The Gold Split - Week #44: Switch 2 Woes
Week #44 (June 12): Switch 2; Horaro; Celeste; Mario Galaxy; SGDQ Calendar; Leaderboard Updates; Event News; New Records: Superliminal, A Hat in Time, Donkey Kong, Sekiro
Happy Week #44!
We’re back… again! Hiking in the Alps was incredible and I recommend you all go and do the same. Right now. After reading the news. This week, we’re briefly touching upon the impact of the Switch 2 on speedrunning communities and then catch up on the past two weeks. Let’s get into it.
Contents
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! 📨
Story of the Week ✨
Last week, Nintendo released the Switch 2. If this is news to you, I’ve done my job right. It’s backwards compatible with most games that ran on its predecessor and in some cases comes with special (paid) upgrades with a few select games.
I originally intended to write a much larger article about how the release of the Switch 2 impacts each of the communities and leaderboards of older games that run on the new console, but the picture is largely the same everywhere I looked: games run significantly faster on the new console and a large amount of time is saved due to faster loading times.
The exact amount depends on the specific game and category. Shorter categories and older titles might only see a few seconds, while Any% in Super Mario Odyssey is suddenly almost 50 seconds faster and runners of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet even saw an instant improvement of at least half an hour.
Across the board, communities are now debating how to set up their leaderboards for speedruns on the Switch 2. Initially, some opted for keeping them entirely separate, while others won’t accept them at all until the picture has become clearer.
In the future, if the time saved is consistent enough between players, we might see both consoles displayed on the same leaderboards. In this case, speedruns done on the original Switch would simply receive a flat time advantage equal to the difference between the consoles. Otherwise, both will forever be displayed on separate leaderboards, and it will take a long time before the amount of runs done on the new console will surpass the original Switch.
In rare cases and thanks to the new Switch 2 versions of certain games or simply more frames per second, new techniques, strategies and route options might present themselves. Time will tell and I’ll try to keep you updated!
Up to Speed ⚡️
🧡 Horaro.org is dead, long live Horaro.net (4-minute read)
Horaro.org, the web application that has been a go-to page for speedrunning event schedules for longer than most people have been part of this community, will be shutting down at the end of the year. It’s hard to overstate the positive impact that Sgt. Kabukiman created by developing a tool that allowed such easy creation and smooth maintenance of schedules, but they haven’t been able to look after it in many years now. In this personal post, Sgt. Kabukiman thanks the community and details the plan for the future. Duncte, maintainer of another precious website you might be familiar with, Oengus.io, will carry on the torch over at Horaro.net, modernise the backend and continue the development. Thank you both, your contributions to the community have been and continue to be invaluable. 💛
⛰️ The History of Celeste Any% Speedruns (188-minute documentary)
There are many speedrunning history videos these days, but this one by content creator MKarma goes straight into my top three of all time. Celeste is such an accomplished speedgame and doing it justice with a video like this is an incredible challenge. Not only did they rise to the challenge, but they did so with an astonishing production full of knowledge, insight, heart and soul. This one has everything.
🎯 Super Mario Galaxy gets a prologue skip (Reddit Thread)
This new frame-perfect skip promises to save 73 seconds at the beginning of Super Mario Galaxy and could create a new rush for the record that has stood since December 2024. At the time of writing, the first new personal best that includes the skip has yet to be submitted to the leaderboards. A video is available in the post.
🗓️ A Google Calendar for all showcases at SGDQ 2025 (BlueSky Post)
Community members dish and Cyanphibian developed an importable calendar that synchronises to the official SGDQ schedule and updates itself every two hours. You’re able to copy single showcases or the entire calendar over to yours and let yourself be reminded before they happen. The event runs between July 6 and July 13 (depending on your time zone). Thank you!
⏸️ The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker leaderboards allow runners to take breaks (3-minute read)
Following a community vote, all leaderboards for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker now allows players to take breaks during longer runs. Short breaks of up to 15 minutes are accumulated for every two hours of final runtime and long breaks of up to 24 hours for every six hours. More information as well as regulations about when and where the game may be paused is available in the rule description. A win for accessibility!
🥇 RapidRuns4Fun hosts $600 Speedrun Competition (2-minute read)
The game chosen for this set of bounties is the free demo for JETRUNNER. The price pool will be distributed between the best players in several different categories, making it possible to specialise in individual level or world runs. The event ends on June 17th. Instructions about how to unlock all levels through a special code and how to submit your time are included in the post.
Briefly
🧛 The History of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse Speedruns (69-minute video)
👹 DOOM: The Dark Ages leaderboards add restricted category for glitchless enthusiasts (Leaderboard)
🧟♂️ Version differences cause timing changes in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (3-minute read)
🔁 Category Reordering and Rule Changes in Rain World: Downpour (1-minute read)
Event News 📅
It’s a packed weekend ahead and large parts of Germany will be experiencing their first heat wave of 2025. I can’t think of a better thing to do than to take shelter from the sun and watch not one, not two, not even three or four, but five events at the same time. Most of them support great causes and have a unique theme. Check them out!
🏁 Finished
Prevent-A-Thon 5 raised C$3,616 for Little Warriors
⏱️ Running
Until June 15th: Zeldathon Voyage (Schedule), benefiting charity: water
🔜 Upcoming
Starts June 13th: Speedromizer VII (Schedule), benefiting QMUNITY
Starts June 13th: Bingothon Summer 2025 (Schedule), benefiting Médecins Sans Frontières
Starts June 13th: Power Up With Pride 2025 (Schedule), benefiting True Colors United
Starts June 14th: Sonic and the SEGA All-Stars (Schedule)
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
🥇 First Place
Grand Theft Auto V (Segments: Trevor%) in 00:53:22.000 by sObad256
VideoSuperliminal (Glitchless: PC) in 00:21:08.849 by nerdgaming68 (Any/All)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeA Hat in Time (Any%: Lagless, PC) in 00:34:07.609 by ennu (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeDonkey Kong (NES) (1 Loop (Game A)) in 00:01:03.100 by Tanishy (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Shura: PC, Glitchless) in 00:28:09.000 by Yeruka
Video • Twitch • YouTubePokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee (Any% NMS: Eevee, ENG) in 02:57:37.000 by Etchy (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) (Any%: Normal) in 00:55:58.000 by Ruben_ls3
Video • Twitch • YouTubeCeleste (All Hearts) in 00:51:33.286 by yujene
Video • TwitchKingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD (Any%: PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X, Aqua, Critical/Level 1) in 00:40:03.000 by Sonicshadowsilver2 (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥈 Second Place
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Any%: Physical) in 00:21:51.599 by BigCheese (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (Any%) in 00:42:32.000 by StarSpeedruns (He/Him, She/Her, They/Them)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Super Mario 3D World: Any%) in 01:24:47.000 by Xylex (She/Her)
VideoBioShock (Any%: PC) in 00:23:02.000 by KPCzombie
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place
Slime Rancher (Any% Glitchless: 1.0.1 - 1.4.4) in 00:11:58.710 by Wikboy
Video • Twitch • YouTubeSuper Mario Bros. 3 (Any% Warpless) in 00:50:03.000 by maibaRTA
Video • Twitch • YouTubeStray (Any%: PC, Glitchless) in 01:15:48.000 by Lettuce_Seeds (She/Her, They/Them)
Video • YouTubeDonkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Any%: SNES) in 00:38:01.000 by lovebird920
Video • Twitch
Social Choice 🔝
The r/speedrun choice of the week is… this thread about popular speedrun categories that don’t make use of glitches despite them being allowed.
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Wednesday June 18th 2025. 👋🏻
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