ProFocus: Speed Runs
Speed Runs competitively have, err... Wait. Speed runs don’t really have a competitive scene, well, a professional one. They’ve been more of an underground thing with the gaming community, where it’s not openly mainstream but when it catches the eye of any gamer, they’re quite blown away by the skill.
Quite possibly some of the most awesome displays of skills in gaming, Speed Running is almost an art form. Memorising patterns, levels, sound cues, and utilising glitches is all part of the speed run process, and it is executed with grace and ferocious speed. Though more notable for being done in the classic games such as Super Mario Bros and Mega Man, it has also moved into the world of 3D, though usually going into an hour or two rather than just a few minutes, considering the increase in length with 3D titles.
So pretty much, Speed Running as a focus opens up a ludicrously large library of footage to choose from, because it’s not tied to platforms or genres. So though the search was long, hard, and mostly entertaining and ending in hysterics, we’ve grabbed the ones we thought were the most impressive – the ones that leave a lasting impression in your brain. So onto the videos we go!
ProSkill
This episode we’ve got not 3, but 4 videos to show off, those being Super Mario Bros. on the NES, Quake Done Quick With a Vengeance, Diablo, and a special video at the end which is a bit of a hybrid between speed running and trick jumping.
Super Mario Bros NES
Super Mario Bros is considered to be virtually the pioneer of 2D platformers. So what better way to start off the ProSkill runs with one of the premier titles of the platformers! This video shows off a run done in literally 5 minutes flat. No hacking software was used, only some minor in-game glitches. Behold, for Mario is not a plumber, but a ninja:
To be perfectly honest, we don’t even remember finishing this game let alone doing a quick run of it, so massive kudos to figuring out how the hell to get through it so quick. If you’d like a downloadable version of this speed run, the Speed Demos Archive can help you out. Now onto an awfully vengeful, and utterly ridiculous run.
Quake Done Quick, With a Vengeance
A two part Youtube stream, the story behind these videos is that one day, a guy posted runs of his Quake runs named “Quake Done Quick”, claiming that no one could ever beat it, gloating about his awesome speed. Then out of the blue, a random player came out of nowhere with a big “Oh yeah?” plastered over his head, and he took those times out, with flying colours at that. Yes, that story is made up just to extend the description of the title, but either way, this is Quake Done Quick, With a Vengeance, and it is awesome (Part 1 and Part 2, respectively):
...Yeah. Um, so, that Mario Bros. run has nothing on this. Nothing. Well that’s what we think anyway. If you can do precise rocket jumps and clean finishes like that on a level, let us know so we can kiss your feet. A downloadable file for this run can be found right here. On to the next speed run.
Diablo
Who would’ve thought an RPG would make it to the speed runs? Well, this one is particularly special because of the time it took this guy to do it. He uses an assortment of glitches, insane luck and funny tricks to beat this game in – wait for it – 3 minutes. Don’t believe us? Watch:
Quite possibly one of the luckiest people to ever have lived, we admit that this video had us in hysterics most of the way through. An awesome run to watch solely for the luck and glitches. You can download the file at Speed Demos Archive, and there’s also a description there as to how he actually did it. Now onto the final video which is half speed, half tricks:
DeFrag
The video isn’t called DeFrag, the mod is. DeFrag is a modification that was created for Quake 3: Arena, which enabled users to alter some minor physics and create arenas built for speed runs and trick jumping. Though obviously we’ll be showing only the speed part for this episode, this seriously has to be seen to be believed. The player is Lags and he’s held world record times for nearly all these maps:
It really is something else to see players moving at that pace in a game. We’ve not seen a single game that’s faster than that, and the reaction times required is ludicrous to even think of. A video well worth watching. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a higher res download file of this one, sorry guys!
That’s it for our video reel this episode, hopefully you all enjoyed the runs, which is a nice change from the usual fragfests that we follow. But before we leave you, we always leave some small advice:
L2Play
It’s a little hard to give any advice for a speed run, aside from the bare basics. But we guess that we could lay them out. The most important thing to learn is the levels and enemy patterns first and foremost, as this is what you’re moving through and have to watch out for. Anyone can actually move at a fast speed in many games, it’s just controlling that speed with timing and memorisation that’s the hard part. So if you’re ever keen on trying for a crazy speed run like these guys, we recommend learning the basics first, and finishing the game a few times so you know exactly what you’re doing and where you’re moving, as not doing so makes you effectively blind.
So that sums up our special episode of ProMode. Another vote has been put up for ProMode 6, as from now on we feel we should let the majority decide on what content should come up, not us. Sure, we’ll do our own ones from time to time, but considering the past 4 were frag fests, we feel this and the next one should be community picked. So until next time, ProMode out.
There is no way he could have lucked out with the stairs that many times.
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