SpeedRunners Guide: Tips, Cheats and Strategies

SpeedRunners is a game that is immediately easy to understand, if not to master. You play as one of the titular Speed Runners, and have to beat your trio of opponents to three points – you do this by out running them to the edge of the screen.

It’s not quite as simple as that sounds of course, as you have to jump, slide, wall jump, and grapple hook your way to the front of the pack. If you want to be the fastest there ever was you may well want to follow the tips and tricks below.

• Abundance of buttons SpeedRunners is controlled via virtual buttons, so when starting out it would be advisable to learn what each button does what rather than actually attempt to compete. Therefore the Tutorial mode is your friend.

• Don’t look back (in anger) If you’re in the lead there’s always the feeling you’re invincible, and you might be tempted to stop and go back if you miss an item. We would strongly recommend against doing this though, as momentum is everything in SpeedRunners. Lose your forward thrust and you can find yourself at the back of the pack in no time at all.

• Don’t celebrate too soon To win a match you have to get three points – and you get these by outrunning your opponents. However once you win a single point don’t start celebrating, as the next round starts almost immediately. Don’t get caught out!

• Slide to the right Sliding is one of the skills you’ll have to master pretty quickly as there are a lot of low walls you’ll need to negotiate. But you can also use the slide move to avoid a range of other obstacles, as well as helping you to slow down – with the latter aiding you in making tighter turns.

• Happy grapple Yes, using the grappling hook looks cool, but it should also only be used in exceptional circumstances. If you want to go up in a level you’ll want to hold the button down for a while for instance, but shorter taps are needed if you want to go forward. Take some time in the Practice mode to get the hang (hook?) of it.

• White is alright Having said the above, if you see a lot of white ceilings that’s your cue to use the grappling hook. If you don’t more experienced players will make sure you pay for such negligence.

• Tricks and traps Making sure you place weapons and the like in the right places is key in beating the better opponents. One example is when placing boxes to block people, put them in areas they’ll struggle to avoid them – like on the narrower paths.

• Multiple paths In every stage there are multiple paths you can take, and there’s often one that is better than the others. Learn from your mistakes if you take the wrong one and don’t think going faster will make the worse path better. That way madness lies.

• Take ’em out Sliding is useful for getting through tight gaps, but it can also help you take out opponents – slide for one second and you’ll find it slows down your foes rather effectively.

• One on one Using your custom weapon is almost essential in winning against almost any human player, but you’ll want to think about when it’s best to use it. We found it most effective to attack with such a move when you’re either lagging miles back, or left against one final opponent – as using it for the latter can help swing a match firmly in your favour.

Take on the SpeedRunners challenge by downloading it on the App Store or Steam.

Glenn Wilson