7 Great Games for New Speedrunners (2025)

Supportive:Celeste (PC/Switch/Xbox/PlayStation)

While it's not uncommon for indie games to develop speedrunning scenes, it's rare for them to amass larger communities, but Celesteis one of the exceptions. The game captured the hearts of many on release thanks to its storytelling and music, but the challenging level design and platforming mechanics supporting those made for an excellent speedrun game.Celeste'smechanics are pretty simple---all you have is a dash, jump, and wall climb/jump---but players have found ways to utilize them in wild ways.

The current Any% world record is just under 27 minutes, but a brand-new runner will likely take a couple of hours even if they've already played the game. However, if you commit yourself to the game you can get much faster, and the community has plenty of resources to learn from---including the game itself.

While many games are speedrun despite the game developers' intentions,Celeste'sdevs have been straightforward about supporting the community. To the point of including tutorials for speedrun strategies in the free "Farewell" DLC released in 2019. The game also comes with a large collection of accessibility settings that can make parts of the game easier if you need to practice certain things (obviously, you can't use these in actual runs). With a supportive community and developers behind it, combined with its high skill ceiling,Celestehas become one of the most appealing speedrun games around.

Celesteis available on PC, Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation.

The Most Popular: Minecraft (PC/Switch/Xbox/PlayStation/iOS/Android)

Minecraftis a game without end ... mostly. While the game is designed as a sandbox no matter what game mode you choose, it does have a final boss---the Ender Dragon---that players can try to defeat in Survival Mode. This doesn't wipe your save or anything, but it's the closest thing the game has to a definitive end, so it's unsurprising that players are interested in seeing how fast it can be done. In fact, so many people have done this thatMinecrafthas quickly rocketed up to being the most speedrun game in the world according to Speedrun.com.

There are a lot of versions ofMinecraft,with the latest being release 1.17.1, and speedrunning looks a lot different depending on what version you're playing. For example, in versions 1.8.9 and before, speedrunningMinecraftlargely consisted of abusing item dupe glitches to finish the game in less than five minutes. Meanwhile, speedrunning in any version past 1.14 typically requires you to engage with more of the game's mechanics---and also be incredibly lucky. A lot of things can randomly spawn in aMinecraftworld, many of which can add or subtract minutes from your time (but don't worry, skilled players will come out on top in the end).

This is mostly for the Java PC version of the game, which is definitely the most popular for speedrunning. But even if you're playing on "Bedrock Edition" (the version of the game available on the Windows Store, consoles, and mobile devices), there's still plenty of tricks to learn. And doing a quick Google search will come up with all sorts of resources to learn the game in either version.

Minecraftis available on PC, Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, and Android.

Made for Speed: Sonic Mania (PC/Switch/Xbox/PlayStation)

Speedrunning has been a part of theSonic the Hedgehogfranchise since its inception, and the latest 2D release,Sonic Mania,is a return to form in that regard. The game itself, with its fast-paced platforming gameplay, actively welcomes players to beat it as fast as possible. There's even a "Time Attack" mode where you can easily practice stages over and over to improve your times.

But what makesManiareally interesting are the different playable characters, each of which have their own abilities. There are five in total, but the most popular ones for speedrunning are Sonic himself and Ray. Sonic can "Drop Dash" in this game, allowing you quickly gain speed after landing from a jump. This is used by speedrunners to fluidly traverse stages without slowing down as much as the other characters. Ray, on the other hand, can fly which if mastered allows players to skip over most of the stage. While that may sound boring, a lot of skill goes into it, which makes it equally interesting to play.

Maniadoesn't have as big of a community as many of the other titles discussed today, but the game mostly relies on the core mechanics rather than complex tricks---so you can pick up most of what you need to know just by playing normally. If you're not interested in insane techniques or glitches,Maniais the game for you.

Sonic Maniais available on PC, Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation.

Challenging Fun: Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy (PC)

This game is infamous for its difficulty, and while it only features one level, that level can easily take upwards of 10 - 15 hours (don't worry, you can save mid-run if you're not submitting it) to beat on your first try. This is due both to the game's difficult level design and the unusual control scheme. InGetting Over It With Bennett Foddy,you use your mouse cursor to control a hammer to scale a mountain. This involves precise yet quick mouse movements to overcome the game's most daunting challenges.

While that first try may take hours, the best speedrunners only take over a minute to complete the game. While the game's controls are unusual, they can be mastered, and seeing a skilled player blast through the level is a treat. This is another game where you're not learning as many glitches but rather just need to get really good at the core mechanics. So if you don't mind throwing yourself at the same level over and over again until you master it, thenGetting Over itshould present quite the challenge.

Getting Over It With Bennet Foddyreceived a lot of attention for its unique level design. Naturally, many developers were inspired by this and some went on to create similar games likePogostuck, Jump King,andGolfing Over It with Alva Majoif you're interested.

Accessible Exploits: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

Chances are,Breath of the Wildis a game you've either played or at least heard of over the past few years. Its fresh take on the classic Zelda formula and splendid approach to open-world design brought in over 20 million players, and a sizable percentage of those have dedicated themselves to beating it quickly.

The main goal ofBreath of the Wildis to defeat Ganon---a typical Zelda quest, but the difference here is he can be fought anytime after leaving the tutorial area. This had led to speedrunners optimizing the tutorial, the path to Ganon's castle, and the boss fight itself to a ludicrous degree getting the world record down to an impressive 25 minutes. This is done with hundreds of hours of practice, in-depth knowledge of the game's systems and mechanics, and abusing those mechanics in a variety of ways to complete tasks quicker.

Due to the game's robust physics systems, there are a lot more advanced techniques you'll need to learn here than most of the other titles discussed so far. The advantage here isBreath of the Wild'scommunity---it's so large it's extremely easy to find tutorials for whatever you need to learn. When it comes to games with crazy tricks you can learn to beat it faster,Breath of the Wildis one of the easiest to get into for this fact alone.

A Classic: Super Mario Bros. (Switch)

Let's end with a classic---the originalSuper Mario Bros.released for the NES in 1985. While we generally shied away from older titles in this list for accessibility purposes, this game is still pretty easy to play on a variety of Nintendo systems, including the Switch (and yes, Speedrun.com allows Switch runs on the main leaderboard).

There is still a large community of players dedicated to shaving seconds off of the world record for this game. The best runs are so near perfect it's hard to think of a way they could be better, but the community has shown time and time again there's always room for improvements. Regardless of the game's age, the core mechanics and design are so solid that grinding away to get a better time is still enjoyable four decades later.

The easiest way to play this game today is to sign up for Nintendo Switch Online($19.99 a year) and play it through the Nintendo Entertainment System app. However, if you have the original NES lying around, or even an NES Classic, then that works as well.