Speed Demos Archive

I'm sure most people reading this can sympathize with not getting something done because you were spending too much time playing video games. While not the only contributing factor in this update's delay, it is decidedly the main one, so my apologies on that. But it's here now in super-sized form, so enjoy.

Starting things off today we have runner 'Darkwing Duck' displaying his Island Courage with a very impressive single segment run of StarTropics in 1:07:23. So go grab yourself a beverage, perhaps some variety of cola, and check this one out.

Next up we have not one, but two runs for something I never really thought we'd see on SDA: a Super Scope game. Runner Zakkie 'ZakkyDraggy' Starres makes good use of the oversized plastic contraption while playing Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge, getting through the game with Falcon in 0:03:21.44 in 12 segments and Tornado in 0:02:22.53 in 13 segments, both runs played on normal difficulty.

Keeping the multiple runs on a single game train rolling is 'ktwo' with his efforts on the PAL version of Solomon's Key. ktwo cruises through one of the games that helped to define the phrase "NES hard," finishing with the normal ending in a time 0:15:52 and also a good ending run clocking in at 0:35:07. Also, be sure to check out the audio commentary on the best ending run.

Oh, but we're not done with games featuring more than one run this update. Sonic 3 and Knuckles gets a similar treatment as well. For starters, we have a new Knuckles run from Mike 'mike89' McKenzie clocking in at 0:32:12 with deaths. But that's not all. We also have a co-op run from the two man (or more accurately, man and wo-man) team of 'mike89' and Emma 'Flying Fox' Leatt playing as Sonic and Tails, clocking in at 0:37:04.

No more multiple runs this update, but we do have plenty more to offer. Next up we have a run that shows the pea shooter in Super C being used more effectively than most can use the spread gun. David Heidman Jr. is the man at the controls behind this ~~0:14:30~~ 0:14:40 low% run, and just to silence the handful of doubters that are sure to be out there: there is no turbo controller being used.

One more NES run for you good people today coming to you courtesy of Marko 'Master-88' Vanhanen. For this project he dug into the depths of the console's library and pulled out one of Capcom's more unheralded titles: Trojan. Marko hacks and slashes his way through it in a single segment, finishing in 0:07:15.

Our next run is something that hasn't been too uncommon to the front page over the years: Sattik 'Tiki' Ghosh wrecking shop on a Mega Man title. This time around Tiki turned his attention to Mega Man X2 and has presented us with an improvement of nearly one minute over the incumbent time. Do yourself a favor and check out this 0:35:31, you won't regret it. And as with most of Tiki's runs, there is an audio commentary present.

Wrapping things up today we have an inaugural run for one of the more fondly remembered Genesis titles. The original ToeJam & Earl makes its debut on SDA today thanks to the efforts of runner Adrian 'InsipidMuckyWater' Feiertag. Playing on the fixed worlds setting, Adrian makes the best of the many, many random factors the game throws at him, finishing with a time of 0:20:51. Also included is a bloopers reel that will no doubt show just how random this game can be.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need my fix.

Alright, it's no secret that the backlog has gotten pretty big. Runs came in faster than we could post them last year. This is clearly a good problem to have; however, we need to clear out the queue so that we can have a fresh start. Updates are going to get bigger while we catch up. Today I've got a slew of runs for you, so let's get to it!

First off we've got a new category for the Mario Bros. 3 game page. New runner Mitch Fowler has given us a warpless run. Mitch blows from World 1 to World 8 the "normal way" in 0:55:43.

Next up we have a run of the game that started the WWII game craze that persists to this day. Carsten 'djcj' Janssen has given us our first run of the original Medal of Honor for Playstation. Carsten plows through all the nazis he can as he completes the European version in 0:39:37, using 24 segments.

Now we have a run that has waited a long time to see the front page. Isaac 'FlamingMage' McBride has given us a run of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Isaac runs and guns through this game in 1:58:35 in 11 segments appended to one file.

My fellow Texan Kevin 'neskamikaze' Lalonde is the man behind our next run. Kevin has supplied us with an improvement to the Yoshi's Story page. He manages to finish in a speedy 0:16:05. This is a 43 second improvement over the previous run by Strangeness DSS.

By my calculations, our next run is now the longest on the site. This seems like an undesirable trait for a speedrun, but I assure you every bit of this Skies of Arcadia Legends run is excellent. Tyler 'Zyre' Larsen takes only 12:09 to power through this monster of a game. Tyler has generously provided audio commentary for the entire run, so give that a listen while you watch!

Our last run is a doozy. When I posted his Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo run, I mentioned how Jeremy 'DK28' Doll provided runs with three different characters. Today he has completely blown that feat out of the water. He didn't just speedrun Marvel Super Heroes with three characters. Instead, he opted for twelve. Give these a watch, and of course give the audio commentary a listen as well!

Blackheart in 0:01:30.68
Captain America in 0:01:22.22
Dr. Doom in 0:01:21.05
Hulk in 0:01:18.17
Iron Man in 0:01:12:54
Juggernaut in 0:01:16.46
Magneto in 0:01:31.72
Psylocke in 0:01:20.05
Shuma-Gorath in 0:01:36.60
Spider-man in 0:01:34.77
Thanos in 0:01:14.23
Wolverine in 0:01:31.22

Our first run today is a team run of the first of the episodic Half-Life games, Half-Life 2: Episode One. The team in question consists of Josh 'Inexistence' Peaker, James 'TYPICAL' Tooley, Jared 'CooL' O'Brien, cRZYFST and Foxtreme, and definitely shows how little patience a theoretical physicist really has. The dream-team goes all the way and blasts through the game on the hard difficulty level in just 0:37:13. As with most team runs, the run is segmented (31 segments), and also very optimised. Definitely a recommended watch. Also, this run uses scripts, and if you perused the new Rules page introduced in Breakdown's update, you might recall that scripts have been banned. However, this run was submitted and verified before the rule change, and as such has been accepted and will remain on the site, just like older scripted runs. Edit: I forgot to mention the run features audio commentary, sorry for the confusion. Yet another reason to check this run out.

The next one is a run of another Diablo II: Lord of Destruction character. Ricky 'LeWoVoc' Mitchell tackled the previously untapped Druid character. A lot of planning obviously went into this 41 segment run - the nature mage blazes through the game in just 1:11:43, which, while a significant chunk of time slower than the Assassin playthrough, is still very impressive, especially considering the not-so-optimal speedrun characteristics of the class. Undoubtedly a treat to any Diablo II player.

Switching the platforms for a moment, we have a run of the SNES incarnation of the Shadowrun RPG. Lars Engelmann guided Jake Armitage through the European version of the game, using 21 segments. Very tight and difficult routes are used in order to gain just enough money and other resources in order to progress quickly, a feat that can prove to be very challenging in this game. Nevertheless, Mister Engelmann steps up to the challenge and finishes Jake's quest in just 1:35:50.

Finally, as a dessert, a run of the freeware game Green Island, a simple in concept, but difficult in practice puzzle platformer. The game gets an individual level table, though for now it is filled up with runs done by a single person: one Antti 'Baron Dante' Tuomisto. All the levels combine to a short 0:05:29.55. Is anyone going to step up to the challenge and try to break any of those quite tight times?

Starting things off today we have an improvement and a new run for one of my personal favorite NES games, Jackal. After a long hiatus, runner Jim Hanson is back in action with two new runs for this underrated title. First, an improvement to the existing low% with deaths run clocking in at 0:08:35 and also an inaugural time of 0:08:21 for the any% with deaths category. I would expound more about these runs, but then I'd run the risk of making a terrible pun about blood boiling, so I'll just say these runs are really good and I personally recommend them and leave it at that.

Now those up on their SDA history will know that the run obsoleted in the paragraph above belonged to one Marko 'Master-88' Vanhanen, and while he did lose one entry on the game list today, he's picking up another. Yes, the newest game you can watch on our site and think "looks like TAS" is the NES version of Joe & Mac. Master-88 makes the best of the game's random elements and pilots his way through in a very quick 0:08:34.

Next up is a game from a genre we don't see too much of on SDA. Only a handful of runs for fighters have been posted over the years, but today that number increases by one with the addition of the original Art of Fighting to our game list. Playing on the highest difficulty setting, runner Jeremy 'DK28' Doll punched, kicks, and AI abuses his way through the game's cast in a blistering 0:05:36. And seeing as this is a DK28 run, it should come as no surprise that there's an audio commentary included.

Rounding out the update today has to be one of the most highly anticipated runs to hit the site ever. Well, the comments have a lot of hype to live up to anyways. Yes, today we're releasing the comments to Altered Beast (or I should say, Alternative Beast) to the public. Those of you who watched the recent marathon got a sneak peek of this epic bit of text, and now it can be enjoyed in full any time you'd like. Oh yeah, there's a co-op speedrun to go with them by Joe Stanski and some guy named Mike Uyama, clocks in at 0:06:39. And then there's a bloopers vid, and both of them have audio commentary. Nice little bonuses certainly.

While that's it for new runs today, you certainly have no shortage of new videos to watch. For those who haven't been keeping up, you'll be happy to learn that we now have every run from Awesome Games Done Quick available for download at this time. Also, thanks to the efforts of Benjamin 'UraniumAnchor' Cutler there are also a few extra videos for your viewing pleasure. He took it upon himself to edit together a highlights reel (youtube/download), a blooper reel (youtube/download), and a little something he's calling a special surprise (youtube/download). Big thanks to Benjamin for putting these together, and also thanks out to everybody who took time out to help sync the marathon videos.

One other thing of note around the site is that we have recently gone live with our revised Rules page. Not too much has changed in the way of site policy, but this update definitely does a much better job of relaying what does and does not fly around here compared to the last iteration. Big thanks to John 'VorpalEdge' De Sousa for compiling and writing this out. Please note that this barely touches on game specific rulings at all, it's more a general overview of SDA policy, so if you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask.

Our first run today is on a game that is no stranger to my updates. Instead of an improvement, we've got a new category for the Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth game page. Travis Hofman has given us his inaugural run on normal mode (the existing run is on easy). He blazes through all six stages in a speedy 0:21:03. Also, the run is single-segment. Be sure and check this one out.

Our next run is on the original Resident Evil game. Probably not the version you've played, however. This run is on the Japanese version, and is better known as Biohazard. Awesome Games Done Quick disc destroyer 'Carcinogen' has provided us with a 100% single-segment Chris run in 1:20:41 to complement his existing 100% Jill run. Be sure and check out the included audio commentary as well!

Wrapping up this quaint update is an improvement to the Zelda: Majora's Mask any% category. Daniel "Jiano" Hart has gone after it again and this time he's chopped nearly 10 minutes off of his old single-segment time. That's right, he's brought the time down from 2:03:04 to 1:53:32. Instead of long text comments, Jiano included audio commentary to explain everything, so be sure to give it a listen while you watch.

Those of you who watched our charity marathon earlier this month will surely remember all of the awesome prizes we had to give away. If you loved the prizes, specifically the knitted goods, plushies and perlers, then you're in luck. The people we got the prizes from, Emily 'MercuryZelda' Lizzi and Dustin 'Aitamen' Hammontree will do commissions for you! Contact Emily at Emily.Lizzi@yahoo.com for knitted goods and plushies. Also see her new website- www.mercurialknits.com. Dustin can be contacted at dustinhammontree@gmail.com for perlers. We appreciate all of their help during the marathon so help us give back by commissioning some work from them!

Today's update starts with one of my favourite games to play and see speedruns of. I have to confess I have a fondness to Nigel 'ridd3r' Martin's approach to speedrunning - improve, improve, and once again, improve. Even if you're the one holding all the records on the game, which is exactly the situation his new New York Minute run of Max Payne presents. Nigel certainly lives up to the name of the main character and deftly disposes of any foe foolish enough to cross his path. No such enemy is left unpunished and no glitch is left unabused in this 0:25:34 in 63 segments. Mr. Martin mentions how he feels he has broken the game to the limit in his comments, and if you watch this run, I guarantee you will be partial to that sentiment yourself. Very much recommended! Oh, and a bloopers file is available for good measure.

The next game is one of a relatively unknown game called Outcast. Despite this, a speedrunner going by the moniker 'atomicJo' found several pretty useful bugs and decided to give it a spin. The result of those glitches and some heavy, heavy route planning is this 1:12:14, done in 9 segments. Now, that might sounds like awfully few segments for such a lengthy run; however, in this case, there is good reason for it. The game has a very peculiar save system that forces you to wait multiple in-game seconds before you can complete the saving process, which causes two things: 1) annoyance of the player, and 2) a large time loss if you save too often. Therefore, it is not surprising 'atomicJo' wanted to avoid saving as much as feasible.

Rockstar has a knack for making controversial games, and Bully is no exception. David Arnold does not listen to the 'moral guardians' and instead plunges headfirst into a speedrun of this surprisingly complex game - and, as you'll find by reading his comments, manages to be quite a pain in the butt for a speedrunner. Nevertheless, David did not let the game keep him down, as you will undoubtedly see by watching this 14 segment 2:49:25. Even the lousy save system that forced some of the segments to be longer than half an hour could not weaken his resolve.

To wrap this up, a quick and short run of a quick and short Flash game, When Pigs Fly. A somewhat run-of-the-mill, uh, platformer (or maybe, a better way to put it would be a 'flyer', except that sounds stupid), it was nevertheless interesting enough for Charles 'Arcanod' Nannan to make a speedrun of. Check out this 0:03:01 for some well executed pig flying - which, silly as it may sound, is not as easy a task as you would think.

Also, you might recall there was an SDA marathon recently. If you have missed some of it, or just want to rewatch your favourite parts, you'll be delighted to know the first batch of the videos has been encoded and is available here.

That's it for today.

Just in case you somehow missed the big, colorful banner at the top of the page with the countdown underneath it, let me start this update by reminding you that we are mere days away from kicking off our charity marathon, Awesome Games Done Quick. I'm excited. The staff's excited. People who are coming are excited. Lots of other people are excited. Are you excited? Can I make you more excited about it? If only there were something I could show you that would build the hype for the event to new levels. Oh wait, there is, we made a video.

Now I know this thing is old news to some of you, but if this is your first time seeing it that is a definite indicator that news of this event hasn't really found its way to whatever corner of the internet it is that you frequent. Well you can change all that by either downloading and posting this video (NOTE: Do not try to upload the IQ or HQ mp4 to youtube, the video gets stretched out and runs at about half speed), or simply by linking people to the marathon webpage. It may not seem like much, but the more people who know about the event, the bigger and better it will be. So whether you think your bit of promotion will inform 5 or 5000 people, you'd be doing us here at SDA a service by making the effort.

Now, while the marathon is certainly our main focus at the moment, that doesn't mean we should neglect our usual duties. It's been a while for new runs on the front page. Let's remedy that, shall we?

Let's start things off here with a set of runs that will keep the marathon hype rolling. A notable omission from our last event, but one that will be featured this year is Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and today we're unveiling new runs for each possible partner choice from the runner who will be doing this game live, Josh 'funkdoc' Ballard. The times are as follows: Trevor solo in 0:31:04, Sypha in 0:30:53, Grant in 0:33:02, and Alucard in 0:27:54. Do keep in mind that for the marathon run Josh will be taking donation bids for which path he takes, so if you're interested you may want to take the time to familiarize yourself with these runs so you can make an educated choice. Regardless, I'd still suggest watching them all, they're fantastic.

Another notable game featured in this years event will be a 100% completion of Chrono Trigger. While we don't have a new run today showing off everything the game has to offer, we do have one that showcases as little of the game as possible. Runner John 'VorpalEdge' De Sousa tackles the amazingly brief New Game + category for the title, and with the help of a few new tricks brings the time down to a very quick 0:06:42.

In a past update I alluded to the fact that the Double Dragon series would be seeing more thorough coverage on the site in the days to come, and today we see some evidence of that with the addition Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones to our game list. Runner Yadir 'Riskbreaker Y' Osornio pilots the brothers Bimmy and Jimmy Lee (a typo that egregious couldn't have possibly made it into the final release, so it must be accurate information) as well as few other foes turned friends through the waves of enemies the world throws at them in a blistering 0:14:15.

Wrapping things up today we have two new runs for the underloved Toejam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron. Granted, few series took as big a departure from their first installment with their second as this one, but you still got funky aliens dealing with crazy humans, I don't see what's not to like. If you agree with me on this one, than you're sure to enjoy both this 0:54:57 any% run in 6 segments and this 1:02:21 100% run done in a single segment, brought to you courtesy of runner Robin 'Deign' Reigstad. Even if you are one of this games haters, I still say give these a watch, the only thing that sucks in them is the Funk Vac.

That ought to hold you over until this Thursday at 4 PM EST, and at that point you'll have all the speedrunning goodness you can handle right here on the front page for four days straight. See you then!