Memorable Speedrun Fails That Led to Revolutionary Discoveries

11 October 2025

Speedrunning—where gamers attempt to beat a game in record time—has carved out its own niche in the gaming world. It’s a mix of precision, strategy, and sometimes, sheer chaos. But here’s a fun twist: not every speedrun goes as planned. And sometimes, these “fails” end up making history, uncovering glitches, hidden mechanics, or even paving the way for entirely new speedrun categories. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade, right?

In this article, we’re going to dive headfirst into some of the most memorable speedrun fails that, oddly enough, broke barriers instead of controllers. From jaw-dropping glitches to hilariously random discoveries, these moments prove one thing: failure can be the gateway to greatness.

What is Speedrunning, Really?

For those who don’t hang out in the speedrunning universe, let’s set the stage. A speedrun is a playthrough of a video game with the goal of completing it as quickly as humanly possible. Players spend hours (sometimes weeks or months) honing their strategies, memorizing routes, and perfecting their execution. But what happens when execution doesn't go quite as planned?

Well, sometimes the unexpected happens—and not in a bad way. Speedrunning isn't just about victory laps. It's about experimentation, pushing boundaries, and figuring out just how far you can take a game before it breaks.

Now, let’s get into the juicy stuff—the fails that changed the game.

1. The Backwards Long Jump (Super Mario 64)

If you’ve ever watched a Super Mario 64 speedrun, you’ve probably seen players zooming backwards up staircases like Mario suddenly picked up a jetpack. It’s called the Backwards Long Jump (BLJ), and it’s an iconic trick. But did you know it was discovered by complete accident?

In a failed attempt to perform a standard long jump, a speedrunner misaligned Mario’s character and triggered this chaotic backward motion. At first, it looked like a mistake. But soon, the community realized Mario could use this to bypass the "star doors" that normally blocked progression. It essentially broke the game wide open.

What’s wild is that it wasn’t just a trick anymore; it became the foundation for speedrunning Super Mario 64’s “Any%” category. That accidental error turned into one of the most revolutionary discoveries in speedrunning history.

2. "Oops, Wrong Warp!" (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

Here’s the thing about speedrunning: sometimes you end up bending the game in ways the developers definitely didn’t intend. During a failed attempt to navigate Ocarina of Time’s Deku Tree dungeon, a runner triggered what’s now known as a “wrong warp.”

Basically, the game got confused about where Link was supposed to go and decided, “Eh, I guess you get to warp somewhere else now.” This landed the player in a completely different area—one they weren’t supposed to access that early in the game. Initially, it looked like a disaster (it ruined the run!), but players soon realized this wrong warp could be exploited to skip major chunks of the game.

Now, it’s a beloved staple of Zelda speedruns and has led to some of the fastest clear times in gaming history. Funny how a fail can turn into a game-defining moment, huh?

3. Infinite Yoshi Flight (Super Mario World)

Super Mario World remains a favorite among speedrunners, largely because of its tight mechanics and room for creative problem-solving. Most runs are all about pixel-perfect jumps and smooth routes. But one day, a runner accidentally released a jump button too early and discovered... Yoshi can kinda “fly.”

Okay, not really fly, but by manipulating a few in-game quirks with Yoshi’s tongue mechanics and item-swapping, players figured out how to keep Yoshi airborne indefinitely. At first, it looked like nothing more than a weird glitch. But after some tinkering, it became a game-changing tool for bypassing tricky levels and speeding up runs.

Sometimes, failing just means flapping your wings until magic happens.

4. The Accidental Rocket Jump (Quake)

Quake is a speedrunner’s playground, full of potential for jaw-dropping tricks. One of its most famous techniques—the rocket jump—was initially discovered… you guessed it, by accident! During a high-pressure run, a player botched an explosive throw, hitting themselves instead of an enemy. What should’ve been a huge setback turned into an “Aha!” moment when the explosion launched them across the map.

Speedrunners quickly realized this trick could save massive amounts of time, especially in areas where platforming was otherwise required. The accidental fail turned into a staple of FPS speedrunning, showing that sometimes, blowing yourself up isn’t such a bad strategy. Who knew?

5. Door Launch Insanity (Portal)

Portal already feels like a game built for speedrunners—it’s puzzle-heavy, tightly designed, and packed with physics-based mechanics. But during an attempt to shave seconds off their time, a runner accidentally clipped into a door in such a way that it launched them across the map. This “door launch” fail, while outrageous to watch, cracked open a can of worms for Portal runners.

Soon, players began experimenting with similar mechanics, discovering that the game’s physics engine could be manipulated to pull off all sorts of bizarre feats. Like, who needs portals when you can just yeet yourself into the next level?

6. The Crooked Cartridge Trick (Pokémon Red/Blue)

Sometimes, it’s not the gameplay that leads to fails—it’s the hardware. During a Pokémon Red/Blue speedrun, a player accidentally nudged their cartridge mid-run. This caused a screen glitch that looked like the game had fully crashed. But instead of throwing in the towel, they decided to see what would happen.

To their surprise, the game continued running, albeit in a weird, corrupted state. By experimenting with this “crooked cartridge” state, speedrunners discovered they could manipulate Pokémon encounters, skip sections of the game, and even reach the Hall of Fame in record time. What began as a hardware fail turned into one of the most bizarre and fascinating discoveries in Pokémon speedrunning.

7. The “Out-of-Bounds” Accident (Metroid Prime)

Metroid Prime’s speedrunning community has always been about pushing boundaries—literally. In one memorable fail, a player accidentally fell through the map while attempting a complicated jump trick. Instead of restarting the run, they decided to explore the void, leading to the discovery of an out-of-bounds route that could be used to skip large portions of the game.

This fail-turned-discovery not only shaved minutes off completion times but also inspired other runners to experiment with intentionally breaking the game’s geometry. Sometimes, falling through the cracks is exactly what you need.

Why Speedrun Fails Are a Gift in Disguise

If there’s one thing to take away from all of this, it’s that speedrunning is as much about discovery as it is about skill. Sure, the goal is to be the fastest—but sometimes, you’ve got to fail spectacularly before you stumble upon something revolutionary. These “fails” remind us that the gaming world is full of untapped potential, waiting to be uncovered by curious (and perhaps accidentally clumsy) players.

And honestly, isn’t that kind of beautiful? Even when things go wrong, there’s always a chance to make history. So, the next time you see a speedrun fail, don’t scoff—you're probably witnessing the next big breakthrough.

Final Thoughts

Speedrunning turns video games into a science experiment, an art form, and a comedy of errors all rolled into one. These memorable fails prove that sometimes the best discoveries aren’t planned—they’re stumbled upon in moments of chaos. Whether it’s a botched jump, a glitched warping mishap, or just sheer dumb luck, every “fail” in speedrunning comes with a dash of possibility. Who knows what revolutionary trick might come next?

So, to all the speedrunners out there: keep failing, keep experimenting, and keep challenging the limits of what’s possible. Because sometimes, the biggest gaming breakthroughs happen when you least expect them.