Hometown: Fort Worth
Currently Living: Fort Worth
Primary Speedgame: Donkey Kong 64
Q: What's the first speedrun you ever watched? What got you into speedrunning?
A: I remember watching two different speedruns on the old Google videos site back in the late 2000s; I'm not sure how I came across them, but I watched a single-segment Ocarina of Time Any% run that was probably about three to four hours long as well as the old old Super Mario 64 TAS. I enjoyed them, but didn't think too much more about them. Fast forward to 2015, I remember passing by my brother's computer where Banjo-Kazooie was being speedrun at AGDQ 2015. Later, I went back to the VOD and watched the whole Banjo-Kazooie run, which I loved. I loved all the explanations of tricks and knowledge the runners had of the games. Over the next few months, I would literally sit in my dorm room and watch speedruns for up to six hours a day sometimes. I always imagined myself doing it in the future, but I had never even considered purchasing a retro console. Eventually, I got into watching DK64 on Twitch, seeing runners like Cfox, 2dos, EmoArbiter, hipstur420, and Speedfrog. I probably would have passed over DK64 had it not been for Emo mentioning that he went to A&M, which is where I was at the time. I started coming back to his stream and striking up conversation. Eventually, I realized I wasn't coming back just for DK64, but because I really liked the people in the community. I stuck around and around spring break, I pulled the trigger and bought my own dinky setup. I feel like I could go into a lot more detail because this was a period of my life I have many fond memories of, but I'll just leave it as is.
Q: Many artists, athletes, and technicians describe the thing they do in terms of another skill. Examples include describing writing like music, or music like math, or soccer like chess. Is speedrunning “like” anything, in your mind?
A: Speedrunning is a lot like running to me. My start with speedrunning coincided with my personal start with fitness, but I also find them similar due to the different modes. Long runs require endurance from the runner. Short runs require bursts of precision or energy. I see a lot of similarities, despite them obviously being polar opposites in terms of actual activity.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I'm not working on anything in particular. I have a lot of things I could invest my concentration in, but like everyone else when presented with too many options, I can't decide on anything at all. I don't know how that will change, but maybe eventually I'll prioritize or permanently lay some games I've run to rest. I kind of see myself on the way out, but I don't intend to actually leave. I'll definitely be around as a presence for the foreseeable future to guide the young ones on their journey into games I'm familiar with.
Q: How are you feeling about showcasing Canvas Curse at AGDQ this year?
A: I am so excited to run Canvas Curse at AGDQ. I've been campaigning for this game since I picked it up in early 2016 as a TAS game. People started to pick up on that and started backing me and supporting me, much like many support Dan Salvato's All Melons. It's really been a pleasure to TAS and run the game and receive nothing but support from everyone who has kept up with my adventure with the game. I am definitely not as strong with the game as I was last winter, but I still plan to put on one hell of a show when my time comes. It's a shame that my run is in the dead of morning, but at least I'm getting the overflow from zfg's OoT 100% run. In all honesty, though, it's about damn time.
Q: Who's another runner that doesn't run your games that you admire and why?
A: I don't keep up with many runners outside of games that I run, but swordsmankirby comes to mind. He was the one who got me into Canvas Curse originally by doing a few casual attempts in early 2016, but other than that he runs so many games that I've never touched. He's a really nice guy and a fantastic community leader for the whole Kirby community. That guy has so many different runs under his belt not to mention how good he is at all of them. I have a lot of respect for people that keep a level head in combination with high skill. Other notable people would all have to be people that I've seen either dominate their respective communities' games or any top runners of highly technical runs that I've seen, like Pjii with Banjo-Tooie or some others in the Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze community.
Q: If you could change one thing about speedrunning, what would it be?
A: I wish that people would stop trying to exploit it for money. Charity is the only real exception to this. We're at a point where people recognize skill less than they do what the opportunists bring forward. The opportunist uses speedrunning as a front for their stream, typically downplaying the significance of skill or knowledge and leaning in to the idea that personality or aesthetics are anything more than a bonus. They exploit nostalgia and novelty for their own monetary gain. I encourage people to show off impressive displays of skill, new techniques, or the like, but I don't think that entitles anyone to money. Speedrunning is a hobby. If you want to be a professional streamer, fine, but don't claim you're a professional speedrunner. Obviously, there are exceptions to this, because I know a fair number of people who grew their stream from the displays of skill. But typically they were always honest with their intentions and aligned themselves much closer to the purity of the hobby.
Q: What does the ideal speedrun look like to you?
A: An ideal speedrun to me has to be some sort of platformer. The aspects that would make the run great rely on the balance of many factors. The pacing would usually be decided by a combination of the routing, number of glitches, and difficulty of the tasks and glitches themselves. Runs that out-pace themselves are exhausting to watch AND run, so it would hopefully be fast-paced, but not very demanding of the runner. Glitch abuse is cool, but not just a single one repeated. I like variety. Routing is usually dictated by the availability of glitches and the openness of the game, so those should go hand in hand to create something full of sequence breaks and doing things in an unintended order to reach the end-game faster. These things aren't found often in modern games, which is one reason why I love the N64 era of platformers so damn much, especially Rareware.
Q: How do you think our generation will incorporate video games and speedrunning into middle and old age?
A: Honestly, I think most people will give it up. They'll be in denial about it for a long time, but there will come a day when most people realize they haven't been relevant in the scene for a long time, other than maybe providing insight. They won't have the time or energy to keep up anymore. When this happens, they'll start watching more and playing less. After that, they'll probably lose interest in just watching and move on with their lives. They'll keep their circle of friends, but without a common interest, people will fall out of touch. Hopefully a few will stick around.
Q: Lastly, is there anybody who you'd like to shout out or plug their stream?
A: There are so many people that have gotten me to where I am today, and hopefully I remind them regularly enough how much I appreciate them. I feel like shouting out anyone in particular would be unfair to all the others, so I'll just say, to those who have touched my life through speedrunning, I appreciate you, even if you've only served to annoy or debase me.
Thanks, Jacob.
Thanks, Jacob.
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