Speedruns or Speed Runs?

Well, there it is. I finished up MGS3 this weekend. It took 81/2 pages of notes, 24 days, with 25 hours of recorded game time. (Actual game time was probably somewhere around 50, I would guess, since I would have to restart if I was spotted, or died during a boss battle.)

I only shot 56 of the 64 Kerotan frogs; but I did collect all of the food items, got all of the boss camos, and received the stealth camo. I counted 60 areas of gameplay.

Of course, all of this is amateur stuff compared to speedruns like these:

Adnan Kauser’s MGS3 run:

http://www.archive.org/details/MetalGearSolid3_EuExtreme_FoxHound_12946

Takeshi’s MGS2 run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSJguEjH6mA&feature=related

and Matt Powell’s MGS run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU8Yws8XY7I

I’ve only just discovered that these even existed, but I can’t believe the planning and execution that would have to go into a speed run (or speedrun, I’ve seen it both ways) like this.

Now, after watching these speed runs, here’s what I would love to see. Let’s take MGS, the 1998 Playstation version; get all of the cutscenes, all of the codec conversations that are vital to the plot, and a speed run like Powells; then cut them together so that you could watch it like a (really long) movie. And do it for each of the games in the series. I would buy those on DVD.

That’s my million dollar idea for the day.

Oh, and if I were Konami, I would create a tour, so that you could go see these guys live, in-person, when they’re making a record breaking run.

Look at that. Two million dollar ideas in one day. Not too shabby.

screentone out.