Welcome back to This Week in Speedrunning, where we round up the biggest achievements, discussions, and events shaking up the scene. From legendary Zelda breakthroughs to fresh Mario Kart world records, the past week was packed with hype. Let’s dive in!
🔑 Major Discoveries
One of Twilight Princess’s Holy Grails solved (for TAS)
Aecial shared a huge breakthrough in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. A long-standing puzzle in the game’s movement tech has finally been solved — though only for Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS) so far. Even so, it opens doors for new strategies and gives runners more insight into this notoriously technical Zelda title.
🏆 World Records of the Week
- Final Fantasy VII (PSX) – All Bosses No Slots
Zheal set a new WR at 8:18:52, shaving precious minutes in one of FF7’s toughest categories. - Super Metroid – GT Classic
Zoast, one of the legends of Super Metroid, clocked in a blazing 32:09. - Super Mario 64 (Blindfolded) – Dark World
Bubzia continues redefining what’s possible blindfolded, finishing Dark World in just 8:27 with hyper-optimized strats. - Mario Kart Wii – Luigi Circuit Flap (Glitch)
flambambam nailed a 20.642, showcasing peak kart precision. - Mario Kart World
- Rainbow Road – Rjohn1277 hit 3:56.473, using a new charge jump → Section 4 gap shortcut.
- All Knockout Tours – LJMarv broke the 1:10 barrier with a 1:09:48.
- DK Pass – Knightmare scored the first sub-2:01, at 2:00.989.
- Other highlights:
- NHLPA 93’ – HansonFSU with 1:03 (5 goals) and 2:30 (10 goals).
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – Slambert’s WR on Graveyard Gig.
- Joy Ride Turbo – TFpancake83’s Pro Race record at 3:18.018.
- Time Survivor – Logos_Psychagogia with 38:23 WR.
- Toree Saturn – Spookayye improving Story Mode runs, latest at 10:59 IGT.
🎤 Community & Events
- Big Bad Game-a-thon 2025 – The full schedule is live! Running Sept 19–22, it promises another packed weekend of variety speedruns. Check it out here.
- Top 5 Speedrun Events? – A lively discussion sparked about which events actually rank among the biggest. GDQ, ESA, RTA in Japan, and Speedons all came up, while niche marathons like RPG Limit Break got love too.
- Weekend Watching – The community shared their weekend watchlists, from discovering new streamers to following record attempts.
- Minecraft Speedrunning Evolution – Players debated the role of calculators, F3, and pausing in modern Minecraft speedruns, reflecting on how rules and expectations have changed over the years.
🎥 Runner Spotlights
- Cheese Interview – One of the all-time great SM64 runners, Cheese, was featured in a new video interview, diving into his career and thoughts on the game.
- Flame Land 100% Speedrun – A full commentary run was posted by ceb131.
- Batman: Arkham City Glitch Discussion – Runners explored how the New Game+ skip interacts with Catwoman’s mandatory mission.
📌 Closing Thoughts
From TAS breakthroughs in Zelda to fresh blindfolded feats in SM64 and non-stop Mario Kart record-breaking, it’s been an electric week. With Big Bad Game-a-thon 2025 right around the corner, the speedrun community is gearing up for another marathon season.
Until next week – keep those splits green and your resets fast!
Source: reddit.com