Hi all,

I'm new to speedrunning in general, didn't even really know it was a thing until a few months ago. Anyhow, I've started running on my latest favorite game 'Battlezone Gold Edition'. It's not on the site here and I don't know that anyone else has done a speedrun with it, but I'm having fun. Just wanted to share a few observations on my first few days of speedrunning.

1. It's an awesome way to keep enjoying a game I really like. I had been getting to the end of my enjoyment with Battlezone, just playing the game. It was getting a bit repetitive (which I think is hilarious considering I've been playing the same map over and over for days now and having a blast doing it). Now it's as though there's a whole new breath of life with me and the game. I'm excited to play again, try and get faster.

2. I'm learning so much about the game itself. Before I was just playing through the map, seeing what came my way almost wandering my way through the game. Now I'm paying attention to spawn points, how often different things occur (for example it seems every 4th playthrough has an alternate way to get into the shield generators), what's random, what's set, what weapons are better/ faster than the others, how long different stages take, how many shots needed to kill bad guys, etc, etc.

3. It's fun to watch my times go down. I've done 9 runs through the same map. First run was ~52 mins. My best and latest time was ~35 mins. All my best segments together is something like 31 mins, so there's lots of room to improve. I'm sure someone who can actually aim would decimate these times, but who cares. :)

4. I enjoy the analysis part of this all. Comparing strategies, comparing weapons, lines through the maps, etc. It's cool to add this element to gaming for me. Something about playing and having it be quantifiable makes it tickle my brain. (i love math and numbers)

5. It feels REALLY good to have a good run. I've only made it through a couple stages really feeling good about them, but man it was nice.

6. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to do this with other people passionate about the same game. Going off each other's ideas, having others push the times lower, etc.

So yeah. Thanks for listening. :)

Hi All,

I'm jigfresh and I like video games. :) Brand new to speedrunning. Been playing games now for like 37 years (I'm old) but I can't remember ever trying to finish anything as fast as possible. Youtube suggested Karl Jobst to me a few months ago and I have fallen into the rabbit hole.

I'm looking to have fun, not set any records. Mostly just laugh at how much slower I am than the top people. I honestly don't think I have anything near the skills required to compete with top level folks, or even close. I am however looking to challenge myself. I always liked golf, in that it was me vs myself/ the course. I'm not really competitive with others.

Not sure what games I'll try to be fast in. I play a random assortment of games. The most recent being Battlezone Gold, Lego StarWars, and Lego Harry Potter, oh and this cool game called Out There: Omega. Anyways, I don't even know how much I'll do with all of this to be honest. I did however want to start my time in the community actually being a part of the community by joining the forums and hopefully contribute a bit. I've been a part of a few different online communities and I have literally traveled the world meeting others from these communities... so hopefully my time here with you all will be fun and beneficial for all. :)

Thanks for having me.