The Gold Split - Week #51: It's Bananas
Week #51 (August 14): Donkey Kong Bananza; Mirror's Edge; Super Mario Bros.; Mario Kart Wii; Dark Souls; Event News; New Records: Minecraft, Portal 2, Super Metroid, Spyro
Happy Week #51!
Last week, I spoke about the woes with speedrun.com’s API, specifically v2, and how new restrictions due to recent botting attacks affected The Gold Split.
Against all odds and thanks to some clever people on the speedrun.com Discord, I managed to solve the issues and can continue grabbing the news for Up to Speed as well as This Week’s Top Times. At least until the developers plug that loophole…
This week, we’re looking at the early speedrunning developments in Donkey Kong Bananza: the basics, the categories, the progression so far, and the techniques used to traverse the game’s layers.
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! 📨
Story of the Week ✨
Mario Kart World may have been the launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2, but the real flagship is definitely Donkey Kong Bananza. Despite being released roughly one month later, players have been waiting for a worthy follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey for almost eight years.
The game didn’t disappoint and it’s certainly exactly what speedrunners hoped for. The openness of the levels and the multitude of different movement options allows for an uncountable amount of ways to traverse the world. Right now, four weeks after its release, Donkey Kong Bananza is one of the most active games on speedrun.com and while strategies are still being developed regularly, it’s a good time to give a short overview of the game, the speedrun categories, the early speedrun progression, and the techniques used.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s world is stacked into layers. Progression between layers involves falling through vertical tunnels in a way that reminds me of the sequences between levels in MDK (shoutouts to the two people who played the game). Each layer features a different theme, new boss fights, and provides new powers. A key mechanic is the environment, which is almost completely destructible and can be repurposed into weapons or surf boards at will.
Prioritising player freedom was at the core of the developer’s philosophy. The very fact that the game includes skips is intentional, as shown in a reply by game director Kazuya Takahashi in an interview before the game’s launch.
Takahashi: There's a lot of leeway in terms of progression in this game. For example, locations or parts of the story you can skip without suffering any consequences. When the game progresses in a way we hadn't intended, we call it a “sequence break” in development terminology. Typically, in game development, restrictions are put in place to prevent this from happening, but since this game is all about destruction, we wanted people to play freely. Truth be told, restrictions make things a lot easier for us developers. (Laughs) But please do experiment.
Speedrun Categories
When looking at which categories the community chose for their leaderboards, we don’t see many surprises. The classic Any% marks the main category; anything goes and the timer stops after defeating the final boss. On the top end 100% resides as the true completionist category. All Bananzas/Bosses and True Ending are intermediates between the two extremes and for players who like to experience more of the game without immediately committing to everything.
All Bananzas/Bosses requires the collection of all transformations and defeating all bosses, while True Ending focuses on gathering a certain amount of collectibles and completing certain challenge levels. I’m specifically being vague to avoid spoilers. 100% however is a completely different beast and requires the collection of over 1500 objects and the completion of all side objectives. None of these categories have seen much activity yet though, and players are focusing almost exclusively on Any% for now.
Up until now, the Any% category didn’t have restrictions applied. However, just recently, the discovery of a new and very physical movement technique (more on that later) made the game’s moderators call for a community vote. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of banning the technique, and Any% will soon be split into a Restricted and an Unrestricted subcategory. Any% (Restricted) will become the new main category.
If these vanilla categories don’t satisfy you, there are always category extensions, including Trans% and real life Banana Peeling.
Early Progression
The further we get into this, the more jargon I need to use. I’ll explain later, don’t worry.
It’s no surprise that speedrunners picked the game up immediately and had identified fundamental movement techniques like turf surfing and roll jumping within the first 48 hours. Even a skip for an entire layer and corresponding boss fight was found that is still used in runs today.
After this era of rapid discovery, more sequence breaks and layer skips followed quickly. Movement techniques became more advanced and the Fast Air Turf Surf (FAT) was discovered. It was and still is the bread and butter for traversing the world and allows players to achieve more height and range than with regular jumps.
Just recently, when speedrunners were getting more comfortable with the controls and learned how to perform the various strategies more and more consistently, people discovered the Infinite Fast Air Turf Surf, or IFAT. Essentially, this technique lets you trade wrist health for in-game flight. Extremely fast inputs at a precise rhythm are necessary to pull this off successfully and the repeated strain on players’ physical health as well as the danger of the speedrun turning into a monkey flight simulator caused the community to ban the technique.
Since the game’s release, only a few days have passed where the community didn’t set a new record. This will certainly continue for a while and there are many more discoveries to be made. The best place to stay up to date is the community’s Discord server. You’ll find separate threads for each new discovery, a full channel dedicated to world record progression, and much more.
Movement / Glitches / Skips
This section is simply a short introduction into the most common techniques used. I’m aware that the text form isn’t the best way to showcase them and will add some videos towards the end.
Turf Surfing
Turf Surfing is one of the fastest ways to traverse horizontally or downhill. Simply grab a chunk from the environment and surf on top of it. Over time, the turf loses its durability and will break after a short while. Durability is only lost while on the ground and can be extended by jumping during the movement.
Surf Cancelling
A correctly performed Surf Cancel looks like a small dash and gives Donkey Kong a short burst of speed while in the air. This can be used in combination with other techniques to gain more range and clear wider gaps. While holding a chunk, jump, start a Turf Surf, and immediately cancel it, essentially double-tapping that button.
Fast Air Turf Surf (FAT) and Aerial FAT (AFAT)
The Fast Air Turf Surf or FAT is the most common advanced technique used in the speedrun. Again, it starts by holding a chunk or turf. Then, hold the jump button and immediately follow that up with a Turf Surf and an attack. Not only does it result in more height and speed than simply jumping out of a Turf Surf, but also in more airtime to allow chaining it with other techniques.
The Aerial FAT variation requires different timings than the standard FAT and is slightly slower, but offers a better range and more height. It has its uses, but most of the time, the regular FAT is still superior, simply because it can be executed faster.
Infinite FAT
Just a few days ago, the community then discovered that it was possible to infinitely chain AFATs. This requires many inputs in very quick succession at a precise rhythm. Different people seem to have different techniques, but speedrunner Nicro seems to prefer 215 BPM eighth note triplets. Even with the possibility to rebind buttons in the console’s settings, this is extremely strenuous. It makes the speedrun inaccessible, has the potential to injure players over time, and can turn the movement on many into a straight flight to the end. The community decided to ban this technique recently and Any% (Restricted) will become the new main category, guaranteed IFAT-free. Any% (Unrestricted) will remain… fatty.
Juice Boost
It’s tough to call anything mentioned so far a glitch. IFAT definitely gets close, but Juice Boosts most definitely can be considered one. When consuming melon juice or apple juice, the player experiences a slow-down effect. This can be combined with some short button mashing close to a rail to result in a huge speed increase. In fact, Donkey Kong might go so fast that he can clip through walls. Most notably, Juice Boosting is used to skip one of the boss fights and will be allowed in Any% (Restricted).
Showcases and Tutorials
Ultimately, there are too many techniques and too many nuances to each of them to cover them here. To learn more, check out the various videos people made about the subject, join the community Discord server, or simply watch the most recent record and see if you can spot them yourself!
Up to Speed ⚡️
🏃 Mirror’s Edge’s Frame Perfect Kickglitch Dissected (12-minute video)
The Kickglitch is by far the most important movement technique in Mirror’s Edge speedrunning and gives players the opportunity to perform a frame perfect jump in the air. Zweek uses top-notch animations, the game’s source code, and humour to break it down and describe the details that are often glossed over in briefer explanations. Advanced variations like Speedy Kickglitches can provide even greater distance through a combination with other techniques and are also covered in the video.
🐐 Niftski Shatters Super Mario Bros. Warpless Record (26-minute video)
Niftski’s new Super Mario Bros. Warpless record of 18:49.972 is an improvement of over five seconds. It’s an insane achievement in a game as optimised as this and the largest time reduction in the category since 2013. The Warpless category requires players to complete all levels without the use of warp pipes.
🏁 Mario Kart Wii Runner Adapts Old TAS-Only Strategy to RTA (30-minute video)
It took EjayB more than two years to make the Super Slide human-viable, break a prestigious fastest lap record, and finally showcase the process in a video. From scratch, they developed the techniques necessary to pull off the glitch and preserve enough speed throughout the lap. They handily beat the previous fastest lap on Luigi Circuit and believe that the Super Slide can also be applied to other tracks in the future.
🗡️ How The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gets Beaten in Under 40 Minutes (37-minute video)
Prolific The Legend of Zelda speedrunner Player 5 breaks down his recent Any% personal best in Tears of the Kingdom. The result is an in-depth look into the current route and all techniques and glitches used throughout to finish the game in under 40 minutes.
⏱️ The Top 5 of the Most Time-Saving Techniques in Dark Souls Speedrunning (25-minute video)
Long-time Dark Souls speedrunner Regole lists the five most influential strategies, glitches, and skips in the history of the game’s speedrun, ranked by the amount of time they saved.
🌍 GeoGuessr World Champion Blinky finds 20 locations in less than 15 minutes (16-minute video)
Briefly
🏛️ Kaizo Colosseum returns Sept 12–14 benefiting Wings for Life (Tweet)
GrandPooBear announced the event’s comeback with a list of featured participants. More creators will be revealed in the weeks leading up to it.📜 ULTRAKILL adds mandatory tab menu and Steam FPS overlay (1-minute read)
To close a loophole in existing FPS rules, every submission will soon require the in-game tab menu and Steam’s FPS counter visible on video.🛑 Rocket Racing leaderboards temporarily closed (1-minute read)
Moderators have halted verifications and will deny all new submissions until further notice due to a recent game-breaking speed glitch.🧸 The Yetee launches official plush for Frame Fatales mascot (BlueSky)
For each sale, $14 will be donated to the Malala Fund, the charity of choice for Flame Fatales 2025.🥳 Granny: Legacy now accepts TikTok video links (1-minute read)
Huge.
Event News 📅
Right now, two huge events are still going strong! Go and give RTA in Japan Summer 2025 as well as BSG Annual 2025 some love!
🏁 Finished
magFAST at MAGWest 2025 raised $3,076+ for Child’s Play
⏱️ Running
Until August 15th: RTA in Japan Summer 2025 (Schedule), benefiting Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders)
English Restream by English Speedrun Restreams (English Schedule)
Until August 16th: BSG Annual 2025 (Schedule), benefiting MIND
🔜 Upcoming
Starts August 15th: Spotlight (Schedule), benefiting The Knights and Orchids Society
Starts August 15th: HDN Marathon 2025 (Schedule)
Starts August 16th: Indie Horror Speeduns Summer Marathon 2025 (Schedule)
Starts August 21st: Lady Arcaders Super Showcase 2025 (Schedule), benefiting CARE
This Week’s Top Times 🏆
We’re SO BACK!
🥇 First Place
Minecraft: Java Edition (Any% Glitchless: Set Seed, 1.16+) in 00:01:17.846 by nonsochiama
VideoPortal 2 (Single Player: No SLA) in 00:54:59.317 by leough
VideoSuper Mario Bros. (Warpless: NTSC) in 00:18:49.971 by Niftski
Video • Twitch • YouTubeThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (MST) in 01:37:58.000 by Marco
Video • TwitchSuper Metroid (GT Code: Classic) in 00:32:10.349 by ShinyZeni
Video • Twitch • YouTubeRatchet & Clank (NG+) in 00:17:49.000 by Ataappi
VideoSpyro: Year of the Dragon (100 Egg) in 00:50:01.000 by jeremythompson
Video • Twitch • YouTubeHyper Light Drifter (Any%: New Game, No Major Glitches) in 00:29:40.000 by Whisk487 (They/Them)
VideoFrog Detective 1: The Haunted Island (Beat the Game: Current Patch) in 00:10:09.000 by Sneph (She/Her)
Video • YouTube
🥈 Second Place
Spyro the Dragon (Any%) in 00:36:47.000 by Dayoman (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubeFallout (Any%) in 00:04:59.000 by Mort
VideoPortal Stories: Mel (Story Mode: Inbounds) in 00:24:47.650 by Rattlery
Video • Twitch • YouTubeGolden Sun (Any% No S&Q: Emulator, ENG) in 03:21:22.000 by Regnetreis
Video • Twitch • YouTube
🥉 Third Place
Cuphead (Version 1.1+: Any%, Regular) in 00:27:33.880 by SBDWolf (He/Him)
Video • Twitch • YouTubePlants vs. Zombies (Any%: PC) in 03:15:12.000 by Bulbasaur
Video • TwitchStar Wars: Battlefront II (Rise of the Empire: Any%, w/Awards, Both) in 00:45:01.284 by Maddirisa (She/Her)
Video • Twitch • YouTube
Fun Stat of the Week 📈
On speedrun.com, Baldi's Basics Classic Mod Menu has three categories and no runs, but 11,943,936 leaderboards.
Let’s say you’d like to claim your free world record on each of them. If you were able to complete and submit one run every five minutes, it would take you more than 113 years to fill all of the leaderboards. 🙂
Social Choice 🔝
The r/speedrun choice of the week is… this thread about runners that have been consistently at the top of their game for the longest time.
👋🏻 And that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday, August 21st 2025. 👋🏻
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Thanks for reading.