I still remember the first time I watched a Super Mario 64 speedrun. A player warped through walls, jumped off invisible ledges, and finished the entire game in under fifteen minutes. My first thought was, “Wait, that is legal?” That moment pulled me into a subculture I had no idea existed. If you are reading this in 2026, chances are you have asked the same question I once did: what is speedrunning, really?
In this guide, I will walk you through exactly what speedrunning is, how it works, the different categories, popular games, and how the community operates. By the end, you will understand why millions of people spend thousands of hours shaving seconds off their runs, and how you can join them.
Table of Contents
What Is Speedrunning? A Clear Definition
Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or a specific section of one, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. According to Wikipedia and Speedrun.com, it is a competition-driven activity where players race against a timer rather than each other directly.
That simple definition hides a lot of depth. Speedrunners do not just play fast. They memorize routes, exploit hidden glitches, practice frame-perfect inputs, and sometimes rewrite how a game was meant to be played.
The word “speedrunning” itself came from the early days of online gaming in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Players on forums like Quake’s speed demos archive started posting the fastest times through games. The term stuck, and a worldwide community grew around it. Today, 2026 speedrunning is a multi-million-dollar cultural movement, with charity marathons raising tens of millions of dollars for causes like cancer research and disaster relief.
So when someone asks you what is speedrunning, the short answer is: completing a video game in the fastest time possible using any in-game techniques allowed by the rules.
The Core Idea Behind Every Speedrun
Every speedrun follows three steps. First, the player picks a category that defines the rules. Second, they plan a route that is the fastest path through the game. Third, they execute that route as cleanly as possible, often using glitches or advanced movement tricks.
The result gets recorded on a leaderboard, where other runners can compete for the top spot. The current world record holder is the player who found the cleanest execution of the fastest known route.
How Does Speedrunning Actually Work?
Speedrunning works through a combination of route optimization, glitch exploitation, and muscle memory practice. A first-time viewer might think it looks chaotic, but every action is usually planned months or years in advance.
Here is the step-by-step breakdown of how a typical speedrun is built.
Step 1: Choose the Game and Category
The first decision is which game to run and what category to compete in. The category defines the rule set. Some categories ban glitches, while others require them. The choice shapes every other decision afterward.
Step 2: Research and Route Planning
Once a category is picked, runners study the game inside and out. They watch other runners, read Discord channels, and analyze the game code. The goal is to find the fastest path through every level, including which items to collect and which to skip.
Step 3: Discover Glitches and Movement Tech
Most world record runs rely on glitches the average player never sees. Things like backwards long jump in Super Mario 64 or frame-perfect tricks in Ocarina of Time save seconds that add up across a full run. Runners find these glitches through curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration with the community.
Step 4: Practice and Timing Splits
After the route is mapped, runners practice each section hundreds or thousands of times. They use tools like LiveSplit to track split times and see where they are losing time. A common practice session can last three to six hours a day for serious competitors.
Step 5: Submit and Verify
When a runner gets a clean run, they submit it to the leaderboard along with video proof. Judges or community moderators verify the run follows the category rules. If accepted, the time appears on the leaderboard, where others can try to beat it.
Speedrun Categories Explained
The most common question after “what is speedrunning” is “what is Any%?” Speedrun categories are rule sets that define what is allowed during a run. Here are the categories you will see on every leaderboard.
- Any%: Beat the game by triggering the credits as fast as possible. No requirement to collect items or finish side content. Glitches are usually allowed. This is the most popular category for competitive speedrunners.
- 100%: Complete every major objective, collect all items, and finish the game. This takes much longer than Any% and requires a high level of execution.
- Glitchless: Beat the game without using any glitches. Movement tricks and exploits within the normal game engine are usually allowed, but skipping content through glitches is not.
- Low%: Beat the game while collecting the fewest items possible. This often requires heavy glitch use to skip normally required pickups.
- World Records and Individual Level (IL): Some games track the fastest time on individual levels or missions instead of the full game. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe uses IL heavily.
This bullet list format is what most featured snippets use when explaining speedrun categories, so keep it as a reference whenever someone asks you what speedrunning really means in practice.
Why Categories Matter
Categories keep competition fair. Without them, one runner could use glitches that the community considers unfair while another could not. Categories make sure people compete on equal ground. They also let runners pick the play style they enjoy most. Some people love the puzzle of finding glitches. Others prefer the clean execution of a glitchless run.
The Most Popular Games for Speedrunning in 2026
Some games are easier to speedrun than others. Speedrun-friendly titles usually have a clear endpoint, well-known glitches, and an active community. Here are the most popular speedrun games right now.
- Super Mario 64: One of the oldest and most studied speedruns. The 16-star and 70-star categories have records under fifteen minutes thanks to glitches like backwards long jump.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Famous for the “Any% No WW/WW” category using the wrong warp glitch. World record runs are under 17 minutes.
- Minecraft: Has unique categories like Any% Random Seed, Set Seed, and All Achievements. Glitches like “bedless” reset runs require frame-perfect inputs.
- Super Mario Odyssey: Modern 3D Mario with many movement tricks like roll cancel and crouch jump. Popular on consoles because it does not require an emulator.
- Dark Souls: Glitchless runs are huge here. Players use movement tech like jump attacks and ladder skips to finish in under 30 minutes.
- Hollow Knight: A newer favorite with Any% under 35 minutes and 100% runs that take several hours.
- Pokemon Red/Blue: Classic runs with categories like Any% Glitchless and Any% (with glitches). The community is massive.
Based on community advice from Reddit, beginners often start with shorter games like Super Mario 64 or Link’s Awakening DX because the time investment is lower and tutorials are abundant.
Techniques and Glitches Used in Speedruns
Glitches are the heart of modern speedrunning. They turn a 60-hour RPG into a 20-minute stunt. Most runners see glitches as a puzzle to solve, not a way to “cheat” the game.
Here are the main types of techniques you will see in speedruns.
Sequence Breaks
A sequence break is any glitch that lets the player skip past content the developers intended to be required. The backwards long jump in Super Mario 64 is a classic sequence break. It lets players skip entire levels by walking backward while jumping at a specific speed.
Frame-Perfect Tricks
A frame-perfect trick requires input on a single frame of animation, usually 1/60th of a second. Games run at 60 frames per second, so the timing window is tiny. These tricks are considered amazing when executed live because the margin for error is zero.
Wrong Warps and Teleport Glitches
Some games let players warp to the final boss by corrupting memory values. Ocarina of Time’s “wrong warp” is the most famous example. The game gets confused about which scene to load and drops the player at the credits sequence instead of the intended dungeon.
How Do Speedrunners Find Glitches?
According to community discussions, runners find glitches in a few ways. Some slow down the game frame by frame and test inputs. Others mess with memory values using debug tools. Many glitches come from simply asking “what if?” and trying something the developers never intended.
Once found, a glitch gets posted to forums, tested for usefulness, and shared on Discord. The community then spends months figuring out where it fits in a route.
What Is a Tool-Assisted Speedrun (TAS)?
A Tool-Assisted Speedrun, or TAS, is a speedrun created using tools like save states, frame-by-frame input editing, and emulator slowdown. The goal is not just to beat the game but to produce a “perfect” run that no human could ever replicate live.
TAS runs often look robotic. The inputs come at the exact same frame every time. They exploit every known glitch and movement trick. Some TAS runs are so optimized that humans could not match them for decades, if ever.
TASes serve a real purpose in the speedrun community. They find new glitches, test theories about game mechanics, and entertain viewers with “what if” scenarios. They are not cheating because they are a separate category on most leaderboards.
If you are wondering, “are TAS speedruns cheating?” the answer is no, but they also are not competing with live runs. They are their own art form.
The Difference Between TAS and Live Speedruns
A live speedrun is what a human can do with a controller and reflexes. A TAS is what the game can be made to do with no human limits. Both are respected in the speedrun community, but they live on different leaderboards and serve different purposes.
Communities and Events That Define Speedrunning
Speedrunning is more than solo players chasing times. It is a global community with charity marathons, streaming culture, and tight-knit Discord servers.
Games Done Quick (GDQ)
Games Done Quick is the largest speedrun charity event. It hosts two major marathons every year. Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) happens in January and features runs from the previous year. Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) happens in July and is one of the most-watched gaming events in the world.
Since 2010, GDQ has raised over 50 million dollars for charities like Doctors Without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. If you have never watched a speedrun marathon, SGDQ 2026 is the perfect place to start.
Speedrun.com
Speedrun.com is the central hub for almost every game leaderboard. Runners submit times, find communities, and learn rules. If a game has a speedrun community, it almost certainly has a leaderboard there.
Streaming Culture
Twitch and YouTube turned speedrunning into a spectator sport. Top runners like MarioBenchmark, Cheese05, and Yume2kimi built audiences in the hundreds of thousands by streaming their practice and runs. Streaming also gave speedrunning a financial path. Many runners now earn income from subscriptions, donations, and sponsorships.
To answer the common question “can you make money from speedrunning?” Yes, but it takes years of dedication. Most top runners earn through streaming and tournament prize pools, not direct game payouts.
How to Get Started in Speedrunning
If you want to try speedrunning yourself, the Reddit community has clear advice for beginners. Here is what experienced runners recommend.
First, pick a game you love that has an active community. Games like Super Mario 64, Link’s Awakening DX, and Kirby Dream Land are common first picks because they are short and forgiving. Avoid games with heavy memorization requirements until you have the basics down.
Second, watch world record runs and tutorial videos. YouTube is full of explanations for almost every popular game. Learning the route before you start saves you months of frustration.
Third, decide whether to use an emulator or the original console. Emulators offer save states, which are great for practicing tough sections. Original hardware is required for some leaderboards. For your first attempts, an emulator is perfectly fine.
Fourth, use LiveSplit or a similar timer to track your splits. You will not improve what you do not measure.
Fifth, join the community. Most games have a Discord server where runners help each other. The community is famously welcoming to newcomers, so do not be afraid to ask questions.
Finally, expect to fail. Most beginners take weeks to finish a clean run. Improvement is slow, but every run teaches you something new.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called speedrunning?
The term speedrunning comes from the early days of online gaming in the 1990s, when players posted their fastest playthroughs on demo archives and forums. Because the goal was to play at high speed, the community called these demos speed runs. Over time, speedrun became the standard word for any fast completion of a video game.
What does speedrun mean in slang?
In gamer slang, speedrun means to finish a game as fast as possible. It can also be used as a verb, like I am going to speedrun this level, meaning the player plans to clear it in record time.
Can you make money from speedrunning?
Yes, you can make money from speedrunning, but it usually takes years of dedication. Top runners earn income through Twitch subscriptions, YouTube ad revenue, tournament prize pools, sponsorships, and charity event appearances. Most beginner runners do not make money at first and treat speedrunning as a hobby.
Is TAS allowed in speedrunning?
Yes, TAS is allowed in speedrunning but on its own separate category. Most leaderboards have a TAS section that does not compete with live human runs. TAS videos are valued for finding new glitches, testing game mechanics, and showcasing what is theoretically possible.
Are glitches allowed in speedruns?
Glitches are allowed in many speedrun categories, especially Any% runs. Each category has its own rules. Glitchless categories ban glitches, while Any% usually allows any in-game technique. The community decides the rules for each game on Speedrun.com.
How do speedrunners find glitches?
Speedrunners find glitches through experimentation, frame-by-frame analysis, memory editing tools, and community collaboration. Many glitches start with a runner asking what happens if I do this strange input, then testing it slowly using emulator slowdown or save states.
Final Thoughts on What Is Speedrunning
So, what is speedrunning? It is a community, a sport, and an art form wrapped into one. It is the act of playing a video game in the fastest time possible, using optimized routes, frame-perfect tricks, and sometimes glitches the developers never intended. It is also one of the most welcoming gaming communities out there, with charity marathons that have raised tens of millions of dollars.
If you have ever wondered whether you could beat a game in record time, now is the moment to try. Pick an easy game, watch a tutorial, and start practicing. In a few months, you will have your own speedrun story to tell.