Not A Thrill: Speedrunner Skips ‘Metal Gear Solid 3’ Ladder Climb
Speedrunners will sacrifice anything to shave a millisecond off their time. But now the worst has been realized: Metal Gear Solid Ladder Skip.
In case you’re new to speedrunning, the general concept is to play through a video game as quickly as possible. While there are groups of people who play without glitches, there are many more who thrive within the world of the bugs, quick menu switching, and jerky movements in order to jump through walls, teleport at seemingly random, and deal infinite damage in a single hit.
Press F To Pay Respects
But, today we pay respects to the loss of an important member of our video game family. On the morning of April 12th, the worst possible outcome occurred. Speedrunner, apel, posted a video on Twitter, which would shake the very foundations of everything we hold near and dear to our hearts.
(Un)fortunately for speedrunners, the infamous Metal Gear Solid 3 ladder climb scene is now skippable. It’s truly a great loss for gaming culture.
Typically, the ladder climb sequence takes about 2 minutes. And those 2 glorious minutes is easily one of the greatest and most iconic scenes in all of gaming. The Metal Gear Solid 3 ladder climb sets the tone for the whole game. What could have been a boring and mundane (or completely cut) section was flipped and made infinitely memorable.
Of course, I applaud apel and this achievement for the Metal Gear Solid 3 speed running community. I know it took many hours of trial and error and that effort is not being ignored. However, the loss of the ladder climb is one I can’t imagine from which we will ever fully recover.
These speedrunning villains will continue their butchering of our greatest gaming moments. We must put a stop to this villainy. First, it’s skipping the Metal Gear Solid ladder, then what’s next?! Beating Elden Ring in under 8 minutes?!
