Speedrunning is a deep, technical, and collaborative pursuit. Players aren’t just trying to beat games quickly—they’re working together to deconstruct them entirely. The discovery of new techniques often comes not from developers, but from obsessive experimentation, community knowledge sharing, and precise execution.
Many breakthroughs begin with accidental glitches. A wall clip, animation cancel, or unintended interaction is noticed during casual play or challenge runs. Communities then investigate: Can it be repeated? Is it useful? Can it be optimized?
For example, in Super Mario 64, runners discovered “backwards long jumping” (BLJ), which allows Mario to fly through walls by manipulating the game’s physics and momentum. It turned a 120-star game into a sub-10-minute sprint.
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, “wrong warps” allow players to teleport to different parts of the game by confusing its memory system. This required deep understanding of how loading zones and values are stored in RAM.
Speedrunners rely on:
- Frame-by-frame testing with emulators
- Hex editing and memory inspection
- Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS) to prototype new routes
- Community documentation through wikis, Discord, and live streams
Often, one discovery leads to another. A new glitch might break a previously unbeatable segment, unlocking entirely new categories or goals (e.g. “Any%”, “Low%, “Glitchless”).
Speedrunning isn’t just about reflexes—it’s about science, collaboration, and innovation. Every breakthrough is shared, refined, and respected. The community thrives not on secrets—but on shared discovery.