Hello! I'm actually not sure if I'm "new" in the sense that I apparently made this account some time ago, but I'm definitely newly finding a motivation to actually start running games. I've wanted to for awhile, and now have the income and, with finals ending, the time, to really delve into it.

And perhaps unsurprisingly, I feel entirely overwhelmed. I love watching runs and I've been streaming since 2016 so I know I can do it and I already have some of the equipment. I mostly have been a competitive Pokemon player, so I also know memorization of tricks, timings, and runs won't be too difficult (memorizing metas in 3 different generations of pokemon trains your mind in what I imagine is a similar way).

The thing about speedrunning, though, is that I don't know how to mod hardware, and I certainly have nothing non-US for hardware or software right now. I don't have a CRT tv or anything...the more I look the more shocked I am that people run games at all!

So...where do I start? How do I find myself playing a game for hundreds of hours instead of staring at movepools for hundreds of hours? I like strategy games and RPGs, but don't want a run that's 100% menu optimization (love you, Fire Emblem, but that's a commitment) or overly RNG-laden (looking at you Pokemon). Is there something people recommend that can be played at a high level on an English version and isn't overly long? I'm fine with the idea of 1-2 hour runs, longer seems like something for down the road.

Anyway, any guidance is appreciated! I just need a little direction to get my feet wet and I'll go from there!

My guidance/advice to you is to find a game that interests you and start researching the run and the strats and ask questions to the community. For example, you mention you love Pokemon but don’t want to run it because it’s RNG laden. The thing is, it’s actually not because (at least for the older gens) they use RNG manipulation to get the results they want without resetting for hours. Granted there’s still some randomness, but most games seek to alleviate that the best they can through manips.

The point is, find a game and ask questions to the community. You might be surprised that a game you would never think of running because it seemed too random might actually be manageable through some simple RNG manipulations. Another example is Final Fantasy games using step counts (making sure to take the perfect number of steps on the right tiles) to make sure they get encounters they want when they want them.

Given that you like RPGs, there’s a ton of options for you to look at, I would recommend just taking some time to research them. Or, you can provide a bit more detail about the types of games you want to run (do you want to run on console, do you have certain consoles you own, etc) and maybe we can provide more concrete suggestions of games.

I've been trying to do some research. I have seen some pokemon speedruns and seen how they manipulate RNG, it's super wild. Still, given that I've put over 10,000 hours into the series learning the competitive scene, it's probably best if I don't risk burnout of that series specifically. Then again, the audience I have already enjoys Pokemon and I enjoy Pokemon so I'm not sure if that actually is the lowest barrier to entry. Is having put so much time that you often watch people around you in the community burnout a good thing for knowing it's a game you could stick with for runs or a bad thing because you're potentially at risk for burnout yourself more quickly?

I own every NTSC Nintendo console since N64, and PS1 and 2. Additionally, I have a (probably not sufficient) converter from RCA to HDMI that I've used for streaming casually before. I also have Steam.

I've played many RPGs like the Paper Mario and Zelda series, as well as more heavily strategy focused games like Fire Emblem. I also enjoy platformers, but certainly don't have the natural talent for them off the bat. Recently, I've been watching mostly Mario runs, primarily Odyssey and Sunshine, which have been super cool and seem really interesting, but I'm not sure are the games I would initially want to dive into speedrunning with.

If this helps give any advice toward a game, I'd be open to it!

I personally tend not to think about audience as much when it comes to this hobby because that’s how you end up with a lot of burnout really quick. If your audience likes Pokemon, but those games just don’t appeal to you from a speedrunning perspective, I’d advise against playing them. If you don’t really enjoy the game you’re running, you’re going to get burned out very quickly and end up with a bad taste in your mouth for this hobby. At the end of the day, what YOU want to play is most important in this hobby because you need to genuinely enjoy what you’re playing to dedicate so much time to it.

As for game suggestions, you’re kinda all over the map lol. Mario games like Sunshine I can’t speak for too much because I’m not big into platformers, but all of those games have robust communities and tons of resources to help you. For Zeldas, those games, primarily the 3D ones, can have some daunting glitches to learn, so the barrier of entry there might be high if you want to start with a glitched category (lots of practice involved). Luckily those games also tend to have Glitchless categories where you can focus on learning the mechanics and the movement of the game first (they may also show you if you’ll like the game to run).

It seems like you’re struggling with wanting to maybe run too much from too many different series. RPGs, platformers like Mario, and action/adventure games like Zelda are all very different with that’s needed to run them. I can personally say that I love the Zelda series and RPGs from particularly the SNES era, so I always recommend those if they appeal to people. But it sounds like you need to experiment - maybe pick a game from one genre and start with that for a couple weeks. Practice it, get a feel for how it plays and what’s strats might be required. If you find yourself bored, then pick a new game and repeat.

Finding a game can be hard, it’s why a lot of people here don’t like giving suggestions outright because often times what they like might bore someone else and it leads to a lot of “what else can I try?” type questions that can get frustrating to answer. This hobby requires a ton of personal motivation, and that includes finding the game(s) you don’t mind putting hundreds of hours into playing.

That advice makes perfect sense, and I really appreciate the candidness. I acknowledge that my enjoyment comes from a wide variety of games, which itself is a problem since speedrunning requires you specifically NOT play a wide variety of games and focus on one at a time for a very long time.

The point about not considering audience is definitely heard and I already try not to think of them when coming up with content, though again, it's nice to have viewers while streaming. So there's a give-and-take there. I also agree that one of the other issues I've found when researching is how many games there are and just a desire to play all of them yet knowing, again, that could only be done with hundreds of hours in each one. So I've definitely been overwhelmed when coming up with a game/series to start with.

I like the idea of just jumping into one, but I also know that that itself will likely require a decent amount of research. Years ago I learned the first two gyms of Crystal and that alone was already like 10+ hours of work just to memorize the IVs to look for and the level up stats, which are things that are required to even make a run possible. This morning, I also looked up some of the WR pokemon times and I think they're a little outside my desired time frame for right now.

I'm surprised the Fire Emblem games are as short as they are, given the linearity, but still on the outer edge of what I'd love to grind. Zelda games have shorter categories, which seems appealing. Could also be nice to get an SNES for this for some older games which all seem super fun to run, but I don't currently own one, and might as well learn a game on a platform I already have. So let's eliminate that for the starter option.

Recently, I've definitely been focusing most of my time on RPGs, playing through Octopath Traveler casually and loving it (but not sure I'd do a run of it, since I'm barely halfway through so who knows how I'll feel at the end). So I think that's the right place to start. Paper Mario is a gem from my childhood that I haven't played in awhile, so I don't have any burnout to start with, but the games are also long...

I guess I'm using this post as a idea-generation, bouncing board to just solidify what I want, and I appreciate you helping me narrow that down. It's been invaluable!