The Top 13 Longest Reigning Speedrunning World Records

Gaining in popularity over the last decade, speedrunning didn't start out as huge charity events and several thousand viewer streams that you see today. In fact some of the communities started in the 90s, and are still going strong, which has led to intense competition and many world records, which is what we're looking at today, the longest held records in speedrunning history.
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Videos Mentioned
Dam 52: • How did Karl Jobst Bre...
Runway Agent: • GoldenEye 007's 'Impos...
Runway Agent: • 16 year record BROKEN ...
Doom Hanger: • A 20 Year Old DOOM Rec...
Footage Used
SMK Footage
KVD: / smk_machine
/ karelvand
Sportsguy001
/ @sportsguy0016
KartSeven
/ kartseven
Fzero Footage from MKDSmaster
/ @mkdsmaster91
Goldeneye Footage
Boss:
/ thebigbossman007
/ thebigbossman007
Karl Jobst: / @karljobst
/ karljobst
Wouter Jansen:
/ w00ter007
Doom Footage
4Shockblast:
/ @4shockblast
/ 4shockblast
Hegyi's Nuclear Plant Run
• Doom: Nuclear Plant (E...
Pilgers Hanger Run
• Doom E1M1 Pacifist in ...
MK64 Footage
Lacey: / @shadow4798

[@Kinnijup]

Oh hey, hearing my name mentioned caught me off guard and made my day lol. Sweet vid.

[@kenjinuma]

1:24 Karl Jobst, another great speedrun video dude. Didnt think he was serious when he said hes been in the Speedruning community for over 20 years. What a Legend.

[@BeersAndBeatsPDX]

*Absolute legend

[@insertgoodchannelnamehere]

Watching his retrospectives on goldeneye are funny as hell cause he eventually has to get to the part where he talks about his old records.

[@MrBeegs88]

I like Jobst, it's such a shame that he's had to feel the wrath of Billy Mitchel's stupid lawsuits. Perfect Ace is definitely the all time best GE runner though.

[@btarg1]

There are actually people out there who have speedrunning records that have lasted longer than I've been alive for... now that's an achievement

[@daviddavidson7747]

Get good at aging up 😂

[@john.cleese]

Excellent video. Glad to be a part of that SMK history.

[@shiteeshoodeeos800]

Holy shit it’s Eoj! I bow to you, Master.

[@Jay-go4vw]

Perfect Dark is missing from this list, and there's a few more things about Goldeneye. On Perfect Dark Karl Jobst held the WAR! Agent record for a total of 6451 days. 5864 days on the time 25 seconds. Switch over to Goldeneye, and Wouter Jansen held the Bunker 1 Agent record for 7010 days, Archives Agent for 6584 and Frigate Agent for 6558. Boss also has a high combined duration on a lot of stages, Runway Agent for a total of 6451, Runway SA 6640, Surface 1 Agent 6612, Statue 00Agent 6436, Cradle Agent 6428. These are only the ones that break 6000. Ther are more in the high 5000s. Back to Perfect Dark, on the DLTK side of things, The Duel LTK, set by ParagonX9 has reached 7038 days and counting. The Duel Agent is likely the longest standing uninterrupted record in all speedrunning. The record of 3 seconds has stood since Ben Gorman set it on July 20th 2000 (7525 days). Most people do not consider it a real record, because most people could likely tie it, it isn't counted towards the Perfect Dark rankings. LTK however, is considered a record.

[@zealous4609]

I know your comment is a bit old, but I have some "knowledge" to share on the "longest standing record" if you are curious... :) With actual proof, the oldest I could find is Thomas Pilger's demo of the first level of Doom 2 in 0:05.97 (UV-Speed). It was set the 30th March 1998. Likewise, it has a lot of ties, and the fastest known run is 0:05.14 by Dastan. A bit later in 1998, Thomas would also become the first to complete the first level of Doom 1 in 9 seconds (UV-Speed), but that one has been beaten a few years ago by 4shockblast (and a few others). Karl Jobst made a video about it if you are interested. There is also the first Quake where Markus Taipale set some "unbeatable records" in early/mid 1999 on E1M6, E1M7, E2M1, E4M1. Obviously, if you don't go by a full second, these are not records anymore. Therefore, it is a bit unfair to compare it with games like MK64 and such, which might have similar "longest standing records" if you take them by the second.

[@btf_flotsam478]

I'm also prepared to bet that there's a few WADs in Doom that have some long-lasting records (although, since the majority of WADs weren't around by 2000, the length of those world records is obviously not going to touch those of other games); the same thing applies to obscure games and categories in general, where no-one would care enough about the game/category to notice the world record from ages ago is still standing (take Achievement Unlocked 3, where the first submitted run stood for about seven years before the third submitted run knocked off over a quarter of the time).

[@cf9309]

Like Summoning Salt, but you haven't hit your big popularity spike. Great quality of videos tho! Excited to see you hit 1 million subs in the future.

[@JkLoser]

Great video! Love this kind of content :D being from f-zero community I did not know we had that many crazy longstanding records, but legend is a lengend. I also have a 6k+ days WR in f-zero GX as well :)

[@LordMegatherium]

Just realized your subscriber count. What a travesty of justice. All your material is solid, entertaining and informative. You hit notes and topics that I don't see on other speedrunning channels. Thank you for your creations.

[@Abyssoft]

Thanks for watching!

[@ezmoneyy149]

Agreed he should have the Same if not similar views as like lowest percent. And people like eazyspeedy just make random speedrun non informative get millions of views. You deserve those views tbh.

[@ryantaylor1142]

Too true

[@esotericVideos]

Great video. Those linked explainer videos are pretty cool too. Thanks for sharing them as well.

[@MrBeegs88]

So I'm not sure if you meant to do this but the footage you used for Archives was Karl Jobst, people that don't know the people by name might assume that the person in that clip is Bryan Bosshardt

[@CallofFreaky]

I was actually tweaking watching that I was like “how is that not Karl Jobst, there’s no way”

[@piratepies5534]

Yoir videos are amazing! I hope you get more views you deserve it!! Also, if I could make a suggestion, the dates for the honorable mentions were kinda hard to read, I think that something as simple as varied text color could really help with that :)

[@MadaoJoestar]

Legend really gives the word meaning.

[@sycophant8470]

The idea behind this video is such a nostalgia boner for earlier games that had nowhere close to the competition of modern games, a run lasting for months in a game with 1000s of people running it is much crazier than a run lasting years with a handful or less of runners.

[@kaeleklund6728]

I'm not sure modern is the right word. There are tons of obscure speed games with tiny but dedicated runner communities and fanbases.

[@DK3CHAMP]

Douglas Korekach has a speedrun record for Boxing on the Atari 2600. He set the record on July 15th 2003, which has never been tied or broken. You can find the record on Twin Galaxies.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Since you mentioned TG, I'm immediately skeptical of his record's legitimacy.

[@psyjinx]

KVD is a champ. There are so many cheaters in the speedrunning scene these days, it's surprising that a proofless record turned out to be a genuine testament of skill.

[@user-ux2kk5vp7m]

Welcome to the Mario Kart community my friend. The honor system actually works!

[@shupasopni]

@@user-ux2kk5vp7m Do you mind telling why that is?

[@user-ux2kk5vp7m]

@@shupasopni because most people don’t cheat, unlike what Apollo Legend would say lol

[@randomperson5579]

3 Years later and the mute city 1 record still stands, with 10,634 days in holding the world record throughout the years as of march 4th 2024, or 29 years and 49 days, if he can hold it until January 14th(15? maybe) 2025, it'll be a full 30 years.

[@Abyssoft]

Given that Edward couldn't dethrone Legend, he's likely going to hold onto it until he has the thirty year streak

[@coreykelley9441]

Fantastic. Keep it up.

[@kylebrna4983]

You deserve 1 mill this is a great chanel

[@2ts706]

Wait jamie white is that good at smk I thought destroyong the entire comunity of spelunky hd was enough Kinni too op

[@RUSH_]

goldeneye, mario kart, f zero? It's like watching my past! (ok I didn't play much doom)

[@wafersmash338]

I heard one guy held a record in Dragster for a while

[@Mag123]

keep em comin

[@PointEndClick]

This video is awesome.

[@peter2989]

"Hello you absolute legends." - Biggest absolute legend, Karl Jobst

[@ryantaylor1142]

You should have 1m subscribers love da content

[@grandmastermario3695]

Ive been WR holder in 10 man rumble in WM 19 off and on officially for only 5 years.

[@seanstuchbery]

probably could have mentioned who set the honourable mention records

[@xoxogus]

all hail king abyssoft

[@holake4456]

You deserve more views wth

[@grandmastermario3695]

My longest official WRS have only been on top for just over 2 years now without them getting beat.

[@guccithunder6136]

15:35 Would you happen to have any info or Links on that Magazine? I’ve been trying to find info on these 90s Records for Years other than the WR Site

[@Abyssoft]

I think the Fzero team have them saved, you could join the discord and ask them about it

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

😉 2:30 Great Jobst on this video! 😂

[@WhitekidCvsual]

Speedrunning is something I enjoy dabbling in, until I actually start recording- then my entire memory of the game goes “nope, I don’t want to”

[@bbr17]

Honestly I figured these would be the three games featured

[@caspermadlener4191]

Wow. He broke 10 000 days. That's impressive.

[@bryanmulcare9083]

2:56 Karl Jobst have a video for the three greatest players of all time in golden eye and BB was Brian Boastard, Wouter Jansen was a legend European golden eye player back at 1999-2000 decade. cheese is a legend because he improved really quick and there’s a documentary about three players in Charliebrown64 channel.

[@Lovuschka]

Zool 9.88 seconds will eventually be in every such list.

[@imprincesswolfy2565]

Haven’t watched it yet, but I hope to see a Matt Turk record

[@horsemagnet4792]

whats the song at 11:30? i tried to figure out with the description but i couldnt

[@Abyssoft]

That one is by novadrome, a track I commissioned from him

[@horsemagnet4792]

@@Abyssoft cool, thanks!

[@KanaevM]

I don't think tied records should count for one person. Sure, someone set it first, but if it's tied by many people later - it's probably the limit, with nil chance of being beaten.

[@goblin7404]

Good video. Your pronunciation is a bit weak compared to other speedrunning channels, you gotta be more confident. Also, I found things like "16.7 years" and "18.4 years" really confusing, wish you had used months instead. Very interesting though!

[@lilsamyjohn]

Why is it in days that's so confusing

[@Abyssoft]

As you start dealing with large times broken down into days or even months it's hard to conceptualize since a day only comprises a single instance of our large building blocks for time. If I asked how many days are in a year the answer is pretty straighforward, but if I asked how many are in 7 years you might have to think about it, since it's not a measurement you usually do when thinking about a time span of 7 years. Ar the end of the day it's a nice way to add some wow factor to these old records :)

[@gnardawgyt]

I remember a few years back when I first heard of speedrunning and thinking to myself, "Why would anyone do this? What a waste of time" ... I still think that, have never speedran a game, yet I find it really, really interesting nonetheless. I watch a stupid amount of speedrunning videos but would never try it out myself. Only thing I can make of this strange personal phenomenon is that speedrunning has a lot of spectator value. I also like the idea of game-breaking discoveries pushing times lower and lower. Anyways, thanks for the video!

[@clintholmes2061]

No Billy Mitchell or Todd Rodgers? Your list is pretty suspect. /s

[@emrald2000]

10:53 jakub krcma too. actually there's probably a few

[@slpn2314]

you forgot SHiFT from the BFBB community, he has held number 1 in any%, 100%, and NG+ for several years

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

It's funny that a third of these are on Goldeneye alone.

[@KarmaKazi666]

Speedrun Archaeology

[@nyarthecat8195]

new super mario bros 1-1 has been a 27 basically since it was released

[@turboDrowsy]

Nice.

[@chrysalis3508]

2024 what records still stand as the longest? What are 'new' long-standing records? Can we get an updated(if there's enough info) at the start of 2025, maybe?

[@Abyssoft]

I know off the top of my head nobody has beat Legend, and that will become a 30 year reign this year

[@chrysalis3508]

@@Abyssoft what about games that DO have records but are 'dead' games. Nobody runs them. Depending on the game though, could be far less interesting, unfortunately.

[@andrewscore7125]

Don't forget Todd rogers dragster world record!!

[@jenaf372]

Yeah that one is a dream record.

[@thuti4022]

Karl Jobst is an absolute legend!

[@dasmilekat5231]

I think the reason why there are many long-standing DOOM and GoldenEye records is because they are timed using IGT. I don't get why they time by that, since it is only down to the second, and IMO it makes the competition in those speedruns less interesting.

[@IllusoryMaze]

I agree that it feels a bit artificial to have them included alongside games that time with higher precisions, but keep in mind this video also counts streaks, sometimes broken, as long-standing records. It's a bit confused in what point it's trying to make.

[@thorin1045]

they used the in game timer since that was present and somewhat harder to manipulate than any outside timer when they was popular first. Now they stuck with it, unless they want to throw all earlier records.

[@Vayday]

Should have renamed the video top longest running speedruns in mariokart and goldeneye :/

[@SearedBite]

i don't like your criteria for longest speedrun wrs. it's cooler if one run has stood for years, because that shows how incredible it was

[@RagingAbout]

Dupe Dop

[@RUSH_]

h o y p e

[@JoshuaKevinPerry]

When you get to 1 million subs put me in the video

[@Abyssoft]

I'll screen cap this comment and put it in a special folder for when that happens

[@smoceany9478]

@@Abyssoft can you do me too

[@Abyssoft]

@@smoceany9478 Sure

[@TheDarthSoldier]

Lol with doom anything is possible when you enter IDCLIP

[@Luckoizo]

Hey man, just some feedback. When you show the honourable mentions, it would be cool if you’d pit the name of the runner as well. And on your last slide it says ‘patrons’ instead of ‘patreons’. Great video nontheless tho! Keep it up :)

[@harryballs6652]

patron is correct. might wanna look it up in a dictionary...zoom zoom.