In certain games, to 100% a game, you are required to speed run.  Take the Resident Evil games for example.  One of my all time favorites was Resident Evil 2 in which to get the hidden characters Hunk and Tofu, ( yes, a block of tofu with a knife) you had to beat the game with both characters 4 times each in under 2 or 3 hours.  Anyone that has played the games knows that is a pretty hard task, especially the second time through where you have to fight nemesis throughout the game.  Another one was the first Duck Tales game for the nes.  If I remember correctly, my dad and I beat it in 24 minutes, and I love doing that in the Jaws game on the nes as well.  Other games should just be played to the fullest, like the Final Fantasy games.  I have played FF3 for over 99:99 hours just to get everything and everyone to lvl 99.  Thanks for the post and thanks for the opportunity to say my piece.

I love watching speed runs of games, especially glitched ones, because you get to see just how the game can be manipulated (The clips you can do in Paper Mario to skip whole chapters are insane!). But, I don't really have the skill to do them myself. I think the closest I get is when I rush through a game to get a certain song or screenshot for a competition.

I've speedrun a handful of games, such as classic Mega Man games and Hotline Miami. Those games are built for speed, though, so I'm sure about speedrunning for casual games. Often times I think it detracts from the experience as a whole if the game's not meant for it.

Nope. Never have and probably never will. 

To be perfectly honest, I don't do speedruns in games. There are a few I could be willing to try, but I've don't really have the desire to do one.

No, never. I am too much of a completionist ( even if I don't try to get all the achievements in a game ) to speed run a game. I like trying to get all the collectibles, so I have never tried to speed run a game. 

Regularly, I don't speed run games, but I do enjoy speed running games that are either really easy, or really short. Like, I'll speed run Mario games or Sonic games or things like that, but rarely any RPG's or anything like that. 

I've done quite a few myself for tasvideos.org. It's been for RPGs so many of you might think they are long and boring. But you can't imagine how much work goes into a game like Breath of Fire III, which lasted 7 hours and 45 minutes...

With respect to "beating your previous time of completion", I do that too. After completing most games once I always want to see if I can go it better the next time

I used to speed run Conker's Bad Fur Day but then I realized that it was just getting repetitive and that I could spend my time playing games to the fullest and really enjoy them and started to 100% games. The only games I would recommend speed running are racing games since the purpose of the game is to already beat the levels as fast as you can. 

Ha ha ha ha no.... I have no skill at all when it comes to video games. so I have a hard time beating a game in a week let alone a hour. But I have tried before. And failed.

Generally I don't really speedrun games since I like taking my time and exploring what the game offers, I think the only time I've really genuinly tried to speedrun games is when playing Pokemon since I became really familiar with them and wanted to see how fast I could beat them, most of the time they were unfullfilled though mostly because I was to tired to try and complete it in one session and when I came back didn't feel like continuing try to speed run the game and most often just played normally.

There's not really that many other games I'd consider myself good enough to where I'd attempt it either really.

catbert225 : It just takes practice ... or talented older siblings that help you with impossible tasks.

No, never. Speed running seems really stupid to me. For me it's the experience of the game, listening to the NPC's, enjoying the boss fights. The game that comes to my mind is Dark Souls. I've been playing Dark Souls addictively the last few days. Got to the first bell, got to the sewers, ran a little bit of New Londo, etc. Then I go on YouTube to watch some let's plays of the game. Most of them are bloody speed runs! Which is fine, but when you play the first hour of the game, then watch a speed run of the first hour of the game, then it's not as fun because they're skipping a huge part of the game and smashing the pacing of it. To me it's no fun if you don't celebrate that first demon going down, that gargoyle win, and it's just a grind fest if you don't take the time to just talk to a few NPC's!  It's not my thing, but I do also see the skills it takes. Speed running Dark Souls is not an easy task. It takes a lot of skill, knowledge, and practice. But personally I never find it worth it. I'm definately a casual gamer, and to me speed running is no fun at all.

I don't speedrun too much on Vizzed. I usually feel like the emulator system can be manipulated in a way that doesn't capture the skill really needed to complete a game fast.

I prefer to do speed run competitions on the actual console itself. I've won a few tournaments in this regard. Takes out any manipulation and it's just straight skill. Man vs Man.

Jordanv78 : Funny that you mention emulators. The first time I heard about speedruns was with the historical Super Mario 3 run, probably the first ever tool-assisted speedrun. Yes, they merely require knowing about game mechanics and manipulating luck, but believe me it's quite a task - I speak from experience. Youtube also features real-time speedruns (no resetting whatsoever, or so is it claimed), if you are more into that.

Super Mega Man 568 : You mean you never even try to beat your own completion of the run? I know it's not speedrunning per say but it still requires skills to run faster. Plus there are 100%-completion runs; I did one for Phantasy Star IV.

There are a couple games, not counting hacks, that I've tried to speedrun: Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64. I've never been able to speedrun Super Mario Bros. (thanks to the Bullet Bills).

But after I started learning strategies from Super Mario 64 speedrunners, I've been decent at speedrunning that. I usually do 31-star speedruns and glitch past the last 2 star doors, but I can do a 120-star (100%) speedrun of it too.

I also speedrun some hacks of Super Mario 64.

janus : I understand that it still does take a lot of skill in order to be the best of the best even with Emulators/TAS. Having been competing at various levels of gaming tournaments for over 20 years as well as serving as a ref on Twin Galaxies during the early 2000's I've seen a lot of great things...that being said I still respect speed runs on the respective platforms that the games were developed for more than I do ones that are tool assisted.

Call me old fashioned or whatever. It's just the way I roll.

Jordanv78 : I understand what you mean; that why tool-assisted runs are usually dubbed "entertainment". I enjoy watching them, especially if I played the game before. Although some are way too glictchy (like the Sonic ones where he goes through the walls) but it's always fun to see them complete a zone in less than a minute.

janus : No, I don't really even care to beat my own time. If I play through the game again, sure, I'll do things more efficiently, but I won't try to run faster, or skip over that kick-*** British voice acting. I just play to experience the game and have fun, not do things the best I possibly can. 100%ing, on the other hand, is a lot of fun! I'll never 100% something on my first play through, but I do love to come back and get everything. It's a lot of fun to just go around and get ALL THE THINGS. Other than that, I just play games for fun, not to do any fanciness.

Only speedruns i did:
Halo 2 Campaign speedrun (30 minutes)
Fallout New Vegas Hardcore Mode (9 hours)