Getting Started

Frequently Asked Questions

What is speedrunning?

When you speedrun a game you try and beat it as fast as you can.

What game can I speedrun?

Just about any game! Not every game is fit for speedrunning. A game has to have a definite ending, so a game like The Sims or World of Warcraft doesn't qualify. Additionally, it's impossible to speed up some games. Fixed autoscrollers or rhythm games, for instance, are generally not allowed, because speedruns would not be any faster than normal playthroughs. Other than that you should be good.

How do I choose which game to speedrun?

Choose a game that you like! Pick a game that you will be willing to put the time and effort into it.

How do I know what all the tricks and strategies are for each game?

There are plenty of resources to help you out. You should try and locate, watch, and analyze the current fastest speedrun for your game (if there is one). You should also read through any discussion of the speedrunning the game that you can find.

If you're trying to locate the fastest speedrun for your game, there is a good chance there is already be aposted speedrun of your game on SDA. You should definitely watch the posted run if you haven't already. Another resource you can use if you're trying to find the current fastest speedrun for your game is The Sunday Sequence Break link database.The Sunday Sequence Break is a speedrunning talk show has made an effort to document and link to videos of the latest fastest known times for games. This has been maintained since February of 2012.

People are always looking for new tricks and discovering new things about games so there may be some new strategies that people have discovered that aren't in the latest posted speedrun. You can visit the [SDA Forum] and use the search function to locate a topic for your game. If a topic does not exist for your game, you can create one. Another valuable resources is the Strategy Wiki. While a lot of games don't have an entry in the wiki yet, there will be a lot of information available for the games that do and what is in there will be very organized.

What kind of equipment do I need? How much does it cost?

You'll need your game console, a television, a computer, and some kind of recording device.

Glossary of Terms

Are you wondering what words like RNG and Frame Perfect mean? The speedrunning community has been around for a little while and it's developed its own little vocabulary. Here is a brief explanation of what all of these terms mean.