The speedrunning community delivered another exciting week filled with world records, personal bests, technical discussions, and inspiring achievements across dozens of games.
Super Mario Bros. Inches Closer to Perfection
The biggest story of the week belongs to Brazilian runner LeKukie, who claimed an untied world record in Super Mario Bros. Any% with a stunning 4:54.365.
The run lowered the previous world record by just three frames, highlighting how incredibly optimized the category has become. Even more impressive, the run now sits only six frames away from the theoretical No Left+Right TAS limit, reminding everyone how close human runners are getting to what was once considered impossible.
In a category measured by fractions of a second, every frame matters—and LeKukie’s achievement instantly became one of the week’s most celebrated moments.
Summoning Salt Revisits Gaming’s Toughest Challenges
Speedrunning historian Summoning Salt released a new video exploring how some of Super Mario Maker’s most infamous “impossible” levels were eventually conquered.
The documentary examines the persistence, creativity, and dedication required to overcome challenges that many players believed would never be beaten. As usual, the video sparked discussion throughout the community and reminded viewers why speedrunning stories remain so compelling even outside of traditional races and world records.
Legendary Halo 2 Achievement
One of the week’s most impressive endurance runs came from the Halo community.
A runner completed Halo 2 Legendary Deathless in 1:52:06, surviving one of gaming’s most notoriously difficult campaigns without a single death. Given Halo 2’s reputation for brutal enemy encounters and unforgiving checkpoints, the accomplishment drew admiration from runners across multiple communities.
Super Mario 64 Continues Its Competitive Push
Veteran runner Cheese improved his Super Mario 64 120 Star personal best to 1:35:47, shaving another eight seconds from an already elite run.
At the highest levels of SM64 competition, finding even a few seconds can require months of optimization, making every improvement a noteworthy achievement.
New Milestones Across Multiple Games
Several other communities celebrated major accomplishments this week:
- The first-ever sub-6-minute Katana Only run in SUPERHOT was achieved with a time of 5:58.
- Rocky for GameCube received a new world record.
- A runner set a new world record in Toy Story Racer‘s Andy’s House time trial using Buzz.
- Mazebound saw a new Solo Any% world record of 28:03.
- GTA Online‘s Vinewood Hills Time Trial category received a fresh world record at 1:45.071.
These accomplishments demonstrate the incredible variety of games still seeing active competition, from mainstream classics to niche community favorites.
Grassroots Communities Keep Growing
Beyond world records, runners continued sharing personal milestones:
- A new PB was posted for Dark Souls Remastered No Wrong Warp.
- A Turok 2 Remaster Any% NMG run reached 1:13:29.
- A player finally decided to seriously run their own game’s speedrun mode after months of avoiding it—with mixed feelings about the resulting time.
- New categories continue to emerge, including a speedrun submission for Solateria.
These posts highlight one of speedrunning’s greatest strengths: not every achievement needs to be a world record. Personal improvement remains the heart of the hobby.
Technical Discussions and Community Support
The subreddit also featured several conversations focused on speedrunning tools and accessibility.
One runner sought help creating an autosplitter for a PCSX2-emulated game, while another asked whether LiveSplit could be configured to reset and immediately restart a timer from a single key press without allowing pauses.
Meanwhile, the weekly help thread continued serving as a hub for newcomers looking to get started, ask questions, and connect with more experienced runners.
Looking Ahead
This week’s activity showcased everything that makes speedrunning special: world records measured in frames, years-long challenges finally conquered, personal milestones, technical innovation, and a welcoming community eager to help new runners learn.
Whether you’re chasing a world record, a personal best, or simply learning how to set up your first timer, the speedrunning scene continues to prove that there’s always another second to save.
See you next week.
Source: reddit.com