Speedrunner smashes Doom 2 world record

The speedrunning record for Doom 2 has been broken. Until now, the record was at an impressive 23:25, set by Looper in 2010. It wasn't until 1999 that a speedrunner had beaten the 30-minute mark in the first place, and the record has since been claimed and improved by a few names in the past 15 years. With this new video, submitted by Zero Master earlier this week, the current record for a single-segment Doom 2 speedrun on Ultra Violence difficulty now stands at 23:03.

Speedrunning id Software's critically acclaimed Doom was an idea that only took a year after its release to manifest within its dedicated fanbase. It was Christina "Strunoph" Norman's LMP Hall of Fame and Frank Stajano's DOOM Honorific Titles, websites dedicated to collecting records of special Doom challenge runs, that first paved the way for Simon Widlake's OMPET-N in late 1994 which was the first to focus entirely on completing Doom and its sequels as fast as one possibly could.

Zero Master has commented on his record-breaking speedrun in a thread on Doomworld forums, noting where and how the run could have been improved. A Doom 2 speedrun below the 23-minute mark suddenly doesn't seem so far away. However, the achievement does demand its fare share of appreciation.