Speedrun

Related terms:	Glitch hunting, Tool-Assisted Run (TAS)
See also:	Esports
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Speedrunning is a hobby and sport in the video game community that involves players trying to complete a game or specific objectives as quickly as possible. The sport encompasses a wide range of games, methods, and goals, and may be considered a subculture of the larger video game community. Speedrunning arose early in the history of video games, but became more prominent in the 1990s and early 2000s due to the advent of the internet and specific fandoms becoming interested in speedrunning, such as Doom and Quake fandoms.

Terminology

• Any%: Any% is one of the most common categories of speedrunning with the goal of beating the game as quickly as possible, regardless of how much of the game is completed. This category is often split between glitchless and glitched runs.
• 100%: This common category of speedrun entails beating the game while completing everything it has to offer. What this means differs by game, but may involve objectives like clearing all challenges, finding all collectibles or finishing all sidequests. This category is usually split between glitchless and glitched runs.
• Low%: A low% run aims to beat the game while doing as little as possible of its content. While this sounds like it would be identical with any%, many games actually take longer to complete if the player skips key upgrades. A notable example of this is the game Twilight Princess of the Legend of Zelda series, wherein the Any% record currently stands at 2 hours and 50 minutes for the GC version, while the Low% record takes 14 hours and 7 minutes as of November 28, 2022.
• IL: Stands for Individual Level, in which the speedrunner aims at beating a single level or section of the game only, rather than the entire game.
• TAS: Tool-assisted speedrun. A TAS run will employ technological aids such as save states or frame-by-frame advance to do tricks that aren't possible to do in real time.
• PB: Personal best, a speedrunner's best time for either a specific speedrun challenge or a section within it (e.g. a level)

Fandom

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Notable Speedrun Communities

• MCSR - Minecraft speedrunning
• Super Mario Odyssey

Notable Speedrun Organizations

• Games Done Quick - charity speedrunning event
• House Builder Gang - group of popular Minecraft speedrunners

Notable Speedrunners

• Dream - Minecraft speedrunner
• SmallAnt (formerly SmallAnt1) - Super Mario Odyssey speedrunner
• PointCrow - Breath of the Wild speedrunner
• Alpharad - Super Mario Odyssey speedrunner
• cjya - Super Mario Odyssey speedrunner
• Fir - Super Mario Odyssey speedrunner

Meta

• Evolution of Speedrunning, ^{Archived version}, video by Karl Jobst, 2020
• 45sec SMW Credits Warp Explained, ^{Archived version}, video by SethBling, 2018
• The Speedrun Where Link Stares at Rupees for 17 Hours, ^{Archived version} , video by Lowest Percent, 2020
• Who finds the Glitches used in Speedruns?, ^{Archived version}, video by Gymnast86 with Lowest Percent, 2021
• discussion on tumblr by prokopetz et al, ^{Archived version}, April 2022
• How We Solved the Worst Minigame in Zelda's History by Linkus7, 2020
  • " On that note, here’s a video about applying that sort of cryptanalysis to breaking a Zelda mini-game" --fan description

Communities and Resources

• Wikipedia:Speedrun
• Speed Demos Archive
• speedrun.com
• r/speedrun subreddit
• wikis for speedrunning specific games listed by r/speedrun, ^{Archived version}