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166449888066805760/1166449888066805760](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166449888066805760/1166449888066805760)

First draft for an OOB route of Too Close To The Sun, including a flux strat that clears out half an arena in one satisfying sweep.

**Winds of the Desolate: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Gate Skips**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSOQw2fcaZk

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166451792310194296/1166451792310194296](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166451792310194296/1166451792310194296)

With the room with the lever that opens Gate 2 visible from the outside, LongerWarrior figured out that if you can wallclimb (or tempest boost in NG+) up to the chainlink fence, you can use the Blink ultimate ability to “clip through” (more like teleport past) the fence using the enemy and simply open the gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmWmyllp2YA

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166452821386854470/1166452821386854470](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166452821386854470/1166452821386854470)

The initial version of 3rd Gate Skip, also known as rooftop skip. In an even earlier version, we would get over the roof, lower the lift, drive the bike onto the lift, bring the lift up and keep going - but it was discovered that you could instead DSJ your way to the next checkpoint, reload, and spawn the bike right on you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZKMCqTTXc

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166454987707138128/1166454987707138128](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166454987707138128/1166454987707138128)

This one is as simple as they come, simply wallclimb (or tempest boost in NG+) over the gate and hit the button on the other side to open it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP7HvEBpL6Q

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166455710603817073/1166455710603817073](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166455710603817073/1166455710603817073)

By riding the bike up high and driving right off the wall at an angle, you can land right by the 5th gate and then take a small trip OOB to the right of it to hit the button.

**You Shouldn’t Have Peaked: Rahu Phase Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ_uzE1wy_E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166458517054562345/1166458517054562345](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166458517054562345/1166458517054562345)

The pathing has changed since this initial discovery, but the basic idea is the same - DSJ out and down to the area below you, skipping from Rahu’s phase 1 down to phase 3.

**Behind The Curtain: Shadow Skill Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svODlwKTPEQ

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166467035207831643/1166467035207831643](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166467035207831643/1166467035207831643)

GR2 would normally require you to take a detour into the room to the left, grab the Shadow Skill, and then do an arena fight. However, instead we can do some parkour to get up and out of the room right into the next one. Following this, there are some strats/skips to get around the rooms that would otherwise require the Shadow Skill.

**Setting The Stage: Pipes Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu5p8NjCAD0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166478394117074985/1166478394117074985](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166478394117074985/1166478394117074985)

This ended up being slightly slower than just moving through the inbounds space - but was the first step in something bigger.

**Can Anyone Hear Me?: Challenge Warp**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX9EM6YPLnU?t=6

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166479955165712464/1166479955165712464](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166479955165712464/1166479955165712464)

As it turns out, by starting the challenge terminal (a sort of minigame) the game gives you a checkpoint that warps you to the END of an otherwise very dense arena fight. This is by far one of my favorite strats because it's just so silly.

**Speedtech: Flow Surge Strats**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWCuFnAa05E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166513818239766539/1166513818239766539](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166513818239766539/1166513818239766539)

In Danse Macabre, Taartin found that the Flow Surge ability allows you to immediately break through The Dismantler's green shield phases. As of the latest WR at the time of writing, Pasiflora executed the strategy flawlessly, completing the entire fight in an impressive 1m20s.

**A Price To Be Paid: Won't Pay The Price**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkUVk4AUaR8

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166493807882276904/1166555574931034132](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166493807882276904/1166555574931034132)In the level “A Price To Be Paid”, it’s possible to get out of bounds almost immediately and finish the level in under **20 seconds** - skipping the boss fight.

### **Day 2 (October 25th)**

**Speedtech: Speedforce / Permanent Flow Boost**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=708lay4OSQU

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166858536005931029/1166858536005931029](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166858536005931029/1166858536005931029)

By equipping the Flow Booster upgrade, slicing some enemies, and then *unequipping* Flow Booster you can **permanently** (for the current level) keep the speed boost. By getting a 10x combo, we can keep 10% bonus speed - if we were somehow able to get an extremely high combo very quickly, we could get much higher than 10% ;)

**Monolith of Inhumanity: Mitra Fast CV Phases**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKRl8g7E324

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166827929339179078/1166827929339179078](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166827929339179078/1166827929339179078)

The Mitra bossfight is broken up into 6 phases, 3 of which are traditional sword fight phases, and 3 Cybervoid phases which involve a bit more platforming. @Blaidan discovered if you managed to get a swing in on Mitra before he moved further into the Cybervoid, you could skip the rest of the phase - and then shared how to do that on all 3 CV phases.

**You Shouldn’t Have Peaked: Rahu Phase Skip 2**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD-gHVlRQ_g

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167272679225692190/1167272679225692190](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167272679225692190/1167272679225692190)

Probably one of the hardest skips in the game to get consistently for beginner and even intermediate speedrunners - this one requires you to do some wallclimbing up some VERY awkward geometry but skips yet another 2 phases of You Shouldn’t Have Peaked

**Setting The Stage: Drain Skip/Water Basin Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpENtbtvQw4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166883923876388894/1166883923876388894](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166883923876388894/1166883923876388894)

The next evolution of the original Pipes Skip - skipping the Water Basin room entirely!

### **Day 3 (October 26th)**

**Elevator Maintenance: Pest Control Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYY6yu3PU0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167585055527411762/1167585055527411762](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167585055527411762/1167585055527411762)

In the intended route, you’re meant to clear out the elevator shaft of the Biter enemies, backtrack a bit, power up the elevator, and then go back to exit the level - however if you instead trigger the power from out of bounds and just avoid the biters you can skip all that.

**New World Record: [1:31:28](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/ywn3d72y) by @Blaidan**

After a couple days of the community finding, sharing, and learning strats, @Blaidan completes the first legitimate (no Trainer/practice tools) Any% speedrun, clocking in just over 90 minutes.

### **Day 4 (October 27th)**

**Something Lurks In The Sand: Start OOB Shortcut**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO8hkaidTgQ

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167899182330286180/1167899182330286180](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167899182330286180/1167899182330286180)

Definitely the hardest skip in the game, even for the most experienced of speedrunners - this one is a big-time run killer. Thankfully, it only saves about 15-20s - so unless you’re going for world record it's not really necessary.

**New World Record: [1:20:04](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zpp9ljnz) by @Blaidan**

### **Day 5 (October 28th)**

**Speedtech: Railboosting (Input Stacking)**

https://clips.twitch.tv/TardyRockyElkAllenHuhu-5tP39zOyG6w--3p5

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168083074744070165/1168083074744070165](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168083074744070165/1168083074744070165)

In Ghostrunner (and many 3D platformers) there is a system called Coyote Time. Essentially, the game gives you a 0.3s grace period after leaving a platform to input a jump. In Ghostrunner 2 specifically, there is an oversight that allows you to stack as many inputs as you can fit into that 0.3s, increasing your jump speed and distance.

**Can Anyone Hear Me?: Bike OOB Shortcut (Edge Bounce)**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAJeOI5HJ-E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168205950847569961/1168205950847569961](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168205950847569961/1168205950847569961)

The geometry on the side of this building is really interesting and gives you a nice bounce if you hit it right. There are a few other variants of this skip that don’t require the bounce - but where’s the fun in that?

**New World Record: [1:10:03](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/mkqk863m) by @BladeLMAO**

Blade gets his first GR2 record, smashing the previous one by ALMOST ten minutes - just one second shy!

### **Day 6 (October 29th)**

There was a fair bit of testing on Day 6 in particular with Can Anyone Hear Me? and You Shouldn’t Have Peaked - but nothing major was found and no records were broken.

### **Day 7 (October 30th)**

**Elevator Maintenance: OOB Route 2.0 (Zumo + Blade)**

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1964584090

EM gets a new OOB route, shaving off another minute or so!

**New World Record: [1:07:53](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zxw7d1gm) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan strikes back, lowering the record by another 2 minutes.

### **Day 8 (October 31st)**

**Elevator Maintenance: Tube Skip (OOB Route 3.0)**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6zU8RFW-7g

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169030921106767942/1169049163347017758](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169030921106767942/1169049163347017758)

The final (so far) iteration of the EM OOB route, now with minimal movement in between the required loading triggers for the level to progress properly. Surely more things will be found over time, but from the first route sitting around 5 minutes - this one is doable in just over 2!

**New World Record: [1:05:32](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zqd74l9m) by @Blaidan**

### **Day 9 (November 1st)**

**Winds of the Desolate: 3rd Gate Bike Jump Skip[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTh79qRF4N8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTh79qRF4N8)**

Obsoleting the Rooftop version of this skip, @JanisSG and @Blaidan discovered you can ride the bike out slightly OOB to the left of the play area, and launch jack right onto the highway where you can safely DSJ to the checkpoint, respawning the bike.

**Hackers Den: OOB Shortcut**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAlKtjKRRb4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169424646274297906/1169424646274297906](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169424646274297906/1169424646274297906)

By dashing backwards after passing through a doorway with very precise timing, you can get back through before the door closes and the previous area (you’re now standing in) deloads. This lets you take a much shorter route through OOB space to the first cybervoid.

**New World Record: [1:03:14](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/y6q0r1qz) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan continues lowering the record, inching closer and closer to the sub-hour mark!**Day 10 (November 2nd)**

**Behind The Curtain: Panda Skip**

https://clips.twitch.tv/CourageousSilkyFungusPogChamp-s6aL54XdM-hVNkF1

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169791428667392000/1169791428667392000](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169791428667392000/1169791428667392000)

PandaInTheGame who does not consider themselves a speedrunner, managed to find a very fast strat in BTC! The community decided to name the trick Panda Skip, after its founder :)

### **Day 11 (November 3rd)**

Not many big new things were found on Day 11 - but @WiggleyWiggley posted a “backup strat” that ended up being slightly faster than the previously used strat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlvQ-GT_f0U

### **Day 12 (November 4th)**

**Will Bushido Allow It?: Ahriman Cheese**

https://clips.twitch.tv/FragileEasyOcelotCoolCat-Jw8tJmZHNNbqkOpu

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170323187414876192/1170323187414876192](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170323187414876192/1170323187414876192)

@7RayD discovered that by maneuvering in a specific way around Ahriman, you can keep him constantly spinning and unable to attack for the entirety of his third phase.

**New World Record: [1:01:08](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/znep3n9z) by @Blaidan**

Almost there!

### **Day 13 (November 5th)**

**Setting The Stage: Droneless Basin Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-H9hieFGE0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170939684319404082/1170939684319404082](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170939684319404082/1170939684319404082)

The final iteration (so far) of Basin Skip, now taking a more direct line through the OOB space just *narrowly* dodging a kill plane, and skipping the drone ride entirely.

### **Day 14 (November 6th)**

**New World Record: [59:41](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/yll7v82y) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan achieves the world's first sub-hour run, with a ridiculous sum of best sitting at 55:45!

### **Day 15 (November 7th)**

**Mindgames: Permanent Flow Booster**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYOCYq67oas

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1144461454393753652/1171384092152053811](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1144461454393753652/1171384092152053811)

Finally, LonEliteNV finds a practical use for the Permanent Flow Booster glitch in runs!

**New World Record: [59:19](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/yoop337y) by @BladeLMAO**

**New World Record: [58:48](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zg8pv50y) by @Pasiflora**

Blade and Pasi both get their own first sub-hour runs!

### **Day 16 (November 8th)**

The grind for top 3 (and top 10) went on all day on Day 16, but no new records were set.

### **Day 17 (November 9th)**

**New World Record: [57:12](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zg8pvvvy) by @Blaidan**

**New World Record: [56:39](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/y2kpd1wy) by @Pasiflora**

On the final day - Pasiflora snags first place with the world's first 56!

I would like to congratulate everyone who participated and/or won a prize once again. I also want to say thank you to everyone who participated in runs, routing, glitch hunting, or just followed along. You made this challenge a truly memorable experience!

We recently hosted a $10,000 Speedrun Challenge for Ghostrunner 2 lasting two weeks, let's dive into how the run progressed!


Ghostrunner 2 $10k Challenge Highlights

# What is it?

*Nintendo Blast: Metroid Blast* is a shooter based on Nintendo's popular *Metroid* series. In *Nintendo Land*, 12 Nintendo Games are showcased as "attractions"; mini-games based on their Nintendo series that range from 5 minutes of content to months of jam-packed action. Represented series include *Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, Metroid, Mario, Luigi's Haunted Mansion, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong, Game & Watch, Balloon Fight, F-Zero, Yoshi, and The Mysterious Murasame Castle*. *Metroid Blast* is the representative of *Metroid*. This Sci-Fi adventure has 30 levels, progressively getting more difficult. Player 1 will always play as Samus' gunship on the gamepad, and up to 4 others will play as regular Samus using the remotes. The game is quite simple, with each player having 3 lives before the mission fails. 

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaK7q8xVLA4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaK7q8xVLA4)is

Metroid Blast has many different types of levels. The most common is "Defeat All Enemies" where the goal is to kill all Cyclons, Geemers, Zebesians, and Metroids (and their variants) in a given level. "Boss Fights" are battles fought against large bosses where the smaller enemies can be ignored. Bosses include Ridley, Ice Ridley, and Kraid. The final type of level are token levels. These levels require all players to get each of their tokens in a (usually 5 minute) time limit. These levels require less skill and more strategy and memorization to speedrun. From now on these levels will be known as "Kill", "Boss", and "Token". (The game also includes two other game modes - however they are Co-op only and are not runnable anyway.)

Speedrunners require different methods for each of the level variants. One thing that stays the same, however, is dashing. Pressing down the left joystick allows the runner to get a small boost. However, if used at the wrong time, it can cause the runner to hit a wall, considerably slowing down their time. For "Kill" runs, runners focus on hitting the "I-Frames" of every enemy as quickly and carefully as possible. Boss Runners must manage attacking, dodging, and dashing effectively to get a fast time *and* survive. Token runners must use memorization and dashing effectively to score a low time.

One of the most risk/reward traits of "Kill" runs is Cyclons. Cyclons take a long time to open there I-Frame. Before a Cyclon begins its attack phase, (where it's very easy to kill due to its spinning nature) the Cyclon does expose a small portion of their I-Frame. However, if the player's shot hits the side shells of the Cyclon, it will close again before attacking. Taking the shot can save or lose precious seconds.

![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/kzwvk8nq.jpg)

"Token" runners are mainly focused on memorization, speed, and precision. Most "Token" runners memorize and plan their routes for each level. To have a good time on a token level, runners also need to use their boosts precisely at the correct places to ensure a top speed. "Token" Runners must communicate the most to share new routes and boost spots.

"Boss" Runners have the most difficult levels to run, balancing speed with survival. These runs are ones with many deaths and resets. The three bosses are Kraid, Ridley, and Ice Ridley. These beasts are usually quite easy to take down, but when working together can be quite difficult. Kraid requires the use of the bomb; a more powerful attack that can take out multiple enemies. To defeat Kraid, runners must destroy I-Frames all over his body before he opens his mouth. A small crevice in his mouth allows the player to shoot bombs inside, which explodes after entering his throat. Meanwhile Kraid shoots lava, bombs, and fire beams at you. Ridley and Ice Ridley are quite similar to each other. For both flying dragons, you must hit I-Frames on their Hands, Tails, Chest's, and Mouth's thrice. They will shoot lasers, try to grab you with their hands, and will drop bombs.![](/static/blob/7n617mzq.jpg)

Mastery runs are a different kind of run. Mastery runs often have weird differences with obscure solutions. Some levels require the player to only use bombs or to not dash. This will often drastically slow down runs and require players to invent new, out-of-the-box strategies.

Thank you so much for reading! If this does become a series I will continue to find new, medium-sized, forgotten communities to revive with new energy! I will link the main category, 10 Missions, best time below. 

Happy Running!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp35YCLPpFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp35YCLPpFg)

A new idea where we dissect a medium sized speedrunning community from the bottom up, increasing excitement and injecting a new passion for a game otherwise unexplored.

Wolfhowl's Game of the Week: Metroid Blast

Runners typically need to work with the cards that are dealt to them by the developers when speedrunning — whether that’s due to the lack of a developer/speedrunning community relationship, the developer having an anti-speedrunning perspective, or anything else that could result in a situation where the community decides to intervene.

In recent years, it’s become more prevalent for communities to take matters into their own hands to create tools or rulesets that work around some of the negative aspects to their chosen speedgame in favor of a more entertaining run. Today, let’s take a dive into some of the tools and decisions made in various communities to foster a more fun speedrunning environment.

## Race Files

Race files are perhaps the most common compromise when it comes to balancing entertainment and purity in speedruns. “Race file” is a blanket term used to describe when speedrunners start their speedrun from a section not immediately at the start of the game, whether through a save file or some other means.

This is done in [Portal](https://www.speedrun.com/portal) to skip the minute-long vault section, [Super Mario Sunshine](https://www.speedrun.com/sms) to skip the nearly **6** minute starting cutscene, [Dead Space](https://www.speedrun.com/ds1) to skip the 5-minute train ride, and other games with very similar scenarios. Typically, race files are used to skip these beginning sections because they’re either boring or are completely void of gameplay for a long period of time.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/83nvl1em.jpg)

## Cutting out Cutscenes

[Titanfall 2](https://www.speedrun.com/titanfall_2) is a great speedgame with around an hour of high octane Source engine movement… and around 24 minutes of cutscenes. Certainly not the worst offender of cutscene-to-gameplay ratios, but not ideal when it comes to a game as fast-paced as Titanfall 2.

A few years ago, the Any% & All Helmets categories were split into the subcategories Standard & No Cutscenes. The No Cutscenes mod allowed for pre-made saves to be loaded at select points so that you could play each gameplay segment in between cutscenes, removing the majority of the downtime.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/qrz2m8n0.jpg)From 2018 to 2021 Titanfall 2 progressed quite a bit as a speedgame, developing new strategies like [Andy Shot](https://youtu.be/U1szguexnpk?t=1794) or [Elmo Clip](https://youtu.be/6fs8FpxsQic?t=52m50s). Unfortunately, because the pre-made saves for No Cutscenes were made prior to these discoveries, they ended up being left out completely from the category. This left No Cutscenes in a strange state where it was skipping all the downtime, but also a good chunk of the new tricks.

In July 2021, the community decided that a solution called the BT Cutscene Bypass would be voted on to merge the ideas of No Cutscenes into Any% in a new way. The beginning of the run contains an infamous cutscene hilariously dubbed “The 18 Hour Cutscene” due to a line of dialogue that takes place during the scene. The 18 Hour Cutscene lasts for roughly 3.5 minutes and includes 19 seconds of gameplay via an autoscroller, the most egregious cutscene in the run — right near the beginning. The idea was to skip just this one cutscene as it was the most disliked one, but also inject the time right back into Livesplit as if you had never skipped it at all. This meant all the runs that don’t use it remained just as competitive. Titanfall 2 Speedrun.com moderator [Bryonato](https://www.speedrun.com/user/bryonato) was the one to kick off the vote for this decision, and this is what they had to say about the process:

> We were facing a few issues with the state of our leaderboards. Any% was our main category, but most high level runners didn’t want to grind it due to the long opening cutscene, so the majority of competitive times were happening over on No Cutscenes. Normally this would be fine, but No Cutscenes is also a PC exclusive category, and we accept runs from multiple platforms on the same board, so console players were out of luck here. So in order to encourage people to run Any% again, have our leaderboards be more representative of the actual state of the game, and ensure the longevity of our speedgame’s lifecycle, we had a vote on the BT Cutscene Bypass.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/1pzmqoek.jpg)

> "Mechanically, the BT Cutscene Bypass does more or less what we do in No Cutscenes. But this time, we have a script integrated into LiveSplit itself, that detects when the cutscene starts and then it skips the cutscene but it also injects all of the time that we would have skipped back into the timer. Think of it like skipping past an ad read in a YouTube video. The video is still the same length, but you’ve saved yourself time by not watching a part of it.  So ultimately at the end of the day, yeah, it's arbitrary but like, so is the majority of speedrunning. It comes down to the balance of purity and runner convenience."

-*Bryonato*

## Modifying Mechanics

[Outlast 2](https://www.speedrun.com/outlast2/full_game) *also* suffered from a lot of cutscenes on release. Although, perhaps an even worse offense to speedrunning, Outlast 2 introduced a new mechanic in which skipping any game checkpoint leads to the player dying instantaneously. This is what Outlast 2 leaderboard moderator [AlexisDR](https://www.speedrun.com/user/AlexisDR) had to say about Checkpoint Killing:

> "I knew the run would get alot more interesting, because we already knew about some big skips that could be done but weren't possible because you would die/get softlocked. There were skips known to be theoretically possible like a few weeks after the game released but they weren't possible to do due to the checkpoint killing mechanic."

-*AlexisDR*

This mechanic was such a problem that even casual players found themselves dying from seemingly nowhere.  It was left this way for nearly 4 years because no one could figure out a way around it.

Eventually, Alexis reached out to Speedrun Tool Developer [Kuno Demetries](https://www.speedrun.com/user/KunoDemetries) who also recently developed the [Flashless Epilepsy Mod](https://github.com/KunoDemetries/APTIEpilepsyMod) for A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Alexis asked Kuno to help them out with a mod that would disable this checkpoint killing mechanic for a new sub-category called No CPK. The [No CPK Mod](https://www.speedrun.com/outlast2/resources) aims to create a category similar to what Any% actually should have been. This is what Kuno had to say about how the mod was created:

> "The mod changes the original if statement, responsible for checking if the current checkpoint is the one sequential to the previous one, and returns it to always true - preventing the game from killing the player and restoring the original checkpoint save function from Outlast 1."

-*Kuno Demetries*

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/2yzrqjn4.jpg)

## Removing RNG

[Bioshock Infinite](https://www.speedrun.com/bsi) has a piece of gear called the Hill Runner’s Hat, which gives you a speed boost if your shield gets broken. This fairly significant speed boost is great because it saves roughly **16 minutes** of game time over the course of a whole run. But there is one issue: the Hill Runners Hat has a 2% chance to drop.  This requires speedrunners to load the checkpoint over and over, attempting to get it before proceeding with their speedrun. This issue is discussed in more detail in the video [“The Bioshock Infinite Problem”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8829nP7akEY) made by Jarko, who helped me write this article. Jarko was the leading force in the move to allow a mod dubbed simply “HRH mod” on the leaderboards. The HRH mod removes all RNG from the HRH drop, forcing it to spawn 100% of the time. Here’s what Jarko had to say about it:

> "BSI was a tough one when I started glitch hunting the game about 5 years ago. Any% was almost 50% cutscene across a roughly 1 hour 50 minute run. At its peak activity, the category had maybe 4 active runners - and that low number is mostly because of HRH. I'm sure you get the jist of the item but 1/52 odds 30 minutes into the run was soul crushing to reset through. It was rough, though the occasional first try HRH was certainly a thrill. The game is probably in a much better place because of the efforts I had made to make a modified main category."

-*Jarko*

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5ngxxeq.jpg)

# Why are we here?

In the end, I think the majority of us are in speedrunning because we want to have fun.  Despite speedrunning being competitive in nature, I believe for a lot of people it serves primarily as an entertaining hobby.

So in that case, why not add some edge cases to prioritize entertainment? Personally, I’ll advocate for entertainment and accessibility any day.

When games don't provide what speedrunners are looking for, sometimes it's up to the community to step up to make the changes for themselves. 

Prioritizing Entertainment in Speedrunning

The well-attended video game conference E3 2021 took a digital form this past weekend, with big showcases featuring top developers and publishers like Bethesda, Nintendo, and Gearbox.

If you were feeling overwhelmed during the four-day event, you’re not alone. There were plenty of amazing opportunities to get first looks, teasers, and new details about the games we expect to play through the end of 2021 and well into 2022.

We watched the event with one question in mind: what hot new speedgames can we look forward to?

In no particular order, here are our top eight upcoming AAA video game titles for speedrunners:

## Elden Ring  

**Developed by: FromSoftware**

**Published by: BANDAI NAMCO**

**Expected release date: January 21, 2022**

**[Official Site](https://www.bandainamcoent.com/agecheck?redirect_uri=%2Flanding%2Feldenring)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5e175e0.jpg)Elden Ring is the newest Souls-like installment in development by the legendary FromSoftware in partnership with George R. R. Martin. Previous games created by FromSoft include Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls series. Souls games seem to consistently provide fantastic speedruns with beautifully brutal combat and a host of entertaining glitches and skips.

While we don’t know exactly what to expect from Elden Ring, it’s almost certain that speedrunners will be diving right into it on release. Check out the [Elden Ring Gamplay Reveal here.](https://youtu.be/E3Huy2cdih0)

## Dying Light 2

**Techland**

**Expected release date: December 7, 2021**

**[Official Site](https://dl2.dyinglightgame.com/)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/qoeoxjeg.jpg)Parkour in an open world filled with zombies you can smash, stomp, shoot, zap, or otherwise dispatch how you please — need I say more? Doesn’t matter, I’m going anyway. Dying Light 2 appears to be very much in the spirit of the first game, just amped up to 11. Although open world games *tend* to have less sequence breaks, I think we can expect a fluid speedrun with deep movement mechanics and optimal routing choices around DL2’s non-linear story options

Who knows, maybe this open world adventure will get some wild glitches or exploits. Either way, I’m sure this game will make for a unique speedrun. You can check out Dying Light 2’s [Game Overview from E3 here.](https://youtu.be/RooY1pmvDA4)

## Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

**Nintendo**

**Expected release date: July 16, 2021**

**[Official Site](https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-hd-switch/)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/d3ek95nx.jpg)As discussed in a previous article, [speedrunning ports (or more accurately in this case, remakes) of a game can be a unique experience](https://www.speedrun.com/news/774-2021-6-3-days-gone-speedrunning-a-game-port). The standard edition of the game, which came out in 2011, is uniquely broken with a glitch called Back in Time that chops a hefty 4 hours from the run. I’m no Zelda runner, but if I was, the first thought in my head would be, “Will this work in Skyward Sword HD?”

Of course, we won't know the answer until next month but regardless of what it is, Zelda games are always a hit with runners in the Zelda community to some degree. You can check out [Skyward Sword HD’s trailer here.](https://youtu.be/DfnItaAI6PI)

## Metroid Dread

**Developed by: Mercury Steam/Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development**

**Published by: Nintendo**

**Expected release date: October 8, 2021**

**[Official Site](https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/metroid-dread-switch/)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/3xz0j1el.jpg)Metroid speedrunning has been around for decades, and for good reason. The Metroid games runs don’t typically boast giant skips, but rather optimal pathing and the frequent use of smaller glitches and exploits across the run — which really hits a sweet spot for a lot of runners. Not too broken, and not too rigid either. Considering this is the first mainline Metroid game in a *very* long time, this is gonna be a big one.

While Metroid Dread isn’t a remake like Skyward Sword HD, it *is* a new installment in a series that speedrunners have been playing for over two decades. Will we see some transferable skills? Repeat top runners, or maybe fresh blood taking the top spots? Only time will tell. You can check out the [Metroid Dread Announcement Trailer here.](https://youtu.be/8NjCICl7dDo)

## The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

**Nintendo**

**Expected release date: 2022**

**[Official Site](https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/2021/a-new-look-at-the-sequel-to-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/9kzwmjnq.jpg)So first things first, *technically* this isn’t the game's real title. Considering Nintendo won’t tell anyone what the actual title is, “Breath of The Wild 2” (BOTW2) is the best we’ve got. People will speedrun this because it's a new release in the Zelda series, but there are other reasons to believe this mysterious entry will make for a great speedgame. Nintendo has used the same tools to create BOTW2 as they did with the first BOTW game, the same process they used for Ocarina of Time (OOT) and Majora’s Mask (MM). It just so happens that OOT and MM shared quite a lot of the same glitches and exploits, so I think we can expect a similar result from the two BOTW games. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love watching [Link fly through the air like a majestic Loftwing](https://youtu.be/Ext6yE0d394).

Breath of the Wild 1 was also unique in that it was designed so that you could go to the final boss *whenever you wanted*, a special treat for speedrunners. However, the tradeoff was that you need to fight all of the games bosses at once while *also* being pretty ill-equipped. This made BOTW1 a very entertaining speedrun to watch, and I don’t think I’m alone in hoping BOTW2 will reflect the same. You can check out the [teaser for the “Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild” here.](https://youtu.be/Pi-MRZBP91I)

## Halo Infinite

**Developed by: 343 Industries**

**Published by: Xbox Game Studios**

**Expected release date: 2021**

**[Official Site](https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-infinite)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/oxzd29em.jpg)You *can* check out some a cinematic trailer for the campaign [here](https://youtu.be/wDZ-9B6hX5A), **but** the *real* meat is inside the [multiplayer gameplay trailer](https://youtu.be/4i86Ckj8xKk) where we get a good view at the movement and combat. The movement looks nice and fluid, with a fancy new grappling hook that *better* be in the campaign. The combat also looks nice and chunky, in the best way possible. Everyone loves a chunky shotgun blast. With what appears to be some solid base mechanics, it’s really down to how the campaign is structured for this to be a truly great speedgame — and I’m rooting for 343 to nail this thing out of the park.

## Back 4 Blood

**Developed by: Turtle Rock Studios**

**Published by: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment**

**Expected release date: October 8, 2021**

**[Official Site](https://www.back4blood.com/en-gb)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/y1n5jve3.jpg)Back 4 Blood is essentially Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) brought into the modern day, even including some of the original dev team. If you don’t already know, L4D2 is a co-op zombie shooter made in the Source engine. Source, of course, brings along with it some fantastic movement in the form of tick perfect bunnyhopping, which makes up the majority of the skill required for L4D2 speedruns. The thing is, Back 4 Blood is being created on Unreal Engine 4, not Source. Chances are pretty high this movement will no longer exist, at least not the way it exists in L4D2 - but Back 4 Blood is also bringing along a host of *new* mechanics so who knows what it’ll look like in the end.

Either way, co-op speedruns are always a blast, and they were more popular than solo runs in L4D2, even if only by a little bit. I think the social aspect of co-op speedrunning  is much more important than any tech, and no matter what that will *definitely* exist here for Back 4 Blood. Who *doesn’t* want to smash in zombie brains while running against a timer with friends? *Definitely* no chance of ruining friendships there.

## Shadow Warrior 3

**Developed by: Flying Wild Hog**

**Published by: Devolver Digital**

**Expected release date: 2021**

**[Official Site](https://shadowwarrior.com/)**

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/l1n7v5n5.jpg)Shadow Warrior started out simply as a DOOM clone back in 1997, one of many other clones around that time. Since then however, it’s been rebooted as a modern series by Flying Wild Hog and they’ve turned it into something truly unique. Shadow Warrior 2 was a fast-paced slash and shooter, and Shadow Warrior 3 seems to be aiming for more of the same with a wider scope and more streamlined mechanics — even stripping out some of the more confusing ones. With a game so naturally fast-paced, it will no doubt be a hit with speedrunners. Check out the second [Shadow Warrior Gameplay Trailer here.](https://youtu.be/NYH5pwuIx58)

## That’s a wrap!

E3 brought us some fantastic titles this year, *especially* considering the global conditions of the past year. Sure, we’ve got to wait a little longer for some titles, but best to let them cook a little longer to ensure a better final product. Also, can we talk about how Nintendo just pulled out **ALL** the stops on their showcase? That showcase was one jawdropper after another, and I’m here for it, honestly.

That’s a wrap on our top 8 picks for AAA games for speedrunners. Coming up next, we’ll be taking a look at our top 8 Indie picks for speedrunners from E3, as well as in-depth looks at two indie titles, including developer interviews — so stay tuned!

E3 loaded up our wishlists with AAA titles full of speedrunning potential, including Elden Ring and Dying Light 2, among others! Here are some highlights expected to be released in 2021 and 2022.

E3 2021: Top 8 AAA titles for speedrunners

It’s always an exciting time when the new game in a series you enjoy comes out - but what does this mean for speedrunners? Different speedrunning communities that run a game or games within a series may act differently if a new game is coming to the series. There are many different factors that take part in a community or individual's decision to run the next game in the series. Even still,  it’s pretty safe to say that most people who’ve dumped potentially dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of hours into the series will at least give the new game a chance — so what happens after that?



## Change — for better or worse



A determining factor for whether a new game will attract runners from previous games in the series is how different the new game is. Usually one of the first things a runner will do when they start routing the new game is to try glitches, exploits, and other strats that worked in previous games. The process of learning how a game works and routing it to play as fast as possible is always an exciting one - but when you get to apply previous knowledge to that process the anticipation and then resulting excitement (or potentially disappointment) is *way* higher.





### Some Examples



It’s interesting to see the different decisions runners have made within a series. For instance, the greater Mario community seems to be split into smaller communities primarily by console generation. The top 20 runners of [Super Mario Bros](https://www.speedrun.com/smb1) almost exclusively run Mario games on the NES or Famicom (FDS). This wasn’t just the case with the NES Mario runners either, the same concept applied when I checked the top 20 runners of Super Mario 64 (N64), Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube/Wii), *and* Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch).

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/2yzrmme4.jpg)

*[Source](https://veryverygaming.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/super-mario-bros-through-the-ages-1-e1476273399706.jpg?w=640)*



This is interesting because presumably each generation of Mario games changed a fair bit, and runners seem to like sticking to the games they’re familiar with. I can’t imagine there’s much that can be applied from a 2D side scroller to a 3D third-person platformer. It also seems to be this reason that the communities for the mainline Mario games differ from those within the Mario Kart community and other Mario games.



Another interesting case is the Pokémon series community, who seem to enjoy running pretty much every mainline Pokémon games, only diverging when it comes to Pokémon games in other genres like [New Pokémon Snap](https://www.speedrun.com/new_pokemon_snap) and the [Mystery Dungeon games](https://www.speedrun.com/pmddx). I assume this is likely for the same reason as the Mario series, the only difference being that the mainline Pokémon games haven’t had *quite* as much variance comparatively.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5nggknq.jpg)*[Source](https://www.gamingscan.com/pokemon-games-in-order/)*



## New DOOM Releases



My personal experience with transitioning speedgames in a series was with the 2016 reboot of [DOOM](https://www.speedrun.com/d2016) and the release of [DOOM Eternal](https://www.speedrun.com/doom_eternal). DOOM 2016 Any% speedruns rely very heavily on 3 different tricks; [Railboosting](https://youtu.be/rr9V0PQNMhY) (which flies you in a certain direction at lightning speed), [Glory Kill Clipping](https://youtu.be/pZji9Asa4Tc), and [Gauss Boosting](https://youtu.be/Lon5EIrn9ZY?t=270). Leading up to the launch of DOOM Eternal, the DOOM community was pretty sure that all of these things were going to be removed, considering Eternal was being made on a brand new iteration of the IDTech Engine. 

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/9qzppwz3.jpg)*[Source](https://youtu.be/4dzCLAPL4wk)*



On the day of launch, everyone was eager to test these tricks out and see what else could be found. As it turns out; Railboosting had been not entirely removed, but limited due to the change in level design/geometry, Glory Kill Clipping was also technically not removed but happened far less often (and with less enemies), and Gauss Boosting was technically gone since the Gauss Cannon was replaced with the Ballista, but it had the same recoil effect that let you boost around the level — so we just called it Ballista Boosting. 



While some of the tricks we had used before were either removed or limited, it was not even 5 minutes into the game before [Seeker__](https://www.speedrun.com/user/seeker_) discovered that if you spammed jump inputs fast enough on a sloped surface, they would stack and send you flying into the air. Needless to say, this trick essentially replaced railboosting — almost becoming *MORE* powerful. Especially with the more open level design of Eternal compared to 2016. That wasn’t the only new trick either. New tech dubbed “zipping” was found, which could “zip” you forward allowing you to skip triggers and death barriers, among other uses. Even other general gameplay mechanics like the combat and movement were vastly different, allowing you to traverse through levels incredibly quickly.



Shortly after release, previous DOOM 2016 runners mostly decided that they preferred just running the old game. However, the release of Eternal exploded the DOOM Speedrunning Discord, and there was a massive influx of all kinds of runners who were interested in DOOM Eternal. There were runners who were interested in the super skip heavy Any%, runners who wanted to run the combat-focused 100%, and also runners who were interested in the No Major Glitches category that focused primarily on a wide variety of smaller tricks rather than just a few very strong ones.



Now that Eternal has been out for over a year and two DLCs have been released, the “new” runners who started with DOOM Eternal are still around and enjoying it like they always have -  but also interestingly enough, the updates and DLC to the game have managed to attract a few of the DOOM 2016 runners.



What can we take away from this? Well, it seems to be fairly common whether its Mario, Pokemon, or DOOM, that speedrunners tend to stick to the games they’re familiar with. And yet, new games in the series bring in new runners who can benefit from experiences from previous runners and bring renewed energy to the series — maybe even bringing the previous runners around to the new game.



## Conclusion



It’s really interesting taking a look into speedruns of games within a series, because it’s interesting to see how the individual runners with different likes and dislikes react to each installment having their own features - some similar across the series and some very different. I enjoy seeing the runs of these games, in particular, take shape on release, just because of the previous history and potential future, it’s a really unique experience to witness.



Anywho, I’ve talked your ear off enough about my thoughts and experiences with series runs, go drink some water, and don’t forget to save those frames.



When a new game is released in a series, what can speedrunners take away from speedruns of earlier titles? 

Speedrunning games in a series

So, you’ve decided to pick up speedrunning. Welcome to the wonderful world of routing, glitch hunting, running, or whatever else it is that has attracted you to this side of the internet.



## Where do I start?



Well, the reality is that it comes down to personal preference, but that would be a rather silly article wouldn’t it? *“Play what you want lul.”* Instead, I’ll guide you through the process of finding a game that you actually like rather than telling you what you should like. 



There are all kinds of categories, for all kinds of games, that suit all kinds of different players. You should find out what sort of games you like, as well as *how* you like to play them and go from there. 



It’s worth noting that leaderboards on Speedrun.com will often support multiple categories for runners to choose from that allow for different styles of play. For instance, the most common category you’ll see on SR.C is **“Any%”**.  



Any% generally means that you must go from the start of the game to the end, but you’re allowed to skip however much of the content in the middle as is possible within the limits of the game (eg. glitches/exploits and not straight up just hacking the game)



Any% is fantastic, and it usually shows the true potential of how fast a game could be beaten when the gloves are off. With that said, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and if it isn’t yours, that’s completely okay! 



Many leaderboards will support categories like **“Glitchless”** or **“No Major Glitches”** (sometimes shortened to NMG). These categories are typically created with the goal to keep the speedrun similar to what could be considered an “intended” playthrough, but with routing and optimizations to speed it up significantly. The existence of categories means you can play a single title in many different ways. This allows for a lot of freedom even within a single game. 



## What game do I pick to speedrun?



Now then, back to the original question. What game should you pick to speedrun? In my own personal experience, I got into speedrunning after finishing a casual playthrough of *Prey (2017)*. After completing it, I wanted more. However, I didn’t want to just start another regular playthrough and so I decided to pick up the speedrun since it seemed interesting, short, and easily accessible.



This would be my first suggestion to you, as a budding frame saver. Think of a few of your all-time favorite games, and from that list check out the associated runs for each game. If you’re like me, you’ll be absolutely fascinated to see a whole new take on a cherished game. This is really one of the great things about speedrunning in my opinion, which is replayability. Taking a game, and setting goals within that game gives you so much more to do. You get to enjoy the game for longer, and you get more bang for your buck.



With the above said, I would offer a warning from my personal experience. If your desired speedgame is one that you really enjoyed casually, make sure you’ve really gone through and gotten absolutely everything you can out of a casual playthrough. Once you start speedrunning a game, it starts to look a lot different, and it’s hard to go back to the “casual mindset” after starting your speedy journey. 



## What happens if I don’t want to speedrun a game I’ve played before?



Well, then I don’t blame you. Sometimes, it’s nice to preserve that relaxed enjoyment that comes from a casual playthrough. So what then? Well, there are still multiple avenues to pursue. I highly recommend using Speedrun.com’s own [games page](https://www.speedrun.com/games) to check out some of the most active leaderboards on the site, because activity means at the very least the game appeals to *some* chunk of the internet. As well as the tools available here on SR.C, [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/7cefbf30-4c3e-4aa7-99cd-70aabb662f27) has its own filter for broadcasts that fall under the tag “Speedrun”. Through this, you can watch live attempts, immerse yourself within the Speedrunning community, and maybe find yourself a game to speedrun. 



## It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.



So, you’ve explored all previous avenues and still don’t know what to run? That’s okay, I’ve got you covered. As of the time that I am writing this, Speedrun.com has over 22,000 games with leaderboards and more being created every day. A lot of these games are really incredible, and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that I don’t know everything about every single game that’s ever been speedrun. With that said though, I think I have a decent list of recommendations depending on your interests.



### Retro/Classic Runs

*Do any of these really need an introduction?*  

  

*[The Legend of Zelda Series](https://www.speedrun.com/games#title=Legend+of+Zelda)*  

The Legend of Zelda series is full of all kinds of different games, ranging from entirely busted to relatively faithful to the “intended” experience.  

*[The Metroid Series](https://www.speedrun.com/metroid)*   

Metroid is a true classic, boasting satisfying movement and combat across 2D and 3D installments.  

*[The Mario Kart Series](https://www.speedrun.com/mario_kart)*  

Across all the games, tracks, and categories, chances are fairly high there’s a speedrun for you in here.



### Movement-based Runs

*[Super Mario 64 - 16/70 Star](https://www.speedrun.com/sm64)*   

A movement classic with years of player experience and community resources for easy learning.  

*[Super Meat Boy - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/smb)*   

Easy to pick up, hard to master. A great choice for a first speedgame.  

*[Super Mario Odyssey - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/smo)*   

Modern Mario movement goodness, with a low barrier to entry and an incredibly high skill ceiling.  

*[Celeste - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/celeste)*  

Incredibly challenging, beautiful, and chock full of that sweet movement.  

*[Titanfall 2 - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/titanfall_2)*   

An underrated first-person shooter built on a modified version of the Source engine, with high octane combat and ultra-smooth movement  



### ”Broken-in-the-Best-Way” Runs

*[LoZ: Ocarina of Time // Defeat Ganon - No SRM](https://www.speedrun.com/oot)*   

Until recently, this category was known as Any%. Defeat Ganon was created once Arbitrary Code Execution was found, allowing runners to warp to the credits through a complex process of memory manipulation.  Defeat Ganon is masterfully broken in all kinds of ways and makes for a unique watching experience. This is by no means an easy run if you wish to learn it, but the community has a *ton* of resources to learn from.   

*[Portal - Out of Bounds](https://www.speedrun.com/portal)*   

Abusing Portal collisions to walk through anything? Sign me up.   

*[The Dishonored Series](https://www.speedrun.com/dishonored_series)*   

Elevators, leaps, and lots of OOB goodness.  

*[DOOM 2016 - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/d2016)*   

Ever looked at a railing and thought to yourself, “Damn, I sure do wish that would send me 1000 feet into the air at Mach 7” because me too, reader. Me too.   

*[Fallout: New Vegas // Main Quest - Yes Man](https://www.speedrun.com/fallout_nv)*   

Ever wanted to become a plane before?



### Puzzle Runs

*[Portal - Inbounds No SLA](https://www.speedrun.com/portal#Inbounds_No_SLA)*   

A hybrid category akin to “No Major Glitches” that blends the classic source movement with some clever routing.  

*[Superliminal - Glitchless](https://www.speedrun.com/superliminal#Glitchless)*   

A mind-boggling game with tight optimization and very satisfying puzzles.  



By no means is this a comprehensive list, not even close. I tried to limit each category to just a few options, and I’m sure I have some personal bias inside my decisions. As such, I encourage you to do your own research and use this article and list as a stepping stone into speedrunning, rather than a direct guide. 



There are so many amazing speedgames out there, with even better communities behind them. I could never hope to create a fully comprehensive list of amazing speedgames, simply because it seems there’s always more to be discovered or even developed. Speedrunning truly is the gift that keeps on giving. 



***What are your favorite games to run and/or watch? Tell us about them by sending us a tweet 

[@speedruncom](https://twitter.com/speedruncom) with the hashtag #FavSpeedgame!***



*Header photo credit to the PHD Gamer via Unsplash.*

Want to get started with speedrunning, but aren't sure what game to try first? We've got some advice to get you started! 

How to pick your first speedgame

With European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA)’s winter event coming to a close last week, 400,000 SEK ($47,000 US) was raised for the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation. [Alzheimerfonden](https://www.alzheimerfonden.se/) is an organization that supports research and projects to eventually find a cure for Alzheimer’s and other Dementia-related diseases. The money raised will have a huge impact on people’s lives, and personally, it’s times like these when I am extremely proud to be part of the speedrunning community that constantly works to make the world a better place. With our passion and contributions, we can change the world via speedrunning and that is incredible. Let’s take a look at some highlights for the event, shall we?



## Incredible Luck



We’ll start off by looking at some incredible luck in some of the runs featured at the event. It’s no secret that speedrunning takes an incredible amount of skill to execute well, especially in front of an audience of thousands. The confidence and talent required to remain calm under the pressure is astounding, but sometimes runners do make errors and need a bit of good fortune to bring them back into the game. 



clips.twitch.tv/PopularDeterminedBobaAsianGlow-4XYn8ADFkjlnTwfT



Here, we have MedicCasts’s run of *Hades*, where Medic made a mistake early on by filling the dash slot of his character’s build with a dash that is almost useless in the run. This cut down his damage significantly, making boss fights much slower as a result. However you are offered replacement dashes later on as seen in this clip, and thankfully Medic was offered the Poseidon dash which is a huge boost back in the right direction. Getting Poseidon Dash this early is calculated to be around a 14% chance, so lady luck was definitely on Medic’s side to bring it home!



clips.twitch.tv/ObliqueWildEagleSMOrc-OpwRuuPdIWnwH2ZY



Onto another stroke of fortune, many speedruns done at a marathon will involve a “farming” segment (attempting to get a rare drop over and over as they cannot reset if they get bad luck). This section of a run can sometimes be circumvented, but some games require you to grind the old-fashioned way. In this clip of *Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow*, Diagongdx is getting ready to farm the Black Panther ability, as it’s significantly faster than any other movement type in the game. You can hear in the clip that he and his commentators are preparing the chat to sit back and relax as they will likely be there for a while. 



However, Diagongdx calls that he will get the ability first try and does just that. This ability has a less than 5% drop chance so getting it first try is extremely rare, calling the first try at a live event is even rarer. Definitely a moment to remember as it’s not just a stroke of luck, but perhaps even a stroke of runner intuition as well.



## Dealing With Downtime



clips.twitch.tv/BenevolentSillyReindeerAMPTropPunch-awymNxz42iNYr-Bf



Taking a little break from the crazy luck and insane plays we’ve seen from the event, our next clip is simply a nice little moment from Kyoslilmonster’s *Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition* run. Usually, during runs like this, runners can do whatever they like in the downtime of unskippable cutscenes or sequences, as long as they keep the timer running. Some runners use these moments to take bathroom breaks, or mentally prepare themselves for more difficult sections ahead. Kyo has a personal tradition where they like to do something out of the box such as cooking or long marathons, especially if it comes to raising money for charity. In this particular cutscene, we got to meet Freya the ferret. She’s only a few months old but has apparently taken a liking to sleeping in her own little race car bed, so maybe we can see a co-op run from Kyo and Freya in the future?



## Friendly Competition



clips.twitch.tv/JazzyBadCrabRalpherZ-k4kRPcD-lNgsPFNP



Bobby Cruz (otherwise known as TheBlacktastic) is a well-known community member in both the esports scene as an event producer and the speedrunning scene as a top-level runner in many games. It is quite rare you see these two communities have a large amount of overlap due to how different each scene is, but that wasn’t the case during Bobby’s *Mega Man* run at the event.



During the run, a good friend of Bobby’s who is a member of the fighting game scene by the name of TuboWare donated and created some great banter on the stream. BOWIEtheHERO (another well-known esports commentator) was reading donations at the time, and even he was caught off-guard by Tubo’s donation calling out Bobby for “speedrunning away from this UMVC3 rematch for months now!” It seems that poor Bobby cannot get away so easily for this *Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3* rematch, and both communities will be sure to remind him!



## Solving the Impossible



clips.twitch.tv/NurturingRoughMooseUWot-pBUTNtQZRhthW_Ws



Kainalo is well known within ESA for his outstanding humor and overall silliness, and what better clip to showcase this than him solving puzzles as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. This particular TMNT game is known for its overall jankiness, so it’s not out of the realms of reality that a puzzle could be bugged in a way to make it impossible. However, in this particular instance, the game is definitely working as intended as Kainalo quickly realized. 



The puzzle itself is very similar to the extremely popular “Flow” games that blew up on app stores a number of years ago, where you must simply connect the colors together like a pipeline without crossing any colors over. This usually means starting from the outside and finishing in the center to avoid any overlap. Kainalo’s turtle has an ability to make these puzzles extremely simple, as usually there are a larger number of colors you must deal with. Applying the aforementioned logic to this puzzle makes it extremely trivial, but as someone who has done marathon runs in front of thousands, I can absolutely relate to sometimes making silly mistakes as a result. We still love you Kainalo, keep your head held high!



## Not for the Faint of Nikoheart



*Alien Isolation* on the Nightmare difficulty setting is no laughing matter, or is it?



Nikoheart is an absolute mastermind at *Alien Isolation*, his coverage of this clip is so in-depth with mechanics that I was absolutely mind-blown at the deep knowledge and understanding of something that seems so simple. 



clips.twitch.tv/TangentialAgitatedStapleKippa-wR-CBvl9nrr0AOIr



In this clip, the Xenomorph proves that even the most knowledgeable can still be caught by surprise on occasion. On the Nightmare difficulty setting, the Xenomorphs are extremely prone to noise and movement so some strategies are used in order to move quickly while making minimal noise. These strategies, unfortunately, didn’t work for Niko in this case, so he had to quickly think of a backup solution before he was caught. In this section of the run there are two Xenomorphs you must escape from, one as the door opens and another on the bottom floor of the facility. The one below should in theory be distracted by a flare that Niko has thrown prior to the clip. While Niko was waiting for the first Xenomorph to head up into the vents, he attempted to silently run down the stairs in hopes that he could also avoid the second Xenomorph. To his extreme surprise, it was two steps ahead and was waiting for him behind the doors. Personally, I would have turned the game off at that point, but I respect Niko for sticking it out and finishing strong.



ESA raising almost $50,000 for a great cause is an awesome way to kick off 2021, and I hope that this positivity continues in a time period where we definitely need it. This will not be the only event we will see from ESA this year, as their schedule is consistently filled with smaller events even when the big ones are being prepared. Not to mention other fantastic organizations that raise money for amazing causes around the world all in the name of speedrunning. If you missed the marathon and want to watch it on demand, check out [ESA’s Twitch channel](https://www.twitch.tv/esamarathon) in order to find all the runs available to watch whenever you like. You can also [follow this link](https://linktr.ee/esamarathon) in order to find them on social media and find the latest news from ESA directly.



**Personal thanks to Museus, romscout, Kyoslilmonster, BOWIEtheHERO, Kainalo & Nikoheart for help with accuracy and context for the clips.**



*Header screenshot from ESA Winter 2021.*

ESA Winter 2021 was a great success, entertaining us while raising funds for Alzheimerfonden. Let's check out some event highlights!

Highlights from ESA Winter 2021

As we have all properly got stuck into 2021, the yearly cycle of awesome charity-based speedrun marathons resets. Every year the [European Speedrunner Assembly](https://esamarathon.com/) (usually abbreviated to ESA) puts on several exceptional events that bring our community together to bond, showcase amazing talent, and raise money to support fantastic causes. ESA has two main events, that fall in both the summer and the winter times. Their winter event begins February 12th on their [Twitch channel](https://www.twitch.tv/esamarathon), so we thought it would be nice to put together a list of awesome runs (in no particular order) you absolutely should not miss. Whether you are a speedrunning marathon veteran or somebody completely new, this event will have something for everyone to enjoy.



## Honorable Mention - Skies of Arcadia: Legends — 100% by Pengy

### *February 12 - 4 p.m. CET / 10 a.m. EST*  

Before we get into the main list, it would only make sense to talk about the fact that ESA is planning a giant 20-hour long pre-show before the main event starts. What makes it even more mad is that this 20-hour block is a single speedrun! *Skies of Arcadia: Legends* is a GameCube port of the original *Skies of Arcadia* on the Dreamcast. 



This critically acclaimed title is notorious in the speedrun world for its length and complexity, as the Any% category (beating the game as quickly as possible) is already around 11 hours and 100% pushes most runners way over 20 hours. These types of games with such length are huge challenges to overcome due to the amount of planning involved both inside the game and outside in order to pull off a run like this. Pengy has a [Google Document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hUdRrlRVo_tI6EYykdUYteOeIvkUVjEDmabtljcHZq4/edit?usp=sharing) with his notes for 100% speedruns and it is a staggering 45 pages of deep knowledge of the game’s mechanics. There’s even a tiny little 24 page [guide for beginners](https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtb6kfiskd8afyo/SoAL%20Notes_V12_ArcadiaLegend_Beginner.doc?dl=0) to get into speedrunning this game; so simple stuff, really.



## Dark Souls: Remastered — All Bosses by catalystz

### *February 13: 2 p.m. CET / 8 a.m. EST*

We’ve all heard about the Souls series by now, whether it be the first entry *Demon’s Souls* destroying controllers on the Playstation 3 or from unoriginal critics calling every game the *Dark Souls* of X and Y. These games are rock hard, and a regular playthrough usually takes runners anywhere from 60-100 hours due to the extreme difficulty and steep learning curve. Truly not a series for the faint of heart. This is what makes speedruns of such a difficult game so damn impressive. 



I’ve been familiar with the [Souls community](https://speedsouls.com/) for a number of years now, and Cata has blown the world away several times with how absurdly good he is at *Dark Souls*. Being able to tackle every single boss (including the DLC) in just over an hour is no easy task. Showcasing nifty out of bounds skips, early boss kills, frame-perfect wrong warps, and doing a majority of bosses while one hit away from death is even harder; but I’m sure cata will be up to the challenge.



## Super Mario 64 — 16 Star (Blindfolded) by Bubzia

### *February 13: 10 p.m. CET / 4 p.m. EST*

Gimmick speedruns are always a joy to watch, but right now no gimmick is greater than playing an extremely movement-focused game like *Super Mario 64* without ever seeing the screen. *Super Mario 64* has always been one of the most popular games to speedrun, and the elite few who speedrun the game blindfolded are on a whole other level of incredible. Even if you are familiar with SM64 speedruns, this run will blow you away. The run makes use of what we call "normalized" strategies which essentially means methods of knowing where you are in each stage without any sort of visual reference. This means that blindfolded runs look entirely different to even a standard speedrun, and there will be exceptional commentary provided to make sure you’re in the loop every step of the run.



## Fallout 3 — 100% by Jabo 

### *February 18: 7 p.m. CET / 1 p.m. EST*

When you think of Fallout, you usually think of the abomination that is *Fallout 76*, the chess club video, or extremely short and busted speedruns. Completing 100% of what these games have to offer is a gargantuan task, and tracking all the content is near impossible. This particular 100% run involves completing all quests, all DLCs, and collecting all 20 bobbleheads in the game. Considering the amount of quests there are in the Fallout games, getting them all done in a few hours is extremely impressive. Of course, no Bethesda title would be complete without a ridiculous amount of glitches and exploits, so allow Jabo to take you through each one on his way to 100% completion.



## Honorable Mention — Super Metroid - GT Classic by kekumanshoyu

### *February 19: 4 a.m. CET / 10 p.m. EST*



Fredrik “Edenal” Lidholt is one of the main organizers at ESA, and I reached out to him in order to seek what run he is most looking forward to for the upcoming event: "I'm super excited about Super Metroid! Keku (kekumanshoyu) is a very solid runner with a lot of other SNES games under his belt. Super Metroid encapsulates so much of what speedrunning is to me. Skill, sequence breaks, and the category is damn cool for ESA!"



To those unfamiliar with what [GT Classic](https://wiki.supermetroid.run/GT_Classic) is, it is a speedrun that utilizes the Golden Torizo (GT) code which provides runners with many items such as:



100 Missiles  

20 Super Missiles  

20 Power Bombs  

7 Energy Tanks  

3 Reserve Tanks  

All major items except Screw Attack  

  

Having all these items at your disposal means that runners can take the game to heights never seen before. If you’re a fan of Metroid or really pushing games to their limits, join Edenal in watching this timeless classic.



## Cyberpunk 2077 — Any% by nicnacnic

### *February 20: 1:30 a.m. CET / February 19, 7:30 p.m. EST*



Every run we’ve mentioned so far in this list has been all about putting a new spin on classic games. What happens when you switch gears to a game released only a matter of months ago? You get *Cyberpunk 2077*. Arguably the biggest disappointment from gaming in 2020, the release was riddled with bugs and glitches that made the game unplayable for a lot of angry users. However, as they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and a growing community of Cyberpunk speedrunners was born. Many insane tricks were discovered very quickly including a way to gain so much momentum via bunny hopping that you can jump around faster than most vehicles. Seeing a modern game become so broken so quickly is something very unusual, so this run will definitely be worth a watch (if you don’t mind the spoilers)!



## Halo: Reach — Legendary by Two_EEzy

### *February 19: 9:30 a.m. CET / 3:30 a.m. EST*



***Your enemies outnumber you greatly and are hunting you down. Can you survive their onslaught?***



This is the message you receive when selecting to play on legendary difficulty in *Halo: Reach*. It is clear that this difficulty is not something that should ever be tackled unless you want one hell of a challenging fight. As someone who has completed every Halo on legendary, I can safely say that this is no lie; an onslaught is a perfect way of describing what awaits. 



Since the early days of speedrunning, there have always been two common ways to speedrun. The fastest difficulty for speed, and the hardest difficulty for bragging rights. This is no different in Halo, as the difficulty between easy and legendary is absolutely colossal, but that will not stop Two_EEzy blasting his way through Reach. AI Manipulation, sequence breaks, and exceptionally skilled combat await those who want to see Noble Six get to work.



## Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories — Any% by Joshimuz 

### *February 21: 12:45 a.m. CET / February 20: 6:45 p.m. EST*

The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) games have always been a staple at ESA and have one of the largest speedrunning communities around. The community brings with it a lot of notorious runners, but Joshimuz is likely a name known well by both veterans and newbies. Going all the way back to ESA 2013 where Josh [broke the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas world record live](https://youtu.be/4B-Qw_tgdcU) and fast-forwarding to the present day where he is a fundraising team leader, Josh has contributed an astonishing amount to both ESA and their respective charities. 



This year will be no different as he tackles *Vice City Stories*, a spinoff title that was originally released as a PSP exclusive back in 2006. *Vice City Stories* is well known to be one of the hardest GTA runs, but a recent discovery smashed the run into a million pieces and shaved around an hour off of the current world record. As the glitch is quite technically complex, we’ll let Josh do the honors on February 20th.



## Where can I watch?



ESA’s winter event will be taking place from February 12-20 over at [twitch.tv/esamarathon](https://www.twitch.tv/esamarathon), and will be running around the clock during those dates to bring you only the best of what speedrunning has to offer. 



What we have mentioned in this list is not all you will be seeing at ESA, and you can find the entire [event schedule on their website](https://esamarathon.com/schedule/). The event will be supporting [Alzheimerfonden](https://www.alzheimersgameover.com/), which is a Swedish organization supporting research into Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases. You can also find ESA on these platforms:



[Twitter](https://twitter.com/esamarathon)  

[Discord](https://discordapp.com/invite/0TZ2NlveujtasAqb)  

[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/EuroSpeedAssembly)  

[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/europeanspeedrunnerassembly)  

[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/esamarathon/)  



We hope to see you there!



*Header image credit to [ThisIsProx](https://www.speedrun.com/user/ThisIsProx).*







ESA Winter 2021 runs February 12-20, showcasing amazing talent and raising money for Alzheimerfonden. Not sure where to start with the multi-day event? We've got a list of runs you will not want to miss!

Runs at ESA Winter 2021 you don’t want to miss

Nintendo Land: Metroid Blast

Ghostrunner 2

EBen

xwpw4y0l

Wolfhowl20

A Difficult Game About Climbing

Leaderboard will be closed for moderators to prepare for full game release.

The Outlast Trials

The leaderboards will open 2 weeks from launch to allow discussion about the categories we want to start out with.