Video Games

Super Mario Bros. 2 | 10:55 | 2005-07-04

My very first speed run. Happy birthday, America. It totally sucked, but it was faster than every other Super Mario Bros. 2 video online by almost two minutes. It has since been beaten about 5 times, and is about two minutes faster.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (no warps) | 26:36 | 2005-09-04

A brutal run, in absolutely terrible video quality. This one has not been beaten, mostly because it’s not very enjoyable to make. I think the date this was completed was the last time I played Super Mario Bros. 2. You kind of get burnt out after a while.

This video seems to show up on YouTube every once in a while.

Kid Icarus | 33:44 | 2006-01-25

A timeless classic. The eggplant wizards are legendary. This one also has not been beaten. This run kind of sucks to do because there is a segment of absolutely blind luck that needs to occur late in the game. When you go down one of the ladders in the fourth dungeon, an eggplant wizard will either throw an eggplant high or low; if high, hit reset; if low, continue on. I got unlucky and ruined some decent runs. It makes for profanity.

Contra | 11:25 | 2006-02-18

Another timeless classic. This one was actually got a decent amount of exposure, since it’s such a famous game. This beat all existing times I could find on the internet at the time by over a minute. It has since been beat several times, and is down in the 10 minute range.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (no death abuse) | 1:18:17 | 2006-05-08

Probably the speed run I’m most of proud of. A great deal of route planning went into this one. Every single drop of experience and magic has to be planned out ahead of time, in meticulous detail. You can see the kind of nerdy planning that goes into this kind of run by reading this thread.

This was also the most difficult run I ever did. Zelda II is an extraordinarily difficult game, and not dying makes it more so, obviously. Not to mention a lot of strategy for speed in this game involve killing yourself intentionally to replenish magic. That makes the key retrieval strategy in the palaces more difficult as well.

Unbelievably, somebody actually beat this. And then somebody beat them. The most recent time is only 5 minutes faster than my original run. I did a pretty good job the first time around, without anybody else’s runs to observe for inspiration and/or strategies. Thank you.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (new game+) | 41:49 | 2006-05-19

This run was a welcome relief from the pain and angst that was the no death abuse run. In a NG+ run, you have full attack, magic and health, so you pretty much dominate the entire game. The only annoying this is dealing with luck, such as the overworld enemy encounters. There are special maneuvers you can execute that will manipulate them, but it’s very difficult to pull them off consistently.

This run was beat recently by about 40 seconds. It beat the previous run by about five minutes. It tied the current world record (at the time) for which there was no available video (it was a Twin Galaxies record). That TG record has since been beaten by about a minute.

Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (hard) | 18:12 | 2006-07-05

My first non-NES run. It’s not really that good. The first time I beat this game was when I broke my collar bone in sixth grade. I was home from school for a week and couldn’t move. What would you do?

It’s on the Genesis version, but I couldn’t find a Genesis sprite, so the Atari 2600 version of Pitfall Harry will have to do.

Ninja Gaiden | 13:49 | 2007-02-18

This run got the most attention, since it was released on the same day as runs for Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden III. A day that like comes along once in a lifetime. It was not to be forgotten. My favorite review: We are all inadequate.

This was both the highest quality run and the least enjoyable run I ever did. I’m glad of the result, though, because this game is super sexy when played super fast. It’s basically a muscle memory and reflex test. It has since been beaten a couple times, and the current time is around 12:44. The TG world record at the time was 13:30ish. This run beat the fastest available video time by over a minute.