Speedruns can be amazing things to watch, especially when they involve classic games that people have played over the years. The level of skill and patience required to execute a fast speedrun can take years of practice and endless hours of repetition of a game, and that can just be the surface level of understanding of it. But even in the fast-paced world of speedrunners, things can change as new technology becomes available to players. With the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, some speedrunners are discovering some interesting things with the new console. To everyone's surprise, the Switch 2 may be breaking speedruns in ways nobody thought were possible.

Multiple Nintendo games have communities of speedrunners that are constantly discovering new techniques and helpful tips when vying for fast completion times. With the arrival of the Switch 2, speedrunners have been playing their go-to games on the new hardware and finding out that they can take advantage of some perks with it. Every little boost that can shave off precious seconds on a speedrun is a helpful asset to a speedrunner. Here's why the Nintendo Switch 2 is breaking some speedrunner titles in ways that have people excited.

Faster load times

Going fast with loading

One of the biggest changes that games are receiving from the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware is a boost to load times. It is a substantially more powerful system than the original Nintendo Switch, mostly due to the better parts within the console itself. Games load up faster and take less time in-between gameplay sections where loading is necessary, allowing players to get back into the action within mere seconds. This is highly beneficial to speedrunners where loading screens are completely out of their control. And the less loading becomes a problem within a speedrun, the faster the completion time will be towards the end.

Because of this, games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are seeing faster completion times by players. When taken over time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe players can save minutes on their playthroughs, which can drastically change the standings on leaderboards for speedrunners keeping track of their records. On the original Nintendo Switch, load screens would have to be taken into account and worked around in order to maximize the speed at which a player can get through the game. Now, with that being completely remedied, chances are we'll see more new faces popping up with faster times that will vary greatly.

Lag being fixed and glitches

Better hardware to run games

In games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, certain sections of the game would lag pretty badly. This was due to the games running on the original Switch hardware that weren't optimized for those experiences. However, these games run substantially better on the Nintendo Switch 2. The lag that would come in and out during specific areas is completely gone, reducing the time it may take for a player to speed through an area drastically.

Some players are able to get as much as 25 minutes less on their speedruns of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but other Pokémon titles for the original Nintendo Switch have seen great improvements on the new hardware as well. Pokémon Sword and Shield records have also gotten faster, with some records being around five minutes less than previous records. The original world record for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was 5 minutes and 19 seconds on the original Switch. But the latest speedrunning time has that record beaten by almost 19 minutes. As more players continue to test out how the games run on the Switch 2, it's possible that more records with vastly improved times may be discovered, if not additional strategies based on where the games are played.

At the same time, other games benefiting from the Switch 2 in ways that make speedrunning a bit easier, or at least have more options. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a GameCube game that many have been speedrunning for years, with a number of strategies that take advantage of glitches found in the original game. However, running The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the Nintendo Switch 2 through the GameCube Classics section via Switch Online opens up new possibilities for speedrunners. A previously known, yet unhelpful glitch in the game has now become a valuable tool for cutting down playtimes. The glitch involves getting to areas that are out-of-bounds within a dungeon and falling through the world to reach a chest.

In the original game, some of the assets wouldn't always load and caused players to fall endlessly after executing the glitch. If they did reach a chest, they could play the Song of Passing to reload the area, but the game would unfortunately crash. However, while running on the Switch 2, the crashing is removed and enables the player to reload the area by playing the Song of Passing, allowing them to continue playing like normal. This is a massive change that enables speedrunners to get through certain dungeons within minutes using the glitch, something that was previously not possible.

Changing speedruns going forward

Switch 2 may be switching up rules

There are many other changes to multiple games running on the Switch 2, which have garnered a lot of attention from those who track records within the speedrunning community. Because of how much the console has impacted the scene, most places are thinking about implementing a separate category for Nintendo Switch 2 speedruns. This means that previous titles, like the Pokémon games, played on the original Switch will now have two categories to separate where and how they were played.

This move will not only keep things fair among players looking to set new records but also respect the legacy of previously made speedrun records by players who were using the original hardware. The alternative would be to make those previous records obsolete, since the Nintendo Switch 2 makes playing through games easier when speedrunning. But for the purpose of integrity and fairness among speedrunners, having separate groups for various records seems like the ideal thing to do. As more events like Games Done Quick begin to adopt games on platforms like Switch 2, it's entirely possible we see even more exploration of how to make things even among all players.

Speedrunning continues to evolve

As long as there are games to play, there will always be speedrunners trying to break them. There is a fascination with seeing how someone can breeze through a game in an almost impossible fashion, especially with classic titles everyone knows and loves. With new hardware like the Nintendo Switch 2 releasing to the public, more strategies and ways of thinking will be discovered by players putting in the time to explore how games will change on newer platforms. The speedrunning community will continue to evolve as games change over time, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. We honestly wouldn't want it to be any other way.