Season 4: Chapter 56. Natural Disaster (2)
A glitch run was when players used bugs or unintended mechanics to progress through a game. Speedrunners most commonly used them since one could skip entire grueling stages and leap straight to the final boss with a single well-placed glitch.
In the speedrunning world, glitch usage wasn’t just accepted. It was the norm. Even if players knew a glitch existed, reproducing it consistently was no small feat. It was still considered a form of skill.
This culture dated back to the old console era when Nintendo titles like Sonic and Mega Man were the kings of platforming.
“Okay, now look here. If you rub up against this wall just right...”
Fwip.
Suddenly, the player clipped through a chunk of terrain and free-fell past all the obstacles to the next stage.
“Tada. It’s the final boss.”
For speedrunners, skipping the game with a single bug was a mundane and classic example of glitch behavior.
— ?
— What was that?
— Whoa
— LOL