This year, or maybe it was the end of last year, I became friends (hope he doesn’t mind me saying so) with a speedrunner of the SNES game Super Metroid, one of my favorite games on the console. And he’s good. Really good. Within the top 15 in the world for any% good.

Speedrunning is a way of playing a game with the intent of completing it as fast as possible, with various categories or ways of finishing the game.

The first time I met him in person, some friends and I gathered at my apartment for a day of video games, and he showed us a few key moments of the game and explained why he does what he does. Needless to say, it was impressive to see in person.

Then we played a bit of Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube, which I think he used to play competitively. Or at least I think he probably could have. And he completely destroyed a group of friends and I. And if memory serves right, it was three of us on a team against just him.

We’ve been hanging out  every few months for a while and playing a variety of things. Kuru Kuru Kururin, Super Monkey Ball and other multiplayer games.

About a month ago I finally found a Guitar Hero guitar for Xbox 360 for a good price and snapped it up. So, when we met again last weekend Guitar Hero III was one of the games on the menu.

The last time I played the game was three or four years ago when I borrowed the Wii version from a friend. And before that I hadn’t played since I moved to Japan the first time back in 2010. tl;dr I’m not as good as I used to be, though even then I was never great.

Anyway, friends and I are playing through random songs on various difficulties. I try the absolute hardest song in the game, “Through the Fire and Flames,” on expert difficulty and fail in no more than two seconds. Literally. I think the best I ever did in my prime was maybe 8 or 10 seconds.

Then my buddy tries it and gets 84%, which is probably 5 minutes or so in, without having played the game since 2020 or so. And he told us he was able to pass the song years ago when he was playing it a lot.

I used to think I was pretty good, even really good, at video games. When I was in elementary school I had kids in older grades calling me for help on games.

But I’m definitely humbled after meeting this guy. And it’s been so fun!