When you watch a speedrun, you’re not really watching a single run. You’re watching a culmination of work: the glitch hunters who figured out how to skip parts of the game, the previous runners who learned how to move around as quickly as possible, and the countless practice hours of the person currently trying to beat their personal best.
Every speedrun has a story behind it. But these stories aren’t always immediately obvious. The runner, focusing on their own actions, probably won’t be able to explain too much. Even at events like Games Done Quick, where runners have commentators to help them contextualise the runs for an audience who might be unfamiliar with the game, there’s only so much information they can fit in. The goal is for the run to be over as quickly as possible, after all.
But there’s a genre of YouTuber who looks behind the times on the leaderboard going steadily downwards and teases out the narrative between the entries. Quirks of fate that led to new discoveries, rivalries that inspired increasing dedication among runners, and all the disappointments and victories that happened along the way.
It’s no surprise that SummoningSalt, the most famous creator in the speedrun history space, draws inspiration from Jon Bois, a master of sports narrative. (And that Bois is a fan of Salt in return.) They’re both experts at finding a story.