Fallout: New Vegas is a spin-off of Fallout 3, released in 2010. The spin-off distinguishes itself with a tighter scope but plenty of personality. Eight characters in the game can be pursued romantically, offering a distinct twist on the original series’ dynamics.
Speedrunners—competitive players who aim to finish games as quickly as possible—quickly learned how to reach the credits in Fallout: New Vegas, first in about 15 minutes and then in just over 10 minutes. This sparked a wave of self-imposed challenges, many of which evolved into official sprint categories tracked by the community.
One notable category involved completing a run while pursuing relationships with all eligible characters as fast as possible. The current world record holder in this category is an American gamer using the alias Elongated_Musketun. In 21 minutes 49 seconds, they managed to complete all dating goals. The category was formalized roughly seven months ago, edging into prominence nearly three years after it first appeared as a concept.
As is common in speedrunning, achieving the record required exploiting game quirks and edge cases. The playthroughs push players to think creatively about mechanics, movement, and timing to shave off every possible second.
striptease game
Super Mario: Odyssey stands as a flagship entry in a long-running platforming and racing legacy built around Nintendo’s iconic mustachioed plumber. Like classic titles, Odyssey is a platform game demanding precise jumping, running, and agility, with occasional boss battles and threats to overcome.
Viewed through a modern lens, Super Mario Odyssey is a vibrant, candy-colored Nintendo adventure appealing to players of all ages. In practice, the game invites speedrunners to optimize their routes with millisecond precision and pixel-perfect jumps to chase records as new credits roll.
Over time, players discovered increasingly challenging subcategories as competition intensified. One particularly unusual and talked-about subcategory asks for completing a run while achieving specific wardrobe changes for Mario as quickly as possible. This category, sometimes referred to by a nickname, highlights the playful absurdity that can emerge in speedrunning culture.
In reality, the challenge measures how fast a player can gather in-game currency and use it to obtain outfits for Mario, exchanged in a starting hub known as the Kingdom of the Sands. The current record and narrative around the subcategory involve a gamer named heytherecool, who achieved a wardrobe milestone in about 7 minutes and 25 seconds. More than 700 participants are tracked in the up-to-date leaderboards for this category.
hands on the table
Barney’s Hide and Seek is a retro title from Sega Mega Drive dating back to 1993, inspired by an educational program of the same name that aired on American television.
In keeping with the series’ whimsy, the main character is Barney the pink dinosaur, who guides players through five distinct biomes while gathering child-friendly friends along the way. The game’s simple controls and design keep the focus on quick completion paths rather than precision combat or complex puzzles.
Speedrunners—known for their humor and playful approach—occasionally turn retro titles into cult phenomena. Barney’s Hide and Seek has a unique no-controller mode that lets younger audiences simply enjoy the animation while the game continues to run. A competition category in this mode, often called No Controller, challenges players to watch an autopilot run while equipment and paths are chosen randomly by the game, with some routes outperforming others by sheer luck and planning. The fastest attempts have been under 10 minutes, and the best current time hovers around 9 minutes and 9 seconds, achieved on original hardware under specific regional constraints.
Some dialogues and animations may feel quicker in certain kit configurations, adding to the charm of this quirky speedrunning corner.
Hell Chief
The Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an action-adventure game set in Nintendo’s expansive open world. The title features a wide array of mechanics—from climbing and gliding to fishing and cooking—as players explore, solve puzzles, and survive in a living landscape.
Among its many activities, cooking stands out as a favorite for many runners. Breath of the Wild offers more than 100 recipes that mix a range of ingredients to yield powerful effects and new strategies for exploration. Competitions in this area focus on collecting ingredients and crafting dishes with efficiency and speed in mind.
While not all recipes have been cataloged in the speedrunning lists yet, the community actively discusses potential inclusions and categories. A point of debate is whether items linked to Amiibo figures, which grant bonus effects, should be allowed in official rankings. The best-ever full-run cooking challenge in Breath of the Wild sits at just under six hours, with ongoing attempts to shave seconds off the clock from top competitors like MintLightning.
love is bad
Stardew Valley is a pixel-art farming sim with a strong emphasis on story, relationships, and community life. Players grow crops, tend animals, and manage a farm while interacting with the town’s residents. The game features a wide arc of activities and quests, including forming close friendships and pursuing marriage with a partner in the village.
Speedrunners have taken advantage of the marriage mechanic to establish a fast-track category focused on quick nuptials. To marry a character, the player builds friendship by gifting items and engaging in dialogue, with a roster of twelve potential partners—six men and six women—each with distinct tastes.
The fastest routes typically involve forming a bond with a specific character known for straightforward gifts. One such character is Shane, who responds well to simple offerings like homegrown parsnips. Parsnips are easy to grow and provide reliable friendship boosts, making the path to marriage quicker for resourceful players.
The record for this marriage-focused challenge is held by a player using the alias MrPop1, who completed the feat in 48 minutes and 56 seconds, narrowly beating the second-place time. This category highlights how speedrunners blend social mechanics with puzzle-solving to create entertaining and competitive runs.