The History of Speedrunning: When Playing Faster Became a Competition

Completing a game has always been a significant achievement for any gamer. For a long time, reaching the end credits was the ultimate goal, almost a personal trophy. But as video games evolved and players became increasingly proficient, an inevitable question arose: "Is it possible to do everything in less time?" From this curiosity, speedrunning was born, a practice that has completely transformed how many people view and play video games.

Speedrunning is the pursuit of completing a game in the shortest possible time, but it’d be unfair to reduce this culture to just that. Over the years, it has become a mix of technical challenge, in-depth study of systems, creativity, and collaboration within the community. To understand its magnitude today, we need to go back to the past and follow its evolution step by step.

When Fast Play Wasn't Yet a Playstyle

In the early years of the industry, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, games weren't designed to be completed quickly. In most cases, they didn't even have an ending. The focus was on score, survival, and replayability. The longer a player stayed in the game, the more fun it was.

Even so, a competitive mentality linked to efficiency already existed. More skilled players achieved high scores and sought to advance through the levels faster, not through conscious speedrun strategy, but through reflexes, muscle memory, and mastery of the controls. With the popularization of home consoles and games with a beginning, middle, and end, completing the game became the objective. And, naturally, some players began to replay the experience just to test their own limits.

All of this happened in solitude. Without internet, without recordings, and without external validation, these attempts were restricted to the home environment and close friends. Therein lay the foundation for what would become one of the most fascinating practices in gamer culture.

Doom, Quake, and the Beginning of Organized Competition

The first foundations of what would become speedrunning began with the game Metroid (1986) and later with Prince of Persia (1989), which already encouraged speedrunning by recording the player's time achieving certain goals, including completing the game. In 1992, id Software, during the development of Wolfenstein 3D (1992), recorded a statistic of "ideal time" based on the personal records of John Romero (the game's creator) for each level. Romero's best times were printed in the game's hint manual, which at the time was available through the postal delivery system that was also used to distribute the game. His intention was for players to try to beat his times.

But the real turning point came with Doom when it recorded players' gameplay. The game retained the Wolfenstein "ideal timing" mechanic and included a feature that allowed saving files (called demos) that recorded gameplay with each player's move and time. This made it possible to compare completion times in a concrete and reliable way, something revolutionary for the time.

Demos were lightweight files that could be shared more easily than video files. These files began circulating among players, and communities dedicated exclusively to finishing levels and campaigns in the shortest possible time quickly emerged.

In January 1994, University of Waterloo student Christina Norman created an FTP server dedicated to compiling demos, called LMP Hall of Fame. The Doom speedrunning community emerged in November 1994 when Simon Widlake created COMPET-N, a website that hosted and ranked the best completion times for single-player Doom levels, marking a historic milestone for speedrunning. The site established rules, creating a well-structured competitive environment. For the first time, speedrunning ceased to be a curiosity and became a recognized practice.

In 1996, id Software released Quake, improving the idea of ​​speedrunning. Quake also had a demo recording feature, and its movement system allowed techniques that even the developers hadn't foreseen. Players discovered ways to gain speed by exploiting the game's physics; this technique was called bunny hopping, and was used years later in games like Counter-Strike. Each discovery opened up new possibilities, further reducing each player's times. At this point, speedrunning also became a form of technical exploration of the game itself.

In April 1998, the Speed ​​Demos Archive (SDA) was created, a website dedicated to speedruns hosting high-quality videos for download.

Consoles, Exploration, and the Birth of Glitches

With the rise of consoles in the 1990s and early 2000s, speedrunning found new territory. Games began to be "disassembled" by extremely dedicated players striving to finish them in the shortest time. Every wall, animation, and area transition was analyzed in search of shortcuts.

It was in this "phase" that glitches became a central part of speedrunning culture. Programming errors, miscalculated collisions, and unexpected game behaviors began to be intentionally exploited. Techniques discovered years after the games' release completely changed how certain games were completed.

Super Mario 64 became one of the greatest symbols of this generation, with discoveries that still redefine records today. The same happened with games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metroid, and Castlevania, which remain active in speedrunning communities decades after their releases.

This exploration raised important debates about what should or shouldn’t be allowed. The solution found was to divide the runs into categories, allowing for different playing styles and ensuring that everyone could find a way to compete fairly.

The Internet and Speedrunning as Content

The popularization of broadband internet completely changed the reach of speedrunning. With the emergence of YouTube, runs ceased to be something restricted to forums and became easily accessible to the general public. Watching someone finish a game in minutes became entertainment.

Videos began to teach, runners started explaining techniques, showing common mistakes, and detailing strategies. This opened doors for new players and further consolidated the community. Speedrunning ceased to be something closed and became open and collaborative.

With the arrival of Twitch, everything became even closer. Live streams showed the human side of speedrunning. The audience began to follow attempts, failures, long training sessions, and the tension of a world record being broken in real time. Speedrunning became a spectacle, but without losing its essence.

Games Done Quick and Worldwide Recognition

The emergence of Games Done Quick marked the rise of speedrunning in the gaming world. Created in 2010, the event brings together speedrunners from around the world in live-streamed marathons, always focused on raising money for charity.

Over the years, the event has grown so impressively that it has attracted millions of viewers, raising millions of dollars. Games Done Quick showed the world that speedrunning is about community, passion, and positive impact. During the broadcasts, players explain every detail of their runs, making the event accessible even to those who had never heard of speedrunning before.

For many gamers, their first contact with this culture happened and continues to happen there, watching classic and modern games being completed in ways that seemed impossible.

Speedrun.com and the Community Organization

With the growth of speedrunning, there was a need for a centralized space to organize records, rules, and categories. In 2014, Speedrun.com was created, with less stringent guidelines than SDA and with the goal of centralizing speedrun times for various games. The migration of speedrunners to this site caused SDA to lose its relevance in the 2010s. Several programs were created to assist speedrunners, such as stopwatches that show the current time and the best time for game sections, comparing the two and highlighting the differences.

Speedrun.com became the most important platform in the community with a large collection of data and videos, bringing together thousands of games, each with its own categories, specific rules, and updated rankings. Players from all over the world submit their times daily, which go through verification processes carried out by moderators from the community itself.

The site became the definitive database of the community, with players sharing discoveries, strategies, and documenting the evolution of their records over the years. Today, Speedrun.com is a living historical archive, recording every advancement and every change. It's difficult to imagine the speedrunning landscape without this platform. It has brought standardization, transparency, and accessibility, allowing anyone, anywhere, to participate in the community.

Ninja Gaiden (NES): One of the Biggest Community Disputes

Among the many stories of speedrunning, few represent the spirit of the community as well as the race for the best time in Ninja Gaiden on the NES. Released in 1988, the game is known for its extreme difficulty, precise controls, and fast pace.

For many years, the speedrunner Arcus held the world record for the game. His time was considered virtually unbeatable. Arcus mastered each level, enemy, and jump with impressive technique. His record remained untouched for years, becoming a benchmark within the community.

New runners continued trying to beat Arcus, among them RetroRunner, who spent years studying the game and Arcus’s techniques, refining strategies and seeking small, almost invisible time optimizations. The competition wasn't direct in the "traditional" sense, but rather focused on the fastest time, persistence, and technical improvement.

When RetroRunner finally broke Arcus's record, it was a historic moment for speedrunning. Not just for the new time, but for the symbolism. It proved that, even after years of absolute dominance, there was still room for evolution and improvement. The record-breaking achievement was celebrated by the community, including Arcus himself, demonstrating how speedrunning values collective progress more than toxic rivalries.

This type of competition perfectly summarizes speedrunning: extreme dedication, mutual respect, and the constant pursuit of making the impossible seem normal.

The Current Scenario of Speedrunning

Currently, speedrunning has reached an impressive level of complexity. Players analyze source code, use tools like TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun) to study the game frame by frame, and test techniques for months to save fractions of a second. A small discovery can completely change a world record.

Modern games are analyzed by speedrunners from day one. In many cases, the developers themselves follow the runs, interact with the community, and adjust their games with this type of challenge in mind.

Beyond the classics, speedrunning has grown into virtually every genre. Indie games, long RPGs, and even games considered problematic find space within the community to finish in the shortest possible time and set a world record. Each game offers a unique challenge and a new way to finish it in less time.

Conclusion

Speedrunning isn't just about finishing quickly; it's about understanding a game at its deepest level, exploring its possibilities, and transforming limitations into opportunities. From solitary attempts in living rooms to events streamed to millions, speedrunning has become one of the most interesting expressions of gamer culture. It proves that video games continue to live on long after the end credits and that there's always a new way to play.

And it all started with a simple but powerful question: "Can I do it faster?"