Bone Robot Games

Jan 8, 2021 Repost Throughout the Speedrun Spotlight series we have established some common variables. Speedrunners often have a strong online presence, interacting often with their chat and twitter userbase, and forming bonds and friendships with other runners within their game. Discord is the main driver of discussion and knowledge sharing, and helps to amplify the resources of anyone getting into the intricacies of running specific games and categories. Now that we have a focal point and understanding of speedrunning, I want to begin to examine some of the complexities of the pursuit. My goal with this entry into the series - Dark Souls speedruns by Catalystz - was to gather some depth more acutely about the runner themselves and the distinct games and methods they use. There are four main categories of Dark Souls speedruns: Any%, Any% No Wrong Warp, Any% Force quit, and All Bosses. For Catalystz, Dark Souls has been his main speed game for three years, and he has run each category...

Oct 9, 2020 Repost Super Metroid has been a favorite game for me since its release in 1994, and I have long been a proponent for it being one of the greatest games of all time. It has all the criteria for a wonderful game. Over the years, I have taken time to go back and play it again fully every so often, if only to re-immerse myself in it once more. The art style is stupendous and holds up well over the years. The gameplay is, of course, immaculate, and is not bogged down by story in any way. The controls are fluid, tight, and straight forward. On the surface it is a simple concept, but it excels at each thing it does in a wonderful way. Each area you venture to is enhanced by the incredible soundtrack. It is challenging without the difficulty feeling arbitrary or needlessly punishing. It is a work of art in gaming. As an avid player, very familiar with the game but never replaying with the goal of speedrunning, my most recent completion was on the Nintendo Switch Online SNES versio...

September 21, 2020 Repost Hollow Knight started off as a game I actually disliked. It sets itself apart from other Metroidvanias in ways that I wasn’t used to, and it was off-putting. When I beat the game for the first time, I had gone on to tell my friends in detail what I didn’t like about it. A year later, on a Games Done Quick Twitch stream, I was watching a Hollow Knight run and decided to give it another shot. When I went back to replay the game, I realized I was too hasty in my assessment. Hollow Knight wasn’t bad because of the difference to other entries in the genre, it excelled because of it. It blended platforming and fighting seamlessly. There was a thread of story given to you, but much more to unravel if you wanted. The skills and abilities you unlock allow for varied and distinct playthroughs. Hidden secrets and upgrades reward the explorers, but talented players could excel without them. The difficulty was moderate and fair. Since then, I have gone back and beaten the...

Jun 11, 2020 Repost For this episode of Speedrun Spotlight we will be taking a look at Super Mario Odyssey. The speedrunner Dangers was kind enough to lend me some of his time to talk about his lengthy speedrunning career, his achievements in Super Mario Odyssey, and where he plans to go from here. Speedrunning is a relatively new pursuit, or at least the tracking and organizing of records part. Most of us gamers have been competing with our friends in games for as long as we’ve been playing. Especially in the infancy of games. When you only had a small handful of games to play, and you played them in person with your friends on repeat, you begin to create your own challenges. I personally remember watching a friend play Super Mario World and telling them that I could beat it faster than they could. That I could beat it in under a half hour, I bet.  That was somewhat like Dangers did in Super Mario World, about a decade ago. “I opened up the game this one time and I realized my fil...

 Foreword: This article, and the many others I will post, were originally posted to my gaming website "BoneRobotGames.com" back in 2020-2021.  I have since moved websites, and the original website no longer exists.  I am reposting them here for everyone to read once again.  Thank you.