The Snake is used in the speedrun category 'Snake%', in which a player makes their way to the snake, rides it back to the start, then beats the game. The Snake has no friction, so even touching it with the hammer is dangerous, as it can easily send the player back to the beginning of the game if they are not careful, however careful movements it should ensure that the player does not fall down. The Snake is right next to the bucket, and is clearly labelled by a sign above it that reads "DO NOT RIDE SNAKE." If Diogenes rides the Snake (accidentally or not), the player will be uncontrollably sent back to the very beginning of the game, right next to the lake. “It’d be kind of lame if I didn't have anyone else to talk about or to share speedrun stuff with,” he says.The Snake is a part in Getting Over It, located in Stage 3. He has also grown a community on Twitch where he routinely hosts Sonic speedrun tournaments among other players. Hicks started speedrunning the platformer Sonic Mania in 2017 in the ensuing years, he became a fixture on classic Sonic speedrun leaderboards. Zach Hicks, a 24-year-old Sonic world-record speedrunner based in Michigan known best as Zaxon96, says that sense of community is what keeps him coming back to the games. “There are lots of people who feel like outsiders in their own lives, and so they’re drawn toward these communities.” “When you’re choosing a speedrunning community to engage with, you can pick anything-you don’t have to be limited to the church that’s nearby or the neighbors in your apartment complex,” Toftness says. In fact, the speedrunners who Toftness interviewed said their mental health improved because of their engagement with their gaming communities. But in his own experience, and in speaking with other gamers, Toftness found the speedrunning community had the opposite effect: It brought people together, cementing friendships and strengthening social bonds. In his research, Toftness found plenty of academic papers that suggest gaming can take a toll on a person’s social health because it’s often isolating the idea is so prevalent among health researchers that the World Health Organization recently added a gaming disorder to its International Classification of Diseases. The first and possibly most vital component to speedrunning is a sense of community, or the idea that runners are in this with a group of like-minded peers, all working to accomplish the same goal. For each milestone I hit, I knew I could do better. Not unlike an actual runner, I yearned for a new personal best, or PB, every time I played. I quickly became obsessed, jotting down times and notes in a journal. So, as Toronto settled in for yet another citywide lockdown late last year, I tried to play it through myself and see how fast I could do it-or at least, if I could beat my brother’s pace from all those years ago. It’s a game where players are intended to move quickly, spin-dashing and speeding through levels. The classic game, released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, was a staple of my childhood: My older brother, then much more of a gamer than me, would play through the game over and over, and I’d dutifully watch each time. I started speedrunning Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in January, keen for a new pandemic pastime. When the realization sets in, I’m exhilarated. Eventually, on the official leaderboards, I’ll rank among the top players to beat this particular Sonic game in the fastest possible time. And then I stop my timer: 49 minutes, 51 seconds. I keep breathing, heavier and heavier, until it’s over, until Sonic destroys Dr. On my screen, a pixelated blue hedgehog zooms through loops and hops from platform to platform. It’s a warm May night in Toronto, and I’m hunched over my computer, clicking away at a Sega Genesis controller and trying to make personal history. I try to regulate my breath-inhale, slowly, exhale-but I have the jitters. My grip hasn’t changed in nearly an hour, but I refuse to let my wetted hands kill my focus. My palms won’t stop sweating, beads of moisture dripping down the buttons of my controller.
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