It's been a few days since ESA 2015 began, and a lot of awesome runs have happened. Two world records have been set, and on the same day no less. The first was set by Edenal and Grukk_ in World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck with an improvement of 43 seconds and final time of 22:06, and the second by btrim in Shadow Blasters with an improvement of 2 seconds and final time of 10:44. Besides that there has been some impressive feats, such as the 9:26:07 speedrun of Final Fantasy IX and the 8:48:45 speedrun of Crash Bash. This writer is no stranger to long speedruns (I thoroughly recommend Ty2358's recent 20 hour-ish Shining Force Challenge Mod speedrun), but the stamina continues to impress and astound even the players.
Since the last article there have been quite a few amazing runs. For instance, Mirror's Edge by MrWalrus finished in 39:06 and introduced the word "cannoli" into many vocabularies. Some other great videos to check out are Final Fantasy (7:54) by Gaël, Final Fantasy V (4:08:29) by Cereth, Deus Ex: Human Revolution (46:54) by Heinki and PenAgain, Ape Escape 3 (1:17:52) by downiebrownie_, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1:19:43) by MrBean35000vr and SwordOfSeals, and Super Smash Bros. Melee (10:26) by Fuzzyness. The list has to stop somewhere, otherwise this would just be a listing of every run.
Speaking of a listing of every run, we would like to give a big thanks to LasTLiE2 over on Reddit for his ESA VoDs thread, which is a fantastic resource for both finding games that interest you and keeping up to date with what's already been played and what time was achieved. Combined with the official schedule you can get a great look at the entirety of ESA so you can be sure you never miss a thing.
Starting July 2nd (EST) you'll be able to see Beetle Adventure Racing! by andypanther, Zombies Ate My Neighbors by lurk, Castle of Illusion by KrazyRasmus and MaxieTheHatter, Mega Man 1-6 by Primal85 and Joka, and a mess of insanity that is SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate by Adam_ak, COOLKID, lurk, Noobest, Pjoxt, Shrimp, Yvathacal, Zastbat, and S. While we're not entirely sure what that last speedrun is going to be like, there's zero chance it's going to be boring so be sure to check it out. Of course also consider donating to Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, the charity that ESA is currently raising money for. As of this moment ESA has raised $10,551.21 for the cause, and amount will only grow with your support.
Check back soon to see more updates on the marathon, as well as other speedrunning content such as interviews and more. If you have anything to add to this article, or are a speedrunner who would like to show up in one of these articles, let us know in the comments below.
