![]() ![]() Playing video games in one's spare time isn't unique, but breaking a game's mechanics to beat it as fast as possible definitely is. Speedrunning is an unusual hobby born out of something totally normal. "Of course there is always friendly competition, and sometimes old grudges that need to be handled, but at the end of the day it's all of us versus our game." is that rarely do you find runners in direct conflict with each other," says Chris Tomkinson. "Something really cool about the Super Metroid community. Of course there is always friendly competition, and sometimes old grudges that need to be handled, but at the end of the day it's all of us versus our game. And while there are speedrun races, most speedrunners aren't in it to defeat an opponent the opponent is a ticking clock. Players go head-to-head in shooters, fighting games, sports games and other genres until a winning individual or team comes out on top. ![]() "Not many gaming communities share their discoveries and work towards a common goal as you see in speedrunning," she says."Although only one person can hold a world record at a time, everyone combines their efforts to see that record drop lower and lower."Ĭompetition is usually at the core of most gaming communities. ![]() "It pulls back the curtain to reveal the magic and creativity game developers use to make their games."Īnd, Yogi says, she appreciates the creativity and camaraderie of speedrunners. Not only do you see impressive displays of skill, but you develop a deeper understanding of how games are designed and function," she says. "I enjoy seeing games completed in ways no one ever expected. Spokesperson Kasumi Yogi says speedrunning shows a different side of gaming. GDQ finished streaming its annual Summer Games Done Quick event in late August, and the organization says it's raised more than $2.3 million for Doctors Without Borders. Not many gaming communities share their discoveries and work towards a common goal as you see in speedrunning. Runners often have to make intricate maneuvers to activate a glitch, such as "freezing an enemy in a pixel perfect position so a player can clip through platforms that would normally block their progression," Tomkinson says. and for me, at least, I find it important to understand why things work the way they do." "First you need to do the research, such as developing routing through the game. "There are two parts to any speedrun," Tomkinson says. Finishing a game at normal speeds can be hard enough, but doing it at a record pace with as few mistakes as possible takes a lot of practice and patience. I decided I wanted to try it myself, casually, so I got out my SNES and started trying to copy the different tricks I saw them doing in their run." "I remember looking up Super Metroid, as it was one of my favorite games back then, and seeing that someone had successfully completed the game with 100% of the items in under an hour," he says. Tomkinson first started speedrunning in the early 2000s when he stumbled across SpeedDemosArchive, a large collection of video games and their respective runs. Join The Game I Thought A Zoo: Simulated Games For Isolated Times When he's not studying for finals or working his 9-5, he's ShinyZeni, a gamer who spends more than 20 hours a week playing Super Metroid. His schedule is packed, but that doesn't mean he doesn't make time for his favorite hobby. He's finishing up his degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance at Western Governors University. Speedrunning is a popular form of entertainment in the gaming community: Instead of puttering around, exploring game worlds, players try to break records by finishing games in as little time as possible, often using glitches in a game's code and advanced techniques to skip ahead.īy day, Chris Tominkson is a cyber security engineer with a wife and three kids. They're playing the game all wrong! Why is his character glitching out like that? Is she just smashing Mario into a wall? How did he just fly through the ceiling? Wait! She just skipped a crucial part of the game! But it's not silly - it's speedrunning. To an uninformed viewer, it might seem silly. Chris Tomkinson - known online as ShinyZeni - streaming a speedrun of Super Metroid.
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