The Callisto Protocol (referred to simply as Callisto from here on out) is a survival horror game developed by Striking Distance Studios. Released in December of last year, you play as intergalactic cargo pilot Jacob Lee whose spaceship crash lands on Jupiter’s moon, Callisto.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/N7rQhJqTDNTdVxVJPoUBLQbdAU7GO5XvV6PdpOf-6jD4N9GLHp2wj5lEwrvJhrht_fuXnCseIV7srzu5suirsJdxR5SgrS5TukljM6wcLP_7cige4dp2JXW3Lr_JxHiwItwAW7KqWnlaHN5FH6lDljQ)

Callisto’s 5th level, Lost, is one of the most hated levels among the Callisto community. Before the developers added cutscene skips in an update earlier this year, this level would clock in around **30 minutes** glitchless. Lost features several lengthy cutscenes, frustrating combat sections, autoscrollers, and **lots** of downtime.

# Lost I, II, & III

In Callisto, checkpoints are only loaded once the corresponding map file is loaded in memory, meaning it is not possible to skip from one map to another, even if the coordinates in the game world overlap. Skipping from a checkpoint earlier in a map to one later on is fair game.

Lost is broken up into three map files.

- *Snowcat_Persistent* (Lost I)
- *Hanger_Persistent* (Lost II)
- *Europa_Tunnels_Persistent* (Lost III)

*Snowcat* is the first and longest section, *Hanger* is the second section and is mostly unskippable cutscenes and story stuff, *Tunnels* is only a single cutscene. For this piece, I will only be talking about the first section of Lost, *Snowcat*, as it is the only notable section of this level.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/iYDUcwmz2a8bF02YP9jo-9_R9EsUh_ebQAE-V7Yz-8m-zxbltYNsbIXol4GVoY0bCjZDaMijYK5k5bLBjoTKm0Uiw5cNe6apKd3yERSBe5yVh5RViFph1EG8jIQ60IhH9Otgq2MhfogcF7hMkQTMUiY)

# Early Days of Lost Skip

On December 7th 2022, less than a week after Callisto was released, community member @Symystery would unknowingly post the first step to Lost Skip. Symystery had found a way to walk out of bounds before the first frustrating fight scene. He said that he thought it wasn’t useful. He would be correct, this discovery wasn’t useful yet. Little did the community know that this would open the door for one of the biggest skips in the run.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/hv0ISEOIdXbrpdCP7cFnqITP4cqC5NCd9AWoVB1vohB719KQQ14Z7gwIeCZplL_u5FfWVJPtVdQQeRfCtcINEPiDwZvaoAvo2VE2dZuYUESa1aiGPlHjQNyG2WkLNSQmBS0L2hx7GyWgVWjI57q-txo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgpPAG9hdiw

# New Tech 

A month later, on January 4th, @Looney would find a new tech called Inventory Hovering.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/n90pFmAH3p0gYWkjGrYBl_P1fY2ROxeo9DVlq6Z9rWBkSayAxFiH4gL1cFftKNO_xiaP9JnPG2uEyhW9jeI5wD-OBhIvsTh6GDFDPSGLkjfdRr_SWspZsP3UwiRg9q74ouiJkhypixa01eTGMmswYdo)

Jacob has an inventory that he can open by pressing TAB where he can view his arsenal and gear up for combat. Once you press TAB, Jacob’s momentum starts to slow down and then comes to a halt a second later. Once stopped, his coordinates in the game world become frozen until he is either attacked by an enemy or closes the inventory. By opening the inventory as soon as you hit certain collision while dropping from an elevated surface, Jacob is able to maintain the frozen Z coordinate (The player's height) but his X and Y will continue to move in the direction of the collision. This allows the player to fly through the air in the direction the collision sends them.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/JoMYfmMBqNyjs4_cnQ04_fa5jrK_DvfiFatQNzhKdozAVNaazC_0ykojnUwu_3FfkdO2hSPTVvq47BnXRGcTsezr5X68omT8mxGzmcuxFzM1KfaT_tFIbnHzAYFxr9xqIJroNbnGMouOKNWyHVC_yzc)

You may think that this sounds really broken, and it is, but it has its problems. For one it doesn’t work on every piece of collision, you usually have to hit some kind of sloped or angled surface. Hovering through the air is also much slower than running speed so you have to make sure whatever you are skipping by doing the hover is faster than just running through the level.

# The First Breakthrough

A few days later, Looney would find a way to use the new Inventory Hover tech combined with the out of bounds Symystery had posted a month earlier to fly into the out of bounds space to hover over a large death barrier which would instantly kill anything that touched it.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/RBZgjLYcxzUMJZaIW2zutyjT3InnyJF1FCpVtnMjnsWwPY7csbVBbfdr1SFvKQQ8OOhT58rzmaxNSM_ONeFQIUa0IpEOAiLWZfIfgktCVDwVUTPiwA2Fav39Zn-WfyuwrMH4irfX-sYl8dV2ZJuo_cI)

Once out of bounds, he found a way to scale the large mountain in front of the player.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/-MxkHHeQt-D0g9SsFupXLOikNgRPliZuXWM9z_rGjX4aHnFQsvRObztONpvPmTWw7IZUkSQz9ykh0Hn01GpagMXta3gY8prkYW2uDrFotVWskZGsKqXNAozGLIY6b847IlH7UU2z5Dw6-K2IkTcP1CM)

Navigating the out of bounds space is very difficult because everything is extremely low detail to save on resources. Most of the textures do not match the actual collision that is present in the game world, meaning in some instances you are able to walk on what seems like thin air. If you stray too far from the path up the mountain the level will also unload. Additionally, there is invisible collision all over the out of bounds space, and you need to do some certain camera movements to unload them. All of this combined made finding a good path to take to the top of the mountain difficult, but not impossible.

From the top of this mountain you can do a precise setup to get stuck inside of a rock and do another piece of tech called a Stomp Launch to fly **thousands** of coordinates towards Jacob’s ship which has the final cutscene required to complete the first part of Lost.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/NUMBNOv6bBVTz-L7yfnIygumuK1Q3qAPU2RwfTUzPGbpXp8tKbqFR7Strb7SBg0BmOjBp9WXEPBdhPRpKjknMB8pXq4CUEM6zBjKXEauyxtIPmDWoxW1QNyoQp89WkEalmWAkPTzpdH8b_0qrFRdHkU)

# Stomp Launches

If the player stomps into certain collision, Jacob will go flying through the air backwards. We can use this to cross decently sized gaps or holes. We do this in a few other parts of the game, like the start of Outbreak to skip the entire level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emvNsAohWtw?t=49

If Jacob is stuck inside of collision, the collision unloads, and then the player stomps at the same time - Jacob will fly thousands and thousands of coordinates backwards. You can aim where he will launch if you aim Jacob’s back in the direction you wish to fly towards. Once in the air Jacob will only stop if he hits a wall, a floor, or if the player reloads the last checkpoint.

There are many factors that determine how far of a Stomp Launch you will get. Some of these things include:

- The player’s angle towards the object
- The timing on when the player stomps (how early/late)
- How deep the player is in the collision
- The current framerate/FPS (higher = farther launches)

Due to stomps being determined by the framerate, the Callisto community decided to put a cap of no higher than 120 FPS to try and mitigate hardware discrepancies between runners.

# Patch 1.8

In April, Striking Distance Studios released patch 1.8 that allowed the player to skip almost all cutscenes in the game. This saved almost 1 hour in glitchless. You might think that this would have a big impact on the run, but you would be wrong

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/WR-KevvAx-oRSfg7AXGjl2a6DYTLkH6HxG3xZxmrV5Cv5ocM0xZBylmL7f0C9BZsyIEH7NMj48G2LHfDCOV6dY73BeTXcRJsJ5py78I0a8bxZTqpUc-GybhWfhQjiXgYLGTHR7tpxPFXXmI9cOG9Qbg)

In the same update Striking Distance Studios fixed the very first out of bounds that made Lost Skip possible in the first place. They raised the invisible wall, meaning it was no longer possible to get out of bounds the same way we used too.

A few months prior, Striking Distance also patched Aftermath Skip, which saved around 15 minutes with cutscene skips. This was no problem for the community, as we would simply play on the fastest version by downpatching - but this was different.

Since Lost Skip saved around 12 minutes with the cutscene skips combined with the fact that they had patched Aftermath Skip in a previous update (which saved nearly 20 minutes) this made the patch with cutscene skips slower than the one where you had to sit through all of the unskippable cinematics.

The community was pretty upset. They had released an update to skip almost all of the down time and optimally it wasn’t even faster to play on this version. Some community members returned, and we saw @sharkhat lower the world record by a few minutes with cutscene skips, but the community knew it could go much lower on the old patch![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/m7ZNnHkVwyen1-GLyT5_eN0MIttmF81oZ077PTgeQ0LhIzchwFMQmvwnDP6rQdLVtmfiFLEHGnBmBqH1VnKQuRl5FmndHQlcDc2Uc8eUbw5soCmpH-gLxlWNyuZJHR0_NncWT-BGEXfQT0ZQFfuvFRw)

# Early Leads

The community wasn’t ready to give up. We knew that if we found any way to get out of bounds again it was possible. Looney, Sharkhat, and Symystery would go looking for Lost skip again on the cutscene skip patch. Symystery [had posted a theory](https://discord.com/channels/1040028798432845831/1040028799041032211/1098307092646985849) only a day after 1.8 was released, where you could get a stomp launch earlier a little earlier in the level.

![](/static/blob/5ng5r4zq.png)

Unfortunately - nothing ever came from this particular discovery.

# Where We Are Today

Thankfully, a few days later Symystery would find a way to do Lost Skip on cutscene skip patch, which officially made the version with cutscene skips faster than without.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIThtSrns8s

Currently Lost I sits around a comfortable 8 minutes, significantly better than the 30 minute grind it used to be before Lost Skip and the addition of skippable cutscenes.

I want to give a big shoutout to @Looney and the rest of the Callisto speedrunning community, because without everyone working together we never would have been able to find as much as we did in Callisto.

Is the game solved? Definitely not, there are certainly discoveries yet to be made and sub 1 hour seems like it is within reach - but only time will tell.

Let's dive into how Callisto speedrunners took a 30 minute level down to just 8 minutes.

Callisto Community Breaks The Longest Level - Lost

Before beginning, I should mention I already covered some important discoveries from the demo period of the game which will be referenced in this article - if you want to read up on that first you can do so [here!](https://www.speedrun.com/news/wo83ee5m-ghostrunner-community-tackles-new-demo) Also, obvious spoiler warning for Ghostrunner 2.

The Ghostrunner 2 $10,000 Speedrun Challenge lasted two weeks, from October 26th to November 9th. In that time, the run time for the best runners has gone from around 1.5 hours to under an hour.

### The First Night (October 24th)

GR2 was first released around 11 am Eastern on October 24th, 2023, and over the next 11 hours a whopping 34 strats were shared amongst the community, with 200+ threads in the strats channel to date - let’s go over some of the larger discoveries and highlights from day one and beyond.

**Speedtech: Jump Start**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMHs6PSS3p4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166395624841818224/1166395624841818224](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166395624841818224/1166395624841818224)

Bike movement was pretty fun before with rhythmic boost management, but the addition of new levels that allow you to dismount the bike led to the discovery of the Jump Start speedtech. To Jump Start, all you need to do is dismount the bike, and grapple back to it. There is a timing to it, and it works better when leaving certain geometry/ramps which brings a new interesting skill to master.

**Pillars of Creation: Pillars Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc5tfs1z_bw

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166435088276406282/1166435088276406282](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166435088276406282/1166435088276406282)

Pillars is the largest skip to date, bringing a 20+ minute level down to just 50 seconds. Very simple, but satisfying.

**Elevator Maintenance: Initial OOB Route**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPXL3mwHi90

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166439007970934784/1166439007970934784](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166439007970934784/1166439007970934784)

First draft for an OOB route of Elevator Maintenance, routing in the Tempest Boost tech which becomes possible after collecting enough Memory Shards throughout the game and purchasing the Pressure Booster upgrade after Danse Macabre.

**Too Close To The Sun: Initial OOB Route**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0n7nReBB8

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166449888066805760/1166449888066805760](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166449888066805760/1166449888066805760)

First draft for an OOB route of Too Close To The Sun, including a flux strat that clears out half an arena in one satisfying sweep.

**Winds of the Desolate: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Gate Skips**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSOQw2fcaZk

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166451792310194296/1166451792310194296](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166451792310194296/1166451792310194296)

With the room with the lever that opens Gate 2 visible from the outside, LongerWarrior figured out that if you can wallclimb (or tempest boost in NG+) up to the chainlink fence, you can use the Blink ultimate ability to “clip through” (more like teleport past) the fence using the enemy and simply open the gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmWmyllp2YA

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166452821386854470/1166452821386854470](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166452821386854470/1166452821386854470)

The initial version of 3rd Gate Skip, also known as rooftop skip. In an even earlier version, we would get over the roof, lower the lift, drive the bike onto the lift, bring the lift up and keep going - but it was discovered that you could instead DSJ your way to the next checkpoint, reload, and spawn the bike right on you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZKMCqTTXc

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166454987707138128/1166454987707138128](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166454987707138128/1166454987707138128)

This one is as simple as they come, simply wallclimb (or tempest boost in NG+) over the gate and hit the button on the other side to open it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP7HvEBpL6Q

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166455710603817073/1166455710603817073](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166455710603817073/1166455710603817073)

By riding the bike up high and driving right off the wall at an angle, you can land right by the 5th gate and then take a small trip OOB to the right of it to hit the button.

**You Shouldn’t Have Peaked: Rahu Phase Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ_uzE1wy_E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166458517054562345/1166458517054562345](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166458517054562345/1166458517054562345)

The pathing has changed since this initial discovery, but the basic idea is the same - DSJ out and down to the area below you, skipping from Rahu’s phase 1 down to phase 3.

**Behind The Curtain: Shadow Skill Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svODlwKTPEQ

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166467035207831643/1166467035207831643](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166467035207831643/1166467035207831643)

GR2 would normally require you to take a detour into the room to the left, grab the Shadow Skill, and then do an arena fight. However, instead we can do some parkour to get up and out of the room right into the next one. Following this, there are some strats/skips to get around the rooms that would otherwise require the Shadow Skill.

**Setting The Stage: Pipes Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu5p8NjCAD0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166478394117074985/1166478394117074985](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166478394117074985/1166478394117074985)

This ended up being slightly slower than just moving through the inbounds space - but was the first step in something bigger.

**Can Anyone Hear Me?: Challenge Warp**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX9EM6YPLnU?t=6

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166479955165712464/1166479955165712464](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166479955165712464/1166479955165712464)

As it turns out, by starting the challenge terminal (a sort of minigame) the game gives you a checkpoint that warps you to the END of an otherwise very dense arena fight. This is by far one of my favorite strats because it's just so silly.

**Speedtech: Flow Surge Strats**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWCuFnAa05E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166513818239766539/1166513818239766539](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166513818239766539/1166513818239766539)

In Danse Macabre, Taartin found that the Flow Surge ability allows you to immediately break through The Dismantler's green shield phases. As of the latest WR at the time of writing, Pasiflora executed the strategy flawlessly, completing the entire fight in an impressive 1m20s.

**A Price To Be Paid: Won't Pay The Price**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkUVk4AUaR8

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166493807882276904/1166555574931034132](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166493807882276904/1166555574931034132)In the level “A Price To Be Paid”, it’s possible to get out of bounds almost immediately and finish the level in under **20 seconds** - skipping the boss fight.

### **Day 2 (October 25th)**

**Speedtech: Speedforce / Permanent Flow Boost**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=708lay4OSQU

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166858536005931029/1166858536005931029](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166858536005931029/1166858536005931029)

By equipping the Flow Booster upgrade, slicing some enemies, and then *unequipping* Flow Booster you can **permanently** (for the current level) keep the speed boost. By getting a 10x combo, we can keep 10% bonus speed - if we were somehow able to get an extremely high combo very quickly, we could get much higher than 10% ;)

**Monolith of Inhumanity: Mitra Fast CV Phases**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKRl8g7E324

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166827929339179078/1166827929339179078](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166827929339179078/1166827929339179078)

The Mitra bossfight is broken up into 6 phases, 3 of which are traditional sword fight phases, and 3 Cybervoid phases which involve a bit more platforming. @Blaidan discovered if you managed to get a swing in on Mitra before he moved further into the Cybervoid, you could skip the rest of the phase - and then shared how to do that on all 3 CV phases.

**You Shouldn’t Have Peaked: Rahu Phase Skip 2**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD-gHVlRQ_g

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167272679225692190/1167272679225692190](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167272679225692190/1167272679225692190)

Probably one of the hardest skips in the game to get consistently for beginner and even intermediate speedrunners - this one requires you to do some wallclimbing up some VERY awkward geometry but skips yet another 2 phases of You Shouldn’t Have Peaked

**Setting The Stage: Drain Skip/Water Basin Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpENtbtvQw4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166883923876388894/1166883923876388894](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1166883923876388894/1166883923876388894)

The next evolution of the original Pipes Skip - skipping the Water Basin room entirely!

### **Day 3 (October 26th)**

**Elevator Maintenance: Pest Control Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYY6yu3PU0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167585055527411762/1167585055527411762](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167585055527411762/1167585055527411762)

In the intended route, you’re meant to clear out the elevator shaft of the Biter enemies, backtrack a bit, power up the elevator, and then go back to exit the level - however if you instead trigger the power from out of bounds and just avoid the biters you can skip all that.

**New World Record: [1:31:28](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/ywn3d72y) by @Blaidan**

After a couple days of the community finding, sharing, and learning strats, @Blaidan completes the first legitimate (no Trainer/practice tools) Any% speedrun, clocking in just over 90 minutes.

### **Day 4 (October 27th)**

**Something Lurks In The Sand: Start OOB Shortcut**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO8hkaidTgQ

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167899182330286180/1167899182330286180](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1167899182330286180/1167899182330286180)

Definitely the hardest skip in the game, even for the most experienced of speedrunners - this one is a big-time run killer. Thankfully, it only saves about 15-20s - so unless you’re going for world record it's not really necessary.

**New World Record: [1:20:04](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zpp9ljnz) by @Blaidan**

### **Day 5 (October 28th)**

**Speedtech: Railboosting (Input Stacking)**

https://clips.twitch.tv/TardyRockyElkAllenHuhu-5tP39zOyG6w--3p5

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168083074744070165/1168083074744070165](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168083074744070165/1168083074744070165)

In Ghostrunner (and many 3D platformers) there is a system called Coyote Time. Essentially, the game gives you a 0.3s grace period after leaving a platform to input a jump. In Ghostrunner 2 specifically, there is an oversight that allows you to stack as many inputs as you can fit into that 0.3s, increasing your jump speed and distance.

**Can Anyone Hear Me?: Bike OOB Shortcut (Edge Bounce)**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAJeOI5HJ-E

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168205950847569961/1168205950847569961](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1168205950847569961/1168205950847569961)

The geometry on the side of this building is really interesting and gives you a nice bounce if you hit it right. There are a few other variants of this skip that don’t require the bounce - but where’s the fun in that?

**New World Record: [1:10:03](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/mkqk863m) by @BladeLMAO**

Blade gets his first GR2 record, smashing the previous one by ALMOST ten minutes - just one second shy!

### **Day 6 (October 29th)**

There was a fair bit of testing on Day 6 in particular with Can Anyone Hear Me? and You Shouldn’t Have Peaked - but nothing major was found and no records were broken.

### **Day 7 (October 30th)**

**Elevator Maintenance: OOB Route 2.0 (Zumo + Blade)**

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1964584090

EM gets a new OOB route, shaving off another minute or so!

**New World Record: [1:07:53](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zxw7d1gm) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan strikes back, lowering the record by another 2 minutes.

### **Day 8 (October 31st)**

**Elevator Maintenance: Tube Skip (OOB Route 3.0)**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6zU8RFW-7g

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169030921106767942/1169049163347017758](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169030921106767942/1169049163347017758)

The final (so far) iteration of the EM OOB route, now with minimal movement in between the required loading triggers for the level to progress properly. Surely more things will be found over time, but from the first route sitting around 5 minutes - this one is doable in just over 2!

**New World Record: [1:05:32](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zqd74l9m) by @Blaidan**

### **Day 9 (November 1st)**

**Winds of the Desolate: 3rd Gate Bike Jump Skip[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTh79qRF4N8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTh79qRF4N8)**

Obsoleting the Rooftop version of this skip, @JanisSG and @Blaidan discovered you can ride the bike out slightly OOB to the left of the play area, and launch jack right onto the highway where you can safely DSJ to the checkpoint, respawning the bike.

**Hackers Den: OOB Shortcut**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAlKtjKRRb4

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169424646274297906/1169424646274297906](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169424646274297906/1169424646274297906)

By dashing backwards after passing through a doorway with very precise timing, you can get back through before the door closes and the previous area (you’re now standing in) deloads. This lets you take a much shorter route through OOB space to the first cybervoid.

**New World Record: [1:03:14](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/y6q0r1qz) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan continues lowering the record, inching closer and closer to the sub-hour mark!**Day 10 (November 2nd)**

**Behind The Curtain: Panda Skip**

https://clips.twitch.tv/CourageousSilkyFungusPogChamp-s6aL54XdM-hVNkF1

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169791428667392000/1169791428667392000](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1169791428667392000/1169791428667392000)

PandaInTheGame who does not consider themselves a speedrunner, managed to find a very fast strat in BTC! The community decided to name the trick Panda Skip, after its founder :)

### **Day 11 (November 3rd)**

Not many big new things were found on Day 11 - but @WiggleyWiggley posted a “backup strat” that ended up being slightly faster than the previously used strat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlvQ-GT_f0U

### **Day 12 (November 4th)**

**Will Bushido Allow It?: Ahriman Cheese**

https://clips.twitch.tv/FragileEasyOcelotCoolCat-Jw8tJmZHNNbqkOpu

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170323187414876192/1170323187414876192](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170323187414876192/1170323187414876192)

@7RayD discovered that by maneuvering in a specific way around Ahriman, you can keep him constantly spinning and unable to attack for the entirety of his third phase.

**New World Record: [1:01:08](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/znep3n9z) by @Blaidan**

Almost there!

### **Day 13 (November 5th)**

**Setting The Stage: Droneless Basin Skip**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-H9hieFGE0

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170939684319404082/1170939684319404082](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1170939684319404082/1170939684319404082)

The final iteration (so far) of Basin Skip, now taking a more direct line through the OOB space just *narrowly* dodging a kill plane, and skipping the drone ride entirely.

### **Day 14 (November 6th)**

**New World Record: [59:41](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/yll7v82y) by @Blaidan**

Blaidan achieves the world's first sub-hour run, with a ridiculous sum of best sitting at 55:45!

### **Day 15 (November 7th)**

**Mindgames: Permanent Flow Booster**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYOCYq67oas

[Discussion: https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1144461454393753652/1171384092152053811](https://discord.com/channels/707647729043636276/1144461454393753652/1171384092152053811)

Finally, LonEliteNV finds a practical use for the Permanent Flow Booster glitch in runs!

**New World Record: [59:19](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/yoop337y) by @BladeLMAO**

**New World Record: [58:48](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zg8pv50y) by @Pasiflora**

Blade and Pasi both get their own first sub-hour runs!

### **Day 16 (November 8th)**

The grind for top 3 (and top 10) went on all day on Day 16, but no new records were set.

### **Day 17 (November 9th)**

**New World Record: [57:12](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/zg8pvvvy) by @Blaidan**

**New World Record: [56:39](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2/runs/y2kpd1wy) by @Pasiflora**

On the final day - Pasiflora snags first place with the world's first 56!

I would like to congratulate everyone who participated and/or won a prize once again. I also want to say thank you to everyone who participated in runs, routing, glitch hunting, or just followed along. You made this challenge a truly memorable experience!

We recently hosted a $10,000 Speedrun Challenge for Ghostrunner 2 lasting two weeks, let's dive into how the run progressed!


Ghostrunner 2 $10k Challenge Highlights

On October 21st, 2023 infamous speedrunner @Karin just achieved one of the most coveted minute barriers in speedrunning. A 1:36 in the game Super Mario 64 in the 120 Star category. The final time of this run in question is a [1:36:48](https://www.speedrun.com/sm64/runs/m738kdey) absolutely destroying the 1:36 barrier and beating his previous time of 1:37:33 by almost a full minute. 

![](/static/blob/oeolx2eg.jpg)

Something that helped this monumental run happen in the first place is a brand new strat called “[Carpetless](https://www.speedrun.com/news/wlvmxz81-the-holy-grail-of-sm64-carpetless).” Carpetless is a skip in the last level before the final Bowser fight known as Rainbow Ride. It puts a lot of pressure on the runner because it’s also the final star you collect in the level. Carpetless is a strat that skips the long carpet ride to get to the star on top of the castle.

With this strat along with the fact that Karin didn’t die in one of the final stages of this run - it all was put together in this monument of a run, Karin said “This is only the beginning” but with certainty, I can say that this is one of the best or **the** best Super Mario 64 runs of all time and that it will stand for a long time until Karin or and the brand new runner will beat it, it could be tomorrow, it could be in 10 years. Just as Karin and many runners before them have said “This is not the end this is only the just the beginning.”

Runner known as Karin achieved a 1:36:48 in SM64's 120 Star category. This was done with the help of the recently solved strat known as “Carpetless”

New Minute Barrier BROKEN in SM64 120 Star

Attention all future Ghostrunners! We are extremely excited to announce our $10,000 Ghostrunner 2 Speedrunning Challenge in collaboration with 505Games and One More Level! Prepare yourselves to dash through Ghostrunner 2’s epic post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world.

**Starting Date:** October 26th, 2023

**Duration:** Two weeks, until 11:59PM UTC November 9th, 2023

This challenge will put both new and experienced Ghostrunners to the test. With an incredible $10,000 total available in cash prizes, competition is sure to be fierce. Here’s what you need to know:

## Eligibility:

Must own a legitimate copy of Ghostrunner 2.

Open to players aged 18 and above worldwide, with the following exceptions: North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Cuba, and Venezuela.

## Category:

The featured category in this challenge will be Any%. For you new speedrunners, this essentially means beat the game as fast as you possibly can within the limits of the game. This includes glitches and exploits - if you would like further clarification please refer to the category rules on the challenge leaderboard. Some updates may have to be made to the ruleset depending on the development of the route over the coming weeks - but the spirit of the category will remain the same. Any updates to the ruleset will be communicated to participants as they are made

## Submission:

Record your speedrun and submit it via [our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge)

Follow the guidelines provided for video formatting and submission requirements, found in the rules section.

## Rules and Regulations:

All speedruns must adhere to the official rules, available on the Speedrun.com Challenge leaderboard.

[Contest Rules](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge/rules?view=contest)

[Category Rules](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge/rules?view=challenge)

## Prize Distribution:

The $10,000 prize pool will be distributed among the top performers for fastest completion time in the Any% category. The distribution is as follows:

1st place - $5,000

2nd place - $3,000

3rd place - $1,000

4th place - $250

5th place - $200

6th place - $150

7th place to 10th place - $100

If you want to hop in and start learning the movement, you can download the demo on all platforms right now!

[View the Ghostrunner 2 Demo leaderboard](https://www.speedrun.com/Ghostrunner_2_Demo)

## Challenges

Challenges themselves are nothing new to the speedrunning scene - but our developers have been hard at work recently building out a feature to officially support Challenges on Speedrun.com! Currently, these challenges are created internally, but our long-term aim is to enable Speedrun.com users to create their challenges, with or without prize pools. A Challenge leaderboard functions similarly to the regular leaderboards you're already familiar with. However, we've made a few layout adjustments to cater to the time-sensitive nature of challenges and the inclusion of prize pools.

We are aiming to avoid any undue pressure on the Ghostrunner 2 moderation team - so to ensure a smooth process, all runs submitted to the challenge leaderboard will be screened and verified by either SRC staff or Ghostrunner 2 moderation team members *volunteering for the challenge specifically*. After the challenge concludes, SRC staff will collaborate with the Ghostrunner 2 moderation team to discuss the potential merging of challenge runs into the regular leaderboard once the moratorium period expires, respecting the mod team's preferences

## Preparation Suggestions

To follow the challenge and find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit [the Ghostrunner 2 Challenge leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com](/challenges/42ymr396-Ghostrunner_2-blood-will-run-10-000-challenge) and the [GRSR Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/gYGgtzC5s2)

## Some Advice

The challenge lasts for two weeks, which may sound short, but it's ample time. I recommend taking your time for your first playthrough, focusing on learning the game's movement and practicing sections before diving into full runs. The fiercest competition for the top three spots typically emerges in the final week or even the last few days of the challenge, so there's really no need to rush through your initial playthrough.

Good luck, and have fun Ghostrunners!️

Speedrun is excited to host our first challenge featuring Ghostrunner 2 Any% with $10,000 in prize money on the line. Do you have what it takes to save Dharma in record setting time?

Ghostrunner 2 $10,000 Speedrun Challenge

The games list for Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 has been released!

Speedrunners who submitted their runs have been patiently waiting with anticipation these last few days. Now that the list has been released, Discord and Twitter are absolutely chock full of people celebrating or congratulating others.

[https://twitter.com/starsmileyx/status/1712991662778065000](https://twitter.com/starsmileyx/status/1712991662778065000)

![](/static/blob/1n511ve3.png)

[https://x.com/Maxylobes/status/1712997224035324002?s=20](https://x.com/Maxylobes/status/1712997224035324002?s=20)
[https://x.com/bryonato/status/1712996089341882507?s=20](https://x.com/bryonato/status/1712996089341882507?s=20)
[https://x.com/MrGymnast86/status/1713002448586223805?s=20](https://x.com/MrGymnast86/status/1713002448586223805?s=20)
[https://x.com/FroobMcGuffin/status/1713006776285548700?s=20](https://x.com/FroobMcGuffin/status/1713006776285548700?s=20)

![](/static/blob/wzx88dnr.png)

Here are some of my personal favourites that were accepted:
(Screenshots taken from respective runners PB's in associated categories, order is alphabetical by game)

[Batman Arkham City Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/arkhamcity/runs/zn7nd97m) by @ShikenNuggets

![](/static/blob/rnqddmej.png)

[Dead Space Remake Any% Unrestricted](https://www.speedrun.com/dead_space_2023/runs/y2k5757y) by @sharkhat

![](/static/blob/7e9225z1.png)

[DOOM (2016) 100% Nightmare](https://www.speedrun.com/d2016/runs/zq9podxy) by @Raitro

![](/static/blob/3nvdd8nm.png)

[SPRAWL Any%](https://www.speedrun.com/sprawl/runs/m3k9g76y) by @BloodThunder

![](/static/blob/4zjpplzk.png)

...and many more! What runs are you looking forward to?

If you'd like to look through the games list yourself, [you can find it here!](https://gamesdonequick.com/submission/games-list) After that, we can all look forward to seeing the schedule when it's released October 20th.

Speedrunning marathon event Games Done Quick just released the games list!

The AGDQ 2024 Games List!

Submissions for the **Indie Horror Speedruns Marathon 2023** are [now open!](https://oengus.io/marathon/ihsm23)

# ![](/static/blob/rz2kolz0.png)

# What is IHS?

IHS is a community of speedrunners who share a passion for pushing niche horror titles to their limits. From walking simulators like [Slide in the Woods](https://www.speedrun.com/slide_in_the_woods), FPS games like [Cultists & Compounds](https://www.speedrun.com/cultists_and_compounds), and more well-known titles like [Murder House](https://www.speedrun.com/murder_house) and [Choo-Choo Charles](https://www.speedrun.com/choo_choo_charles), there's a wide variety of games to explore and almost certainly a game for everyone. Many games run by the community are uploaded to itch.io, keeping speedrunning financially accessible to more people.

## Bounties

In addition to serving as a hub for new speedgame discoveries, the [IHS Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/NgmkbJr2MX) also is used to promote bounties placed on games hosted and sponsored by TurboBoard. Challenges range from new glitch discoveries, being the first to achieve a sub-X minute run, to solving questions or glitches a community member might have. There's currently [a $300 reward to discover the mystery of the collision on a door in Happy's Humble Burger Farm](https://turboboard.io/bounty/VdprVJ8ijavu78cSCzrKf).

# ![](/static/blob/pzm6lwnk.jpg)

# Previous Events

In addition to smaller showcases and bounties over the past year, the IHS community has been involved in two major events.

## IHSM 2022

As stated previously, this is the second major marathon the IHS community has hosted. It kicked off in December of last year and ran for a full 12 hours, showcasing 18 runs as well as a two-hour quad-campaign relay of Aliens vs Predator 2.

## ![](/static/blob/yzr6xmz4.png)

# SGDQ 2023 - Choo-Choo Charles

Choo-Choo Charles brought a massive amount of new runners to the community upon its release, including high-profile runners such as @Distortion2 and @maxylobes. The community even was [shouted out by the developer himself](https://twitter.com/TwoStarGames/status/1603131654620315648).

Given the hype surrounding its release, it shouldn't have been a surprise that it was accepted into SGDQ2022. Runner @Bird650 represented the community by achieving an 18:47 RTA.

## ![](/static/blob/rz2ko8z0.png)

# Puppet Combo Speedrun Showcase 2023

This past summer, the community held a nearly five-hour speedrun showcase featuring games from the TortureStar publishing label. Games from [Puppet Combo](https://twitter.com/PuppetCombo), [Comp-3 Interactive](https://twitter.com/comp3int), and [Black Eyed Priest Games](https://twitter.com/LeggoMyGiallo) were all run. Playlist to all the runs can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9S_8eztoAYv7r3CsEl772Iy0TxVueU3u).

# IHSM 2023 Event Details

Submit your runs [here](https://oengus.io/marathon/ihsm23).

IHSM 2023 submissions are open now! It's not too late to start learning a run between now and the submission cutoff of October 31. The marathon itself is live on November 18th. [Here's a link to last year's runs](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9S_8eztoAYuVGxzUpDCbz-zhTuA_ptpc)!

Even though the word "indie" is on everything surrounding this community and event, it needs to be said that submissions do not need to be indie games. As stated below, "submissions are required to be horror-genre centered or contain horror elements," though final decisions will be up to the IHS staff team.

# Relevant Links and Rules

Event questions can be answered by joining the [IHS Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/NgmkbJr2MX).

The event is sponsored by [TurboBoard](https://turboboard.io/), [MusicMondays](https://www.allmusicmondays.com/), and [HAIRYWORLD](https://twitter.com/HAIRYWRLD)

Linktree for all things IHS can be found [here](https://linktr.ee/indiehorrorspeedruns).

Organizers are hoping that this event is as fun as the first. The community has grown tremendously over the years and this marathon is a great way to get involved with a friendly and accessible community.

Indie Horror Speedruns Marathon 2023 Submissions Open Now

In your time amongst the speedrunning community, you may or may not have heard the term Holy Grail. It's not a sacred chalice or a mystical artifact, but rather a term that describes a discovery so profound that it etches itself into the annals of gaming history. A Holy Grail is the stuff of legends, a theory or proof of concept that, if realized, would send shockwaves through the speedrunning community. You may or may not have heard of a little thing called Barrier Skip in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - that is a holy grail skip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hUIp3eUyKI

In the last few weeks, Super Mario 64 has finally received its own Holy Grail - one with a rich history dating back 14 years or more. In the heart of the Super Mario 64 speedrunning universe lies the pursuit of **Carpetless**, the elusive final auto-scroller skip that has tantalized speedrunners for over a decade.

![](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/C9UmsQgpLU5CPAtVw5aYrh.jpg)

First of all, let me thank both @simply and @KrobarKrolak for making videos that provided me with the majority of this information, I highly recommend you watch both of them as they will go into much more detail than I will here. (See **Sources** at the bottom of the article)

# The Big House in the Sky Autoscroller

"The Big House in the Sky" (TBHiS) star presents a common annoyance for speedrunners - an autoscroller section. There are multiple autoscrollers in SM64, but every single other one of them has been skippable for years at this point, which left TBHiS as the only remaining autoscroller in the 120 Star speedrun route. The autoscroller consisted of getting on a magic carpet that would carry you to the final star at the top of the big house, [taking an annoying 1m45s (roughly) to do so](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bkHWWbGDKg&t=5405s). For years, runners looked for a way to skip the carpet ride (thus the title, Carpetless), finding a few leads but nothing RTA viable. The speedrunning community never gave up though, continually pushing the boundaries of what was possible.

**Let’s go over some quick highlights of the last 14 years of Carpetless.**

## Blazesoul13's Early Experimentation

In April 2009, runner blazesoul13 finds a glitchy wallkick on the side of the Big House, which *almost* reaches the roof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZU3RgNtfts

# Early TAS Discoveries

In December 2009, the first breakthrough came when a TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun) setup was developed by Mario64Masters, which utilized hyperspeed wallkicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcDbXNkT0Tk?t=2

# Snark122's Bomb Setup

In January 2013, snark122 showcased the first carpetless setup that hinted at the possibility of skipping the autoscroller in real-time speedruns. Though technically possible, it remained ridiculously unrealistic to do in runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV9MV13w2U8

# BLJs and Parallel Universes

It wasn't until 2017 that Maria Nicolae, Plush, & Luigihaxd introduced a new (still TAS only) setup that used Backward Long Jumps (BLJ’s) to send Mario into actual Parallel Universes to do Carpetless. To learn more about Parallel Universes, I highly recommend watching this video from Bismuth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjge1bVobN0?t=720

# Toadfan5's Save State Breakthrough

In July 2015, toadfan5 made a significant stride by successfully executing Carpetless using save states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRN195iS1w

# Xiah Does Carpetless Single Segment

In May 2019, Xiah achieved what seemed nearly impossible – successfully using the bomb setup to skip the autoscroller without relying on save states. This breakthrough was a testament to the dedication and perseverance of SM64 speedrunners, and was a turning point for the community - people started taking RTA Carpetless a lot more seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcD0qzkgcw

# Circumark994 Spends 3 Weeks On Carpetless Research

On April 22nd, 2023 Circumark994 released this 30-minute video breaking down all of the current leads for Carpetless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7g6PQtNIkA

# Parsee Hits Bomb Setup in a 120* Run

On September 17th, 2023, [runner Parsee hit snark122’s Bomb Setup (also known simply as OG Carpetless) in a full 120 star speedrun.](https://twitter.com/parsee02/status/1703449072370319705)

# Krithalith's Innovative Discovery

Also on September 17th, 2023 mere *hours* after Parsee hit the bomb setup - TASer Krithalith premiered a groundbreaking setup discovery for carpetless. This new setup was based on Blazesoul13’s original glitchy wallkick discovery back in 2009 - and while still incredibly inconsistent, runners like @simply, @Suigi, and more were still able to hit Carpetless multiple times in a single (multi-hour) session. However, the balance of intense difficulty and viability for runs [actually seemed to demotivate runners like Suigi](https://twitter.com/GreenSuigi/status/1703765302461260045) - since it was technically possible to get a new world record with, but ridiculously inconsistent.

## Orthogonal Jones Setup

Just two days after the initial discovery, Krithalith released the ["Orthogonal Jones" setup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbPAJ_OrT28) on September 19th.  This setup removed a lot of the complexities and achieved Krithalith’s goal of a setup that required fewer inputs. There are lots of other setups, mainly including ["Orthogonal James"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM6GxiTuFt8) also from Krithalith, and [Dezanig’s setup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlP5Pkg8yL4) - but most run attempts for both full 120 star and single star are currently using Orthogonal Jones.

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/s7A9OK-Ee4Kl_q1c5OdYOq_XL9VrOKuHqyzW5AjGPhLdiHNR1-9n1nyuwPUyl90UiFuvLFVih3pk24kgusKVPkv2F_OzpGnRzRviHnPEKzKJynqPlB55KABbwLDUgXJkzr1toNWZL3mxH1TOa1a1UcE)

This setup, based on cardinal directions (neutral, straight up, straight right, etc.), **significantly** increased consistency and made the Carpetless challenge more accessible to speedrunners - so much so that Suigi released a video doing Carpetless *11 times in a* **ROW.**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StUh5pRNiBs

# Conclusion

In the ever-evolving world of SM64 speedrunning, the pursuit of RTA viable Carpetless has brought forth not only innovation - but proof of the unwavering commitment from the community. At the time of writing this article, no new world record has been achieved - but it’s merely a matter of time before the next (and perhaps the final) minute barrier is broken for the Super Mario 64 120 Star category.

Krithalith’s groundbreaking discovery, backed by early experimentations by people like blazesoul13, snark, Maria Nicolae, toadfan5, Xiah, parsee, and many more has allowed SM64 speedrunners to save almost a minute (around 45 seconds on average) in the 120 Star category.

To put it into perspective, top runners have been known to grind for hours to practice timesaves that are less than a second - and *that's* why Carpetless is a Holy Grail skip.

If you’re interested, you can find [the current Single Star World Record for The Big House in the Sky here](https://www.singlestar.sm64rta.info/individual?stage=RR&star=2).

I would also like to give a heartfelt thank you to Krithalith, seven, Zinsch, ded_lej, and the rest of [the SM64 Speedrunning Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/0Si1OtnB7Ylmwkwr) for helping me fact-check my information - you guys are the best!

# Sources:

[The Biggest SM64 Speedrun Discovery Just Happened by @Simply](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2hzYmL2AkQ)

[The History of Carpetless: Super Mario 64’s HARDEST Speedrunning Trick by @KrobarKrolak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARz3Fc-3blo)

[RR Carpetless Research by Circumark994](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7g6PQtNIkA)

![](https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000482010774-fks9pk-t500x500.jpg)

A consistent setup for the Holy Grail Skip of SM64 was just discovered - lets dig in.

The Holy Grail of SM64 - Carpetless

This Web game by indie creator David Tschacher is very simple from the outside but incredibly sophisticated when investigated. Territorial.io is a strategy/expansion game mostly known for it's multiplayer play. Released in August of 2021, the game has seen legends rise, the domination of clans such as [CORGI], [OG], and [ELITE], and, of course, it's entrance onto Speedrun.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKmsWPyPAY4

Even though the game is known for it's multiplayer, it's singleplayer speedrunning community still thrives. Players can choose one of sixteen maps; 6 of which are base on real world geography. There they can choose where to spawn. A good spawn should have distance from bots, a good distance from other players, and a large continent (For example, on a world map you wouldn't want to spawn in New Zealand.) Players then begin to take over empty, free territory. Any Territorial player must take 3 things into account: their interest in the top right, their troops on the top and their attack bar on the bottom. A players interest tells the player how many troops will be produced. (7% is max and 0% is the minimum, while the average player will spend most of the game at ~1.5% to around ~0.5%, depending on how aggressive they are.) Players must be mindful that there is a "Max Cap" at which players can no longer produce troops. The only way for your "Max Cap" to increase is to take over more territory. The troops in the top represents your strength: your power, ability to attack, and ability to defend your borders. The attack bar on the bottom tells you how many troops you are attacking with. This number will change frequently, however during mid-late game will hover around 8-12%. This bar is the only thing of the 3 mentioned that the player can control.

**Troop Count and Troop Cap**

![](/static/blob/1n5dppe3.jpg)

**Attack Bar**

One of the most important aspects of Territorial.io is your opening. The opening comes after your spawn, when expanding into free territory. DO NOT send out all your troops. The most common opening, renowned by the community, speedrunners, and new runners alike is the Greenbiscuit Opening. One of the most influential and important names in Territorial, and it's speedrunning community for that matter, [@Greenbiscuit](https://www.speedrun.com/users/Greenbiscuit?view=fullgame)'s opening was the first to become seriously intertwined with the player base. It goes like this:

1. cycle: 28.2%

2. cycle: 43.0%

3. cycle: 44.4%

4. cycle: 44.4%

5. cycle: 41.8%

For clarification, a cycle is when the bars on the outside of the troop counter hit the top. You want to time your attacks so that they finish when the bar on the outside hits the top of the box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD06REakQpA

Speedrunners play with 512 bots. There is a separate category for each map and difficulty. %RUNS require a 99% of the map and the victory screen. %TROOPS require runners to reach 200k, 500k, 1M, or 5M troops. 100%ONLY require runners to only full send, or lock the attack bar at 100%. Lastly is 2min%Run runs, trying to conquer as much land in 2 minutes.

Don't worry, the game is available for free at [https://territorial.io](https://territorial.io/). Join the Territorial.io speedrunning discord server at [https://discord.gg/uyV4hUHn](https://discord.gg/uyV4hUHn).

Happy Running!

We dissect a medium sized speedrunning community from the bottom up, increasing excitement and injecting a new passion for a game otherwise unexplored.

Wolfhowl's Game of The Week: Territorial.io

Released on August 18th, Team Reptile’s [Bomb Rush Cyberfunk](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1353230/Bomb_Rush_Cyberfunk/) (BRC) took the internet by storm with its flashy visual style, 3D platformer flare, and amazing soundtrack. The game, heavily inspired by the likes of Jet Set Radio and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, tasks the player with going through the city of New Amsterdam to go “All City”.

![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9HKDfO51Ja4/maxresdefault.jpg)

With 5 story chapters, each one facing an opposing street crew, the early Any% runs saw players spraying graffiti with very little more. However, runners soon found the most important tech in the run, with a trick known as the zip even catching the eyes of casual players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMCxRI7k_v0

Zips were immediately tested, and many unique use cases were found. Be it basic movement or huge skips, they proved to be important aspects of the run. One of the biggest skips was found just 3 days into the game’s life.

Chapter 5 of BRC finds you facing the crew Futurism. However, it was discovered by @ZumoDePapaya that the story trigger to start the final boss sequence is always active far away into Mataan, the final level. Using zips, it was found to be possible to get to this trigger from the very start of the chapter. This was a *20 minute timesave*, skipping a ton of story content. A setup was soon found after by @Xyphles, Zumo, and I.

[https://twitter.com/shovelclaws/status/1693788196927058038](https://twitter.com/shovelclaws/status/1693788196927058038)

This skip showed the true potential for zips, and began the search for more skips. Soon, the community found ways to enter the mall early in chapter 3, skip the last half of the prologue, and beyond.

The game had taken off, but the record stood at 1:16:53 by @JackieNewguy and then 1:16:48 by @kitcarson. How did the run get so much shorter? Well, some help from the developers over at Team Reptile helped out. They updated the game, and in the patch came a change that saved 7 minutes: cutscenes that could be skipped would be skipped 3 seconds faster.

On top of this cutscene skip change, a new skip was made real by a change in a respawn trigger. At the start of Chapter 4, the game wants you to find the Flesh Prince to provide some medical attention to the main character. Afterwards, you’d be off to Pyramid Island to fight against Devil Theory, the fourth crew.

Patch 1.0.19864 changed a respawn trigger on Pyramid Island, which allowed us to entirely skip the Flesh Prince sequence by voiding out as we loaded into the Pyramid Island docks. If done correctly, you’d respawn on the island, and the story would play out as normal. These two tricks instantly dropped the record to a 1:07:08.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9bRNNAOs9Q?t=2961

The community rallied, with the sub hour in sight. Following a ton of graffiti reroutes, new skips such as [Nightmare 1](https://youtu.be/yRXQkNx99KQ), [Nightmare 2](https://youtu.be/5w0Fhp0VgbI?t=2668), and [Baseball](https://youtu.be/Oj5JiGa70uo), and movement optimization, the community quickly closed in, with records dropping minutes by the day.

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/9edfdggIPWsVIX6y9MZT1W5gYm1O427af21m1bpyX7a27j5pMt16MhnejIcmiCjGWovo6fekY56i6954J0D4PYeyo8gtaO-087_AIM0S_Fc1c53R8_85Kl5jLbQPHBSn8padUTt39VocchwENSPYXfM)

Finally, the bullet that allowed sub-hour hit BRC when user @Ninja_cookie discovered a skip that allowed us to skip a multiple-minute section of the early game. In order to skip the prologue, runners used an out-of-bounds to hit a level transition trigger. It was found that if you hit the trigger and paused at *the same time* (frame-precise), you’d load into the next level.

https://clips.twitch.tv/CuteGoldenJackalOneHand--iVazaN17iYVnFKm

This instantly gave runners the boost they needed, and @kitcarson, @Storied, and @ItzBytez would race to get the sub hour first.

Then, on September 6th, Storied would tap against the glass with a time of 1:00:32. kitcarson would post his own cursed run, clocking in with a time of 1:00:10. Bytez would get the closest, with a run with a final time of *1 hour exactly*. Tensions were high and the community was eager to see who would close out the race.

And then, Bytez claimed the crown, grabbing himself a 58:37 just under 24 hours after his cursed run. Not only did Bytez get sub hour, but he skipped past the 59 minute barrier. However, he wouldn’t be alone for long: not even 15 minutes later, Storied would nab the world record back with a 57:20. But even kitcarson wouldn’t be out of the sub hour club for long, posting a 59:06 within 2 hours of Bytez and Storied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmdnr5AhLA

What had been a race to sub hour ended with the three of them coming out winners, all having the sub hour back-to-back. The community, waking up hours later, buzzed with excitement as our eyes set themself on the 50 minute barrier.

Since the sub hour, the community has left no stone unturned searching for new ways to break the game. A recent discovery, @Ninja_Cookie found a new way to zip called Zip Storage that allowed them to be done faster, easier, and more frequently: the 3 things that matter most to us! This new discovery turned some of the absolute hardest skips into easy skips with simple setups at the top level. It also allowed zips to be more ingrained into the basic movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vFkkdxfGo

After so many people dedicated so much hard work and time to breaking this game, the [world record currently sits at 51:34 by Bytez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEaSxlAAFXc), with [Storied just 2 seconds behind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eW2aS6RrW0). Sum of bests have recently gone under 50 minutes, and as of September 26th, the *entire top 10* is composed of runners with times under 1 hour.

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Bli9neFklOSJ2g1Z5N2mPsD5glrzmuI8-IdtE0_Dz24L0KbL3Q4LNoIGPJnWdk9ajyrHdKvsgk187Z4vRhw38_-LkI8AjkZ-9jjOOX9fABrwzfM3xRMpvrZkLt_02IWbVMQ5BnjKmpkX-C0LEhjdZms)

What started as a highly anticipated release, and a day 2 record of 2:34:46, has turned into one of the greatest speedruns of the year. In the wise words of community moderator @Helix, “BRC feels like it progresses a month in a week.”

With Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 around the corner, which Bytez and Storied have both submitted to, the future is looking bright for this newly released title.

If this short history lesson has you interested in the game, you can join the Discord here: [https://discord.com/invite/EWCfbJDrh4](https://discord.com/invite/EWCfbJDrh4).

A short history of the futuristic street-culture platformer released in August

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Community Races Towards 50 Minute Barrier

# Is Atari Making a Comeback

# Short Answer: Yes! 

Atari has been a cornerstone of SRC for many years. The Atari speedrunning scene has been growing exponentially over the recent months after user @VyPr announced the community-based speedrunning tournament Project Retro Season #1 in the Farmington Discord server. Project Retro Season #1 was announced to be 4 weeks long consisting of multiple games being speedrun on the Atari 2600. Dozens of speedrunners flocked to Speedrun.com to solidify their places on the Project Retro Leaderboards. Runners like @Captninja6, @DoritoBreath, and @Zir0nic crushed the competition.

# Community

Atari speedrunning history on SRC begins in 2015 with the game, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

# [E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial](https://www.speedrun.com/et)

![](/static/blob/7n6652nq.jpg)

After Atari made its SRC debut many other Atari games began to appear all over Speedrun.com, some games like [Dragster](https://www.speedrun.com/dragster) and [Adventure](https://www.speedrun.com/advt) blew up with hundreds of runs in those 2 games alone. Some Atari runs can be dated back to 2006 even predating Speedrun.com itself.

Example: Adventure Difficulty 1 in 33.60 by @SadisticMystic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE6MSXqouSk

More games continued to appear on SRC over the course of the following years and the community came to life.

In 2017 the SRC Atari community was left abandoned and deemed obsolete compared to the newer games like [Super Mario Odyssey](https://www.speedrun.com/smo) at the time.

# Project Retro 

Project Retro was announced in August of 2023 by user @VyPr. Project Retro consisted of 4 weeks of gameplay, containing the following titles.

## Project Retro Game List & Highlights

### Week 1

- [Dragster](https://www.speedrun.com/dragster)
- [Tron: Deadly Discs](https://www.speedrun.com/trondeadlydiscs)
- [Enduro](https://www.speedrun.com/enduro)
- [Halo 2600](https://www.speedrun.com/halo_2600)
- [Tennis (Atari 2600)](https://www.speedrun.com/tennis_atari2600)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t9M9OXaxew

### Week 2

- [Grand Prix](https://www.speedrun.com/grand_prix)
- [Juno First](https://www.speedrun.com/juno_first)
- [Sky Jinks](https://www.speedrun.com/sky_jinks)
- [Q*bert](https://www.speedrun.com/qbert_atari_2600)
- [Commando](https://www.speedrun.com/commando_)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_upNRtIvH8?t=3

### Week 3

- [Defender II](https://www.speedrun.com/Defender_II_Atari_2600)
- [Centipede](https://www.speedrun.com/ctp)
- [Donkey Kong](https://www.speedrun.com/donkey_kong_atari)
- [RealSports Boxing](https://www.speedrun.com/RealSports_Boxing)
- [Midnight Magic](https://www.speedrun.com/midnight_magic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_rQL2W9Qs?t=1

### Week 4 (Final Week)

- [Mario Bros. Arcade](https://www.speedrun.com/mario_bros_arcade)
- [Joust (Atari)](https://www.speedrun.com/Joust_Atari_2600)
- [Pressure Cooker](https://www.speedrun.com/Pressure_Cooker)
- [Pole Position](https://www.speedrun.com/pole_position)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULnVLC7ywd8

# What's next?

After the end of Project Retro Season #1, the SRC Atari community has continued to regrow - a new chapter of Atari speedrunning has begun and the Atari community is asking for you to help us grow and thrive. Help us rewrite the history of Atari speedrunning and become a part of something bigger than we had ever thought possible.

Special Thanks To @VyPr,  @Captninja6, @DoritoBreath, @Act_, @Akuretaki and so many more for reviving this AWESOME community!

Congratulations to @Zir0nic the champion of Project Retro Season #1

[Atari Speedrunners Discord](https://discord.gg/3NJAx2yyjK)

[Official Project Retro Leaderboard](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AMp8UcrIEn84kSPVJsenT31HBaZUyZB05sgZovGZ-Dg/edit#gid=0)

After years of dormancy, the Atari community Is back and all is looking good!

Atari Community Celebrates Successful Event - Project Retro Season 1

Super Mario 64

territorial.io

The Callisto Protocol

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Ghostrunner 2

shovelclaws

xwpw4y0l

tofercakes

Symystery

Ultra64

nzy2zyq3

SpringF

Arkad200

Categories are being discussed in the discord and will be created in the coming days/weeks!

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

Roblox: Pressure

Metal Slug: Awakening

# Hey everyone, Blxxd here.


## For the next 1.5 weeks, Into the Pit will NOT be open to accepting submissions until we figure out what we want to have for Categories and the like, alongside some more technical details. Stay tuned!

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit

Welcome to the THE JOY OF CREATION Demo! For the sake of giving people time, and for us as moderators to get everything set up for the boards, we will open them up this Monday, August 5th at midnight EST! This will give everyone the chance to complete the demo and begin to improve their times over the weekend. For the time being, there will likely just be 2 categories; any% (game completion) and death% (die as quick as possible).

THE JOY OF CREATION Demo

The official PC port of the game will be released on 1 August 2024, comeback later! // Официальная версия игры для ПК выйдет 1 августа 2024 года, возвращайтесь позже!