4 Of The Most Unbelievable Video Game Speedruns Ever

Are you ready to see four of the most jaw-dropping video game completions in gaming history? I’ve done an article in the past here at MUO regarding speedrunning, and since this article the speedrunning community has only grown larger and more successful. More games are being run, and more players are running!

Every week, new world records are being set and broken. Streamers over at Twitch provide speedrunning entertainment around the clock (with some games you’d never expect, too). That being said, some runs are so extraordinary that they become passed down as legends and talked about by an entire community of crazed gaming fans. The four runs you’re about to see are truly special.

Super Mario 64 (N64) – 0 Stars (TAS) in 5:39

We’ll start by introducing two things that every fan of speedrunning should know about: Super Mario 64, which is quite possibly the most run game, and the world of TAS (tool-assisted speedruns). A TAS is a speedrun put together through the use of tools, such as an emulator, that provide enhancements like slow motion or rewind. The whole idea behind a TAS is eliminating the human elements of skill and reflex to create a run that is essentially perfect. Yet still, TAS runs are extremely competitive because errors can still be made. To have the best TAS, you must execute properly.

This run is the epitome of proper execution. For years, the backwards long jump glitch has helped speedrunners complete the game in ridiculous times. It’s just one of dozens of glitches and sequence breakers that riddle Super Mario 64. The thing is, many of them are so difficult to pull off that a TAS is practically a requirement.

A speedrunner by the name of Swordless Link picked this game apart so finely in his TAS that he somehow beat the entire game without collecting a single star. His time? Just 5:39.

DemonStrate’s “Portal Done Pro” Portal Speedrun in 9:25.567

There’s no doubting that Portal is one of the best games to ever hit the PC. There’s also no doubting that it is a very difficult game to beat.

This legendary speedrun has been viewed on YouTube more than a million times. It took speedrunner DemonStrate more than two years to put together this amazing run, utilizing heaps of glitches that allowed him to beat the game beneath 10 minutes. Many Portal players are lucky to get past the first level in this same amount of time.

He even adds style points to the run, running and jumping backwards and dropping through portals in a way that will leave you dizzy.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 21:45

This is one that I had to really pull a double-take on, because it’s a game I spent hours and hours of time on. Ocarina of Time is one of the more difficult games in the series, and it’s mind-boggling to me that this game could be completed in less than a half-hour. That’s the power of glitches.

Speedrunning an RPG is often a task. They’re cinematic games. They have rich storylines. Throw that all out of the window in this run, and watch a clinic of some of the most impressive Ocarina of Time glitches you’ll ever see.

Super Metroid in 49:35 Live at Awesome Games Done Quick by Garrison

This is just a beautiful speedrun, from start to finish, for many reasons.

First, this is done at an event called Awesome Games Done Quick, a gaming and streaming marathon that helps raise money for charity. Second, it’s live and in front of an audience of gamers that are very knowledgeable. Just watching and listening to them pick apart this amazing run is half of the enjoyment I get out of it. Garrison speeds through this run below 50 minutes, and no one expected it, projecting the run to be around the full hour mark.

Conclusion

These are four games that have some serious history in speedrunning, and it’s tough to find runs more important and talked about than these. However, there’s a lot more out there. What are your favorite games to see run? Know of any that could have made it onto this list? Let me know in the comments below!

Image Credits: joystick Via Shutterstock