Deep Dives Into the World Records That Redefined Platformers
Essays, routing breakdowns, and retrospectives from the Giza-based archive tracking speedrunning history one category at a time.
Browse ArchiveLatest From the Archive
Fresh essays on routes, records, and the runners chasing them
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01
The Frame-Perfect Legacy of Rick Dangerous
A look at how one unforgiving trap-laden platformer became an unlikely testing ground for pixel-precise routing decades before speedrunning had a name.
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02
Inside the Any% Wars of Mega Man X
We trace how competing routes for Mega Man X's any% category evolved, and what the ongoing rivalry between top runners reveals about optimization ceilings.
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03
Why Kid Chameleon Never Got Its Due
An overlooked Genesis platformer with sprawling stages hides one of the more technical low-percent categories still being routed by a small but dedicated crew.
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04
Glitchless vs Glitched: The Great Category Debate
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05
Chronology of a Record: Donkey Kong Country 2's 100% History
From early tool-assisted theorycrafting to the current human WR, we map every major improvement that shaped this category over two decades.
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06
The Forgotten Runners Who Built Early Castlevania Routing
Long before leaderboards were centralized, a handful of dedicated players quietly laid the routing groundwork still referenced by today's top Castlevania runners.
What Sets This Archive Apart
Built by runners and record-watchers, not casual observers
We don't just list current world records — we preserve the full timeline of improvements, showing how each category evolved run by run.
Route breakdowns and commentary are shaped by conversations with the runners themselves, not secondhand summaries pulled from leaderboards.
Every record referenced is cross-checked against submitted footage and official leaderboard entries before it's written into an article.
Our coverage stays concentrated on classic platformers, letting us go deeper into routing nuance than a general speedrunning outlet ever could.
Questions From Our Readers
Common questions about how this archive is put together
Do you accept guest posts from runners?
Yes. We regularly feature route breakdowns and category retrospectives written by runners with firsthand routing experience. Reach out with a pitch and a sample of your routing notes or run history.
How often do you publish new articles?
New essays and record retrospectives go up roughly twice a week, with additional short updates whenever a tracked category sees a notable world record improvement.
How do you verify the world records you write about?
We cross-reference submitted runs against official leaderboards and published verification threads, and we only reference times that have cleared community moderation for the category in question.
Do you cover glitched and glitchless categories separately?
Yes, most platformer entries we track are split by category type, since routing strategy and community standards often differ significantly between glitched and glitchless runs.
Can I suggest a game or category for the archive to cover?
Absolutely. We keep a running list of reader suggestions and prioritize classic platformers with active routing communities or historically interesting record progressions.
Ready to Trace the History Behind a World Record?
Explore route breakdowns, timeline retrospectives, and runner interviews from our growing platformer archive.