- Bullying Shadowheart is the latest Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrun strat Wargamer
- Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrun brought under 5 minutes thanks to ‘Shadowboxing,’ a trick where you kill Shadowheart and stuff her in a box to skip Act 2 PC Gamer
- Baldur’s Gate 3 Speedrunners Are Stuffing Shadowheart’s Corpse in a Box to Break World Records IGN
- Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunner sets new record by stuffing Shadowheart’s corpse in a box Dexerto
- BG3 speedrunner beats the game in less than 4 minutes with incredible Gale and Shadowheart cheese Dot Esports
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Speedrun
God of War (2018) Developers React to Incredible Valkyrie% Speedrun
The Valkyrie’s in God of War are a set of optionable bosses that can be taken on towards the end of the game. Turns out, beating them as fast as possible is quite popular with the speedrunning community. So watch as speedrunner Clowned187 takes on every single of these challenging foes on the game’s hardest difficulty, no less. Also, did we mention that the developers who worked on this boss also happened to stop by to witness the feat? Ride along with Mihir Sheth (Lead Combat Designer), Denny Yeh (Lead Combat Designer), and Rob Meyer (Senior Staff Technical Combat Designer) from Sony’s Santa Monica Studio as they watch this incredible speedrun.
Check out more from Clowned187 here:
https://www.speedrun.com/user/Clowned187
https://www.twitch.tv/clowned187
The Incredible Story Of Mario Kart: Double Dash’s Shortcuts
When Mario Kart: Double Dash was released back in 2003, a major shortcut on one of the game’s tracks—Waluigi Stadium—was discovered almost instantly. The next shortcut wouldn’t be recorded until 2018.
That’s an eternity in video game/speedrunning years, and there’s one hell of a story behind it, which is why Summoning Salt has put together this 41-minute video about the entire ordeal.
As explained early on in the video below, Mario Kart games have a long history of being kinda broken! At least when it comes to speedrunning, anyway. They’re perfectly fine for us to play casually and we’d never notice a thing, but most of them have enormous loopholes in their code that have let speedrunning players do everything from clipping inside their maps to performing quick bumps around the finish line to record impossible-looking times.
Throughout all that exploration and exploitation, though, from almost the day it was released one game stood above the others, seemingly impervious to any attempts at cutting its corners: Mario Kart: Double Dash.
While a single shortcut was discovered very early on, it remained the only shortcut any player would ever find for over a decade. The reason why is what I think makes this such an incredible story; there are impressive feats of hole-picking from speedrunners here, of course, but Nintendo’s development team also deserve credit for doing one hell of a job shoring this game up from exploitation as well, encoding each track with a number of rules and conditions that meant it took until 2018 for a player to work out a way to crack them.
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I should note here that the definition of a “shortcut” being used in this video doesn’t mean the obvious, intentional ones Nintendo always litters its tracks with. It instead means an unintentional shortcut, one that relies on an oversight or exploitation of code to make some serious time savings.
Something that, as you’ll see in the video below, took some serious work on the part of players like GoombaNL. But once that first domino fell in 2018, with some boosting off the Mushroom Bridge, it was only a matter of time until shortcuts were discovered on more tracks, from Bowser’s Castle to Mushroom City.
Summer Games Done Quick Raises Over $3 Million For Charity
Summer Games Done Quick, a charity speedrun marathon that was back with an in-person event for the first time in a few years, was held between June 26-July 3 in Bloomington, Minnesota. And at the end of the week, once all the runs were done, the event had raised an enormous $3 million for charity.
The final tally was $3,021,310.49, all of which will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders. When you add that to the $3.4 million that Awesome Games Done Quick raised earlier this year, which went to the Prevent Cancer Foundation, that is a lot of money people are parting with to see runners do some very cool shit with video games.
SGDQ 2022 was the first in-person GDQ event since the pandemic began back in early 2020, so it was awesome seeing a live crowd on-hand to support/react to all the action taking place. If you didn’t catch any of the action yourself, here are some highlights. We’ll start off with this incredible Ocarina of Time run, which beats the game quick, sure, but also does so much more:
And here’s a Pokémon Emerald run that involved four-player co-op, along with a randomiser that meant every time their Pokémon levelled up, it would randomly change into a different Pokémon. The result was absolute chaos:
This is a Super Mario Sunshine run that has ups, downs then ups again before it’s over:
And finally, here’s a Yakuza: Like a Dragon run that finished the entire game in less time than it took me to complete a couple of the tougher boss battles:
If you want to see more runs, or just pick one out of a game you’re particularly interested in, the organisers have recordings of every one of them on their YouTube page.
Elden Ring Speedrunner Beats Game In 12 Minutes 37 Seconds
Yesterday, YouTuber and speedrunner MitChriz beat Elden Ring in just 12 minutes and 32 seconds, setting what appears to be a new record in the “any% unrestricted” speedrunning category for the game.
To pull this off, you probably already guessed that there were some shenanigans and trickery happening in the run. And you would be correct. MitChriz used an Elden Ring speedrunning trick called “zipping” to essentially teleport around the world. This saves a lot of time compared to running everywhere or even using your trusting, double-jumping horse.
Using this trick, MitChriz was able to bypass the Limgrave section of the game and then popped straight over to Liurnia, where they use a now accessible waygate to access a late-game area. Using the zipping trick, they then skip past all but one of the bosses and reach the final boss in record time. Using the zip trick they skip past that boss fight too and finish the game in under 13 minutes.
And here I remember last month when I thought beating Elden Ring in 37 minutes was fast.
You might be wondering: Wait…what is zipping? Well, it’s a speedrunning technique that has become more popular recently among runners focused on setting new record times in the any% unrestricted category for Elden Ring. In this particular speedrunning category, players aren’t required to complete all the steps, get all the runes or do anything else that is usually needed to progress through the game. The main goal in these types of runs is to just reach the end and get to the credits as fast as possible using any method and tricks you can.
And further, in the unrestricted category really wild and tricky methods like zipping—which requires a beefy PC—are allowed.
Before someone gets angry at MitChriz for using glitches or tricks to beat the game, remember that this is just one type of speedrun category that exists for Elden Ring and that other players are out there setting times for runs that involve beating every boss or never taking damage, etc.
I now await someone beating Elden Ring in under 10 minutes.
Elden Ring Speedrunner Beats Open World RPG In Under 37 Minutes
Prolific and experienced Dark Souls speedrunner Distortion2 continues to set new speedrunning records in Elden Ring. He has now beaten Elden Ring in under 37 minutes, which could possibly be the new record for the fastest completion time.
In a video posted earlier today, Distortion2 was able to complete Elden Ring in just 36 minutes and 20 seconds. While the speedrunning community and categories around Elden Ring are still forming, it’s believed that this is the fastest “Any%” speedrun of the recently released RPG.
While it is impressive to beat such a large and often challenging game so quickly, what makes this even more impressive is that Distortion2 has been on a roll lately. Just a day ago he recorded what is believed to be the first sub-40 minute completion run of the game. And the day before that he beat the game in less than 50 minutes, again believed to be one of/if not the first person to do so.
Because this is an “Any%” run, Distorition2 isn’t required to complete all the steps, get all the runes or do anything else that is usually needed to progress through the game. The main goal in these types of runs is to just reach the end and get to the credits as fast as possible using any method and tricks you can.
With time, as the speedrunning community around Elden Ring forms and begins creating rules, categories, and documenting runs, we will likely see players beating the game while doing everything or while using no glitches. But for now, Distortion2’s runs are still impressive to watch, especially when you remember how many people need weeks to beat a game like Elden Ring.
Distortion2 streams every day and is always trying to improve his record, with a goal now of getting the overall time under 30 minutes. If you want to watch him live, check him out on Twitch.
In other Elden Ring speedrunning news, earlier this week a different runner on YouTube was able to complete Elden Ring in about two hours and did so without dying. Meanwhile, I’m over here spending two hours in most RPG character creation sections.
AGDQ 2022 Online Sets New Fundraising Record Of $3.4 Million
Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 is over, but the online speedrunning charity event wrapped up its week-long run with a brand new, all-time record for any GDQ event, raising $3,422,122 across over 49,000 individual donations. It also reached a million dollars and two million dollars faster than any previous GDQ events.
Like last year, AGDQ 2022 was held online this year to keep everybody safe and healthy as the world struggles with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. Participants streamed games from their own homes while viewers watched online and donated money to players for various reasons, including requesting character names and shoutouts. The event started Jan. 9 and ended earlier today.
And many, many people donated. According to stats shared by AGDQ staff, the average donation was $69 (nice) and the highest single donation was $236,656. All of this added up to $3.4 million. And like the folks speedrunning various games, the event reached this number very fast. It set records, reaching $1 million, $1.5 million, and $2 million faster than any previous GDQ event ever. For context: Last year’s event raised a still-impressive $2.7 million.
After doing this for over a decade, GDQ has now raised over $37 million for numerous charities, including Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders.
This year’s event saw some awesome runs over the past week. Someone beat Sekiro blindfolded and even beat some bosses without taking any damage. Another speedrunner set a new record in Sonic 4 dressed as the blue hedgehog himself. It should be noted that the outfit he wore was so cumbersome that if he set his controller down he would be unable to easily pick it up. Didn’t matter still set a new world record in the game.
AGDQ 2022 has uploaded all the speedruns onto its official YouTube channel, so you can easily watch any of these runs or countless other runs whenever you want. You can also still donate to the event.
This 17 minute Stardew Valley speedrun starts with destruction
Games Done Quick draws to a close tomorrow and one of the best runs from the past week was for Stardew Valley. Speedrunner Olenoname finished the farming simulator in 17 minutes by using a mixture of glitches and extreme skill.
How To Watch AGDQ 2022 Online And When Does It Start?
And just like that, somehow it’s been a whole year since the last Awesome Games Done Quick. The speedrunning event, back for its 13th year, starts today. After a terrible 2021, relax and enjoy some fun, impressive, and wild speedruns for the next week. It might just be the best way to kick off 2022. And all of this is for charity, too!
The weeklong speedrunning marathon kicked off earlier today. And like last year, all donations will go to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. As always, viewers can donate to bid on things like what difficulty levels players must speedrun their games on as well as choosing character names and other in-game decisions that might come up.
You can watch the AGDQ live stream via the event’s official website and it will also be streamed on Twitch. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing or don’t have time to, you can check out AGDQ 2022’s full online schedule and plan out some time to catch specific runs. Here’s the full schedule at GDQ’s official site.
And here are some runs I’m looking forward to watching either live or after the fact via the event’s YouTube page.
Jan 9 – Deathloop run by CreeperHntr scheduled for 2:40 p.m. EST:
I always like watching speedrunners take on brand new games and see how fast the community has broken open a game since release. Plus Deathloop seems like a fun game to speedrun.
Jan 11 – Ratchet & Clank (2002) run by deltadoid scheduled for 2:45 p.m. EST:
Old Ratchet & Clank games have a long and wild history of speedrunners figuring out new ways to skip large sections of the game, sometimes via very strange and tricky methods. So watching an expert take a stab at an R&C run live is exciting stuff.
Jan 13 – Half-Life 2 run by Maltemller set for 9:55 a.m. EST:
I’m not a speedrunner. Not at all. But there was a time, when I was younger, that I tried speedrunning Half-Life 2. I had played it so much, I figured I’d be able to set a record or something. I never did, but watching others destroy the game using the weird physics of Half-Life 2 is always a blast and reminds me of what could have been…
Jan 15 – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice blindfolded run by Mitchriz set for 3:50 p.m. EST:
Excuse me what?
If you want to learn more about any of the speedruns and the rules of the category they’re being played in, you can check out this submission list by the speedrunners themselves. And for any speedruns you might miss out on and want to catch up on, videos are posted on the GDQ YouTube channel.
Metal Gear Solid Players Are Freaking Out Over New Glitch
Over the weekend, Twitch streamer Boba was streaming herself playing Metal Gear Solid for the first time ever, and after being attacked by some guards, she turned to fight them. At that moment, she accidentally ended up getting pushed backward through a locked door, discovering a new glitch that could save a ton of time and that has MGS speedrunners going wild with the time-saving possibilities.
In Metal Gear Solid, you eventually reach a section where you need to go up and down some communication towers, fighting a helicopter, climbing a bunch of stairs, and even rappelling down a rope. It’s a lot. During this section, Boba was running from guards and reached a locked door, so she turned around to fight the swarm of angry armed goons. As she did so, she was shot multiple times, getting pushed back enough that Snake’s model clipped through the door and seemingly activated a trigger, letting Boba skip the stairs and enter the outside area early. She celebrated with a song.
In an interview with YouTuber Drakon Astron, Boba explained that she didn’t think much of it at the time. “I thought it was something that probably someone had done before, on accident.”
However, this was a big moment. Nobody had ever seen or documented this bug before and it seemed to let Boba skip a good chunk of gameplay. Quickly, as footage of the bug spread across Twitter and Reddit, the collective Metal Gear Solid speedrunning community lost their shit. It was estimated by some that if this glitch could be replicated reliably, it could save upwards of two or three minutes. And, within a matter of hours, folks had started replicating the bug, which some are calling the “Boba Skip,” though Boba herself wishes for it to be called “Kevin.”
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Now, after replicating the bug, players have begun heavily theory-crafting and investigating how this bug works, what it means for the game, and if it’s viable elsewhere. Players in the MGS speedrunning Discord server are testing out other locked doors and inaccessible areas of the game where this “Boba/Kevin Skip” might be used to save even more time. If some of these areas become skippable using this glitch, it’s possible that Boba not only found a neat trick that saves a few minutes, but a brand new strategy that could completely change how folks run Metal Gear Solid on both PC and console.
Not bad for someone who isn’t obsessively speedrunning the game every day and in fact had never played Metal Gear Solid before. According to Boba, one speedrunner said they loved that she found the bug because instead of a longtime speedrunner, it was someone just having a good time with MGS.
“The best part is it’s not some, like, nerd that’s been speedrunning Metal Gear for like a hundred years,” the speedrunner told her. “It’s just me having fun playing a video game and accidentally discovering this crazy thing.”