In early 2013 as the game speedgame was just getting its start, runners noticed that running the game at a higher framerate would let cutscenes run faster saving time. If the game were left uncapped, various issues would start to pop up such as Harry moving faster. It was determined at the time that 120 fps was the highest framerate where Harry's speed is not affected.

Over the next few years a few tricks were discovered that change significantly at different framerates, namely rictusempra skip, ledge clips, and wall walks. Ledge clips and wall walks typically get more difficult at lower framerates as the range of angles where they work get significantly smaller. Rictusempra skip on the other hand has not been confirmed to be possible at any framerate under 80 fps.

In late 2017, following a community wide vote, it was decided that the "official" any% category would change from a 120fps cap to a 60fps cap through concerns that capping at 120fps could be considered hardware dependent and a software modification. Due to the years of history surrounding the 120fps run, the category was preserved as "Any% 120fps."

In spring 2019, a second community vote was held over whether the category should be removed entirely due to a very small number of submissions in the last year and a half, but the vote ended with a decision to keep it.