Sonic 2’s speedrun world record is below 15 minutes for the first time

Speedrunner mike89 has made history by being the first person to complete Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis in under 15 minutes.

Mike89 was able to beat his own former world record of 15 minutes 7 seconds by 9 seconds, after months of trying. He was the first person to beat the long-standing world record of 15 minutes 49 seconds in April, which was held by werster since July 2015, and has been trying to break the 15 minute mark ever since.

Some of the Sonic speedrunning community felt that a sub-15 minute time was just not possible, as Sonic speedruns are some of the hardest speedruns to learn. They require players to master frame-perfect maneuvers, and test the speedrunners’ muscle memory at all times. The world record represents a huge achievement not only for mike89, but for speedrunners everywhere.

After completing the speedrun, mike89 states in the video that he could shave a few seconds off of his time, but believes some of it would be down to luck.

Mike89 has world records in many different Sonic titles, such as Sonic 3 and Sonic Spinball, and will surely be looking to perfect them all moving forward.