We are delighted to be highlighting Metroid speedrunner Habreno, who currently holds multiple world records in Metroid: Other M, including fastest 100% completion, Any% and deathless speedruns. Habreno also highlights his speedrun efforts in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and his passion for the Metroid series as a whole.
Habreno
I am Habreno and I speedrun Metroid: Other M and Twilight Princess, which I have been doing for the past few years. I got introduced to speedrunning in 2015 with Twilight Princess, wanting to beat a previous time I’d done years prior for the game. From here, I found ZSR (zeldaspeedruns.com), which led to finding GDQ (GamesDoneQuick) and going to Summer Games Done Quick 2015 as an attendee, which fully got me hooked into speedrunning. Purchasing a used Wii at a Gamestop led me to finding Metroid: Other M again (I’d played it back in 2010 but got stuck early), and naturally developed into speedrunning the game for 100% completion – I beat it and then wanted to start doing it faster and faster. I’d pushed myself down to around a 3:30 run when, like Twilight Princess, I’d looked up information about it – finding JaggerG’s 3:10:15 run from 2014. And that run blew me away.
Incorporating some of these strategies and ideas I improved from there to a 3h23m run, and then fell stagnant. I somewhat questioned if I’d be able to improve further. Having gotten into speedrunning from the perspective of trying to do the best I could I never have cared much for leaderboards, and who has the best run, just about making a run the best it can be regardless of who does it. I didn’t feel like I had much to give to Other M unlike I did for Twilight Princess, and so I felt content. But on December 8th, 2016, Metroid: Other M was released on the Wii U Virtual Console, and after that I knew I had to keep going. Went from 3:19 to much faster 3:12 runs. Then on December 25th, 2016, a huge PB – a 3:08:51 run – beating JaggerG’s previous record. While not as good since I was saving several minutes due to loads, I still felt immensely happy, knowing I finally had something to give to Other M. Over the next few years I have cut the time down in 100% to a 3:00:59, Hard Mode at 2:01:05, and 2:15:49 in Any% – pushing every category very hard and taking the fastest times in all of them. While I do still have goals for Other M – sub-3 hours in 100%, sub-2 and deathless in Hard Mode, and sub-2:15 in Any% – even after achieving those I’ll still run the game.
Since I running Metroid: Other M (and Twilight Princess), I also got into other games in the respective franchises. For Metroid, I since picked up Metroid Prime Trilogy and play it casually. I picked up AM2R and took a slight speedrunning interest to it – but still enjoy it from a casual perspective. I also got a SNES Classic and started playing Super Metroid, and Samus Returns which I have beaten a few times. Out of all of them, Prime 2 is definitely my favorite, though any of the Primes is something I’ll gladly play casually. While I don’t run any of the other Metroids, I love watching runs for any of the games, taking a preference to Super and the Primes, and I wouldn’t have been introduced to such an amazing franchise without getting into speedrunning. For that, I am incredibly grateful.
Our Thoughts
Darren
Despite the controversial reception Metroid: Other M has received over the years, it’s great to see that there are people that are dedicated to achieving something impressive from it. Habreno clearly has the passion and patience to achieve such amazing record-breaking times, and hopefully he will hold the crown for as long as possible. But I wonder, is there anyone out there that is willing to take it from him? Time will tell if Habreno can improve, or defend his title..
Achievements
Metroid: Other M
- 100% – 3h 00m 59s [02-03-2019]
- Any% – 2 h 15m 49s [11-02-2019]
- Hard Mode Any% – 2h 41m 33s [29-11-2017]
All records are correct as of the time of publishing: 23rd August 2019