Speed ​​running my favorite video game was surprisingly difficult

I am not a speedrunner. In fact, I’ve never loved a video game enough to try and speed it up until recently when I found the oddity of the PlayStation 2 X-treme-Express. But after nearly a week of watching my last-minute promising attempts fizzle out and my affection for the game turn sour, it’s safe to say this will be a one-off affair.

In case you missed it X-treme-Express is an eccentric PS2 train racing game this is maybe one of my favorite video games of all time. I love its old school presentation, I love its wide range of locomotives, and I love its rumbling, stumbling, stumbling racing action, far removed from the sleek, aerodynamic action that dominates the genre. Expressed in a simple way, X-treme-Express It’s a really fun time that I couldn’t put down.

Continue reading: Trains tumble through empty worlds in my new favorite racing game

While I was writing my previous love letter, I discovered that the game has an entry on it Speedrun.com, the official home of the speed running leaderboards for pretty much every video game under the sun. It’s sparse, with just one full iteration of Grand Prix mode and sporadic single-level records, but it did get me to put my own name in the spotlight for a game I’ve been investing a lot of time in lately have.

X-treme-Express Speed ​​running is divided into two categories: the aforementioned “Long Grand Prix”, which includes all 10 routes in the game, and a “Short Grand Prix”, in which only the first six have to be completed. I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to break the Long Grand Prix record Welsh speedrunner derp– who was that? undisputed champion of X-treme-Express since 2017 – without any serious training. But maybe I could do something in the Short Grand Prix.

As you can see, there are currently no entries in this category.

“If I were to submit a single run of the Short Grand Prix”, I thought to myself, “I would automatically be the world record holder right away. Wonderfully devilish, Ian. “

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A speedrunner is born

That’s how my life as a speedrunner began. I have X-treme-Express ready for recording (leaderboard requires video evidence), learned the basics of a speed running program called LiveSplit to keep track of my time accurately (Thank you, Linkus7) and sat down for what I assumed was a short evening with the occasional world record attempt. Less than a week later, I still haven’t completed a single successful run.

X-treme-Express is strict about what it takes to “defeat” a race. The first six courses of the Short Grand Prix require a place in the top three in order to qualify for the following stage. At first this is not a problem; You simply overtake your opponents and stay so far ahead of them that you only have to rely on your own skills to win. Don’t screw up a turn and you should be fine. Dead easy.

But in later races, rival trains become more adept at breaking your equilibrium and throwing you off track. A small mistake can make the difference between the next step and trying again, resulting in a loss of time of several minutes in a speed run that is almost impossible to catch up.

Maybe it’s my obsession, a dash of perfectionism, or just the inherent “guilt” of setting a world record in an unchallenged category, but I just couldn’t bring myself to submit an obviously flawed entry X-treme-Express Run where I lost and had to repeat a level. I’m sure I still have a lot to learn about the game’s unique mechanics, but it felt strange not trying the best time possible, even if my ultimate goal was to post something on the leaderboard. I dutifully woke up every night before bed X-treme-Express, try a few runs and end up falling asleep without submitting anything I thought was worthy.

I’ve noticed my attitude too X-treme-Express began to turn for the worse. It used to be something I used to decompress after a long day of people telling me I belonged in a concentration camp to write a pretty simple one person story, my speed running attempts made it feel like a chore. I have not activated any new trains or tested myself with challenges, but rather worked on another job. More than just 30-40 minutes of wasted time, every failed run was a dagger that slowly bleeded my respect for the game’s little quirks that I used to love. Through no fault of X-treme-Express myself, I just wasn’t having fun anymore and it totally blew my mind.

As silly as that sounds, it felt like moving in with a significant other path too fast. Absence makes the heart beat faster and so on.

The end of the line

When I realized what was happening, I immediately ended my little adventure in speed running. With so much burden these days, I didn’t want to see it X-treme-Express to another object of dissatisfaction in my life.

At the time of writing, I haven’t played yet X-treme-Express in a few days, and I’m starting to regain that familiar feeling of longing to navigate my tracks and find optimal braking strategies, detached from any intention of beating the game as quickly as possible.

What have I learned? Speed ​​running is tough. I already knew that, of course, but my brief experience has given me a better understanding and appreciation for the work of simply beating a game as quickly as possible. While you lose half an hour on an aborted one X-treme-Express Running felt like crap, it is nothing compared to the hours of trials established by established speed runners in games that have been optimized in such a way that even a misstep in a split second can ruin the chances of a personal best.

Someone else needs to hit the Short Grand Prix record in X-treme-Express. I’m not dealing with that at the moment. Maybe at some point in the future I’ll be in better headspace when I find a new game that I feel compelled to speedrun. Or at least more willing to leave this hypothetical game to the beast of obsessive research, repetitive practice, and merciless resets. I like to leave speed running to the professionals. I the hell respect it but it’s just not for me.

That said, I’ve heard that a cat-themed train is hidden somewhere in town X-treme-Expresswhich is a challenge that is exactly my thing.