Speedrunners strive to complete games as quickly as possible to take on challenges, demonstrate their expertise, beat records, and explore often unexpected gameplay possibilities.
The practice of speedrunning is a true quest where players test their limits. Completing a game very quickly requires patience, hours of training, and a great mastery of the game's mechanics. By trying to beat their own performance, players constantly push their capacity for concentration and precision. Each attempt is an opportunity to improve and prove to themselves that they can go even faster. This taste for challenge allows speedrunners to continually push their own boundaries and achieve feats they previously thought impossible.
By finishing games as quickly as possible, speedrunners naturally gather around forums, platforms, or online events like Twitch or Discord. They share their techniques, tips, or bug discoveries, thus developing a spirit of friendly competition that motivates everyone to improve. These communities even organize charity events, such as the famous Games Done Quick, bringing together thousands of enthusiasts around the greatest achievements. Thanks to these constant exchanges and challenges, each achievement becomes a source of inspiration for other players, encouraging the entire community to push its limits and aim for even better.
Speedrunners spend a tremendous amount of time studying every detail of the game. They test everything: hitboxes, acceleration mechanics, enemy cycles, the appearance and exact position of objects… It’s like deconstructing a puzzle to understand precisely how it works from the inside. With this knowledge, they can anticipate and optimize their actions to the fullest. This deep mastery of the game's mechanics allows them to save precious time.
Speedrunners enjoy thoroughly exploring the game to find unexpected bugs and glitches. These flaws often allow them to bypass entire levels, skip through endless cutscenes, or even directly pass through certain normally impassable walls. These tricks are sometimes extremely strange and require incredible precision. A famous glitch, for example, is the backwards long jump in Super Mario 64: players exploit a backwards jump bug to gain so much speed that Mario completely passes through certain closed doors. This kind of discovery demands creativity, curiosity, and a fair amount of time spent testing everything and anything in the game.
Beating one's own time and proving that one can push their limits is what motivates many speedrunners to constantly exceed themselves. Each attempt becomes an opportunity to set a new personal record: a small personal victory that brings immense joy. But when these individual performances become impressive enough, they can be officially validated by specialized sites like Speedrun.com, which brings real recognition visible all over the world. Reaching the top of the leaderboard is the dream: it's the chance to gain recognition in the international speedrunning community and sometimes even attract the interest of the media or the game developers themselves. This form of virtual celebrity can open the door to prestigious events like AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick), where the best runners come to showcase their achievements in front of thousands of spectators.
The term "glitch," often used by speedrunners, comes from the German word "glitschen," meaning to slide or skid, thus describing the idea of a technical anomaly that makes the game 'slip' out of its normal rules.
The charity marathon 'Games Done Quick' (GDQ), held twice a year, has raised over 40 million dollars since its inception, thanks to the impressive performances of the world's top speedrunners.
Some games, like 'Super Mario Bros.' from 1985, have speedrun records that are so optimized that they are now played within a few milliseconds, requiring a perfect knowledge of every pixel in the environment.
The first video game officially recognized as a speedrun subject is the 1993 game 'Doom,' for which players have been sharing their completion times since the advent of the Internet.
No. There are several categories of speedruns. Some allow and encourage the use of glitches or bugs, while others, called 'Glitchless' or 'Bugless' categories, prohibit these practices, focusing solely on mastering the gameplay as originally intended by the developers.
To get started in speedrunning, first choose a game that you really enjoy. Then, watch existing videos of experienced speedrunners, join online communities (forums, Discord), and practice regularly to master the necessary techniques.
Yes, there are several international events dedicated to speedrunning, such as 'Games Done Quick' and 'European Speedrunner Assembly'. These activities allow speedrunners to showcase their skills, share their knowledge, and often raise funds for charitable causes.
Some games attract more speedrunners due to interesting mechanics, exploitable bugs, or simply because of their initial popularity and the varied challenges they offer for an optimal and engaging run.
A speedrun is a video game practice that involves completing a game or a specific part of a game as quickly as possible, often exploiting bugs, mechanics, or specific strategies.
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