Don't know where to start..
5 years ago
Overijssel, Netherlands

Hey everyone! I got very interested in speedrunning while watching several GDQ's over the last 2 years. The thing is, I only have a Multiplayer Shooter background and never really played any Single Player games. Now that I got interest in this thing called speedrunning, I have no clue on what game I want to play or where to start myself.

Any suggestions or perhaps someone that can help me out with getting started or even introduce me to some great games to run?

Richmond, VA, USA

Welcome aboard @TnyYye

What games did you enjoy growing up? That's where I would start, play what you enjoy because you will be playing a lot of it!

Slevanas and Tenka like this
Overijssel, Netherlands

Thanks @TheGreatToddman! Used to play a LOT of Pokemon, but after checking that out it seems to much to handle for me at the start. One of my favorites are Beyond Good & Evil and Pacman 3D, unfortunately I do not own these consoles anymore (Gamecube/PS1).

Apart from those I used to enjoy things like Sonic games and Rayman. Anything that's either played through an emulator or lies close to those games gameplay-wise?

Richmond, VA, USA

You're in luck, there are in depth guides on speedrunning for both the Pokemon and Sonic series.

I personally learned (very basic) run of Pokemon Red and it wasn't too bad, simply follow the step by step guide and slowly memorize what to do and improve from there. You could do the same thing with Sonic, just depends on whether RPG style gameplay or platforming is your forte'. Make sure you check the game specific forums for rules and guides pertaining to that individual game. https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnredblue/guides is a good place to start for you, good luck!

TnyYye likes this
Scotland

I don't run pokemon but at first you don't need to do every glitch or anything really just do a normal run no rng manip and stuff and see what u get :) sonic is a good choice u can play that on emu and such ^_^ and Rayman seems to allow emu too just saying psX is banned (for the first Rayman) just remember if u are gonna play on emu make sure it is allowed on that game and also make sure to read the rules :)

so with Beyond Good & Evil it is mostly run on pc so you can buy it, and it has emulator as a tick box so it is allowed but you will need to ask the mods what emulators are allowed if any as they may have forgotten to turn off the option.

TnyYye likes this
Valhalla

Determine how much time you want to dedicate to a speedrun first. Pokemon games can eat up an entire afternoon of your life both learning the game, and speedrunning it.

Also, for a lot of people speedrunning "ruins" the game a bit. You won't be able to truly play it again casually, and you might grow to dislike the game, which is bad if it's your favorite game. This isn't true of everyone, just something to consider.

Plenty of short speedruns out there that are fairly beginner friendly.

TnyYye and MelonSlice like this
Overijssel, Netherlands

@Komrade Thanks for the tip! I'll leave Pokemon as a casual for now. Any short beginner friendly recommendation?

Richmond, VA, USA

If you're open to suggestions, we'd love to have you at https://www.speedrun.com/sf2gb or https://www.speedrun.com/kdl Both games are very easy to learn (Street Fighter not really having any concrete strats to practice for hours) and are less than 15 minutes to run.

Legs likes this
Overijssel, Netherlands

@TheGreatToddman KDL actually looks interesting! Might give that one a go.

Legs likes this
Esperanto

"Anything that's either played through an emulator or lies close to those games gameplay-wise?"

Emulator usage is on a game by game basis (sometimes very reasonably, sometimes not so much.) Very generally speaking, you are pretty good to go up to 4th generation consoles (and computers at the time and such). 5th generation consoles can be a mixed bag... not the most perfect emulators yet, and some games can play quite horribly on them in terms of accuracy). 6th generation is much less likely, but some games do accepted emulated runs. After that though, there aren't really accurate emulators games that are likely to be allowed by emulator at this point.

Be sure to check the rules of a given game for more specific info and ask around about the most accurate emulators and such.

As far as game suggestions, if you are pretty used to playing multiplayer fps games, then pretty much any fps game that has a single player mode might a good place to start. A lot of movement and stuff will feel familiar.

TnyYye likes this
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Try "There Is No Game" (that's a real game btw) it takes about 5-10 minutes to beat it if you go fast.

Kentucky, USA

Try PaRappa The Rapper (PSX) if you like getting pissed because of a freaking chicken.

New York, USA

Most of the web games on here are pretty awesome. If you need something short and without strats, Endeavor and the various Poptropica levels can be learned in an hour or so.