How did you start speedrunning? Share your story!

2012-07-16 07:29:06 pm

I started "speedrunning" Super Metroid back immediately after watching a Let's Play on youtube in 2009 after I had just quit my job as a waiter at some shitty italian food chain. It all started with a low% challenge (which ironically got the same percentage as I'm getting in my any% these days ((22%)) and I decided to try and push the time down as much as I could. My first any% clocked in at around 1:30 gametime and I managed to chip it down to about a 0:45 on my own, completely divorced from the actual speedrunning communities. I knew vorpaledge from another community and I was told to watch AGDQ2011 and his run was really inspiring to me and it got me back into casual speedrunning again. Eventually, I discovered SpeedRunsLive after watching Jiano and Cosmo stream a lot and originally thought I'd be learning OoT to race bingo. Welp, I guess the rest is history~

DarkBluesZX

2012-07-16 07:43:14 pm

Sounds like Maverick talk to me.

I used To play Rachet and clank up your arsenal when i was 12 So much the reset counteer coudlnt keep track anymore. one day my friend came over And we made a bet I can finish the game under 3 hours. I Did it under 3 hours My friend Says people do That online and they Collect money to donate charity. I never Got to search this up Until four Years later My friend sends me a link To AGDQ 2012 And i see the megaman Games That i used to play get breezed through which inspired Me to start speedrunning The clasic Megaman games Again. Unfortunately the game was frustrating me. so i Moved On Into A giant pool of Games I have been able to speedrun.

MAS8705

2012-07-17 12:42:50 am

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

(At the time I more or less registered...)

I was watching G4 when I stumbled across a featured video of Mario 64 '16-Star' Run. I was so blown away by the gameplay, I tried to look it up online and found SDA. Seeing how many different kinds of speed runs there were, I decided to join the community, although it wouldn't be until a few years later when I would actually submit speed runs of my own.

As for the games I've done, it wasn't anything special...

SSBMstuff

Edit history:

SSBMstuff: 2012-07-17 01:24:20 am

SSBMstuff: 2012-07-17 01:05:53 am

2012-07-17 01:02:33 am

PS1 is immortal

I'm going to aim to keep this succinct yet sufficient. 'Cause let's just face it: The tl;dr is strong in this thread.

In mid/late 2007 I began playing Home-Run Contest on Super Smash Bros. Melee competitively after seeing MAC's (former WR) Captain Falcon video that dates back to 2003 I believe. I was utterly inspired. In the ensuing years, I started to make the transition from casual gaming to competitive, in all aspects. 1p modes in games interested me greatly (i.e. time trials, mini games, etc.) and the optimization thereof. My skills grew but stayed concentrated in the stadium modes of SSBM (and SSBB from Mar. 2008 & onward). At some point in 2011 (er... it might have been early 2012 come to think of it), Ihavenoname showed me the Ape Escape thread on SDA upon seeing my time attacks for the game. Now, I was no stranger to forums at that time, but there was something special about SDA that made me say, "Where have you been all my life?!?" Since then, I took up Ape Escape RTAs and currently hold the record, and am branching out to more games, mainly PS1 platformers.

Thanks for making this topic Surreal. This is a really nice idea.

I'm going to aim to keep this succinct yet sufficient. 'Cause let's just face it: The tl;dr is strong in this thread.

In mid/late 2007 I began playing Home-Run Contest on Super Smash Bros. Melee competitively after seeing MAC's (former WR) Captain Falcon video that dates back to 2003 I believe. I was utterly inspired. In the ensuing years, I started to make the transition from casual gaming to competitive, in all aspects. 1p modes in games interested me greatly (i.e. time trials, mini games, etc.) and the optimization thereof. My skills grew but stayed concentrated in the stadium modes of SSBM (and SSBB from Mar. 2008 & onward). At some point in 2011 (er... it might have been early 2012 come to think of it), Ihavenoname showed me the Ape Escape thread on SDA upon seeing my time attacks for the game. Now, I was no stranger to forums at that time, but there was something special about SDA that made me say, "Where have you been all my life?!?" Since then, I took up Ape Escape RTAs and currently hold the record, and am branching out to more games, mainly PS1 platformers.

Thanks for making this topic Surreal. This is a really nice idea.

ChristosOwen

2012-07-17 01:04:29 am

Discovered SDA --> Discovered w00ty --> Discovered Jiano --> Discovered SRL --> Watched Kinghippo --> Started ALTTP --> Discovered by Prier who helped me setup my stream, irc, srl, etc

Shoutouts to ~~Wak~~ Kinghippo for my original inspiration at playing ALTTP and Prier for essentially helping a major scrub.

ZenicReverie

Edit history:

ZenicReverie: 2012-07-17 01:23:44 am

2012-07-17 01:19:49 am

Waiting hurts my soul...

I found SDA while surfing the net at work. I was looking for videos of old games, reminiscing of a time when I had more time to play. I think the first video I came across was Super Mario Bros. followed shortly by Mega Man 2 and Super Metroid. I was hooked, and spent the better part of a month watching videos while home sick. I wanted in on this, so I lurked for a bit in the forums and learned what I needed to start. I picked some games, at the time not accepted, one still not, and tried them out to find what fit best for my first run. I decided to go with Vandal Hearts, as my most likely game. I figured the stage based setup would be perfect for segmenting. Shortly after, I lost my job, and couldn't afford the recording equipment. It wasn't until a year later that I was back in a stable position. I bought a dvd recorder with hard drive, and off I went.

I was a month in, only a few stages completed, and I was already getting the feeling this would be a long process; I was getting the itch to switch games. I had just picked up Jak & Daxter, hearing it was good and knowing a speedrun for the game was ready to watch, and played through it to 100% completion. I watched the run. It was atrocious. I wondered how it was ever accepted. Then I learned more about the history of SDA. Verification wasn't as strict. The previous run had been standing for 3 or 4 years already, and if no one else was going to bring it down, then I was going to take it on myself. A month later, I had an acceptable deathless run (my goal); a week after, I had my second deathless run. That's the run that's up.

After this side bar, I came back to Vandal Hearts. I finished it; a year since I had started, I finally completed the run. Since then, fighting games became more acceptable, so I picked up one of the first games I suggested, Bushido Blade. I figured quick one hit kills would be nice to watch. Two hit kills aren't too bad either. I followed it up with a quick game, Archon, which barely squeaked by verification on a second pass.

Since then I've tried my hand at other titles, but really haven't felt the same drive to completion. The planning has been a lot more fun, so I've planned a couple of runs, and when I feel more confident, I may get back into running a game or two a year. Had I all the time in world, I'd want to speedrun at least half of it.

I know you only asked how I started, but I figured the whole story is pretty short.

I'm with mike89, never even thought of speedrunning or playing games quickly (aside from time trials built into a game) until I arrived here. Sometimes I feel I don't quite fit in, but I think the games I run wouldn't see a run made if I didn't see them through (save for Jak & Daxter, which may not have seen an improvement), so I hope I'm adding positively to the community. Everyone here is great.

I found SDA while surfing the net at work. I was looking for videos of old games, reminiscing of a time when I had more time to play. I think the first video I came across was Super Mario Bros. followed shortly by Mega Man 2 and Super Metroid. I was hooked, and spent the better part of a month watching videos while home sick. I wanted in on this, so I lurked for a bit in the forums and learned what I needed to start. I picked some games, at the time not accepted, one still not, and tried them out to find what fit best for my first run. I decided to go with Vandal Hearts, as my most likely game. I figured the stage based setup would be perfect for segmenting. Shortly after, I lost my job, and couldn't afford the recording equipment. It wasn't until a year later that I was back in a stable position. I bought a dvd recorder with hard drive, and off I went.

I was a month in, only a few stages completed, and I was already getting the feeling this would be a long process; I was getting the itch to switch games. I had just picked up Jak & Daxter, hearing it was good and knowing a speedrun for the game was ready to watch, and played through it to 100% completion. I watched the run. It was atrocious. I wondered how it was ever accepted. Then I learned more about the history of SDA. Verification wasn't as strict. The previous run had been standing for 3 or 4 years already, and if no one else was going to bring it down, then I was going to take it on myself. A month later, I had an acceptable deathless run (my goal); a week after, I had my second deathless run. That's the run that's up.

After this side bar, I came back to Vandal Hearts. I finished it; a year since I had started, I finally completed the run. Since then, fighting games became more acceptable, so I picked up one of the first games I suggested, Bushido Blade. I figured quick one hit kills would be nice to watch. Two hit kills aren't too bad either. I followed it up with a quick game, Archon, which barely squeaked by verification on a second pass.

Since then I've tried my hand at other titles, but really haven't felt the same drive to completion. The planning has been a lot more fun, so I've planned a couple of runs, and when I feel more confident, I may get back into running a game or two a year. Had I all the time in world, I'd want to speedrun at least half of it.

I know you only asked how I started, but I figured the whole story is pretty short.

I'm with mike89, never even thought of speedrunning or playing games quickly (aside from time trials built into a game) until I arrived here. Sometimes I feel I don't quite fit in, but I think the games I run wouldn't see a run made if I didn't see them through (save for Jak & Daxter, which may not have seen an improvement), so I hope I'm adding positively to the community. Everyone here is great.

Rayan Isran

2012-07-17 01:47:14 am

I started in around 2002 but never got serious until around 2005. I bought Goldeneye in around 2000 or 2001 and was trying to beat levels as fast as I could. Then one day I decided to check online for the fastest times achieved and I stumbled upon the-elite.net. Followed the community from then onwards and used their strats to improve my records but never really joined until mid 2005.

The only games I have seriously attempted to speedrun are Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I tried MK64, Paper Mario 64 and some other games but kinda gave up shortly after speedrunning those.

MortyreR45

(user is banned)

2012-07-17 02:06:10 am

I AM FUCKED ANGRY

The first idea of speedrun was in the year 1994. I had watch a demo vhs tape of Donkey Kong Country and later in many german magazins where found a speedrun challenge of this game. It was the beginning of speedrun for me and for many other user in the 90 years. So the first speedrun I know of donkey kong country was done in ~45 minutes in the year 1995, but I was not the player. But I have the old magazins, to read this retro action forever. In the year 1996 was released the game Duke Nukem 3D, this game has a timer and a timer for the 3drealms factory players (factory players time COOL). I had forget one game, very important in the speedrun groups, Super Metroid. Metroid is very important, this game has a timer and this game was also in many magazins to win a race of speedrun in the 90 years. Speedrun is not new, but I think it coming more and more from year to year in the future of users, and this is cool. bla bla bla Smiley

Toufool31

2012-07-17 02:14:45 am

too many gyros

I originally started my speedrunning career doing Diddy Kong Racing time trials, and getting some wr's back in 2008. I met skateman222, and around 2009 he started doing smb1 and i found it interesting. I started running/finding glitches and tricks in Galaxy 2 when it came out, and i did speedruns of that for a long while. I then was introduced to SRL in 2011 by skateman, and i fell in love w/ sm64 and did 16/70/120's because i watched jiano/sicko/sig and it looked fun as hell. I took a big break for a good 6 months or so, and came back this year, and crushed my times (even using n64 lol) I've also got the 2nd best DKR any% and 100% times and more time trial world records as well.

Yagamoth

2012-07-17 07:01:37 am

INTJ

Love reading these posts ^^

As for me - I'm sadly not really a speedrunner. I kind of lack the ambition for a long-term project - yet I keep trying it on one particular title. Started 3 times, failed twice, I'm still on the 3rd attempt.
But I figured, I'd share my story anyway Wink

First I heard about actual speedrunning was around 2004, when I saw the fast 3D Metroid completion on another guys Monitor in school. I didn't know anything about Metroid, but it looked rather impressive. About two years later, I re-discovered the SDA page and found a 16-star run of SM64. Immediately I had to try and see, whether I could do the same thing with 16 stars. I didn't care about doing a fast completion myself, but I loved the glitch.
Soon after, I watched some more speedruns on the site and got more and more engaged in the whole thing. After some marathon I finally decided to be a bit more active in here.

About myself: I always loved tricks, theory, easter eggs and glitches. I never really cared, whether they'd give any advantage - they are the mysteries of the modern era, things that developers left in their games - forgotton, unintended -discovered.

I've crashed Ragnarok Online Servers on multiple occasions (although, never really intentionally) by exploiting mechanics. I've explored things in WoW, where barely anyone else has been before and also exploited a lot of mechanics - most of them would've gotten me banned if Blizzard cared enough. (I never used any outside tools or cheat devices though)

Generally, I always try improving everything (I mean everything, also in RL) subconsciously - naturally. Theory crafting is simply interesting to me, as it gives me ways to improve even further. Knowing, I do something "optimally" gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

And all these things I love I've basically found in this community. Even though I'm more interested in breaking the game, finding interesting trivia, finding easter eggs, theory crafting and trying out weird stuff, I don't think there is a better place for such things than SDA along with TASvideos. Often I simply read threads, submission comments and FAQs, without ever having played the game. Simply to know how these things can be broken.

Love reading these posts ^^

As for me - I'm sadly not really a speedrunner. I kind of lack the ambition for a long-term project - yet I keep trying it on one particular title. Started 3 times, failed twice, I'm still on the 3rd attempt. 
But I figured, I'd share my story anyway ;)

First I heard about actual speedrunning was around 2004, when I saw the fast 3D Metroid completion on another guys Monitor in school. I didn't know anything about Metroid, but it looked rather impressive. About two years later, I re-discovered the SDA page and found a 16-star run of SM64. Immediately I had to try and see, whether I could do the same thing with 16 stars. I didn't care about doing a fast completion myself, but I loved the glitch.
Soon after, I watched some more speedruns on the site and got more and more engaged in the whole thing. After some marathon I finally decided to be a bit more active in here.

About myself: I always loved tricks, theory, easter eggs and glitches. I never really cared, whether they'd give any advantage - they are the mysteries of the modern era, things that developers left in their games - forgotton, unintended -discovered.
 
I've crashed Ragnarok Online Servers on multiple occasions (although, never really intentionally) by exploiting mechanics. I've explored things in WoW, where barely anyone else has been before and also exploited a lot of mechanics - most of them would've gotten me banned if Blizzard cared enough. (I never used any outside tools or cheat devices though)

Generally, I always try improving everything (I mean everything, also in RL) subconsciously - naturally. Theory crafting is simply interesting to me, as it gives me ways to improve even further. Knowing, I do something "optimally" gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

And all these things I love I've basically found in this community. Even though I'm more interested in breaking the game, finding interesting trivia, finding easter eggs, theory crafting and trying out weird stuff, I don't think there is a better place for such things than SDA along with TASvideos. Often I simply read threads, submission comments and FAQs, without ever having played the game. Simply to know how these things can be broken.

Judgy

2012-07-17 10:49:18 am

Borderlands 2 Glitch Hunter/ router.

Started In the world of Speed Running by watching a TAS run of Killer instinct (Spinal) By Dark Fulgore on Youtube back in maybe 2008.... Which i still love to watch to this day as the combos are awesome.
I followed a link from that video to another speedrunning site the name of which I forget now and which coincidently I forgot at the time which made me google "speedruns" and found SDA.

From then on i mainly lurked in the background simply watching the runs on the site until a few months ago when i decided to create an account and start some running of my own after finding a game i wanted to run (Sniper: Ghost Warrior) the rest is history and now I'm awaiting verification lol (^_^)

sinister1

Edit history:

sinister1: 2012-07-17 09:42:18 pm

2012-07-17 02:19:09 pm

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

How I got started speedrunning

tldw;
1994 - Discover sequence breaking in Super Metroid pre-internet and got sub 2hr 100% run and thought I was cool.
2003 - Stopped playing video games until 2007.
2007 - Drunk friend shows me Andrewg's 5min Super Mario Bros. run and claims it as his own. I find SDA and see Hotarubi's 0:32 Super Metroid run.
2008 - There is no Double Dragon II run, I decide to rectify the situation.

__sdfg

2012-07-17 07:41:30 pm

D:

Someone told me I should do an EarthBound speedrun. In retrospect, I think he was joking.

ZenicReverie

2012-07-17 08:17:50 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Quote from __sdfg:

Someone told me I should do an EarthBound speedrun. In retrospect, I think he was joking.

Good thing you settled for Breath of Fire. Wink

Flip

2012-07-18 10:25:51 am

1-Up!

I was "speedrunning" for years before discovering SDA but never thought that there might be a dedicated community to it. My proudest achievements were ~15 min Super Mario World and ~3:00 ALttP (eat your heart out at those times).

In early 2007 I was reading a GameFAQs topic about somebody playing through some game as fast as possible and somebody in the thread said that the time at speeddemosarchive was much faster. Had to check it out. Registered my account in Jan 2007.

Pretty much lurked all year. This community was much smaller back then and it it seemed like everybody knew everybody. I made a thread for Baten Kaitos 1 and it was quickly decided that it was much too long and the thread got hijacked in favor of BK2 discussion. Fast forward to November when i came back and asked again "how long is too long?" I wanted to attempt a NG speedrun of Tales of Symphonia with my brother and 2 other friends. I figured that multiple players would give us an edge and we might be able to come up with something submittable. We ran the game the following summer and finished/submitted on 8/8/08.

I was "speedrunning" for years before discovering SDA but never thought that there might be a dedicated community to it. My proudest achievements were ~15 min Super Mario World and ~3:00 ALttP (eat your heart out at those times).

In early 2007 I was reading a GameFAQs topic about somebody playing through some game as fast as possible and somebody in the thread said that the time at speeddemosarchive was much faster. Had to check it out. Registered my account in Jan 2007.

Pretty much lurked all year. This community was much smaller back then and it it seemed like everybody knew everybody. I made a thread for Baten Kaitos 1 and it was quickly decided that it was much too long and the thread got hijacked in favor of BK2 discussion. Fast forward to November when i came back and asked again "how long is too long?" I wanted to attempt a NG speedrun of Tales of Symphonia with my brother and 2 other friends. I figured that multiple players would give us an edge and we might be able to come up with something submittable. We ran the game the following summer and finished/submitted on 8/8/08.

RaneofSOTN

2012-07-18 11:16:14 am

I want off the ride....

Saw the "original tas" of SMB3 before they were labeled as such, thought to check to see if there was any sotn runs, ran into a few J runs (just to final save, no drac kill) that all abuse the v1 bugs + turbo fire, ended up on SDA where (at the time) i saw Lucid Faia's run, and decided to see what I could do. That was back in the day before richter skipping was the cool way.

thats about it.

TheThrillness

Edit history:

TheThrillness: 2012-07-18 06:25:54 pm

2012-07-18 06:24:32 pm

thethrillness.blogspot.com

My first real look at fine gaming accomplishments was around 2003 on ebaumsworld when they posted this video:

I also saw the SMB3 video around the same time as RaneofSOTN said but since I was not a fan of Mario I never really paid attention to the video but it was fun to watch.

It was around 2007 I really liked Resident Evil 4 and kept playing, learning new things. I saw the speed run on SDA and was intimidated by Tim's run. I kept playing and as the months past I got better and more confident of my abilities and realized I was actually better than Tim at the game and then the realization I could get on SDA myself (this was like the holy grail at the time). Now I think about running any game I enjoy. All just a confidence issue.

0xwas

2012-07-19 05:23:00 am

yuri 4 life

I somehow knew speedrun before watching videos. I casually speedran papar mario and was absorbed in dkr time trial. In 2008~2009, I watched various speedruns in here, TASVideos and nicolive then I started to TASing smrpg in 2008 and console speedrun especially kirby in 2009. I had never speedrun kirby before actually but I found kirby was very fun and I wanted to try more games. Now, I have been speedrunning 10 games now.

dxtr

2012-07-19 05:53:42 am

Speedrunner

When Twin Snakes came to the Game Cube. I loved the original MGS on the psx, still do. And i always wanted a remake on that game. With new graphics, better controls... much much worse voiceacting. I thought... why not give it a try. Since i always wanted to see the best titel at the end of the game.

Extreme difficulty, 1h 40min without being seen once and not kill any enemies.

Crippe

2012-07-19 06:31:28 am

meh

It started when I discover SDA and Wak's alttp any% run. I wanted to learn the bombjumps in the game and so I did (far from optimal ofc). Then slowly began to try and beat stages in MegaMan 2 as fast as I could. A few months later I was introduced to SRL by Svenne, where it didn't take very long for me to find ChristosOwen and Kinghippo. They both inspired me to learn the game and race it. Too bad I still suck at most games I run, but I'm having a lot of fun anyways.

duckfist

Edit history:

duckfist: 2012-07-19 07:07:25 am

2012-07-19 07:06:38 am

I've been gaming since I was 3, around 1990. Speed running probably started when Super Metroid came out, trying to break that 3 hour mark, and then again with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark to get the cheat codes. I never took it seriously though, and became more of a spectator when I saw Morimoto's SMB3 run. That got me into TASVideos (or bisqwit.iki.fi back in the day). I was also into shmups, and loved watching superplays, but I was never really very good. I knew about SDA a long time ago, but I didn't really get into it until right after AGDQ2011. When Mega Man 9 came out, I remember seeing MegaDestructor9's ILs and thinking "there's no way that's not TAS, holy shit", and I started lurking the forum and watching his progress in the Mega Man 9 thread.

When 10 came out, I was immediately drawn to competing on the Time Attack leaderboards. I took a few of the records, then stopped playing for a while. Then I saw AGDQ, thought it was awesome, and figured that the only way I could attend one of those events was to get good at a game. I was already decent at MM10 so I picked it up again, and the rest is history.

I've been gaming since I was 3, around 1990.  Speed running probably started when Super Metroid came out, trying to break that 3 hour mark, and then again with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark to get the cheat codes.  I never took it seriously though, and became more of a spectator when I saw Morimoto's SMB3 run.  That got me into TASVideos (or bisqwit.iki.fi back in the day).  I was also into shmups, and loved watching superplays, but I was never really very good.  I knew about SDA a long time ago, but I didn't really get into it until right after AGDQ2011.  When Mega Man 9 came out, I remember seeing MegaDestructor9's ILs and thinking "there's no way that's not TAS, holy shit", and I started lurking the forum and watching his progress in the Mega Man 9 thread.

When 10 came out, I was immediately drawn to competing on the Time Attack leaderboards.  I took a few of the records, then stopped playing for a while.  Then I saw AGDQ, thought it was awesome, and figured that the only way I could attend one of those events was to get good at a game.  I was already decent at MM10 so I picked it up again, and the rest is history.

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2012-07-19 11:40:11 am

2012-07-19 11:38:07 am

Is PJ

I, too, saw Morimoto's SMB3 TAS and was blown away, but when I found out that it was a TAS (rather, when I found out what a TAS was), I was really disappointed. I became really interested in console speed runs and somehow found tiki's runs on youtube. They were the only runs I "trusted" because he said they were on console and I didn't know about SDA. That was more or less my introduction to speed running, but not what got me into running.

In 2007 I started college and brought my Wii to play some VC games (since I didn't trust my SNES in the dorms). I bought Actraiser because I was super obsessed with that game as a kid (among many others games that I never owned but rented once or twice), and really enjoyed playing it. After I found out about Professional! mode, I began playing that every day. My goal was to get my times low enough to beat the game in the time between classes (~35 minutes). Before long I succeeded, but I wondered how much faster I could get. I also did this with Super C, except my goal was to finish two loops between classes. Anyways, eventually I got Actraiser into the 27-min range and wanted to compare my times with other people. A quick search brought me to Sir_VG's Actraiser run here on SDA. That is really how I found SDA, and how I got into speed running.

So yea, that more or less became the trend for me. Find a game that met one (or more) of the following conditions and then speed run it: 1. Played it a bunch as a kid (or read about it a bunch in Nintendo Power as a kid); 2. Could never beat it (too hard or too bad); 3. Have some sort of fond memories of it (played it a bunch with my dad/brother, got it as a gift, etc). I still more or less use those selection criteria now, but since I'm running out of games that I played as a kid I've been picking anything that is fun.

Strangely, after I found out about SDA, I went to Twin Galaxies to submit my scores. Still not really sure why I made that choice, but I submitted a whole bunch of speed runs there before realizing I was an idiot for not submitting to SDA...so here I am!

I, too, saw Morimoto's SMB3 TAS and was blown away, but when I found out that it was a TAS (rather, when I found out what a TAS was), I was really disappointed.  I became really interested in console speed runs and somehow found tiki's runs on youtube.  They were the only runs I "trusted" because he said they were on console and I didn't know about SDA.  That was more or less my introduction to speed running, but not what got me into running.

In 2007 I started college and brought my Wii to play some VC games (since I didn't trust my SNES in the dorms).  I bought Actraiser because I was super obsessed with that game as a kid (among many others games that I never owned but rented once or twice), and really enjoyed playing it.  After I found out about Professional! mode, I began playing that every day.  My goal was to get my times low enough to beat the game in the time between classes (~35 minutes).  Before long I succeeded, but I wondered how much faster I could get.  I also did this with Super C, except my goal was to finish two loops between classes.  Anyways, eventually I got Actraiser into the 27-min range and wanted to compare my times with other people.  A quick search brought me to Sir_VG's Actraiser run here on SDA.  That is really how I found SDA, and how I got into speed running.

So yea, that more or less became the trend for me.  Find a game that met one (or more) of the following conditions and then speed run it: 1. Played it a bunch as a kid (or read about it a bunch in Nintendo Power as a kid); 2. Could never beat it (too hard or too bad); 3. Have some sort of fond memories of it (played it a bunch with my dad/brother, got it as a gift, etc).  I still more or less use those selection criteria now, but since I'm running out of games that I played as a kid I've been picking anything that is fun.

Strangely, after I found out about SDA, I went to Twin Galaxies to submit my scores.  Still not really sure why I made that choice, but I submitted a whole bunch of speed runs there before realizing I was an idiot for not submitting to SDA...so here I am!

DK28

2012-07-19 01:46:03 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

I started unknowingly with Super Metroid, just playing against my friends for the best time. I casually would watch runs on youtube and stuff. I officially got involved after reading the EGM article on SDA. I came to the site and registered, wasted countless hours watching runs, deciding to run X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. What really convinved me to do my own runs was how easy it was to submit, also Mike helped me out a lot in the beginning with my first submission. After that, I just never stopped, although I've slowed since my move to Washington. But I'm getting back into actively running again now.

Sonikkustar

2012-07-19 05:49:43 pm

The Great Farming Empire

When I was in Elementary School, we had a Genesis set up with Sonic the Hedgehog. Out of all the people thaqt would play, I was the only one that could make it to Scrap Brain in 1 continue. I still couldn't beat it, but for what it's worth people were impressed.

A few years later, I was looking around youtube when I found Joe Stanski's run of Sonic 1. Given the large amount of time I played Sonic 1, seeing this speed run was complete eye candy. It's still one of my favorite runs today and it just showed me that there are people that do these sort of things seriously.

The first attempt at seriously speed running was Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2. I actually had the WR on Master 1 at one point with 56.84. But that was a long time ago when I didn't even have a DVD Recorder. Anyways, It was actually rater hard since I had to learn the small tricks & shortcuts in order to get insane times. I guess it was also a little bit of a coincidence that I also saw the records for SMB on vortiginus (not sure if it's spelled right) with several people from SDA (pacattack & Miles).

However after this, things took a turn for the ugly. During this time, I was abused by many people including kids, adults & even teachers at my school. I was rather depressed & even contemplating suicide at one point. But then I remembered what I saw about the crazy Sonic 1 run and I thought that I could fit in there. It was from that point that I found SDA (I think it only had 400 games listed when I first discovered it). I was a forum lurker at first, but then I found out that people could just post about a game. Even if they couldnt run it, they could still give advice & research. Either way, I was rather shy so I didnt get involved that much.

Fast foward a few years and now I speed run various games on my own time. Someday I wish to have a speed run posted on SDA, but untill then I have an incredible amount of fun meeting new people just from playing games.

When I was in Elementary School, we had a Genesis set up with Sonic the Hedgehog. Out of all the people thaqt would play, I was the only one that could make it to Scrap Brain in 1 continue. I still couldn't beat it, but for what it's worth people were impressed.

A few years later, I was looking around youtube when I found Joe Stanski's run of Sonic 1. Given the large amount of time I played Sonic 1, seeing this speed run was complete eye candy. It's still one of my favorite runs today and it just showed me that there are people that do these sort of things seriously.

The first attempt at seriously speed running was Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2. I actually had the WR on Master 1 at one point with 56.84. But that was a long time ago when I didn't even have a DVD Recorder. Anyways, It was actually rater hard since I had to learn the small tricks & shortcuts in order to get insane times. I guess it was also a little bit of a coincidence that I also saw the records for SMB on vortiginus (not sure if it's spelled right) with several people from SDA (pacattack & Miles).

However after this, things took a turn for the ugly. During this time, I was abused by many people including kids, adults & even teachers at my school. I was rather depressed & even contemplating suicide at one point. But then I remembered what I saw about the crazy Sonic 1 run and I thought that I could fit in there. It was from that point that I found SDA (I think it only had 400 games listed when I first discovered it). I was a forum lurker at first, but then I found out that people could just post about a game. Even if they couldnt run it, they could still give advice & research. Either way, I was rather shy so I didnt get involved that much.

Fast foward a few years and now I speed run various games on my own time. Someday I wish to have a speed run posted on SDA, but untill then I have an incredible amount of fun meeting new people just from playing games.

TimpZ

2012-07-20 11:16:29 am

I saw some video on youtube like 2-2½ years ago that Runnerguy2489 had put up. I don't remember which one but it was uploaded in 2009 or maybe 2008. I got really interested of this new tech since I had previously seen TSA's OoT run that he submitted in like...2006?

Anyway I found ZSR and read a little. After a few months I decided to join and after like a year or 1½ years after that (last winter) I got a capture card and started hanging out in SRL. I've also been here at SDA a lot since around 2006 but never really got into any game myself (sadly) until OoT.