I’ve always been fascinated with speedruns in gaming. Whether glitches are allowed or not to make the record eligible, it still takes some extraordinary skill, timing, and lots and lots of practice to clock a game as quickly as possible. Doom 2 may be 20 years old, but its just had its speedrun record beaten.
Zero Master beat Doom 2 on ultra violence difficulty with a time of 00:23:03, shaving 22 seconds off the previous record which was 00:23:25 (set way back in 2010). Here’s his run (via EuroGamer)
So this is the second improvement in the last 10 years, though I don’t think we will have to wait that long before we see the 23 minute mark broken.
If you watch the video, you will see there are several moments where death is just one cough away. Somehow, Zero Master pushed through, and even demonstrates some mind boggling tricks to quickly traverse all the levels. I’ve watched several speedruns (or segments of them) for titles like Duke Nukem 3D, Resident Evil, and even Final Fantasy VII. I’m definitely no professional when it comes to the matter, but this is impressive and well worth a view if you’ve ever played the old school shooter.
As a kid, I used to see how quickly I could finish some games. Resident Evil 3, one of my favourites, usually took around 3-5 hours per playthrough – assuming you knew exactly where to go. I’ll never forget the one time I played it, opting to ignore every single enemy (except for compulsory bosses) and finishing in just under 2 hours. I couldn’t get over how short the game was if you took away all the meat inbetween. Even with what I believe to be a respectable time, the current record is much quicker, sitting in at 1:20:42.
Are you fan of speedrunning? Have you beaten any games in times that you are proud of? Let us know in the comments.
Last Updated: November 19, 2014
Reid
November 19, 2014 at 21:23
I played this game a lot, but never that fast. I feel like trying it again.
Admiral Chief Wang
November 19, 2014 at 23:14
O_O
SusARum
November 19, 2014 at 23:17
X.x.
Captain JJ the fair
November 20, 2014 at 07:21
I don’t really find speedruns very interesting. I don’t see the point.
Rock789
November 20, 2014 at 07:52
I watched this last night – crazy how fast the player gets through the stages (some of them are less than 20 seconds!). And there were definitely a few parts where they even lost some time, so coulda gone quicker… NUTS!!
I enjoy a game for the story, the gameplay and the fun it gives me – for the escapism. Due to that, I’m not a fan of doing speedruns myself (would defeat the point of the game for me). But they are interesting to watch and can really be damn impressive (also sometimes showing you secret areas you didn’t even know existed in 1 of your favourite games, like this Doom 2 speedrun – there were a few secret areas they used that I had no clue was there!).
RinceThis
November 20, 2014 at 08:08
Agreed. I remember there was a speedrun of like 20 minutes for Dark Souls where the player capitalises on a glitch (which was later patched). Hectic.
scr1m3
November 20, 2014 at 08:14
I really enjoyed Doom 2 when I originally played it, but this guy has shown me a couple tricks that makes me want to play it again (I still have the game).
I guess when you’ve finished the game 50 times or so you might want to try a speedrun and see how quick you can do it to keep it interesting.
RinceThis
November 20, 2014 at 08:07
I don’t get this speedrun stuff… Not at all.
Captain JJ the fair
November 20, 2014 at 08:32
Same here.
It’s like skipping through a movie just to catch the highlights.
ToshZA
November 20, 2014 at 09:37
When you’ve watched a movie 20 times, why not?
RinceThis
November 20, 2014 at 10:08
OvG does that all the time. He watches 2 episodes of a series together and flicks between them… Level 9000+ ODD
Reid
November 20, 2014 at 08:42
Well it’s not like you do it on your 1st playthrough. Or even your 5th. It’s a new challenge mode/difficulty setting.
RinceThis
November 20, 2014 at 10:08
Okay. How much do I pay for this ‘ranger’ mode? 🙂 Too soon?
Hammersteyn
November 20, 2014 at 08:09
Good for him. Maybe he can cure cancer next or do something useful
Brady miaau
November 20, 2014 at 09:32
each to their own, each to their own.
Admiral Chief Wang
November 20, 2014 at 08:15
Why does it look like he clips through certain areas?
Rock789
November 20, 2014 at 08:20
Yeah, he definitely knows a few tricks to get through certain areas faster – kinda boggles the mind to think how many times he’s played Doom 2 to know that he can clip at that exact point to get to another area faster…
Admiral Chief Wang
November 20, 2014 at 08:32
And if he clips sooner, he could easily knock at least 30sec off
Purple_Dragon
November 20, 2014 at 09:31
It’s funny, I last played Doom many many years ago but I still remember a lot of these levels in this video.
Hendrik
November 20, 2014 at 09:35
that was awesome!!
Frost
November 20, 2014 at 09:51
I didn’t know this was a thing. It’s an interesting concept, not something I’ll do myself, but I can appreciate it.