The Evolution of Speedrunning: From Niche to Mainstream

11 September 2025

Alright, buckle up gamers, casuals, and digital daredevils alike—because we’re about to take a turbo-charged ride through the quirky, chaotic, and surprisingly heartwarming world of speedrunning. You know, that thing where people decide playing games the “normal” way is just too slow and instead opt to beat them in record-breaking, brain-melting time. Because who needs storylines and side quests when you can glitch-warp through walls and hop backwards to the finish line, right?

Let’s dive into the pixelated past, the glitchy golden age, and the Red Bull-fueled reality of speedrunning today. Grab your energy drinks, folks—it’s gonna be a wild ride.

What the Heck is Speedrunning Anyway?

If you’re scratching your head and thinking, “Wait... Is that like running but with video games?”—bingo! Speedrunning is essentially the art (yes, we’re calling it that) of completing a video game as fast as humanly—and sometimes inhumanly—possible. Think of it as a race, but instead of sprinting on a track, you’re sprinting through Mushroom Kingdoms and post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Some speedrunners aim for 100% completion, others go for “Any%” which means “get to the end as quick as possible, and we don’t care how.” And then there are the meme runs, where things like beating Dark Souls using a banana as a controller are not only real—they’re celebrated.

Back in the Day: When Speedrunning Was Just Nerds Timing Themselves

Ah yes, the 90s. A time of cartridge blowing, cheat code whispering, and questionable fashion choices. Speedrunning back then was more of a whispered legend among the bravest of gamers. Someone’s cousin allegedly beat Super Mario Bros. in under 10 minutes. Was it true? Who knows. Proving it meant setting up a VHS recorder and praying the tape didn’t get eaten halfway through your golden run.

There was no Twitch. No streaming. Just you, your CRT monitor, and an obsessive desire to be faster than everyone else. The original speedrunners were the kids who thought “what if I just ignored everything and ran to the end?” They didn’t need validation—they had spreadsheets, forums, and an undying need for digital dominance.

The Rise of the Speedrunning Community: Forums, Demos, and the Almighty Timer

Fast forward a few years and the internet decided, “Hey, let’s give these lunatics a place to gather.” Enter Speed Demos Archive (SDA), the early hub for speedrun submissions. It was like the Olympic committee for gamers with too much time and not enough patience.

People would submit demo files or videos (still using camcorders duct-taped to tripods), and then the community would pick them apart frame by frame. Did Player123 really pull off that wall clip legit? Was that lag spike suspicious? Discussions got heated. Friendships were forged and destroyed. It was glorious.

This era also introduced the real MVP: the timer. Once speedrunners started using precise timing tools like LiveSplit, everything changed. Now, we weren’t just guesstimating. We were splitting milliseconds like digital scientists in lab coats made of Dorito crumbs.

Twitch Enters the Chat: Speedrunning Goes Prime Time

Then came Twitch. And oh boy, did it blow the doors wide open.

Suddenly, you weren’t just a lone gamer fighting your way through Ocarina of Time in your mom’s basement—you were streaming it live to thousands of people, who were cheering, facepalming, and spamming emotes every time you missed a jump by 0.02 seconds.

Events like Games Done Quick (GDQ) took things to a whole new level. A week-long speedrunning marathon raising millions for charity—while showing off jaw-dropping runs, bizarre glitches, and the occasional epic choke right before the final boss. It was beautiful chaos.

Speedrunning became not just mainstream—it became performance art. These weren’t just gamers anymore. They were entertainers, athletes (yes, e-athletes), and community icons.

Glitches, RNG, and Things That Were Never Meant to Be

Let’s talk about the elephant in the warp pipe: glitches.

Speedrunning isn’t always about playing the game the way the developers intended. Oh no—half the fun is breaking the game into tiny digital pieces and using its own code against it. Infinite jumps? Yes please. Walking through walls? Absolutely. Skipping 90% of the game with a single frame-perfect input? Chef’s kiss.

There's a special kind of joy in watching someone leap backwards across Hyrule Field at Mach 5 or manipulate the RNG gods to make a boss disappear in one hit. It’s not cheating—it’s innovation. Like jazz. But with more button mashing.

The Community: Weirdly Wholesome (And Alarmingly Obsessive)

Despite the fierce competition, the speedrunning community is surprisingly supportive. Runners often work together to find new skips, routes, and time-saves. They’ll spend hours dissecting each other's footage, not to call out mistakes, but to help shave off milliseconds.

It’s like a digital dojo, where instead of wax-on/wax-off, the training involves frame-perfect jumps and pixel-perfect alignments. Is it obsessive? Absolutely. But it’s also kind of beautiful.

Speedrunning is one of the few places on the internet where someone beating Skyrim using a bucket and a frying pan gets standing ovations.

Esports, Livestreams, and Sponsors: Speedrunning Gets Corporate

As speedrunning gained traction, it wasn’t long before the suits showed up. Sponsorships, prize pools, branded events—it’s not just about bragging rights anymore. Some top-tier runners are full-on internet celebrities now, pulling in donations, subs, and even brand deals.

Don’t be surprised if you soon see a speedrunner on a Gatorade commercial, chugging electrolytes while attempting a no-reset Any% run of Elden Ring. We’re not joking. That future is coming, and it’s faster than any Metroid Dread run.

When Speedrunning Goes Off the Rails: The Wild Side of the Scene

Let’s not pretend everything’s sunshine and 1-Frame Window strats. Like any community with a competitive edge, things can get... weird.

There have been scandals (fake runs, spliced footage, ghost inputs), accusations, and drama worthy of a Netflix docuseries. And let’s not even start on some of the bizarre categories out there—from “beat the game blindfolded” to “least buttons pressed.” Yeah. That’s a real thing.

But hey, what’s speedrunning without a little chaos?

Not Just for Elites: Why Anyone Can (and Should) Try It

Don’t worry—this isn’t some exclusive club for hyper-focused savants who memorize entire games like digital rainmen. Speedrunning is for everyone. Yes, even you, sitting there with your controller upside down.

Plenty of runners started by casually trying to beat their personal best on a favorite game. Before they knew it, they were timing themselves, joining Discords, and using phrases like “RNG manipulation” in everyday conversation.

Whether you're chasing a world record or just trying to beat Mario in under 20 minutes, there's something weirdly satisfying about watching your time go down.

The Future of Speedrunning: VR, AI, and Whatever’s Next

So, where does speedrunning go from here? Well, considering we’ve already seen speedruns in VR and AI trying to learn how to play games faster than humans, the possibilities are wild.

Imagine a future where you can plug into a Metaverse session and speedrun through digital worlds with haptic feedback and full-body control. Or maybe AI-assisted routing becomes standard, helping runners find routes even the most insane human minds couldn’t dream of.

Heck, maybe someone will figure out how to speedrun life. (Spoiler: it's a terrible idea. Don’t skip the cutscenes, folks.)

Final Thoughts: Speedrunning Is Absurd, Beautiful, and Totally Here to Stay

From obscure beginnings to packed Twitch streams, the evolution of speedrunning is one heck of a glow-up. What started as a niche activity for a few brave pioneers has become a global phenomenon. And no, it’s not just about beating a game fast—it’s about community, mastery, and a slightly unhealthy obsession with frames.

So next time you finish a game, ask yourself: could I do that faster? Then shave three seconds off, fail miserably for a week, discover a new glitch, and accidentally invent a new category.

Welcome to speedrunning. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.