Speedrunning Thread - Page 15

How do I start?
It’s simple, just pick up any game you like and play through it with speed in mind. If you can finish it and want to play through again, just repeat. If not, try another game. Once you’ve done that, search the web for videos or routes for the game and try and copy them. Now it may take a while before you can pick out optimisations or start making routes comparable to the established runners but that’s just natural. I personally was an absolute mess when it came to planning routes, but now I can pick them out and learn quite easily. It just takes practice.

There’s a miss-comprehension that to be a speedrunner you have to be the best in the world at your game, which isn’t true. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 5 hours to beat Super Mario World (10:29.xx is current best time), everyone has to start somewhere. As long as you’re having fun, you can run a game. For most people, getting a competitive time is a bonus to the process. Think of it like competing against yourself.

A great way to build on this is to start racing the game with other people and learn more that way. It doesn’t matter if you lose by miles and other runners are usually very keen to help out. I would gladly teach anyone everything I know about the games I run. It’s very important to bear in mind that your run doesn’t have to be good. Improvements will come with time and if they don’t, who cares? The speedrun community is very relaxed and is all about enjoying games. There’s no secret to it, just join in and have fun.

What if I don’t want to/can’t play?
Then go watch streams or videos! There are a lot of people in the speedrun community who don’t speedrun anything. They like to watch runs and just hang out in streams and whatnot. You don’t have to run a game to be a part of the community at all. Head to the SRL streams page or w00ty and just find someone to watch. If not, why not toy around with game and help out the runners? Just share what you know and contribute. No hard work required.

How do I pick a game?
This is one question I get asked a whole lot and there’s a few answers which should cover all bases:

1. Pick your favourite game – Simple really, if you love a game you’re more likely to play through it a lot. If you already know a lot about it, it will make the process a lot easier.
2. Pick a popular game – If there’s a lot of people running the game, odds are there’s a lot of documentation out there with everything explained. This means you won’t have to mess around with route planning and you can just dive in.
3. Let the game choose you – I spent years trying to find a game I wanted to run through. I kept trying this and that until eventually, I just found myself running Bayonetta. It was something I didn’t plan, it just happened.
4. Pick a game that destroyed you as a child – Another common one. I know a lot of guys who only run these games that they barely finished as a kid. It’s a nice sort of revenge on the title I suppose.
5. Pick a game you like to watch – If you find yourself watching a game you own on streams all the time, pick it up and join in.
6. Play the odds – Play every game until you find one you like. This has a high-burnout rate.

This is a good time to remind you that you should initially run just for fun or to race. Starting off with the goal to submit to SDA will most likely result in you not finishing your run and just burning out on the whole scene or finishing a product you’re no-where near happy with. While SDA is not a super-serious community, the standards are very high now. You can set a goal to get a run up on SDA or beat an old time, but I wouldn’t suggest diving right in to it.

Level 9 5:00 on New Game + (includes the dojo scene)


Level 10 3:13 on New Game +