Post
When the standard categories get stale, communities invent weird new ones, because sometimes you just want to speedrun collecting every chicken in Zelda.
Category extensions are community-created alternative speedrun categories beyond the standard any% and 100%. They range from practical variations (Glitchless, No Major Glitches) to creative challenges (All Bosses, All Dungeons, Swordless) to outright memes (Nipple%, where you speedrun to the first instance of a shirtless character). Extensions live on separate leaderboard pages and often attract dedicated communities with their own routing and competition. They keep games fresh for runners who've exhausted the main categories and provide entry points for new runners who might find the main categories too intimidating or too glitch-heavy.
Example
Breath of the Wild's category extensions include 'All Shrines' (complete every shrine), 'All Dungeons' (beat all four Divine Beasts), and the infamous 'Doggo%' (find and befriend every dog in the game). Each category reveals different aspects of the game and requires different routing expertise.
Why it matters
Category extensions keep speedrunning communities alive long after the main categories feel optimized. They demonstrate the community's creativity and ability to self-organize around new competitive formats. They also make speedrunning more accessible by offering categories at every difficulty level.
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