I like to play games slowly, so I can take in every detail, absorb every part of the experience, and collect everything there is in the game. Especially now that achievements encourage players to spend countless hours more than they normally would on a game, it can feel like Speedrunning is a dead art form. Regardless, some gamers just have that extreme desire to accomplish things we didn't think digitally possible. Here are five speedruns that break all the rules to finish first:
Mirror's Edge – 57m32s – By David "Weatherproof" Streeter
We have to recognize this speedrun on Mirror's Edge purely for the game's encouraging acceptance of speed runners. Mirror's Edge encourages and rewards players who don't use guns and instead focus on speed and agility to overcome enemies, obstacles, and the city itself.
The speed run above utitlizes the sideways-jump maneuver that puts players at full-speed from a standing stop. The Time Trail mode in Mirror's Edge put everyone on a leaderboard for their fastest times, encouraging players to find more short cuts and advanced running techniques to dominate their friends.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 11m19s – By Xevro
To boil down Oblivion's massive world and complete the game in under half an hour mgiht seem a little antithetical to the game's main draw, but Xevro does it anyway, and he does it in french too. I sincerely hope Xevro exhausted the questlines before looking for a way to speed run Bethesda's hugely popular open-world game.
The crazy thing about this speedrun is that many players probably wouldn't think about derailing the game's opening sequence this way. Xevro falls through the world, glitches through walls, and uses hand-to-hand and magic abilities to survive the conflicts he starts early on. Now if only I could see what was going on in Oblivion's dark dungeons.
Portal – 9m25s – By DemonStrate
DemonStrate uses several Source Engine exploits discovered in other Valve games, as well as a near-perfect memory of every puzzle to solve Portal's cake-lie in under 10minutes. DemonStrate writes in the video description that he has "not calculated yet how much time I waste waiting for the elevators, but [he's] sure it is probably a majority of the time."
Really, DemonStrate? Elevators? I don't think anyone's going to dispute your preternatural ability to solve puzzles anytime soon. The best parts of this run are the puzzles where DemonStrate fires not a single portal and flies from the entrance to the exit in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to create an infinite loop to fly through.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 – 5m47s – By Simon "Sorcerer88" Schmid
Everyone loves the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, but THPS3 is easily the best-loved, most-run of the series, by a long shot. Speed runners like to play THPS3 because of the unique rule set involved in "beating" the game. For speed running purposes, a player only has to medal in each of the three competitions, there's no need for gold or collecting every tape in the game.
In fact, that ability to choose your own requirements has players running wildly different experiments in terms of which tape to get in each level to progress forward. Plus, wow, can you imagine even going so far as to memorize menu inputs to speed through to the next level?
The worst part of speed running Tony Hawk? Missing out on the kick-ass soundtrack. Ace of Spades, anyone?
Super Mario Bros. – 4m58s – By andrewg1990
Here it is: the classic, the original, the game that launched speedrunning as a competitive niche in video gaming. Super Mario Bros. Even if you haven't tried speedrunning the entire game, everyone remembers using warp pipes to skip intire worlds or holding down the B button to sprint through a level, making leaps by the skin of your teeth.
The best part about this speedrun isn't even the speed really. Instead, I'm more impressed by the fact that this guy hit this time completely without the aid of a tool or cheat. You might find more impressive speedruns of Mario games out there, but many of them slow time down with the use of an emulator. Remember when you speed run to stay true to the original game.
Cheaters never prosper and winners don't do drugs.
