The History of Quake World Records

This is the twenty-five-year history of Quake's ultimate speedrun, the full-game "marathon" on easy skill.
Special thanks to @khristov_quake for capturing the demos in 2k
Thumbnail by @SphereMJ
Music by @lordsoflounge
Patreon: / quakespeedrunsexplained
Quake Speedruns on KZbin: @QuakeSpeedrunning
Discord: discordapp.com/invite/wYkznd7

[@clouder1337]

This means a lot to me, being part of this great community! I truly thank Connor and every single person in quake speedrunning community for being such a nice bunch!

[@YouCorny]

I don't speedrun but it's cool what y'all do man. I'm on the road to finishing all episodes in nightmare lol

[@oigboi]

GG’s on ur run bro it was legendary it motivated me to do full game runs

[@oncewasanimal1818]

Billy Bless

[@clouder1337]

@@oigboi Damn, thank you for the kind words! I'm glad that my run has motivated somebody to do some runs!

[@nikitost0p85]

GG bratan

[@Heidious]

As a 40-year-old gamer who's been playing Quake since it came out (or thereabouts), my heart swells with pride to see newer generations still giving this classic a lot of love (and punishment).

[@ScarlettTheRav]

thats nice. i am turning 17 soon, and im not much of a gamer, but the original doom got me into gaming, and it was really good and very recently i tried quake, and the first quake might be my favorite game now. i also played quake 2 and liked it a bit but the first is just way cooler and better to me. i do not like multiplayer like against each other games, i touched quake 3 once and it isnt for me and i dont think any game after quake 2 is for me

[@unl0ck998]

When I hear your music I have the same feeling of coziness I get when I hear summoningsalt's, like tucked in and ready for the ride.

[@RSOFT92]

This Intro song (especially the absolutely beautifull guitar) reminds me of Wicked Game by Chris Isaak. I'd love to know which song of Lords of Lounge this is though, as i cant find it.

[@DeimosA_]

​@@RSOFT92it's called Pixel Perfect

[@boomgarf5459]

Agreed

[@RSOFT92]

@@DeimosA_ T H A N K Y O U ! 😀👍 That was the one song i didnt check...

[@DeimosA_]

@@RSOFT92 No problem 👍

[@maxr8454]

This is my recollection from my 17.05 run and bit broader on the origin of the Quake "Marathon" phenomenon. For the first few years of Quake speedrunning all focus was on either individual levels or the Quake done Quick projects. There is a very simple reason for that, it was not possible to record demos across level changes, so proving a single-segment run was not possible unless you recorded your run outside Quake, which very few had the possibility to do. The QdQstats mod allowed you to modify the starting stats for each level, in this way you could then stitch together invidual demos and create the illusion of a single run for Quake done Quick. On 15th March 1999 version 1.6 of QdQstats was released, this version allowed for a single demo to continue across level changes, so now we could run whole episodes and the whole game in one go. The only problem now was that none of the top runners cared :-). Illka, Markus, Joe, Peter, Martin S and many others had the skill (and they did some episode marathons) but apart from the sort of "proof of concept" runs from Martin B and Marlo, no demos of the full game were made. I was never the fastest runner, instead mainly focusing on 100% category where I could figure out the optimal way to manage pickups, route and monster killing, but the lack of interest for the full run from top runners made me finally try it and see what I could achieve to perhaps provoke a response, which I surely did with Martin's runs! The focus for my run was to incorporate a few "difficult" tricks in the first episodes and then simply survive until the end. The reason I did not start with EP4 was that I could not do the curl on E4M1 and long bunny on E4M2 more than once every 100 attempts! The concept of daring to try to do more tricks later in the run and then fail was almost unthinkable to me. Remember that I, and everyone else in the speed running world, Doom as well as Quake (that was the speed running world on PC), were used to runs of a 0.5 - 3 minutes and doing a run for 15-20 minutes and fail at the end was a mental barrier to be broken. Why do three difficult tricks in the last levels to save 10 seconds when failure would loose the whole run! I'm sure it sounds strange to modern speed runners, but that was I think the feeling of all runners back then, until Martin and Connor showed the way. Much later, when I watched Coolkid streaming on twitch his entire mindset on risk during a run was so different to mine that I really felt like the relic I was :-) /Daniel

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Great to see you here Daniel! Thanks for the run and for the extra info :)

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Hi everyone - sorry for the long delay. I still read all the comments and I’ve heard the many suggestions for a Patreon, so here we are: www.patreon.com/QuakeSpeedrunsExplained I’ll aim to do one video a month for a while and see how things go. Thank you for the feedback and positivity towards this channel!

[@Haps_q]

As long as you dont push yourself into burnout. Great vid as always.

[@WellIguessitsBri]

Yeah, echoing the poster above. Everything you have posted on this channel is absolutely worth whatever wait it takes to assemble it, and this one in particular rules. This is probably on balance my favorite channel, and the burnout risk is real. KZbin is littered with people who tried to keep up with a production schedule and paid the price of learning to dislike the things they loved to share. If one a month is easy to do, great, but if it's not, anyone who gets wrapped up in expectations for a new video needs to get a grip

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

@@WellIguessitsBri Thanks. I'm very wary of pushing things too hard, and prefer this to be a fun hobby. Patreon is a small experiment as a response to viewers' comments. if I can't keep things up or I'm not feeling it then I just won't take any donations in a given month :)

[@Intuition-Orth]

@@quakespeedrunsexplained I wonder what happens if you - one day - run out of ideas. Will you simply stop, or move towards a different Game which you're passionate about?

[@djhenyo]

@@quakespeedrunsexplained Cookie's movement was smooth like that because he used a controller with thumbsticks, right?

[@LeadHeadBOD]

I've said it once and I'll say it again - the Quake community is just built different and absolutely does not get the exposure it deserves. Don't sell yourself short either, Connor, having a WR hold for 8 years is impressive, even if it's not very optimal by today's standards, it was mindblowing back then.

[@khristov_quake]

Its not just Quake or video gaming history, its world history

[@a1batross_]

or you could say a QuakeWorld history!

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

speed for yourself

[@Plizi]

2001 gamers were moving from ball mices to optical ones. Like intellimouses. Some of these demos might have been done with ball mices. 😂 I still have my receipt of the intellimouse from 2001.

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Yep, my very first quake records were done with a ball mouse!

[@VALIS538]

Honestly one of the favourite things about these videos are the fact you give props and credence to players that set times over 20 years ago, live the history of this game and I don’t even play it I’m a quake 3 player lol but still love watching these guys speed run

[@Alfee94]

so cool we can have high quality footage from speedruns 25 years ago, no other game can offer that

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Yeah the demo-recording feature is amazing!

[@peterstayne9]

One of the few channels where I drop what I'm doing and watch when new videos drop.

[@FBombFitzgerald]

LOL I'm the opposite of you. When a new video drops from him I actually save it for viewing later in the evening when I can grab a drink, get under a blanket, and fully savor it.

[@daol84]

@@FBombFitzgerald Haha, I'm the same as you. Friday evening, got home from work an hour ago and currently with a beer in my hand. However, I guess you both are saying that you love the content and the channel equally but just expressing it in different ways :)

[@FBombFitzgerald]

That's exactly it@@daol84 !😎

[@giga2884]

Clouder's run is amazing. One of the best and most dedicated players in gaming. I just wish he would understand one simple fact: The game isn't at fault when you miss jumps, it's you.

[@clouder1337]

OpieOP

[@enterusername7746]

Can you tell us more about the theme music and the connection to Quake? I think it's pretty cool and I have it in a playlist on Tidal. I saw that the track has a Quake related cover and wondered if you did it yourself. Thanks and keep up the awesome videos.

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Yeah the band (Lords of Lounge) is another hobby of mine. I play drums and do the mixing/etc. Glad you like it!

[@arsebiscuitsandwine]

​@@quakespeedrunsexplained Dude, congrats on both the channel and the band. The mixing on the tracks is just gorgeous. I'm gutted I missed your album launch when it happened as i love just down the road. Hopefully you guys do some more gigs at some point!

[@planet23k]

0:00 Intro 1:50 The early days (Mattias Bergren's 24:22 @ 16.03.1999 & 21:49 @ 20.03.1999, Tosun Okuyanakosun's 20:34 @ 24.04.1999, and Marlo Galinski's 18:15 @ 06.05.1999) 2:28 More focus on Marlo Galinski's runs and their impact 3:26 Daniel Magnusson' 17:05 @ 19.08.2000 5:19 Martin Selinus' 3 records, best being 14:02 @ 25.02.2001 9:27 Connor Fitzgerald's (hey man, kudos! :D) 13:46 @ 29.06.2005 11:38 Max "Coolkid" Lundberg's 3 records: 13:37 (truly the most leet single segment run of whole Q1! ; ) @ 21.01.2013, 13:00 @ 13.12.2013 and finally 12:54 @ 20.10.2014 14:44 Tony "Kukkye" Hänninen's 3 records, best being 12:26 @ 09.06.2015 18:33 Elias "Elgu" Solla's 12:25 @ 29.09.2015 20:15 Conny "Jukebox" Wernersson's 3 records: 12:17 @ 29.11.2016, 11:57 @ 03.08.2017 and his best - 11:47 @ 29.12.2019 25:28 Muty's 11:42 @ 06.12.2022 - 2nd best in the world 29:33 Clouder's 11:39 @ 12.09.2023 - THE best record of the world in Quake 1 done in one single segment... (...for now...) 33:53 Outro Bonus, very interesting follow-up videos to blow the mind away even more: Quake 1 single segment Easy run TAS... 9:35... and it's "unoptimized" (sic!!!) @ kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5zHlIiFjJaam6M Quake 1 single segment Nightmare run TAS... 9:32... which only proves the above "lack of optimization", lol... @ kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJKro6Kkirh5ack Have a great day, or night out there! : )

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Wow, thanks for typing this out!

[@ebon4265]

@@quakespeedrunsexplained if you put the timestamps in the description it will add chapter titles to the video.

[@subtlewookiee]

I've been looking forward to this one for a while; was well worth the wait. :) It was a treat watching Clouder grind this in real time. I was also a bit surprised to see Coolkid on this video. I knew he had ran Quake, but I only started watching his stream during his NES speedrun days, so it was a bit of a fun shock to see him here having held the top spot for a while.

[@chaser1254]

EVRY VIDEO OF YOURS is something special, Man :)!

[@yawg691]

Yeah ima be late to work boss... yeah... Yeah the quake guy... aite see you in an hour

[@jakob4371]

Hahahah

[@Fr3unen]

The game that made TF2 jumping what it is today. Even though I never played quake I will always have enormous respect for how revolutionary this game was and still is. It's also incredibly cool to see Jukebox here, I did not expect that.

[@TimDoherty]

Great video Connor. I was a little surprised not to hear more talk of Quake done Quick lite. While thousands of attempts are done per level, the end result is each level with stats going on. I’d say the future is moving towards doing the rabbit run or Quake don’t quickest light single segment. As unlikely as that sounds, look what people are willing to spend months grinding!

[@jackkendall6420]

now this is some fucking content

[@osirisgolad]

Fun fact: Kukkye(or Cookye) and Jukebox used to play together on the same TF2 team when there was still a decently sized scene for that game. I think Kukkye's movement looks particularly smooth because he has always had very calm mouse movement; not just when moving, but also when aiming hitscan. It's like his crosshair just automatically follows the target around with a slight delay, rather than him frantically reacting every time the enemy changes direction. I seem to recall he used an extremely low sensitivity as well, though the average player's sensitivity seems to have dropped a lot over the past 10-15 years, so maybe it isn't as low as it seemed at the time, relatively speaking. Thanks for the video.

[@jackjazzjacket]

Quake (1996) is honestly still relevant in 2024. Load it up for the some of the smoothest frame rates your screen can push. Great video! Thank you!

[@fluffydestroyer8336]

I feel like every game starts out with a bunch of unreliable but potentially fast strategies that players don't use, but then eventually someone comes along who uses them all and just keeps grinding until they get the perfect run also it's always fun to see world record history timelines like this where the creator shows their own record on the timeline, boosts their credibility a lot

[@user-mm1to9bh4r]

Наверное, это первый канал ютуб для которого я когда либо ставил лайк не глядя, учитывая что не способен воспринимать на слух английский язык

[@Trance4mason]

Flipping fantastic as always. Thank you so much.

[@JonasStenmarkMT]

Thanks for doing these record recaps, it's such a joy to follow!

[@thestabbybrit4798]

Watching Quake speedrunning is always a delight. Grab an explosive weapon, and it's "flight mode engaged!"

[@l-l]

So glad to see you're back. Fantastic video as always.

[@SashR]

Love this channel for it’s very calm and interesting videos. Thanks.

[@enneff]

Another wonderful video. Made my day. Thanks mate.

[@insanabillity]

Noice. I was waiting for a video like this one! Came across your channel the other day! Started running E1 for fun cus it looked awesome!

[@Delo997]

amazing video as always!

[@mistercallme3047]

I remember watching the team rabbit run video years ago. Inspired me to have a crack at speedrunning quake back in the 2000s. Such a fun game to play quickly.

[@colonelchapstick]

For real, you're my favorite channel. Thanks for making these videos Connor

[@xoxo98808]

Hell yeah I love the production on these videos ❤

[@mcbain257]

Finally got around to watch this. It's great to see another video from you and man, what a topic. Really interesting to see at which time, which players introduced new tricks into the run. Like someone else said, it's important for you to keep this as a nice hobby/love project, not work. So whatever schedule works for you! Thanks again for the video!

[@SirKauze]

Masterful analysis of masterful runs, man. Great video. Somehow, the world feels a better place knowing that there's guys like you out there who love this amazing game, as well as there being so many talented runners pushing it to it's limits across the years. Love and respect to you.

[@JamesBong3333]

Always a pleasure to see you upload, your vids are top quality bro ❤❤❤

[@death112_]

such a cozy video, thanks connor! hearing about coolkid quake runs sure took me back :)

[@Vigopl]

This channel is a treasure and should be preserved for generations

[@sloggiz]

somehow these quake record videos are extremely relaxing and satisfying for me. it really makes me happy that people are still playing q1, after so many years. this brings so many great childhood memories for me! thanks a lot for this channel and all the amazing records!

[@ontwricht]

I hope the algorithm gods bless you, you deserve it. Super high quality, nice voice and great music. I only played quake2 on the ps1 without analog sticks, yet I'm always fully invested :)

[@kosmati4569]

Take heed kids, all this jumping around can lead to early onset quad damage.

[@PaToUisDaRk]

Amazing vid as always !

[@rutski5150]

Thank you for these beautifully crafted videos, I think the love you have for the subject really shines through, it enthuses people who even have a casual interest in the subject. Thank you also for the sublime music. Pixel Perfect is becoming one of my most watched videos on KZbin.

[@LETIshNick]

Thank you for the great video! Totally made my evening better here in France.

[@msgicbeans]

had a long day but watching this video immediately made me feel better. thank you for making this beautiful video about this beautiful game :)

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

Just found your channel - Excellent Content. Another sub for you sir!

[@Bonelord69]

Babe wake up new Quake speedrunning documentary

[@mathieuparmentier6314]

What a wonderful video, I hope a lot more people find this channel 😊

[@rejban]

Great video! Thanks

[@-Kerstin]

Sick video. Loved it

[@Del0w_]

Such a great video, so great I had to watch it twice.

[@DanishDeadBro]

Love your videos, keep it up!

[@conzmoleman]

Love your vids so much man

[@georgejpg]

I really love your videos. Haven't played Quake outside of dicking around on RTX Quake 2, but I've always loved seeing the crazy skill of movement shooter speedrunners and arena shooter pros. I can't even string together 3 bhops

[@Tankfird]

Great video!

[@phils3903]

Amazing video, thank you! Been playing quake since the 90s and following the records, this and your other videos are so well made and just happy that the game is being archived in this quality. I also have only just realised that you are Connor Fitzegerald, a name I’ve seen plenty of on the scoreboards. Don’t know if it’s been mentioned in your other vids haha

[@G1itcher]

Your channel should have 100x more subs. Excellent work as usual

[@laurencechase5439]

Fascinating stuff, really well put together, thank you so much! I know the channel is about Quake, but wouldn't mind at some point in the future learning about HL1 speedruns (kinda the same engine lol!) - only if you run out of stuff to talk about in Quake first ;)

[@AttaKru]

thank you for doing this videos, what a ride!

[@dada78641]

As always, thanks for the great video! I remember being on the qdq irc when Jukebox was still a pretty new runner (don't remember exactly when that was, and I don't have my logs anymore unfortunately). At that time I was also trying speedrunning a little bit but I didn't have even a fraction of the skills needed to be competitive. I managed to record e1 but it was so bad. The thought of actually grinding this game so much that you can go toe to toe with the greats of Quake running is insane to me. I already felt that way back in the 2010s and now it's even more optimized than ever before.

[@dada78641]

Gotta add a disclaimer here. I might be confusing which person I'm remembering as a new runner. It's been a while back. I think it was him though. lol I need to check back wherever people hang out these days and see if there's anyone I remember or who remembers me.

[@k3rvyn]

Just a masterspiece. Thanks a lot!

[@QuakeRealm5]

This is the best of Quake i play Quake 1 multiplayer since i was 15 years old Quake 1 is still the best of all Quake series 👍

[@enjoylife6374]

special, man. love the humbleness

[@Treblaine]

9:40 I unironically love it when a gaming documentary switches to talking about himself.

[@sanderbos4243]

Loved the video!

[@Seama327]

I’ve only ever played the n64 version of Quake. But this video is still fascinating. Thank you for making it! ❤

[@Lupus84pl]

Great video, thank you

[@kokobedima]

excellent music choice, great story telling!

[@a.seljak]

I don't care about quake speed running at all. But the way you compile the videos and explain the priciples behind the idea of speed running and introducing the amazing members of the community makes my jaw drop every single time (though, I like the idea of finding non spandard ways of completing maps, either using shortest route, make monsters kill themself or each other, or crazy ones like: no animal kills). The quality of your episodes is fenomenal. Nice work.

[@MajorCinnamonBuns]

15:34 - I've been playing FPS games for 20 years and never seen such buttery smooth aiming like that before. *love the videos keep it up. 👍

[@o7moon]

is the song at 22:15 the same unreleased one from chambers' run in the slopes video? i think its my favorite

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

Good ear! It's the same song. Will be released eventually....!

[@cowboys2626]

cant wait till it releases

[@d1sable]

You are a truly gifted storyteller. Please continue to make these videos ❤

[@ebon4265]

This was a good video, I enjoyed it very much.

[@KoOLe3pY]

Awesome man!

[@FBombFitzgerald]

Oh god I'm so excited to watch this!

[@matt-eo3gg]

this is fantastic content

[@apu_apustaja]

Excellent video.

[@thedopplereffect00]

I appreciate your work so much. As someone who spent hundreds of hours playing Quake death match and CTF as a teenager it warms my heart to know that a new generation is still playing these fantastic old games

[@RobertGee101]

I did a speedrun like a year ago with Quake Remaster, it took me roughly an hour and 30 minutes to complete the whole game with a few tricks implemented. I had fun doing it, but I know I could better in the future. After the May 1st - October 1st casual gaming severe reduction is finished, I might get back into the swing of things :D

[@snarther1]

Just thank you again so great so much effort so nice

[@hushpuppi3]

the reason that one looks so silky smooth is because he plays low sens. You can just tell from how smooth the mouse movement is

[@warezpl0]

Awesome video

[@tytk]

Amazing video

[@imjustinb]

I love this channel so much.

[@Doctor_Riptide]

This is the most underrated channel on youtube

[@sandmanxo]

As a late teen when this game was released I would have never imagined seeing runs like this. I'm old enough to remember fingering(insert joke here) John Carmack to get updates on when Quake was going to be released, and playing it on my overclocked 150Mhz 486 for the first 3-6 months it was out. I managed to get the game one day early since my local Best Buy had messed up and put it out a day early.

[@StereoBucket]

Love the historical videos. And love the music of your videos. 26:00 :') and it was indeed a WR

[@LordOfCrabz]

Mutie has really done some incredible things for the records of Quake. It's nice learning about the greats that paved the way for him.

[@darklink7117]

A masterpiece, as always.

[@MonochromeWench]

When Jukebox's name comes up you know it's about to get really serious

[@oliNoble]

another banger as always

[@juanchol21]

great video

[@barfbot]

really nice video

[@j2ko57]

I was born in the late 90s and I never really played quake. ( I know ) but being the video game buff that I am, I have a lot of respect for this game. Without the games like doom and quake, there is no modern FPS shooters today. I’ve always wanted to speed run though so who knows I may try my hand at this game

[@lMrJackl]

Every time I see quake speed runs I am astonished at the dedication and skill of the runners. And here's me who can't even do a bunny! Wonder if any more huge time saves even exist.

[@pannekook2000]

there's something about high level quake speedrunning that feels like high level mario kart wii, with its smooth drifts and perfectly executed boosts

[@quakespeedrunsexplained]

haha yes I always say Quake is the best racing game of all time ;)

[@CharIie83]

the world needs a quake community

[@SuperSmyer]

Excelent Documentation, delicious!!!!