Speedrun

A Speed Run is a playthrough of a game with the intention of completing it in the shortest amount of time possible. Unlike the Three Heart Challenge, optional upgrades are acceptable but are generally ignored if the amount of time they save is less than the time it takes to obtain them. Most speedrunners attempt to break record times by using a variety of glitches to save time. Additionally, many speed runners prefer to play with the NTSC version of the game over the PAL version as it usually runs faster (60Hz versus 50Hz). Japanese versions are also frequently used for Zelda games due to having less text to wait through. A video of the gameplay is usually required to verify that a record was truly broken. Most record breaking takes place on streaming services in recent years.

Community
The Speed Run challenge has given rise to its own community consisting of casual and world-class speed runners and their spectators. Much of the community is hosted on the website Speed Demos Archive (SDA) as well as the live-streaming site. The SDA forums are often used to discuss route planning and new techniques in order to improve run times. Many speed runners – especially world-class ones – will stream their runs live to spectators; most do so on Twitch using timing software. Through Twitch, spectators can support runners monetarily by donating or paying for a subscription to the runner's channel. Donors can add comments to their donations which runners will usually read aloud during lulls in the run, or after it is completed. Many speed runners allow their donors to choose a file name for each run. Twice a year, SDA hosts charity marathons called "Awesome Games Done Quick" (peak winter event) and "Summer Games Done Quick" (off-peak summer event), where world-class speedrunners congregate and live-stream speedruns to elicit donations from viewers.

The Legend of Zelda games are highly contested and constitute some of the most popular games for speed running. Zelda speed running has its own expansive sub-community. ZeldaSpeedRuns compiles information on speed runs and hosts the series' definitive speed run leaderboards.

Terminology
Speed runners evolve unique terminology and abbreviations for each game. It usually refers to important techniques or strategies ("strats"), most of which are exploitative glitches.

Glitches
Most speed runs rely on exploitative glitches and sequence breaks to finish the game quicker. Glitches are a rallying point for the speed running community. The discovery of new glitches, usually a result of extensive research by members of the community, can lead to breakthroughs in a run category. This can reignite interest in a "dead" category, resulting in further competition and run improvement. A category "dies" when a strong, decisive record is made that cannot likely be beat. Competition in the category thus wanes until new "strats" or glitches are discovered.

Some Zelda games are more "broken" than others. In and, massive sequence-breaking glitches exist that skip most of the game. These games can be completed in a matter of minutes – Link's Awakening can be completed in under 3 minutes; Ocarina of Time in under 20. Games such as, , and SS undefined feature less drastic skips and still require several hours to complete.

Current Records
All runs listed are single-segment/real-time attack, meaning the run was completed in one take from start to finish.