The concept of speedrunning, racing through video games as fast as possible, has exploded in popularity recently. Livestreaming culture fuels insatiable curiosity around the limits of completion times. What does it take to conquer beloved games when holding nothing back?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas stands as a legendary open world title, demanding 25+ hours for most playthroughs. Yet top runners have uncovered glitches so game-breaking that finishing San Andreas in under 15 minutes is now commonplace. We‘ll spotlight what is currently the fastest completion out there and dive deep on the tricks that make it possible.
Welcome to the Adrenaline-Fueled World of Speedrunning!
Before we scrutinize superhuman feats, let‘s get you up to speed on speedrunning writ large.
Categories Galore
Rather than an anything-goes format, runners abide by different rulesets based on preferences:
- Any % – Finish main objectives as fast as possible, often sequence breaking. Most popular category.
- 100% – Complete all content available. Far longer and methodical.
- Low% – Beat the game with the least upgrades/items collected. Introduces handicaps.
- Restricted – Custom conditions like no glitches, no damage or permadeath.
This lets players showcase different talents. Some runners exclusively focus on Any% runs with skips for blazing times, while others prefer fulfilling 100% checklists.
Glitch-Loving Culture
Bugs and exploits form the very foundation of speedrunning. Manipulating games in unintended ways lets competitors bypass massive chunks of content. The mentality embraces out-of-bounds thinking rather than considering it unfair or cheating.
In fact, the speedrunning community revels in dissecting games to find new barriers to break. Developers often intentionally add secrets paying tribute to this rebellious ethos. The culture also rewards those who push limits. Runners who flaunt games to the extreme tend to gain the most notoriety and acclaim.
Why We Watch
For viewers, speedrunning attracts by condensing beloved games down to their most exhilarating essence. The skill and game mastery on display also amazes, as we realize the potential afforded by hundreds of hours of optimization. Shortened completion also exponentially magnifies tension – the tiniest mistake can instantly ruin a world record attempt. This addiction to high-stakes entertainment keeps us glued.
Setting the Scene in San Andreas
GTA: San Andreas transports players into 90‘s gang culture, with Carl "CJ" Johnson explore the locales of Los Santos and beyond after returning home. The dynamic open world gives flexibility to approach missions in different ways.
Significantly, San Andreas introduced RPG mechanics by having CJ hit the gym and buff strength/stamina. The customizability and nonlinearity in achieving objectives made it perfect for exploiting in speedruns.
Programmers also packed oodles of Easter Eggs and wacky uniquenesses under the hood for players to uncover. This density and attention to detail helped San Andreas achieve acclaim as one of the greatest games made.
Discovery of The Game-Breaking "Ryder Skip"
In early 2021, the PC re-release of San Andreas introduced a slew of new bugs. One in particular dubbed the "Ryder Skip" utterly shattered prior expectations by rocketing runners straight to the finale in mere minutes. By manipulating certain timers after mission triggers, suddenly the entire main story became skippable.
Veteran speedrunner RealKev3n first stumbled upon the Ryder Skip by accident while routing Any% attempts. He managed to reproduce the precise setup consistenly. Once unveiled to the community, shock and elation rippled out at redefining what seemed possible. It exemplified a quantum leap forward for San Andreas speedrunning.
Yet despite its game-breaking ramifications, reliably performing Ryder Skip proved tremendously precarious. The timing windows and intricate setup left absolutely no margin for error. Only players with superhuman mastery like RealKev3n could harness the trick to set new times.
Frame-By-Frame Breakdown of Legendary Run
On March 28, 2021, RealKev3n utterly demolished records, completing the entire GTA San Andreas story in an astonishing 13 minutes & 56 seconds! Let‘s analyze the specifics:
| Time | Section | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Mission Start | Perfection required from word go |
| 2:30 | Intro Skip | Vital timesave with precise movement |
| 5:00 | Sweet Mission Setup | Meticulous manipulations to enable later skip |
| 7:20 | Ryder Skip Trigger | Holding breath for consistency… |
| 8:10 | Final Mission Warp | IT WORKED! Now the real challenge starts… |
| 13:56 | FINAL TIME | A new era for San Andreas speedrunning begins! |
The run shatters all expectations for the title. RealKev3n nonchalantly breezes through tricks veteran runners can barely comprehend. Maintaining composure while everything glitches into oblivion makes an already difficult game doubly hard.
Yet RealKev3n improvises adaptively even when the game threatens to break. His fluidity weaving complex control inputs looks effortless but demands endless preparation. The landmark run cements his status as one of the most dangerous speedrunners alive.
Grinding Days Away for Glory
While the runs themselves may seem like a dash, training to seriously compete at GTA: San Andreas speedrunning brings uniquely intense challenges:
- Learning how to reliably trigger obscure glitches takes patient grinding. Small timing differentials matter.
- Internalizing all visual/audio cues across missions stays essential for timing responses accurately under pressure.
-retval Developing precise muscle memory for complex control inputs happens through countless repetition. Bindings must become second nature. - Level-headed focus is mandatory when attempting full game runs, as even one small mistake spells game over after hours of concentration.
Top runners also emphasize actively engaging with the speedrunning community as crucial to staying motivated and staving off burnout through the endless failed attempts. Sharing victories, theorizing optimizations, and receiving encouragement helps runners push through the taxing grind. Maintaining life balance remains vital as well when so much time gets sunk into mastering a single game for incremental improvements.
Pushing Limits With Every Patch
After RealKev3n‘s watershed run demonstrated sub-15 times as achievable, the big question became just how far could this be pushed? Seemingly any time saved mattered. Spurred by new findings, runners pushed up against the very technical limitations of gameplay itself in hunting precious frame savings.
In September 2022, renowned runner PeeBee smashed the record by another 20 seconds with a staggering 13 minutes & 36 seconds through finely tuned optimizations. Veterans continued labbing out theorized timesave routes. They incorporated another new glitch called "hot coffee" for precious seconds. Speculation mounted that even a sub-13 time sits within reach someday…
And this encapsulates the thrill of speedrunning – continuously discovering new ways to stretch boundaries once considered impossible. It reveals incredible creativity thriving within gaming communities. Each patch moves obstacles further as daring individuals use tools to probe at the fringes of software limitations. What may seem one day unattainable can become consistent reality shortly after. The human capacity to go beyond assumptions underpins innovation, making speedrunning attempts at the edge a compelling spectacle.
Conclusion: Buckling Up for the Ride
Witnessing dexterous players utterly demolish brilliant games makes for profoundly exhilarating entertainment. That concentrated expertise on display captures lightning in a bottle – the pinnacle of gaming as a spectator performance art.
For games like GTA: San Andreas with seemingly endless exploitable potential, it attracts uniquely addicted personality types who think outside the box. They chase the euphoric rush of being first to summit unseen peaks. We get to live vicariously through their adventure documenting the literal edge cases of beloved games.
As the next generation of runners takes the helm armed with new techniques, we spectators relish the show constantly upping intensity. Mastering the record-setting Ryder Skip and earning a place among legends like RealKev3n and PeeBee stands today as the ultimate badge of honor for trigger-quick gamers. Sit down and buckle up before you get whiplash!
