Greed runs?
5 years ago
United States

Is there a reason there are no categories for speedrunning greed mode? I don't see anything else on the forums about this and this surprises me seeing as this mode of play is parallel to the normal mode of play. I can do a run as an example, but I feel like this would be a nice addition to this game, if not as a normal category at least a miscellaneous one.

United States

While many players play The Binding of Isaac in different ways, the official categories on Speedrun.com reflect the most popular kinds of speedruns. Subsequently, before a category is added to the site, typically there needs to be at least 5-10 people running the category with recorded runs on Twitch/Youtube/etc.

If you want to speedrun Greed Mode yourself, feel free to do it. If you want the category to get added to Speedrun.com, then come up with official rules, encourage others to speedrun it with your exact ruleset, and then come back when there are 5-10 recorded runs.

Now to address Green Mode specifically: Historically, Greed Mode has not been popular as a speed category for two main reasons:

  1. Consistency: In the "normal mode", the best speedrunners are extremely consistent - they almost always are able to complete a run in 10-15 minutes. Greed Mode is a different story - being able to win the run at all is not guaranteed, let alone achieve a specific window of consistency. Part of this is due to balance - DD/Angel rewards are not well designed, but part of it is just inherent in the mode, as you are not able to start an item from the Treasure Room pool.

  2. Depth: Greed Mode is a simplified version of Isaac. It has less items than normal runs. DD/Angel rewards are less interesting. It removes a lot of the depth and strategy that goes into a normal run. And it gets boring faster than normal runs do.

Edited by the author 5 years ago