The Gold Split - Week #34
Week #34 (Mar 6): Speedrun.com Tools; Quake; Zuma's Revenge; Mario Summit; Interview; Event News; New Records: Super Mario Sunshine, Stray, Google Solitaire, Ocarina of Time
Happy Week #34!
March has arrived and it just feels like spring already. I’m cautiously optimistic, but might be celebrating to soon…
Two events achieved new fundraising records last week. Check out this week’s slightly extended Event News 📅 for a brief inside look and to find who they are! Is this how you do clickbait?
Not another week until April is going to go by without another reminder about Twitch highlights. If you’re still blissfully unaware, you’ll find the full story in Week #32’s issue or on speedrun.com. In summary, Twitch is setting a new limit on saved Highlights for a single account at 100 hours. Channels with a total duration of Highlights above that limit will have them deleted after April 19th, 2025, putting a large amount of speedrunning history at risk of being lost forever. Please help to spread the word and back up speedruns that might be at risk. Speedrun.com launched a new suite of tools to help with this and you’ll hear more about that in the Up to Speed ⚡️ section.
Contents
Up to Speed ⚡️
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! 📨
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Up to Speed ⚡️
Many news! Something for everybody! Dig in!
⚠️🔧 Speedrun.com launches tools to save Twitch-hosted videos (5-minute read)
The new suite of tools helps to show and manage runs that might be at risk of getting deleted and empowers speedrunners and leaderboard moderators to take action. Runners will now find a new tab on their profile that can help them identify runs of their own that are risk of being deleted after April 19th, 2025. Leaderboard moderators have access to a similar list within the moderation hub on a game-by-game basis. All videos hosted on Twitch are marked as being at risk, but may be manually updated to be safe or abandoned. More details and instructions on how to back up videos is available in the article.
🕹️ Old-school Quake speedrunner returns to beat recent records (15-minute video)
In this video, Quake Speedruns Explained tells the story of how Quake speedrunner Joe who used to be most active in the early 2000s came back to the scene to improve upon records set recently and take on the new generation of Quake runners.
💰 Speedrun.com hosts Zuma's Revenge contest with $500 prize pool (3-minute read)
The challenge only lasts until the end of the week (March 9th), so there’s not a lot of time to get a run on the leaderboard. The goal is to play through the first 10 levels of Adventure Mode as fast as possible. After the dust has settled and the last times have been verified, the prize pool is divided among the top three speedrunners. Rules and details are available in the post.
🍄 Twelve streamers compete for three spots at GSA’s Mario Summit (Bluesky Post)
During the coming weekend, March 8th & 9th, twelve streamers will fundraise competitively for a chance to be part of GSA’s Mario Summit event in New York between April 18th and April 20th, 2025. All money raised goes towards Urban Arts and the best three fundraisers secure a spot at the event. A list of streamers is included in the post.
🕵️♂️ Speedrunners are vulnerability researchers (7-minute read)
This article by cybersecurity company Zetier is also a job ad and really only applies to a small subset of speedrunners: the ones that use professional tools to hunt glitches. But that doesn’t make it less interesting and could be a serious opportunity for some of you. Broadly speaking, the article talks about how glitch hunting is a combination of reverse engineering and vulnerability research and shows how these skills can be applied in a very important industry. Check it out!
🎤 Interview with GrandPooBear (15-minute read)
In an interview with website sportskeeda, GrandPooBear talks about being signed to Red Bull, his approach to games and speedruns, his own games and endeavours, as well as his advice to new streamers. It might be a little rambly at times (but so is this newsletter), like when him and the interviewer geek out about pro wrestling, and they tend to add a space between speed and run, but we don’t get many of these.
🎭 Shakespeare Speedrun (3-minute read)
This one might be exclusively for the reader in St. Louis, MO, but the rest of you might at least raise an eyebrow out of interest. On the coming Saturday, March 8th, at Greenfinch Theater & Dive, a group of ten actors from Young Liars will cast, rehearse, and produce a 90-minute production of a Shakespeare play. It’s dubbed Shakespeare Speedrun and they’ve already done it twice before!
Briefly
🌍 The Speedrun History of Uncharted 2 (55-minute video)
🛠️ How Teams of Speedrunners broke “Zofia” (23-minute video)
🚗 Ultra Racing 2D 2: The Racing Game Of Many (3-minute read)
Event News 📅
Not only Any% records have been broken during the last week! Both BSG and SpeeDons achieved new fundraising records during their events, solidifying the positive upwards trend for donation totals in 2025.
Up until SpeeDons 5, the event was broadcast exclusively in French, yet already attracted sums that were much higher than anything else in Europe and within spitting distance of Games Done Quick events AGDQ and SGDQ. Last year, SpeeDons 4 raised €2,066,663 for Médecins du Monde. Community member, ace reporter and friend Ouranea was on-site and had the chance to see the event for herself as well as speak to some people involved.
The main advantage of SpeeDons is that they manage to successfully combine the speedrunning community and the popularity of famous content creators. These individuals make up a large percentage of hosts of the show and bring their own huge communities to the cause, while the runs are performed by France’s most prolific speedrunners. Unlike the most common archetype of speedrunning event today, it’s not a community gathering with a charity stream. The focus clearly lies on the show and the viewing experience for people in the crowd or watching online.
MisterMV is the main organiser of the event. He helped to put together the first French restream of a Games Done Quick event back in 2011 and knows the French scene like no other. This community is very familiar with the concept of charity events and is always enthusiastic to join in. Their size also allows SpeeDons to attract runners from further away, subsidising their attendance with meals and hotel costs. Thanks again to Ouranea (same name on Discord) for the insights!
The only immediate upcoming event is the excellent Frost Fatales 2025, the all-women and femmes winter speedrunning marathon by Games Done Quick’s Frame Fatales. It’s happening for the whole week, so there’s no excuse to not tune in and support gender justice initiatives!
🏁 Finished
BSG Plus 2025 raised €10,069 for MIND
SpeeDons 5 raised €2,231,146 for Médecins Du Monde
🔜 Upcoming
Starts March 9th: Frost Fatales 2025 (Schedule), benefitting the National Women's Law Center
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
🥇 First Place
Super Mario Sunshine (Any%: GCN, No ACE) in 01:12:49.000 by JJsrl
Video • TwitchStray (Any%: PC, Glitchless) in 01:15:26.000 by jonuhtan (He/Him)
Video • TwitchGoogle Solitaire (Easy: Mouse, No Glitches) in 00:00:18.000 by Chrisisdpalma (They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeQuick & Crash (Any% (No Major Glitches)) in 00:00:01.789 by pacothetacoboi
VideoThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Glitchless: All Main Quests) in 03:35:21.000 by Smaugy
Video • Twitch • YouTubeDark Souls III (Any%) in 00:26:41.000 by olzku23
Video • Twitch • YouTubePokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee (Diploma) in 04:35:44.000 by randalleatscheese (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeTony Hawk's American Wasteland (Story Mode: Easy, NG+) in 00:47:34.000 by Skittles
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥈 Second Place
Super Mario 64 (1 Star: N64) in 00:07:02.980 by Poke (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeGrand Theft Auto: Vice City (Any% (No SSU)) in 00:48:22.000 by Redopter (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSuper Mario Bros. Wonder (Any% No Major Glitches) in 02:05:24.000 by Tsuake (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeResident Evil 4 (Steam) (New Game: Professional, Single Segment, 60 FPS) in 01:23:00.680 by Sawken
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place
Outlast (Any%: Main Game, PC) in 00:04:40.350 by SEAAGLE
VideoTitanfall 2 (Any%: Standard) in 01:14:01.000 by Darkwin
Video • Twitch • YouTubeBaba Is You (Any%) in 00:04:22.242 by YJoyg
VideoPokémon X/Y (Any%: ENG) in 03:40:38.000 by TuckerLeRat (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Fun Stat of the Week 📈
As of March 1st, 2025, 214,400 verified speedrun videos on speedrun.com are at risk of being deleted after April 19th, when Twitch’s new policy comes in effect. This includes only videos hosted on Twitch.tv, where the owner's highlights exceed the new 100-hour limit. A total of 727,727 videos are hosted on Twitch.
Speedrun.com’s new suite of tools makes it much easier to spot the affected speedruns, but you’ll still find the entire list(s) on Artemis6425’s GitHub, as well as instructions on how to run their code for individual games.
Let’s hope this number continues to decrease rapidly in the coming weeks!
Reddit Choice 🔝
The r/speedrun choice of the week is… this thread about games with the largest time difference between a casual playthrough and the speedrun.
Strong contenders:
The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind | Casual: ~44 Hours | Speedrun: 00:02:50
Baldur’s Gate 3 | Casual: ~70 Hours | Speedrun: 00:04:07
What are yours?
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, March 13th 2025. 👋🏻
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