The Gold Split - Week #31: Quick Updates
Week #31 (Feb 13): Mike Tyson; Quake Guide; Bingos; Blindfolded Speedruns; Event News; TAS Movies; New World Records: Simpsons, Crash Team Racing, Splatoon
Happy Week #31!
It’s snowy here right now, but the rays of sunlight of the last few days made me hopeful that we’re getting closer and closer to warmer weather… soon™.
I don’t have have a big story for you this week, but have bulked out other sections a little to compensate. Enjoy!
Contents
Up to Speed ⚡️
Frame by Frame (TAS Movies) 🔧
I encourage you to think about what happened recently in the communities you are a part of. If there are any stories, articles, glitches, events, or other topics I should cover, go ahead and submit them here or in the Gold Split Discord! 📨
Up to Speed ⚡️
As we don’t have a lengthy story this week taking up valuable real estate, I’m trying out embedding all the videos that I’d usually only link to in this section. I added some basic dividers to break it up and make it easier to see where the next headline starts. Let me know what you think in the comments or the Gold Split Discord!
🐐 SummoningSalt beats Mike Tyson in under two minutes (3-minute video)
In Week #24, I considered their run that beat Mike Tyson in 2:00.00 the Speedrun of the Year 2024. This new record of 1:59.97 dwarfs it and it took them more than 75,000 attempts in five years to get here. The execution was again nearly flawless, but this time Mike Tyson offered an even better lucky movement pattern. SummoningSalt has no intention to improve this time, but is certain that somebody else will one day beat it. More details are available in the video description.
📚 The absolute Beginner's Guide to Quake Speedrunning (14-minute video)
YouTube channel Quake Speedruns Explained goes over all basic movement techniques that make Quake speedruns so intricate. It’s fascinating to see the levels of optimisation the community has reached with just a few basic techniques after more than 25 years, and they’re still not done finding new opportunities to apply these and perfect existing ones. If you always wanted concepts like bunny-hopping, wall-hugging, ground-strafing and damage boosts broken down within a bite-sized video, this one is for you. More information and further links to a Quake setup guide and a Discord server are available in the video description.
🎯 Bingothon starts initiative to get people into Bingos (Bluesky Post)
In a bingo, players don’t compete to beat the game as fast as possible, but to clear a line or a diagonal of game-specific goals on a bingo board. Not unlike Randomizers, it’s a way to apply previously gained game knowledge in a different way each time. Bingothon started as a marathon event featuring bingos, but has since evolved into a community of bingo enjoyers for all kinds of games. Four beginner events over the course of four weeks in Pokémon Emerald, Super Mario Odyssey, Minecraft and Sonic R are offered and anybody can participate. A link to the sign-up form and more infos can be found in the post on Bluesky.
🙈 How to become the World's Fastest Gamer... Blindfolded (13-minute video)
Bubzia has popularised blindfolded speedrunning and pushed it forward like nobody else in recent years. At the beginning of February he took the next step, quit his job, and started pursuing content creation with a heavy focus on blindfolded gaming as a full-time career. In this short documentary by YouTube channel Great Big Story, we get some insights into the path that took him here, what it takes to get to this level and learn about some of the key techniques Bubzia has developed and mastered.
🎶 How Symphonia was designed with Speedrunners in mind (5-minute read)
Symphonia is a musical 2D precision platformer released in December 2024. In this article, the developers talk about how their own history of speedrunning led them to create a game that rewards tight execution and creative routing. Since launch, the team is heavily engaged with the speedrunning community. More details and links to the game’s community can be found in the article.
⏱️ Remastered version of Days Gone will feature Speedrun mode (6-minute read)
Days Gone Remastered will feature a dedicated speedrun mode, challenging players to beat the game as fast as possible. Upon completion, a super special end game graphic will be provided. There’s no clear information about what that looks like, but considering its purpose is to be shared on social media, it’s safe to assume it will at least show the duration of the playthrough. The game will launch on April 25th. Players who own the original game will need to purchase a DLC in order to get access to all features and new modes of the remastered version.
Event News 📅
There are two specialised events coming up this weekend! First, to commemorate Valentine’s Day, the Harvest Moon speedrunning community kicks off Harvest Moon Valentines 9.
On Saturday, 36 Mario Party runners divided into three teams play through twelve Mario Party categories in a huge relay race, estimated to span nearly 24 hours. You can find more info about games and players in the article on speedrun.com.
🏁 Finished
Back to Black 2025 raised $44,000 for Race Forward
WASD 2025: Warwick's Awesome Speedruns and Demos raised £1,171+ for Special Effect
🔜 Upcoming
Starts February 14th: Harvest Moon Valentines 9 (Schedule)
Starts February 14th: No Fish 2025 (Schedule), benefitting Mind
Starts February 15th: Super Mario Party Series Relay (More Info)
Starts February 19th: Lifeline for Linear (Schedule)
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
🥇 First Place
The Simpsons: Hit & Run (All Story Missions: PC) in 01:16:18.000 by HomerOfSteel (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeCrash Team Racing (Any% (No Major Glitches): Disc) in 00:48:17.000 by Hypnoshark
Video • Twitch • YouTubeGoogle Solitaire (Easy: Mouse, No Glitches) in 00:00:19.000 by Macewin (He/Him)
VideoWii Sports Resort (All Sports) in 00:15:46.000 by RayndX210 (They/Them)
VideoSplatoon (Any%: WiiU) in 00:27:25.000 by Negat (He/Him, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Any%: Original, Console) in 00:31:31.000 by Gehis514 (He/Him)
Video • TwitchDevil May Cry 3: Special Edition (NG Dante: Normal, PC) in 00:56:04.000 by Waifu
Video • Twitch • YouTubeStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Any%: Unrestricted) in 00:18:02.231 by ChaosDrifter
Video • Twitch
🥈 Second Place
Cuphead (Version 1.1+: Any%, Regular) in 00:27:34.329 by ClipBoardGuy (Any/All)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Shura: PC, Glitchless) in 00:28:21.000 by Zee4
VideoThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (MST) in 01:42:34.000 by Amateseru
Video • Twitch • YouTubeRed Ball 2 (20 Levels) in 00:06:56.600 by minichip
Video
🥉 Third Place
Outlast (Any%: Main Game, PC) in 00:04:43.156 by SEAAGLE
VideoSuper Mario 64 (120 Star: VC) in 01:39:45.000 by Odme_ (He/Him)
Video • TwitchHalf-Life 2 (New Engine: Any% No Voidclip) in 00:38:30.090 by HardLifeNH (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeHalf-Life: Alyx (Any%: No Spin, FTP) in 00:15:22.639 by prolert (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Frame by Frame 🔧
Arkanoid II (NES) in 11:28.65 by eien86
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Hard (Warpless)
Week #27 and Week #29 already featured an Arkanoid game. And you might have guessed it, but eien86’s Arkanoid ark has still not concluded. This week, their tool assisted speedrun of Arkanoid II for the NES was published and it again makes use of the special paddle controller to achieve superhuman precision and speed.
Super Mario Bros. 2 in 18:21.87 by Aglar, andrewg & Alyosha
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Warpless
Lunar Pool (NES) in 22:53.62 by eien86
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Lunar Pool stood out to me as particularly cool this week. It’s essentially a pool-inspired puzzle game with the goal of scoring all balls with as few shots as possible. The author used a script to figure out the fastest sequence for each of the 60 pool tables, exploring about 15,000 shots per second and coming up with some really creative ways of solving the puzzles as fast as possible.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Saturn) in 13:47.66 by arukAdo
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Pacifist (Load Glitch)
Catwoman (GameCube) in 42:13.17 by SJ
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Beat the Game
Super Off Road (SNES) in 42:32.00 by eien86
Video • Author Notes • Goal: All Tracks
Mega Man X5 (PSX) in 01:46.08 by M3
Video • Author Notes • Goal: Training (X)
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, February 20th 2025. 👋🏻
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