# The Gold Split Newsletter - Week #26

The Gold Split offers a free, weekly digest of news from the world of speedrunning and beyond.

This **Story of the Week** is all about people's speedrunning-related goals and predictions for 2025 and was featured in this week's issue. The full post includes **more news**, briefly, AGDQ content, as well as this week's top times and a fun fact. Check it out **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-26)**.

## ![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/wzxxw3qz.png)

## Story of the Week ✨

2025 has just begun, and while I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions, I am a fan of trying to predict what might happen. My own 2025 predictions of @Suigi being dethroned in at least one Super Mario 64 category and @Summoningsalt releasing the 8-hour director’s cut of the Subway Surfers world record history documentary are destined to come true anyways, so I reached out to a few folks to get a broader spectrum of goals and what to look forward to in the new year.

And as a bonus, if we’re all still here at the end of 2025, we get to look back, reflect and gauge how well they did at setting these goals and predicting those outcomes.

Three predictions reached me for the Any% category of **[Super Mario Bros](https://www.speedrun.com/smb1)**. The current record of 04:54.631 by @Niftski has been set in September of 2023, but recent streams have shown that a new one might be just around the corner. Going into the final level, that run was tied with the tool-assisted speedrun (TAS). This is possible due to something called the frame rule. In short: outside of the final level, time can only be gained or lost in 21-frame intervals, because that is the rate at which the level completion is checked. Therefore, on some levels, a runner might lose a few frames but can still end up tied with the TAS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khu9BB2g4Ks

@Niftski themselves predict a 04:54.5xx or even 04:54.4xx by the end of the year, and SMB legend @Kosmic also considers that a safe bet. But content creator @Abyssoft goes a few steps further: their prediction is a complete tie with the TAS in 2025, which would be a 04:54.265. At that point and until new strategies are found, the best any other player could do is to break even.

In **[Super Mario 64](https://www.speedrun.com/sm64)**, the predictions concern new records in the shorter categories. The momentum in 120 Star seems to have slowed and we might not see any progress there in 2025, but content creator @Bismuth does anticipate new best times in 0 Star, 1 Star and 16 Star. Blindfolded speedrunner @Bubzia agrees with the 16 Star prediction, despite or maybe because of the mystique around that record. Currently, @Suigi is working on the 0 Star category, while @Weegee and @Slipperynip are targetting 16 Star.

Speaking of @Bubzia, his personal goal for the new year does involve the 120 Star category. In May of 2022 he became the first person to finish it blindfolded with a time of 11:22:43. And in 2025, he wants to improve that time significantly and end the run in under ten hours. I was curious about what it will take to get there, and this is what he had to say:

> It’s mostly going to be optimizing the longer and harder stars for consistency and speed. Mostly all the 100 coins stars and some of the really tricky ones like Wingcap Red Coins etc. I have improved as a player a ton over the last year with my 16 and 70 star grind, so lots of new optimizations might now be possible that I simply lacked skill before or even simply did not consider during routing and stuff. It will be lots of work, but it can definitely happen. 😄

@Bismuth on the other hand has plans and predictions for **[Donkey Kong 64](https://www.speedrun.com/dk64?h=101-N64&x=7kj153k3-onvv1yrn.jqzz8d2q)**, specifically in the 101% category on Nintendo 64. In the second half of the year, he’ll aim to improve his time by at least 15 minutes to below 05:40:00. Just above on the leaderboard however he forecasts a potential three-way battle for the crown between @Znernicus, @Awhitmore and @Auphonium, with @Znernicus ultimately coming out on top with a time of at least 05:19:xx at the end of the year.

In the world of tool-assisted speedruns, TAS legend @Tompa is modest and simply wants to continue TASing for as long as he’s motivated. His current project is Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament, a platformer for the Game Boy Advance. Future projects are also already on the horizon, and potentially include The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for the Nintendo DSi, Super Princess Peach on Nintendo DS, and Wario Land: Shake It! on the Wii.

@EBen has been speedrunning ***[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City](https://www.speedrun.com/gtavc?h=Any_No_SSU&x=nxd1rk8q)*** since 2017, but has fallen behind in his favourite category due to other projects and commitments. In 2025, he pledges to improve his time in Any% (No SSU) to avoid being relegated to the 2nd page of the leaderboards and at the very least remain firmly in the top 100. He also predicts more Chinese runners entering the game’s scene and challenging the top times. In 2024, three have already broken into the top 10 and quickly improved.

A very concrete goal comes from Sonic speedrunner and fast-talking scotsman @Argick. He aims to get at least one new top 10 time in a different Sonic game every month. Hopefully we’ll see twelve of them on the scoresheet at the end of the year. It’s a good thing there are 116 different Sonic games on this website to choose from.

@laura and @Dayoman both want to work on their times in **[Spyro the Dragon](https://www.speedrun.com/spyro1?h=120&x=7wkp1gkr)** 120%. While the former’s goal is to reach at least a 1:25:xx before they branch out into other speedgames, Dayoman is locking in and embracing the grind to finish the year with a time below 1:20:00. I’m rooting for both of you!

In **[Super Metroid](https://www.speedrun.com/supermetroid)** Any%, @Kosmic is certain that there will be a new record, and possibly by somebody who has never held it before. In the last ten years, only three people have been at the top: @zoast, @Behemoth87 and @Oatsngoats, the current record holder. Now, at the beginning of 2025, @Drewski_i and @ShinyZeni are equally close to reaching for the crown. It’ll be an exciting leaderboard to follow!

![A screenshot of the Super Metroid Any% leaderboard with Oatsngoats at the top followed by Drewski_i, ShinyZeni, zoast and Behemoth87.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8d43a9c-3e4a-425f-bc87-a637b2658eb6_449x229.jpeg)

***@***Anorakkis can see the three hour barrier in **[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess](https://www.speedrun.com/tp?h=Any-wii&x=z275l4k0-kn0zjg78.rqvrd76l)** Any% on the Wii fall in 2025, even if it might take a mighty run to reach it. And with three tool-assisted speedruns for the game in the works and one for The Wind Waker just released, it might be a really good year for 3D Zelda TASing.

Beyond the games, joey, who runs **[therun.gg](https://therun.gg/)**, is working on the website becoming a front page for all of speedrunning. His aim is to turn it into a hub and a place where one goes to watch streams, get the news, find out about new records or personal bests, see upcoming events, participate in races and tournaments and much more. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll pick up a speedrun again after nine years.

And last but certainly not least, @NaomiiiPlays predicts that charity marathons within the speedrunning scene will manage to raise more for a good cause than in previous years. She noticed a downturn in recent years and hopes that this year will mark a positive change. Currently, AGDQ 2025 is on a good trajectory to improve on last year’s donation total.

### What are yours?

Did these inspire you? Do **you** have any goals or predictions for 2025?

It might be fun to gather as many as we can now and then look back at them at the end of they year. For this purpose, I created a **[quick and basic form](https://forms.gle/7NMWGQpH2P6H4mcj6)** to gather your speedrunning-related goals and predictions for 2025.

Feel free to submit as many as you like, you may remain anonymous. We'll put all of them into a vault at the end of January 2025 and open it at the end of the year. Have a good one!

![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/rz251jdz.png)

Thank you for reading! If you're curious about more of this week's news or would even consider subscribing to the newsletter, you'll find the full post over **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-26)**.

Finding new stories to cover can be challenging. I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should be taking a look at, go ahead and **[submit them here](https://forms.gle/F1VJ4PG68FTZKqn49)** or in the **[Gold Split Discord](https://discord.gg/SpbFCgsYkU)**! 📨

The Gold Split is a free weekly newsletter focused on speedrunning. This week's main story is all about people's speedrunning-related goals and predictions for 2025.

The Gold Split #26 - Goals & Predictions

# What is The 1545?

Combining thirteen legendary 3D Collect-A-Thon games into one marathon challenge, "[The 1545](https://www.speedrun.com/1545)" is a jaw dropping feat of endurance, skill, and sheer willpower.

[The 1545](https://www.speedrun.com/1545) brings together three epic marathons into one:

- [Sprashfecta 642%](https://www.speedrun.com/sprash#Sprash_Trilogies?h=Sprashfecta-642&x=824p4vm2-2lgm3qlp.5lm2keyq) (OG Crash Bandicoot 305% and OG Spyro the Dragon 337%)
- [3D Mario 602](https://www.speedrun.com/multimario?h=3D_Mario_602&x=xd1ezw28) (SM64 120 Star, SMG 1 120 Stars, SMS 120 Shines and SMG 2 242 Stars)
- [Rareware 301%](https://www.speedrun.com/mrg?h=Rareware_Collectathon_Trilogy-301&x=zd3o40ed-wledz4rn.5lerpezq) (Banjo-Kazooie 100%, Banjo-Tooie 100% and Donkey Kong 64 101%)

Together, that’s **642 + 602 + 301 = 1545!**

# Soo... what is this about?

Each year, we host team relay races for the completion category, with occasional Any% (Restricted) ones thrown into the mix.

However, all the way back in January 2024, a small group of runners decided to organize something never done before: a **Solo 1545 completion race.** This daring endeavor would see **individuals run all 13 games back-to-back**, pushing themselves to their absolute limits.

...and so it began - 7 months of learning the remaining games and grinding times down all the way up until the end of July, when it all went down.

# The Solo 1545 race

The term "race" is being used very loosely, as due to the sheer length of the category and participants being from multiple different timezones, it was impossible to settle on a start time that would work for everyone.

Everyone agreed that **the only thing that matters is finishing**, regardless of position or final time - so each runner started at whatever time worked best for them.

The first person to start their attempt did so exactly 2 weeks prior to everyone else and hoped to lead right into the 10th Anniversary 3D Mario 602 race, but unfortunately, they had to quit on game 5 due to some health concerns. This is a great reminder that while this event was a thrilling challenge, it's important to know that **such marathons can take a toll on physical and mental health. Always listen to your body - your safety matters most!**

The remaining 7 participants all started on **July 26th 2024**.

# The Results

Out of the 7 remaining participants, a whopping 6 all ended up finishing the whole 56+ hours long run, with **the first 3 doing so entirely sleepless.**

![](/static/blob/1n7jk29n.png)

The whole detailed results can be found on [this sheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v7eeEl5nitv6wIuJ5AVGkBXiLwf0KGNwNNCcJm-0ED0/edit?gid=2065738983#gid=2065738983) while times adjusted according to our [break rules](https://www.speedrun.com/1545?h=Solo_1545&rules=game&x=jdrxzlld) have been submitted to the [leaderboards](https://www.speedrun.com/1545?h=Solo_1545&x=jdrxzlld).

# What's next? 

While some have vowed to never do this again, others are already considering another run. Interest from new runners is also growing, so the future looks bright for this challenge!

For now, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/YDTDKyA) to keep up with everything 1545, including the **Any% Restricted relay we have coming up next weekend!**

Five months ago, the first-ever Solo 1545 race made history! Spanning 50+ hours across thirteen 3D collect-a-thons, six runners completed the challenge - with a new world record set along the way.

One of 2024's Greatest Speedrunning Triumphs | The 1545

A groundbreaking skip has been discovered in Super Mario Galaxy 2, allowing players to bypass Bowser's prologue dialogue entirely!

This skip, theorized years ago by TAS legends PurpleSun and Shadow64, is now a reality thanks to the efforts of Sheep, a ROM hacker and creator of the SMG2 Kaizo hack *Blue Eclipse*.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK8UeNXhWoc

# How Does It Work?

By performing a precise side-flip on the crystallized Luma at the start of the castle section, Mario starts floating. Keep the crystal in view, and you can climb high enough to cross an invisible wall and clip into the houses. This maneuver skips the Bowser dialogue cutscene entirely, shaving off around **40 seconds -** the biggest time save in SMG2 in recent years!

A gravity-defying skip was proven to be possible at the start of Super Mario Galaxy 2. This skips the Bowser dialogue cutscene trigger and saves 40 seconds.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Bowser Prologue Skip!

It’s time to fend off the zombie hordes so sharpen your gardening skills, plant your defenses, and get ready to show those brain-hungry creeps who’s boss!

Here’s everything you’ll want to know heading into the challenge:

**Starting Date:** December 27th @ 12:00PM UTC

**Duration:** 9 days, until 11:59PM UTC January 5th, 2024

## **Prize Distribution:**

The $500 prize pool will be distributed among the top performers for fastest completion time in the selected category. The distribution is as follows:

**1st place** - $250

**2nd place** - $150

**3rd place** - $100

Please note that in order to comply with international tax law, **the challenge cash prize may be subject to tax withholding based on the winner's country of residence.**

## **Participation Prizes:**

As usual with our SRC Series Challenges, we are bringing back participation prizes!

First of all, any runner who submits any runs to the Plants vs Zombies Speedrun Challenge will receive **one month** of SRC Supporter, if you haven’t heard of Supporter before you may learn more about it[ here](https://www.speedrun.com/supporter)!

Secondly, any challenge participants will be awarded with a unique title! If you’re unfamiliar with Titles, they are a unique descriptor that goes alongside your username on your profile (as well as profile popovers) which can (as of right now) only be acquired by participating in Challenges right here on SRC. To find out more, check out our last article about Titles!

[https://www.speedrun.com/news/17vr795x-introducing-titles](https://www.speedrun.com/news/17vr795x-introducing-titles)

The title for participating in this challenge will be… **Botanist!**

![](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcVNilJAClgX27ViqR9a_c8fZWWbQ8-xJKpKiaMKtPLvQjRUNZMsvyWl9SkloNervJU_eMXw6YMq5cSgLpWO7wHKEDEqSBFoojqTGDe6L8d3oQu1eEEEYm0g3teqea9jdb4k0UK?key=KISYokoKI-5P669BUH3I15VB)

## **Eligibility:**

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

If you are under the age of 18, not to worry! You can still participate and win the participation prizes, but unfortunately you will not be eligible for the cash prizes amongst the top 5.

## **Category:**

The category of choice will be revealed shortly before the launch of the challenge!

## **Submission:**

Record your speedrun and submit it via [our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/21yg1y5v-pvz-src-series-plants-vs-zombies-speedrun-challenge)

Follow the guidelines provided for video formatting and submission requirements, found in the rules section. Please note that we require that prize eligible runs submitted to this challenge must have been live streamed to qualify.

**Rules and Regulations:**

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

Contest Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/21yg1y5v-pvz-src-series-plants-vs-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=contest](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/21yg1y5v-pvz-src-series-plants-vs-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=contest)

Category Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/21yg1y5v-pvz-src-series-plants-vs-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/21yg1y5v-pvz-src-series-plants-vs-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge) 

## **Preparation Suggestions**

To find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit [the PvZ leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com](https://www.speedrun.com/pvz) and/or join [Plants vs Zombies Speedrunning Discord Server](https://discord.gg/R8tPmjs)!  You can also follow either the game or the challenge to receive notifications about challenge activity!

**Good luck, and have fun!️**

You zombies fans are in for a treat once again, coming at you with the second zombies themed challenge in a row - our next SRC Series challenge is Plants vs. Zombies! 

SRC Series Plants vs. Zombies Speedrun Challenge

# The Gold Split Newsletter - Week #24

The Gold Split offers a free, weekly digest of news from the world of speedrunning and beyond.

This **Story of the Week** is all about all about arbitrary awards to wrap up the year of speedrunning and was featured in this week's issue. The full post includes **more news**, briefly, as well as this week's top times and recent TAS movie publications. Check it out **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-24)**.

## ![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/wzxxw3qz.png)

# Story of the Week ✨

After realising that anybody can give out any award for any reason, I thought: why not give it a shot? ***The Gold Split Speed Awards*** (working title) are guaranteed to be subjective and arbitrary.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of people, runs or other entities that do deserve to be mentioned here. I hope the list successfully showcases some of the high points of 2024 and makes it harder to forget them.

I consider myself to be immersed in the scene, but I definitely missed someone or something that should be featured here. Let me know in the comments below!

Next year I’ll plan further ahead and we’ll have a proper ceremony with trophies and booze. Definitely. But without further ado, let’s get into the categories!

## Speedrunner of the Year 🏆

There was never any doubt that this awards wouldn’t go to @Suigi . The entire speedrunning community has been tripping over each other while coming up with new superlatives to describe his most recent achievement, something that has never been done before: holding all five records in all five main categories for *Super Mario 64*. I, too, consider it to be among the greatest achievements in speedrunning history, ever. Nobody else came close this year. 🐐

Check out the main story in *[Week #21](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-21)* of *The Gold Split*, where I use fancy graphs and many more words to explain the when, how and why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP-GOoGqA8w

## Speedrun of the Year 🏆

@Summoningsalt is primarily known for their video essays on world record histories. But they’re also the best at *Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!*, holding impressive records in five of the game’s categories. This year, they achieved a huge improvement in the isolated final fight against *Mike Tyson* himself. It is by far the hardest one in the game and a good time does not only depend on dodging, ducking, and hitting frame-perfect punches, but also on randomness.

In June, @Summoningsalt **defeated *Mike Tyson* in 2:00.00**. This run improved the previous record by eight frames. This might not sound like much, but according to them, the luck necessary to get this time has a 1/6,000 chance of occurring. And even then, it’s still necessary to hit all 21 frame-perfect punches (each 1/60 of a second) and lose as few frames as possible while dodging and ducking.

It is as much about execution as it is about luck, and the persistence to put in tens of thousands of attempts over many years to achieve it deserves a special place here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_wvPExoOg8

## Glitch Discovery of the Year 🏆

I admit that there many other glitches this year that were potentially more impactful, saved more time, trivialised complicated sections, or changed speedruns entirely, but the award goes to the ***Disc 1 Skip* in *Final Fantasy VII***.

While it did also have huge implications for the speedrun, prompting major route changes and saving a good chunk of time, you may argue that it had an even bigger effect on the game’s story. By skipping from the end of *Midgar* straight to *Disc 2* the cutscene in which *Aerith* is killed by *Sepiroth* still plays, but she remains in the party and can be used throughout the rest of the run. I dare say that *Aerith’s* death is one of the most iconic ones in video game history. And the fact that this glitch saves *Aerith* and is actually useful in the speedrun at the same time makes it the winner in this category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bANC9Nqdyf8

## Video Essay of the Year 🏆

In 2024, @Summoningsalt alone put out five high-quality long-form video essays, and it’s awesome to see the amount of content creators who put in so much effort to explain glitches, strategies, or the history of world records in any given game.

The award this year goes to the crazy scientist that brought you *Super Mario 64’s* parallel universes: ***[pannenkoek2012](https://www.youtube.com/@pannenkoek2012)***

Their **[lecture about invisible walls in ](https://youtu.be/YsXCVsDFiXA)*[Super Mario 64](https://youtu.be/YsXCVsDFiXA)*** not only captivates casual players and viewers, but it’s something even the most seasoned veterans of *Super Mario 64* speedrunning can still learn from. Outstanding.

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

## Speedrunning Game of the Year 🏆

For me, ***[Chained Together](https://www.speedrun.com/Chained_Together)*** is the best game for speedrunning released in 2024. It has everything you might look for in a tense run and more. Tough execution, high stakes, no downtime, and a good *Any%* runtime all contribute. In addition, the game’s coop feature is hilarious and it’s been a while since I’ve seen good coop speedruns from a new game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3s0STN7bb4

## Non-Video-Game Speedrun of the Year 🏆

In May 2024, ***[Baking](https://www.speedrun.com/IRL_Baking)*** was invented. More specifically, baking twelve chocolate chip cookies. As fast as possible. Popularised by streamer @QTCinderella, it quickly gained some traction on its leaderboards, but it took a few months for the ruleset to be well defined. Too many corners were cut to get ahead of the competition. By now, the recipe no longer containes quantities, just a set of mandatory ingredients, and each cookie must be measured and tested for quality control.

Nevertheless, applying the speedrunning formula to real-life tasks is hilarious to me and something every speedrunner can probably relate to. What do you mean by you’ve never tried to speedrun your shopping?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sO9cK2hWG0

## (New) Speedrunning Event of the Year 🏆

This was a tough category and I considered not including it. In order to avoid AGDQ or SGDQ taking the top spot on metrics every single time, I felt like I had to restrict it to events that newly arrived to the scene in 2024.

Amongst those, ***[Fast50](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOQLqxudEz9N4JcPpvniPlYHNqn1PkL6e)*** stands out to me. It broke with a lot of conventions, but in doing so it did an undeniably great job at bringing speedrunning to an almost entirely new audience. It successfully combined live speedruns with reaction content from popular streamers and raised $250,000+ for a good cause on top of being incredibly entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FLs_lPfvvY

## Non-Speedrun Achievement of the Year 🏆

Many feats of gaming excellence qualify for this category, but I can’t think of a better one than beating the (potentially) final milestone in a 35 year old classic: @dogplayingtetris**[ achieving ](https://youtu.be/fXhbti5SneE)*[Rebirth](https://youtu.be/fXhbti5SneE)*[ in NES ](https://youtu.be/fXhbti5SneE)*[Tetris](https://youtu.be/fXhbti5SneE)***.

*Rebirth* is considered the true end of *Tetris* happens when the player finishes level 255. The level counter rolls over and resets the speed and score multiplier. There are many challenges on the way there though. Starting at level 29, pieces come in at the maximum speed, and it is a long and tough battle to get all the way to 255. This is further aggravated by level 235, where the player needs to clear 810 lines to advance instead of 10 like on any other level. Additionally, after level 138, pieces start to no longer appear within the standard colour palette and are sometimes barely visible against the background. The entire run took @dogplayingtetris more than 80 minutes, clearing more than 3,300 lines, most of them at ridiculous speed.

The video below does a good job at putting this insane achievement into context and expanding on some of the intricacies that led to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z97tkKKlWA

## Top Dog of the Year 🏆

Shiba Inu ***Peanut Butter*** and his human @JSR_ entered the big speedrunning stage with a [remote speedrun of ](https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8)*[Gyromite](https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8)*[ at ](https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8)*[AGDQ 2024](https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8https://youtu.be/wwP5N44Lcd8)*.

At *SGDQ 2024*, it was then time for the literal stage. *Peanut Butter* showcased the speedrun for *Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB*, putting all that training and practice to the test, demonstrating nerves of steel and absolutely [knocking it out of the park](https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/1dvmobh/the_game_winner_from_best_boy_peanutbutter/). What a good dog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2FZKJ4QBdA

## Personal Quest to Perfection Award 🏆

This award solely exists because @Bubzia showed up every other week whenever I did research for *The Gold Split*, continuously pushing for more optimisation and better times in his blindfolded *Super Mario 64* speedruns.

Many thought the pinnacle was reached two years ago when he collected all 120 power stars blindfolded in 11 hours, 22 minutes and 43 seconds. But he was just getting started with optimising strategies and categories and has not stopped throughout the whole year. This would already be impressive, but is topped off by his showcase of *Super Mario 64 Randomizer* at *SGDQ 2024*, where @Bubzia was able to show off not only execution, but also the learning and memorisation elements of his blindfolded speedruns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfzOc97vYEk

![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/rz251jdz.png)

Thank you for reading! If you're curious about more of this week's news or would even consider subscribing to the newsletter, you'll find the full post over **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-19)**.

Finding new stories to cover can be challenging. I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should be taking a look at, go ahead and **[submit them here](https://forms.gle/F1VJ4PG68FTZKqn49)** or in the **[Gold Split Discord](https://discord.gg/SpbFCgsYkU)**! 📨

The Gold Split is a free weekly newsletter focused on speedrunning. This week's main story is all about arbitrary awards to wrap up the year of speedrunning.

The Gold Split Week #24: The Gold Split Speed Awards

# What is Seterra? 

Seterra is a GeoGuesser game that was brought to Speedrun.com on September 23rd, 2022. It allows you to play different game modes and remembers your States and Countries. The following modes that are in the game are:

1. Pin
2. Type
3. Pin (Hard)
4. Type (Easy) 
5. Place The Labels

Seterra has a total of 635 Followers and ~1,460 Players are speedrunning the game at this very moment.

# How did we get to 20,000 Speedruns?

20,000 is a big number - let's go over some WR's that got verified by our amazing moderators.

### Europe: Countries (With Kosovo) - Pin

On June 22nd, 2023, [@Sirixilus Got the WR first with a 34s 859ms. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwE_NqQfqQE)

On November 8th, 2024, [@UNFRIED Got the new WR with a time of a 21s 333ms. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NZR16CnYYo)

### The U.S.: 50 States - Pin

On June 27th, 2023, [@nonamebyprogram Got the WR first with a 1m 16s 605ms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwjMGueAAo)

On November 3rd, 2024, [@zBlur Got the new WR with a 23s 948ms. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZmQQURxtfs)

### North And Central America: Countries - Pin

On June 29th, 2023, [@Daxzz Got the WR first with a 8s 308ms ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6VRIkFVUVs)

On November 19th, 2024, [@radkouse Got the new WR with a 4s 784ms. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MuGL5-kGU)

# Which runners have the most runs in the game? 

I picked 5 unique runners who speedrun this game and have a lot of runs on this game.

1. @Daxzz - 790 runs
2. @JobyBabby - 894 runs
3. @BB78 - 1397 runs
4. @Serdzio - 1650 runs
5. @Akuretaki - 2152 runs

# Who has been verifying these runs on this awesome game? 

With 20,000 Speedruns. Who has been Verifying these runs all this time?

1. @Daxzz - Verified a whopping total of 15,175 runs
2. @dha - This moderator has verified 157 runs
3. @Otterstone_Gamer - This moderator has verified 1,736 runs
4. @Shinboy - This moderator has verified 74 runs
5. @Teoinator - This moderator has verified 1,315 runs

I want to thank all of the Moderators and Super Moderators for verifying all 20,000 speedruns and many more to come in the future.

# What is next for Seterra? 

Seterra is still growing strong. We should be able to get to 30,000 Speedruns and get over 1,500 Speedrunners who are going to Speedrun this game. It is an amazing sight to see all of these amazing people speedrunning this game and seeing the Moderators verify these runs as fast as possible to get more and more and more runs.

# Final Words. 

I want to say, thank you so much for allowing me to upload this news article. I remember doing the 1st one when we got 10,000 speedruns and now we are at 20,000 - this is so amazing.  Thank you so much for all the support and appreciation towards these amazing moments.  Big thank you to @starsmiley @Meta @Camcorder and a bunch of other amazing people. If it was not for you amazing people. We would not be here doing what we love doing. I cannot wait to see what is going to unfold in the future.

Showing the best of the best players and showing some Recent WR's that happened on Seterra. 

20,000 Speedruns on Seterra 

The 8th Souls Charity Marathon takes place November 30th - December 1st!



## **What is Souls Charity Marathon?**

The Souls Speedrunning community's beloved charity marathon. It consists of 2 days of back-to-back Souls speedrun content! During the event you can expect high level speedruns, bingo, races, randomizers, and our yearly tradition, the community relay race. The marathon benefits [Save the Children](https://www.savethechildren.net/) and has fundraised a total of $144,000 to date.



## What is the relay race?

The relay race consists of two teams of speedrunners who will race through the entire Souls series. Every year the relay race features a different category for this race, this year teams will speedrun the Any% category of their games. This entire race is projected to be approximately 5 hours, and is not to be missed as it is truly the highlight of the event. The relay takes place on Sunday, December 1st.



## When is the marathon?

The marathon is Novemeber 30th - December 1st, find the schedule [here](https://oengus.io/marathon/scm2024/schedule).



## Where to find us:

**Twitch:** [SoulsSpeedruns](https://www.twitch.tv/soulsspeedruns) **Twitter:** [@SoulsSpeedruns](https://twitter.com/soulsspeedruns) **Bluesky:** [SoulsSpeedruns](https://bsky.app/profile/soulsspeedruns.bsky.social) **Website:** [soulsspeedruns.com](https://soulsspeedruns.com/)



Don't miss out on our 8th annual marathon! Come for the Souls runs, stay for the community.


Souls Charity Marathon is a community speedrun event filled with Souls series speedruns, bingo, randomizers, and our special feature relay race. Come join this one-of-a-kind event in efforts to raise funds for Save the Children.

Souls Charity Marathon is back for its 8th year this weekend!

# The Gold Split Newsletter - Week #21

The Gold Split offers a free, weekly digest of news from the world of speedrunning and beyond.

This **Story of the Week** is all about @Suigi 's sweep of all five main Super Mario 64 categories and was featured in this week's issue. The full post includes **more news**, briefly, as well as this week's top times and a fun fact. Check it out **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-19)**.

## ![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/wzxxw3qz.png)

# Story of the Week ✨

@Suigi is the first person to hold the records of ***[Super Mario 64](https://www.speedrun.com/sm64)***’s five major speedrun categories at the same time. How did we get here? Why did nobody stop him? Is the game truly dead? I’ll give a short overview of the game in general and each category in particular. Let’s dive in!

## Overview / History

*Super Mario 64* is a game that needs no introduction. Because its 3D movement offers such a wealth of options to traverse incredibly diverse levels, it is objectively one of the best games for speedrunning, both as a player and a viewer. Because it has attracted such a big crowd, the competition is fierce, and it takes years of practice to become one of the best.

*0 Star*, *1 Star*, *16 Star*, *70 Star*, and *120 Star* are the five major speedrun categories. They mainly differ in the number of power stars collected before defeating *Bowser in the Sky*, the final level of the game. But the methods *Mario* uses to get there and the glitches allowed along the way vary greatly. Four doors requiring 8, 30, 50, and 70 power stars, respectively, block Mario’s progress until he has collected enough.

In the past, the story of *Super Mario 64* speedrunning has been one of specialists: whether it’s @cheese and @puncayshun in *120 Star* and *70 Star*, @Xiah and @akki in *16 Star*, or @MANNO and @Dowsky in *1 Star* and *0 Star*: dominating performances were always limited to at most two categories. Until @Suigi entered the scene. By June 2023, he already held the record in four of the five categories. Only the most prestigious one was left to claim: *120 Star*.

For each category, I’ll give a short overview and then cover @Suigi 's road to the record. Categories are ordered chronologically by the time his most recent record was set.

## 16 Star

When @Suigi created his account on *[speedrun.com](https://www.speedrun.com/)* on March 8th, 2020, he also submitted his first time to the leaderboards: 30 minutes flat in the *16 Star* category.

*16 Star* is the most popular category for beginners. It’s short and there are a limited number of techniques to learn, providing a solid base of experience to step into more technical or longer categories. The goal is to beat the game as fast as possible with the following restrictions:

- A complicated technique called *[Side Backwards Long Jump](https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/SBLJ)* is not allowed
- The door blocked by the 30 power stars requirement may only be skipped using a technique called *[MIPS Clip](https://youtu.be/TMUuBZ7lOVI)*

16 Star Progression:

![](/static/blob/3ekd0v3z.png)

A few months after his initial time, @Suigi submitted a 00:20:07 in August 2020 and never stopped improving until achieving his first record on November 10th, 2021. He was only dethroned once more by @Weegee shortly after, but then started his quest of domination that ended in March of 2023 with a record that speedrunning content creator *Bismuth* called [the perfect Mario run](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMp0VwztcNw): **00:14:35.500**.

This time remains on top of that category’s leaderboard today and is the foundation of @Suigi 's streak.

## 1 Star

This category is the next most technical, the second shortest and uses the *[Side Backwards Long Jump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Rh63aMJro)* to skip the door requiring 30 power stars. Players still collect one star in *Dire Dire Docks*, the stage blocking access to the second *Bowser* level. This avoids the much more difficult setup needed for the *0 Star* category.

1 Star Progression:

![](/static/blob/xz0d8ome.png)

@Suigi started running this in October of 2021, but it wasn’t until December of 2022 when he began seriously improving and aiming for a better time. The first record of 00:07:04.270 followed two months later in February of 2023, but he managed to shave nearly seven more seconds off that time.

On April 9th, 2023, he set the record that also still stands today: **00:06:57.580**. This marks the beginning of a pattern: when setting a record, @Suigi simply didn’t stop. He continued until he was happy with his performance. And by that time, he’s put himself such an impressive distance away from all the other ranks that it discouraged the competition, leaving them with a significant gap to close. Today, this gap is still over six seconds large.

## 0 Star

This category is basically the *Any%* category of *Super Mario 64*. Everything is allowed, except collecting power stars. It’s similar to *1 Star*, but requires a much more complicated setup for the *[Side Backwards Long Jump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnTU96zwPJc)* in order to skip *Dire Dire Docks* and go straight to *Bowser in the Fire Sea*.

0 Star Progression:

![](/static/blob/kzwo1k2e.png)

@Suigi picked up this category in June of 2022 and seriously started trying to improve soon after his first *1 Star* record in February of 2023. Two months later, he set his first record, but once again he did not stop there. He kept improving, eventually securing a comfortable lead of over ten seconds ahead of the second place. This is a huge gap for a run that is just over six minutes long. The final record before moving on was set on October 25th, 2023: **00:06:16.600.**

## 120 Star

*120 Star* is without a doubt the most prestigious category. Over the course of more than 90 minutes, every single star in the game is collected. The way in which that is done has been refined unlike any other category in any other game, and there are many different routes for players of different skill levels. *120 Star* demands constant focus, stamina, precision, and especially consistency. If @Suigi could prove here that he’s not just the best in the shorter categories, nobody would be able to doubt his status as a legend.

120 Star Progression:

![](/static/blob/xzdp1v5z.png)

@Suigi made his first tentative steps in November of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. But only after his times in 16 Star, 1 Star, and 0 Star were secured, he began to put a lot of effort into practice.

And the results spoke for themselves: by June of 2024, after just over six months, he achieved a time of 01:37:38, putting him in reach of the record at the time. But it still took four months of more and more promising attempts until it finally happened: on October 26th, 2024, @Suigi set a new record at 01:35:33. Not only was he the first to achieve a time below 01:36:00, he also improved his previous time by almost one and a half minutes.

More than that, he also proved that it was not a fluke by again persevering and setting another record, just eight days later. It’s the record that still stands today: **01:35:28**.

## 70 Star

70 power stars is the amount necessary to get past all of *Bowser’s* obstacles without the use of glitches. The major sequence breaks through the power star doors and the endless staircase are banned, and thus this category is the closest of the five major ones that could be considered glitchless-ish.

Throughout the years, players meticulously identified those 70 stars that can be collected the fastest. Many route variations for various skill levels exist that collect certain power stars at different points in the game, or opt for entirely different ones.

70 Star Progression:

![](/static/blob/1n5345qz.png)

@Suigi played *70 Star* at various points throughout his journey, most notably after he started practising the category in February of 2022 and in June of 2023, when he broke the record for the first time.

At this point in time, @Suigi already held four out of the five records. However, he had not yet mastered *120 Star*, and doing so would take a while. Others were also close to beating his *70 Star* record, and Japanese runner @ikori_o eventually did twice in December of 2023 by a decent margin.

It wasn’t until @Suigi secured his *120 Star* victory that he could return to *70 Star* and complete the full sweep of all major categories in *Super Mario 64*, an achievement almost 20 months in the making. On November 17th, 2024, he beat @ikori_o 's time by two seconds and became the greatest of all time: **00:46:26 🐐**

## Conclusion & Outlook

If you’ve read all of this but are still in search of answers that will explain how @Suigi managed this legendary accomplishment, consider these points:

- His attitude to practice: in the past, many runners would practice the majority of the run by doing full game runs. This made them experts in the more casual sections, but made it harder to consistently pull off the more difficult techniques. @Suigi specifically practised these harder skips until he was able to confidently do them five times or even ten or more times in a row within a certain timeframe.
- The times he had set in *16 Star*, *1 Star*, and *0 Star* were so dominant that there was very little competition to challenge them. That is still true even over a year after they had been achieved.
- Breaking the record in *120 Star* was only a matter of time given his talent. And afterwards it took him just 22 days to also sit on top of the *70 Star* leaderboard. There simply was not enough time for anybody to respond.
- He’s just that good.

After the dust had settled, some said that *Super Mario 64* speedrunning is dead. That everything has been achieved. That there’s no drive to push for more. But I don’t think that’s the case.

While @Suigi 's records in the shorter categories will be incredibly tough to beat, the *70 Star* time is well within reach. And *120 Star* is so complex and long and has so many people consistently at the top that it would be a huge surprise to not see others motivated by his achievement. *Super Mario 64* will remain a shining beacon within speedrunning and will always attract new runners to the scene. @Suigi is incredibly young and likely only the beginning of a new generation of runners, and instead of mourning the past and being pessimistic about the future, let’s focus on making them feel as welcome as possible. If we manage this, we’ll be able to witness many more achievements just like this one.

![](https://www.speedrun.com/static/blob/rz251jdz.png)

Thank you for reading! If you're curious about more of this week's news or would even consider subscribing to the newsletter, you'll find the full post over **[HERE](https://goldsplit.substack.com/p/week-19)**.

Finding new stories to cover can be challenging. I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should be taking a look at, go ahead and **[submit them here](https://forms.gle/F1VJ4PG68FTZKqn49)** or in the **[Gold Split Discord](https://discord.gg/SpbFCgsYkU)**! 📨

The Gold Split is a free weekly newsletter focused on speedrunning. This week's main story is all about Suigi's sweep of all five main Super Mario 64 categories.

The Gold Split Week #21: Five out of Five Marios

Here’s everything you’ll want to know heading into the challenge:

**Starting Date:** November 15th, 2024 @ 12:00PM UTC

**Duration:** 9 days, until 11:59PM UTC November 24th, 2024

## **Prize Distribution:**

The $500 prize pool will be distributed among the top performers for fastest completion time in the selected category. The distribution is as follows:

**1st place** - $250

**2nd place** - $150

**3rd place** - $100

Please note that in order to comply with international tax law, **the challenge cash prize may be subject to tax withholding based on the winner's country of residence.**

## **Participation Prizes:**

As usual with our SRC Series Challenges, we are bringing back participation prizes!

First of all, any runner who submits any runs to the BO6 Zombies Speedrun Challenge will receive **one month** of SRC Supporter, if you haven’t heard of Supporter before you may learn more about it[ here](https://www.speedrun.com/supporter)!

Secondly, any challenge participants will be awarded with a unique (and yet to be revealed) title! If you’re unfamiliar with Titles, they are a unique descriptor that goes alongside your username on your profile (as well as profile popovers) which can (as of right now) only be acquired by participating in Challenges right here on SRC. To find out more, check out our last article about Titles! [https://www.speedrun.com/news/17vr795x-introducing-titles](https://www.speedrun.com/news/17vr795x-introducing-titles)

## **Eligibility:**

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

If you are under the age of 18, not to worry! You can still participate and win the participation prizes, but unfortunately you will not be eligible for the cash prizes amongst the top 3.

## **Category:**

The category of choice will be revealed shortly before the launch of the challenge!

## **Submission:**

Record your speedrun and submit it via [our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/xny8nyl5-BO6Zombies-black-ops-6-zombies-speedrun-challenge)

Follow the guidelines provided for video formatting and submission requirements, found in the rules section. Please note that we require that prize eligible runs submitted to this challenge must have been live streamed to qualify.

**Rules and Regulations:**

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

Contest Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/xny8nyl5-BO6Zombies-black-ops-6-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=contest](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/xny8nyl5-BO6Zombies-black-ops-6-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=contest)

Category Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/xny8nyl5-BO6Zombies-black-ops-6-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/xny8nyl5-BO6Zombies-black-ops-6-zombies-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge)

## **Preparation Suggestions**

To find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit [the BO6 Zombies leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com](https://www.speedrun.com/BO6Zombies) and/or join [COD Zombies Speedrunning Discord Server](https://discord.com/invite/H2VdDefUrK)!  You can also follow either the game or the challenge to receive notifications about challenge activity!

**Good luck, and have fun!️**

Get ready, zombies fans - our next SRC Series challenge is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies! It's time to face off against waves of the undead in this month's challenge which will test your skills and keep you on your toes.

SRC Series: Black Ops 6 Zombies Speedrun Challenge

Do you live for the thrill of cutting seconds off your best speedruns? Want to tackle new games and win real cash prizes for setting records? Then RapidRuns4Fun is the place for you!

# 🎮 What We’re About 🎮 

- **Speedrun Bounties:** Cash incentives for the fastest times on new and exciting games! Take on a challenge, set a record, and get rewarded for your skills.
- **Active Community:** Join fellow speedrunners for discussions, tips, and camaraderie. We love sharing techniques and celebrating milestones together!
- **Special Events:** Participate in themed marathons, raid parties, game shows, and more. There’s always something fresh and exciting in the works.
- **Weekly Recap Streams:** Join us every Sunday for our community recap stream! We highlight top runs, showcase progress, and bring everyone up to speed on the latest news and events.
- **Indie Dev Connections:** RapidRuns4Fun connects speedrunners with indie developers, shining a spotlight on games that might otherwise go unnoticed. By participating, you’ll not only compete but also support indie creators in the process.

# 💸 How Bounties Work 💸 

Each bounty is a cash prize attached to a specific game challenge. As long as you’ve got the skills, you’re in for a shot at winning. Plus, the more members join, the bigger and better the bounties!

🔗 Ready to Join? Become part of a supportive community, meet speedrunners and developers alike, and earn cash prizes while playing awesome, under-the-radar games. Join RapidRuns4Fun and let’s make every second count! [https://discord.gg/MVYRjgYAHW](https://discord.gg/MVYRjgYAHW)

The new small bounty was just announced today on the weekly recap stream and details can be found in the open bounty discord channel.

## Currently Running: [Kneedle Knight](https://www.speedrun.com/Kneedle_Knight)

## Rewards: 1st Place = $50, 2nd Place = $25

Note: We do bounties and events on a regular basis and tend to keep them short so you will see that the bounty prizes are small for now but the quantity of bounties makes up for it. We have given out a total of over $2000 in rewards since launch. We do have a Patreon and all money earned on that account gets dumped back into the community so these bounties can become larger in time as we grow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slSj1gmT6cQ

This community has many ongoing events including but not limited to speedrun bounties, game shows, and custom speedrunning events with plans to host marathon charity events in the future.

RapidRuns4Fun Community!

Super Mario 64

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Dark Souls

Plants vs. Zombies

The 1545

Seterra (Geoguessr Version)

Kneedle Knight

Fatzke

xwpw4y0l

PlayerGameSK

Ashewyn

Tibs

VexGamingTV

SpeedRunFan2022

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies

Submissions will be available 2 weeks after the official release (November 8th). These 2 weeks serve to help the moderation team create main categories, the IL leaderboard and respective rule-sets. Until then feel free to join and help the community with your findings and personal bests on the freshly opened SXS Generations-[Discord](https://discord.gg/M6CyCfC6M7)

Shadow Generations

MiSide

Submissions will be available 2 weeks after the official release (November 8th). These 2 weeks serve to help the moderation team create main categories, the IL leaderboard and respective rule-sets. Until then feel free to join and help the community with your findings and personal bests on the freshly opened SXS Generations-[Discord](https://discord.gg/M6CyCfC6M7)!