This was my first speed run, and I played with Normal difficulty, no fruits or lizard's tails eaten. The only things I did were: Locate and defeat all 16 colossi. No special weapon(s) used. Sword and bow were the only weapons I used in this run. This run isn't the easiest one. I had many problems, some were smaller and some were bigger, but I didn't solve them all alone, I got a lot of help in the SDA's forum and from Gamefaqs and I can't thank enough the people who helped me out, but I really want to thank the following people: mikwuyma and the whole SDA's staff, VincentAC, conan2 and Enhasa and last but not least Sniper1263! All of them helped me alot. In the SDA forum I got much help, but Sniper1263 didn't help me directly, I watched his YouTube videos and I learned some tricks from his videos, so thank you again! But I've got to thank BGR44's staff for making the SotC Time Attack site where I got a lot of help, because most of the tricks I'm using in Colossus fights are taken from BGR's site so without that site this run wouldn't be here now!

My first goal was to beat this game under two hours. Later my goal became under 1 hour 30 minutes, but I didn't make it. My completion time is: 1 hour 34 minutes 30 Seconds, but I'm not disappointed, I'm very proud of it, because no one has done a SotC speed run before as far as I know.

When I started this run, I didn't know anything about those tricks the japanese players are using, because I hadn't heard anything about BGR's site, when I first saw their videos, I was really excited. So I decided that I'll learn those trick some day and I remember the day when I first time came to the SDA forum and started searching Shadow of the Colossus topic(s). When I finally found one, I read the whole topic and I was really disappointed, because there were few people who said they will do the SotC run, but none of them ever did, so I decided to take that job for myself and now here I am, writing this comment and proudly presenting my speed run! I hope you will enjoy it!

There are 16 segments in all, each segment has the locating and defeating of a colossus. Now I'm going to put my total times on each segment:

• Segment 1: 0:02:48
• Segment 2: 0:06:11
• Segment 3: 0:11:08
• Segment 4: 0:14:48
• Segment 5: 0:19:22
• Segment 6: 0:24:20
• Segment 7: 0:30:08
• Segment 8: 0:34:40
• Segment 9: 0:38:57
• Segment 10: 0:43:42
• Segment 11: 0:47:38
• Segment 12: 0:54:40
• Segment 13: 0:59:26
• Segment 14: 1:07:09
• Segment 15: 1:13:24
• Segment 16: 1:34:30

And now some notes on each of the segments:

• Segment 1:
  • Not much to say about this segment, there aren't many mistakes. The only mistake is that I didn't grab his nose. It's faster than climbing up on his chest. The other mistakes are so small that you won't notice them (I think).

    (Total Time: 0:02:48)

• Segment 2:
  • At the beginning of the fight, you might notice that I'll shoot an arrow straight at his foot, but nothing really happens, he only roars and then keeps walking. I don't know what exactly happened, but the only theory I've got so far is, that if I shoot his foot too early he doesn't have enough space to fall, so I lost a second or two.

  • You'll see some mistakes in this segment, like balance problems, but those mistakes won't slow you down.. much.

    (Total Time: 0:06:11)

• Segment 3:
  • I accidentally took a short nap while riding, but nothing really happened. Now I can confirm that you can take a short nap and play at the same time (but I don't advice it). :)

  • The sword launch was pretty tricky and took a lot of time to learn. I can't say I can get it right everytime. I was lucky to get it right this time.

  • I used a lot of my time on this segment, because I never succeeded in that sword launch, I got it the first time but later I screwed up really bad and had to retry the whole segment.

  • I didn't take any risks when I succeeded on the sword launch, and you'll notice it.

    (Total Time: 0:11:08)

• Segment 4:
  • I don't know what happened when I stabbed the second stab on his neck, he lowered his neck, but then he raised his neck back very fast and then I had to do those stabs again which took some time.

    (Total Time: 0:14:48)

• Segment 5:
  • Just before the cut-scene starts where the 5th colossus is flying around, I rolled straight so when the cut-scene ends I'm already in the water and that way I saved some time.

  • Just after I do my first stab on his wing, I wait so I can drop down and then grab his other wing and I was lucky enough to hit just above his weak-spot, so it was a perfect drop and I didn't have to try this segment so many times.

    (Total Time: 0:19:22)

• Segment 6:
  • Those rolls I'm doing just before the colossus fight starts are necessary. I keep rolling until the cut-scene starts, because I don't want to be very close to him, it's much safer to be far away than close.

  • You can't use the same trick than you can use in the Time Attack mode, because he won't walk on you at the beginning of this fight. So I'm using a different trick on this one.

  • This one was very annoying and it took me a lot of time to complete this segment, so there are many mistakes (I lost all my stamina and had to wait until I got more, balance problems and etc..)

  • So this isn't my best segment, and it can easily be done faster if you know the trick, but I lost my patience many times and this was the fastest time I got.

    (Total Time: 0:24:20)

• Segment 7:
  • The riding part was really long and boring and the only mistake I do while riding is that I'm riding too close to a wall which causes my speed to drop.

  • I won't stab those electric things, because It'll save time, but I have to destroy the last electric thing, because it's in my way and can cause problems later.

  • Jump-stabbing is the best way to kill this one, because there isn't time to use charging stabs. So it's smarter to just kill him jump-stabbing.

    (Total Time: 0:30:08)

• Segment 8:
  • All of my arrows won't hit him, but I'm happy that you can always shoot more and more arrows at him without losing much time, so it isn't such a big mistake after all.

  • I got a perfect place for stabbing him. When I stab him, you'll notice that I don't have to pull my sword out of him which means I don't have to wait so long.

    (Total Time: 0:34:40)

• Segment 9:
  • I had a lot of problems with this one, I took a break from the game for over a month, because of this. But I finally beat it with a few mistakes.

    (Total Time: 0:38:57)

• Segment 10:
  • I used my first 10-20 tries to figuring out where this colossus starts this fight, when I figured it out I was ready for recording this segment!

  • I have some small balance problems again and one weird thing happens when I'm stabbing his last weak-spot, I'm HANGING on his fur which means while I'm hanging it's impossible to stab, so I release R1 button to continue my stabbings and I finally beat it with a few small mistakes.

    (Total Time: 0:43:42)

• Segment 11:
  • I found a pretty cool way to get in to the place where this colossus lives. It was first just a theory, but when I really explored the environment I noticed that it's possible to go in that way. I won't tell now what it is, because if you're reading this comment before watching this run, then I'll suggest you at least watch segment 11, the riding part.

  • This is one of my favorite fights, everything went a lot easier when I found Sniper's video in YouTube where he's showing how to beat this in Hard Time Attack (HTA). So I'm using HIS tactic!

  • One little mistake happens when I'm stabbing him, I accidentally press square too early and I done one weak stab.

    (Total Time: 0:47:38)

• Segment 12:
  • First off, I want to say I don't have any idea how to beat this like the japanese players do in BGR's site. I've watched the run many times and haven't found anything useful. I don't have any idea how they can stab him four times in a row, because when I try, I only get three times. I asked in SDA's forum and none of them knew either, so I went and asked in Gamefaqs, but no one there knew it either, so I decided to do it the slower way. My tactic took a lot of time, but I couldn't figure out how you can do it faster, so I gave it my best and then continued my run happily but maybe a bit disappointed.

    (Total Time: 0:54:40)

• Segment 13:
  • I like this fight a lot, because it's looks good and such. I didn't have to try this segment many times, because I felt that this one is easy and I completed it in one day.

  • About the fight: The fight was easy like I said, but I found a pretty good method to pierce his first 'sack'. When the cut-scene starts, I skip it and then the screen goes black then I hold auto-lock button (L1) and then charge and when I think I've charged enough I release the square button and if everything goes perfect it will pierce the first 'sack'. And the rest 'sacks' are easy to shoot and the rest of the fight is easy.

  • Just a note, if someone is wondering why I'm not stabbing his weak-spots until they disapper, the reason is that if I do he'll get crazy and try to make me fall down and it will make my job harder. So I just stab one fully charged and one nearly fully charged which is almost the same thing as two fully charged stabs, but the only exception is that his weak-spots won't disappear.

    (Total Time: 0:59:26)

• Segment 14:
  • Riding part is very long, but at the same time very easy, there aren't many things blocking my way, no paths too narrow etc..

  • The fight itself isn't so long. The trick is pretty clever. Those who have beaten this colossus before, know that there are pillars you have to climb and then shoot arrows at this colossus and then wait until he breaks the pillar where you're standing and then use this broken pillar to move to the next pillar and so on. The trick I'm using is that I'm going to skip the whole pillar thing and I'm using the colossus itself like a springboard. I jump towards him and if the place is right then I've chances to jump and grab on the pillar that isn't broken. And that way I'm going to the last pillar.

  • When it's time to stab him, I'll get a perfect spot to stab him, because his shaking doesn't affect me at all and I can do full charged stabs on him without losing my charges or anything. That spot saved a lot of time.

    (Total Time: 1:07:09)

• Segment 15:
  • The riding isn't so hard, but the riding inside the castle is hard. You'll notice that even I can't control Agro well. Seems that Agro has his own will! ;)

  • Just after I go in to the castle, Wander is doing a few flips which are pretty hilarious.

  • The fight is pretty annoying, because the launch isn't the easiest one and this colossus loves shaking, which means I lose my balance many times, but I still got an ok time and I have to remember that this is the first SotC run in here and the first run doesn't have to be a perfect run. I didn't mean that I didn't give my best shot, I just didn't get a better time, sorry.

    (Total Time: 1:13:24)

• Segment 16:
  • This segment is the longest one. There are ending cut-scenes you can't skip and the game's timer won't stop while watching cut-scenes.

  • There aren't much problems with the riding, but after I open the door when I'm going up the stairs with Agro, I get stuck and I lose some time, but I allowed that mistake, because the riding parts are the most boring stuff in this run (usually).

  • The fight itself goes pretty well, the only mistakes are when I'm rolling in the wrong direction, but I only lose a few seconds, because of that. Another mistake is the shooting part, where my arrows won't hit his shoulder and I lose some seconds, because of that too, but the biggest mistake is when I'm stabbing his weak-spot. I'm in the wrong place and it won't take any damage and when I'm trying to move I lose my balance and I lose about 10-15 seconds because of that, before I re-position myself.

    (Total Time: 1:34:30)

In short, it took almost half a year to complete this run and I'm proud I finally completed it with a satisfying time, but there are many small mistakes and I'm sure it can be done under 1 hour 30 minutes, I didn't make it, but I'm still very proud I did this run and I hope you enjoy it. I really would like to see more SotC speed runs here in the future. I'm waiting for someone who can beat my time and I'm wishing you good luck, because you'll need it! Anyway, happy speed running.

If anyone has any comments, suggests or questions just let me know: greyfox_88 [at] hotmail [dot] com.