GamesRacingMario Kart 64Legendary Mario Kart 64 speedrunner saves a lost run with a nearly impossible YOLO strat and breaks his own year-old world recordWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRacingMario Kart 64Legendary Mario Kart 64 speedrunner saves a lost run with a nearly impossible YOLO strat and breaks his own year-old world recordWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
There’s a new world record in Mario Kart 64 speedrunning, and while the name of the runner who set the time won’t come as a surprise to anybody who’s looked into the scene, the way that record was set was absolutely wild.
Beck Abney, aka abney317, is arguably the top runner in Mario Kart 64. He held the record for all cups with skips category straight from 2015 through 2021, and while there’ve been a few interruptions to his reign as world record holder, the time of 22:58.680 he set on July 27, 2023 had gone untouched for a full year.
Mario Kart 64 150cc All Cups (Skips) Shortcut Speedrun 22:57 (World Record) - YouTubeWatch On
Mario Kart 64 150cc All Cups (Skips) Shortcut Speedrun 22:57 (World Record) - YouTube
Mario Kart 64 150cc All Cups (Skips) Shortcut Speedrun 22:57 (World Record) - YouTube
So Abney did what any self-respecting speedrunner would do - took a wild, YOLO-type shot at a wildly inconsistent strategy so difficult that even he, arguably the best runner in the game, almost never attempts. There’s a particular spot on the Yoshi Valley map where you can run off the course and hit a specific spot in a wall that essentially fools the game into thinking you’ve completed a lap when you’ve barely even started it.
Abney ended up setting a new world record of 22:57.240, exactly one year and one day after his previous record had been established. The Special Cup alone was 17 seconds than the next best he’d ever done in a run, and he notes in the description of the record video that this is “one of the craziest comebacks ever.” Another speedrunning legend, SummoningSalt - whosevideo on Abney’s recordsprovides a fantastic breakdown of the Mario Kart 64 scene -agrees thatit’s “one of the craziest world records I’ve ever seen.”
Elden Ring speedrun legend offers $10,000 for the ultimate Shadow of the Erdtree challenge: Level 1, DLC weapons only, and limited Scadutree levels.
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