You're trapped on a desert island. To escape, you must set a top three speedrun record. What are you playing?

[zzz]

Rules:

• It doesn't have to be a complete game playthrough. Any recognized category (ex: a Mario Kart course time trial) would count as long as you place top three.
• It must be a game that came out at least a year ago. No setting records on release day.
• No outside communication. No internet. You're isolated on this island with only your current knowledge of gaming, recordings of past runs, a leaderboard, and a ton of free time.
• You can study TAS but cannot use one for your runs.
• Once chosen, you cannot change the record you're attempting to set.
• You have enough food and supplies to survive for a year.
• There's no other way for you to be rescued or escape. It's either rank or perish.

One year to master a game and save yourself. Whatcha got?

 

[Qikz]

If you have no internet how do you know the record to beat?

 

[Elven_Star]

I'll accept my fate and remain on the island forever.

 

[rubbish_opinions]

I suck at speedruns. Finally some peace and quiet.

 

[bushmonkey]

For me, it would need to be a walking simulator of some sort with little randomisation as my reaction times just plain suck so it all has to be muscle memory (I'm very good at guitar hero and beat saber because I know when notes are coming, not so good at doom where I need to adapt).
In my heart I would go for Gone Home but that's a really quick run that's been optimised to hell so would be hard to skim off the top so instead my head is telling me to ho for Firewatch. Much more room for optimisation there but more risky as it's far longer so more chances to fuck up.

 

[bushmonkey]

If you have no internet how do you know the record to beat?

Click to shrink...

You phone your friend with your satellite phone and ask them to Google it :D

No outside communication.

Click to shrink...

…Dang.

 

[Nessus]

I'd pick something super obscure, maybe like a game one of my friends made.

 

[bushmonkey]

I'd pick something super obscure, maybe like a game one of my friends made.

Click to shrink...

Clever! Can it be a game I made myself years ago in RPGMaker? Nothing in the rules against that :D

 

[Shift Breaker]

Oh, easy, go for games that have, like, no leaderboards on them. Skies of Arcadia: Legends has like, five people on the 100% leaderboards.

It's also a 20 or so hour run, but hey.

So, uh, Toy Commander 100% it is.

 

[Daggoth]

Can I code and privately publish a game in 24 hours, survive 364 days off the food and supplies, then wait 24 more hours and set the record?

Serious answer - probably an adventure game or something that's easy enough to get through, but no one really plays that genre anyway so it's relatively easy. I had some #1 platinum trophy times on PSNProfiles, they've all been knocked off by now but are still top 5 easily.

 

[Oreiller]

Guess I'll die.

 

[CHC]

Speedrun through my food and then speedrun to my inevitable death.

I am the world's slowest and most methodical player.

 

[zMiiChy-]

Resident Evil 5

 

[Griffith]

Quake 1.

 

[UltraJay]

Use the year to learn how to survive on my own since I'll be on that island forever.

On the plus side, I'll have video games to play.

 

[spad3]

If it's just from opening sequence to credits, Far Cry 4.

EZ PZ

 

[Euler]

I'd just pick one of the recent Super Robot Wars games. SRWT maybe?

 

[Raide]

Guess I'll die.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much would speedrun this also.

 

[Baphomet]

Enter the Gungeon.

 

[DeltaMustache]

This island will be my grave :(

 

[Jane]

If you're not already a speedrunner, it would be next to impossible to independently pioneer an entire speedrun strategy and achieve a top 3 time. These records are the culmination of multiple people running the game over several years. Top 100? Might be more reasonable.

 

[ekim]

Probably a Trackmania track if that counts.
If not, it's probably Slay the Spire, glitchless.

 

[tiebreaker]

Gonna speedrun games that barely anyone plays.

Speedrunning Babylon's Fall levels.

Edit: Oh fuck, the game is not even one year old.

 

[Mechaplum]

Nothing. I'll be sad there forever.

 

[SCUMMbag]

No outside communication basically makes this impossible. Someone finds a new glitch/method and you're done.

 

[Patitoloco]

I'm very sure that outside bosses strategies I can speedrun very well the MGS games.

I know they're very optimized though, getting into a top 10 is very difficult.

 

[Papatulus]

I once held a speedrun world record simply by virtue of nobody else ever posting a run of the game online, was later beaten by more than half by someone else who noticed this game with exactly one runner. Old PC/PS1 game that commercially released and has a wikipedia article so its not hyper-obscure.

in fact, I think its still just me and the other guy with recorded runs. so... do I get to leave the island immediately?

 

[tiebreaker]

 

[Patitoloco]

Broken Sword I'm sure I can speedrun very efficiently, I know that game like the palm of my hand.

 

[George]

Do I have to PB, or do I just have to get a time that would sit top three on the leaderboard? Because there are quite a few THPS1+2 ILs that I could whip out a top three time no problem in an hour or two. My Any% record for THPS3 was just beaten yesterday, so I'd probably choose that, though.

 

[Lyriell]

Donkey Kong arcade. Should take a day or two.

 

[Psamtik]

Smart Ball on the SNES.

 

[Menome]

Myst. It can be done in less than a minute once you know how.

 

[Patitoloco]

Myst. It can be done in less than a minute once you know how.

Click to shrink...

Sure, but you're sure you can make that minute faster than the current top 3? 😏

 

[Deleted member 106050]

People who choose short goals (like a single level or course) don't realize how optimized these categories are. The shorter the speedrun is, the more likely it is to have been milked for all its worth.

Ideally, you would have to choose something that's obscure, so very few people, if anyone at all, would have run it. But...

It doesn't have to be a complete game playthrough. Any recognized category (ex: a Mario Kart course time trial) would count as long as you place top three.

Click to shrink...

Here's the catch. If it's too obscure, it won't have a widely recognize category (I'm assuming we're going by SpeedRun.com leaderboards). Since you can't connect to the Internet or communicate with the outside world, you can't create the category yourself. And I'm assuming that you don't have time to prepare before going to the island.

Since OP especifically mentions that you have "a leaderboard", that means the game can't be that obscure. It must have been run, at least, once by someone else, and their times officially recorded by the keeper of the leaderboards. Chances are that person is better at that game than the vast majority of people who may want to try the challenge just to escape from an island.

In short, I feel this challenge, given the current conditions, is basically impossible for 99.99% of Era users :/

 

[Big Yoshi]

The easy answer isnt an obscure game, but a game no one would have bothered to seriously speedrun before.
Probably something like that one poker game on gba.

 

[Symphony]

Name any obscure game, or any game which takes so long to complete 100% that simply finishing an LP would automatically net you world record.

 

[KillstealWolf]

I did briefly hold 2nd Place on Bowser Castle in Mario Kart Wii Time Trials 2 Weeks after launch, so I guess I'm already off the island, huh?

 

[Jane]

I think the best choice other than an obscure game with no competition would be any category that's so simple that almost anyone can tie the WR. However I wouldn't know what would fit the bill. Maybe a really simple Goldeneye level?

 

[Flambe]

Do I have to esca-

• You have enough food and supplies to survive for a year.

Click to shrink...

Oh =(

 

[Menchin]

Alien Shooter

Yes, that is a real game

 

[NotLiquid]

Glass Joe WR in Punch-Out

 

[OneThirtyEight]

I would do a REAL speedrun of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Megaman 7 and Crash Bandicoot 2. No exploits or glitches or anything.

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

Pfft, easy shit. I can probably do a Third Strike run.

 

[Doc Laserstein]

I think maybe Life Force?

I can't say for sure how many times I've beaten it over the last thirty-six years, but it has to be north of fifty. I already know the patterns of the game like the back of my hand, so I feel like maybe with enough practice I could ace it.

 

[EndlessSummer]

I'd probably die.I'm good at speedrunning but only when I'm using a guide.

 

[AndyVirus]

Gone Home any % and hope I get lucky. Sub-50s shouldn't take too long to hit but sub-48 then sub-47 will be the real challenge.

 

[Poltergust]

This is easy enough to overcome if you choose a game and category with less than 3 runners on it.

For instance, for a Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney speedrun (yes, there are Ace Attorney speedruns), you can do it the hard way and do the normal "Original Cases" category with 20 other runners on the leaderboard… or you can just do the "Turbo Original Cases" category that only has two runners on it, giving you an automatic top 3 time.

 

[mael]

I'm picking BotW or Yoshi Island.
Why?
Because I'm not ever planning on leaving the island, I'm just playing these games forever on the desert island.

alternative answer : Pikmin 5.
That game is never coming out soon so getting a top 3 speedrun should be easy.

• It must be a game that came out at least a year ago. No setting records on release day.

Click to shrink...

No fun allowed!

Obscure JRPG here we go.

 

[Tito]

Since no one ever played it but me, the Superman gb game by Titus, companion to the infamous Superman 64.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that finished that piece of crap.