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Speed Runs
Zombiemambo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
SPEEDRUNS!
I've been vaguely aware of speedruns for years now, but it wasn't until AGDQ 2013 (more on that later) that I was really turned on to it and I've been hooked ever since.
What is a speedrun?
As the name suggests, a speed run is a game being played as fast as possible, using almost any method available in order to do it, including tricks, exploits, and glitches. Cheats are usually not used. Just about every genre and era of game has or can be run, although certain games and genres lend themselves better to the concept than others. Speedrunners demonstrate a very high level of skill, dedication, and knowledge of the games they play. What was once a very small community has opened up to something of a spectator sport due to streaming and marathons, which brings us to...
Where can I watch people speedrun games?
The speedrunning community originally revolved around a site called Speed Demos Archive, which hosts recordings of world record runs for a variety of games. SDA is pretty out-of-date and isn't a comprehensive collection of records, but does feature a number of very impressive speedruns, some of which still stand as world records today. However, most speedrunners gather on Twitch.tv and Speed Runs Live. Japanese speedrunners are often found on Nico Video. The biggest draw of watching speedruns on Twitch and Speedrunslive (SRL for short) is that they are done live, with the casters streaming and interacting with viewers as they play. There is a small collection of speedrunning "celebrities" that stream regularly and pull anywhere from 100 to 5,000 viewers at any given time. There is even a webshow on Thursday and Saturday nights dedicated to speedrunning. TAS speedruns can be found at TAS Videos.
It's a very lively community, and marathons like the aforementioned AGDQ have drawn more and more attention to the hobby each year.
Marathons
AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) is a yearly event that is streamed over Twitch.tv aimed at raising money for charity. Its lasts for roughly one week and features the best speedrunners from around the world playing games and giving out prizes. AGDQ 2013 raised $448,423.27 in a single week and drew 30,000+ viewers at any given time. A smaller sister marathon, Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), is set to start in late July. There are many more marathons, some big and some small, that happen fairly regularly.
TAS vs. non-TAS
TAS stands for 'Tool Assisted Speedrun' and refers to a speedrun in which the game is advanced frame by frame and TASers enter inputs. While this is often seen as lacking any kind of skill, in reality TASers are the ones who have extensive knowledge of the games they play, often down to the code. They are usually the ones that discover glitches and tricks which are (if even humanly possible) then copied by non-TAS runners. TAS records are almost always a great deal faster than non-TAS runs, although there are quite a few outdated TAS records that have been surpassed even by people who do not use tools.
Speedrunning categories
If you spend any time at SRL or Twitch, you'll see a lot of terms thrown around, usually defining what category the game is being run in.
Any% - Any% refers to a run in which the game is completed as fast as possible, completing only what is necessary in order to finish the game. This is in contrast to 100% and low% runs.
100% - 100% is an odd category because each game defines its own rules as to what consitutes 100%. Some games have an in-game completion display, which is what is used. In games that don't, the term varies greatly. Much of the time it simply refers to all levels and collectibles.
Low% - low% is a category where the speedrunner intentionally gets the lowest completion percentage possible - Metroid games are famous for this - and is often accomplished by what is called sequence breaking, where the player plays the game out of the intended order. As previously mentioned, there are a number of tricks in Metroid games that allow for sequence breaks where entire portions of the game are skipped entirely.
Single Segment/SS - Single segment is a category where the game is run in a single, uninterrupted session, and there is no quitting and restarting the game (this is important, as many games have save & quit abuse tricks that are faster). In single segment runs, the player cannot die or reload a save file.
Segmented - Segmented is a category in which the game is played in separate segments. This is unique because each segment can be played over and over until the optimum time is reached. Segmented runs are most often used in long games such as Final Fantasy games, but many players are beginning to run longer games in single sessions.
RTA - RTA stands for Real Time Attack, another single-session category in which everything (saving, loading, dying, etc.) is taken into account for the final time. This category allows for save & quit/reload tricks that aren't available in SS.
I want to start speedrunning, where do I start?
If you've picked a game either you believe you can run or you know has been run, the best place to start is by checking out SDA, YouTube, and if all else fails Nico Video to find an existing run. It's usually the easiest way to learn the route and the tricks/glitches. There are also websites and wikis dedicated to certain games (the Zelda games have one and there is a small wiki for the Ninja Gaiden games). If you're really desperate you can go to the SDA forums and try to bring some runners out of the woodwork. Just because a game doesn't have a big community or a recorded run doesn't mean there aren't any existing speedrunners.
I want to start streaming
I'm not the man to ask, as I don't do it at the moment. Streaming requires special streaming software, the two most common being XSplit and OBS. XSplit requires you to buy a license while OBS is free. Another important piece of software is a timer, one of the most common being WSplit, which along with XSplit and OBS can be found on this nifty page here.
What this thread is for
This thread is for general speedrun discussion, from the hobby itself, streamers and streaming, to running your own games. I'm hoping it can be a comprehensive thread for people to begin engaging in the hobby, even if it's just to watch.
I've been vaguely aware of speedruns for years now, but it wasn't until AGDQ 2013 (more on that later) that I was really turned on to it and I've been hooked ever since.
What is a speedrun?
As the name suggests, a speed run is a game being played as fast as possible, using almost any method available in order to do it, including tricks, exploits, and glitches. Cheats are usually not used. Just about every genre and era of game has or can be run, although certain games and genres lend themselves better to the concept than others. Speedrunners demonstrate a very high level of skill, dedication, and knowledge of the games they play. What was once a very small community has opened up to something of a spectator sport due to streaming and marathons, which brings us to...
Where can I watch people speedrun games?
The speedrunning community originally revolved around a site called Speed Demos Archive, which hosts recordings of world record runs for a variety of games. SDA is pretty out-of-date and isn't a comprehensive collection of records, but does feature a number of very impressive speedruns, some of which still stand as world records today. However, most speedrunners gather on Twitch.tv and Speed Runs Live. Japanese speedrunners are often found on Nico Video. The biggest draw of watching speedruns on Twitch and Speedrunslive (SRL for short) is that they are done live, with the casters streaming and interacting with viewers as they play. There is a small collection of speedrunning "celebrities" that stream regularly and pull anywhere from 100 to 5,000 viewers at any given time. There is even a webshow on Thursday and Saturday nights dedicated to speedrunning. TAS speedruns can be found at TAS Videos.
It's a very lively community, and marathons like the aforementioned AGDQ have drawn more and more attention to the hobby each year.
Marathons
AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) is a yearly event that is streamed over Twitch.tv aimed at raising money for charity. Its lasts for roughly one week and features the best speedrunners from around the world playing games and giving out prizes. AGDQ 2013 raised $448,423.27 in a single week and drew 30,000+ viewers at any given time. A smaller sister marathon, Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), is set to start in late July. There are many more marathons, some big and some small, that happen fairly regularly.
TAS vs. non-TAS
TAS stands for 'Tool Assisted Speedrun' and refers to a speedrun in which the game is advanced frame by frame and TASers enter inputs. While this is often seen as lacking any kind of skill, in reality TASers are the ones who have extensive knowledge of the games they play, often down to the code. They are usually the ones that discover glitches and tricks which are (if even humanly possible) then copied by non-TAS runners. TAS records are almost always a great deal faster than non-TAS runs, although there are quite a few outdated TAS records that have been surpassed even by people who do not use tools.
Speedrunning categories
If you spend any time at SRL or Twitch, you'll see a lot of terms thrown around, usually defining what category the game is being run in.
Any% - Any% refers to a run in which the game is completed as fast as possible, completing only what is necessary in order to finish the game. This is in contrast to 100% and low% runs.
100% - 100% is an odd category because each game defines its own rules as to what consitutes 100%. Some games have an in-game completion display, which is what is used. In games that don't, the term varies greatly. Much of the time it simply refers to all levels and collectibles.
Low% - low% is a category where the speedrunner intentionally gets the lowest completion percentage possible - Metroid games are famous for this - and is often accomplished by what is called sequence breaking, where the player plays the game out of the intended order. As previously mentioned, there are a number of tricks in Metroid games that allow for sequence breaks where entire portions of the game are skipped entirely.
Single Segment/SS - Single segment is a category where the game is run in a single, uninterrupted session, and there is no quitting and restarting the game (this is important, as many games have save & quit abuse tricks that are faster). In single segment runs, the player cannot die or reload a save file.
Segmented - Segmented is a category in which the game is played in separate segments. This is unique because each segment can be played over and over until the optimum time is reached. Segmented runs are most often used in long games such as Final Fantasy games, but many players are beginning to run longer games in single sessions.
RTA - RTA stands for Real Time Attack, another single-session category in which everything (saving, loading, dying, etc.) is taken into account for the final time. This category allows for save & quit/reload tricks that aren't available in SS.
I want to start speedrunning, where do I start?
If you've picked a game either you believe you can run or you know has been run, the best place to start is by checking out SDA, YouTube, and if all else fails Nico Video to find an existing run. It's usually the easiest way to learn the route and the tricks/glitches. There are also websites and wikis dedicated to certain games (the Zelda games have one and there is a small wiki for the Ninja Gaiden games). If you're really desperate you can go to the SDA forums and try to bring some runners out of the woodwork. Just because a game doesn't have a big community or a recorded run doesn't mean there aren't any existing speedrunners.
I want to start streaming
I'm not the man to ask, as I don't do it at the moment. Streaming requires special streaming software, the two most common being XSplit and OBS. XSplit requires you to buy a license while OBS is free. Another important piece of software is a timer, one of the most common being WSplit, which along with XSplit and OBS can be found on this nifty page here.
What this thread is for
This thread is for general speedrun discussion, from the hobby itself, streamers and streaming, to running your own games. I'm hoping it can be a comprehensive thread for people to begin engaging in the hobby, even if it's just to watch.
Sterica on
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Posts
My teammates did not appreciate it.
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Hotarubi is a beast and held a lot of records (most of them broken). Super Metroid is down to 00:30 in-game time. The game has been really optimized in the last few months with the WR changing hands multiple times in the last couple of months.
ah. well. it is good to know that someone can complete a game that I spent my entire childhood and portions of my adult life trying to finish in just over 10 minutes. that is a nice thing to know.
Speaking of, if you haven't watched the Ocarina of Tome any% run, you missed something amazing.
e: blueglass hate is not allowed, he supports every runner
OoT has some really ridiculous glitches in it. Wrong warping still confuses the shit out of me.
Definitely a lot of interesting runners to watch on Twitch, AGDQ 2013 was my first to watch and it was quite an experience. Looking forward to SGDQ and I find it amusing that it's held in Denver.
My favorite back-and-forth has been with Batman on the NES. First the WR was 11:10 and nobody thought it could be beaten. Then it was 10:52, and no one thought it could be beaten. Then it was 10:48, and nobody thought it could possibly get any lower.
The WR time is now 10:19 by Dxtr and there is talk of it going down to as low as 10:05. It's crazy how just a few months and a handful of dedicated runners can optimize it to that level.
Ah yes, he and Josh the Funk Doc were the primary two, weren't they? Crazy stuff. I've been trying to catch the Sunday Sequence Break more often on Twitch on Sunday nights, it's a pretty good way to keep up on the records being broken each week.
yeah with SDA being as out-of-date as it is (not that it was ever intended to be a record-keeping site), TSSB is one of the better ways to keep up with current records.
Cyghfer is the one shooting for sub-10:10 Batman. He is insanely (insanely) good at Gimmick for the NES. You don't have to play the game to appreciate how good he is at it, but you'll definitely appreciate it if you've played it before.
Here it is at AGDQ 2013:
Got a link for the new record?
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@SkutSkut I will try to dig one up, I believe it's by Zoasty and I wanna say the RTA is 46:08
edit: here it is, 46:05 RTA and 00:30 IG http://www.twitch.tv/zoasty/c/2181969
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A Metroid Prime speedrun race. No commentary on the recording, unfortunately. It was exciting to watch live. They ended up reaching the final boss at the exact same time (1:27:40). Incredible.
I highly recommend this place for those who're inclined to get an overview of some of the speedrunners currently active:
http://speedrunslive.com/
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
That video only goes partway through stage 3 if it's any consolation.
Edit: Not that seeing it done in 25 really soothes the burn.
Edit x2 combo: 18:20 is what I could never get past.
Interesting thing about this, apparently Feasel just recently got the WR on TMNT on his stream, 19:12? He's usually known for Zelda 2 runs, but lately he's been doing some other games, then he settled into TMNT and apparently got the record. Madness.
The confidence and skill these guys have is mindblowing.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
http://tasvideos.org/
TAS videos are one of my favorite things ever. I know people usually go, "ugh who cares it's not actual skill," but that's not the point of watching them. The point is really to see the crazy shit that can happen to a game when it's essentially deconstructed and/or glitches / errors are taken advantage of. The most impressive TAS videos are pretty much always going to be NES / Sega / SNES era stuff, though on occasion newer generation games happen to have some coding gaps or another that will allow for the same style of craziness. TAS Videos actually has an icon that labels the best stuff for people new to TAS' and it's pretty accurate - just click the Movies tab and then the console you want, all those tagged videos will appear (though be sure to also check out the "All" button next to a console, there's WAY more games / videos).
Anyway, as for speedruns and me, my claim to 'fame' is beating Super Metroid with a 100% run in 38 minutes. Sadly, not recorded, and not the fastest non-TAS run ever, but I'm proud of it.
@Henroid yes I did, I'll add it to the OP.
International Super Star Soccer Deluxe - This one is hysterical. It'll start off fairly slow but it quickly picks up pace. Four words - "OH NO, OWN GOAL?"
edit: oh my god the score actually decreases
I won't spoil the ending, but that's definitely worth watching. More of a bug exposition than a speedrun but still amazing.
This is not an altered copy of Super Mario World. It requires 8 controllers to perform.
Like the one where you trick Yoshi into spawning yourself a magic ball and end the level early.
This is one of my personal favourite Super Metroid TAS tricks: overwriting the memory of the console by phasing through the roof and floor in a loop with the X-Ray scope until you can glitch through scenery. The TAS doesn't even fight Mother Brain!
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Hahaha what the hell.
There's an item in the game that triggers the end credits, but it never actually spawns anywhere. Certain actions cause changes in the hexcode responsible for what items spawn where, so basically what he's doing is manipulating the hexcode so that the object that triggers the credits pops out in a specific location.
No I understand what it is that's being done, it just always looks silly when it's being executed. :P
I think it's worth explaining just to show how much effort actually goes into a good TAS run.
Same tricks as in the Super Mario World TAS. At one point you can hear the game itself screaming for mercy.
and I know it's not legit because severe bug abuse but isn't it possible to beat Super Metroid in like, 10 minutes game clock with time beam abuse? Probably even lower.
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If you can pull off executing bugs at will when playing normally, it's legit.
I don't think the game clock is what counts though
And the non-warp link's awakening one just to show how easily glitched out the whole game is.
EDIT: Also, in the interest of GOTTA GO FAST
I think, in Super Metroids case at the very least, they use both. SDA is if there's an ingame clock that can't be messed with (say making the time 00:00) use that, if not use real time, the speed run for Super Metroid linked uses both it looks like.
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ahhhhAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!