Hey there, I noticed that some games really deserve more appreciation in terms of running and I thought why not introduce one of these games.
So yeah, I'll start. Oddworld Stranger's Wrath is an exciting mix between FPS and Adventure Game and was released in 2005 exclusively for the Xbox, later released for PS3, Vita, PC and Mobile. It's a really fun and unique game with cool speedrunning aspects. A good mix between skips, skill and routing, makes the game so fun to run. As just said it's really underrated in all matters and should definitely get more attention among runners. Hope you will find some interest into it ;)
The Speedrun.com site for Stranger's Wrath: http://www.speedrun.com/osw
Here's the trailer which gives quite a good look on how the game plays:
Soooo yeah, now your turn. Do you know any good speedgame which deserves more runners? Interested to see your answers, cheers.
Just a few:
40 winks Only one runner of the game. The run isn't even optimized so it's a free WR pretty much. The main glitch in it is a double jump that's not supposed to be in the game. So you can clip oob and skip most of the game.
102 Dalmatians This game has been getting more exposure recently and rightfully so. The run doesn't have many super glitches that require days to get right (¤cough¤ Spyro 2 ¤cough¤). You can pick up the entire game in a couple of days and get a decent time.
Toy Story 2 My first speedgame. Only downside is that it takes a bit of time to get good. Route is straight forward and there's very few super glitches. If you invest enough time into it, you will find yourself wanting more. Also, 100% is a free WR because the time there sucks ass.
Monsters Inc. Scream Team You can tell that I love Disney Platformers by this point. Monsters Inc. is a weird attempt at copying Ape Escape. The platforming is good. The run is short and easy. What I think makes this run interesting is the change in gameplay between Mike and Sulley. Mike is small and nimble while Sulley is huge and bulky. It breaks the monotony of an otherwise boring run.
Gex
Amazing platformer from 1996. PC-Version is easy to get into since it is on gog. Playing with a PS3-Controller. Only recently got into it and it is a lot of fun. Both Any% and 100% have nicely developed routes.
Tearaway/Tearaway unfolded. A Linear 3d Platformer by Media Molecule (Little Big Planet)
Both games are a buggy mess wehn it comes to getting out of bounds, there's some real skip potential. Just a shame i'm the only one running unfolded, no competition = no reason to find more skips.
Can I throw in a Flash game named Super House of Dead Ninjas? Nobody speed runs this game anymore. Some people did about a year or 2 ago, but I feel like I'm the only person who's still actively speed running this game.
Any long game. My personal pet is the original Infamous on PS3. Such a cool run -- lots of awesome tricks in it -- but the fact that the WR is over 3 hours probably scares people off. It's a pity. Long games have their place in the speedrunning pantheon.
Tony Hawk games.
The first three THPS games are all very fast paced, very execution based speedruns. THPS4 and THUG1 still have a lot of execution, and a good helping of glitches that make the runs very interesting. THUG2 is short like the older games and also has it's own classic mode that is like the first three games. THAW is meh. THP8 has become a very good speedgame option, since the discovery of some nice glitches and very good routes have helped make it a very well paced run.
People probably get turned off from it because they see these really high intensity runs from say guished, george, remedy, fayte, or any high-level player. Or they get turned off because it is more of a "sports" game, I guess. But, a lot of the people who have chosen a Tony Hawk game as a speedgame love it.
The community is constantly growing, but I always feel like more people should check it out or give it a shot! :D
Speedrun page: http://speedrun.com/tonyhawk
Definitely Gex: Enter The Gecko and even more Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. Amazing platformers which nearly no one runs. You wouldn't think what an amazing and optimized speedgame Gex 3 is (Only a few people, including me, routed/optimized it in the past months). Any% even involves a Wrong Warp into the final level and it has come down to 26 minutes. There is only one person who runs 100% of this game, but it also looks super fun and it's sub 2.5 hours.
Gex 3 Page: http://www.speedrun.com/gex3 Gex 2 Page: http://www.speedrun.com/Gex_Enter_the_Gecko
I think Teslagrad is underrated in the speedrun community. It's a puzzle/platformer with metroidvania elements. In the game you basically change polarity of things to advance. And you can't take any hits or you'll die but there's a lot of spawn points, so it's not frustrating.
Gotta promote my lone speedgame here: Out There Somewhere. The most-run category has plenty of times, but there are only six or seven active runners, and the other two categories are neglected.
Out There Somewhere is a 2D platformer with a teleport gun, leading to some creative movement technique. It is bookended by 2D shooting segments which, while simple, play fluidly. Platforming reigns supreme over combat, and several rooms demand creative use of the teleport gun. You will have to apply the principle of conservation of momentum and think about where you will be, rather than where you are, as shots land. It is a very short game - depending on your thoroughness and learning speed, a first play can range from 40-120 minutes - but it definitely earns the description "short but sweet."
There are three main categories, each interesting in their own right:
Any% IGT: the "flagship" category of Out There Somewhere, Any% IGT uses the in-game timer for accessibility rather than technical reasons. That said, the IGT restriction creates an implicit barrier that distinguishes Any% IGT meaningfully from Any% (see below). Any% IGT includes the full narrative scope of the game and has a simple, linear route, making it a good starting point (hence the leaderboard size). Taking advantage of the game's treatment of momentum, most rooms feature advanced strategies that gain a second or two at a time, giving Any% IGT a very rewarding learning curve.
Any%: the RTA ruleset opens up two timer-breaking techniques that skip a substantial portion of the midgame and endgame. By carefully avoiding checkpoints, you can collect the Gauss Gun and savewarp to the opening screen. There, it was discovered that the smoke graphics on your spaceship eventually overflow. No new smoke is rendered, the framerate slows, and the game can no longer load screens. You can then climb the ledge off-screen and trigger the final boss. Unfortunately, the Smoke Overflow Glitch takes nearly three minutes of idling to activate, and so this category, while fascinating, is rarely played.
Collectibles%: this RTA category is not named 100% because the game tracks the number of unique screens visited, and Collectibles% does not require traveling to every screen. However, it requires collecting every item as well as visiting an NPC to exchange some of these items for an upgrade to your spaceship. The WR in this category was set just before the discovery of a major out-of-bounds skip, so it is currently the least-optimized. It is also the category with the most route subjectivity, and where tactics are just as important as fluid platforming. I would love to see more people run Collectibles%!
I realize that I can hardly complain at the size of the Any% IGT leaderboard, but I do still hope that more people give this great game a try! Make sure to run the Steam version, which is usually on sale and bundled with Polarity, Camera Obscura, and BEEP.
