Remember about a year ago I mentioned a speedrun of VVVVVV, where someone beat the game in under 14 minutes? And compared that to the tool-assisted run of under 13 minutes? And then I said something almost prescient…
Barring a disruptive new glitch or strategy, that run is an indication of the theoretical fastest possible time that can be achieved, by a computer or a human.
Well…
Someone found a disruptive new glitch. Behold: Scepheo and Masterjun’s almost embarrassing deconstruction of VVVVVV. 47.1 seconds.
Watching the video it’s impossible to tell what’s happening and you have to read the comments to understand exactly how they’re breaking the game. It’s an impressive achievement – it certainly impressed Terry Cavanagh – but I had to agree with him when he tweeted:
This one is *kind* of a shame, because there are some amazing 10-minute runs that are far more entertaining to watch that are now superseded
— Terry (@terrycavanagh) April 8, 2014
That’s why human speed-runs will almost always be better to watch than tool-assisted runs – watching someone play the game so amazingly is a spectacle, while watching someone exploit glitches and random number generators is amusing but not nearly as evocative. Either way though, VVVVVV in under a minute… is it even possible to beat that?