okay, i wrote this out a couple weeks ago when the topic came up, but i lost the text so i just got around to doing a quick list now. this is for @LeylaLove@hexbear.net, @dannoffs@hexbear.net, @comradesharkfucker@lemmy.ml, @bunnygirl@hexbear.net, @Thordros@hexbear.net who were all talking about speedrunning youtube in a thread a month ago, and anyone else interested in good old-fashioned content. please share your recommendations too!

Summoning Salt, obviously

TomatoAnus does really good full speedrun explanations showing all the tricks of the current route. silly and funny, really notable is that he does a short mental health segment every episode where he encourages anyone in the audience who might be struggling. i think it's pretty heartfelt and touching, and he deserves more attention just for that. it seems like depressed people might spend a lot of time watching youtube speedruning content lol (couldn't be me)

How speedrunners beat Half-Life in 26 minutes (SPEEDRUN EXPLAINED - Scriptless)

really you could just go to his channel and watch whatever game you're most interested in. i picked this one because it's a good one but also the mental health segment is early in the video, and i think he deserves more eyes because of those segments

Karl Jobst pretty well known, does a lot of speedrun cheating investigations, also does some drama vids, was one of the guys who exposed the completionist scandal. i think the cheating videos are really interesting too but Running A Tightrope: DOOM's Most Precarious Speedrun is a really great world record progression video with all the new strats and such explained really well, i think this DOOM stuff is worth watching even if you arent all that interested in him or his newer videos. i love how because of DOOM's demo files you can watch runs from the nineties recorded exactly the same as runs from today. great video!

OneShortEye does videos on the adventure game speedrun community, mostly Sierra games from the 80's and 90's. both record progression and speedrun explained type videos. his videos are great, super interesting to see the tricks and stories behind the progress the community makes on these games, and super interesting in depth exploration of the mechanics. i'll recommend How Speedrunners Make Robin Hood a COWARD, one of TWO long-ass videos about Conquests of the Longbow. if you have a favourite kings quest game, he probably has a video about it. really good shit.

Bismuth does really good speedrun explained and videos about tricks, TAS runs, etc. How is this speedrun possible? The Legend of Zelda World Record Speedrun Explained is my recommend, goes through every trick and how it works in the modern route of the first NES zelda.

Osukarui does histories for less popular N64 games, usually ones he personally was involved in, because they are not common games to speedrun. The Incredible Glitches of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine for the N64 is a good sample of the kind of stuff he talks about, and if you like that watch the speedrun history video of the same game, i think it's really interesting stuff

Quake Speedruns Explained explains Quake speedruns. noteable for the chill vibes, watching 1000 runs of a level at once in slow motion with chill music in third person hits just right. The "Impossible" Quake Record is my recommend, if you like it, there are a bunch like that

EZScape Speedruns does speedruns explained type stuff, really good if you are interested in the game. covers a lot of stuff i'm not personally interested in, but there's a wide enough variety that there's probably at least a few hours of stuff you will want to watch if you like speedrun content. my recommendation is Bully Speedruns Are BUSTED | Speedrun Explained. great game, great speedrun!

Maximum does videos about flash games. How Speedrunners Conquered The World's Hardest Game is by far my fave of his videos because i'm actually familiar with the game, tho i do eventually get around to watching his other videos or at least having them on in the background lol. if you like flash games theres probably a lot more here for you, good stuff none the less. his series on red ball is a true labour of love.

Kosmic is a SMB1 speedrunner and mostly does videos about that game, individual levels, individual tricks, etc. has been doing a series about all the different versions of smb1 like the game boy colour, PAL, all stars, etc. that's pretty good. 4:53 is Almost Possible is the first video in that series and a good start. the man loves super mario bros!

Special Mention: imo this is a must watch video. 160 minutes of video about History of The Hobbit - The Most Underrated Speedrun. this person has never made any other videos like this, he just LOVES the hobbit game and wants to share the speedrunning story. great example of how a game nobody really remembers can have a endlessly interesting history, and all the tricks and glitches, it's just very good. i'd strongly recommend this to anyone who thinks they might like a long-ass video that's a love letter to both the PC and gamecube versions of the game and speedrunning in general. one of my all time favourite videos.

(edited for trackers)