The digital realm offers countless ways to play, but for a unique breed of enthusiasts, “playing” means something entirely different. It means dissecting a game, breaking its intended flow, and bending its very code to achieve the impossible: beating it as fast as humanly – or glitchily – possible. This is the world of speedrunning, a vibrant, collaborative, and often mind-boggling subculture where every frame counts, every pixel matters, and every game is a puzzle waiting to be solved in the most elegant, efficient, or utterly absurd way.
Speedrunning isn’t just about raw skill; it’s a testament to human ingenuity, patience, and an insatiable desire to push boundaries. Runners spend thousands of hours meticulously researching routes, discovering glitches, practicing execution, and refining strategies that transform epic journeys into blink-and-you-miss-it sprints. What might take an average player dozens, if not hundreds, of hours to complete, a speedrunner can conquer in minutes, sometimes even seconds. They turn beloved narratives into abstract ballets of movement, exploit, and sheer will.
Each game presents its own unique challenges and opportunities for optimization. Some runs demand pixel-perfect jumps, others intricate menu navigation, and many rely on glitches that developers never intended. The beauty lies in the community aspect – sharing discoveries, celebrating personal bests, and collectively unraveling the deepest secrets of a game’s engine. What follows is a dive into ten of the most iconic, mesmerizing, and influential speedruns that encapsulate the spirit of this fascinating pursuit, each a masterpiece in its own right.
Super Mario 64 (16 Star Any%)
Super Mario 64 isn’t just a classic 3D platformer; it’s a foundational text in the gospel of speedrunning. While categories like “70 Star” represent a more traditional playthrough, the “16 Star Any%” run is where the magic truly unfolds. This category aims to collect just 16 of the game’s 120 stars to reach the final Bowser fight, bypassing the vast majority of the game’s content. The star of the show here is undoubtedly the “Backwards Long Jump” (BLJ). By repeatedly long jumping backwards into certain sloped surfaces, Mario can build up infinite speed, allowing him to clip through walls, skip entire areas, and even ascend the endless staircase to Bowser with ease.
The BLJ is a spectacular glitch that transforms familiar levels into abstract playgrounds. Watching a runner execute the BLJ, propelling Mario through solid objects or into the void to land perfectly on the other side, is like witnessing a magician perform a trick you know shouldn’t be possible. The precision required for these setups, the rapid-fire button presses, and the deep understanding of Mario’s movement mechanics make 16 Star an enduring benchmark for skill and creativity, a run that defined an era and continues to captivate new generations of runners.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Any%)
Another N64 titan, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Any% run is a sprawling epic of sequence breaks and memory manipulation. Unlike a typical playthrough where Link gathers items and abilities in a structured progression, speedrunners unravel the game’s timeline, skipping crucial dungeon items, entire temples, and even large portions of the story. The goal is simply to reach the final Ganon fight as quickly as possible, regardless of how many essential tools Link might be missing.
This run is famed for its complex and often bizarre glitches. Techniques like “Get Item Manipulation” (GIM) allow runners to receive one item while the game thinks they’re getting another, effectively giving them key items out of order. “Stale Reference Manipulation” (SRM) warps Link across vast distances, enabling him to skip entire sections of the map. And the notorious “Wrong Warp” glitch can send Link from one area of the game directly to another, often much later, without traversing the intervening landscape. The most famous outcome is reaching the final boss as adult Link while still having the “Kokiri Sword” and “Deku Shield” from his child self. It’s a dizzying display of game logic exploitation, turning the iconic adventure into a testament to how deeply players can understand and command a game’s inner workings.
Minecraft (Any% Random Seed Glitchless)
From the intricately designed worlds of Nintendo to the boundless procedural generation of Minecraft, speedrunning takes on a different flavor. The “Any% Random Seed Glitchless” category throws players into an entirely new, unpredictable world with the goal of reaching and defeating the Ender Dragon as fast as possible. This isn’t about memorizing routes or exploiting specific glitches; it’s about pure adaptability, rapid decision-making, and an intimate knowledge of game mechanics.
Runners must quickly gather resources, navigate dangerous biomes, locate a Nether Fortress for Blaze Rods, find a Bastion Remnant for Ender Pearls, and then locate the End Portal – all while contending with random enemy spawns and environmental hazards. The “God Seed” hunt, where runners reset until they find an advantageous world generation, adds another layer of strategizing. The climax, the battle with the Ender Dragon, is a frantic ballet of crystal destruction, precise bow shots, and careful movement. It’s a run that showcases not just technical skill, but an unparalleled ability to improvise and optimize in real-time, making every attempt a unique and thrilling journey.
Portal 2 (Any%)
Valve’s Portal 2, a game celebrated for its ingenious puzzle design, becomes a canvas for a different kind of genius in its Any% speedrun. Here, the portal gun isn’t just a tool for solving puzzles; it’s a weapon for breaking the game itself. Runners abuse physics, clip through walls, and perform seemingly impossible maneuvers that redefine what’s possible within Aperture Science’s confines.
The run is a mesmerizing display of “vacuum jumps” (using portals to gain incredible speed), “entity glitching” (manipulating game objects to clip through geometry), and pixel-perfect portal placements. Watching a Portal 2 speedrun is like witnessing a highly choreographed dance between player and game engine. GLaDOS’s snarky commentary often plays over a runner defying gravity and logic, leaving viewers in awe of how easily the carefully constructed levels are bypassed. It’s a run that blurs the line between playing and programming, showcasing an extreme understanding of the Source engine’s quirks.
Celeste (Any%)
Celeste is a modern platformer renowned for its challenging levels and poignant narrative about overcoming anxiety. Crucially, its precise movement mechanics and forgiving respawn system make it feel almost tailor-made for speedrunning. The Any% category focuses on reaching the summit of Celeste Mountain as quickly as possible, utilizing every dash, jump, and environmental interaction to shave off precious seconds.
Unlike games that rely heavily on unintended glitches, Celeste speedruns are a masterclass in exploiting intended mechanics to their absolute limit. Runners chain together “wavedashes,” “hyperdashes,” and precise wall jumps, maintaining an incredible flow state throughout the challenging levels. The game’s intricate level design becomes a playground for continuous, fluid motion. Every corner, every spike, every moving platform is an opportunity for a perfectly timed input that carries Madeline forward with breathtaking speed. It’s a run that celebrates pure platforming prowess, demonstrating an almost inhuman level of precision and muscle memory, turning a difficult journey into an elegant, unbroken sprint.
Super Metroid (Any%)
Super Metroid is arguably the genesis of modern speedrunning as we know it. Its open-ended map, interconnected areas, and vast arsenal of abilities laid the groundwork for route optimization and sequence breaking. The Any% category of Super Metroid is a historical and technical marvel, a run that birthed many of the techniques still used across various games today.
Runners like “Samus” (the in-game character, not the player) exploit Samus’s powerful movement set to their absolute maximum. “Shinesparking” allows Samus to convert momentum into a devastating, screen-clearing charge that can also propel her through obstacles. “Mockballing” involves rapid morph ball transformations to maintain momentum while passing through tight spaces. “Wall-jumps” and “bomb-jumps” allow access to otherwise unreachable areas. The sheer variety of movement options, combined with the game’s non-linear progression, transforms Super Metroid into a continuous ballet of environmental exploitation. Every few seconds, something incredible happens: a wall is bypassed, an enemy is ignored, or a crucial item is obtained out of sequence. It’s a foundational run that continues to inspire and challenge, a true classic in every sense.
DOOM Eternal (Any%)
Id Software’s DOOM Eternal is a masterclass in aggressive, fast-paced combat. For speedrunners, it’s a symphony of calculated chaos. The Any% category pushes players to complete the entire campaign as quickly as possible, demanding not just incredible aim and reaction time, but also an astute understanding of resource management and enemy AI.
This run is less about clipping through walls and more about pure, unadulterated combat efficiency. Runners employ “weapon swapping” for optimal damage output, strategically use glory kills for health and ammo, and exploit environmental hazards to dispatch demons with terrifying speed. Every encounter is treated as a puzzle: how to clear this room of bloodthirsty demons in the fewest possible moves, while maintaining enough health and ammunition for the next onslaught. The game’s intricate platforming sections, designed to test the player’s spatial awareness, become opportunities for lightning-fast movement. DOOM Eternal speedrunning is a brutal, exhilarating spectacle, a testament to the highest echelons of modern FPS skill and strategic thinking, where the Slayer’s rampage is accelerated to its most extreme.
Elden Ring (Any%)
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring presented a colossal challenge to speedrunners: a massive, sprawling open world with immense freedom. Yet, within months of its release, runners began dismantling its epic journey, transforming a hundred-hour odyssey into a lightning-fast sprint. The Any% category aims to defeat the final boss, the Elden Beast, as quickly as possible, employing a mix of clever routing, powerful builds, and astonishing glitches.
The most famous and visually striking glitch is the “Zip,” a technique that involves blocking and unblocking at precise frames to instantly teleport Link across vast distances, often skipping entire regions of the map. This looks like pure arcane magic, a sudden flicker that sends the player character from one side of the Lands Between to the other. Beyond the Zips, runners utilize “out-of-bounds” techniques, obscure boss skips, and carefully optimized character builds that melt even the toughest bosses in seconds. Elden Ring speedruns are a testament to the community’s relentless pursuit of optimization, turning an intended journey of exploration and arduous combat into an almost abstract experience of rapid teleportation and instant annihilation.
GoldenEye 007 (Dam Agent)
Before the era of sprawling open worlds and complex glitches, there was GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64. Its impact on console first-person shooters is undeniable, but within the speedrunning community, a single level has achieved legendary status: “Dam Agent.” This particular run, completing the very first mission on the easiest difficulty, became an obsession for a generation of players.
What makes Dam Agent so iconic is its simplicity and its brutal demand for perfection. There are no major glitches, no sequence breaks; it’s all about raw, unadulterated optimization of movement, aim, and timing. Every step, every turn, every shot is meticulously planned and executed. The goal isn’t just to complete the mission quickly, but to do it perfectly, minimizing frames and avoiding even the slightest deviation from the optimal path. The most famous world record, achieved by Bryan Bosshardt at 53 seconds, involved pixel-perfect movement and an almost supernatural ability to hit moving targets while turning. It was a benchmark of console FPS skill that defined competitive gaming long before esports was a household term, proving that even the simplest task, when pursued with absolute dedication, can become an art form.
Hollow Knight (Any% Glitchless)
Hollow Knight, a critically acclaimed Metroidvania, combines beautiful hand-drawn art with challenging combat and intricate platforming. Its Any% Glitchless category offers a more “pure” speedrunning experience, focusing on mastering the game’s intended mechanics and level design to achieve the fastest completion time.
Runners navigate the vast, interconnected world of Hallownest with incredible efficiency, prioritizing key movement upgrades like the Mantis Claw and Mothwing Cloak. Every boss fight becomes a carefully choreographed dance, where knowledge of attack patterns and precise dodge timing are paramount. Charm loadouts are optimized for movement and damage output, and the order in which areas are explored is meticulously planned to minimize backtracking and maximize progress. The beauty of a Hollow Knight glitchless run lies in its flow – the seamless transitions between platforming challenges, combat encounters, and exploration. It’s a display of deep game knowledge and exceptional player skill, turning a challenging and often melancholic journey into a vibrant, high-speed dash through a forgotten kingdom.
