Hometown: I was born literally five minutes from where the Silver Bridge fell on an old farm close by in the Appalachian hills.
Currently Living: Ecuador
Primary Speedgame: The Puyo Puyo series and some racing games
A: My introduction to speedrunning was a little convoluted. You might remember back in the day when DidYouKnowGaming used to post pictures on their website with video game trivia instead of only focusing on videos, and many of these picture posts were submitted to the site by followers of DYKG. I submitted to this quite a few times and stumbled across Speed Demos Archive searching for trivia about Spyro. Specifically, I found the Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage any% video from 2011.
After looking around SDA, I was annoyed by the lack of racing games and figured I could start routing out as many racing games as I could. This was around 2013-14. Funnily enough, I first discovered Twitch and GDQs due to the SDA forums, as compared to nowadays where most find SDA and other resources due to Twitch and GDQs!
A: When I started, it seemed less formal. This isn't saying that it wasn't an already fairly well known hobby when I started, but there was more emphasis on the “hobby” bit. As r/speedrun grew in popularity among people who simply enjoy watching speedruns and the advent of speedrun.com, there has been a bit of shift in focus in people caring more about WR times instead of just having fun.
That's not saying that there were never people that were solely focused on getting the best times and being competitive (there always have been) or that there are no longer people that simply view speedrunning as a fun hobby that they can use to help others through marathons (there's still quite a few), but I do feel as if the attitudes have shifted.
I've always been more focused on just having fun as compared to being ultra competitive. I lack muscle control and feeling in my right hand due to an accident as a child and felt from the beginning that it would limit me compared to other people in the speedrunning community, as this disability had limited me in my local FGC scene. It's very possible, though, that things haven't changed at all and it simply was my perception that has been flawed from the very start.
A: I just got done with some runs in the Bring 'Em Over online marathon to help two of the runners make it to AGDQ 2018. For that marathon, I was practicing Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi on the Genesis, Saturday Morning RPG on Steam, and Puyo Puyo 2 Remix for the Super Famicom. As it turned out, I lowered my previous WR in Saturday Morning RPG during my marathon run, so I guess that practice paid off! I also applied to be a volunteer and commentator for the Spanish re-stream of AGDQ this year, so I'll probably be learning a little bit about a lot of games to try to give the best commentary I can for that.
A: Buckeye Speed Bash started off as an idea from a conversation between myself and Genocidal at AGDQ 2015. As it turns out, the Ohio area is stuffed with some incredibly talented runners that have never made it to a GDQ, and we both felt it would be awesome to have a smaller marathon in Ohio to be able to get some of these runners to a live event.
I was living around Ironton, Ohio at the time and Genocidal was in the Cleveland area. Having the marathon smack dab in the center of the state just made the most sense logistically. We had talked about having it in Cleveland also, but having it in Columbus saved some driving time for me and made it easier for most of the attendees. It took more work than I thought it would at first, but we have had two successful marathons to date, one in June 2016 and the other in June 2017. It's become a much tighter knit crowd and a much greater event than I could have ever done on my own and I can only thank the Ohio speedrunning community for making it that way.
While we have raised money for 4 Paws For Charity (organization that raises money for training of service dogs), we have always had the approach of trying to have fun first and foremost. The environment has felt more relaxed than the GDQs or the RPG Limit Break I have attended and we have been able to get runs in from almost everybody that has submitted to the marathons. It was always a goal of mine to accept at least one run from each person that submits, or get as close to that as possible. I think it's given us one of most unique marathon schedules for both events we've had.
For the record, even though I live out of the country now, I plan on flying back every June to be there for BSB. I have to visit family in Ohio anyways, so I should enjoy myself while I'm there!
Q: Who's another runner that doesn't run your games that you admire and why?
A: There is no way I can choose just one. princessproto, Tterraj42, RowdyScotBear89, ishypanda, skavenger216, Krunchy, Lrock, Sandbag, Bbforky, THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBLACKTASTIC, justin-credible, Chaos42666, Crow!, Fappy, Felly, furiouspaul, just-defend. Those guys are all involved with BSB.
Q: If you could change one thing about speedrunning, what would it be?
A: You know, I think changes generally have more effects than generally meets the eye. I'm not sure that I actually would change anything besides just reminding people to always be respectful, not say mean things about others, and have fun.
Q: How do you handle frustration or bad runs?
A: I just generally move on to something else and stay positive. I've had a fairly rough life as it is, but it's taught me to try to be as optimistic as possible. I can't really think of any times that I've ever felt horridly frustrated with a game in particular during all my time in speedrunning, so maybe that has helped. Again, I've always viewed speedrunning as a fun hobby, which means that if a game is no longer fun, I give it a break for a month or two and just move on to another game I run. My library of games I've run is large enough to do that pretty easily.
Q: How do you think our generation will incorporate video games and speedrunning into middle and old age?
A: I feel as though many speedrunners will simply continue doing the same old thing and there is a precedent for that. Many players have played Smash or been a part of FGC for years and are approaching middle age as we speak, but still continue. Certain circles of retro gaming competitions are essentially comprised solely of middle aged players. These people haven't given up a hobby because they are simply older now and I have no doubt that the same trends will occur in speedrunning. Sure, some will take a break or retire from it due to family responsibilities and the like, but some will always stay. Heck, there's already some really talented speedrunners that have figured out how to juggle those life changes and kids quite well that have been speedrunning for close to two decades. Some may stop or slow down, but there will always be people who just keep on trucking.
Q: Lastly, is there anybody who you'd like to shout out or plug their stream?
A: I'd just like to give a shoutout to Buckeye Speed Bash in hopes that more people will tune in and check us out!
A: There is no way I can choose just one. princessproto, Tterraj42, RowdyScotBear89, ishypanda, skavenger216, Krunchy, Lrock, Sandbag, Bbforky, THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBLACKTASTIC, justin-credible, Chaos42666, Crow!, Fappy, Felly, furiouspaul, just-defend. Those guys are all involved with BSB.
Not BSB folk, but also have to mention GhostKing, osey, Ghoul02, Brossentia, TheWanderingMind and Rizu for being some of the greatest people in the world. I've met too many awesome people through speedrunning.
Q: If you could change one thing about speedrunning, what would it be?
A: You know, I think changes generally have more effects than generally meets the eye. I'm not sure that I actually would change anything besides just reminding people to always be respectful, not say mean things about others, and have fun.
Q: How do you handle frustration or bad runs?
A: I just generally move on to something else and stay positive. I've had a fairly rough life as it is, but it's taught me to try to be as optimistic as possible. I can't really think of any times that I've ever felt horridly frustrated with a game in particular during all my time in speedrunning, so maybe that has helped. Again, I've always viewed speedrunning as a fun hobby, which means that if a game is no longer fun, I give it a break for a month or two and just move on to another game I run. My library of games I've run is large enough to do that pretty easily.
Q: How do you think our generation will incorporate video games and speedrunning into middle and old age?
A: I feel as though many speedrunners will simply continue doing the same old thing and there is a precedent for that. Many players have played Smash or been a part of FGC for years and are approaching middle age as we speak, but still continue. Certain circles of retro gaming competitions are essentially comprised solely of middle aged players. These people haven't given up a hobby because they are simply older now and I have no doubt that the same trends will occur in speedrunning. Sure, some will take a break or retire from it due to family responsibilities and the like, but some will always stay. Heck, there's already some really talented speedrunners that have figured out how to juggle those life changes and kids quite well that have been speedrunning for close to two decades. Some may stop or slow down, but there will always be people who just keep on trucking.
Q: Lastly, is there anybody who you'd like to shout out or plug their stream?
A: I'd just like to give a shoutout to Buckeye Speed Bash in hopes that more people will tune in and check us out!
Thanks, Cosmyk.
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