Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is 22 years outdated, which as you possibly can think about implies that folks have cracked that recreation vast open with bizarre glitches, skips, and methods. Over the years, speedrunners have discovered methods to break San Andreas that received an any% speedrun of it down to somewhat beneath three hours, however just lately an completely buckwild bug was discovered that minimize that point down even additional, to beneath an hour. Buckle up, people, as a result of that is one heck of a wacky speedrun.
First, some context. San Andreas has been damaged and rebroken many occasions over the years throughout its a number of variations, and there is one particular “trick” that is upended the speedrunning panorama a number of occasions. It really originated in GTA: Vice Metropolis, the place a trick known as Script Stack Underflow (SSU) was discovered that chopped an any% run down to round eight minutes. Way back in 2019, San Andreas runners discovered one thing comparable that they known as “Arbitrary Soar in Script”, or AJS, particularly in the Window Retailer remaster of the recreation. This overly-complex trick basically let speedrunners bounce straight to the finish of the recreation by doing an extended collection of very particular issues resembling killing a drug seller, parking a motorbike in a really particular place, answering the cellphone at very particular occasions, and diligently avoiding merchandising machines in any respect prices.
Whereas concerned, it demonstrably labored, with the finish end result being the recreation executing a “JUMP” command to the begin of Finish of the Line Half 3, the closing mission. Ever since then the speedrunning group has had to cut up the class into any% and any% no AJS, as a result of watching a run with AJS is enjoyable precisely as soon as and then you definitely actually simply need to watch a correct, action-packed, multi-hour San Andreas speedrun. For a very long time, this skip was restricted to the Home windows Retailer model of the recreation, although it was later discovered in the Definitive Version remaster with some important setup variations.
Properly now, speedrunners have discovered how to do AJS in the authentic PC model of San Andreas. It’s additionally utterly totally different in the way it’s arrange, and is by some means even wackier than any of the variations which have come earlier than. u/Vitosi4ek on Reddit has a really nice breakdown of all the steps involved (although some runners have already discovered methods to clean out sure bits of it). These embrace: profitable $10,000 on horse betting, making a clone of your self, doing stunt jumps on a superbike, betting in the on line casino with destructive cash, altering your garments, doing a dance minigame, working two Mission at the very same time, and much more. All of this can hopefully, if the recreation would not crash, ship you to the begin of Finish of the Line Half 3, and allow you to end the recreation proper there.
This glitch was actually simply found, and in that point the world report run for an any% of GTA: San Andreas has dropped down to 53 minutes and 46 seconds by creezyful. It’s totally probably that this time will get much more shaved off in the coming days and weeks as speedrunners proceed to optimize. This has additionally resulted in the group splitting any% off from any% no AJS, so audiences can nonetheless take pleasure in a roughly three-hour run of San Andreas and all the hyjinks concerned in that.
It is wildly spectacular to me that individuals are nonetheless managing to crack video games this outdated open much more than they’ve already been, and make their guts do ridiculous issues. Just this previous AGDQ, I watched somebody run arbitrary code execution in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, one thing I am fairly positive they did not understand how to do the final time the recreation was at the present. Video video games, man!
Sadly, that does imply it’s going to most likely be a very long time earlier than we get a run of GTA 6 that goes that quick. And that is if we will even make it to launch day this November.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.