Post
Any% means beat the game as fast as possible by any means necessary; 100% means collect everything AND be fast about it.
Speedrun categories define the rules of engagement. Any% is the purest form: reach the end credits as fast as possible, skip whatever you want, break whatever you can. 100% requires completing everything (all items, all stars, all collectibles), which demands entirely different routing and often a much deeper understanding of the game. Then there are community-defined categories like 'Low%' (beat the game collecting as little as possible), 'Glitchless' (no exploits allowed), and game-specific categories like 'All Dungeons' in Zelda games.
Example
Super Mario 64 Any% can be completed in under 7 minutes using glitches to skip stars. The 120 Star (100%) category takes roughly 1 hour 38 minutes and requires collecting every single star in the game through optimized routing.
Why it matters
Categories keep speedrunning inclusive; there's a category for every skill level and playstyle. They also show that 'fastest' means different things depending on your constraints, and each category reveals different depths of a game's design.
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