Sonic Speedrunners Go Fast, Break World Records Back-To-Back During AGDQ

Flying Fox finding out she set a new world record. So adorable.

Flying Fox finding out she set a new world record. So adorable.
Screenshot: Games Done Quick

The Sonic block of games is mandatory watching in my house for every Games Done Quick event and this year’s block—that took place yesterday—has already claimed GOAT status when not one but two runners achieved world records back-to-back.

Flying Fox’s earned the first world record for her run of 2013’s Sonic The Hedgehog Android port.

Flying Fox ran the Tails Only category requiring her to beat the game with Sonic’s helicopter tailed sidekick Tails (who was not playable in the original Sonic The Hedgehog, but added for the Android release). At first, Flying Fox wasn’t aware that she’d beaten the previous world record. As her commentator Amber Cyprian explains, even though Flying Fox beat the game with a 20:03 real world time, runners for this game use in-game time to determine their leaderboards. Basically, in-game time cuts out things like loading screens and score tally screens making her in-game time significantly shorter than the time displayed on screen. Midway through the game’s credits however, Flying Fox received a message stating her time was 13 minutes and 22 seconds. “A new world record,” Flying Fox exclaimed in shock.

Speedrun.com’s leaderboard showing Flying Fox’s official world record.

Speedrun.com’s leaderboard showing Flying Fox’s official world record.
Screenshot: Speedrun.com

It was so cute to watch her realize what she had done live. It was so unexpected especially because she executed a neat looking trick that wastes time but looks cool at the end of the last boss fight that basically made Tails moonwalk while Dr. Robotnik’s machines exploded. That she was able to do that and still get a world record makes her genuine shock genuinely enjoyable to behold.

If Flying Fox’s world record wasn’t awesome enough, the very next runner got his own world record too. Zaxon96 ran a fangame of the PC version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles called Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited. Watching the game was fun even without Zaxon96’s skillful tricks that made Sonic zip across the levels. The game allows you to insert custom music so as Zaxon96 played, viewers could hear weird, non-standard Sonic songs including one about a big chungus and another about Totino’s pizza rolls.

Zaxon96’s reaction to setting a world record was a little more subdued, totally downplaying the fact that he managed to perfectly execute a huge, level-skipping, time saving trick three times in a row. The glitch, when done correctly, tricks the game into allowing you to replay a level as though it were the next level in sequence. Zaxon96 performed the trick the first time during the transition between Hydro City (not Hydrocity you heathens) Acts 1 and 2, allowing him to replay the faster Act 1 instead of progressing to Act 2, but the game still counted Act 2 as being completed. He did the trick again during the Carnival Night levels and yet again during the final Death Egg levels which actually allowed him to treat the mid boss fight against Red Eye as the final encounter and skip the real final boss fight against Robotnik. The result shaved full minutes off his run and he completed the game in 34:24 beating the 37 minute previous world record that ironically Zaxon96 himself holds.

This leaderboard hasn’t updated yet with Zaxon96's new time. Fortunately for him, he already has the world record.

This leaderboard hasn’t updated yet with Zaxon96’s new time. Fortunately for him, he already has the world record.
Screenshot: Speedrun.com

Other greats during the Sonic block include a glitch exhibition of the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game and runner Argick’s mile-a-minute, funny as heck commentary during Sonic Mania.

Listen to him go. I love Games Done Quick.

.

source: gamezpot.com