Runners typically need to work with the cards that are dealt to them by the developers when speedrunning — whether that’s due to the lack of a developer/speedrunning community relationship, the developer having an anti-speedrunning perspective, or anything else that could result in a situation where the community decides to intervene.

In recent years, it’s become more prevalent for communities to take matters into their own hands to create tools or rulesets that work around some of the negative aspects to their chosen speedgame in favor of a more entertaining run. Today, let’s take a dive into some of the tools and decisions made in various communities to foster a more fun speedrunning environment.

## Race Files

Race files are perhaps the most common compromise when it comes to balancing entertainment and purity in speedruns. “Race file” is a blanket term used to describe when speedrunners start their speedrun from a section not immediately at the start of the game, whether through a save file or some other means.

This is done in [Portal](https://www.speedrun.com/portal) to skip the minute-long vault section, [Super Mario Sunshine](https://www.speedrun.com/sms) to skip the nearly **6** minute starting cutscene, [Dead Space](https://www.speedrun.com/ds1) to skip the 5-minute train ride, and other games with very similar scenarios. Typically, race files are used to skip these beginning sections because they’re either boring or are completely void of gameplay for a long period of time.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/83nvl1em.jpg)

## Cutting out Cutscenes

[Titanfall 2](https://www.speedrun.com/titanfall_2) is a great speedgame with around an hour of high octane Source engine movement… and around 24 minutes of cutscenes. Certainly not the worst offender of cutscene-to-gameplay ratios, but not ideal when it comes to a game as fast-paced as Titanfall 2.

A few years ago, the Any% & All Helmets categories were split into the subcategories Standard & No Cutscenes. The No Cutscenes mod allowed for pre-made saves to be loaded at select points so that you could play each gameplay segment in between cutscenes, removing the majority of the downtime.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/qrz2m8n0.jpg)From 2018 to 2021 Titanfall 2 progressed quite a bit as a speedgame, developing new strategies like [Andy Shot](https://youtu.be/U1szguexnpk?t=1794) or [Elmo Clip](https://youtu.be/6fs8FpxsQic?t=52m50s). Unfortunately, because the pre-made saves for No Cutscenes were made prior to these discoveries, they ended up being left out completely from the category. This left No Cutscenes in a strange state where it was skipping all the downtime, but also a good chunk of the new tricks.

In July 2021, the community decided that a solution called the BT Cutscene Bypass would be voted on to merge the ideas of No Cutscenes into Any% in a new way. The beginning of the run contains an infamous cutscene hilariously dubbed “The 18 Hour Cutscene” due to a line of dialogue that takes place during the scene. The 18 Hour Cutscene lasts for roughly 3.5 minutes and includes 19 seconds of gameplay via an autoscroller, the most egregious cutscene in the run — right near the beginning. The idea was to skip just this one cutscene as it was the most disliked one, but also inject the time right back into Livesplit as if you had never skipped it at all. This meant all the runs that don’t use it remained just as competitive. Titanfall 2 Speedrun.com moderator [Bryonato](https://www.speedrun.com/user/bryonato) was the one to kick off the vote for this decision, and this is what they had to say about the process:

> We were facing a few issues with the state of our leaderboards. Any% was our main category, but most high level runners didn’t want to grind it due to the long opening cutscene, so the majority of competitive times were happening over on No Cutscenes. Normally this would be fine, but No Cutscenes is also a PC exclusive category, and we accept runs from multiple platforms on the same board, so console players were out of luck here. So in order to encourage people to run Any% again, have our leaderboards be more representative of the actual state of the game, and ensure the longevity of our speedgame’s lifecycle, we had a vote on the BT Cutscene Bypass.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/1pzmqoek.jpg)

> "Mechanically, the BT Cutscene Bypass does more or less what we do in No Cutscenes. But this time, we have a script integrated into LiveSplit itself, that detects when the cutscene starts and then it skips the cutscene but it also injects all of the time that we would have skipped back into the timer. Think of it like skipping past an ad read in a YouTube video. The video is still the same length, but you’ve saved yourself time by not watching a part of it.  So ultimately at the end of the day, yeah, it's arbitrary but like, so is the majority of speedrunning. It comes down to the balance of purity and runner convenience."

-*Bryonato*

## Modifying Mechanics

[Outlast 2](https://www.speedrun.com/outlast2/full_game) *also* suffered from a lot of cutscenes on release. Although, perhaps an even worse offense to speedrunning, Outlast 2 introduced a new mechanic in which skipping any game checkpoint leads to the player dying instantaneously. This is what Outlast 2 leaderboard moderator [AlexisDR](https://www.speedrun.com/user/AlexisDR) had to say about Checkpoint Killing:

> "I knew the run would get alot more interesting, because we already knew about some big skips that could be done but weren't possible because you would die/get softlocked. There were skips known to be theoretically possible like a few weeks after the game released but they weren't possible to do due to the checkpoint killing mechanic."

-*AlexisDR*

This mechanic was such a problem that even casual players found themselves dying from seemingly nowhere.  It was left this way for nearly 4 years because no one could figure out a way around it.

Eventually, Alexis reached out to Speedrun Tool Developer [Kuno Demetries](https://www.speedrun.com/user/KunoDemetries) who also recently developed the [Flashless Epilepsy Mod](https://github.com/KunoDemetries/APTIEpilepsyMod) for A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Alexis asked Kuno to help them out with a mod that would disable this checkpoint killing mechanic for a new sub-category called No CPK. The [No CPK Mod](https://www.speedrun.com/outlast2/resources) aims to create a category similar to what Any% actually should have been. This is what Kuno had to say about how the mod was created:

> "The mod changes the original if statement, responsible for checking if the current checkpoint is the one sequential to the previous one, and returns it to always true - preventing the game from killing the player and restoring the original checkpoint save function from Outlast 1."

-*Kuno Demetries*

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/2yzrqjn4.jpg)

## Removing RNG

[Bioshock Infinite](https://www.speedrun.com/bsi) has a piece of gear called the Hill Runner’s Hat, which gives you a speed boost if your shield gets broken. This fairly significant speed boost is great because it saves roughly **16 minutes** of game time over the course of a whole run. But there is one issue: the Hill Runners Hat has a 2% chance to drop.  This requires speedrunners to load the checkpoint over and over, attempting to get it before proceeding with their speedrun. This issue is discussed in more detail in the video [“The Bioshock Infinite Problem”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8829nP7akEY) made by Jarko, who helped me write this article. Jarko was the leading force in the move to allow a mod dubbed simply “HRH mod” on the leaderboards. The HRH mod removes all RNG from the HRH drop, forcing it to spawn 100% of the time. Here’s what Jarko had to say about it:

> "BSI was a tough one when I started glitch hunting the game about 5 years ago. Any% was almost 50% cutscene across a roughly 1 hour 50 minute run. At its peak activity, the category had maybe 4 active runners - and that low number is mostly because of HRH. I'm sure you get the jist of the item but 1/52 odds 30 minutes into the run was soul crushing to reset through. It was rough, though the occasional first try HRH was certainly a thrill. The game is probably in a much better place because of the efforts I had made to make a modified main category."

-*Jarko*

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5ngxxeq.jpg)

# Why are we here?

In the end, I think the majority of us are in speedrunning because we want to have fun.  Despite speedrunning being competitive in nature, I believe for a lot of people it serves primarily as an entertaining hobby.

So in that case, why not add some edge cases to prioritize entertainment? Personally, I’ll advocate for entertainment and accessibility any day.

When games don't provide what speedrunners are looking for, sometimes it's up to the community to step up to make the changes for themselves. 

Prioritizing Entertainment in Speedrunning

For a lot of people, glitches are at the heart of speedrunning. For many of us, witnessing cool skips and tricks at GDQ or other speedrun marathons is what got us excited about speedrunning in the first place. But where do these glitches come from? Who finds them? And how?

Well, that’s where glitch hunting comes in.

# What is glitch hunting?

In the most simple terms, glitch hunting is when someone attempts to find glitches and exploits within a given game. That said, there is a wide variety of approaches to glitch hunting that require different levels of skill and will often produce different results.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, a lot of speedrunners will do a bit of glitch hunting at some point or another. Some people are so dedicated to the search for glitches that they will call themselves glitch hunters. There is plenty of room for crossover between speedrunners and glitch hunters but that does not mean the two are synonymous.

While the process of glitch hunting can take different shapes, we can more-or-less break it down into some steps that may help you get started. (You might even recognize these steps from science class.)

# Step One: Observations

Before looking for glitches, you can set yourself up for success by getting to know the game you are hunting through.

This can take the form of repeated playthroughs but it can also include research into what discoveries other people have made about the game.

When it comes to repeated playthroughs it never hurts to keep recordings of everything so you can look back on any points of interest you stumble upon.

My own experience glitch hunting my primary speed game, Moomin’s Tale, has mostly included repeated playthroughs and discussion with the small Moomin speedrunning community.

As is often the case, community cooperation is one of the best paths forward. Whether someone plays the game casually, speedruns it, or glitch hunts it themself, you never know what discoveries can be made just by sharing experiences and working together.

This step can also include the use of additional tools to investigate a game’s code. My own coding skills are amateur at best and I’m just getting started using CheatEngine and other tools to understand the inner workings of different games.

[For more technically complex examples of glitch hunting with advanced and custom tools, check out our spotlight on the Prince of Persia speedrun community.](https://www.speedrun.com/news/694-2021-4-26-spotlight-prince-of-persia-community)

# Step Two: Questions

While learning about a game, follow your curious impulses and ask questions.

*Sometimes the physics in this game do weird things. Is there a way to exploit that?*

*Someone else just found a cool glitch. Are there other places that glitch could be useful?*

*This eagle boss is a poorly-coded, late-game run-killer. Is there a way to skip the fight entirely?*

The main point is turning the information you have gathered into questions.

For example, in Level 5 of Moomin’s Tale, there is a door on the other side of a small gap the player cannot usually jump over. Later in the level, one of the branching paths brings the player to that door presumably to trick new players into accidentally falling into the old room and forcing them to replay a portion of the level.

Additionally, there are fruit items in Moomin’s Tale, some of which give the player a speed boost until the next time they take damage. This boost also improves jumping distance.

Lastly, the player character’s sprite sometimes flickers between falling and landing when running into the edges of certain platforms.

With all this information combined, I asked: “If I have a speed boost and correctly time a jump across the gap then jump a second time while I am semi-colliding with the other platform, will that allow me to cross the gap and skip part of the level?”

# Step Three: Hypothesis

Once you have your question, it can help to turn it into a hypothesis by coming up with a guess and a way to find out if that guess is true.

*The physics in this game can be exploited by chaining these actions in this location. I will test it by attempting to demonstrate the trick.*

*That glitch someone else found can be used in this other part of the game. I wiIl test it by trying the glitch set up in the new location.*

*By getting out of bounds, I can exit the fight with the poorly-coded, late-game run-killer eagle boss and leave it behind. I will test this by editing the game code to put myself out of bounds to determine if it is possible before I start looking for a way to get out of bounds.*

Of course, in some cases, your hypothesis might just be “If I jump into this wall something interesting will happen. I will test it by jumping into this wall.” You don’t need a specific goal in terms of *what* you find. It’s going to differ between glitch hunters and games and game sessions. Sometimes it’s good to have a clear goal but it's equally important to keep an open mind to the possibilities.

Returning to my example from Moomin’s Tale, my hypothesis was: “If I have a speed boost and correctly time a jump across the gap then jump a second time while I am semi-colliding with the other platform, I can cross the gap and skip part of the level. I will test this by setting up a savestate before making the jump so I can make multiple subsequent attempts.”

# Step Four: Testing

It’s experimentation time. Put that hypothesis to the test and record what happens. You can even take notes if you’re testing something more complicated or you just like to be meticulous.

It’s up to you.

Demonstrate the trick, try the glitch, mess with the game code. There isn’t much else to say but to get to it.

# Step Five: Analyzing and Interpreting Your Results

So how did it go? Were you right? Were you wrong? Something else?

Maybe you were right. *You proved the physics in the game can be exploited by chaining those actions in that location.*

Maybe you were half-right. *You found that the glitch someone else found can be used in this other part of the game, but the setup is a bit different and it’s tougher to pull off.*

A lot of times, you might have gotten it completely wrong. *Getting out of bounds does not allow you to skip the poorly-coded, late-game run-killer eagle boss.*

In the case of my jumping experiment in Moomin’s Tale, I was successful. The jump worked and I was able to skip a short segment of the level!

##Step Five: Sharing, Repeating, Further Testing

In the first two cases above, you should of course share your discovery with other members of the community but it is often just as important to share when your discovery went wrong.

At the very least you can save someone else from fruitlessly repeating your exact actions and maybe other people can contribute new adjustments on your experiment or completely new ideas for

solving the problem you’re facing.

In a way, every experiment becomes part of the “Observations” stage of the next experiment! Regardless of what you find, you now know a little bit more about the game and can take that information into account while you continue your hunt for glitches.

In the case of my Moomin’s Tale experiment, I went on to double check if this new route was in fact faster than the previous one by timing both routes and comparing.

# One Last Thing

Of course, this cycle does not need to be as formal as these steps might make it sound. Some of these steps are unconscious or happen quickly as you try one thing after another.

But hopefully, this structure can help if you are new to glitch hunting or hitting some kind of roadblock in your hunt.

Whatever you do, good luck glitch hunting and wish me luck finding a way around the poorly-coded, late-game run-killer eagle boss in Moomin’s Tale because it is trying my soul.

Glitch Hunting is an important activity within speedrunning — but what is it, *exactly*? And how can you get started?

Glitch Hunting: What is it and how do you do it?

The main reason most people get started with speedrunning is that it’s a fun thing to do - plain and simple. *With that said*, it **is** a competition at its core, even if you’re just competing with the timer on your screen. Sometimes situations will arise where some fun is sacrificed for the sake of competition, whether it be through the discovery of new strategies or otherwise. Depending on how drastic the trade-off is, this has the potential to be damaging to not just the runners of the game, but also to the audience who can be vital to the success of the community.

## What if fast isn’t fun? 

Obviously, the goal of a speedrun is to complete the game as fast as possible, but sometimes in this endeavor there are strategies found that don’t appeal to the majority of the community because of randomness, difficulty, or just flat out not being very fun.

In these scenarios, a community must decide what they want to put forward for the rest of the world to see: preserving the “purity” of the run or make some changes to accommodate the interests of those who want to run under a different ruleset.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/7rnq1mej.jpg)

It should be noted, you can create a split with subcategories and have both rulesets exist simultaneously — but which one should be the default?

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/67e9j5n1.jpg)

Setting the default subcategory may not seem like an important decision, but it's all about creating a positive first impression. Whichever subcategory you set to default will be the one that people see when they first view the category, and chances are pretty good they will look at it before clicking any other options. This means whatever you select as your default will be the primary showcase of the category to anyone who visits the leaderboard, and first impressions are *very* important.

## Should I even care about the default subcategory?

New runners are more likely to gravitate towards the defaulted subcategory, and seeing as it’s likely to be the subcategory that most people are going to run under, it’s what the majority of the games speedrunning audience is going to see. There's no "correct" decision here because every community is different, but here are some things to keep in mind while deciding what the default runs should be:

***Speedgame “Purity”***

There is certainly value to be held in keeping the leaderboard defaults as the categories/subcategories that are the fastest since speedrunning is about completing something as fast as possible at its core.

***Variety in strategies***

Sometimes, a new strategy is found that totally obsoletes every other strategy found thus far. With something as game-changing as this, it’s worth considering which route should be the default.

***Natural Progression***

As time goes on, speedgames will inevitably get shorter through optimization, discovery, or otherwise. Is it worth creating a ruleset to match your needs and wants, or is it better to just “roll with the punches” and take the game as is, noting that there may be changes obsoleting your current decision later down the road?

***First Impressions/Audience Perspective***

It’s no secret that the majority of the greater speedrunning community is made up of spectators, and any community should keep this in mind when it comes to big leaderboard decisions.

***Fun***

Finally, the kicker. *Which subcategory is the most fun?* Fun should absolutely be something to consider in the decision-making process, no matter how much weight you give it. Even on the most hardcore leaderboards, there are people who are just playing to have a good time.

## Leaderboards are community-driven

I’d like to finish off this article by reiterating the importance of community choice. Each and every community is different, and the decisions they come to should be community-driven. Choosing the more entertaining or accessible options are equally valid to selecting the more competitive ones.

Communities are the reason this hobby is so enjoyable, and the different approaches each one takes to solving these situations is what makes them unique.

I hope all of you have a dope day today. Now, go drink some water.

The choice of whether to select a more competitive run as the default subcategory versus a more entertaining one is and should be community-driven.

How Speedrunning Communities Balance Competition and Entertainment

I think one of the coolest parts about speedrunning is the drive of runners to hone their craft down to near perfection. It’s this characteristic that has brought about some of the amazing achievements in speedrunning today. However, along the path of practice for perfection lies **the grind** and for some... *burnout.*

It takes a lot of time and effort to become the best in the world, and the determination of some runners to make it to the top is absolutely astounding. At the end of the day, though, we’re all human beings with mental and physical limits. Sometimes people forget that and just keep pushing and pushing — until they finally break and just burn out. So let’s try to prevent that, shall we?

# The No Reset Run — For newbies and experts alike

A “No Reset Run” is pretty much what it sounds like; it’s a speedrun where no matter what happens, you will continue the run and complete it in its entirety.  Obviously, you don’t need to strictly avoid resetting all the time: it’s still a good idea to grind out your weaker areas in moderation. But far too often, people reset over things they really shouldn’t be (mostly new runners).

Even if the reset is justified, you’ll be breaking yourself down if you force yourself into a never-ending cycle of reset hell.

# This is just a waste of my time. Why even bother?

No, I promise you it isn’t.

Let’s take the example of being stuck in a cycle of resetting over and over, for instance. This is exactly where the No Reset comes in. In this scenario, you’re probably exhausted both mentally and physically. Make yourself toss aside the goal of a personal best for a single run, and just finish it up.

This will give you a much-needed break *and* reaching the end of the run will give you a small feeling of satisfaction just by having reached the end. Tossing in a no reset run every once in a while prevents burnout, which is almost certainly inevitable for anyone grinding the first sections of a game for long enough.

Taking care of your mental and physical health is cool, kids.

# Improve your consistency

Not only does a No Reset Run help you avoid burnout, but doing one once in a while will actually help you improve your consistency.

It’s awful to see a runner so excited to finally get out of the beginning of the game after having reset for the umpteenth time, to only then lose the run because they haven’t played the latter part of the game since the *last time* they escaped reset hell.

If you make sure you’re just as comfortable with the late-game portion of the run, you can ensure that when the time comes that you make it there, you won’t choke due to lack of practice.

# Learn to adapt

This one doesn’t necessarily apply to every scenario in every game, but it’s something you should keep in mind as you run.

If you mess up a trick or otherwise make a mistake — try to salvage it. See if you can find a backup or alternate strat to minimize your time loss. Of course, in an ideal world this wouldn’t be necessary but mistakes **ARE** going to happen, ***and that’s okay.*** Chances are, you can still PB if you have a backup plan or can adapt on the fly.

Doing No Resets and searching for these backup/alternate strats can really help you out in the long run with consistency.

# Help your brain out

I know how much it sucks to see red splits, I’ve been there too, and it makes me want to reset the instant I see it. There is a semi-solution for that though if you’re using LiveSplit. It has a really amazing comparison component I suggest you use (rather than the usual “Personal Best” comparison).

There’s a comparison you can activate in Livesplit (Go to settings - Choose Active Comparisons) called “Balanced PB”. The idea behind this is to distribute your time gains and losses across all splits so that your end time is the same as your personal best, but you have much easier splits to run against.

Not everyone will love this one, but it’s really nice if you had that one section that was just *REALLY* good, and it sucks to run against. This comparison takes that and makes it a bit more balanced among the rest of your splits. It won’t improve your gameplay or anything, but it’ll keep you in a better mindset, and that’s half the battle right there.

# That’s all folks

In the end, everyone learns and practices differently, so you should keep that in mind while approaching how you tackle your next run. With that said, I hope you’ll keep this in mind and treat yourself to a No Reset Run once in a while. Trust me, it’s nice!

Whether you’re new to speedrunning or you’ve been doing it for years, I hope you’ve taken away something from this article but either way… take care of yourself folks, and then get to saving those frames!

Now go drink water or all your splits will be red.

A No Reset Run can shake up your typical routine and give you some valuable late-run experience. 

The Perks of a No Reset Run

So, you’ve decided to pick up speedrunning. Welcome to the wonderful world of routing, glitch hunting, running, or whatever else it is that has attracted you to this side of the internet.



## Where do I start?



Well, the reality is that it comes down to personal preference, but that would be a rather silly article wouldn’t it? *“Play what you want lul.”* Instead, I’ll guide you through the process of finding a game that you actually like rather than telling you what you should like. 



There are all kinds of categories, for all kinds of games, that suit all kinds of different players. You should find out what sort of games you like, as well as *how* you like to play them and go from there. 



It’s worth noting that leaderboards on Speedrun.com will often support multiple categories for runners to choose from that allow for different styles of play. For instance, the most common category you’ll see on SR.C is **“Any%”**.  



Any% generally means that you must go from the start of the game to the end, but you’re allowed to skip however much of the content in the middle as is possible within the limits of the game (eg. glitches/exploits and not straight up just hacking the game)



Any% is fantastic, and it usually shows the true potential of how fast a game could be beaten when the gloves are off. With that said, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and if it isn’t yours, that’s completely okay! 



Many leaderboards will support categories like **“Glitchless”** or **“No Major Glitches”** (sometimes shortened to NMG). These categories are typically created with the goal to keep the speedrun similar to what could be considered an “intended” playthrough, but with routing and optimizations to speed it up significantly. The existence of categories means you can play a single title in many different ways. This allows for a lot of freedom even within a single game. 



## What game do I pick to speedrun?



Now then, back to the original question. What game should you pick to speedrun? In my own personal experience, I got into speedrunning after finishing a casual playthrough of *Prey (2017)*. After completing it, I wanted more. However, I didn’t want to just start another regular playthrough and so I decided to pick up the speedrun since it seemed interesting, short, and easily accessible.



This would be my first suggestion to you, as a budding frame saver. Think of a few of your all-time favorite games, and from that list check out the associated runs for each game. If you’re like me, you’ll be absolutely fascinated to see a whole new take on a cherished game. This is really one of the great things about speedrunning in my opinion, which is replayability. Taking a game, and setting goals within that game gives you so much more to do. You get to enjoy the game for longer, and you get more bang for your buck.



With the above said, I would offer a warning from my personal experience. If your desired speedgame is one that you really enjoyed casually, make sure you’ve really gone through and gotten absolutely everything you can out of a casual playthrough. Once you start speedrunning a game, it starts to look a lot different, and it’s hard to go back to the “casual mindset” after starting your speedy journey. 



## What happens if I don’t want to speedrun a game I’ve played before?



Well, then I don’t blame you. Sometimes, it’s nice to preserve that relaxed enjoyment that comes from a casual playthrough. So what then? Well, there are still multiple avenues to pursue. I highly recommend using Speedrun.com’s own [games page](https://www.speedrun.com/games) to check out some of the most active leaderboards on the site, because activity means at the very least the game appeals to *some* chunk of the internet. As well as the tools available here on SR.C, [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/7cefbf30-4c3e-4aa7-99cd-70aabb662f27) has its own filter for broadcasts that fall under the tag “Speedrun”. Through this, you can watch live attempts, immerse yourself within the Speedrunning community, and maybe find yourself a game to speedrun. 



## It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.



So, you’ve explored all previous avenues and still don’t know what to run? That’s okay, I’ve got you covered. As of the time that I am writing this, Speedrun.com has over 22,000 games with leaderboards and more being created every day. A lot of these games are really incredible, and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that I don’t know everything about every single game that’s ever been speedrun. With that said though, I think I have a decent list of recommendations depending on your interests.



### Retro/Classic Runs

*Do any of these really need an introduction?*  

  

*[The Legend of Zelda Series](https://www.speedrun.com/games#title=Legend+of+Zelda)*  

The Legend of Zelda series is full of all kinds of different games, ranging from entirely busted to relatively faithful to the “intended” experience.  

*[The Metroid Series](https://www.speedrun.com/metroid)*   

Metroid is a true classic, boasting satisfying movement and combat across 2D and 3D installments.  

*[The Mario Kart Series](https://www.speedrun.com/mario_kart)*  

Across all the games, tracks, and categories, chances are fairly high there’s a speedrun for you in here.



### Movement-based Runs

*[Super Mario 64 - 16/70 Star](https://www.speedrun.com/sm64)*   

A movement classic with years of player experience and community resources for easy learning.  

*[Super Meat Boy - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/smb)*   

Easy to pick up, hard to master. A great choice for a first speedgame.  

*[Super Mario Odyssey - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/smo)*   

Modern Mario movement goodness, with a low barrier to entry and an incredibly high skill ceiling.  

*[Celeste - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/celeste)*  

Incredibly challenging, beautiful, and chock full of that sweet movement.  

*[Titanfall 2 - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/titanfall_2)*   

An underrated first-person shooter built on a modified version of the Source engine, with high octane combat and ultra-smooth movement  



### ”Broken-in-the-Best-Way” Runs

*[LoZ: Ocarina of Time // Defeat Ganon - No SRM](https://www.speedrun.com/oot)*   

Until recently, this category was known as Any%. Defeat Ganon was created once Arbitrary Code Execution was found, allowing runners to warp to the credits through a complex process of memory manipulation.  Defeat Ganon is masterfully broken in all kinds of ways and makes for a unique watching experience. This is by no means an easy run if you wish to learn it, but the community has a *ton* of resources to learn from.   

*[Portal - Out of Bounds](https://www.speedrun.com/portal)*   

Abusing Portal collisions to walk through anything? Sign me up.   

*[The Dishonored Series](https://www.speedrun.com/dishonored_series)*   

Elevators, leaps, and lots of OOB goodness.  

*[DOOM 2016 - Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/d2016)*   

Ever looked at a railing and thought to yourself, “Damn, I sure do wish that would send me 1000 feet into the air at Mach 7” because me too, reader. Me too.   

*[Fallout: New Vegas // Main Quest - Yes Man](https://www.speedrun.com/fallout_nv)*   

Ever wanted to become a plane before?



### Puzzle Runs

*[Portal - Inbounds No SLA](https://www.speedrun.com/portal#Inbounds_No_SLA)*   

A hybrid category akin to “No Major Glitches” that blends the classic source movement with some clever routing.  

*[Superliminal - Glitchless](https://www.speedrun.com/superliminal#Glitchless)*   

A mind-boggling game with tight optimization and very satisfying puzzles.  



By no means is this a comprehensive list, not even close. I tried to limit each category to just a few options, and I’m sure I have some personal bias inside my decisions. As such, I encourage you to do your own research and use this article and list as a stepping stone into speedrunning, rather than a direct guide. 



There are so many amazing speedgames out there, with even better communities behind them. I could never hope to create a fully comprehensive list of amazing speedgames, simply because it seems there’s always more to be discovered or even developed. Speedrunning truly is the gift that keeps on giving. 



***What are your favorite games to run and/or watch? Tell us about them by sending us a tweet 

[@speedruncom](https://twitter.com/speedruncom) with the hashtag #FavSpeedgame!***



*Header photo credit to the PHD Gamer via Unsplash.*

Want to get started with speedrunning, but aren't sure what game to try first? We've got some advice to get you started! 

How to pick your first speedgame

xwpw4y0l

summertimealice

A Difficult Game About Climbing

The leaderboards will open 2 weeks from launch to allow discussion about the categories we want to start out with.