Most speedruns are pretty straightforward; get to the end of the game or an individual level, within the rules of the category. For platformers, shooters, and other genres with a clearly defined beginning and end, that’s a pretty easy proposition - the challenge is in the execution.
There are plenty of other games that don’t seem like they’d be a good fit for speedrunning at first glance. Players can be pretty ingenious, though, and you may find unexpected categories if you dive deep enough into the world of speedrunning. Maybe you’ll be the next recordholder in one of these offbeat rankings?
8Seaman (Dreamcast)
Freedom%
You’d be forgiven for not knowing that bizarre pet simSeamanactually has an ending. As you take care of subsequent generations of Seamen, they evolve and grow,eventually gaining froglike bodies. By encouraging them to jump at the back of the tank, you can reveal the area beyond the back, setting them free to explore the world and continue their journey across the ages without you.
In true Seaman fashion, this isn’t just a completion run or an Any% run;the category is called Freedom%. It’s also intensely frustrating, as you have to rely on janky voice controls and a rudimentary AI that only does what you want sometimes. As runnerpilesaid after setting the world record of 3:49.07, “Seaman’s great. It’s just such a dumb idea for a speedrun, a terrible speedrun.”
7Duck Hunt (NES)
Point Target
Duck Hunt, like a lot of retro games,just goes on forever until you run out of lives. With no endpoint, speedrunners instead blast ducks out of the sky with lightning precision tohit a target score as quickly as possible.There are categories going up toone million pointsin both the “classic” Duck Hunt and the lesser-known clay pigeon minigame.
The million-point world record for classic Duck Hunt is 16:38, held byCarter44, while the clay pigeon world record for the same score is 14:12, held byOldschoolmcfly.
While Duck Hunt doesn’t technically have an ending, itwasn’t designed to go past Round 99, resulting in a glitched-out “kill screen” for players that make it that far. Naturally, speedrunners compete to hit this fabled round the fastest, andCarter44 also has the record in that categorywith 1:30:44
6Tamagotchi (Game Boy)
Death%
Raising a Tamagotchi isn’t something that you can rush. You need to check in on your virtual pet constantly, ensuring that its needs are attended to, and it will grow on its own time. Failing to raise a Tamagotchi, on the other hand… that’s something that you can absolutely rush.
Death%in the Game Boy release of Tamagotchi is the ultimate race to the bottom, as players seek toend their creature’s miserable existence as quickly as possible.The current record in this dark and dubious category isBeetZero, who sent their Tamagotchi to the grave in just 1'46"766 by stuffing the poor thing with junk food.
5Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
All Debts
Animal Crossingis best known for being a game where you chill with your neighbors, vibing in your own little town without any real direction or objectives. It’s also known for forcing you into massive debt to a talking raccoon just for starting a new game.
Paying off your mortgage to Tom Nook is as close to an end goal as Animal Crossing has, so it’s no surprise that players use that as a finish line for speedruns. There are categories for paying off the first debt as quickly as you can (currently held byLemons_Picrunat 12:28), but the true bell-wranglers can get free and clear of Nook’s money-grubbing paws ina little over an hour.
The current record forAll Debts in ACNHstands at1:17:01, and is held byminimoli,who toppled P4ntz’s previous record after nearly four years by an impressive 55 seconds.
4Mario Paint (SNES)
Gnat Attack
How could you possibly speedrunMario Paint? It’s basically just a coloring book with some music and animation tools, right?
That may be true, but Mario Paint also included a minigame calledGnat Attackthat could be played with the SNES Mouse, and speedrunners have been challenging themselves to improve their times in that small corner of the cartridge for years. In Gnat Attack, you use the SNES Mouse to control a fly swatter, smashing bugs until you have to face a giant boss, while trying to avoid being stung.
You might also recognize Gnat Attack from its later appearances inWarioWareandMario Maker, the latter of which is pictured above.
Gnat Attack has two categories; one for a single loop and one for the full sixteen. The records for both are held byOldschoolmcfly, who set both on the same day; Jul 30, 2025.
3SimCity 2000 (DOS)
State Capital, Default Map RNG
Lots of city builders nowadays have objectives and goals, but classics likeSimCity 2000were just there to let you build, solve problems, and maybe tear it all down when you got bored. Speedrunners for this legendary sandbox race toget their city’s population to thirty thousand, using the default map settings. That means that there’s a degree of improvisation involved; while the map won’t generate wildly outside of expected parameters, you’ll still have to work with what the game gives you.
Sim games, especially older ones, are notorious for being breakable, so there are wisely both a glitched and glitchless category for SimCity 2000. Interestingly, though, the records for both arewithin about a second of each other; Arran holds the Glitchless record at 0'56"100, while Tabarly is the Gliltched recordholder with 0'55"720.
2Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (PC)
All Landing Challenges, Any%
Microsoft Flight Simulatorhas been around forever, offering realistic vistas to soar over as the game and graphics have improved over the years. The Landing Challenges in the 2020 edition offered speedrunners for this niche series a way to test their mettle.
In case it needs to be said, do not, under any circumstances, attempt to speedrun landing an actual aircraft, or any other aspect of aviation.
Each Landing Challenge can be taken as its own category, but dedicated players seem to gravitate toward theAll Challengesrun, which requires doing them all in the same sitting.NeonicPlaysis the current All Landing Challenges recordholder, sitting at 35:59 with load times removed, a comfortable two minutes and change ahead of the next-highest competitor.
1EVE Online (PC)
0 To 25M
EVE Online’s players are some of the most dedicated in the world, having poured decades into the sprawling space sim and its community-driven politics. They’re not generally the type to start up new characters or risk their hard-earned holdings, and that’s fine; EVE just isn’t that kind of game.
A few players, though, have devised a speedrun category for the world’s most daunting MMO. The 0 To 25M category requires you tostart a new character, and come up with 25 million isk(the in-game currency) as quickly as you may. It’s a rags-to-riches story in speedrun form.
You have to have the whole 25 million in your wallet at the same time.
Of course, EVE being the kind of hypercapitalist dystopia thatAndrew Ryansaw only in his wildest dreams, the category has a lot of rules just to keep it fair.You can’t just have another player hand you the money, nor can you use login rewards or referral links for a head start. You can play the market, but only at normal rates in specific zones (so no fishy trades), and if you go around killing NPCs for loot, you have to solo them for the run to count.
Being a small fish with nothing to your name in EVE’s cutthroat world is tough, so runners like recordholderNth_Dimensional, who has the only run under an hour at 55:59, clearly know what they’re doing.
