Races are conducted in a first to three, when someone gets a point, the race restarts at near that spot on the map. Part of the game is learning the courses as those in first often don’t have the camera very much if at all ahead of them. If this takes too long a timer will start which then will begin the wall closing. Races typically have four competitors and as they drop off the screen will start to close in. There are also boxes on the map which gives you various items to attack your competitors such as a freeze ray, extra crate or a hook to bring them back to you.

Your other basic moves include a slide to move through low areas and a grappling hook which attaches to platforms with a white bottom. Speed can be stored up with boost segments and used to run faster. Each level has a couple of shortcuts that might open up if the other racers hit the switch, often something they’d have to intentionally avoid.

In each course they’ll be various obstacles such as crates and spikes which slow you down (or can get in your way entirely) with alternate paths and wall jumps commonplace. As if you get too far away (or fling yourself too high) you’re out of the race. Instead of laps it’s a race to stay in first. As you move one way, you’ll come across the higher/lower path which will then circle back to the start. Speedrunners is a 2D platformer racing game with kart elements. A good choice given it’s the best platform for local multiplayer. From that, Speedrunners was made and later came to various consoles and now finally the Switch. The original Speedrunner is a single-player browser game.

Speedrunners game platforms