Going to second all the people who said that the reason most games with few runs have few runs is more likely due to them being obscure. I've routed several categories for 2 games that had 0 runners in said categories at the time that I routed them. Both games are definitely accessible for a new speedrunner as a first speedgame, but they never took off as speedruns because few people know they exist. Most popular games also are accessible as a first speedgame - it takes thousands of hours of practice to get world records in these games, sure; but to just do a few speedruns to a casual goal is definitely accessible.

Now, I'm not sure what THE most difficult speedrun to exist is, but a good contender for most difficult category that a run of exists is N++'s Mimetic (unlock and beat ! tab from a new file). The game itself has plenty of categories that are accessible to beginners. This run is far from it though. To give you an idea of how crazy this run is, most people can't do the content of the run casually without at least 1000 hours of practice in the game; let alone speedrun it. Most of the challenges done in this run can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours of attempts each for an experienced player casually. Same with clearing ! tab levels. There's also just a lot of content - a minimum of 660 levels to clear to meet these requirements. The time this was done in is absolutely insane as well - 3 rows were done with challenges as part of this run faster than my pb's for those rows (with just normal clears), with most of the rest of the content being stuff I'm not good enough to speedrun yet. https://www.speedrun.com/nplusplus/run/zg78qe0z

1. I've spent the most time on FFT, being heavily involved in its romhacking community (both in playing people's mods and making one large project myself); though I have no desire to speedrun it. Having an excellent AI for its time period and good base mechanics makes it a good base game for romhacking, but I personally couldn't get into speedrunning a game that has as much downtime and rng as any jrpg/srpg. For speedgames, I've spent the most time on Super Lumi Live. Being able to build a game's community from the ground up has been a very rewarding experience. And its physics, level design, and variety of categories makes it a solid choice for speedrunning.

2. Hard to pick an all time favorite, but going to mention another game I didn't list above - N++. Physics and mechanics are by far the best in any game like it, and the amount of content is absolutely absurd.

3. There are a lot more factors involved in determining who is the best than who has a better pb in one category. For example, I hold WR for Super Lumi Live 100%, but there's a few people in the community who are WAY better than me at IL's. I'm not going to call myself the better player when Butcherberries is FAR better than me at IL's (and he'd probably say I'm more consistent, which is more of an advantage for longer categories). Not to mention, in a game that's more hotly contested than anything I had ever run, anyone can pb at any point and the current WR for those games is essentially arbitrary.

If you like 2d platformers, most of them can be played without a mouse. I recommend Super Lumi Live and N++.

What other kinds of games do you like?

If you want someone else to give you suggestions, try one of the games I run. :) They're all inexpensive indie games (under $20 normal price/cheaper on sales).

Lots of games can be played with keyboard only or keyboard + mouse.

What kinds of games do you like? Also if money is an issue you can always search for free games on steam.

What games do you like?

What kinds of games do you like to play? The best game to start with is one that you would practice. If it stops being fun, you can always play a different game.

Join the club. Personally I think it's better to play a game whose speedrun you enjoy, regardless of how popular it is. If you like the game enough, maybe it'll get a community, maybe it won't; but the chances that you'll stick with it long enough to be good are higher. If you're only looking to make a name for yourself, let's just say that's not happening. Popular games have so many runners that you won't stand out unless you're really good at them. Unpopular games are nearly impossible to be noticed at on their own merit. I'd love for more people to run my main game, but realistically I know my reach is limited as someone who prefers offline recording to streaming and isn't good enough to be noticed in any other games. What I do have, that people who enjoy the hobby the most do, is the desire to continuously drive my own times down.

Here was one marathon I was in (Valuethon 7): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlHACX0-X2ia_P5RFKqJqf0BP4EIt0zBo

Why not Sim Theme Park or Happy Feet?

Most people put WAY too much thought into what is going to be their first game, when it's better to just play any game and get in the mindset to practice it a ton.

All the time. Most recent one (timestamped from this run):

I've personally had some similar experiences. Have watched speedruns for YEARS before doing any myself, seeing speedrunning as sort of a "club for the elite" (as in, there's nothing out there that I was anywhere near as good at as any speedrunners I saw were at their games); without realizing that speedrunners were as good as they were due to dedicated continued practice. Eventually I found a game I thought that I could learn, which I've since moved on from.

Anyway, most people put WAY too much thought in what is going to be their speedgame. You are better off just trying ANY game that you think looks interesting to practice, and moving on from it as soon as it stops being fun. Most people end up running multiple games anyway. You might find that your preferences for things such as length, genre, etc. change as you speedrun more. It doesn't need to be a game that you played as a child, that is popular, or that you played a lot beforehand. Could even just play random games that show up in Steam recommendations, other people's profiles, online marathons, the front page of this website, etc. until you find something that looks interesting.

As for getting an audience for streaming, that's a whole different issue that shouldn't be your main focus if you're just doing it for a hobby. Personally I can't stand streaming for 0 real viewers, which is why I offline record and upload to Youtube for a majority of my runs. If you have the kind of personality that makes for a good streamer, and have friends who can watch/interact with you before you get established, go for it. Otherwise, you can always just play offline.

Why not speedrun the N series then? Far too few people do more than just intro and A row runs of N++, so most categories only have about 0-3 people in them. :( Want other platformers? Check my profile. :)

Maybe ask around in any game that appeals to you that has more than 40 players?

How are the controls? Please be honest - I can't play anything that's too input heavy, too many buttons required, or can't be mapped to keyboard.

Also, approximate length?

You definitely won't get banned for it. The game's community probably has separate categories for that. If it doesn't, maybe you'll be the first.

I have no idea what game or category you are talking about. If you recorded the run, submit it anyway, regardless of whether it's first or last or anything in between. For most games, whether you use keyboard or controller is more of a matter of preference, though some games it's easier to do certain things on one or the other.

If you are not getting near WR, it's probably due to being less experienced in the game than its other players. Many WR's happen after hundreds or thousands of hours of practicing, attempting new runs, finding strats/routes, etc. While natural talent can play a role, there really is no substitute for practice. Also, get yourself in contact with the other runners of the game. Most games have a discord. Most experienced players enjoy helping new players.

What works the best: Pick up other games that are similar genres that you have a genuine interest in. Be active in their communities. 80% of the people who played my main speedgame casually, and 100% of the other speedrunners of it came from communities of other games I ran.

What helps to a lesser extent: Be passionate about your game. Run it a lot, stream it and/or post your runs to platforms like Youtube, submit it and run in any marathon you have time to do. Create discords (for yourself and your game), make sure those discords have good emotes and are otherwise good to stick around in. Create a speedrun.com page, make sure it doesn't look like hot garbage, that category divisions/rules make sense, and make sure that you are a good moderator for it. If it's on Steam or a similar platform, write a good review for the game (this helps the developer so more people can find the game through their algorithms). Attend GDQ, ESA, and similar in-person events.

One thing I haven't found a solution for: many people really do not like to be last by too large of a margin! :( As in, the majority of people I've seen stick around in smaller communities either 1. do not care about their placement/are more casual speedrunners, or 2. have been able to get "not last" extremely quickly. A lot of people get discouraged when they get a time that is not actually that bad, but see that it's say 20 minutes worse than the worst time on the leaderboard and do not actually submit their runs, and then quit shortly after.