'Speedrunning' Is the Art of Finishing Entire Video Games in Minutes

This article originally appeared on VICE Netherlands.

Like a lot of people, I enjoy playing video games in my spare time, usually to kick back for an hour after finishing work. While I consider myself pretty competitive, I’ve never felt the need to devote myself to finishing a title faster than anyone else in the world.

Speedrunners do exactly that. As the name suggests, they plow through games as fast as they possibly can, devising and deploying all manner of strategies to break previously held records for pretty much every video game in existence. If you remember a specific game, there’s a strong likelihood that there are tens, hundreds, and maybe even thousands of people out there who are devoting themselves to finishing it really, really quickly.

For gamers like me, this seems a little strange. When I think about how I’ve put over 300 hours into a Zelda game – which some speedrunners can finish in under 25 minutes – I’m left imagining what exactly is, well, enjoyable about being able to do that.

There’s no question, though, that speedrunning is as fascinating as it is fun to some people. It is so popular it has spawned its own community on YouTube: channels like Summoning Salt detail at length the history of various speedrunning world records. This gaming style even has its own annual charity event, Games Done Quick, where speedrunners complete a series of games as fast as possible on live stream to raise money for cancer research.

One of speedrunning’s biggest appeals is its ability to show just how easy it is to break a game and how those breakages can be turned to the player’s advantage. In short, speedrunners study a game so intensely they’re able to discover and exploit glitches.

This allows them to skip levels, float through areas, and negate big chunks of story, drastically cutting down how long it takes to complete a game. Just a few weeks ago, a speedrunner known as Mitchriz managed to beat FromSoftware’s notoriously difficult PS4 title Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in two hours… whilst blindfolded. 

But where’s the actual fun in playing games like this? I asked this question to 37-year-old Karel van Duijvenboden, a Dutchman from the city of Utrecht and the current world number one Super Mario Kart speedrunner. He can finish the whole game in a whopping 29 minutes and 51 seconds. To date, he’s taken part in 17 different Super Mario Kart championships. 

VICE: How long have you been a speedrunner?
Karel van Duijvenboden: It’s a hobby that got out of hand, it started when I was 18. I had quite a lot of time to myself when I was at university, so I started playing Super Mario Kart with friends. That was in 2002. In 2007, I took part in a championship for the first time, in France.

You were the first non-French player to compete, right?
I was the first player who didn’t speak French. There were also two Swiss people competing, but every other player in the tournament was French.

The French dominate when it comes to Super Mario Kart. Why?
The game has been incredibly popular ever since it was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1993. This is the version the French still play. The Nintendo 64 follow-up didn’t catch on there as much. There’s something self-reinforcing about it, too. When you host the world championships, you’re more invested in the game.

You skip over big parts of the track. Does it ever feel like you’re taking unfair shortcuts?
It might look like cheating but there’s actually a lot of technique involved. You’ve got to know how the game works and you’ve got to practice a lot to make sure you know the exact frames to make the right moves in. It is a question of milliseconds. I compare it to being a professional athlete. We’ve trained a lot to get as far as we have. We’re a lot better at these games than the average person on the street. You wouldn’t ask a professional footballer for a kick-about in the street would you? Because you know you’d definitely lose.

So if I invite you over to play a game of Mario Kart with me on my Gamecube, you’d beat me?
Not necessarily, because not all Mario Karts are created equally. I’m really good at playing it on Super Nintendo - I could give you a head start of two rounds and still win. But on Gamecube I don’t know if I could.

Does speedrunning make you any money?
No. In my daily life I work as a computational biologist; I write programs that help to discover diseases. In my particular job we look for DNA deviations that cause cardiac arrhythmia.

That also sounds like a gig where you benefit from speed and optimisation.
Definitely. The quicker you process all the information, the faster you have the information you need to search for the right thing in the DNA. I’m constantly optimising and benefiting from my speedrunning mindset.

Are there times when you wish you could turn this unique skill off?
Sometimes. I was in charge of organising the world championships these past three years and it was a massive amount of work; I’m kind of done with that. I want to compete next time, but I don’t think I’ll be taking first place again, though in the time trial I think I’ll hold onto the number one spot for a while. The rule with that is: the more years you’ve been playing, the better your times are. So I don’t have to actively defend that title, while you do have to prove yourself time and time again during the world championships.

So you’re a speedrunner who needs more peace and quiet?
My main objective is just to have fun in life, and when it comes to that, speed isn’t always the most important thing. In order to optimally enjoy your life, you also have to be mindful to allow for some inefficiency.