Speedrunner Marc Rutzou has held the world record for Goldeneye 007’s Train level since 2010, improving on times that no other runner could match. His long reign has finally come to an end as another runner finally managed to tie his record.
Goldeneye 007 speedrunning is refined to the point that even saving a second is a big deal. Records are often tied by multiple runners at once, but not Rutzou’s. But Rutzou’s 57 second world record for the Train level on “Agent” difficulty was tied yesterday by Swedish speedrunner Henrik “Omega” Norgren.
The run itself is a blur of movement. Goldeneye speedrunners look down at the ground to reduce lag and avoid framerate problems. Norgren’s run is a wild rush in which Bond looks at his feet, weaves between enemies, and destroys the train’s breaks using his watch’s laser before zipping away into the night. On higher difficulties, runners can’t simply rush to the exit butAgent difficulty saves time at the end of the level since runners are not forced to wait for Natalya to hack a nearby computer.
Rutzou first achieved an untied Train world record in December 31, 2010, with a time of 59 seconds and slowly improved it to a 57 second run that he’s held since 2015. A long period of untied world records is called an “untied reign.” Rutzou’s reign was the longest in the game’s history. It remains to be seen if Norgren or another runner will set a better time.
Goldeneye records can remain tied for years before being broken, as was the case for a tied record set in 2002 which was finally broken last December. The new longest untied world record is held by American runner Daniel “Wodahs” Coelho for a 1:30 time for the Caverns level on 00 Agent difficulty set in 2016.