Attention horror fans and speedrunners of all kinds!

We're excited for our next challenge as part of our SRC Series! If you don’t know, the SRC Series is a lineup of challenges we're rolling out on a semi-regular basis, funded entirely by Speedrun.com. SRC Series challenges are designed to be fun and engaging, with a focus on community involvement. The prize bounties are smaller compared to sponsored challenges, providing a break from the stress of high-stakes competition! We hope SRC Series challenges will continue to bring speedrunners together from all kinds of communities to discover new games and meet new people.

For our next challenge, we've selected **Poppy Playtime**! If you're unfamiliar, Poppy Playtime is a Puzzle Horror currently in development (with 3 chapters available) by Mob Entertainment.

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

**Starting Date:** April 14th, 2024

**Duration:** 10 days, until 11:59PM UTC April 24th, 2024

## **Prize Distribution:**

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

**1st place** - $250

**2nd place** - $150

**3rd place** - $100

## **Participation Prizes:**

We are bringing back participation prizes for the second challenge in a row!

First of all, any runner who submits any runs to the Poppy Playtime 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 the title **PLAYTOY**. 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)

## **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:**

*(Updated post-launch of the challenge)*

The category of choice for this Challenge **will involve running Any% of both Poppy Playtime Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 on the current patch of the game!**

To learn more, please check out our [Challenge Rules](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-src-series-poppy-playtime-duo-challenge/rules?view=challenge) :)

## **Submission:**

Record your speedrun and submit it via[ our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-poppy-playtime-duo-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 (top 3)** must have been live-streamed for this challenge.

## **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/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-poppy-playtime-duo-challenge/contest](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-poppy-playtime-duo-challenge/contest)

Category Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-poppy-playtime-duo-challenge/rules?view=challenge](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/dz35e3g5-ppt_c1-poppy-playtime-duo-challenge/rules?view=challenge)

## **Preparation Suggestions**

To find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit[ the Poppy Playtime leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/ppt_c1) Follow either the game or the challenge to receive notifications about challenge activity! You can also join[ the Poppy Playtime Discord server](https://discord.gg/rdwTbGRRwy) to keep up with the community!

**Good luck, and have fun!️**

Join us for our next SRC Series challenge: Poppy Playtime!

SRC Series: Poppy Playtime Duo Speedrun Challenge

Hello speedrunners. Nitro Speedrun and I are happy to announce a new multi-games competition - Run Arena! 

Multi-game speedruns are an intriguing aspect of speedrunning, especially in the competitive scene. A multi-game competition offers speedrunners who typically specialize in different games an engaging arena to test their skills on unfamiliar titles, providing a level playing field for all participants! 

Recent events such as the 18th edition of BIG 20, concluded on March 2nd, and the 10th edition of Ultimate Decathlon last year, serve as prominent examples of the excitement these competitions generate.

![](/static/blob/7e94vxn1.png)

## Format

The event will happen on 5 PC games, available on different platforms and will host 3 competitions: Individual, Drafts and Teams. With that in mind, it’s not compulsory to speedrun 5 games, drafts are possible with 4 games, and teams with 3 games! The total games price should be around $20 for all 5 games including sales.

Each time on a game gives you points awarded by your time. The standings are made with all your points from the different games like you have on Athleticism' Decathlon for example.

## Date

The event starts this Friday, March 15th, and finishes on May 5th, with a full weekend for all the finals. The revealing stream will be on [twitch.tv/nitro_speedrun_en](http://twitch.tv/nitro_speedrun_en), or [twitch.tv/nitro_speedrun](http://twitch.tv/nitro_speedrun_en) (in French) at 4pm EDT/9pm CET.

## **Prizes**

Each competition will have its own prize pool. The total initial prize pool is $1200. During the edition a Matcherino series will join the series we already have for Nitro Speedrun, so you could contribute to the prize pool if you like the event! [https://matcherino.com/u/Nitro_Speedrun/1108476](https://matcherino.com/u/Nitro_Speedrun/1108476)information

## **Other Information**

More information will come with the reveal, but you can already join the action! [The Nitro Speedrun Discord](https://discord.gg/X3JFEr6Gen) will be the place to have all the information in time. The Run Arena website will come on Saturday, March 16th with all the functionalities needed for this event: [https://www.run-arena.com/](https://www.run-arena.com/)

We hope you’re hyped for this adventure and we will be glad to see you there!

Run Arena is a multi-game speedrun competition that starts on March 15th and lasts for 7 weeks! The competition will be on 5 PC games across 3 different formats.

Run Arena: A New Multi-Game Competition!

Attention runners! We're excited for our next challenge as part of our SRC Series! If you don’t know, the SRC Series is a lineup of challenges we're rolling out on a semi-regular basis, funded entirely by Speedrun.com. SRC Series challenges are designed to be fun and engaging, with a focus on community involvement. The prize bounties are smaller compared to sponsored challenges, providing a break from the stress of high-stakes competition! We hope SRC Series challenges will continue to bring speedrunners together from all kinds of communities to discover new games and meet new people.

## The Game

For our next challenge, we've selected ULTRAKILL! If you're unfamiliar, ULTRAKILL is an FPS currently in development (available through early access) by Arsi “Hakita” Patala, and published by New Blood Interactive. ULTRAKILL currently has the highest active player count on Speedrun.com, with a whopping 1,266 speedrunners who’ve recently submitted runs. It’s certainly no surprise how many runners are attracted to ULTRAKILL, considering the pure speed and efficiency of its combat routing.

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

**Starting Date:** March 10th, 2024

**Duration:** 10 days, until 11:59PM UTC March 20th, 2024

## **Prize Distribution:**

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

**1st place** - $250

**2nd place** - $150

**3rd place** - $100

## **Participation Prizes:**

New to this challenge, we are introducing a couple participation prizes!

First of all, any runner who submits any runs to the ULTRAKILL 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, we will be releasing a new cosmetic feature that will be available to challenge participants - no news I can share on that quite yet but stay tuned!

## **Eligibility:**

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

## **Category:**

As this is a challenge for a pre-existing game, we will not be revealing the category until near the start of the challenge to avoid anyone starting ahead of time. That said, if you want to hop in a game and start learning the basics to prepare yourself - we encourage you to do so if you’d like!

## **Submission:**

Record your speedrun and submit it via[ our Challenge leaderboard here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/vx30zp26-ultrakill-src-series-ultrakill-speedrun-challenge)

Follow the guidelines provided for video formatting and submission requirements, found in the rules section. Please note that a new requirement has been added to this challenge, requiring that prize eligible runs must have been live streamed.

## **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/vx30zp26-ultrakill-src-series-ultrakill-speedrun-challenge/contest](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/vx30zp26-ultrakill-src-series-ultrakill-speedrun-challenge/contest)

Category Rules: [https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/vx30zp26-ultrakill-src-series-ultrakill-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge](https://www.speedrun.com/challenges/vx30zp26-ultrakill-src-series-ultrakill-speedrun-challenge/rules?view=challenge)

## **Preparation Suggestions**

To find tips & tricks for the speedrun, visit[ the ULTRAKILL leaderboard right here on Speedrun.com.](https://www.speedrun.com/ultrakill) Follow either the game or the challenge to receive notifications about challenge activity! You can also join[ the ULTRAKILL Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/jP92MqdqAY) to keep up with the community!

**Good luck, and have fun!️**

Join us for our next SRC Series Challenge with ULTRAKILL!

SRC Series: ULTRAKILL Speedrun Challenge

# **The Event**

Founded two years ago by Metroid Crime, [Lady Arcaders](https://ladyarcaders.com) are celebrating the community’s 2 year anniversary with an absolutely leviathan fifty-hour event! The Raid Train departs the station Tuesday the 13th at 10pm EST, traveling nonstop & through the night all the way to Thursday the 15th, ending on the [Lady Arcaders Twitch channel](https://twitch.tv/ladyarcaders) with a speedrun of **Stardew Valley** by [Pr1nc3ssShortcake](https://twitch.tv/Pr1nc3ssShortcake).

Some highlights of [the full schedule](https://ladyarcaders.com/raid-train/2024/) include:

[EikoTheBlue](https://twitch.tv/eikotheblue), lead developer of the **Ori And The Blind Forest** randomizer, will be speedrunning her own creation. We’ll see [ceaselessly](https://twitch.tv/ceaselessly) take on **Pokémon Crystal** with a sole Diglett, and more randomized speedruns with [Demerine](https://twitch.tv/Demerine2) running **Dragon Warrior Chaos**, and [BunniestBunRena](https://twitch.tv/BunniestBunRena) in randomized **Zelda: A Link Between Worlds**.

We’ll also be seeing several PB attempts, with [FawkesRocks](https://twitch.tv/Fawkes_Rocks) running **Sonic CD**, and [Quacksilver](https://twitch.tv/quacksilverplays) on **GRIME**. And did you know the PAL version of **Luigi’s Mansion** is mirrored and more challenging? [Elite_Spud](https://twitch.tv/elite_spud) will be going for a PB, then (time allowing) they’ll show off some *blindfolded* gameplay.

Here’s a sampler platter of clips, to see the Lady Arcader vibe ahead of the big show:

- [https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/TallBashfulDadPeanutButterJellyTime-vOQmUcx9KGUpKlzY](https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/TallBashfulDadPeanutButterJellyTime-vOQmUcx9KGUpKlzY)
- [https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/RefinedIntelligentCourgetteGingerPower-SX2HxhP3gxWI_CqP](https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/RefinedIntelligentCourgetteGingerPower-SX2HxhP3gxWI_CqP)
- [https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/DullProudGrasshopperBudStar-YzIH7YHTgiN7IUWw](https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/DullProudGrasshopperBudStar-YzIH7YHTgiN7IUWw)
- [https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/HeadstrongCooperativeScorpionDoritosChip-6lynDAtUNJB_SPC-](https://www.twitch.tv/ladyarcaders/clip/HeadstrongCooperativeScorpionDoritosChip-6lynDAtUNJB_SPC-)

# **About Lady Arcaders**

Lady Arcaders is an all-women’s gaming collective, founded to showcase women’s passion and skills. Getting involved in the speedrunning and general gaming/speedrunning spaces can be *very* daunting, so the group can serve as a springboard in and a space to form friendships and build community.

Attract Mode! (The exclamation is important!) is Lady Arcader’s flagship show, running twice a week on Twitch to showcase game-related content by women creators. If you’re interested in participating, [applications are open year-round](https://ladyarcaders.com/event/attract-mode/).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD2OaKYx7eg

Celebrating 2-year community anniversary with 26 streamers taking on randomizers, PB attempts, cosplay crafting, & more.

Lady Arcaders Kick Off 50 Hour Raid Train

Speedromizer V Submissions are OPEN! The marathon where what you submit, is NOT what you run. Raising money for Qmunity.

### Timeline

- Submit from January 27, 2024 to February 25, 2024
- Games will be picked in a standard marathon judging process
- Accepted games are shuffled and randomly assigned to other runners
- Live draft lottery: March 02
- From the draft lottery, runners have roughly 3 months to learn their games
- Confirmation Period for runners: April 19 - April 28
- Marathon schedule is released: May 05
- Tech checks for all event participants: May 10-12, 17-19, 24-26
- **Marathon goes live June 06 - 09, at 10 am Central Standard Time!**

### New Submission Process

You don’t have a run, but want to learn something? You have a cool run that you’d like to teach, but don’t have time to learn something new?

This event, we are opening up to both possibilities! Check out the new submission forms.

### Links

- **Submit:** [Oengus](https://oengus.io/marathon/SRMZV) | [Google Form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScha8wOiJcWSB3EaO_34xMuak9Vk8sEdGyEElJszz0X6Wy_UQ/viewform) | [Learn a run only](https://docs.google.com/forms/u/3/d/e/1FAIpQLScUPr_1pIHLJ3bVncWtRgbcaqREgKvGc4JHW6JT-VbuMnOokQ/viewform)
- **View Submissions:** [Submissions Publish](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT8bPFYUkk8wj8kannPUso_fFq9vyEggwDJXxcKbehE72PpZHNfu_TZSlrS9TjxwXwbdGudGSCYZsKE/pubhtml?gid=1342861663&single=true)
- **Volunteer application:**	**Open March 02**
- **Volunteer roles:** [Speedromizer - Volunteer Roles](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YjAIKq065s-MlwQQhcxUEWceh6K5dPwUtdWyj5uK6BA/edit#)
- **Transparency Statement:** [Speedromizer - Transparency Statement](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uV3Xr0bCj9M2hvTdE8KIGY7Wqa1nYxan77sKItdSXk0/edit#)
- **Twitch channel:** [Twitch.tv/speedromizer](https://twitch.tv/speedromizer)
- **Discord server:**	[Discord.gg/dUEKRbfWnK](http://discord.gg/dUEKRbfWnK)

### Charity

We are once again raising money for **[QMUNITY](https://qmunity.ca/)** - British Columbia's queer, trans, and Two-Spirit resource centre, providing safe space for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual and asexual folks and their allies.

### Races

We cannot accept race submissions by default due to the nature of the event.

However, during the confirmation period, runners can ask the original submitter of their game to race them! If the submitter agrees, availability permits, and dedicated commentary can be organized, we might see some Student vs. Teacher races!

### Discouraged Criteria

Due to the nature of games being randomly drafted for accepted runners, any submission that fits one or more of the following criteria is less likely to be selected:

- Estimated length is more than 1 hour 30 minutes or less than 10 minutes
- The run has no available guide **and** the submitter is not able to provide assistance
- The run requires non-standard peripherals (e.g. custom controller, etc.)
- The run has an extremely high complexity in terms of mechanics **and** inputs
- The run is heavily dependent on RNG
- The game is not easily obtainable/playable (e.g. not emulatable, needs high-end PC hardware, etc.)

These runs can still be submitted, and they may be picked as backup games.

### Randomizer Rules

Randomizer submissions are allowed, but must fit **all** of these criteria:

- The randomizer must have the ability to set a decent starting inventory
- No overly challenging modes ex: Key Sanity, no starting sword/swordless
- The run must be able to be completed within 2 hours RTA by a new runner
- All randomizer submissions will be handled on a case by case basis

### Backup Games

We will have a list of backup games for runs that cannot be selected for the main draft lottery due to their nature (see *Discouraged Criteria*) but which are still awesome showcases that could fill time in case of a runner drop.

We hope to see you at **Speedromizer V!**

The charity marathon with a twist. What you submit, is NOT what you run.

Speedromizer V Submissions are LIVE

A Kao community member - @rumii has announced a bounty in Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2. All you have to do is get a time in the 45:XX range (loadless/LRT). So pretty much get a brand new world record and $1000 USD will be yours!

# Rules

![](/static/blob/1n5move3.jpg)

# Game & Category

The game in question is *[Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2](https://www.speedrun.com/kao2)* - **the digital version** which means the 2019 re-release which is on *Steam.* There are many differences between the retail and digital versions - that's why there are separate categories on leaderboards.

Originally a 2003 Polish 3D platformer game released on PC and consoles (GCN, PS2, Wii, & Xbox). It's safe to say it's still the best entry in the series with the most valuable WR to achieve. The game takes a young kangaroo named Kao on a journey to save his animal friends from an evil poacher.

Now we'll focus on the category - **Any% Digital Version**. It is exactly how it sounds like. You got to beat the game from a fresh save, using the digital Kao 2.

# Time to learn

Thankfully the community has made some helpful media for beginners like tutorials and such.

Like this improvised tutorial by the former world record holder - @CubemasterXD (a bit outdated):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f7u5nY4yuE

Or this compilation of all skips (less outdated than the previous video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0hp-adxcpM

# Notable New Tech

On leaderboards, a keen eye could sight this variable - *quads/quadless.* What does it mean?

That's a pretty fresh discovery that allows runners to perform a chain of jumps when they aren't supposed to be able to jump. Normally you can only jump twice. It is a platformer game. Try guessing how many new skips or route changes happened since this discovery :)

Here are quad jumps in action on the 4th level of the game - River Raid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIg5FOLtuOs

Credit to @n3wt, the current WR holder on this level.

# Summary

Obtain a sub 46:00 loadless time in *[Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 - Any% Digital Version](https://www.speedrun.com/kao2)* to win $1000 USD**!** Only the first person wins. You have until the end of the year!

Any questions? Join [the Discord server!](https://discord.com/invite/mvErQShpTE)

Cheers and good luck

Community member rumii announced a bounty for achieving a 45:XX time.

$1000 Time Bounty in Kao the Kangaroo Round 2

If you've never heard the name [Jervailin ](https://www.youtube.com/@Jervalin/videos)before, he's the guy who beat [Halo 2 Legendary Most Skulls Deathless](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YveuZFMbpWQ) - one of the biggest achievements in the last few years. He inspired me to do something similar with games I love - the Gears of War series. When considering what kind of challenge I could try, I thought of no chainsaw, no shots, maybe pistol only? The game requires mandatory use of Hammer of Dawn, which makes some kind of challenge based around that impossible.

After failing to come up with something for one of my favorite franchises of all time. I thought what about another that I love with a passion - Soulcalibur. I joked around on stream that I thought how funny it would be to try playing with a Guitar Hero Controller so I did several attempts and my first submitted Arcade run I was glad being sub 1 min. Achieved January 9th, 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97hnBdLLptg

If that wasn't enough I had the even crazier idea to do Weapon Master which is a collection of missions across ten chapters to beat. With differing objectives such as hot bomb, where you hit the enemy to attach a bomb but they can attach a bomb too if they hit you. Another with icy floor and having to do 20 hits. My hurdle was trying to get past the tutorial which requires you to do certain actions.

With a GH controller how it's done and what buttons are mapped is difficult. I tried several combinations and even looking up which one corresponds to which 360 controller buttons. Even then that didn't help and I guess my issue is Voldo's moveset. When I tried Nightmare was able to do all actions with ease. And so on January 10th I was able to beat Weapon Master with the GH controller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnR0GabU6xE

After this, I went to do Extra Arcade and did them for both original and HD. I found HD to be easier for Weapon Master because it creates a new save file. If I were to do with the original I would need to delete my current one. For some reason, SCII doesn't have the same type of save file that can be copied or moved.

One more interesting and final thing I would like to add that left me speechless was this amazing run. If just one thing had gone differently I would have got WR with a guitar controller. Just think about that - I could have beat my run of 44.36 with a guitar. I ended up getting a 45.65. Unbelievably close to WR as of writing this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwKikdah1jA

## My Final Thoughts

Do something for a game you love with some crazy challenge - or maybe if you want to, also do some GH guitar Soulcalibur runs! My current goal is to try to do Time Attack and Team Battle next or try Soulcalibur IV next.

The first person I believe at least to my knowledge to play and beat Soulcalibur II with a GH guitar controller.

Guitar Hero Controller Speedrunning - Soulcalibur II

Between December 7th and December 9th, Epic Games unveiled three new titles from studios it has acquired in recent years. The lineup includes Lego Fortnite, a remarkably well-executed survival adventure game developed by Epic Games, Rocket Racing, an arcade-style racing game created by Psyonix (the minds behind Rocket League), and Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game crafted by Harmonix (the developers of Rock Band).

While Fortnite Festival hasn’t really attracted any kind of speedrunning audience (perhaps for obvious reasons, I mean the run would be mostly autoscroller) the community for speedrunning both Rocket Racing and Lego Fortnite is growing *fast*. I wanted to learn some more about these runs, so I spoke with some runners for each game to hear their thoughts.

# Rocket Racing

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/HrTnfr2Yw-mmZ_TyvKBQIT1dPJxOSIlr8HBUj4JCPCiJGaUUezoXjAKGngn_EvLfoTOa5sVMS5lhFAbwbbrsP_0T48nlXXj_7oRVfK2qcTCfVLko0cImVjfaGWbFSuaYiHdHndeNWP2wFrlc5vvXiqk)

There’s something so beautiful about the simplicity of speedrunning racing games, it’s really as pure as speedrunning gets - just *go fast.* With this simplicity of course comes little variation between games, at least in comparison to other genres. So what makes Rocket Racing stand out? Well according to @nathan_uwp, it mainly comes down to the Boost Management:

> “The drifting makes it so much fun for running too. Like how you can drift more and then use those to plan when to do ur boosts.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhK73hKWcDQ

For some context, the way you increase the charge in your boost meter in this game is by drifting. You’ll notice speedrunners like Nathan drifting almost non-stop, switching directions to still keep a relatively straight line while also ensuring the boost is charged as often as possible.

![](/static/blob/5ngvx6nq.png)

As far as my own opinion, the addition of certain Rocket League elements into a racing game is honestly kind of genius. You can air dodge in specific directions to stick to walls or ceilings (which makes for some pretty sweet level design might I add), and you can also fly a little bit into the air which lets you cut corners much tighter than you normally would be able to - and even “cut corners” on certain hills.

# **Lego Fortnite**

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/T0JVt9ZS4-5GWmZYxQxQAhOI62W4-fJdPWkC33b-YJbMAHqDxzOGa1hbC3uNJn6ke0cKHiziOWnpkHGIcn_Dwg5QETBv3PDfIQNrHtZnE44Aukellp5imDqKWsflcVCftUEz0csJW3-eUs14lZ23ZNg)

Speedrunning an open-world survival adventure game without (as far as I’m aware) a proper ending may not seem like an obvious choice to some of you, but in cases like these, it really comes down to the category structure. In this case, it’s quite similar to what you may have seen before on the Minecraft or Valheim leaderboards, with categories focused on completing specific Builds or killing specific bosses, with sub-categories for number of players, random or set seed, and starting biome.

![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/TY6xgErzYvcgV3D3LyF27RNnwDeOtUXzKqRg8SKu04UCDtwMTighZRe5SRFkBLMQ8yRTBT1M1O5ZzOwWss0CT0IYbbUzr00c5rxGU2ltqaAXLXg7Errj8olHVcFLtWa--zhkGYWDm_tKkhG3rVB2hPE)

To learn some more about what makes Lego Fortnite speedrunning interesting, I spoke with @shovelclaws who has been grinding both Solo & Co-op for the default category, Common Village (Grasslands).

> “The default category is really simple, it’s collecting the necessary resources and building things. In my mind there are 2 big "skills." 1) Positioning: getting your village in a nice place to reduce travel time, and 2) Decision Making - deciding where to go and when. There’s also 3 big skill checks 1) building the shack, 2) getting lumber mill for planks, and 3) getting your "village level" up high enough which there are a variety of strats for”

The relationship between village level and biome is quite complex and interesting, but I don’t want to get bogged down in the details during this article - however if you’d like to learn some more about that you can follow this link into the conversation inside the [Fortnite Speedrunning Discord](https://discord.com/channels/1005846129470083142/1182732735312306247/1183158808567095338).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ald2WqnAc_w

As an example, the fastest strategy for Common Village in the Grasslands biome is to [spam the candle decoration](https://youtu.be/Ald2WqnAc_w?si=_RFaP-ivTCkjTJFJ&t=398) all over the ground because they require 1 vine which is a very common resource, making it the most efficient decoration for leveling your village in the short term. Shovelclaws mentioned that it believes in the longer categories (ie. Epic Village) it may be more efficient to invest in beds, which are 10 wood each - too expensive for a short category like Common Village but potentially worth the timesave in a 1 hour+ speedrun.

# ![](/static/blob/3ekv5kzx.jpg)Conclusion

After researching and playing some myself for this article, I can definitely see the speedrunning appeal for these two games - Rocket Racing for its clever integration of Rocket League movement mechanics for a new spin on the racing genre, and for Lego Fortnite (who would have thought) for its satisfying collect/build gameplay loop and Candle strats (of all things) - not to mention up to 8 Player co-op. I personally would LOVE to see a 4-8 person speedrun of Epic Village up on a marathon stage some day.

Epic Games released three new games INSIDE of Fortnite, two of which turned out to be pretty neat for speedrunning - let's take a look.

Rocket Racing & Lego Fortnite Speedrunning

The 7th Souls Charity Marathon takes place December 1-3rd!

# **What is Souls Charity Marathon?** 

Formerly known as 'SpeedSouls Charity Marathon', this is the Souls Speedrunning community's beloved charity marathon. It consists of 3 days of back-to-back Souls speedrun content, but is not exclusive to just those games! During the event you can expect high level speedruns, 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 $126,000 to date.

# **What is the relay race?** 

The relay race consists of two teams of speedrunners who will race through the entire Souls series, and for the first time including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Every year the relay race features a different category for this race, this year teams will speedrun the Any% Glitchless category of their games. This entire race is projected to be approximately 7 hours, and is not to be missed as it is truly the highlight of the event.

# **When is the marathon?** 

The marathon is December 1st-3rd, find the schedule [here](https://oengus.io/marathon/scm2023/schedule).

# **Where to find us:**

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

Don't miss out on our 7th annual marathon! Come for the Souls runs, stay for the community.

Souls Charity Marathon is a community speedrun event filled with Souls series speedruns, 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 7th year this December!

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

Dark Souls

Soulcalibur II

Kao the Kangaroo Round 2

Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1

The Callisto Protocol

Slevanas

Phatzo

Contos

xwpw4y0l

Symystery

Chottue

Ashewyn

MetroidCrime

A Difficult Game About Climbing

HELLDIVERS 2

### Side Order just got released! But the leaderboard is currently being planned out.

___
The Splatoon Speedrunning moderation team will need a few days to weeks in order to figure out the exact game rules, full game categories, individual levels, and other important stuff.
The exact embargo time might change depending on moderation progress, stay tuned!

Splatoon 3: Side Order

Leaderboard will be closed for moderators to prepare for full game release.

The Outlast Trials

UEFN: Paranoid

Hey Penny lovers! We're still in the process of creating boards and rulesets, hope to see you there when we open on March 3rd at 5pm UTC!