The first WD Speed Run Cup took place last Friday
evening, on the 24th of November, with renowned Twitch Streamer iiSalad taking first
place.
The WD
Speed Run Cup Gaming Event
The event itself saw 20 competitors, made
up of a mix of video game journalists and online streamers, racing each other
in a range of games to see who could complete them the fastest. The four knock-out
rounds saw gamers enjoying the thrill of speedrunning titles such as I Am
Bread, Portal, Super Meat Boy, and Cuphead.
In case you’re not too familiar with the
concept of speedrunning, this involves people trying to complete a video game
level, or sometimes even a full game, in the shortest time possible. Over the
years this has grown and evolved into a thriving community of those who enjoy
testing their speed, often against each other competitively.
This speedrunning community, which you can
see is very lively on websites like Reddit
and Twitch, has culminated in all kinds of speedrunning events. Even large
companies are beginning to get involved, which is how Western Digital got
involved by hosting the WD Speed Run Cup in the first place.
Who Took
Part?
Part of what made the event such a big
success, with hundreds to thousands of fans tuning in, is the fact that there
were so many familiar faces taking part as competitors.
Of course, iiSalad is the main event from
his win, however, there were plenty of others who brought in a large audience.
Some notable Twitch streamers included Drakodan, Biiny, Fuzzyness, and Cereth.
It was obvious that all of these guys had a big following as their fans flooded
Twitch chat with support.
It’s not just the Twitch streamers that
made the WD Speed Run Cup a big hit, however, a number of video game
journalists took part and documented their experience. One such journalist is
Matt Porter who built his career writing about Esports on well-known outlets
such as IGN, PC Gamer, and MailOnline.
What
Actually Happened?
If you keep an eye on the Western Digital
Youtube Channel, you should see some highlights of the event coming very
soon. We’ll cover the results of each round for you though.
Round One
All 18 competitors took part in the first
round playing I Am Bread, an interesting title which sees gamers playing as a
piece of bread trying desperately to become toast. How do
they do this? By (badly) controlling each corner of the piece of bread and
making their way to the toaster.
Only 8 players made it to the second round
which is when the event started to heat up.
Round Two
Round two saw gamers playing Cuphead, a
classic-looking indie platformer that hit online stores this year to critical
acclaim. This “bullet-hell” type game is known for being somewhat unforgiving
in terms of difficulty.
After the dust settled, only 4 gamers made
it to round three – the semi-finals.
Round Three
Round three is when the second half of the
event began to get intense. The semi-finalists were Biiny, iiSalad, Darkodan,
and Matt Porter. The classic physics puzzler Portal was the name of the game
here, a title known to get frustrating at higher levels, especially if you’re
speedrunning.
After this round was over, the finalists
were decided. The final round would be Drakodan versus iiSalad.
Round Four
The finale saw Drakodan and iiSalad facing
off in a game of Super Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy is another unforgiving game
which forces you to relive your failure every time you happen to die, adding to
the pressure, making it a perfect choice for a speedrunning final.
Alas, after all was said and done, iiSalad
came out on top – well-played iiSalad!
Can We
Expect More in 2018?
After all the fun everyone had at this
year’s WD Speed Run Cup, it looks likely there’ll be more to come in the
future. However, at this time there is no indication of a return of the
competition in 2018.
Your best bet is to keep an eye out on WD_UK’s Twitter in 2018 to find out if,
and when, the next WD Speed Run Cup will be held.
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