New speedrunner FAQ

New speedrunner FAQ

Q: I want to start speedrunning. What game(s) do you recommend?
A: Start with a game you really enjoyed casually, or one you've really enjoyed watching. It takes time and patience to learn how to speedrun, and the process is much more fun if you pick a game you already enjoy.

Q: What equipment do I need?
A: It depends on the game, but you can always speedrun in some capacity with just an emulator, a ROM and a timer (or the actual game itself and a timer). I recommend LiveSplit as a timer for Windows users and Llanfair for Mac users. For recording and/or streaming your runs, I recommend OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). From there, check the resources section of your game on speedrun.com for tools that runners use.

Q: Which Pokemon run(s) are best?
A: They are all objectively bad because luck is so important, but there are still many reasons to enjoy them. My order of preference for the games I've run is listed below (last updated May 2017):

Colosseum
Emerald
Red
Sapphire
Crystal
Fire Red round 2
Yellow
Fire Red any%
Gold
Glitched categories

Q: How do I start learning a game?
A: Check the top runs and guides on speedrun.com, and watch people currently running the game. As you get more familiar with the run, start doing runs yourself. Since a full run is a lot to process, you might benefit from just playing the first ~30 minutes until you have that down, then learning and playing the next 30 minutes, etc. Don't worry about your time; just try to complete it using a speedrun route. Once you've done a full run, you'll have a good idea of whether it's fun enough for you to continue. If you do, start practicing the hardest parts of the run, and spend some time learning the game's mechanics. Resources for Pokemon runs can be found here: https://pastebin.com/GCaPV32M

Q: I don't have the equipment to run the game on console/the fastest version. Should I still run it?
A: If you can run it on a reasonably accurate platform, then yes. Some games have important glitches or manipulations that are exclusive to a certain platform, and you might want to stay away from those unless you know you'll eventually be able to afford said platform. However, most games made before 2010 have decently accurate emulation.

Q: What's a good time for a first run?
A: Times are not relevant when you're starting out. This is because your first run is not really a run, but a step in the learning process, and everyone learns using different methods at different speeds. The only exception is if you're planning to do just one run as a sort of challenge to yourself.