I’ve always been fascinated by speed runs, but never really got into it myself. I enjoy watching YouTube videos about all of the crazy feats that the communities of these games pull off, and it never ceases to amaze me how creative and persistent the gamers are that take on these kind of challenges. It’s quite incredible really, how the top speed runners know a game inside-out, where to save a few milliseconds here and there, the exact button presses and glitches to pull off, it’s quite cool.
One of the reasons I’ve never tried it myself, is that most of the top games that people speed run, I don’t have too much personal love of, to be able to play them for hundreds of hours at a time. Quite a lot of the popular games to speed run are also for the Nintendo 64, which personally I’ve never been a huge fan of. I’m sorry, but I didn’t really grow up with the console, and it’s one of the hardest ones I feel to go back too with fresh eyes if you don’t have an innate love of the system.
So for me to give speed running a go, I was going to have to find games that I love playing. I first looked at PC titles I really enjoy, but the problem with them is that they often require playing on specific versions of the game under specific settings, and I couldn’t really be bothered to go through all that setup especially in games I like playing often casually. Retro is better because you’re not hampered by patches changing everything, so retro was the way to go.
For me, this meant either going for the 16 bit generation, or the sixth gen. I have a lot of love for the Super Nintendo and Megadrive, as well as the Playstation 2 and Xbox, so it was going to be a game on one of those systems. My first place to start is a series that I will come back too all the time and never get tired of, Dead or Alive.
For me, the original Xbox is the best place for those classics. Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate and Dead or Alive 3 are my favourite entries in the series. The gameplay is as great and smooth as ever, with loads of unlockable content and costumes, and I just never get tired of the thumping impact that the game has when you hit something, it’s just fun to play. I prefer those ones to some of the newer ones, where every costume is a microtransaction, and it just takes me back to a simpler time.
Looking on Speedrun.com, I found entries for both Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate and Dead or Alive 3, so that’s where I began. I started by playing DOA 2 Ultimate first, and Speedrun.com currently has a few categories for it.
At first, I was nowhere near getting a good time, I was above four minutes on most of my runs which was not good at all. The difficulty with speed running fighting games is the AI, and in Dead or Alive in particular, that means counters. It doesn’t matter how great the combo is, if the AI decides it’s going to pull off a counter and slow you down, it will do.
I quickly realised that lots of fancy combos are great when you’re playing against a real opponent as it hits them in lots of places in quick succession, but against the AI when you’re going for speed, it seems a bit more optimal to just hit hard and fast. Kasumi was my character of choice for my first attempt, and after playing for a couple of hours, I managed to get a decent time, 3 minutes and 3 seconds, which was enough to place in second place.
Granted, there aren’t many people speed running this game, but this is about having fun and the only way to get more people playing a certain game is to play it yourself and try and spread the word. It would be great if more games like this became popular for speed running, because I’m sure there are crazy feats and strategies that I can only imagine.
I was happy with that one and didn’t think I could beat it that evening, so I moved on to Dead or Alive 3. I think I’m a little bit better at DOA2 than I am at 3 for some reason, and I found it difficult to get any times which would have been a good ranking. I noticed though, there was one category which didn’t really have much movement on it, Team Battle. There was only one entry, so I focused on this. After a few attempts, I got a pretty good go in, which was enough to put me in first place. I’m sure as soon as I click off the website it may be beaten, but as of this moment right now, I’m first place in something on the website, which feels pretty cool.
I decided it was time to try something else, only a strange thing happened. Every time I looked at another game, all I could think about, was improving my times in Dead or Alive. I think it was this point where it finally clicked with me what made speed running tick for those devotees. I was thinking about where I had gone wrong, what I could do better, what might be different next time. It’s sort of like a gamblers mentality, except all you’re gambling with is your own time. So over the next week or so, I kept playing these games whenever I had the time.
I started getting better, improving my times. I managed to do some respectable runs, getting some good times in on the Time Attack Single category, but the one I enjoyed the most was the Time Attack Tag. I felt a little more comfortable in this one since the overall run was shorter, which meant it was easier to restart if something had gone wrong. I was targeting first place on this one, and after a load of tries over a few evenings, late in the night, I eventually managed to clinch it, by under a second. It was quite the rush – when you manage to do something like this, you feel like a champ. In the grand scheme of things, coming in first place on a game few people are competing in and even then, not very often isn’t a big deal. But in that moment, when you achieve a goal that you have really persevered for, it feels great.
One thing I learned from this process, was that it really gave me a new appreciation of these games. In these older games where there are no achievements and you’ve unlocked what you’ve wanted to unlock, and you can’t play online or do anything like that, it can feel a bit directionless playing them. But speed running helped give me that direction, I was able to play the game and enjoy it as I always do, but at the same time playing towards a goal. It sort of makes the game feel alive in a way, I found it really exciting.
I’m not sure if I’ll become a long-term speed runner or attempt to give other games a go. I think I’ll definitely return to these two games though over time, see if I can improve and what else I can achieve with them. I’ve discovered a new found respect for speed running, and I think if there is anyone else like me who’s interested but not quite sure about it, then maybe try what I did. Pick a game from your past that you really love, no matter how popular it is, and start from there, you might find a new hobby in the process.
Even now, I’m thinking about the game. My thought process is that Leifang might be the best character to get an optimal speed run in, if played perfectly. She has a lot of combos which keep the opponent on their feet, as most of the time lost is when the opponent is on the floor recovering. She can be a little tricky to use though, so it wouldn’t be particularly easy, but mark my words if someone can master her and the way she plays, then that is where big time savings will come in.
This article was also posted as a video on my YouTube channel.
